Boeheim Postgame
Jim Boeheim
SU v. St. Rose Press Conference
November 4, 2007
“I thought this was a tremendous experience. I thought St. Rose really did a tremendous job tonight. They really moved the ball probably as well as anybody we’ll play. They were very patient and ran a lot of screens. They exposed some of the things defensively that take a long time to work on and I thought when it was tied there, it was good.”
“We had to make a couple plays and we made a couple good plays there on both ends. I thought it was a really good game for us in terms of how they played and the patience they had. We had a little rhythm early, but we got out of it a little bit and let them back in it. I thought overall it was a really good game for us.”
“We have a lot of guys trying to figure out what they can do and what they can’t and overall it was a good experience for us.”
On whether the 21 turnovers were due to a young team:
“I think some of that is just some simple mistakes that are going to happen. It will take time for that to change I’m sure.”
On why Josh Wright did not play:
“He hurt his ankle. He should be back, but I want to make sure that he is at 100 percent. We’ll hope that he’s back Wednesday, but if not, he should be ready for the season. He is our only senior so I’m concerned. I want to make sure he’s healthy. We could have used him in there today. We need somebody to stabilize things back there. I think Josh can do that for us, but you know the other side of the coin is that in these games it’s good for these young guys to be in there, too. It is a benefit for them.
I thought Scoop did a good job coming in. I thought Ricky did a good job. I thought Kristof did a good job, except for one bad play there, but I thought overall those guys did a good job coming in off the bench for us.”
On whether it was a good sign that the returners were scoring down the stretch:
“There is no question that our freshmen are good and can help us and will help us, but I think Arinze and Eric and Paul have to be solid for us. There is no question about that. They have to be solid. That is going to be a big key for what we are doing. No question about that.”
On Arinze’s performance:
“I thought he was rusty. I thought he didn’t get his hands on a couple balls that he normally would. I think those things are things that he hasn’t played a game. In his freshman year, he didn’t get many minutes so he is really, for all intensive purposes, a freshman, in terms of his experience. That’s why Eric and Paul have got to be steady because they have been in so many more games and situations. But, I thought Arinze did well. I think this is a difficult team (St. Rose) because he is playing undersize guys that are going to go away from the basket and do different things. I think overall he has been practicing very well, but I thought he was rusty today.”
On Jonny Flynn’s performance:
“I think Jonny has really been figuring his way. He has been very respectful of everybody and he is kind of feeling his way. He will get more aggressive as we go along, but right now he is just trying to fit in and do things. He is a good defender. He had a nice assist-to- turnover game for sure. He missed a couple open threes that he can make, but I thought he was very solid today.”
On Donte Greene’s performance:
“He had a big start. I don’t know what the difference was in the second half. He didn’t get many opportunities. They trapped and they were pressuring and changing some things up a little bit so he didn’t get the same opportunities. He had an unbelievable first half. He banked one in and made a quick three over there. He is a good offensive player. He is not as good as he was in the first half, but not as bad as he was in the second half.
“I have to be patient with them and realize that they are going to make mistakes and it’s going to take time for us to develop to where we need to be. We have a lot of work ahead. These games and the early non-conference games, every game is going to be a lesson out there. Some things are not going to be pleasant lessons, but that’s going to happen. We have a long way to go as a team, which is to be expected.”
On why they played so much man-to-man today:
“We need to work on it. We worked on it a lot. We obviously need a lot of work on it, but I think it was helpful for us. We were going to play a little bit more zone, but we’ll see how it goes.”
