St. John's University Athletics
Pregame Quotes vs. No.4/4 Syracuse
1/10/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2011
St. John's Head Coach Steve Lavin
On how this year's Syracuse team measures up:
"One of the remarkable things about Coach Boeheim is that he has a system and he's a simplicity execution coach in terms of he keeps things simple and just amplifies the execution with what they're doing offensively and defensively. They get better as the season goes a long as players get comfortable within their approach at both ends of the court. The familiarity and the simplicity is one of the strengths of Syracuse. As the years go by, the players names change, but the results are the same, which is 20 to 30 wins on a consistent basis and deep runs into the tournament. That's why he's got 800 plus wins and why he's a hall of famer. So this version and this particular team brings a lot of size and length and they present problems because they don't give you a lot of good looks at the basket. There's just not much air space around the rim in the paint. They're capable of running well out of that zone defense. It keeps them out of foul trouble and keeps opponents off the foul line. It keeps their better players in the game. They've got their guards out front, ready to run their lanes. And he's got the bigs protecting the lane, which is where you want them. So it's the blueprint for success that Coach Boeheim has used throughout his career that's allowed this particular Orange team to get off to an undefeated start.
On the importance of offensive rebounding against Syracuse, given the Orange's strong defense:
"Yes. Rebounding is a critical part of the game. We intend to try and hit the boards at the offensive end of the floor. In a zone, you're trying to box out people within your area. In a man-to-man, there's more pinpointed responsibilities based on the matchups. So there sometimes are opportunities, whether it's on a long shot, long rebound or trying to slip inside and hope that there's a breakdown in their box-out responsibilities."
On the idea that second-chance opportunities will present themselves against SU, given Seton Hall's success with them on Saturday:
"Anytime you play against an effective zone defensive team, you need to try to beat the zone down the floor in transition before it sets up. Then you've got to be effective in trying to get the ball to the sweet spots against the zone and not settle for the perimeter shot, not be overly reliant on jump shots, but be willing to distort the zone through ball movement, through man movement, finding the gaps in the seams within that defense. You can do that a number of ways: through screening the zone, through flashing from behind the zone along the baseline, through flashing from the wing when the ball's on the other side of the floor at the wing spot, through dribble penetration. There's a number of ways to try and get into the jaws or the teeth of that zone defense and make reads accordingly. Then the third phase is the offensive rebounds. So, trying to escort the ball, get organized in transition before the zone defense sets up, then attack through the teeth or the jaws of the defense by hitting the sweet spots and be willing to make that extra pass so you don't just settle for standstill jump shots. Then the third phase would be trying to get on the offensive boards. Those are kind of the three areas against any zone, if it was John Chaney's Temple zone or Coach Massimino's matchup zone or Jim Boeheim's legendary 2-3 zone, that's the way in which you try and attack."
On whether big conference win over West Virginia and Georgetown gives the team confidence heading into the Syracuse game:
"I think it's a game clearly similar to the Georgetown game. The energy that we anticipate in The Garden will be at a high level. It's similar to the Georgetown game - it's not a game that you really have to get your kids hyped up for. They understand. They've been in this league and they know that we're facing an undefeated Syracuse team and one of the top programs in the country currently ranked in the top 5 on our home court. There are a number of factors that point towards this being an important game. As a coach, I'm big on staying on the path of improvement, the path of progress, incrementally trying to get better and not hyping one game up over another game because they're all important for different reasons. Depending on the stretch or the stage in the season, some naturally become more important to others. Following the two losses to St. Bonaventure and Fordham, there was a sense of urgency to the Davidson game because you want to get off the snide. Then once you get to the Northwestern game, you want to keep it going and you want to win the Holiday Festival. Then you're opening up against West Virginia, so you want to get off to a good start in league play. Then you're playing Providence and why not become road warriors and get a couple of road wins? They may be hard to find in this league. Then you come home to Georgetown and you want to protect your home court, go to Notre Dame and you want to stay undefeated and continue to win on the road. Now, we're coming home off a loss, so we'd like to respond. Every game is important. There's a different narrative that comes along with it that's naturally going to be amplified. Syracuse is a big game."
On how St. John's players feel about the anticipated atmosphere in Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, given Syracuse's strong fan following in the past:
"The advantages and disadvantages of being someone from the West Coast is I haven't really had the time to fully grasp or understand the nuances of the BIG EAST and the last decade of St. John's basketball. Obviously, having been a head coach at UCLA and having done broadcast at ESPN, you have some sense of it. I covered St. John's when they played Duke in The Garden a couple of times and I was aware of the overall landscape of college basketball. But I think I'll have a much better sense for things along those lines that you're asking about a year out from now, after I've gone through the BIG EAST for a full year and I've gotten a sense for what The Garden is like now versus next year or the year after that. You naturally hear things from people that are avid St. John's fans or people here in the athletic department or rival coaches just talking in the summer time. But I've really been pleased at this point with our games in The Garden and the support that we've received and you just want to keep building on it. I think putting together a team that plays a winning brand of basketball is the best way to raise interest and assure that we're going to continue to have people coming through those turnstiles wearing red, rooting for the Johnnies."
St. John's Senior Guard/Forward D.J. Kennedy
On his anticipation for Wednesday night's game against Syracuse:
"We're definitely looking forward to the game. Especially the 10 seniors we have on this team, being that we haven't beaten Syracuse since we've been here. We know the zone gives a lot of teams problems, but we'll just try to find a way to win."
On why beating Syracuse is so important:
"It's a big deal for us because since we have been here it has been a battle between both teams of who is in control of New York. A lot of people say Syracuse is the face of New York, so we feel like this year we want to show people that St. John's is the face of New York. They have our number and we still have a sour taste in our mouths from when they had Johnny Flynn and destroyed us at the Garden. We see cabs and everything with Syracuse written on it so we definitely feel like they think their New York's team."
St. John's Senior Guard Dwight Hardy
On his anticipation for Wednesday night's game against Syracuse:
"It's just another great opportunity for us. We're playing a top-five team in the nation on our home court and we know on our home court we play very well, so I look at it as another opportunity to beat another ranked team and to become better as a team."
On if being the 'face of New York' is important to the team:
"Yes, of course. They're from upstate and we're from the city. They're undefeated right now and it would feel good to give them their first loss of the season and get one-up on them."
On the importance of outside scoring against Syracuse's zone defense:
"We all need to play well, but just speaking of myself, I know I'll have open opportunities at the 3-point line so we're going to get the ball inside through penetration and then pitch-in and pitch-out and I just have to be ready to knock down shots. If I'm able to do that, it will open up driving lanes and then we can get the ball down low and let our bigs score off penetration."
St. John's Freshman Dwayne Polee II
On the anticipation for his first St. John's - Syracuse matchup:
"I'm pretty excited, but I'm just trying to stay relaxed and stay inside of my game in order to help my team win. At the end of the day all we want is the W and it doesn't really matter who scores what and who does what as long as we get the win."
On the importance of offensive rebounding against Syracuse:
"Not only is it a priority, but it's also an easy way to get your game going. If our guards aren't shooting well those are easy points off offensive rebounds. Also, it's a good way to get their bigs in foul trouble."
On his thoughts of the BIG EAST Conference so far this season:
"It's just really physical. You have to pick and chose your spots and know when you can do certain things. They throw a lot of different defenses at you. You see a different defense every night, whether it's a zone or a press or man-to-man. Throughout these four games we've seen four different defenses.
On the expected atmosphere of Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night:
"We're going to try and get the crowd into the game early and hopefully that takes Syracuse out of their game. When the crowd gets into it, it's a whole different ballgame."
