BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 3, 1999

Jim Boeheim

Jason Hart

Etan Thomas

COACH BOEHEIM: I think sometimes there are just match-ups with certain teams. Boston College has just had trouble with us this year inside. Thomas, they have really nobody that can stay with him. I thought today we came out focused. We did a good job of getting the ball. Defense was good and we didn't let them get any open shots. But, we're just bigger and stronger than them. The difference, when you look at them in the second half, we didn't come out with the same focus on defense and they scored 40-some points. In the first half, we didn't give them anything, and I think that was the difference. We got off to a good start. We wanted to come to New York and play well and we accomplished that today and we've just got to look forward and try to do the same thing tomorrow.

COACH BOEHEIM: I think you have to go 40 minutes with your starters and you get some bench guys that -- you know, Tony Bland struggled a little bit. He got more time in a tough game. He probably wouldn't have gotten back in, and then he hit a couple shots and got some rhythm going. I think it helped those guys as much as thinking -- it's twofold: It helped those guys and we didn't have to exert ourselves. When you're going to try to play back-to-back games -- and if you're going to win, you have got another game. It's good to save as much energy as you can this first game.

COACH BOEHEIM: We talked to him all week. I thought he played with energy today. He played with confidence. When he went up to shoot -- I think he missed his first one, but he came right back and got another one and made it. I just think he played with more confidence, and that's a good thing. That's something he has to do.

COACH BOEHEIM: You guys find a way to ruin everything.

COACH BOEHEIM: I had forgotten it until just now, thank you very much. But that was just -- we got our butt whipped in there. EJ went off my Christmas list after that game. He got tired of being beaten so many times, I guess. I told him after, this is just one win, you know. You can't count this like two or three times. We just wanted to play well today. I think everything went our way in the first half. We got every bounce, every loose ball. That doesn't happen very often this league.

ETAN THOMAS: I don't know if that was the feeling, but I just try to go play as hard as I can. Like Coach said, they have a little bit of difficulty matching up. They did a good job of giving me the ball and it just went from there.

JASON HART: I thought he was just going to have about 50 in the first half and we was just going to keep giving him the ball. Evidently they had nobody to guard him.

JASON HART: Any time you get a win, it's good for your team. We needed to win as many basketball games as we can. I think our focus is a little bit better and we're starting to do the things we need to do to win consistently.

COACH BOEHEIM: You know, it's kind of hard to do that. I don't give out too many scouting reports. We're 1-1 with both teams. Obviously, they were good enough to beat us once. Villanova has come on the at the end of the year. They have played very well. They are a very good basketball team. West Virginia beat us earlier in the year. Both teams are good teams.

COACH BOEHEIM: There's several media people that still have grave doubts about it. Of course, in a college town we know those guys are very intelligent people and a lot to do with their lives.

COACH BOEHEIM: As I recall, it was good because we don't go anywhere, so we really felt like we're not any good anyway. So maybe it's all right. We're all done.

COACH BOEHEIM: You don't like to beat anybody this way. You know, the game just got out of hand early. We went the last 15 minutes, 14 minutes with our second group of guys, and I figured it closed down to a reasonable game. That's what we'd like to do in that situation and get it down to a 20-point game. I thought that's what would happen, but those guys played very well. I can't tell them to play poorly. We went back and sat in the zone and just tried to keep from, you know, having it turn out to this kind of game. I don't like these kind of games. I don't like to be on, obviously, either end of it. And I have been on a couple of those. One game this year, we were down about 20 and the other guy was still pressing us. So I don't think that's the way to go. But Boston College has got a lot of young players. They are just a team -- they have to look at us and say we have a bad matchup with that team. You look at their comparative scores with Connecticut, their 6-point games, ten-point games, they have played all the teams in this league pretty darned well. They have to just look at Syracuse and say that's a bad matchup for us. They have trouble with Etan inside and other other-size guys. They have to just look at it with that perspective in mind.

COACH BOEHEIM: I think everybody should come to New York. I've always felt that way. It's unfortunate that some people think that we've got to go to 13 teams. Once they made that decision, it costs you the rivalry of two every years -- you're going to play everybody twice. But I don't think you can take away the opportunity to come to New York. I think if you look at our team this -- our league this year, I think the 12th and the 11th and the 10th seeds have chances to win. So I don't want to keep those people home. This year for us, if Boston College played somebody else, I think they gave them a good game. We're just a bad matchup for them. I think those other teams have a chance, and I think the other teams should come to New York. I've always felt that. You can't imagine what a huge disadvantage -- if you don't come to New York, you're never going to get out of the last three spots if you start penalizing people like that. You want to go there? They didn't get to New York City -- they didn't get in the tournament. You can't disadvantage people that way for convenience sake. On the other hand, it's tough for us to win four games, but we have nobody to blame but ourselves. We put ourselves in the position that we've got to go play four days. So that's our fault. It's not anybody else's fault.

JASON HART: No. I like to play basketball and unfortunately --

COACH BOEHEIM: He won't get much rest tomorrow.

JASON HART: I just go or if. Some other players get a chance to play. And that was good for us.

ETAN THOMAS: Pretty much cleared up. It's good for us to get rest but a lot of players they really don't get a chance to play a lot and really show what they can do and get a chance to go out there and just play and that's a positive thing.