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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 Shaughnessy’s at the Marriott in Downtown Syracuse. 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.
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:
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: http://tunein.com
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
First Hour:
“Coach, last week you noted that the top three teams in the country, (Villanova, Virginia and Purdue) don’t have any ‘one and dones’. It seems to me that the most successful schools either take the cream of the crop of recruits each year, even if they are likely to leave early, and just try to out-talent their opposition or they get players to stay for four years and develop into really good college players and teams. In fact I think the latter schools have actually had the greater success. What is the secret to getting kids to stay: academic goals, family aspirations, coaching relationships or is it just draft status?”
Second Hour: (revised)
“Coach, it’s been observed that many of our point guards in recent years are really ‘2’ guards, shooting guards we try to covert to point guards. Is that how you would describe Frank Howard? Why don’t we go for more pure point guards, like Alan Griffin?”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. 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 will 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.)
(They are now doing two hour shows. The second hour is hosted by Gomez, a local radio personality. There are three musical interludes, one every 20 minutes, so if you tune in at 8PM it’s going to sound as if the Boeheim show has ended but stick with it. As last year, the night of the show I will post comments relating directly to the SU basketball team. I’ll post “Part 2” on Friday, which will contain other topics that were discussed. )
Coach Boeheim was not there. He had a “prior commitment”. Instead Coach Allen Griffin was sitting in for him. He discussed the Louisville game: “We didn’t have enough time to think about it, (the Virginia game). Virginia kept us out of the lane and forced us to take tough shots. We had to be aggressive and attack the paint….Tyus and Frank got off to a great start, attacking early. The six healthy guys all delivered.”
Louisville was bouncing back with a 24-8 lead over Georgia Tech (they would win 77-54). “Louisville is very talented. You knew they were going to put their heads down and play with determination. The ACC can do that to you, (three straight losses). They are using Spaulding and Mamoud together as twin towers….When we are able to win on the road in this league it keeps us afloat and trending in the right direction….the kids were proud of the way they executed in this game. Oshae went back to being Oshae and got to the line. Marek was the Marek of old: aggressive, getting his hand on ball, being in the right place at the right time. Paschal was changing shots and rebounding.” Matt noted that SU was #7 in the country in blocked shots and Louisville was #2 but there was only one block recorded in the game- by Louisville. Allen knew that stat and expressed amazement.
Liam in Pompey called to say that the team looked tired and kept their hands too low. He asked if the coaching staff stressed keeping the players hands up on defense. Griff said they had and that it was very important to get as many deflections as they can.
I called in my first question anyway, figuring that Allen could answer it as well as Jim could, and put together the second hour question you see above to replace the one I had earlier sent in about the highest scoring recruit Coach Boeheim had ever had. Griff: “All of the above. (academic goals, family aspirations, coaching relationships and draft status), You just never know what will make a kid stay. It might be academics. It might be coaching relationships. They may want to win a championship. To each his own. There are situations in life that push them out the door. If I had had the opportunity to leave early I would have had to think about it a long time because I loved Syracuse and I wanted to win a national championship….At places like Dayton, (where he coached previously), and Xavier, (a long-time rival of Dayton), they know they aren’t getting top players. Older players are more successful because they know what it takes. They will get up early to do the work. They have the mental fortitude to grind it out. Some younger guys don’t get it until it’s too late.”
Matt asked “How do you fix it? (The defections from college teams.) Everybody has their own perspective. If you are a fan you want guys to stay. A stud player wants to get to the NBA. The NBA wants polished players.” Griffin added “There is no quick fix. How much did SU benefit from Carmelo Anthony – not only winning a championship here but going on to NBA stardom and helping to build the Melo Center. He’s a great recruiting tool.” Matt: “Melo proves the system works. He was a late bloomer, wins a national championship and parts ways. But for every one like him there’s 100 who don’t make in the NBA.” Griffin: “It’s so hard to make it in the NBA. There’s so many veteran players. There’s another draft class right behind you and another one behind that. “ Matt noted James Southerland, a guy who looked like he might have what it takes to make it in the NBA. “But he got in the wrong situation and soon there was another draft full of James Southerlands.” Griff: “The NBA has to have it right away.” Matt: “SU is good enough to get really good recruits but not the top ones. We can develop them but we are also good enough to expose them, (to the scouts).” Griff: “We have good players but not enough of them.” Matt: “We’ve had a string of pros but sometimes the string breaks.”
“Poking around the ACC”, Matt asked Allen about next Wednesday’s opponent, NC State, who had reversed a 58-88 defeat at Notre Dame with a 76-58 win in Raleigh on Saturday. AG: “NC State has NCAA hopes and we’ve got to be up for the challenge. They did a good job (against Notre Dame). It’s all about their pressure.” About Sunday’s opponent, Wake Forest, Bryant Crawford just hit 5 treys and scored 23 points in a narrow loss, (81-87) to Miami. Matt said “They got away from you.” AG: We had a good shot there. Our guys will come up big in this game. Crawford is a good player and he will be quite a challenge but I think we will be up to it…Virginia is one of the best defensive teams I’ve seen in a long time….Jerome Robinson of BC is one of the most under-rated players.”
Duke and North Carolina were playing tonight, although they had the Louisville-GT game on the tube. Matt pointed out that in their last 100 games the two teams have each won 50 games and Duke has scored two more points. Later Gomez mentioned that both teams have sent 57 players to the NBA in that time.
Tom in Syracuse praised Allen. “You were poised and determined and played hard all the time.” Tom advocated increased us of the full court press. AG: “We work on it every day. Coach Boeheim wants to play up-tempo and get more possessions. But there aren’t enough bodies.”
Matt asked about Bourama Sidibie. They are going to try one more plasma treatment, maybe play him one game a week or every other game.
Rudy Hackett will be honored at the Hardwood Club dinner with the Vic Hanson award:
Vic Hanson Medal of Excellence
He called in by arrangement and Matt conducted a brief interview. Matt noted that Dennis DuVal, Rudy’s former teammate, had his jersey retired at the Dome and many of their former teammates were present. He asked Rudy they were still close. RH: “We were a close family-like team. I’m glad we’re still around, except for Bobby Parker. We needed each other. We had to represent the school and community at the Final Four. We’d been on a really good freshman team and went through four years together, (DuVal was a couple of years ahead of them). We’d lost more games that year than we had in the two prior years together. (Not really: we’d gone 24-5 and 19-7 and were 23-9 in the Final Four year). We were just hoping to get into the tournament. My roommate Jimmy lee had a bad shooting slump. We spent a lot of nights in the gym trying to work it out. We needed luck as well as skill.”
Rudy, like a lot of SU players, played abroad after his SU career and “learned a lot from international basketball”. He’s now a coach. He coached his son at USC and stayed there for 5-6 years. Now he gives private training sessions to players from all over the world, from high school players to pros.
Gomez started off with Allen but the Jim Boeheim showed up. His “prior commitment” was watching his daughter’s Jamesville DeWitt team win another game to remain undefeated. “She’s growing up – that’s for sure.” With Jim’s arrival, Griff left and allowed his boss to finish the show.
“Louisville was a good offensive game. If the ball goes into the basket, it makes a big difference in winning and losing. We have to make shots, especially on the road. Wake Forest and NC State will score. We have to limit them but we’ve got to score.”
I contemplated whether to call and ask the same question I’d asked Allen Griffin, which was intended for JB, or ask the softball question about the highest scoring recruit I’d first come up with. Instead I decided to ask the question I’d composed to ask Allen about the point guards. Jim jumped on the premise with the same line he’d used in the press conference, which I guess will now be his routine response when he doesn’t like a question or it’s premise. “Steve….Steve…. I’m surprised at you. Why are you asking a question when you already know the answer? Johnny Flynn...Brandon Triche….Tyler Ennis…. They were all point guards. So was Kaleb Joseph, although he wasn’t good enough. We did convert Mike Gbinijie. Frank Howard was a passer first in high school. People say he was a 2 guard but he was a point guard. Jaylen Carey can play off the ball but he’s a point guard. I can’t mention his name but the guy we have for 2019 is a point guard.”
“The assist thing is very hazy. Alan had shooters. All he had to do was bring the ball up and make a 5-10 foot pass for a jump shot and it was an assists. We dribble drive more because that’s how we can score. We scored 78 points against Louisville and it was mostly on the drive. You don’t get as many assists that way. I the last 30 years we’ve been mostly in the top 2-3 teams in the conference in assists. We could pass for jump shots but we’d score less.”
Jim ordered the TV changed to the Duke-UNC game because it was going to be the better game.
“We played well at Louisville but we’d played really well at Florida State – better than at Louisville in some senses. For the most part we played well at Wake. Nobody scores on Virginia. We’ve played hard and well on defense and rebounding….Buffalo is 28th in the country in RPI. We won close games against Toledo, Maryland, Connecticut and Georgetown. If we make shots we can beat anybody but if don’t make shots we can lose to a lot of people….Villanova was playing 6 guys and lost two of them. They were barely winning. St. John’s had lost a lot of close games. Villanova was winning with balance. They had 6 double figure scorers. Duke can be score don. A lot of teams play 6-7-8 guys. Duke’s playing 5-6 guys. That’s just college basketball now. Duke will play better defense as they go along. It’s strictly a defensive issue. They can score with anybody. Carolina hasn’t played as well as people might have thought. Cameron Johnson from Pittsburgh has really saved them. Without him they haven’t been scoring. “
Mel called in to say that Marek Dolezaj was “one of our best foul shooters – why can’t he make 10-12 foot jump shots?” Jim said “He’s looking for that shot now and will take it if he can get it.”
On Bourama: “He’s iffy and needs to get that fixed after the season. We’ll try to see what we can squeeze out of him until then.”
Gomez told Jim about Rudy Hackett’s description of the 1975 run to the Final Four. JB: “Hackett and Lee were both really good players. That was a miracle kind of team to get to the Final Four. North Carolina had 5 NBA guys.” After the win over North Carolina “we came back to Hancock at 10-11 at night. There were thousands of people there. Cars were parked on the access road all the way to North Syracuse. We had never done something like that. It was a great moment.
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:
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: http://tunein.com
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
First Hour:
“Coach, last week you noted that the top three teams in the country, (Villanova, Virginia and Purdue) don’t have any ‘one and dones’. It seems to me that the most successful schools either take the cream of the crop of recruits each year, even if they are likely to leave early, and just try to out-talent their opposition or they get players to stay for four years and develop into really good college players and teams. In fact I think the latter schools have actually had the greater success. What is the secret to getting kids to stay: academic goals, family aspirations, coaching relationships or is it just draft status?”
Second Hour: (revised)
“Coach, it’s been observed that many of our point guards in recent years are really ‘2’ guards, shooting guards we try to covert to point guards. Is that how you would describe Frank Howard? Why don’t we go for more pure point guards, like Alan Griffin?”
COACH BOEHEIM
(I have, in some instances, put together statements from different parts of the broadcast on the same subject. 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 will 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.)
(They are now doing two hour shows. The second hour is hosted by Gomez, a local radio personality. There are three musical interludes, one every 20 minutes, so if you tune in at 8PM it’s going to sound as if the Boeheim show has ended but stick with it. As last year, the night of the show I will post comments relating directly to the SU basketball team. I’ll post “Part 2” on Friday, which will contain other topics that were discussed. )
Coach Boeheim was not there. He had a “prior commitment”. Instead Coach Allen Griffin was sitting in for him. He discussed the Louisville game: “We didn’t have enough time to think about it, (the Virginia game). Virginia kept us out of the lane and forced us to take tough shots. We had to be aggressive and attack the paint….Tyus and Frank got off to a great start, attacking early. The six healthy guys all delivered.”
Louisville was bouncing back with a 24-8 lead over Georgia Tech (they would win 77-54). “Louisville is very talented. You knew they were going to put their heads down and play with determination. The ACC can do that to you, (three straight losses). They are using Spaulding and Mamoud together as twin towers….When we are able to win on the road in this league it keeps us afloat and trending in the right direction….the kids were proud of the way they executed in this game. Oshae went back to being Oshae and got to the line. Marek was the Marek of old: aggressive, getting his hand on ball, being in the right place at the right time. Paschal was changing shots and rebounding.” Matt noted that SU was #7 in the country in blocked shots and Louisville was #2 but there was only one block recorded in the game- by Louisville. Allen knew that stat and expressed amazement.
Liam in Pompey called to say that the team looked tired and kept their hands too low. He asked if the coaching staff stressed keeping the players hands up on defense. Griff said they had and that it was very important to get as many deflections as they can.
I called in my first question anyway, figuring that Allen could answer it as well as Jim could, and put together the second hour question you see above to replace the one I had earlier sent in about the highest scoring recruit Coach Boeheim had ever had. Griff: “All of the above. (academic goals, family aspirations, coaching relationships and draft status), You just never know what will make a kid stay. It might be academics. It might be coaching relationships. They may want to win a championship. To each his own. There are situations in life that push them out the door. If I had had the opportunity to leave early I would have had to think about it a long time because I loved Syracuse and I wanted to win a national championship….At places like Dayton, (where he coached previously), and Xavier, (a long-time rival of Dayton), they know they aren’t getting top players. Older players are more successful because they know what it takes. They will get up early to do the work. They have the mental fortitude to grind it out. Some younger guys don’t get it until it’s too late.”
Matt asked “How do you fix it? (The defections from college teams.) Everybody has their own perspective. If you are a fan you want guys to stay. A stud player wants to get to the NBA. The NBA wants polished players.” Griffin added “There is no quick fix. How much did SU benefit from Carmelo Anthony – not only winning a championship here but going on to NBA stardom and helping to build the Melo Center. He’s a great recruiting tool.” Matt: “Melo proves the system works. He was a late bloomer, wins a national championship and parts ways. But for every one like him there’s 100 who don’t make in the NBA.” Griffin: “It’s so hard to make it in the NBA. There’s so many veteran players. There’s another draft class right behind you and another one behind that. “ Matt noted James Southerland, a guy who looked like he might have what it takes to make it in the NBA. “But he got in the wrong situation and soon there was another draft full of James Southerlands.” Griff: “The NBA has to have it right away.” Matt: “SU is good enough to get really good recruits but not the top ones. We can develop them but we are also good enough to expose them, (to the scouts).” Griff: “We have good players but not enough of them.” Matt: “We’ve had a string of pros but sometimes the string breaks.”
“Poking around the ACC”, Matt asked Allen about next Wednesday’s opponent, NC State, who had reversed a 58-88 defeat at Notre Dame with a 76-58 win in Raleigh on Saturday. AG: “NC State has NCAA hopes and we’ve got to be up for the challenge. They did a good job (against Notre Dame). It’s all about their pressure.” About Sunday’s opponent, Wake Forest, Bryant Crawford just hit 5 treys and scored 23 points in a narrow loss, (81-87) to Miami. Matt said “They got away from you.” AG: We had a good shot there. Our guys will come up big in this game. Crawford is a good player and he will be quite a challenge but I think we will be up to it…Virginia is one of the best defensive teams I’ve seen in a long time….Jerome Robinson of BC is one of the most under-rated players.”
Duke and North Carolina were playing tonight, although they had the Louisville-GT game on the tube. Matt pointed out that in their last 100 games the two teams have each won 50 games and Duke has scored two more points. Later Gomez mentioned that both teams have sent 57 players to the NBA in that time.
Tom in Syracuse praised Allen. “You were poised and determined and played hard all the time.” Tom advocated increased us of the full court press. AG: “We work on it every day. Coach Boeheim wants to play up-tempo and get more possessions. But there aren’t enough bodies.”
Matt asked about Bourama Sidibie. They are going to try one more plasma treatment, maybe play him one game a week or every other game.
Rudy Hackett will be honored at the Hardwood Club dinner with the Vic Hanson award:
Vic Hanson Medal of Excellence
He called in by arrangement and Matt conducted a brief interview. Matt noted that Dennis DuVal, Rudy’s former teammate, had his jersey retired at the Dome and many of their former teammates were present. He asked Rudy they were still close. RH: “We were a close family-like team. I’m glad we’re still around, except for Bobby Parker. We needed each other. We had to represent the school and community at the Final Four. We’d been on a really good freshman team and went through four years together, (DuVal was a couple of years ahead of them). We’d lost more games that year than we had in the two prior years together. (Not really: we’d gone 24-5 and 19-7 and were 23-9 in the Final Four year). We were just hoping to get into the tournament. My roommate Jimmy lee had a bad shooting slump. We spent a lot of nights in the gym trying to work it out. We needed luck as well as skill.”
Rudy, like a lot of SU players, played abroad after his SU career and “learned a lot from international basketball”. He’s now a coach. He coached his son at USC and stayed there for 5-6 years. Now he gives private training sessions to players from all over the world, from high school players to pros.
Gomez started off with Allen but the Jim Boeheim showed up. His “prior commitment” was watching his daughter’s Jamesville DeWitt team win another game to remain undefeated. “She’s growing up – that’s for sure.” With Jim’s arrival, Griff left and allowed his boss to finish the show.
“Louisville was a good offensive game. If the ball goes into the basket, it makes a big difference in winning and losing. We have to make shots, especially on the road. Wake Forest and NC State will score. We have to limit them but we’ve got to score.”
I contemplated whether to call and ask the same question I’d asked Allen Griffin, which was intended for JB, or ask the softball question about the highest scoring recruit I’d first come up with. Instead I decided to ask the question I’d composed to ask Allen about the point guards. Jim jumped on the premise with the same line he’d used in the press conference, which I guess will now be his routine response when he doesn’t like a question or it’s premise. “Steve….Steve…. I’m surprised at you. Why are you asking a question when you already know the answer? Johnny Flynn...Brandon Triche….Tyler Ennis…. They were all point guards. So was Kaleb Joseph, although he wasn’t good enough. We did convert Mike Gbinijie. Frank Howard was a passer first in high school. People say he was a 2 guard but he was a point guard. Jaylen Carey can play off the ball but he’s a point guard. I can’t mention his name but the guy we have for 2019 is a point guard.”
“The assist thing is very hazy. Alan had shooters. All he had to do was bring the ball up and make a 5-10 foot pass for a jump shot and it was an assists. We dribble drive more because that’s how we can score. We scored 78 points against Louisville and it was mostly on the drive. You don’t get as many assists that way. I the last 30 years we’ve been mostly in the top 2-3 teams in the conference in assists. We could pass for jump shots but we’d score less.”
Jim ordered the TV changed to the Duke-UNC game because it was going to be the better game.
“We played well at Louisville but we’d played really well at Florida State – better than at Louisville in some senses. For the most part we played well at Wake. Nobody scores on Virginia. We’ve played hard and well on defense and rebounding….Buffalo is 28th in the country in RPI. We won close games against Toledo, Maryland, Connecticut and Georgetown. If we make shots we can beat anybody but if don’t make shots we can lose to a lot of people….Villanova was playing 6 guys and lost two of them. They were barely winning. St. John’s had lost a lot of close games. Villanova was winning with balance. They had 6 double figure scorers. Duke can be score don. A lot of teams play 6-7-8 guys. Duke’s playing 5-6 guys. That’s just college basketball now. Duke will play better defense as they go along. It’s strictly a defensive issue. They can score with anybody. Carolina hasn’t played as well as people might have thought. Cameron Johnson from Pittsburgh has really saved them. Without him they haven’t been scoring. “
Mel called in to say that Marek Dolezaj was “one of our best foul shooters – why can’t he make 10-12 foot jump shots?” Jim said “He’s looking for that shot now and will take it if he can get it.”
On Bourama: “He’s iffy and needs to get that fixed after the season. We’ll try to see what we can squeeze out of him until then.”
Gomez told Jim about Rudy Hackett’s description of the 1975 run to the Final Four. JB: “Hackett and Lee were both really good players. That was a miracle kind of team to get to the Final Four. North Carolina had 5 NBA guys.” After the win over North Carolina “we came back to Hancock at 10-11 at night. There were thousands of people there. Cars were parked on the access road all the way to North Syracuse. We had never done something like that. It was a great moment.
