Credit To Syracuse

Discussion in 'Men’s Basketball' started by caryhorn, Mar 18, 2018.

  1. caryhorn

    caryhorn 5,000+ Posts

    I really don't like Jim Boheim (sp ?). But I have to give the guy credit. He recruits well to a very cold and dreary city, he plays a pretty dull kind of basketball, but the guy has a plan that he not only believes in, but one that works more often than not.

    He has a championship, goes beyond the first round frequently, and plays a defense (straight zone) that frustrates the hell out of most teams.

    His scheme is truly his. He knows how to teach it. His players know how to play it. They know what to do, and when to do it. They don't always perform, don't always succeed, but they know the damn plan, they believe in it (and why not, Boheim has skins on the wall) and often enough execute it.
    I suspect they won't get to the elite eight, but hey, a play in team getting into the Sweet 16 is not bad.
     
    • Like Like x 2
  2. beijinghorn1

    beijinghorn1 500+ Posts

    Seems your making a comparison to a coach that seems to be the opposite, but I just cant figure out who that coach could be...
     
    • Like Like x 1
  3. Horn87

    Horn87 1,000+ Posts

    and for some reason his teams either overachieve, like they have this year, or they play down to the competition when they are seeded high and bow out early in the tourney
     
    • Like Like x 1
  4. caryhorn

    caryhorn 5,000+ Posts

    Boheim is indeed a "compare and contrast" with Shaka. Boheim knows what he wants his players to do, and they do it. For better or worse. Its been better enough to go deep into the NCAA a number of times, and win a championship. And he works in one of the toughest conferences in the country (umm, just like someone else, right?)
     
    • Like Like x 1
  5. txlandagent

    txlandagent 500+ Posts

    Good insight caryhorn. I feel the same way about Boehiem and Cuse. I hate them because they ousted us from the tourney in 2003, but give them all the credit because each and every year they’re a team that can be right in the thick of it. Syracuse is the Waco of NY so yeah, getting guys there is tough but they have a good b-ball culture thanks to Boeheim. Boehiem is one of the greats like Coach K, Calipari, Self, Roy Williams, and Izzo.

    I don’t know that it’s fair to compare and contrast a 41 year old head coach with a 73 year old because one has had roughly twice as much time and opportunity to trial, fail, learn and reapply than the other guy. But it makes the point that (what are perceivedly) top tier NCAA sports brands like Texas, (and Syracuse), should (and can) bring in and sustain the best coaching talent the school can afford and the best player talent that coach can recruit. Once we find the right coaching fit, we need to make it stick and ride it out and build a sustainable culture around him. That long term fit is not Shaka Smart. We’re not a fit for him, nor is he for us. I could see a guy like Thad Matta being a long term fit here.
     
    • Like Like x 1
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2018
  6. ViperHorn

    ViperHorn 10,000+ Posts

    Probably better to say Syracuse is New York's Lubbock, Waco or collie station.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  7. mb227

    mb227 de Plorable

    POH-TAY-TOE PO-TAH-TOE
     
  8. WashU-Horn

    WashU-Horn 500+ Posts

    Syracuse is not that bad of a city. It is not like Buffalo or Erie. Even Buffalo is trying hard to not be the Buffalo I visited 15 years ago.

    I am not a Jim Boeheim fan because, in my view, he has become lazy over the last few years and should have retired in 2016. He recruits decent talent when he should be able to recruit much better. Syracuse is a HUGE Basketball and Lacrosse school and they routinely average ~25K attendance per BBall game. The dome is absolutely rocking for these games. Who doesn't want to play in front of 25K every home game? How Syracuse is not able to consistently attract the true blue chip prospects a Kentucky or Kansas gets remains a mystery to me. I dig the 2-3 zone and the way Boeheim teaches the 2-3 is unique and active. The Cuse 2-3 is much better than any other team's 2-3 because that is ALL they do and practice on D. Boeheim should have retired a few years ago and allowed their HC in waiting - Mike Hopkins - to take over. Boeheim didn't and Hopkins got sick of waiting and left for Washington (Seattle).

    Boeheim is a legend but IMO it was a mistake for the Cuse admin to allow Hopkins to leave. The great things about using the 2-3 the way Boeheim does is that it should allow his team more time to focus on O but that hasn't been the case as of late as Cuse has struggled on O for quite some time. Its all pretty inexcusable. They had a great run but this Cuse team was/is capable of it and one has to wonder why the issues on O have not been addressed.
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2018
  9. caryhorn

    caryhorn 5,000+ Posts

    ^^^Interesting info WashU. Thanks for the post. Actually, I have never been to Syracuse NY. I just cannot allow myself to think that a city in the Northern hinterlands would be a cool place for a college kid to live for four years. But I will take your word for it.

    I agree that Boeheim would have been better served had he retired gracefully in 2016. He's had a nice career. Especially when Carmello played for him. :smile1:
     

Share This Page