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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: OMAHAMarch 22, 2018Jim BoeheimTyus BattleFrank HowardOmaha, Nebraska THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim and student-athletes Tyus Battle and Frank Howard. Coach, an opening statement. COACH BOEHEIM: Great to be in this tournament. To get in here has been great tribute to our players. They've really worked hard all year and have really played well in this tournament. Q. You spent a lot of time with Coach K as friends, as coaches with USA Basketball. Did your relationship change at all now that you're in the ACC and that he has now officially, quote, borrowed your zone defense? COACH BOEHEIM: No. It really doesn't. We've been friends for over 20-some years, almost 30, really. And we've worked together 11 summers. And if two guys like us can work together over 11 summers and still be friends, that's a pretty good relationship. And his use of the zone, he's used it a little in the past. But with this team he felt it was the right defense for this team. And that's what I used to go through when we played both. I think he's done a great job of using a 2-3 zone differently than we play it, but it's really effective. And I think it's made a huge difference with his team with what the defense has done for his team, not just his defense but also to help, I think, his offense as well. When you're struggling on defense it does help your offense a little bit too. He does a really great job. They play really good defense. Q. With the way player compensation is set up, is that the right model for the sport or do you think it needs changing? COACH BOEHEIM: I think we need to tweak it to do a better job. I think we need to do a better job of explaining what players actually get in the terms of the cost of attendance, in terms of meals now. A player can get a meal or two meals really a day and our players take their meal money. So they actually end up with a fairly good amount of money each month with that and the cost of attendance, and, if they're eligible, five or $6,000, whatever it is, in Pell Grant money. So I think a player can get -- there's some cost of attendance. That's where it's a little bit difficult, a little bit of a problem. Some places, cost of attendance it's $6,000, other places it's 2,000. So there's a wide variance there, which it would be nice if that could be figured out. I don't know if they will or not. But I think basically players can get 12, $1,500 a month plus their full scholarship. And that's a good model. I think we need to continue to look at that. Coaches have asked for years to do more, and for a long time they said you couldn't do it, but then they did it with cost of attendance. So I think hopefully there's still some room in there to give more to the players. I think we need to stop and understand there's 4500 players playing college basketball and about 50 of them are going to play in the NBA. The other 4400 are pretty happy, like I was, to get a full scholarship. And as far as those 50 guys, if they don't get money in college, they get a lot of money down the road. And the other 50 or hundred that play in Europe do all right. But the vast majority of college athletes, college basketball players, are probably happy to have a full scholarship and the cost of attendance, and leave college with a degree and a great basketball playing experience, in my estimation. Q. 1966, your last college game was against Duke. What do you recall from that game alongside Dave Bing? COACH BOEHEIM: We had an eight-point lead and we somehow blew the game. So it was a disheartening, disappointing game. Duke had a great team. It was one of their better teams -- Jack Marin and Verga and Vacendak, they had a really good team. We played them in Raleigh and we had a lead, I think it was about six, with about seven or eight minutes to go. And we just couldn't quite close it out. And a very disappointing loss that was, of course, the year of Texas Western. Duke ended up playing Kentucky in regional. Verga got sick and couldn't play and they lost to Kentucky. I thought they were the better team. But I remember that. That's 17. Q. Can it help either team tomorrow night offensively going up against the zone since both teams play zone? COACH BOEHEIM: Well, you know, a lot of teams play zone. It doesn't necessarily mean you're necessarily going to play well against it. Duke's a very good offensive team. They play well against man-to-man and zones. They've seen both all year. But they're a very good offensive team and they've played well against -- they play zone. That helps a little bit. We've played pretty well against zones this year for the most part. We did not play well at Duke. We didn't shoot well at Duke. They made some very bad plays. I think we'll play better against their zone this time. But they didn't shoot well against us there. I'm sure they'll shoot better. But it helps somewhat. But not necessarily that much. Q. The last time you and Duke met at the close of the regular season, Bagley and Carter go 35 and 17. What do you need to do differently defensively to try to contain them tomorrow night? COACH BOEHEIM: They're a problem inside for everybody. They've averaged right around that for the year. What they did against us wasn't unusual. I think they averaged pretty close to that, 34, someplace in that area. But they're difficult down there. We have to be concerned and do a better job. Our center got in foul trouble down there. We did a good job on the perimeter shooters. That's important. But I think the key really for us against Duke is we have to play better than we've played down there than we've played in this tournament. I think we're perfectly capable of playing better even though the record doesn't look like that based on what we've done in the tournament. But we played against three pretty good man-to-man defensive teams, and seeing that Duke does play some man-to-man, it wouldn't surprise me if they played man-to-man in some cases against us. But we'll be prepared for that. But I think we've overall played pretty well against zones this year. Q. I saw you on TV yesterday saying defense is beautiful. And I wondered what, maybe what factors and details and elements may be in your unusually educated view make defense -- COACH BOEHEIM: You mean my view is unusual? (Chuckling) I think defense is good. I think it's funny about the fans and the public and the media: Everybody says defense wins games, but then when they see it they don't like it. You know, fans and uneducated in the media and uneducated in the fandom base want to see 85-82 games, which I think there's a beauty in that or 90 to 95 or 100. And you can do that; you can watch the NBA and see that anytime you want to. College basketball is different. It's always been different. You can control the game a little bit more with your defense and with your offense a little bit, too. But there's a good thing in watching a good defensive team. If you're an offensive guy, then you're not going to like it probably. But if you like defense and you see good defense -- I watched Virginia's team play and I think they're great. I love to watch. Their defense is unbelievable. It's fun to watch. But if you like offense, you're not going to like it. But we tried to play a combination of good defense and good offense this year. We just can't do one of those two things. We've had many teams in the past that have played zone. But we've averaged 80 points a game. We just aren't good on that end of the court. Where we struggle is on that end. On defense, if you like defense, it's good to watch. But our offense has struggled and that gets difficult sometimes. I don't like to watch it sometimes. Q. This is the second time in a row that you guys have hit the second weekend as a double-digit seed. Obviously no one plans for that. No one aspires to that. You want to get the highest seed. I get that. But at the same time, is there something in regards to attitude and outlook or even in regards to style of play where you are somewhat well-suited being, at least seed-wise, the underdog? COACH BOEHEIM: I think we struggled this year, for good reason, with our offense in a good league. And we just couldn't -- we were close to winning two or three more games we just couldn't get it done. But it means to me that if you lose in overtime Florida State, you lose a close game to Virginia, you lose to Carolina at home by two or three, you're still a pretty good team. When you get in the tournament you're still a pretty good 'em. And we could have lost at the buzzer against Arizona State. They had a three from the corner. If they had, we would have been home and nobody would have talked about us at all. But we squeezed that at all and got by TCU and Michigan State, so we're here. So we had the capability of that. We just were not able to get it done in the regular season. Two years, when we made it to the Final Four, we were a little better offensive team. When we got in the tournament we played better offensively. This year our defense has carried us without question. But that other team we had two guys that are in the NBA on that team. Malachi and Tyler Lydon I guess better offensive team in those two seniors at the guard spot. So this team's much younger, much more challenged on the defensive end. Our zone helps us a little bit in back-to-back games or with a team that hasn't played against us. And a lot of teams have not played against zones; or if they play against the zone, it's not a good zone. So there's some teams that will come in with a false sense of security, well, we played against zones and we did well. But it's different. Our zone is a little different. It's better. It's just better because we work on it, play it more. Duke's defense has gotten better this year, their zone, because they've worked on it and played it more. So that might be a factor in the tournament that can help us particularly in back-to-back games when you have one day to prepare. Those are some of the probably reasons that we can do that. But you've still got to make plays and our team has made plays down the stretch, even in the regular season we made a lot of good plays in games to either win or to give us a chance to win. So I like this team. They give you everything they've got. I don't think there's many teams that have -- we have four of our five front-line guys are freshmen and the other guy's redshirt and sat out a year so he hasn't really played a full season. So it's unusual to have that many young guys in your front line unless you're at Duke or Kentucky. Those players are a little different. Q. I was going to ask about '66. So I'll test your memory here and lean on it a bit, see if you have any recollections of the '98 tournament game against Duke in St. Petersburg? COACH BOEHEIM: We hung in there for a while but they made some long ones. The freshman from Georgia made some really long 3s and we hung around. But they won the game pretty easily is what I remember. That's probably why I don't remember it very well. Q. Just the way things broke, three teams from the ACC get here. It's pretty uncommon at a regional to have three from one conference. What's your thoughts just on how things broke with three of your league teams getting in here? COACH BOEHEIM: It happens. I talked to the committee a little bit about that by accident today. When you get a large number of teams in one conference, they're going to meet up if they can get through. And I never liked to play teams that I played in the tournament. And I think it's better for us when we don't. But we have done it in the past and we've won those games. But I guess the good news is we'll have one team from our league in the Elite Eight for sure and maybe two. It's what happens. And today, trust me, when I got in I didn't care where we were going or who we were playing or what day it was. We were happy to be in the tournament this year. Obviously it was close. I thought our strength of schedule was good, and I thought we were right there. But last year we were right there, too, and we were on the other side. We were one place different last year and it just goes to show you that when you can get in it, the bubble, you're certainly capable of winning games. And that has only increased -- that likelihood has only increased over the last few years when you have so many very good teams. It used to be, if you were on a bubble, you probably couldn't win anyway. But now those teams can win. And there's more than a couple teams that are on the bubble. I know whenever I talk like this people just get crazy and I get criticized everywhere in the country. But I'm used to that, so it doesn't bother me. But I've always advocated for more teams from when it was 64 to 68. And the playoff system that we have this year, when we go and play, I think you could duplicate that in another regional and get a couple more teams in or four more teams in, whatever the number is. And I just think that when you give fan bases and players that opportunity to go play, even if you don't win, you had that opportunity. And I just I think it's a great thing, because if it hadn't gone from 64 to 68 we wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be here now. And so it's been -- it's even better when you're not -- you squeeze in and you can still get here. When I started coaching, if you didn't make the Sweet 16, it wasn't even a big deal. You had -- like you had to make the Sweet 16 or else it was just awful. Now making the Sweet 16 is a very good thing, I don't care who you are. I don't care if you're -- I mean, obviously the 1 and 2 seeds expect it, but it's still a good thing to get to the Sweet 16, because it's pretty darn hard to do. So we're thrilled to have that opportunity to be here. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Tyus and Frank, can it help you guys or maybe it also helps Duke too offensively going up against the zone since you guys play it yourself? TYUS BATTLE: Yeah, I mean, it could definitely help us. We know how teams try to attack our zone and stuff like that. So we put in some different things just to get easier shots against Duke's zone stuff like that. FRANK HOWARD: Yeah, I think our zone and kind of everybody's zone is a little different, especially now people are running it a lot more. So people are putting little twists on it and I think our zone is a little different. So certain areas are a little bit more open than other zones. But they have a great defense. They're long, athletic. But playing in practice, you kind of get used to the pace and certain moves and stuff you gotta do to attack. Q. Tyus, you saw Duke earlier this year, tough loss in Cameron Indoor. What do you take from that Duke game and try to improve in tomorrow's match? TYUS BATTLE: Down there I thought we did a pretty good job defensively especially on the perimeter. We just have to do a better job containing in the paint and stuff like that. And down there we just didn't shoot well. I don't think that's going to happen again. I feel like we're going to be more prepared for that stuff. And that's pretty much it. Q. Frank, you've been through this before having been to the Final Four. How do you transition from one weekend to the next, particularly when it was, for a lot of us, maybe not you guys, but a surprising win Sunday and then you're right back on to another trip? FRANK HOWARD: Yeah, you know, in this tournament if you prepare to lose, you'll probably lose. We have been preparing for the long haul, taking care of our bodies, making sure we pack for the extra long trips. But I think after you go through each round you kind of -- you've got to get to the next round. So once we finish that game you want to celebrate that for the night, have a good time with the coaching staff and team. But we just wanted to get back to practice and get down here. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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