Jim Boeheim Guys Quotations

We had better balance and that was the key to winning. The other guys just scored more and played better. If we can continue with that kind of balance we'll play well here.

Let the assistant coach come up to me and say, 'Gerry McNamara is overrated.' I'd like to see one of those guys come up to me and say that. He's been double-teamed all year, and the coaches voted him first team all-conference. The head coaches, they don't know (expletive), I guess.

I'd like to show it to some of these guys (at the head table), ... It's as close as they'll ever get to one.

He got guys like Dave Bing to come to Syracuse at a time when the program was really down, ... He made me realize that the foundation for any good team is good players. There isn't a coach in the Hall of Fame who didn't have good players on his teams.

He made some bad choices and got in some bad situations but we need him to make plays. We don't have other guys to make plays.

This was a good game for us. I like St. Rose. They get very good movement, they really tested us in some things. Defensively, that will help us. We didn't do a good job on the boards and had some really bad turnovers. Our young guys are going to make mistakes. You expect that.

Our big guys had 14 turnovers. We'll try and get the ball into them for a little while but not much longer.

Some guys win one game once in a while, in a year or two. I don't think anybody's ever won four games in a row by making 'the' play of the game. That's pretty special.

Some guys win a game once in a while. I don't think anybody has won four games in a row making the play in the game.

I think the thing fans admire and I admire is the way Gerry plays hard all the time. He knows no other speed than full speed. When he makes a mistake, it's an effort-mistake. Most guys make mistakes because they don't give enough effort. That's never been the case with Gerry.

Those guys have to be ready to step up and play. This is the opportunity for them. We'll see how they handle that.

When they caught us, and they caught us three or four times, we kept going. Usually, when that happens, you let it go away a little bit. But these guys (Syracuse player) wouldn't let it go away.

When Gerry got the ball coming down, I set something up. I told him (to) drive and give it to one of three guys at the end of regulation. He looked at me and said, 'Can I shoot it?' I said, 'They're not going to let you shoot it. But if they do, shoot it. As soon as he released it, there was never a doubt that ball was nothing but net.

You have to have tough, physical guys to get away with that. That's what Villanova has. The advantage is you get a big advantage on offense but a disadvantage on defense. But I think it balances out. But you have to have tough kids to do that. They have tough kids and veterans so they can get away with it.

When you lose your best player without any practice time or anything (to prepare), that's a huge mountain to overcome. I think this is a great lesson for the other guys, that they can win without Gerry. That'll help make them stronger, give us a chance to rest Gerry. Other guys know they can step up and make plays.

Is he the best player in the league? No, he's not. But he's the most important player on any team in the league. When Allan Ray is hurt, Villanova wins. If one or two guys from Connecticut have bad games, they still win. If Gerry doesn't play for us, we can't be in the game.

Defensively, we did a good job, as well as you could expect at this stage of the year. We really helped each other. Our inside guys did a nice job. We really didn't give them too many open looks. We were very good.

Connecticut is a team that can beat anybody, anytime, anyplace. They're the best team in our league, in the country. They've been there. They know what they're doing. They've got veteran guys who know how to play, know how to win.

I had to laugh when our student newspaper called him overrated. Without Gerry McNamara, we wouldn't have won 10 games this year. The other guys just aren't ready. They needed him. We wouldn't even have a chance to play this game without him.

If the other guys had played better all year, I'm sure (McNamara being called overrated) never would have come up.

Gerry was able to get in the lane and the big guys reacted better, I think, than they have. They got open a little bit better.

These guys wouldn't let it get away. Gerry wouldn't let it get away. He amazes me. He's got more guts that anyone I've ever coached.

These guys have grown, stepped it up and grown up. That should help us a lot this next week. Gerry made the big plays, but these other guys stepped it up. I think that's why we're going forward, and it's given us a little better opportunity now.

The last two games we've played as well as we have all year. We just want to keep playing well. We've been there (in the NCAA tournament) before. We've got veteran guys that know what to do. I think our league is making everybody a dangerous team it's so deep.