The Jim Boeheim Show- before Virginia Tech | Syracusefan.com

The Jim Boeheim Show- before Virginia Tech

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(There has been no articles giving details of this year’s Jim Boeheim show. I had to call into the radio station to find out that the first show will be tonight. I’ll assume there has been no changes since last year. No schedule had been posted but the show is usually on a Thursday unless there is a game or a holiday that night.)

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 will likely start out on Zoom and not be at a local restaurant. The first hour, hosted by Matt Park, the Voice of the Orange, is on their general network. The second hour, which usually begins with the conference season, is hosted by Gomez, a local radio personality.

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 | Live News, Sports, Music, and Podcasts

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

“Coach, I’ve got two questions about our big men, one from a friend. My friend noticed that all of our big men are rather skinny. He wondered how our weight program compares to those of other schools like Pittsburgh and North Carolina. I wondered what the relative importance of game experiences was in the development of big men. Do they have to play a lot to get better or can it all be done in practice?”



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.)

JB: “Virginia Tech and Virginia are both Top 20 teams with an upward trend Virginia is figuring it out and becoming what we are used to seeing.”

“Miami had had one bad game and most of their games were close. They missed Lykes but they have other guards. We lost Bourama and didn’t really have another center. We started 2-11. We weren’t close with any of our shots and they scored 8-9 points right in the middle. Kadary came in and got a couple of steals and Jesse came in and held down the fort. We had a monster run, (matt had it at 45-16. We got some rhythm on offense Joe got some good looks and was more aggressive. He got his feet set. Two guys who are the strength of our team got 5 points, (Marek and Alan), and we won by 30.”

On the revelation about Buddy and Joe: “Both guards had Covid and were really sick. They couldn’t practice or run for 10 days. They are now close to full strength. Being actually sick takes a lot more out of you. They shot well, played better defense, forcing more turnovers. If you say they were sick when you lose, people think it’s an excuse. That’s information fans should know. Everybody worries about HIPAA rules. If my son is sick or has a bad ankle, I don’t care if people know. It’s common sense. People criticize Joe and Buddy for their defense when it’s a center issue. If you don’t shoot well, you have to take responsibility for it. Everybody emphasizes offense but in the second half against Pitt, defense was the problem. Jesse could have had 3-4 more blocks against Miami. He was in position but didn’t get up…..Other than the second half against Pitt, we’ve been really solid this year.”

The comment about Jesse was a good entrée into my question(s). JB didn’t spend much time on my part of the inquiry. “You can get better in practice and then you need game experience.” On the subject of size: North Carolina had guys who were 7-0 230 in high school and are now 240. Marek was 170 and is now 190. Jesse has gained 20 pounds and could gain 20 more. The UNC guys were already big. Miami’s big guy was skinny. Football players go from 230-290 through a very heavy lifting and calorie program. We’ve had guys gain 30 pounds. Quincy came in at 215 and is as strong as anybody at his position. Basketball players tend to be thin. Zion Williamson was an exception.” I asked him if he tended to recruit thin guys and he denied it. “A lot of big guys are thin. Quincy and Kadary are very physical.” I noted that I remember an interview a couple of years ago with a coach who said that players don’t fill out until they stop growing vertically: they are growing up, not out. JB agreed with that. “Strength is more important than body weight... Etan was 210 when he came her. He got up to 240. Jeremy grant and Derrick Coleman were about 200 when they got here. Both had basketball strength.”

Matt followed up, saying that “We haven’t had a lot of help from our four centers.” JB: “Centers are hard to find. A lot of programs don’t really have one. Wings, forwards and guards are a lot more plentiful. We’ve had a lot of good big men over the years. Bourama looked better in practice this year than he did last year- even at the end of the year. He’s much bigger and stronger. It’s disappointing. He was supposed to be out 4 weeks and instead he’s out 8 weeks. The young centers are not ready to help us. Jesse had a pretty good offensive game. He’s showing signs. Length is really important.” Matt said that “everybody wants a guy like Iowa’s player of the year candidate Luka Garza but our guys would lap him running down the court.” JB: “What we try to do when we can’t get a great one is to try to develop centers.”

“Pittsburgh has the best player in the league and it’s not really close.” Justin Champagnie is averaging 20 points and 13 rebounds a game. By comparison, Quincy Guerrier, who is actually a little bigger, (6-7 220 vs. 6-6 200), and having a great year of his own, is averaging 17 and 10. Champagnie actually had back-to-back 20/20 games with 24p/21r vs. Gardner-Webb and 20p/20r against Northwestern. “They have solid guards. We should have won the game here by 10 points.”

“The league is changing. Virginia Tech and Virginia are moving up. Tech added a big guy who sat out last year and have all their perimeter guys back. They have really good balance, the inside-outside game and depth. They lost by 20 at home to Penn State but won at Michigan State and beat Villanova at the Mohegan Sun Tournament. Sam Hauser, a Marquette transfer is their leading scorer, (13.8). “They’ve got the big guy underneath”, (Jay Huff, 7-1, 243, 13p/6r). Trey Murphy, (from Rice), “can really shoot it”. (he’s 52% from – trey). This is their best offensive team in a long time and they can still play defense. This is a different team than the one that played Gonzaga- they are using different players. Clemson is moving down. Georgia Tech is moving up. I’m not surprised – they have veteran players. They probably have the best starting line-up. They had a bad start but are now playing well. Wake Forest battles everyone hard. Their coach is doing a good job. They just haven’t bene able to win. Florida State is good. Miami is better than they looked. Pitt is moving into the top group. Virginia, Georgia Tech, Virginia tech, Florida State and Pittsburgh will be right there at the end of the year.” Will we? “We have really good teams in the next group we are going to play.”

They talked about the possi8blity of re-scheduling the cancelled game between #1 Gonzaga and #2 Baylor. Jim didn’t think there was any point late in the season. “Wait and play at the end of the year”. (But will they? We never got to play Kansas in 2010 or Kentucky in 2012.) “Gonzaga has the best offensive team in the country. Baylor has the best defensive team. Baylor would give them issues but Gonzaga is the best team.”

Josh from Boulder, Colorado said he’s always walking around town with an SU hat on and people are always starting conversations with him. “You have a lot of fans around here.” He wanted to know if Marek is “a little gun shy”? JB: “No. He looks to pass it first. He’s not looking to score. He wants to help other people score. He usually passes to get a good shot, not just to get rid of it. There’s situations where he could get a little more aggressive. He hasn’t bene rebounding as well he could.”

They talked about Jeremy Grant who “has become one of the better players in the NBA- top 30-40.” He’s now 12th in the NBA in scoring with 25.4ppg. They’ve changed the whole team around him. They’ve lost some close games but have potential. Jeremy joined Philly when they were in ‘no players mode’. He got to play and then he played well for Oklahoma City and Denver. Now it’s his team and he’s playing great.”

This is the anniversary of Pearl’s half-court shot:
Jim noted that he was so confident it was going in that he began running for the locker room before it went in. They didn’t bring up the story of his running to the locker room so he could call his Mom. Matt noted that there was no social distancing after that shot. It’s always bene my fantasy that pearl stayed for his senior season and that we immediately inbounded the ball to Pearl after Keith Smart’s shot, (which went through with 4 seconds left), and….

The women’s team is playing #1 ranked Louisville. “they have to get better and they will- they are young. They players will get better. Tiana will be back to full strength by the end of the season. It takes a while.” Matt pointed out that the top two ranked teams are both in the ACC: Louisville and NC State. Jim said he likes it when our other teams do well: the Soccer team has had a player drafted in the first round 7 years in a row. The cross-country team has had quite a run, (literally). He’s looking forward to the lacrosse season.

Matt noted that you get to meet the President if you win the national championships. But Jim’s already met the President. How cool is it to have an SU guy, (even if it’s graduate school), make it to the Oval Office? Jim said that during the Obama administration he’d accompanied several top college coaches to the oval office. Biden was scheduled to be there but burst in through the door and President Obama said “He just wants to talk to Jim”. They talked about how Biden had visited the SU locker room after the 2016 Final Four loss to North Carolina. He especially talked to Delaware native Trevor Cooney. Jim said that Joe has called him several times besides that and once hosted one of our national championship lacrosse teams in his home.

“Joe is a good guy. He’s just what we need now. He’ll do everything he can to unify the country. He has grace and dignity. There will be a nice tone to the interviews and press conferences. The virus will be his #1 priority. He’ll get us vaccines and stimulus or we’ll still be talking about this a year from now. Joe is the man to get this done. I’m more interested in what kind of people our leaders are than their politics. He’ll make mistakes but he won’t blame them on someone else. He’s a good guy.” Has the coach had a vaccine shot? “No- they told me to wait since I’d have the virus.”
 
"People criticize Joe and Buddy for their defense when it’s a center issue."

Well, there you go. Who knew?

We could have peak Etan back there, and I’m pretty sure Joe & Buddy would still be minus defenders.

I’ll take it one step further:
We could have peak Etan, DC, and Wes as the 3, and Joe & Buddy would still be minus defenders as the 2.
 
though I did find this interesting in regard to Sidibe:

"He was supposed to be out 4 weeks and instead he’s out 8 weeks."

sounds like there's a somewhat definite time frame to at least try to have him back?
 
though I did find this interesting in regard to Sidibe:

"He was supposed to be out 4 weeks and instead he’s out 8 weeks."

sounds like there's a somewhat definite time frame to at least try to have him back?
I read it that way as well. He didn’t say ‘so far.’
 
though I did find this interesting in regard to Sidibe:

"He was supposed to be out 4 weeks and instead he’s out 8 weeks."

sounds like there's a somewhat definite time frame to at least try to have him back?

He's been out 8 weeks.

He's not expected to practice anytime soon.
 
He's been out 8 weeks.

He's not expected to practice anytime soon.
hmm, thought it had been less than 8 weeks since the injury - yeah, maybe it was just the way JB worded it
 
some of (fast becoming "a lot of") the things JB says are just unfortunate


"Fast becoming" triggered a flash from the past.

Years ago I was watching the lead-in for a college basketball game. The play-by-play guy asked the color man about a particular player. This was his reply, complete with a wide, Pepsodent smile:

"Many experts think that he's fast becoming one of the most under-rated players in the league!"

They went to a commercial, allowing me to think about this statement.

"Many experts" - We don't know how many. Is it even a majority?
"Many experts think" - I would hope so. But they just think it. They don't know it.
"Many experts think that he is fast becoming" - He's not there yet. we don't know if he will get there.
"Many experts think that he is fast becoming one of the most" - Even if he gets there, he won't be at the top of the heap.
"Many experts think that he is fast becoming one of the most under-rated" - How do you become under-rated? Well, first you have to convince people that you aren't very good. Then you have to improve so that many experts think you aren't as bad as they thought you were. Which stage of this procedure is he in at this point?

So what Mr. Pepsodent was telling me was that a lot of people think this guy might someday no longer be as bad as some people once thought he was and I should stay turned to see if they were right.

I decided to watch something else.
 
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"Fast becoming" triggered a flash from the past.

Years ago I was watching the lead-in for a college basketball game. The play-by-play guy asked the color man about a particular player. This was his reply, complete with a wide, Pepsodent smile:

"Many experts think that he's fast becoming one of the most under-rated players in the league".

They went to a commercial, allowing me to think about this statement.

"Many experts" - We don't know how many. Is it even a majority?
"Many experts think" - I would hope so. But they just think it. They don't know it.
"Many experts think that he is fast becoming" - He's not there yet. we don't know if he will get there.
"Many experts think that he is fast becoming one of the most" - Even if he gets there, he won't be at the top of the heap.
"Many experts think that he is fast becoming one of the most under-rated" - How do you become under-rated? Well, first you have to convince people that you aren't very good. Then you have to improve so that many experts think you aren't as bad as they thought you were. Which stage of this procedure is he in at this point?

So what Mr. Pepsodent was telling me was that a lot of people think this guy might someday no longer be as bad as some people once thought he was and I should stay turned to see if they were right.

I decided to watch something else.
Instant classic. Kudos
 
re: Buddy and Joe with Covid — "If you say they were sick when you lose, people think it’s an excuse."

I don't think that's true. I think the vast majority of fans want as much info as we're reasonably entitled to, and if it had included this, we want to be understanding of factors like this. We want to believe in our own players. Am i wrong?
 
re: Buddy and Joe with Covid — "If you say they were sick when you lose, people think it’s an excuse."

I don't think that's true. I think the vast majority of fans want as much info as we're reasonably entitled to, and if it had included this, we want to be understanding of factors like this. We want to believe in our own players. Am i wrong?

Kinda. I wouldn't think of it as an excuse, I'd think of it more as a "why didn't we play someone that could play" situation

Now it kinda feels like an excuse though to bring it up after a win
 
"Fast becoming" triggered a flash from the past.

Years ago I was watching the lead-in for a college basketball game. The play-by-play guy asked the color man about a particular player. This was his reply, complete with a wide, Pepsodent smile:

"Many experts think that he's fast becoming one of the most under-rated players in the league!"

They went to a commercial, allowing me to think about this statement.

"Many experts" - We don't know how many. Is it even a majority?
"Many experts think" - I would hope so. But they just think it. They don't know it.
"Many experts think that he is fast becoming" - He's not there yet. we don't know if he will get there.
"Many experts think that he is fast becoming one of the most" - Even if he gets there, he won't be at the top of the heap.
"Many experts think that he is fast becoming one of the most under-rated" - How do you become under-rated? Well, first you have to convince people that you aren't very good. Then you have to improve so that many experts think you aren't as bad as they thought you were. Which stage of this procedure is he in at this point?

So what Mr. Pepsodent was telling me was that a lot of people think this guy might someday no longer be as bad as some people once thought he was and I should stay turned to see if they were right.

I decided to watch something else.
Sadly, that's true of most analysts most of the time.

They don't put in the work necessary to become strong.
Not in research, not in preparation and not in practice.

It's especially true of ex-players and coaches who just talk endlessly.
Two of the worst offenders were Bobby Knight and John Thompson.
If any of their players ever showed up as unprepared as they were the players would have been benched or more likely kicked off the team.

But in broadcasting no one seems to care.
And management generally just hires big names and then provides little or no guidance.
 
Sadly, that's true of most analysts most of the time.

They don't put in the work necessary to become strong.
Not in research, not in preparation and not in practice.

It's especially true of ex-players and coaches who just talk endlessly.
Two of the worst offenders were Bobby Knight and John Thompson.
If any of their players ever showed up as unprepared as they were the players would have been benched or more likely kicked off the team.

But in broadcasting no one seems to care.
And management generally just hires big names and then provides little or no guidance.

Not basketball, but I remember watching an NFL game with Bill Walsh doing the color commentary. And he literally said this: "That play may or may not have a big impact on the game." Thanks for the insight, Coach!
 
Not basketball, but I remember watching an NFL game with Bill Walsh doing the color commentary. And he literally said this: "That play may or may not have a big impact on the game." Thanks for the insight, Coach!


That ranks with the baseball interviewer who told a player "You never know. If a few more hits had fallen in, you might have a higher batting average!"
 

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