SYRACUSE — Syracuse University men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim discussed several topics during the team’s media day held Friday, Oct. 20 inside the Carmelo K. Anthony Center on the university’s South campus. The topics included the 2017-18 Orange team and those who will take the court for Syracuse this season. The Orange are coming off […]
SYRACUSE — Syracuse University men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim discussed several topics during the team’s media day held Friday, Oct. 20 inside the Carmelo K. Anthony Center on the university’s South campus.
The topics included the 2017-18 Orange team and those who will take the court for Syracuse this season. The Orange are coming off a 19-15 season last year and an appearance in the NIT. Syracuse went 18-13 (10-8 in the ACC) in the regular season.
This season, the Orange will likely rely on the play of returning star sophomore guard Tyus Battle as well as graduate transfer guard Geno Thorpe from South Florida, returning junior guard Frank Howard, and redshirt freshman forward Matthew Moyer. Junior center Paschal Chukwu also returns from last year’s team in which he missed most of the season due to injury.
Four freshmen — forwards Oshae Brissett and Marek Dolezaj, forward/center Bourama Sidibe, and guard Howard Washington — will also factor in this season with a couple of them possibly playing important roles.
The program moves on without six players from last year’s team. Forward Tyler Roberson, center DaJuan Coleman, and graduate transfer guards Andrew White and John Gillon graduated. Additionally, forwards Tyler Lydon and Taurean Thompson departed early — Lydon to the NBA draft and Thompson with a transfer to Seton Hall.
Syracuse starts play this season with exhibition games against Southern New Hampshire on Nov. 1 and against Southern Connecticut State on Nov. 6, before tipping off the regular season Nov. 10 against Cornell.
In addition to its usual difficult ACC schedule, Syracuse plays Maryland, Kansas, Connecticut, and Georgetown in its pre-conference schedule.
Here are Boeheim’s comments on various topics regarding the 2017-2018 Orange team:
On Tyus Battle taking on a leadership role:
“I think, again, we’ve had a couple weeks of practice. I think Tyus has worked extremely hard. I really do. I think he’s [a] much improved player, much stronger, much more physical, much more confident in what he should do. I think he had a great year last year … particularly at the end of the year he showed, obviously, against the best teams in the country in our league what he can do. And I think he’s much better this year. I think we always look for improvement from players, but I would say his improvement is genuine, is large, and I think he’s ready to go.”
On how Marek Dolezaj from Slovakia is adapting from the European game to college ball in the U.S.:
“You know, he’s an American kind of player. He doesn’t play as much like a European as some typical big guys where they just shoot outside. He can put the ball on the floor, drive, active player, rebounds it, jumps well … pretty good shooter, not as good as most European big guys but a pretty good shooter. He works hard at the game. He understands the game … doesn’t understand me much … he understands the game and how to play. He’s doing great. He doesn’t have the bulk. He weighs the same as Hakim Warrick did and Louis Orr did when they were freshmen. And they were pretty good players.”
On what he’s seen from Oshae Brissett compared to what he expected from him:
“I think Oshae has worked very hard. He’s a hard worker. I think he’s really gotten better since he’s gotten here because of his work ethic. Both Howard [Washington] and Oshae worked extremely hard, extremely hard, as hard as anybody that we’ve had. I think they’re both good players and I think they’re getting better. Obviously, they need to get in games and see how they adjust in those situations before you know what they’re going to be.”
On expectations for Frank Howard:
“He works hard. He’s getting better. We’ll see what he can do. I think he’s improved. I think he’s shooting the ball better. He was a little rusty, obviously. He didn’t play this summer [due to recovery from injury and surgery]. I don’t think that hurt him that much because he’s had plenty of big-game experience. He’s a much better player this year at this stage than he was last year.”
On what continues to drive the coach in his 42nd year at the helm:
“It’s the same every year. You want to have a great team. There’s nothing different … doesn’t matter whether it’s your first year, your 10th year … doesn’t matter … You want to go out and get this team to be as good as they can be. There’s no carryovers … You have the same focus every year. You can’t say, well, we did this two years [ago], it doesn’t matter. As long as I feel that way, I’ll try to coach. I think you should never make anything about age in this country… All you’ve got to do is look at Warren Buffett to know that there is no limit to what you can do and at what age you can do it. How old is he? … I know he’s older than me. And he’s still doing pretty good … I think you should be able to do what you do as long as you want to do it and as long as you can do it … If anything, I think I’m more motivated now than I was when I was younger because it’s obvious I’m not going to coach forever. So you want to do the best you can this year with this team. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”