Jim Boeheim is never wrong. Just ask him. He’ll tell you the same thing.
That’s what I dislike most about the legendary coach: His smug and elitist attitude.
Called out on a radio show earlier this week where a caller questioned his famous “take the foot off the gas and nurse the lead home” strategy—he did what he usually does when he gets a tough question. He sniped back with a curt, dismissive answer in his famously condescending way.
Fittingly, today’s season-crushing meltdown to Pittsburgh—by the way I wonder how many remotes were smashed by Orange fans today, reinforces that his strategy is a dumb one.
Yes, from the cold and calculated perspective, it makes sense to milk the clock and limit possessions coming down the stretch of a basketball game. But what about the emotional element of the game?
For the life of me, I’ve never understood why you would go away from how you had built your lead—see the prevent defense in the NFL—and switch to a passive let’s-just-hang-on-to-the-lead strategy.
There’s something to be said for staying aggressive and slitting the other guy’s throat when you have him down. Timidity is for losers.
And Orange fans see this play out on an almost annual basis in squandering games like today’s that were already in the win column (see Louisville 2007 for another recent example) and also in the form of seat-squirming wins that should have been decisive (see 2003 NCAA Title Game).
When faced with the choice of doing something aggressive or passive, I think coaches/managers should err on the side of aggressiveness.
It tells your players: “I believe in you guys, let’s go kick their a** and finish the job.”
Jim Boeheim is the type of coach who would probably disagree with what Ozzie Guillen and Tom Coughlin did at the end of the regular seasons during their recent championship years.
If he was the White Sox skipper, I bet he would have rested his regulars during that last weekend series against the Indians when they had nothing quantifiable to gain by playing hard to finish their season. If he were the Giants’ coach, he would have played the taxi squad and lost 52-0 in Week 17 to the Patriots because they were locked into their playoff seed and it’s the “smart” thing to do.
Just like it, supposedly, is “smart” to limit possessions at the end of basketball games you’re leading in.
Look, Boeheim is a legendary coach who has done amazing things for Syracuse basketball. He’s climbed to the top of the mountain, but he’s not perfect and I just wish he’d admit that once in a while.
Boeheim is old and probably too stuck in his ways to change his philosophy on this strategy so here’s hoping Mike Hopkins takes all the good points Boeheim has and goes the Coughlin/Ozzie route at crunch time.
14 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Tim Johnson about 1 year ago
Right on, yes Jim has won a lot of games, but the young guys lost confidence after a few bad plays and Jim should have let them keep on rolling when up 11 to a big "W" vs. a big let down with stall ball. Seems to me you take Mr. Anthony away and you see several years of aveage results, due to the way he coaches the game. He's a good coach, but there are better, I hope Hop has a little more control of his attitude, screams a little less at the youngs guys and let's them play. I know he is a senior member of coaching and that buys you somethng, but please let's not have SU, be the next Penn State or Florida State football, keeping a coach way to long, in spite of the less than stellar results. Let's examine the last 8 years of Jimmy B and are we that good over the last 8 years if we remove CA carrying us to the promised land. I'll take Ricky P any day, he would have had the petal to the metal and kicked Pitts arse. Stiil a big SU fan and have been for 40+ years, but this loss is on Jim 100%, don't give the rookies a strategy that requires a Junior or Seniors calmness/experience to execute. Young kids are very emotional, get rattled and as a dad/manager in Aerospace I understand that, but Jimmy must have forgotten and put these kids in a no win situation with stall ball. They don't turn it off for a play or two, and turn it on Jimmy, it's called momentum. Step up Jim, just like young Paul H and take this loss like a man, you did it!
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Give me Ricky P, Jim and I are dinasours in this world today. The world today runs on a Six Sigma approach and Jimmy - CA = statistically average results for the 2000-2008 period. We will be good next year due to talent, not Jimmy's stall ball and zone. Someone please tell Paul H all coaches don't scream at you every play and some coaches even admit taking a team out of it's flow causing a loss. We in the Aerospace Industry understand you don't stall the engine in mid flight, it's not rocket science Jimmy, let the young kids play.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Boehiem needs to retire. The guy has lost a step. His coaching record since 2000 is horrific with one exception - the national championship. And that was a perfect storm of conditions that will never exist again. 2002 NIT, 2004 required a legendary 43 point outburst from GMAC to avoid an upset by a weak BYU team in the first round, 2005 incredible 1st round loss to a weak Vermont team, 2006 required another GMAC miracle to win BET just to get into NCAA tourney followed by rolling over against A&M, 2007 NIT, 2008 NIT. On top of this Boehiem routinely attempts to humiliate and talk down to the local media and fans, he is insanely rude and unprofessional during press conferences. If you just watch the guy in these press conferences (I watch them all), it is literally sickening. He refuses to adjust his style to keep up with the game. He takes absolutely no responsibility for the performance of the team, he shows no leadership whatsoever. If he was a manager in a company - he'd have been canned long long ago. There are now several far superior coaches in the Big East; among them Calhoun, Pitino, Dixon. Soon JT3 will surpass him. I've been getting more and more fed up with his poor attitude and arrogance for years now and it's time for a change.
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Jason Kivela about 1 year ago
Brilliant comment - I couldn't agree more. The crazy thing is that we've been getting more and more talented recruits on paper - the recruiting now is as good as it has ever been - and the results on the court have been getting worse.
And how can Boeheim not at least offer a "mea culpa" for his technical foul against Pitt? He was clearly upset with himself for blowing that game and tried to take it out on the officials! Paull Harris himself said that the play Boeheim went ballistic about wasn't a foul. What a jerk.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
are you guys kidding me!...there's a certain legendary coach in North Carolina who does the same thing and nobody complains about his "timidity"!...it's a common basketball tactic by two guys who are going to the HOF!...easy!
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Jason Kivela about 1 year ago
So the fact that they're going to the HOF means their strategy is perfect and it doesn't have to do with the fact that they usually roll out better players than most teams they play?
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
"if we remove CA carrying us to the promised land."
Yeah, and if you take away Emeka Okafor, Sean May, Juan Dixon, etc, etc. I love how the national title is because of Anthony solely, but the recent downturn = ALL BOEHEIM'S FAULT.
By the way, Boeheim didn't commit those turnovers. He didn't throw it away on the inbouds. Some of that is basic junior high basketball that the players simply f@#%ed up on.
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Dave Metrick about 1 year ago
Typical. Like the previous poster alluded to... when SU wins, it's all because the players are so good and Boeheim gets no credit. When they lose, it's all on him.
Look, if the players can't slow the game down when they're up 9 with 3:30 left, then they stink. You have to be able to play at more than one speed in D-1 basketball in order to be successful. You can't play full throttle all the time. Especially when injuries have shortened your bench considerably.
The real problems down that stretch were A.) their inability to play defense and B.) their inability to hold onto the ball. They basically handed Pitt a layup around the 3 min mark. They almost threw the ball away with less than a minute left. And, of course, there was Harris' horrific turnover.
And I love Paul Harris, but if there's someone to blame in all of this, it's him. Why did he dribble the ball under his own basket. Hold the ball and wait to get fouled. And if they don't foul you, pass it to the open man.
This team is super young and their basketball IQ is lacking somewhat. Give them a couple years together and this team will be much, much better. I hope.
Also, I should mention, Donte Greene is horribly overrated. He has no business even thinking about elaving early. You know, unless there is a high demand for big guys who don't want to play near the basket.
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Jason Kivela about 1 year ago
No one is saying play helter skelter late, but it seems that it happens every year where games are blown due to the slowdown strategy and many should of been decisive wins turn into seat squirmers.
It is a fair point to say that, outside of Jonny Flynn, this team's "basketball iq" leaves a lot to be desired.
Tha being said, it's a fun group of super athletic guys who should give us some good memories in 2009 and 2010.
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Chris Petrilli about 1 year ago
Any slander towards Boeheim is unwarranted -he has a rings, 20 wins a season countless Big East titles-
He is a Hall of Famer for a reason-
Coaches make blunders at times and he made a mistake-
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Jason Kivela about 1 year ago
Which is perfectly fine - I'd just love it if he once said "my bad" but instead he always lays all the blame on his players.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
My favorite Boeheim dick moment was when a reporter asked him if a player (I forget who ) should take fewer shots. The player was like 2-15. Boeheim said, "Would you ask that if he had made 10 of those shots?"
A lot of coaches are patholigically competitive but manage to be polite in public. boeheim is defintely in the dick camp and he seems to be getting grouchier with age.
Oddly enough, he is usually civil to out-of-town journalists.
One thing I've noticed with the local guys is that, when ranting, Boeheim is usually right, it's just hard to see it because he's so unlikable.
Another thing is, there seems to be a disconnect between his demeanor with reporters and the way he talks to players in private. Flynn said Boeheim was calm and encouraging ("talking just like I'm talking to you reporters") after the pitt game.
Chewing out Paul Harris may not be helpful, but it's hard to blame Boeheim. Did you see the stupid one-hand dunk he missed against Marquette?
by the way, can someone tell me why Arinze Onuaku missed all of last season, is listed as having redshirted, but is referred to as a junior? Feel free to email the answer to my email address, mattreyn1@hotmail.com. It really puzzles me and I haven't found the answer on the web. i would be really grateful to anyone who can tell me the answer.
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Jason Kivela about 1 year ago
Another one of course is the famous G-Mac rant, also remember a time someone asked him about the possibility of Hakim Warrick leaving after his junior year and he acted like it was the dumbest question ever and said "do you mean the draft for the military?" or something to that effect. But, yeah, a lot of the times he is correct in his ranting comments.
When I was a Syracuse student - during the Etan/Hart/Blackwell era - I spent a year as a student manager and JB would snub you every time you tried to say "hey, coach". Granted, I understand I was essentially a waterboy but where's a little common courtesy? Thankfully, the assistants were a much friendlier crowd.
My perception of JB and the media is he's much friendlier to the big name, national guys. JB sounds downright delightful when he goes on a show like Mike & The Mad Dog but will turn around and skewer some local reporters or student reporters.
From what I saw in practice years ago, JB relates surprisingly well to his players. He was always very low key, didn't do a lot of yelling, and was usually good for some lighthearted jabs at the guys.
And that's a great question about A.O. - I've seen him listed as both a sophomore and a junior and would love to know if he has 1 or 2 years left.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
A reporter/friend at the Post Standard says Arinze is an academic junior and a sophmore in terms of b-ball eligibility.
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