Boeheim, Hopkins Talk Mookie Jones
by Sean Keeley on Dec 18, 2009 11:07 AM EST
6 comments
Jim Boeheim appeared on the Doug Gottlieb show yesterday and Mike Hopkins stopped by Brent Axe's show and both touched on the touchy subject of Mookie Jones and his "demands" for more playing time. First up are Boeheim's comments on Mookie's PT:
He's concerned about playing time...and as I explained to him before and after the game, Florida, they're a pressing team and we were gonna go with our three best ball-handling guards. Mookie struggles handling the ball, he's a very good two-guard, shoots it well...he'll play, probably in most every game, just, he does struggle against pressure defense. But there's a lot of teams that don't press.
Did Boeheim take Mookie's comments personally?
No, not at all. I want guys to want to play. If [Mike Waters] had handled it right, he would have asked him "are you upset with your playing time," and he would have said "yeah, I wanna play." And I want everybody to wanna play. I don't want anybody sitting on my bench to think he can't play here at Syracuse. So I don't mind that.
The only problem was that we'd talked about it beforehand so he kinda knew what was gonna happen in the game and, you know, he's working in practice, he came back and had a good game the other night against St. Francis and I expect him to play in the next two non-conference games and I hope he keeps getting better.
The thing is, too, Doug, we redshirted him last year so he's still a freshman. But I think the one thing you see in college basketball...I saw a freshman that went home from South Florida in our league after two games. (Laughs) You know, he wasn't playing enough after two games...I think, you know, that's the problem in basketball today.
Freshmen used to have a little patience. You could kinda get a freshman through that year...by sophomore year if he'd was playing he'd be fine but it's pretty much "I wanna play right now."
As for Hopkins, he shared some stories that you hope have not been lost on young Mookie:
"One of the great things about this, especially with coach (Boeheim) is we have all been through this. Coach (Boeheim) came off the bench. Coach (Boeheim) was a walk-on officially when he first came to Syracuse. When I first came to Syracuse, I red-shirted. I was never supposed to play, I didn't play (laughs). Then you have Lazarus Sims. It took four years, then he led us to the Final Four. We have all been through this, we have a lot of guys on staff, Gerry McNamara has been absolutely terrific. The best way to respond to that, like with a case like Mookie, is to working harder, show them you do deserve to play, and that your potential goal is to get better."
So I guess you can put away your Mookie Jones TransferWatch Bingo card for now. The coaches know what they're doing. Make sure you listen to both interviews as they talk also about how the team is doing so well and the success of Andy Rautins, Wes Johnson and others.
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I said it in the FanPost that linked the Boeheim Gottlieb interview, but I'll repost it here because I have the time
Love the way Boeheim handled Mookie Jones there:
- Tells us specifically why Mookie didn’t play against Florida
- Says he talked about that with Mookie beforehand
- Is predictably angrier at the press for stirring the pot than at Mookie
- Says he wants his guys to want to play, so this is a good sign.
So for those worried Syracuse isn’t handling this situation correctly, I think this interview will make you feel better. The coaches have this under control. It’s up to Mookie to wait it out and find his spots.
Wow- Boeheim really hates the P-S, huh?
Remember when he refused to talk to the P-S about the incident where McCroskey disappeared from the team briefly a few years ago? Then SU played at MSG sometime later (maybe for the BE tourney?) and Boeheim finally explained the McCroskey thing, and one of the P-S reporters wrote something bitter about Boeheim “turning on the charm” for the NY media.
Did the P-S have something to do w/ that? Like was it because of an exposé they did?
I don’t really remember the details- just that we couldn’t play in the NCAAs that one year in the 90s. I don’t even remember what the violations were. Was in h.s. then and a lot more of a casual fan. But I’d be interested in the background if you could fill me in, b/c the whole Boeheim vs. P-S thing seems to rear its ugly head often enough.
by el_bresidente on Dec 19, 2009 5:56 PM EST up reply actions
Thanks for the link...
So the investigation did start w/ the P-S – that explains a lot! I found this in another NYT article (http://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/13/sports/basketball-ncaa-inquiry-on-syracuse-is-reported.html?pagewanted=1):
The investigation followed a series of articles in The Post-Standard that reported violations in the program.
Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t remember all that stuff. Maybe that means I drink too much.
Anyway, It’s hard to picture the P-S doing anything like that these days. In the last couple months alone they got scooped by the Daily Orange on Mike Williams/Turning Stone/car accident-gate, it took them days to figure out that Edsall had given a reasonable explanation for passing on 4th down at the end of the UConn game and they still haven’t gotten HCDM to talk about firing those three coaches.
by el_bresidente on Dec 20, 2009 5:58 PM EST up reply actions
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