Following another ho-hum December rout at the Carrier Dome and at the end of what had been a non-
descript post-game news conference, Syracuse University men’s basketball
coach Jim Boeheim lifted the curtain and gave us a peek behind the
psychology needed to win 900 college basketball games.
The Orange had just crushed Eastern Michigan 84-48 on Dec. 3 and Boeheim was asked about SU’s next opponent, Long Beach State. After saying the 49ers “were really good last year” and “these games are learning experiences for us to get better,” Boeheim launched into a fascinating monologue that tiptoed the line between defending his team’s early-season schedule and warning his players that they’re not as good as they’ve looked so far.
Very tricky, but Boeheim pulled it off. No wonder he’s two wins away from 900 in his career and five wins away from passing Bob Knight and moving into second place behind Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski on the all-time victory list for Division I coaches.
The Orange’s creampuff early-season schedule has been a constant criticism throughout Boeheim’s 37-year run at SU. “We went to San Diego State on purpose {for the season opener Nov. 11} because they’re good,” he said in response to recent chatter. “I think Arkansas {on Nov. 30} has gotten better and these wins give us a good indication for the future. The thing that we are getting ready for is conference play and these games will be more than enough to get you ready. If you can’t get ready for the NCAA Tournament playing the Big East, then you have no chance to be good.
“Playing really good teams in November will help your team for the next couple of weeks, but it won’t help in March. It’ll help right away,” he added. “This game helps us because we can point out the mistakes and turnovers that will cost us in a big game. These are learning experiences. The score doesn’t matter. You learn each game and in each practice.”
So there you have it. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and other top coaches can load their non-conference schedules with as many Top 20 teams as they’d like, but Boeheim has a reason for doing it his way. Izzo and Boeheim each have won the same number of national championships (one), so you can decide which one is right.
But there is a danger when you’re winning your early-season games by 84-48, 84-53 and 108-56—the scores of SU’s victories last week against Eastern Michigan, Long Beach State and Monmouth. The danger is that your players start falling in love with the hype and rankings and forget they’re going to have to work twice as hard after the holidays to keep it going throughout the Big East season.
So following his comments on the early-season schedule, Boeheim sent a message to his team that it still has a long way to go to be the national championship contender that fans and the media already believe it is. “You have to be ready and I hope we can win every game but we will have to work on things and get better,” Boeheim said. “If we do that, then we can get ready for the conference and that’s a different world. The conference teams that I’ve seen have been better than anybody has expected and we want to be ready when we get there so we are ready to compete with them.
“This team has a lot to learn,” he continued. “We have a lot of work to do to be good. We want to be good. Last year’s team was good at this time and we aren’t there yet now. We don’t have as many veterans and this team is a work in progress and we can get there, but we are a long way from that.”
Did the players get Boeheim’s message? After a sluggish start against Eastern Michigan, the Orange came out on fire against both Long Beach State and Monmouth. “He definitely tells us every day that we have to go out and play our game because on any given night we can get upset,” freshman center DaJuan Coleman said. “So we have to be ready every game.”
Sophomore point guard Michael Carter-Williams was asked if he had heard what Boeheim had said after the Eastern Michigan game. Carter-Williams smiled and explained how the players expect to win but don’t take it for granted. “I think us, as a team, when we go out on the court we believe that no team can beat us. That’s the attitude we have to have,” Carter-Williams said. “When we’re in practice, and we’re working on stuff, we’re humble about it. We know we can be beat. We’re not walking around like we can’t be beat. Once we step on the floor, every game, no matter who we’re playing, we have confidence in ourselves.”
After taking this week off for finals, the 8-0 and fourth-ranked Orange will return to action against Canisius at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Dome. Boeheim will likely record his 900th win against Detroit on Monday, Dec. 17, at the Dome, where SU has the nation’s longest home-court winning streak at 28 games.
Barring a blip against Temple on Dec. 22 at Madison Square Garden, the Orange will likely enter the final Big East Conference season at 13-0 and Boeheim will pass Knight against Central Connecticut on New Year’s Eve at the Dome.
“We’re a great team as far as the meaning of team,” senior guard Brandon Triche said. “We’re good together as a group, and I think we’re so motivated and hungry that playing against lesser competition, we’re not going to have any letdowns.”
