Media Day Coach Boeheim
Jim Boehiem Quotes
Basketball Media Day
October 15, 2010
Opening Statement:
“Da’shonte Riley is going to have surgery next week. He’s going to get his foot fixed, hopefully. We’re really not positive how long that will be, but it could be the whole year. So we’re looking at him possibly missing the whole year with the foot surgery. We think it’s relatively simple and he should be back at full strength once we’re done with that. So it’s just one of those things that his foot has been bothering him and it’s better just to get it out of the way.”
On the team:
“Obviously everyone is excited every year. We have a nucleus of guys who played big roles for us last year. Rick Jackson started last year and had a tremendous year. Kris Joseph came in off the bench and then started at the end of the year, and had a great year. Scoop (Jardine) and Brandon (Triche) both had really good years. Those guys will be the nucleus of our team. The three guys who didn’t really get a great opportunity last year, Mookie (Jones) and James (Southerland) have great opportunities to see what they can do this year. And the four freshman, we’ll see how they come through practice. It’s a talented group. We’ll see what they do in the next couple weeks. We'll see how they fit in. But it’s a good blend of veteran guys. You win in this league by having veteran guys, and we have some young guys who we think are really good.”
On the team’s leadership:
“I think our upper-class guys -- Rick, Kris, and Scoop -- they’ve been here for three or four years. They understand what needs to be done. Obviously, they’re very good players who have played very well. Now it’s time to take that next step and be the guys that everyone looks up to.”
On what player’s to be excited about:
“I’m excited about all these guys. I think they’re all capable. I think they will all step up and have great years. Who will be the guy to really step, it’s hard to tell. We expect our upper-class guys to be the guys who really step up and lead the team to be productive.”
On the impact of Da’Shonte Riley’s injury:
“Da’Shonte got some experience last year and we’d like to have him. He’s a guy that’s been in the games. Rick is going to play forward most, if not all of the time. Which leaves us with two freshman and trying to get them used to what has to be done in college basketball. We’ll see how they develop. Hopefully the plan is Rick will play most of the forward, but certainly he is capable of playing in the middle if he has to.”
On the state of the four freshman:
“I think the four freshmen have done a good job in the conditioning phase and adjusting to what we do. But until we get on the court and see how guys react in practice situations it’s hard to tell. Conditioning is one thing. And Brad's(Pike) done a great job getting these guys to this point. But certainly once we get on the court in the next couple weeks, we’ll see how guys fit in. I really never make any determinations on what guys are going to do based on what they did in high school. That can be very deceptive sometimes. But we think the freshmen are good, and they’re going to get a good opportunity.”
On Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche:
“Scoop and Brandon will both play a lot. They can play both positions. It’s good to have two guys with experience that can both play the point. I think that’s a good thing for our team. They can play together. I think Dion and Mookie are two guys we think are very capable guards. Dion is a guy that can play the two or the one if he has to.”
On who will receive playing time:
“Those things normally work their way out. The guys who should play, we normally get that figured out. We do have 10guys who we think are capable. So we’ll see how practice and we’ll see how the early part of the season goes. The guys who are ready will play.”
On James Southerland and Mookie Jones:
“They both have great opportunities and they have to take advantage of them. The opportunities are there for them and they’ve both worked hard. I think they’re both good players who learned a lot last year. I think they’re much, much better prepared than they were at this stage last year. They’re going to get a great opportunity. We lost two perimeter guys who played 35 minutes a game last year, so there is a large amount of playing time there. I certainly think they are two guys who have improved a lot, and should be ready to play.”
On filling the void of losing Andy Rautins, Wesley Johnson, and Arinze Onuaku:
“I think we have a pretty good team. You know, the three guys we lost produced more than the three guys we lost before them. So I think we’ve lost a little bit more this year than last year. But we certainly have enough good players to have a good basketball team. And we expect to be able to do that.”
On the team’s three point shooters:
“I’m pretty comfortable with myself. I think I can make some if I get open. But the rest is up in the air. I think we’re going have to see. Everyone on our team can shoot threes. It’s if they can make them. Both Brandon and Scoop were pretty good three-point shooters last year, and I think they’ll be better this year. I think Kris has the biggest jump to make. He made some threes last year. He shot and made some in practice and really never translated that over to the game. I think he can be a good three-point shooter. I think that’ll be a big key for us offensively. How well he can shoot it, along with Brandon and Scoop will be big. I think we have a good inside presence with Rick, who can play and score inside. One of the question marks is going to be how well we can shoot the ball from the perimeter with those guys. James and Mookie are very good three-point shooters. Dion is a good shooter. I think we have more guys who can shoot em, we just have to find out if we have guys who can make them.”
On who will provide minutes of the bench:
“I think we have some guys who are very capable. James and Mookie are very capable. I think the freshmen are capable. We think the 10 guys we have can play. We don’t think that any of the 10 guys we have are not ready. We think they will be ready and capable of coming in and playing. I don’t have any reservations about these 10 guys. I think they can come in and contribute.
On the team’s defense:
“I think our defense was the key part for us last year. We led the league in turnovers and were one of the better field-goal percentage defense teams. That was a huge part of our success last year. You don’t win unless you play good defense. Our offense was good -- we led the country in field-goal percentage. We did a lot of good things last year that’s why we won a tough league by a couple games. We had good stats because we had tremendous players. Those guys were good, and this year with Fab (Melo) and Baye (Moussa Kieta) we’re a little bigger. We’ll have a couple bigger guys out there along with Rick who knows our defense. I think Kris, Brandon and Scoop know what we’re doing offensively. I can anticipate that they’re going to be good on the defensive end. We have to get the freshmen up to speed, get them playing. That’ll be important. It’ll be the next two-, three-week period. Getting (the freshmen) up to speed. But our defense was very good last year. Sometimes that gets overlooked. But we were a very good defensive team last year, and that’s why we had success.”
On Kris Joseph:
“I think last year was a perfect year for Kris. He came in and found his spots, with most of the defensive scrutiny on Wes, Andy and Arinze. He got an opportunity to do some things. This year will be much more intense since defensive pressure will be on him. But I think he’s ready for that. I think he wants that challenge. I think he is ready for that, to become a go-to guy. I think, if I’d say anything, I thought we were very well balanced last year. I thought that was another key to our success. But I think our balance will be equally as good this year on offense. Each position can score. I think we’re maybe a little bit bigger, as a team. But pretty close to the same size as last year’s team. We should have good balance. It’s a key for us every year and it will be a key for this team.
On why Kris Joseph is successful:
Kris is very good with the ball. I think he can get to the basket with the ball almost as well as any player we’ve had. You know, if I had to compare him to somebody, I’d compare him to a Lawerence Moten type, with their ability to put the ball on the floor and get to the basket and make plays. Kris is bigger and stronger, but Lawrence became a very, very good three-point shooter. That’s what made him difficult to stop -- which is what Kris needs to do. As he begins to shoot the ball better, which I think he will, it will add something to his game. He’s definitely ready.
On Fab Melo and Baye Moussa Kieta:
“Our big guys are key for us because we’re asking the freshmen to step in and do the work inside. I think the two guys are very capable, but they’re going to have to work hard. Bernie Fine always does a great job with the big guys, getting them ready. It’s up to us to make sure they’re ready to get done what we need to out there. I think the freshman will be fine.”
“Our big guys are key for us because we’re asking the freshmen to step in and do the work inside. I think the two guys are very capable, but they’re going to have to work hard. Bernie Fine always does a great job with the big guys, getting them ready. It’s up to us to make sure they’re ready to get done what we need to out there. I think the freshman will be fine.”
On the Big East:
“We play most of the top Big East team’s on the road. We have a difficult schedule, non-league and league. Everyone thinks that Pittsburgh and Villanova are the top two teams in the Big East, and after that there are probably eight teams that are very close. Team’s with veteran players, like St. Johns, Seton Hall, are going to be much better than people think. Other teams are always good, like West Virginia, Georgetown, Louisville, and Marquette. You know Connecticut will be good -- they’ll bounce back. There is probably going to be two teams that are a little bit ahead, and then eight teams who are a little bit behind them. It’s going to be like it is every year in the Big East. No real changes there.”
On the team’s schedule:
“I don’t know who did the schedule. I certainly could not have done this. It’s much more difficult than we’d like to see. Northern Iowa is good -- they’re always going be good. Pretty much go right down our schedule and it’s very challenging. Michigan St. is probably going to be number one or two in the country. Michigan is coming back. Georgia Tech is going to be good. UTEP has four starters coming back. North Carolina St. has mostly everyone coming back. The non-conference schedule is good and hopefully that will help us for the conference schedule. I’d say that we might have the toughest conference schedule that we’ve had in a long time. I think the team’s we’re playing twice, Villanova and Georgetown, are going to be in the top four for the league. And Seton Hall’s going to surprise some people. We have a very difficult schedule and some of the other top conference teams, we happen to have on the road this year. It’s a challenging schedule and we’re looking forward to it.”
On fan support:
“We’ve always had great support wherever we go. When we go to New York or Washington, we get fan support. Florida, Rutgers -- we always get great fan support in all those areas. The fans here have been tremendous. I really don’t think you can overestimate how big that support has been for our program. Every place I go in this area people like Syracuse basketball. We hope everyone comes out tomorrow and roots for the football team and we get a win on homecoming.”
