Coach Boeheim Quotes vs. Colgate
Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse vs. Colgate
12/9/06
Carrier Dome-Syracuse, N.Y.
“I think whenever you lose your first game or two it is always tough coming back. We couldn’t get going tonight defensively. We shot the ball well in the first half but we just didn’t do a good job defensively. In the second half we got our defense going. We also screened better and got Demetris (Nichols) open. He got all good shots, all balanced shots, and when he gets those he is going to make them. He may not always make as many as he did tonight but he is going to make shots. I thought we did a good job of getting him the ball, looking for him, and him finishing.”
“I thought defensively our big guys need to do a better job inside. We did a better job on the perimeter, but we didn’t do a good job inside and we didn’t rebound. We have a week ahead of us to work on those things, and we will need these next three weeks to play these games, work on our defense and move on from there. I think we can get better. I think Colgate is a good team. I think they move the ball very well. They are a very difficult team to play against. You need to stay on defense and keep your focus for 35 seconds. The second half we did that. I though Josh Wright did a good job on Simons. He stayed with him wherever he was all day and he didn’t give him any good looks until right at the end there. But our big guys didn’t do a good job defensively inside, and that is disappointing. Demetris certainly got it going just about as good as anyone I have seen shooting the ball. He made some easy shots early then he got some tough ones and it didn’t matter because he just kept making them so it was a good effort. We have a week now to get some practice time in and hopefully get ready for the next game.”
On Paul Harris’ first career start
“The lineup may change next time too. I’m not sure, we will see what happens.”
On the lack of rebounding
“We have worked on rebounding more this year than we have ever worked on rebounding. We are 6’11”, 6’9”, 6’8” across the front line. That is as big as any line in the country, just about. Everybody says we play zone so we don’t rebound but we didn’t play zone tonight and we did not rebound the ball.”
Why did Mike Jones not play tonight?
“Mike is still hurt. We are hoping that he will be back the next game. It is too bad because he was definitely in my mind at the Garden and he was certainly going to play significant minutes and he would have played tonight.”
On Andy Rautins’ performance:
“I think this is the first game where Andy felt better and it shows. He is one of those guys that is going to play when he is hurt which is an admirable trait but it usually doesn’t turn out well.”
On Eric Devendorf’s play:
“He did a nice job tonight. He was very good. Good defensively and good on the offensive end too.”
On Paul Harris’ play so far this season
“Paul said he played terribly in the Garden and he had 11 or 12 points and 6 or 7 rebounds. It is good to think that way but he is a freshman and there are about ten to fifteen guys that were rated ahead of him last year that are averaging five points a game in college. People are putting too much pressure on this kid and he is putting too much pressure on himself. I just told him that you are a good player if you do the things you can do. You concentrate on your rebounding, your defense, your ball handling, and your passing. When you shoot 6% from the three point line you are not going to be a good scorer.”
“The only freshmen that can score are guys that shoot. (Texas forward) Kevin Durant scores but he is a shooter. There are great freshmen that are averaging five, four, three points a game. And some of those freshmen are on teams with other freshmen. (Connecticut forward) Curtis Kelly was a high school All-American. He isn’t averaging two minutes a game. Paul is averaging 12 points, Curtis Kelly isn’t averaging 12 minutes. Stanley Roberts on the under 19 team this summer had 25 points in a game with the best 19 year olds playing. And he sometimes doesn’t even go in the game now. Paul is averaging 12 points a game and is talking about how bad he is playing. He is playing fine. The expectations are out of control and have been from day one. He is a very good player and is doing very well. I said before the season that Paul Harris is going to help us. And he is definitely helping us, a lot. He is getting down and saying these things because he is hearing all this stuff about what he is supposed to do. But he is doing fine.:
On Josh Wright’s play:
“Josh Wright has to be consistent for us. He was solid tonight. He played good defense, didn’t turn it over. I think Josh can play better. I think he is still trying to find his way which I would expect form a guy who is playing a hard position for the first time. It doesn’t matter that he is a junior, he is a freshmen in playing time.”
Closing statement:
“We really need to make shots. This would have been a close game tonight if we didn’t make the shots, but we can make a lot of shots. We have guys that can make shots. That is the strength of our team we have to go with that. But we have to get better rebounding and we have to get better on the defensive end.”
