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Jim Boeheim on not owning a computer, his new book and more
To promote his newly released autobiography "Bleeding Orange," Jim Boeheim has done a series of book signings and radio and TV interviews in recent weeks.
The Syracuse coach chatted about the book with Yahoo Sports earlier this week. He also fielded questions about everything from why he still has faith in his cold-shooting team, to the restaurant scene in ACC cities, to his steadfast refusal to purchase a computer.
JE: Who is the best player and the best team you've seen this season?
JB: Obviously everyone talks about Kentucky and they're for real, but I really think Duke, Arizona and Louisville are in that mix of teams. I'm not sure Virginia is out of that mix either. They're very, very good and underrated. I think Montrezl Harrell at Louisville is one of the best in the country, but I think it's more about teams than players this year. There aren't as many individual stars but there are a lot of really, really good teams that have a lot of options. I watched Wichita State the other night and they're really, really good again. I wouldn't be shocked if they don't lose more than another game or two the whole year. So I think there are some really good teams out there. There are more good teams this year than last year.
JE: Can any of those teams beat Kentucky?
JB: Kentucky will be hard to beat. If it were a best-of-7 series, I don't think anyone would beat them. But single-elimination? I think there are a lot of teams that can get them in one game.
JE: Who's the most underrated coach in the country?
JB: You can point your finger at a lot of different places. Gregg Marshall at Wichita State has gotten some recognition for what he has done. So has John Beilein. But what Sean Miller has done, Mark Few has done, Billy Donovan has done, Tony Bennett ... there's just so many good coaches out there. I don't think people realize how many there are. I don't think that's appreciated enough. There's a whole lot of really good coaches out there, and it comes down to which players play the best on a given day.
JE: You could have written a book at a number of points throughout your career or waited until after retirement. Why was now the right time for 'Bleeding Orange?'
JB: I wanted to still be active, and the reason it was the right time now was Jack McCallum was available and we were leaving the Big East and going to the ACC. It was a perfect time to start the book as we were going through the start of the ACC yet we were still able to reflect back on the moments in the Big East. Then we start out 25-0, so that became a big part of the story. It was good to have that kind of a season when you're writing a book.
JE: I know you hand-picked Jack McCallum to write the book — and why not since he's such a fantastic writer — but describe the history between you guys and why you trusted him to do it?
JB: We met a long time ago when he worked for Sports Illustrated and did a story on me in '96 when we went to the Final Four. It was really a positive story. It was the first time I met Jack, and I took a chance and took him inside everything. I'd gone through a divorce. He handled it in a good way. We've known each other ever since then and we've talked a lot. So it was just natural that I was just waiting for him to become available so I could do the book.
JE: One of my favorite anecdotes in the book is the story about Derrick Coleman's reaction after you guys beat North Carolina in 1987 to advance to your first Final Four. Can you share that story?
JB: I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life. I had been coaching 10 years and we had good teams, but we'd never had a team reach the Final Four. I've never seen a locker room happier than we were. We just beat North Carolina — they were the No. 1 seed — and there's Derrick throwing his jersey on the floor and looking upset. I didn't know what to make of it, but he was upset because he had a trip planned during spring break to see his grandma. That had to be put on hold for the Final Four. He had a great Final Four too. Nineteen rebounds or something in the championship game.
JE: You've said before that you don't own a computer. Is that still true? And have you ever been tempted to buy one?
JB: Nope, I never have. Obviously we have them at home. My kids and my wife have one. I went on it one day, and I couldn't even get through the starting screen. I just said I can't do this. I haven't gone back. I know it's a good tool, but I just haven't gotten there.
JE: You think that ever changes? Maybe in retirement?
JB: Maybe someday. The only reason I could see possibly is I like to read newspapers. If I can learn how to do that, maybe I'd do that, but I don't know.
JE: You've done a half dozen book signings so far. What's the most memorable question you've gotten at one of them from a fan?
JB: What stands out is that in the little town of Auburn, it was snowing and people stood outside for an hour, an hour and a half to get a book signed. We signed 600 books there and this is a little town. In Syracuse, we signed 1,200 at Wegman's one day. That's a pretty big number. It was just nice to see our fans come out like that. 5,000 books in six nights. It was pretty good.
JE: Let's talk about your team this season and specifically your 20.8 percent 3-point shooting. Are players taking bad shots? Are they missing shots they make in practice? Do you just not have enough shooters on the roster? How do you explain it?
JB: We weren't a really good shooting team last year, we lost Tyler Ennis who was a pretty good shooter and now we have one guy who's a proven shooter and everyone on the other team knows that. So they're not going to give Trevor Cooney anything if they can help it and they're giving us shots at other positions. We think those guys are pretty good shooters, but right now the three guys we need to make shots are shooting 18 percent from three. We need them to start making a few shots. We're 350th or something in the country in 3-point field goal percentage and we lose two games to good teams that were tie games late in the game. So we don't have to make a lot of shots but we do have to make some.
JE: Since Kaleb Joseph is really the only true point guard you have, I thought he was a big key to your team this season. Evaluate his play so far a month into the season.
JB: He has been alright. He has been as good as most freshmen, maybe better than a lot of freshmen, but he's still a freshman and he's making some mistakes. He is probably hurting us on defense more than on offense. His defense is something we're really trying to work on. He is playing about as well as you expect, but I don't think our other perimeter players are playing as well as they have to. Trevor Cooney and Michael Gbinije in particular they have to play better. If they play better, it will be easier on the point guard.
JE: You probably ruffled some feathers below the Mason-Dixon line a few years ago with your joke about having to eat at Denny's or Waffle House on the road once Syracuse joined the ACC. What's the best restaurant you have discovered in ACC country so far?
JB: That shouldn't have ruffled any feathers. That was a joke. There's as good restaurants in the ACC cities as there are in New York. I had an Italian dinner at Wake Forest that was as good as New York City. I've had great meals at Clemson too. That was just one of those times where you're trying to be funny and people take it literally. Some people can't take a joke, I guess.
JE: You would think people would be familiar with your dry wit after a few decades of it, right?
JB: Maybe it's new to them, I don't know. I never was accused of being funny for 20-30 years, so I'm trying to be a little funnier now.
JE: You've been at Syracuse your entire coaching career. What's the closest you ever came to leaving?
JB: I took one interview at my house for a school many years ago, and I knew right away as the interview was starting that I wasn't going to leave Syracuse. That was just a courtesy interview. They wanted to come in and talk to me. I knew within 10 or 15 minutes, I wasn't going to go. I'm from here. I've always been here. I've never really thought about leaving Syracuse.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
