Here are the notes from Pitino’s 3rd press conference. As always, I type while he talks, oo it’s not verbatim. Enjoy…
• Pitino asked to make sure Sid’s microphone was on, Sid confirmed.
• We practiced Friday – Sunday and took off Monday. They can practice 30 times in 42 days. The players voted on captains and choose Hollins, Hollins and Maverick. All 3 are leaders in different ways. They picked 3 good ones.
• I think the attitude has been great, they’re all really good kids, they’re not difficult to coach as far as showing up everyday and working hard. That’s a testament to Coach Smith and the kind of players he brought in.
• Hopefully we’ll hear about Joey King soon, it’s in the NCAA’s hands. They get so many waivers, it’s just tough because they can’t give you a certain time table, but I understand it.
• Maverick will have to have a bigger role, that doesn’t have anything to do with him being captain, he has to play a lot. He always seems like he’s having a good time, he’s enjoying it, he’s going to have to play a lot certainly.
• The new players – Malik Smith won’t have much of an adjustment, he’ll play a lot of 2, he has great knowledge of the system.
• McNeil can play about an hour or hour and a half due to injury. Joey King has been physically very much ready to play. He is they type of guy that can come in and make an impact.
• None of the captains are extremely vocal, that’s not what they do, they lead by example more. Which is a good thing. These guys, I’ve relied on them every single day to do the right thing.
• I’d consider using a starting 5 that have all the captains in it. I don’t know what the starting 5 would be right now. We’ve used Mav, Andre and Austin frequently
• On schedule – it’s tough to open up Syracuse in the Maui classic, another game that will be tough is Richmond, they are picked up at the top of their conference, and Florida State at home, Lehigh, their coach is phenomenal.
• We’re going to wait a little bit on it (playing Louisville). I want him (Rick Pitino) to have an impact on this program, I don’t want to have to hide things.
• Everyone talked about how Louisville didn’t have the caliber of players when I was there, not 5 stars, but a lot of 3 stars, we had a great attitude and chemistry for the team, and we have that ability here this year.
• Coach Smith brought in some great kids, and they’ve all been taught very well by him. The adjustment is not as big as I thought it would be.
• Conditioning wise – right on schedule physically. We can’t go much more than an 1:45, they get too tired. They are giving great effort.
• I think you’ll see that with the way that we play, all 5 guys touch the basketball, any of our guards can play the 1, 2, or 3. The only one too big is DeAndre.
• I like Andre on the court, don’t know if it’s 1 or 2. Not a whole lot of difference.
• I’d probably look at taking 1-2 walk-ons, we’re only practicing with 13 guys right now, and they need a breather.
• If you can find 6’9 big guy, that would be great. I see them on campus, I’ve thought about stopping them.
• We’re not going to have a midnight madness, we’re thinking of creative ways. We’ll release that soon. Something open to the public.
When I took the job, I spoke to Tubby, he was great. He’s a family friend, he’s always been a mentor to me. He’s a family friend, he’s always been a mentor to me. He only gave me advice on where to live, eat, etc.