The Jim Boeheim Show - before UNC

[SWC75]

Jim Boeheim’s radio show is on Thursdays from 7-8 or 9PM on ESPN Radio in Syracuse, which is AM1200 or FM 97.7 on the dial. The show originates from Carrabba's Italian Grill in Fayetteville. The first hour, hosted by Matt Park, the Voice of the Orange, is on their general network. The second hour, which begins with the conference season, is hosted by Gomez, a local radio personality.

This year’s schedule: Tuesday, November 12, 7:00 pm, Tuesday, November 19, 7:00 pm, Thursday, December 5, 7:00 pm, Thursday, December 12, 7:00 pm, Thursday, December 19, 7:00 pm, Thursday, December 26, 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 2, 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 9, 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 16, 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 23, 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 30, 7:00 pm, Thursday, February 6, 7:00 pm, Thursday, February 13, 7:00 pm, Thursday, February 20, 7:00 pm, Thursday, February 27, 7:00 pm,
Thursday, March 5, 7:00 pm.

You can call into the show locally at 315-424-8599 or nationally at 1-888-746-2873. For Gomez’s portion, use 315-424-8599. Or you can submit questions from this page:
Submit a Question! - Syracuse University Athletics
Or on Twitter at mattpark1 or “askBoeheim”.

The show can be heard in Syracuse on FM 99.5. It’s sometime simulcast on AM 1200 or FM 97.7. You can also get it on: TuneIn | Free Internet Radio | NFL, Sports, Podcasts, Music & News

I will be posting my rough transcript the night of the broadcast focusing on my questions, the team and their last and next games and then a second post the next day on other things that were discussed.




MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS

(I composed these questions before last night’s game, which offered a partial answer to them but decided to go with them anyway.)

First Hour:

“Coach, fans love offense but coaches stress defense. Looking at our last five teams the ones that were better on defense than on offense wound up in the NCAA tournament and won 70% of their games there. The teams that were better on offense wound up, (or might wind up) in the NIT, so it appears coaches might be smarter than fans.

This team has no seniors. I don’t see anyone among potential recruits that seem likely to turn our defense around, so it’s up to the returning players. Can these players become the sort of defensive team that can go to the NCAAs and do well there or will they always be trying to out-score people?”

Second Hour:

“Coach, Marek Dolezaj has made 91% of his free throws in the last 9 games. It would seem that he could also shoot from there in our normal offense and that that would open things up even more for his drives and passes. Is there a big difference between shooting free throws from and shooting jump shots from there? “



COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. The quotes may not be verbatim –they are from my scribbled notes. I have not knowingly changed the meaning. In recent years they have started out doing one hour shows and then shifted to two hour shows in January. When they do two hour shows. I might do two posts: one on the night of the broadcast on the issues directly relating to the team on the other the next days on other things that were talked about.)

PART ONE

Matt Park congratulated the Coach on “a good win” in the past week. JB: “All wins are good. Pitt had us in a three point game here. The game started slow. We missed our first five threes. It looked as though it wasn’t going to be fun. We played good defense. Bourama got 5 steals and 4 blocks. That’s usually 10-12 points for the other team. Elijah got to the basket. Nobody could do anything with him. We got lots of free throws… We started the second half 0-5 and suddenly it was an 11 point game. That’s a small number. This was when it’s coming. Elijah made a three and Marek went coast to coast for a lay-up and it was back to 16. Later they made a little bitty run and Joe hit his threes.” (I don’t worry about those little bitty runs).) “Pitt struggled but defense can cause teams to struggle… Our offense was not sharp. Marek had a bad game. They shadowed Buddy and he missed a few. Brycen got his first meaningful minutes and played well. He knew he was going to play for a while and didn’t have to wear his goggles. That helped…Joe got going and we got 8 threes… Bourama was tremendous. He played out of his mind down there two years ago. His first two years his knee was never right. This year he has been healthy but hasn’t played the way he can, the way he did last night. He’s a great kid and a good student. He wants to play well…Elijah didn’t score down the stretch but set up Joe for his three pointers. Pitt didn’t have it.”

Matt noted that Pitt’s game is to have their guards penetrate but they couldn’t get past anybody. Jim said that we also had a “real good defensive effort”. Matt said that the last time we’d beaten Pitt that badly, Sherman Douglas scored 32 points. JB: “Georgia Tech was tough. Wake Forest was tough. We just snuck through in those games. Our guys didn’t foul out against Georgia Tech and that’s the only reason we won. They are another team better than their record.” (Are you listening, Bill Parcells?) “Their big guy fouled out and we got lay-ups. To play well and get another win against Pittsburgh gives you a really good feeling. We’ve lose some close games but we’ve always won some close games. You always think of the games you lost. “

Gomez later asked about the realignment of the Peterson Center. “We are on the other side. The students are behind us and to the right. The fans couldn’t seem to get it going. They are loud and boisterous when Pitt is playing well. Fans are more into a program if it wins.”

I called in my first question about whether this group of players could ever become a really strong defensive team. Coach: “I’m surprised to hear you ask such a question.” It could have been worse. He could have said that that was exactly the type of question he would expect from someone like me. The way he put it means that I have, in his mind established a high standard for questions but that I had simply failed to maintain that standard with this question. I knew how Bourama felt before last night.

“Every team gets better. it’s foolish to think we won’t get better. All these players have upside. Big upside. It’s really Bourama’s first full year. Quincy and Brycen will get better. Robert will get better. John Bol will get better.” (Than what?) “Nobody knows about Elijah.” In my defense, I wasn’t asking if the players could get better. I was wondering if these players could get as good on defense as our 2016, 2018 and 2019 teams were.

Matt summarized Bourama’s effort vs. Pittsburgh. “4 blocks, 5 steals. He stepped in front of the entry feeds.” JB: “Don’t forget 2 charges. Elijah was sound in every respect.” Matt noted that Elijah had had double figures in every game, except the NC State game. JB: “Doesn’t count. We shouldn’t have played him in that game. It cost him a point per game in his average. There’s bene two guys in 20 years who averaged 20 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game- Dwyane Wade and Markelle Fultz. Elijah is definitely under-rated and very good.”

Josh in Boulder was concerned about Joe Girard’s turnovers. JB: “He’s been good all year in turnovers, very acceptable. His assist to turnover ratio was 2 to 1 for a long time. He gets careless with a lead. All his turnovers came with up 20. That will go away.“ (Hopefully before the lead does.) “He’ll be very sound with the ball. “ Matt called turnovers up 20 “Scoop Jardine territory”. JB: “he made them al the time. You didn’t know where they came from.”

“We just haven’t shot well. They are pushing up on us so we get many drives to the basket and inside plays. They are not coming off their man to help.” Matt said that all Elijah needs is a “shoulder shake” to get buy his man. Jim said “it’s the same with Marek”. Actually, Marek goes into a whirling dervish routine that probably won’t work on the next level.

On Buddy’s injury: “he could not have come back in the Pitt game. He’s hurt. He couldn’t walk today. I don’t know if he’ll go or not, (on Saturday). I wouldn’t bet on it. It’s hard to play when you don’t practice. Brycen’s defense was good. He’s very athletic. He hit a three and a pull-up. He’s struggled in practice. He’s had more trouble adjusting to the college game than I thought.“ Matt advised people to get to the North Carolina game early because Brycen, in the warm-ups before the Pittsburgh game, threw down a spinning two-handed dunk.”

Todd called in to ask a question nobody ever thought of: Why do we play zone rather than man for man? JB: “We haven’t player man for man in a long time. We do practice it but we aren’t very good at it. If you want Syracuse to win, you want to see us in a zone.” Gomez wondered if we could play it “a little bit”. JB: “You can’t play it a little bit. Pitt tried to play zone for a little bit and we scored on them four straight times.”

Pat called in and said that we’d known for years that if Jim Boeheim wants to change his defense he adjusts the zone. Jim said that man for man teams make adjustments too. “Over the years we’ve bene in the top 2-3 teams in our conference in defense. We try to adjust it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.”

Pat asked about slow starts, (he has a thread on our board about it). He thought perhaps it was because Jim needs time to make his adjustments. JB: “There’s no one reason for slow starts. Against Pitt we missed 4 wide open threes. But it was only 8-9. In the game at Georgia tech, Elijah hit 2-3 threes to open the game. Boston College couldn’t score early in the game at the Dome. We had a 16 point, (actually 20: 30-10). We had an early run at Virginia Tech….We’re not a great team. We’ve struggled as a team. We’re not as good as we’d like to be… We’ve had games where we were in the game but lost it in the second half….we’ve got young guys and have had foul trouble. When you give up 25 points in the lane you’re going to be behind. That’s our biggest problem. Some of the foul trouble was due to that. I took Marek out on his first foul. He said that it was just one foul. But it was a bad foul.”

Pat didn’t give up on his point, saying that early in games our scoring output has bene ½ of what it normally is and on defense we give up twice what we normally do. JB: “I don’t know if that’s true. The reason is that we’re not as good defensively as we need to be. We’re one of the better offensive teams in the league. We are 3rd in scoring. Our defense is mediocre – about 6th or 7th. “

I called in my second question about Marek making jumpers from the foul line, saying I hoped Jim would like it better than the first, (laughter). JB: “He hasn’t been able to hit jump shots. He shoots 400-500 jumpers a day in practice. On his fouls shots, he sets his hands right. On jumpers, he doesn’t get his hand into the same positon. He doesn’t get the same rotation. That wrist injury he had over the summer held him back. If he could hit three pointers, he would average 16-18 points a game, instead of 10-11. He needs to get stronger and get his jump shot.” I pointed out I had not asked about three pointers and felt that a 12 footer could help him a lot. JB: “He can make the 12 footer now. He made one in last night’s game. he still needs to move out to three. I’m confident he can do that.” (I don’t think Marek needs to move out to three. He can do more for us 10-12 feet from the basket.) “We always try to get guys better every year. Adrian works with him every day. I work with him. It’s about his hand and elbow positon, his finger spacing and his foot work. Good shooters shoot the same way every time.”

On the Tar Heels: Matt said that they “have a couple of the best players in the league”. JB: “They find ways to lose. They are 1-7 in close games. They’ve lost leads. If you’re ahead you’re probably the better team. They have been unlucky at the end of games. They will be ready to go. They’ll play to run the table. A run in the ACC tournament would not be a surprise.”

There will be no “Senior Day”, although Jim then said that there will be presentations to the team manager and walk on Shaun Belbey because they are seniors.

Our next game after that will be at Boston College. “They’ve had their share of good wins and crazy losses. They’ve beaten good teams and then lost by 20. Everybody has players.”

 

[joct]

Thanks for taking the time and putting together these weekly entries based on the show. These are great to read, and JB always seems to offer something during these shows you wouldn't get otherwise.

 

[orangeinnyc]

Yup. Great job as always. These are so awesome to read every week.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Sounds like he expects Bobby Braswell to be back.

 

[Newhouser]

Will be interesting to see how we play if Buddy can't go? UNC puts Anthony on Goodine so he can rest a little?

 

[stuckinbig11]

Thanks, Steve.

 

[GoSU96]

Sounds to me like he see MD taking over the 3, that's why he wants to extend his range.

 

[SWC75]

Sounds to me like he see MD taking over the 3, that's why he wants to extend his range.

Hughes guarded by Anthony...(that popcorn emoji we used to have)

 

[bballbeadle]

This bit below was hilarious!

I called in my first question about whether this group of players could ever become a really strong defensive team. Coach: “I’m surprised to hear you ask such a question.” It could have been worse. He could have said that that was exactly the type of question he would expect from someone like me. The way he put it means that I have, in his mind established a high standard for questions but that I had simply failed to maintain that standard with this question. I knew how Bourama felt before last night.

It made me laugh out loud when you wrote you knew how Bourama felt. Oooh, that tongue can be sharp!

Thanks for the fun write up, as always. I am sad tomorrow is the last game.

 

[SWC75]

PART TWO

Greg in Baldwinsville asked about our NCAA chances. Will the ACC get 6 teams? Greg felt that the ‘experts’ were under-rating the competitiveness of the ACC. JB: “The NET metric allows you to get credit for beating up on bad teams. In 2017 we won two road games and beat three Top 10 teams in the Dome. They told us that we had to win road games to get in. this year we’ve won 5 road games. There should never be a year when the ACC doesn’t get 6 teams. Notre Dame is 17-10 and I heard an announcer saying that they can’t get in. This will be the most difficult year for the committee in deciding who gets in.” (That’s pretty much what they do. I thought that the committee ignores conferences beyond the champions and looks at every team as an “at large” team.)

Greg was upset that the Big Ten might get 10 teams, (at last they are the “Big Ten”!) JB: “Wisconsin and Michigan have bene really good and really bad. Rutgers hasn’t lost at home but has one win on the road in the conference.” Matt suggested that the RAC is a tough place to play. JB: “It’s small and noisy. When the team plays well, the fans get into it.” Matt Park went over the records of the Big Ten’s six Top 25 teams. Maryland is 5-5 on the road. Penn State is 5-4, as is Michigan State. Iowa is 4-6, Ohio State 3-6 and Rutgers 1-8. JB: “Those teams, (meaning Rutgers), have never gotten in the tournament in the past. Win by a lot (20 is the limit per Matt Park), and you move up. We moved from 67 to 59.” (Per this, we didn’t move at all: DI Men's Basketball Rankings - NCAA Men's Basketball NET Rankings | NCAA.com
“It doesn’t matter who you beat. Last year NC State had a 35 NET ranking but didn’t get in due to a weak non-conference schedule. A lot of teams look pretty good. Providence is 4-3 in Quad 1 road games, (Matt said that we are 0-3). But they have two Quad 4 losses and Two Quad 3 losses. We don’t have any.”

They went around the conference. Florida State beat Louisville 82-67 in a game where Malik Williams got injured. JB: “Florida State was our best chance for a good win.” Wake Forest beating Duke 112-101 in two overtimes, “was a crazy game. Duke had control with an 8-9 point lead. Carey fouled out and Wake got a couple steals and a three. They don’t usually blow games. Wake has beaten both Duke and UNC for the first time in many years. They and UNC are a lot better than their record. NC State is the most confusing team. We probably would have beaten them with Elijah. They beat Duke but lost twice to UNC and beat us, then lost to Boston College. Virginia Tech lost by 30 the first time they played Virginia and scored 11 points in the first half in the second game. Then they got 42 points in the second half. They can shoot but Virginia doesn’t give you good looks from outside. Notre Dame beat BC when T. J. Gibbs made a last second shot. “BC should have fouled them but didn’t. Gibbs man left him to go after Hubbs. Note Dame has had some crazy games this year.” It’s a ‘crazy’ conference.

The Orangewomen lost at Notre Dame. “They had a tough non-conference schedule. It was too hard early in the year. They beat Florida State but lost to Oregon and Louisville. Notre Dame was down this year. NC State is good. They need wins.” The women were down 26-36 at the half. They later pulled to within 2 but lost 60-69. Tiana Mangakahia “is a tough girl. She underwent here treatments and still came in every day to shoot. She has lots of support her family came here. People tend to admire going through that. The girls have played tough but have a bright football. They have a really good class coming in and good players coming back. They should be in the Top 10. ”

On John Wallace, whose jersey will be revealed at the top of the Dome on Saturday: “He was a player who came into the program when we needed help. He was dominant big guy his last two years. He expected to win each game. He made a play you can’t make with the pass against Georgia and then made the winning shot. He dominated Kansas’ big front line and then dominated Mississippi State. We couldn’t quite get Kentucky with their 8-9 NBA players. John tried to win at everything, including ping pong.” Matt summarized his pro career, where he played for a number of teams but never got past being a part-time starter. (He said it was for the Knicks but he must have meant Toronto:
John Wallace (basketball) - Wikipedia ) JB: “He was a tremendous offensive player. He never developed his defensive side. He did play good defense here and we played Man for man sometimes.” Matt said he’d like to ask Roy Williams what happened in that Kansas game in 1996 but “he doesn’t seem to be in a good mood”.

Villanova honored Kyle Lowry in the same way when they beat St. John’s. JB: “He was a tough, hard-nosed point guard. We had him on the Olympic team.” Gomez said that Jay Wright had told Lowry “These kids listen to me better than you did.” JB: “Kyle was not a good listener. Kids will have issues. They aren’t all the same. They won’t do everything by the numbers. You have to figure out how to manage them.” This recalls John Wooden’s famous statement to his players” Don’t expect me to treat all of you the same way. That’s the most unfair thing I could do. You aren’t all the same.”

Gomez was back from Charlotte on vacation. It was about the same temperature there that it was here, (last week). He went to Davidson college and wandered into the bookstore and “everything had Step Curry’s picture on it”. Jim comment on the big money contract Steph got from Under Armour. “The snow has seemed to miss us this year. It’s mostly in the north country.” Gomez said that he could see it from where he lived in Cicero. He lauded the Timberview Restaurant in Turin:
Timberview Resort NY ...Restaurant & Bar
and the great snowmobiling that can be done around there. Jim said that “You will never see me on a snowmobile – too many accidents”. Besides, it was invented after he was born. (Actually, it wasn’t:
Snowmobile - Wikipedia )

They talked about Steph Curry. JB: “He made 50% of his half court shots one year. Klay Thompson is a better spot up shooter but Steph can make them from another area code. He’ll come back and play to get some rust off. Then they will get Klay back. They still have Draymond Green and they will go out and get a big-time player for next year.”

Jerami Grant had a big game off the bench for Oklahoma City (29 points in 29 minutes against Detroit). “He will be a free agent and get a big contract from somebody.”

Gomez mentioned a player at the NFL combine who was a 230 pound tight end trying to gain 70 pounds so he can play tackle in the NFL: NFL Hopeful Gained 70 Pounds With Very Disgusting Shake JB said that he’s seen football players do that but it doesn’t work with basketball players “because of all the running.”

They talked about the Zamboni driver who played goalie in an NHL game and, after giving up two goals, stopped 8 shots in a row to win 4-3. Jim found that ‘odd’ and predicted the rule would be changed next year. But for now, “it’s part of the wonder of sports.”

Jim at first said that there will be no senior day for us this year but then remembered that there are some managers and a walk-on (Shaun Belbey) who are seniors. (Actually Shaun is a grad student.)

On the Dome renovations: Jim said “the inside will look pretty similar except for the new scoreboard and better lighting. The new roof will be safer. There will be no danger of collapse and guys won’t have to shovel snow off of it.” Gomez asked Jim about the switch from Manley Field House to the Dome. “I liked the smaller venue but the fans in the Dome have been great. We got 15,000 that first year and I saw right away that it was going to work. We needed to move the court closer to where the fans were and we did. When Pearl came it went up to 24,000 right away. “

This was the penultimate, (I love that word) show of the season. next Thursday it will be the “Jim Boeheim Show before Miami” and that’s it until the Dino Babers Show starts up next September.

 

[orangepassion]

I don't know what happened to dolezaj's 3 point shot. He was getting pretty decent at it last year, but doesn't shoot it this year

 

[SWC75]

I don't know what happened to dolezaj's 3 point shot. He was getting pretty decent at it last year, but doesn't shoot it this year

it would be a waste of MD's talents to post him at the three point line. He needs to be in the middle of the defense.