Twenty-one years later, Chris Bosch still regrets. Just a year after graduating from Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets went all the way to the national championships, but Bosch, a rookie for the Toronto Raptors, could only see support.
The 2004 title game between Georgia Tech and UConn took place in San Antonio, Texas. Bosch is back in town and is working with AT&T at the Fanfest ahead of the 2025 Final Four.
Although it has changed dramatically in college basketball since Bosh played, there are still some similarities. Auburn has a big guy at Johnny Bloom, and the game resembles Bosch. Duke has one trio of freshmen who have been experiencing the pressures Bosch faced in his one season at Georgia Tech, and Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson recruited Bosch to play for him in Oklahoma.
Bosch touched on these stories in an interview with Fox Sports ahead of Saturday’s final four games.
Q: How about things in San Antonio? What do you do in the Final Four? Also, what is the specific role of AT&T?
Bosch: I’m having an event here at the AT&T and the NBA Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame will always announce its Hall of Fame induction for upcoming classes over the last four weekends. [AT&T has] I’m always involved in basketball. Here’s a pretty cool installation. This is a fanfest at the convention center in San Antonio. There is a basket here. Children can play games. If you play basketball like one of the cool places you can hang out, you’ll be overloaded.
Q: When you think about the Final Four, what do you think when you look back on your university career?
Bosch: It was all too short. Funny story: I was drafted in 2003 and in 2004 Georgia Tech lost to UConn here in San Antonio in the National Championship Game. So San Antonio is the city where I will return to Final 4 or Championship situation. That’s a bit crazy.
Q: How many teammates were there in those four final teams? Did you feel like you missed it?
Bosch: All of them. I left to go to the draft and we had another guy transferred, but he transferred to UConn. …Will Bynum, Jarrett Jack, Isma’il Muhammad, BJ Elder – we had a really good team. Watching them was a bit crazy and I was a newcomer. I wanted nothing more than to play with my friends.
Q: If you were playing in this era, [is staying another year] Something you would have considered?
Bosch: I don’t know if I thought of it because basketball was my dream, but I would say it’s a really attractive option for kids. If everyone is having a good time, and if you are paid anyway, you can go back to school and get another year of development under your belt, get paid and get more familiar with the system. That’s one of the things I missed. If the guy is good enough, or the girl is good enough to go for two years, or if you want to come back, I think it’s pretty cool.
Q: Johnny Bloom, you might see some of your own in his game. What do you think about how he plays?
Bosch: It’s very appealing to see how open the game has. The ability to handle the ball, the ability to play on the open floor, the freedom to do those things… to shoot 3. You can now participate in and view the game developed. Previously, even if you could shoot three seconds, the coach would say, “Yeah, you’re not going to shoot three seconds. I’m going to bench you.” They didn’t necessarily fulfill their strengths. Many of these are seen in the younger generation today. They come quickly, play to their strengths, do what they can and the system can build around them.
Kelvin Sampson, Cooper Flag, Final Four on Cultural Changes in Houston
Q: You were one of them [few] Do you think you could have set up a table for more people in your position like Bloom, because it can do it at a high level in the NBA?
Bosch: I think it was effective not only for doing it. I’ve always seen people like Sam Perkins, Cliff Robinson, Tony Kukok and Dark Nowicki – down the line of great players who played big positions – I shot three. They look at the game now and say, “I was supposed to be filming five or six games.” I see it that way too. At the end of my career, I was watching how the three-ball evolved the game, and I wanted to solidify myself a little more with that conversation. I had never had the chance to do it all the time, but you could see the waves coming. So for players like Joni, it’s great for him to just go in, do who he is, play inside, play outside, handle it, everything.
Q: Was that a problem for you? Have you ever had a coach trying to prevent you from holding more boundary-based games?
Bosch: No, I was lucky. Now I’m like, “Perform your strengths. We want you to go down low” because the game was about that, right? “But I shot 3-40%. It was something that was always there.
Q: Cooper Flagwhat do you think the pressure is?
Bosch: He has more pressure to deal with because I was already done. My pressure was transferred. I had to worry about signing with the agent. He still has the gift and curse of playing basketball on the biggest stage, but that’s what you want. For him, he can stay in the zone… until the end of this season, when it’s over, he will begin the process of interviewing the team, training, pre-drafting, doing everything you have to go through. …I was on the same boat. He plans to play for the third team in three years. I’ll have a third coach in three years. We plan to move back to our third new location in three years. It’s coming to him quickly, but that’s what happens when you become an adult. It comes fast to you and to you [have] It has been adapted.
Q: How do you stay at that moment?
Bosch: It forces you. …You have no choice… Even in the draft, he probably goes to No. 1 team, so you don’t know what will happen in the lottery or something. So, that’s a bit of a small step. Force them to stay in the present because they don’t know what will happen the next day or the following week.
Q: Finally, what are you thinking about your recommendations this weekend?
Bosch: I’m not going to lie, it’s really hard not to go with Duke. It’s a very classic, blue blooded Final Four. I know the guys in the old fashioned Houston, Fai Slama Jama with Jeri Karl, they’ll be coming out in a bunch. It’s a bit difficult not to go for Houston, they deserve it. Coach Sampson, I think he was coaching in college when I was hired, so I’d love to see them get it. Florida is always strong and in it. Auburn, they’re turning their program into something, so if I choose it, I think I’ll go to Houston.
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