Coach Boeheim Quotes
Press Conference: Coach Jim Boeheim
(February 26, 2005)
Opening Statement
"I would start out by thanking our fans for how great they have been this year. I think we are over 27,000 for our league games. The fans have been unbelievable all year and it has been just tremendous to go out there.
"The last home game you always want to win for your seniors. This group has been a special group and you know sometimes on senior day you get a little tight, but, they were never tight from the beginning. Hak (Hakim Warrick) started out by making jump shots and just kept everything going from there.
"Providence is a good basketball team. Their record is not indicative of what they are as a team. You know they have lost every game in close-game situations and to be able to dominate them inthe second half was, I thought, a tremendous effort on our part.
"Louie (McCroskey) gave us a big lift in the second half. I thought Craig (Forth) gave us a nice little lift in there. And our three veteran guys came up big for us. It is great to see seniors play like that in their last game. I thought we still struggled a little bit on the boards, but we are getting a little better there. We were weak a little bit in the middle of the zone. (Randall) Hanke came in and really hurt us, but other than that there was not too many things to fault. We wanted to get out on (Donnie) McGrath, he has been shooting the ball well. We really did a good job with him. And (Ryan) Gomes is a tremendous player, he is going to get some points, but I thought overall we did a good job of finding him for the most part.
"It's unusual now to have this week off -- this past week has been tough for everybody just to get through. You know when you have to win a couple of games I think there is a pressure situation more than anything. Just to get 700 out of the way, not having to keep that going for another week and listen to that was a huge relief for me. Place, seeding, and position in the league is so important. That is why these two games were so important to get position in the league. Now we have some time this week to work on some things. I think our younger players are getting better. I think that the practice days we have this week will really be important for us, as we go ahead. We have got some young guys that are just starting to play and do some things. I still think the next two weeks are very important for those guys. Getting them ready, getting them to be better players, is crucial because we have five veterans who have been there and know what they are doing and I think will be good at the end of the year. But to get these young guys going is very important to us.
"Again, this was a great day to have 32,000 people come out when the game is on television, when you are playing—even though they are a good team that is in last place in the league, I think that speaks to how much fans like this team and support our program. It is tremendous."
On whether it is extra special to celebrate his 700th victory with the seniors having their final game
"Well it was great to get this all done at once."
On Josh Pace’s play
"He was huge today because you know once they went to that pressure we had to get right off the big team quick. And Josh -- you cannot have Gerry (McNamara) bring up the ball the whole game -- Josh has improved so much.
"Even when he was a freshmen, I remember the Virginia Tech game we played in here, we were struggling and barely in the game, they were pressing us and Josh came in and broke their press and made like four or five baskets and won the game for us. He is good in those open-court situations where he can use his dribble and get to the basket. We get hurt a little bit on the boards, but if someone is pressing us, we are going to beat pressure and score with it.
"He is just a special kid. He never says a word, never gets upset, he just plays, you know, never has a complaint about anything. I remember when we were recruiting and going into his house, I was about a quarter through my speech, my best speech, I thought, and he looked up and said 'Coach I want to come to Syracuse.' His mother started crying so I had to talk to Mrs. Pace for awhile to get her—she did not want him to go that far away -- but I think it has all turned out pretty well. He is one kid who wanted to come to Syracuse. There was not really a recruiting job at all and sometimes when you get those kids they turn out to be special kids. They want to be here and he just makes plays. He just does little things. A pretty typical game—11 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals. That is Josh Pace right there."
On whether Coach Boeheim could recall a senior day when a senior had a performance like Hakim’s
"I cannot remember, that is for sure. Well he missed that one free throw. I thought he was more aggressive too on defensive. I thought he made a block and tried to make another one. I thought that was good. I thought he was better on defense. His defense has slipped a little bit this year. We put so much pressure on him offensively, but I thought he was much better defensively this game.
"It was nice to see Craig (Forth) finish strong. You know that was very important, he had a good second half. For us, we were weak in the middle today. We really had trouble in the middle of that zone and really did not step up well there at all. All three guys really struggled in the middle."
Reflecting on Hakim Warrick’s career on what he envisioned because he was not widely recruited
"Well I liked him from the beginning. The first time I saw him I was sitting two courts across in Indianapolis. He had a workout -- usually you do not even go to workouts, you go to the games -- but we tried to go over there early and I looked over and saw a big skinny kid just do a layup over the basket and dunking and coach said ‘I gotta find out who that is’ and went over. At that time you could talk to the high school coach and people who work there, but you cannot do that anymore. I found his and said 'what did he do" and he said "well. the first game he got zero points and no rebounds for me, but the second night he looked good, he is just skinny." Of course, he weighed 170 pounds maybe. But you know, I saw that one play and you say ‘look at that kid, wow he is explosive?’
"We found out that he was not being recruited obviously. Sometimes when you hear that, coaches say well he cannot be that good if he is in Philadelphia and nobody is recruiting him. We went after him and it was a long recruiting process and we only had one scholarship left and we wanted him. We liked Julius Hodge, and it really came down near the end and his mother really saved us in the recruiting process because in fact Providence was one of his schools and they were pushing him. She said 'you want to go to Syracuse so be patient and wait' because we had been recruiting Julius Hodge for three years.
"At the end, it ended up that we got the right player. Sometimes the recruiting thing works out for everybody and it certainly worked out for us and for Hakim."
On if the last five minutes of the game is the Craig Forth that he has been looking for
"Well, he was good. You know he moved better, he was better on defense. That is important. For us to win, we have got to have something from him.
"I thought Mookie (Darryl Watkins) took a step back today. He did not get up and down the court. He was watching the game. (Randall) Hanke comes in and we made him look like an All-American instead of a guy who is averaging four points a game."
