Coach Boeheim
Coach Boeheim Answers Questions at 2004 Media Day
10/15/2004 5:12:35 PM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Orange basketball teams participated in Media Day 2004 on Oct. 15. SU men's coach Jim Boeheim sat down to answer questions from reporters.
Coach Boeheim on the return of Billy Edelin:
“Right now, obviously, we’re just happy Billy is back. He’s going to be working on his academics this semester. How much he even practices is up in the air right now, or if he will practice. I’m more concerned that he gets caught up academically over the next few weeks. Because of the progress rule, which just catches him, it’s obviously not a great rule when you’re out of school to have to get courses passed. It’s pretty hard to do that. I don’t care how smart you are. So, he’s in a hole because of that. He’s really got to spend this semester concentrating on his academics and that’s really my only concern. Billy is always pretty much ready to play basketball. He keeps himself in shape. I’m more concerned with just the academic part right now. So, how much he practices is really not very important, or if he WILL practice, it’s not important right now. I’m just concerned that he does the best he can academically so that when the semester’s over, he’ll have enough hours to be able to play. That’s really my only concern right now.”
“He’s clear to practice, but I’m concerned that he gets the amount of hours he needs and practice, I don’t know if that can be done. Practice is not that important at this stage.”
Boeheim on Josh Wright:
“Josh is an exciting player. He’s very quick, has tremendous speed. Depending how quickly he learns what college basketball’s all about, it’s a big jump up for any freshman, but he has the tools to make that jump and be able to help us this year.”
Boeheim on the preseason rankings:
“I don’t worry about where we’re placed. That’s irrelevant. College basketball today as anybody knows that follows the game, you can be between 5 and 20, or you can be between 20 and 50, and you could finish 60th or you could finish 1st. Everybody is that close. We’re rated high because we have a lot of guys back. Some teams have a lot of guys back and don’t play that well. Others guys have a lot of guys back and do play well. We’d like to be one of those teams. Anybody picked in the top 20 has a chance to be a national championship team, in my opinion. Really, anybody picked in the top 40 has a chance to be a final four team. That’s just college basketball. Our league is as strong, maybe, as we’ve ever been. I think we’re stronger this year than we were last year. I think we have more good teams. I think the middle of the league is better. It will be a tremendous challenge for us.”
Boeheim on his expectations for the season:
“I have the same expectations every year, to try to play as well as we can and go as far as we can.”
Boeheim on what his team needs to improve on:
“When you have everybody back, you hope everybody’s improved, which I think they have. I think everybody’s gotten stronger. I think everybody’s worked hard in the off-season. I think that alone should lead to improvement. I think the focus of our team and how much better we’ll be, will be the sophomore class. I think how well those four sophomores play is going to really determine if we’re better or not. Last year, they made minor contributions and this year we need more than that. How much more they’re ready to contribute will really determine where we are. I think the veteran guys coming back will play up to a very high level. I expect our upper-class guys to play to a high level. But, those sophomores and how much they improve, how much the two freshman can help us, will really determine just how good we’ll be. I expect a lot out of our sophomores, just as a rule. They all played last year. Three of them played more than Darryl, but we feel he’s ready. We feel the only reason he didn’t play more last year is because we had a senior and a junior in his position. We feel all four of these guys are ready to play, ready to contribute and be good players for us this year.”
Boeheim on Craig Forth:
“His defense has always been very helpful for us. He’s always been a key part to how we play. His ability on offense to do a lot of different things, his passing, his screening. I think all that is very important. We’d like to see him continue to improve inside - his rebounding, finishing off plays. We feel he’s capable of giving us a little bit more on the offensive end. But, in my opinion, he’s been a key guy for us winning the national championship and going to the Sweet 16 the last two years and I think he’s a little under-appreciated for what he’s done. I think he’ll show improvement. He’s worked very hard this summer. I think he’s made very good strides.”
Boeheim on Gerry McNamara:
“Well, Gerry’s gonna be Gerry. He’s going to go out and play his game and I don’t expect anything different from that. He’s maturing, getting better. Hakim’s getting better. I expect our seniors to be the lead guys on this team. They’re all proven veteran players that know what it takes. They put the time in. They work hard. They’ll be the key guys for us as far as the leadership for this year’s team.”
Boeheim on Hakim Warrick:
“I think his perimeter game has improved. I think he works hard on it. He is getting better away from the basket. He is getting stronger. I think he has a chance to be as dominant as any player in college basketball this year.”
Boeheim on his team’s depth:
“I think we’ve been fortunate to have enough depth every year to get the job done. How it all plays out this year is very difficult to tell at this stage. We feel we have more than adequate depth at every position.”
Boeheim on the schedule:
“I think we’re going to be tested right away. I think going to New York, if we can win two games here to get to New York, will be difficult. Princeton’s an NCAA team with everybody back. That will be a great test for us early. If you can get to New York, you get two great games there and come back in a couple of weeks to play Oklahoma State, which I think will be a top 10 team easily. We’ll be tested very early and then have an opportunity to get to some non-conference games at home and kind of see what we need to do to get better or maintain what we have. Then once the BIG EAST starts, we’ve got an extremely difficult schedule. We’re playing all the good teams twice and I think our conference is as good as it’s been in a long time. We’ve been able to win the national championship the last two years in our conference, so it’s obviously been good.”
Boeheim on Hakim Warrick and his chances in the NBA:
“I think NBA people tended to underrate him a little bit last year. He put up great numbers against good teams and I think he was a little underrated, which may be good. I guess that’s good for us. I think by coming back, he is getting better. He will show tremendous improvement. I think he will be appreciated more. I think he is already being appreciated more by NBA types as just a guy who can play. They’re not as concerned about what he weighs anymore. But, I think he’s got a real, legitimate chance to be the best player in the country this year and really improve his status as far as going to the NBA. Obviously, he will help us.”
Stanchion to Stanchion | Laila Phelia
Wednesday, March 04
Naithan George postgame at Louisville
Wednesday, March 04
Adrian Autry postgame at Louisville
Wednesday, March 04
Highlights | Syracuse vs. Louisville
Wednesday, March 04
