GopherLady
Well-known member
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- Nov 5, 2008
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Here are my quick notes, as always, typing while they talk.
Richard Pitino
• Very good game obviously, I thought the start was the best part about it, responding to what we talked about the last 1.5 days. I don't want to take away from Coastal Carolina, their defense was good. To come back, with one day prep, without Joey King and Mo Walker was difficult.
• I think these games are tougher to prepare for than a Richmond or Syracuse, we don't have to get them pumped for those. After Coastal, they were very anxious to get on the court.
• Oto and Elliott were tremendous. With Elliott almost getting a triple double. I love the confidence Oto is playing with right now. These are guys that are going to play major minutes. Oto played the 5, which he's never done, with only 1 day to prepare, that shows his basketball IQ.
I probably only watched 3-4 games from last year (to not pre-determine what he saw in the players)
• It seems like our guys didn't want the game to end. They were talking a lot more than I was, that's what I want. When you hear their voices more than me, you know they're growing as a team.
• Every timeout, we kept saying it's 0-0. Ignore the score. They responded pretty well. That was a tough game for me to coach, thinking what position is he going to play? When your backup 4 man, becomes your backup 5 man. Hopefully we can get back to a healthy Joey King on Monday.
• The good thing about Syracuse, that scout never changes, he does the same thing every year, and he does a phenomenal job. He's one of the best in the game. The toughest things about Syracuse is simulating them, their wings are 6'8, 6'9. The biggest thing that we've got to do, here comes all the distractions, it's unbelievable when you get there, you need to fight some issues more mentally than physically, and you have 3 games in 3 days, so you have to be careful on how you handle shoot-arounds, etc. Joey is such a tough kid, he's holding an ice pack to his cheek and say he's feeling great, he doesn't look great. I hope he's playing on Monday.
• 7-3 on loose balls,
• Leading up to Wofford, I haven't talked to my Dad about Syracuse. This is not a knock on Syracuse, they don't change a whole lot, they keep it very simple. It's as consistent as it gets.
• We speak everyday, I'm going to record it for you folks so you can remember (laughing) - on speaking to his Dad.
• I've played Syracuse 7-8 times, they are just always really really good.
Austin Hollins:
• On what they did differently this game - We didn't do anything differently, we just approached differently. We knew we didn't have great energy last game and we had to handle business tonight.*
• Great team defense, we were communicating a little better, and were more active with our hands and forced turnovers
• Getting a big lead is huge. It was a matter of keeping our foot on the gas and not letting up.
• On not having Joey King - We knew that we'd be a little short today, but we made up for it with our energy. Despite not having Joey, we did a great job.
Oto Osenieks
• The fouls got me out if thrum, but I need to be much smarter.
• The mental approach (of being a starter) was the biggest change*
• This time I knew that I was going for a career high
• Setting new career highs, it's a new routine. (Laughing)*
Dre Mathieu
• Coach was on us about playing hard, we watched a lot of film, and guys were not playing as hard as he wanted us to. (last game)
• We've got to stay consistent, keep our intensity up, and learn to play 40 minutes strong.*
Elliott Eliason
• I probably take the most pride in blocks. If you get the momentum from the crowd after a block, it can do great things for you.
• On how he's feeling with playing so many minutes as a big man - Pretty good, I'm giving all credit to the strength and conditioning coach, Shaun Brown.
Richard Pitino
• Very good game obviously, I thought the start was the best part about it, responding to what we talked about the last 1.5 days. I don't want to take away from Coastal Carolina, their defense was good. To come back, with one day prep, without Joey King and Mo Walker was difficult.
• I think these games are tougher to prepare for than a Richmond or Syracuse, we don't have to get them pumped for those. After Coastal, they were very anxious to get on the court.
• Oto and Elliott were tremendous. With Elliott almost getting a triple double. I love the confidence Oto is playing with right now. These are guys that are going to play major minutes. Oto played the 5, which he's never done, with only 1 day to prepare, that shows his basketball IQ.
I probably only watched 3-4 games from last year (to not pre-determine what he saw in the players)
• It seems like our guys didn't want the game to end. They were talking a lot more than I was, that's what I want. When you hear their voices more than me, you know they're growing as a team.
• Every timeout, we kept saying it's 0-0. Ignore the score. They responded pretty well. That was a tough game for me to coach, thinking what position is he going to play? When your backup 4 man, becomes your backup 5 man. Hopefully we can get back to a healthy Joey King on Monday.
• The good thing about Syracuse, that scout never changes, he does the same thing every year, and he does a phenomenal job. He's one of the best in the game. The toughest things about Syracuse is simulating them, their wings are 6'8, 6'9. The biggest thing that we've got to do, here comes all the distractions, it's unbelievable when you get there, you need to fight some issues more mentally than physically, and you have 3 games in 3 days, so you have to be careful on how you handle shoot-arounds, etc. Joey is such a tough kid, he's holding an ice pack to his cheek and say he's feeling great, he doesn't look great. I hope he's playing on Monday.
• 7-3 on loose balls,
• Leading up to Wofford, I haven't talked to my Dad about Syracuse. This is not a knock on Syracuse, they don't change a whole lot, they keep it very simple. It's as consistent as it gets.
• We speak everyday, I'm going to record it for you folks so you can remember (laughing) - on speaking to his Dad.
• I've played Syracuse 7-8 times, they are just always really really good.
Austin Hollins:
• On what they did differently this game - We didn't do anything differently, we just approached differently. We knew we didn't have great energy last game and we had to handle business tonight.*
• Great team defense, we were communicating a little better, and were more active with our hands and forced turnovers
• Getting a big lead is huge. It was a matter of keeping our foot on the gas and not letting up.
• On not having Joey King - We knew that we'd be a little short today, but we made up for it with our energy. Despite not having Joey, we did a great job.
Oto Osenieks
• The fouls got me out if thrum, but I need to be much smarter.
• The mental approach (of being a starter) was the biggest change*
• This time I knew that I was going for a career high
• Setting new career highs, it's a new routine. (Laughing)*
Dre Mathieu
• Coach was on us about playing hard, we watched a lot of film, and guys were not playing as hard as he wanted us to. (last game)
• We've got to stay consistent, keep our intensity up, and learn to play 40 minutes strong.*
Elliott Eliason
• I probably take the most pride in blocks. If you get the momentum from the crowd after a block, it can do great things for you.
• On how he's feeling with playing so many minutes as a big man - Pretty good, I'm giving all credit to the strength and conditioning coach, Shaun Brown.
