|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: BUFFALOMarch 19, 2014Jim BoeheimC.J. FairBaye Moussa KeitaBUFFALO, NEW YORK THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Syracuse student‑athletes. Closest to me, C.J. Fair. Baye Moussa Keita is on the far end there. Welcome to Buffalo, guys. Q. C.J., what is the greatest benefit that you got from playing your entire four years at Syracuse? Staying there the fourth year, what's the biggest benefit to your growth and development? C.J. FAIR: I would say maturity. Coming in as a freshman, you don't really know what to expect in college, and then sometimes it can be a rude awakening for some players. For me, I wasn't playing that much, and then as time went on, I had to grow up and adjust, and I think it made me mature in a fast way. Q. C.J., a lot of times when you face an opponent in the NCAA Tournament, they're not that familiar with the zone. Western Michigan played against Eastern Michigan, who obviously runs a similar zone to you guys. Does that kind of take away some of the advantage that you guys normally have coming into the NCAA Tournament, their added familiarity? C.J. FAIR: I don't think so. I believe probably everyone in this tournament probably played against a team that ran the zone at some point. Eastern Michigan, they run the same style of zone we play, but I don't think it gives us an advantage or a disadvantage really. Q. The thing about Boeheim, you'd think he never watches film, just rolls out the balls. He really simplifies the sport. What can you tell me about the real genius of Jim Boeheim that sort of gets underestimated? C.J. FAIR: I think what's underestimated is Coach Boeheim, I mean, he loves to win. He does whatever it takes to win. So he don't really have favorites as far as players. It's whoever can help him get the win, that's who he's going to play. BAYE MOUSSA KEITA: Like C.J. said, he really doesn't have a favorite player. He just wants to go out there and see who can help him win the games. He doesn't really have a favorite. This is my favorite player or not. He's going to give it to you because he knows you can get better as a player. Sometimes he's going to get on the bad side of you, but he just wants you to get better. I think that he's not playing favorites or nothing. He's just going to want to coach you, and for you to get better. Q. This question is for either one of you guys. If you could describe the difference getting to the Final Four last year with Michael Carter‑Williams and then having Tyler be the point guard this year, how are those two players similar? How are they different? Can you just kind of compare the way you guys play with each one. BAYE MOUSSA KEITA: Mike was a different point guard. He was a lanky point guard. He was 6'5", right, as a point guard, and he was a second year sophomore point guard. He didn't play a lot his freshman year, but he got experience from Scoop and the other guys kind of taught him what to do. Tyler is a freshman, so it's a little bit hard for him. But I think as a player, they both have a plus and a minus, which is really different. Mike was able to get a lot of steals, Tyler too, get a lot of steals throughout the zone, and he's a really smart point guard, too, Tyler. I think he's great. Every time he gets the ball, he knows exactly where he has to go, which makes a big difference compared to the other point guards. C.J. FAIR: Yeah, I think they got two completely different styles of play. Tyler, he plays at his own pace. He speeds up when he wants to, but normally, he's at his own pace. And, Mike, I think the biggest difference, he's much more emotional on the court. You can tell Mike's fire and drive, that he wants to win. And Tyler, I know he wants to win as bad as anyone on the team, but he's just got a different personality, I say. Both of them are great point guards. They both pass first and try to get the team involved. Q. Baye, you guys have a little bit of an athletic advantage against them. Is there a big emphasis on getting out in transition against this Western Michigan team? BAYE MOUSSA KEITA: Coming into the game, we're just going to go ahead and play our game. This is going to be a different team because, like I said, everybody who plays in this tournament, they all have played a type of zone. If we can get the ball, we're going to get it every single time. If we can't, we're just going to hold the ball on offense. That's how we're playing, I think. Q. I just wanted to get what impressed you most about this first year in the ACC, and what did you miss the most about the Big East? C.J. FAIR: You know, just you're hearing everyone, all the media saying how you're going from physical Big East basketball to more up‑and‑down ACC basketball. But I think the physicality of the ACC was underestimated, or underrated, I should say. You got some teams that have similar styles, like Virginia has a similar style to Pittsburgh. You play against Duke. They're more up and down. It's just you get a taste of everything in the ACC, not just one style. I say I would miss the most in the Big East, just the Big East Tournament, just playing on the Garden. That's the one thing I really missed. BAYE MOUSSA KEITA: I would say the same thing as C.J. Everybody told us it's a run and gun type of play. But we play different teams, and they have a different style of play. You play Boston College, and they're going to make you hold the ball and work the defense. If you play Duke, they're going to go up and down. So I think it underestimated it. With the ACC, you have the opportunity to go and see different places. But the one thing I would miss is the Big East Tournament, the rivalry between us and different schools. We were just watching the Georgetown game again, us and them, so it's just a big rivalry. But now you have to make new rivalries starting this year. Q. C.J., what can you tell me about the experience of getting to the Final Four last year that might help you guys and make another run. C.J. FAIR: Just getting to the Final Four last year, knowing how fun it was and the great experience it was give you that much more motivation to try to get back there again. We know what it takes to get there. It's not an easy road, but it's fun. So I think us having that experience can help us in a way. Q. As a followup to that, what are the differences and similarities you see between this year's team and last year's team? C.J. FAIR: It's hard. I'd say last year's team, we have more veterans on the court at a time. This year, we have to regroup. We've got more freshmen and sophomores playing minutes and players playing set roles, as opposed to last year everyone knows their role and what position they're going to play. This year it's more of they've got to bounce around different positions. So I would say that was the biggest difference. Q. Baye, you often say that you play like it's your last game every game. Tomorrow it could be your last game. So what's your mindset going into tomorrow? BAYE MOUSSA KEITA: Just like I said before, every game, we can play from one game to six game, and our goal is to play all six. Like C.J. said, it's going to be a tough road because every team you play is one of the best in their division. Every team can beat you. So we're just going to go ahead and play like it's our last game. We went down to Greenville, and it didn't end up the way we wanted. Now we're going to play this tough because it could be our last basketball game in college. So we're going to play the best we can, and just lead the guys because we're the seniors and we have to lead them to victory. Q. C.J., when you see tape and stuff on Western, what style are they similar to to a team that you might have played already this year, if any? C.J. FAIR: I mean, if I was to compare so far, I might say Boston College because they've got guards that can shoot out from deep. Then they've got a good inside presence with a couple of post players, so it keeps your defense honest. You've got to respect the three‑point, and you've got to battle with them inside. So I think that's like the biggest comparison I can think of off the top. Q. C.J., could you answer that question about perhaps this being your last game and what kind of thoughts are going on in your mind? C.J. FAIR: Yeah, it could be my last game, but, you know, as a team, we want to prolong this season and not get it cut short. First game, hopefully, we win tomorrow, get the first game under our belt, and that can get us going. THE MODERATOR: C.J., Baye, thanks very much for your time. Good luck tomorrow. Be back shortly with CoachBoeheim. Joined by the head coach of Syracuse Orange, Jim Boeheim. Q. Jim, if you could compare getting to this point last year with Michael Carter‑Williams as your point guard and getting to this point with Tyler, just how they run your sets, the differences between them as players, et cetera. COACH BOEHEIM: They're different. Michael, you know, was certainly explosiveness and size. His ability to get to the basket and score, finish.  He was a tremendous, tremendous player. He had a year of experience, so it was his second year. I thought he had just a tremendous year, and he had a tremendous tournament, as well. I think Tyler's had a great year. Certainly, going into the year with a new point guard, a new two guard, freshman, sophomore. You know, looking at the season, that would be a key to what we were going to be able to do. Those two guys have had great years in the backcourt, defensively and offensively and really keyed the success that this team has had at this point. I think that was really the key for us this year, how well those guys played. We knew the front line guys would be fine, and they had very good years. But the guards have played very well for us. Q. Jim, does part of you as a competitor enjoy being underestimated a little now and seen as a little bit of a wounded animal coming into this tournament? COACH BOEHEIM: You know, I don't even see it that way, and I don't really pay too much attention to that. Last year we lost five out of our last six games and went into the tournament. The tournament's a different thing. You can start playing well in one game, and all of a sudden, you can get on a roll. So I don't really look at it that way. I think we probably were overestimated a little bit when we were 25‑0. Q. Jim, how's Trevor's ankle been the past couple days? COACH BOEHEIM: He's practiced full speed both days. Q. Is he about where you expect him to be at that point? COACH BOEHEIM: Full speed. Q. If you're around a couple years from now, you probably win a thousand games. Now you're going to tell me that number means nothing to you. It's not something that you think about? COACH BOEHEIM: Well, I definitely don't think about it. I think, once you get to 800, the numbers are pretty big, they mean something. 900 means a little bit more. I mean, those are big numbers. They're not something you ever thought about, but they're certainlygoing to be in the back of your mind. You're going to see them all the time anyway. They're constantly brought up. But, yeah, I mean, that's a big number. I don't know. What am I going to say? As I've told this story before, when you have about 100, you looked at 874, whatever the number was, and you said, Well, that's not happening. That's 20 wins a year for 40 years to get to 800. So it's just not something that you think is something that's going to happen someday. Yeah, the number is always there. It's kind of back there, back of your mind. Q. Jim, Steve Hawkins was asked if they had maybe any kind of advantage having seen Eastern Michigan run your zone. Conversely, can you get any kind of an advantage after seeing how they attacked Eastern Michigan? COACH BOEHEIM: We see how everybody attacks the two‑three zone. We've seen everybody this year who plays against the two‑three zone. So we see everybody, what they try to do, and most people do similar things. But everybody plays against a two‑three zone. Q. Western Michigan is led by senior Shayne Whittington and David Brown, kind of an inside‑out duo. What are your thoughts on those two? COACH BOEHEIM: They're very impressive. They could play anywhere in the country from what I've seen. They're really good players.  I don't really look at where players play or who they play for. I look at how good players are and how good the team is and the coach, and Western Michigan's got a team that could play with anybody in the country. Those two guys, their whole team is good. I think their other guys are really good. I think those two guys could step in and play any place in the country. I think that's the beauty of college basketball today. You get guys that develop as players at schools like Western Michigan, and they're as good as anybody we have and anybody that we've played against. Our players understands that, we understand that. Obviously, this team has played tremendous basketball for us all year, but in every game with a few exceptions have been a battle. We're used to that. It's not like we had a lot of easy games along the way. I don't think we played any differently at the end of the year than we played all year. We played at Virginia, at Duke. Nobody else won there in the league either. So that's fairly normal. We played at Virginia without Jerami Grant, and we played at Duke, and it came down to one play that maybe went the wrong way. But I think we've covered that play already this year. And then we didn't have Jerami for Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech is a pretty good team. They're playing pretty well. We're not the same team without him. You know, we lost to NC State in a game that we had a two‑point lead late. They banked a shot, banked a three, and they're a pretty good team. They won last night. We played pretty much the same all year long. The way the schedule's set up and the way with Jerami going down, that's part of why the finish was what it was. But I don't see any difference in the way we're playing or the way we're practicing now as any time this year. Q. I don't want to put you in position to reminisce about the Big East, but with a year under your belt with the ACC, could you just talk about the pros and cons of your experience in the ACC this year versus the Big East. COACH BOEHEIM: The restaurants were pretty good. It surprised me. They were really pretty good. The league is difficult, just like the Big East. The style of play isn't much different. I really didn't see much difference. I've said this many times, but I guess it bears repeating. The Big East was exactly what it was years ago, then I wouldn't have wanted to leave, and it would have been a bad thing, but we didn't leave that. We left a league that was moving all over. You didn't know who was going to be where. It just wasn't the same. And so I don't have that nostalgia because that league wasn't there. If we'd have left that league, I think it would have been harder. But knowing that that just wasn't there anymore, it really wasn't difficult to leave. I mean, the Big East had changed so many times over the years, and it was just not the same. But I think we got to a league that is going to be stable, as stable as you can be. And given the people that run college basketball or athletics, I think it will be stable. I think that was important. But from a basketball point of view, our fans, you always worry a little bit about the fans. We had the biggest attendance here since 1993 or something. Our fans bought into it. I think we ended up 4,000 more per game. Everybody is happy, basically. I mean, yeah, it's fine. You never know how things are going to be, but it turned out really good. Really good. Q. Jim, I just wanted to ask you a bit, if I could, about your friend Phil Martelli, who's been through things personally this year and professionally. He's had an issue of criticism, and you've obviously had that. How difficult is it to deflect, and how happy are you to see him come out the other side? COACH BOEHEIM: I have never been criticized. I don't know about that, well, that I would pay attention to anyway, let's put it that way. You know, I'm happy. I watched his team a couple of times during the year, and I thought he had a real good team. They really have come together at the end of the year and played great. I'm happy for him. I'm happy for his team. Obviously, he did have some adversity, personal adversity this year. We all have to kind of go through that from time to time because, I mean, we are normal‑‑ not normal, but we are people. So you're going to have those things. I'm just happy he got through it. I saw Jay last night. I don't know why Jay wouldn't let Phil on the back of the plane. I think they should have. That would have been neighborly for him to do that. Q. I just want to know what you're going to expect from Tyler Ennis when the tournament begins tomorrow. COACH BOEHEIM: I don't really think about Tyler Ennis, to tell you the truth. He'll be fine. Q. Some of his teammates were just saying that they've seen him become more aggressive. COACH BOEHEIM: A little bit. Q. He's not a demonstrative person. COACH BOEHEIM: He listens to me. That's nice. I like that. I like that. Q. Jim, sounds like you have a pretty vivid memory of your 100th career victory. What do you remember about your first NCAA Tournament as a coach? COACH BOEHEIM: My first as a coach? I haven't been thinking about this, so I probably won't even remember. You'll have to give me a clue. Let's see, first tournament. Is that when we beat Tennessee? I don't know. I swear to God, I wish I could remember. I think it was. Roosevelt was a freshman. Yeah, I think that was it. It was a good tournament for a while. We thought we had an easy tournament, and then we had Charlotte, and they had a guy named Cornbread Maxwell, and it didn't turn out so easy. I think that was it. I'm not 100 percent. THE MODERATOR: That was it. COACH BOEHEIM: That was it? Good. THE MODERATOR: Didn't know it was going to be an aging test. COACH BOEHEIM: We had to go to LSU and play Tennessee and Ernie and Bernie, and we had an unbelievable game. Q. Overtime. COACH BOEHEIM: We ended up blowing the regulation, and we should have won in regulation, then we ended up winning in overtime. But it was a great game. Great, great game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Good luck. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|