Coach Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse vs. Rutgers
January 2, 2013
Coach Boeheim Quotes
Carrier Dome – Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening Statement:
“I thought the game they (Rutgers) started with, they really played well. We were playing well early and they played just as well, they made shots. (Eli) Carter was pretty deep. We just moved up on him and tried to take him away and trap their big guys and make their big guys try to make plays.”
“I thought Brandon (Triche) played the way I think he can play every night. He was tremendous tonight. He was the difference in our team. Everybody else played the way they’ve been playing. He had control of the game. He not only made shots, but he also made plays. He played great tonight. He was the complete difference in the game.”
“We had patience for the first time tonight on offense and we made a lot of good decisions. Michael (Carter-Williams) made a lot of good decisions getting us into our offense. We hit a couple of key threes when we needed them. But overall, it was really Brandon (Triche) playing the way I think he can play every night, and that was the difference in the ball game.”
Brandon has said that sometimes he thinks you have more confidence in him than he has in himself. Can you talk about him?
“Well I’m trying to get him up there, but I have total confidence in him. I believe he can play like he played tonight every night. Every single night.”
We’ve been here before where you’ve gotten a significant number of wins or passed somebody, whether it’s Adolph Rupp or Dean Smith. But tonight you passed Bob Knight. What are your thoughts?
“Well, I’m proud to be able to do that. I’m happy to get it done. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I was hoping we could do it right away, as quickly as possible. I was hoping it was going to be a little quicker. But I’m glad we got it done fairly quickly.”
“I’ve been thinking a lot the last few days about this and for me and I think the article today in USA Today kind of made me think about this a little bit. I don’t know the guy, I’ve never met him, and it was a great piece I thought. But to me, this game is not really about numbers. It really isn’t. It’s not how many points you score, how many assists you get. It’s what you do, what your team does. To me, the numbers are not the story. The story is the players that I’ve been able to coach. The coaches I’ve worked with. The coaches we’ve competed against all these years. So many great coaches, so many great games. It’s those games and those battles that I think about. Unfortunately, I think about the losses too much. But someday, I’ll maybe get over that when I get really old, which isn’t that far away.”
“It’s about all the people, the people you meet on the way and the tournaments –even the referees and the media people. It’s been an unbelievable experience. But that’s really what I think about. It really isn’t about numbers. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter how many wins you have. It just doesn’t matter. It’s just like at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how much money you have. It really doesn’t. None of that stuff matters. They’re just numbers.”
“You know, Chris Mullin called me the other night to congratulate me after 900. That call meant as much to me as anything, because I think he’s the best player, or certainly I’m going to argue – he’s the best player that ever played in this league, just based on what they (St. John’s) did in the league. And that meant a lot to me.”
“I got a note today from Brad Stevens and it was interesting because I’m probably his biggest fan. I think he’s just an unbelievable coach. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better young coach, ever. And I’ve seen some good ones. Coached against some good ones. But he just thanked me for my contributions to the game and the wins. And if a young coach thinks that, then I’m really happy. He thinks that about me and that meant a lot to me.”
“I’ve got a lot of those calls and notes. The only one I can say, it wasn’t the best one, was my friend Geno, who called me or left me a message that it was about time. Which is about what I expected from him. But that’s the way I feel about it. I’m really proud, but I really think more about all the things that I just talked about.”
Of all those people, how about the man you passed, Bob Knight. What’s he meant to you through the years?
“Well he’s a great coach. I remember watching him. We played against him when I was a young assistant and he’s just such a great coach. I mean really, he just coached probably one of the – if not the best, close to the best – team that ever played college basketball. He’s always giving a lot to the game and we’ve become friends over the years, I think. I’m never quite sure. When Coach Knight called, he was one of the first ones. He wrote me a great letter when we won three. He’s just as good as anybody who’s coached this game.”
The 24-0 run from the end of the first and the start of the second. Was that the best ball this team has played the whole season?
“Well we played great. I’ll tell you, I thought when it was 20-18 I really thought this would be a hard. You watch the game, you see what’s happening. I really just thought we were playing well. And then we’re down two. So you know, I thought, get ready, this is going to be a battle right down to the end.”
“Then we started to play even better. We made great decisions. Rutgers is a pretty good defensive team. Not many people score a lot of points against them. We made good decisions. We moved the ball and we actually ended up missing a lot of open shots. A lot of open shots I think we can make. You know that surprised me. We really, really played well during that stretch.”
Were you pleased with the interior defense, especially during that stretch?
“We did a good job down low, inside trapping. C.J. (Fair) blocked a couple shots. Rakeem (Christmas), Baye (Moussa-Keita) both blocked a couple shots. We got a couple steals in there and we were active on defense. Really, we played good defense. And whenever you get on a run like that something good happens, some luck. They missed a couple of easy shots and that all contributes to that.”
One of your fellow coaches, Doug Marrone, is getting some interest from the NFL. What do you think the University should do to keep him around?
“Well, he’s a great coach. You know he’ll make a great decision. He’s done an unbelievable job here. So it’s an amazing profession.”
“You know I’m not surprised. When you’re talented people are going to inquire about you. You know I hope he’s here. I think he’ll do fine, I hope he stays here. I hope it’s the right place for him. I think he’s done an unbelievable job and I think he will continue to do an unbelievable job. But I’ve told him many times they’ve wanted me out of here many, many times. And there’s still a large, not a large, but a significant number that think I should not be here now.”
“They need somebody that can coach man-to-man, because I’m sure if we had been playing man-to-man all these years we would have won 80 or 82-percent of our games probably, at least. I can’t see why we wouldn’t.”
“I did have him over to my house the other night and I tried to convince him that Syracuse was better than Hawaii or any other place. I don’t know if he believed that.”
January 2, 2013
Coach Boeheim Quotes
Carrier Dome – Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening Statement:
“I thought the game they (Rutgers) started with, they really played well. We were playing well early and they played just as well, they made shots. (Eli) Carter was pretty deep. We just moved up on him and tried to take him away and trap their big guys and make their big guys try to make plays.”
“I thought Brandon (Triche) played the way I think he can play every night. He was tremendous tonight. He was the difference in our team. Everybody else played the way they’ve been playing. He had control of the game. He not only made shots, but he also made plays. He played great tonight. He was the complete difference in the game.”
“We had patience for the first time tonight on offense and we made a lot of good decisions. Michael (Carter-Williams) made a lot of good decisions getting us into our offense. We hit a couple of key threes when we needed them. But overall, it was really Brandon (Triche) playing the way I think he can play every night, and that was the difference in the ball game.”
Brandon has said that sometimes he thinks you have more confidence in him than he has in himself. Can you talk about him?
“Well I’m trying to get him up there, but I have total confidence in him. I believe he can play like he played tonight every night. Every single night.”
We’ve been here before where you’ve gotten a significant number of wins or passed somebody, whether it’s Adolph Rupp or Dean Smith. But tonight you passed Bob Knight. What are your thoughts?
“Well, I’m proud to be able to do that. I’m happy to get it done. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I was hoping we could do it right away, as quickly as possible. I was hoping it was going to be a little quicker. But I’m glad we got it done fairly quickly.”
“I’ve been thinking a lot the last few days about this and for me and I think the article today in USA Today kind of made me think about this a little bit. I don’t know the guy, I’ve never met him, and it was a great piece I thought. But to me, this game is not really about numbers. It really isn’t. It’s not how many points you score, how many assists you get. It’s what you do, what your team does. To me, the numbers are not the story. The story is the players that I’ve been able to coach. The coaches I’ve worked with. The coaches we’ve competed against all these years. So many great coaches, so many great games. It’s those games and those battles that I think about. Unfortunately, I think about the losses too much. But someday, I’ll maybe get over that when I get really old, which isn’t that far away.”
“It’s about all the people, the people you meet on the way and the tournaments –even the referees and the media people. It’s been an unbelievable experience. But that’s really what I think about. It really isn’t about numbers. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter how many wins you have. It just doesn’t matter. It’s just like at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how much money you have. It really doesn’t. None of that stuff matters. They’re just numbers.”
“You know, Chris Mullin called me the other night to congratulate me after 900. That call meant as much to me as anything, because I think he’s the best player, or certainly I’m going to argue – he’s the best player that ever played in this league, just based on what they (St. John’s) did in the league. And that meant a lot to me.”
“I got a note today from Brad Stevens and it was interesting because I’m probably his biggest fan. I think he’s just an unbelievable coach. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better young coach, ever. And I’ve seen some good ones. Coached against some good ones. But he just thanked me for my contributions to the game and the wins. And if a young coach thinks that, then I’m really happy. He thinks that about me and that meant a lot to me.”
“I’ve got a lot of those calls and notes. The only one I can say, it wasn’t the best one, was my friend Geno, who called me or left me a message that it was about time. Which is about what I expected from him. But that’s the way I feel about it. I’m really proud, but I really think more about all the things that I just talked about.”
Of all those people, how about the man you passed, Bob Knight. What’s he meant to you through the years?
“Well he’s a great coach. I remember watching him. We played against him when I was a young assistant and he’s just such a great coach. I mean really, he just coached probably one of the – if not the best, close to the best – team that ever played college basketball. He’s always giving a lot to the game and we’ve become friends over the years, I think. I’m never quite sure. When Coach Knight called, he was one of the first ones. He wrote me a great letter when we won three. He’s just as good as anybody who’s coached this game.”
The 24-0 run from the end of the first and the start of the second. Was that the best ball this team has played the whole season?
“Well we played great. I’ll tell you, I thought when it was 20-18 I really thought this would be a hard. You watch the game, you see what’s happening. I really just thought we were playing well. And then we’re down two. So you know, I thought, get ready, this is going to be a battle right down to the end.”
“Then we started to play even better. We made great decisions. Rutgers is a pretty good defensive team. Not many people score a lot of points against them. We made good decisions. We moved the ball and we actually ended up missing a lot of open shots. A lot of open shots I think we can make. You know that surprised me. We really, really played well during that stretch.”
Were you pleased with the interior defense, especially during that stretch?
“We did a good job down low, inside trapping. C.J. (Fair) blocked a couple shots. Rakeem (Christmas), Baye (Moussa-Keita) both blocked a couple shots. We got a couple steals in there and we were active on defense. Really, we played good defense. And whenever you get on a run like that something good happens, some luck. They missed a couple of easy shots and that all contributes to that.”
One of your fellow coaches, Doug Marrone, is getting some interest from the NFL. What do you think the University should do to keep him around?
“Well, he’s a great coach. You know he’ll make a great decision. He’s done an unbelievable job here. So it’s an amazing profession.”
“You know I’m not surprised. When you’re talented people are going to inquire about you. You know I hope he’s here. I think he’ll do fine, I hope he stays here. I hope it’s the right place for him. I think he’s done an unbelievable job and I think he will continue to do an unbelievable job. But I’ve told him many times they’ve wanted me out of here many, many times. And there’s still a large, not a large, but a significant number that think I should not be here now.”
“They need somebody that can coach man-to-man, because I’m sure if we had been playing man-to-man all these years we would have won 80 or 82-percent of our games probably, at least. I can’t see why we wouldn’t.”
“I did have him over to my house the other night and I tried to convince him that Syracuse was better than Hawaii or any other place. I don’t know if he believed that.”
