On the opportunity to go undefeated in the league … “Every game has its own importance for this program. We treat every game the same so it doesn’t matter who we are playing it is treated the same way. We will approach this game like every other game. One way you look at it is that it has no bearing on anything. Will we show up and play or will we let go of the game? We are going to find out about our guys. My thing is that you just want them to compete and if that is not good enough (that’s fine). Florida could come in and make 25 3s on you. If they come in and make 25 3s then alright we are going to the tournament as a one seed.”
On wanting to make history by going undefeated … “I don’t think I have ever talked about making history. I would like to make history to take our home-winning streak to 12 years. Here (at Kentucky), there is no setting records. You try to be the best team you can be and establish the excellence of a program. We are playing Florida, a terrific basketball team and a ranked basketball team on the road. It is going to be very hard for us to win. We know that. I am more concerned about my team. We have gotten better now let’s see what we do with our last true road game. The rest of the games this season will be at neutral sites and we will have our share of fans.”
On taking Anthony Davis off the first team some during practice … “It has worked out well two ways. One way, Anthony (Davis) gets to play the four position, which you saw him pop out and hit a 3. The second side of it is that it is giving us an awareness of, ‘Hey Terrence (Jones), you have to be him. You have to block more shots and do more stuff.”
On Dance Blue going on in Memorial Coliseum and the team making an appearance … “I didn’t even know that is going on to be honest with you, but that is a great thing that our students do. We just sent the team over to cheer them on. It is a really neat thing and they raise a lot of money for a lot of good things. It is one of the highlights for our students.”
On heading into tournament play and the added length to TV timeouts, halftimes, etc., and if that affects the team … “In the NCAA Tournament you have like 10 minutes to walk to your locker room so some of it is that and you need more time. People want to talk about our bench; I am almost like, ‘Man, are you wanting to grab anything.’ I have two players that come off the bench and score 25 points. If there is any other team in the country that has two players that can come off the bench and score 25 points tell me who they are. Maybe it’s Syracuse, maybe it’s Ohio State, I don’t know who it is. But those two (Darius Miller, Kyle Wiltjer) can score 25 points. You talk about our 3-point shooting. We don’t rely on it, yet, we are one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league. If we make 15, then we are going to beat you by 30. If we make five, then it appears we are going to beat you anyway. All I am trying to do is see how good we can be as a team, how much better we can be individually. Can we get in better shape? Can we get a little stronger? I am really trying to encourage these guys and I will say it again, one of the things I have said is that if we win then you are going to get all the credit. Each one of you are going to share in the glory and benefit in that success. And if we get beat, then it will be on me and I will take full responsibility. Just go play, go get better. I am not going to blame anybody. I’m not going to blame an official or blame a player. I have been through it now. In 2008, we lost and I took responsibility. I said, ‘You guys were great and that was me.’ I am going to do the same now. We are going to play it out and try to get these kids in the greatest frame of mind we can. This game here is a hard one, tough game.”
On if he has seen any signs that the team feels some pressure … “No, I haven’t. But part of it is that two weeks ago I began the mantra that, ‘You guys are fine, just go play.’ I told them yesterday that over 100 practices I can’t remember a bad practice. DeWayne (Peevy) told me about this BPI, which I had never heard of, and (it measures) efficiency of teams. We are No. 1 in that and we have been so consistent all year it’s been amazing. In the last five years they have been doing it I have had two teams that have been No. 1 in it. The 2008 team was the No. 1 BPI team. No game is more important and you are trying to get them to play every game out. It is really, really hard. But that is the challenge and that is what we are trying to do.”
On how the injury to Will Yeguete affects them … “That hurts them, that hurts them. Because they have to go small, which in another sense could help them, because now they could have five 3-point shooters on the floor if Erik (Murphy) is at the five. I want you to think about that, all five guys can shoot 3s. So in one way it hurts them, but it also helps them. He is that guy off the bench that was physical and could so some things. It is just unfortunate for the kid; I wish he didn’t get injured.”
On what he liked from looking at the tape from the win Thursday night vs. Georgia … “There was a lot of good. I thought that we shared the ball. Three of our turnovers out of eight were a shot-clock violation, a lazy pass by Marquis (Teague) and look-away pass by Terrence (Jones) and those were all late. When you look at it, for us to play the way we did and we defended and talked and made it hard for them and rebounded. We did a lot of good stuff. The breakdown tape yesterday there wasn’t a whole lot of stuff I could show them. I picked out some stuff like how a guy went and got water and this guy wasn’t cheering on the bench, but it was hard to pick out stuff.”
On tomorrow being the last true road game and if there is a feeling that this is a throw-away game … “I hope not. It is a pride game. Let’s figure out what we are. I let them know that it would be a physical game and that they would in all likelihood come out and be physical. They will play at their best and they will be so hyped and the building will be sold out. I don’t know if it is cup day, bat day, ball day, whatever it is. I imagine it is some day. Family night or senior night, whatever it is, it will be a hyped game.”
On if they are preparing for anything unexpected like West Virginia’s 1-3-1 two years ago … “We have faced everything. We have faced it all. What happened in that game is we went 0-for-20 from the 3-point line and they were good. They had played in Syracuse a few different times before and had an advantage over us and for them to be the last two, or whatever you want to say, was unfortunate for us. I guess the luck of the draw as they would tell you. We were prepared but if you go 0-for-20 you aren’t supposed to win.”
On if there is any weakness he sees in his team right now … “We are just trying to get better. You can go have a bad 3-point shooting night, a bad free-throw shooting night, get in foul trouble. There are all kinds of things. It is just one-and-done right now. Fate intervenes and all of a sudden that is a foul and that is foul and Anthony (Davis) you are done sit down. There is a close call and it goes against you twice. You get the seeds and look at the draw and say, ‘Oh my gosh, they let the Lakers in. I don’t think they can have the Lakers in there.’ It is fate. It intervenes in what you are doing here. All I am trying to do is say that we are in the best frame of mind and physically ready to go. Let’s go play the game and whatever happens is going to happen at this point. It is one game. It is not best of five or seven. Historically, I have had my teams ready for the challenge of that march and it is truly a march now. It is not just, ‘OK, play a game and yay.’ No, the first game is hard. Think about us last year, we had a pretty darn good team and played Princeton and were lucky to win. We won on a bank shot.”
On him thinking through as many contingency plans as he can to get them as prepared as possible … “Yeah, but there are things that are going to happen that you aren’t prepared for. Do you ever think your team is going to go 0-for-20 from 3-point line. Then what do you do if they do? You say, ‘You can make it just keep shooting.’ Then they keep shooting and the balls keep bonking (off the rim). Stuff happens. Then you say, ‘We are good, get fouled and we will make the free throws.’ And you go 1-for-5. What is your solution? Put your best free-throw shooters on the line, they were. They were and they missed too. Guard these guys. It happens. My thing is to just get my team as prepared as we can be and let it go and see what happens.”
On the seniors … “You have two players and people who have come to this program in different circumstances. Darius (Miller)’s case, rough freshman year, new coach comes in with a bunch of new players, adapts, changes his game, accepts new players and then responds and gets better every year. He will be an NBA player, no doubt in my mind. There is no college player that has played with more NBA players than him. Eloy (Vargas) comes here and again, plays on a team with some pretty good players and has been waiting his turn. Like I’ve told you before, I’ve had scouts come to me like, ‘is this another Josh (Harrellson)?’ we’re not getting to see him because he is playing behind the spider-man (Anthony Davis) there. My hope is he gets the opportunity to go to Portsmouth and show himself and at the end of this year as we finish it out, including this game Thursday, that he shows people, hey I’m Swen Nater, played behind (Bill) Walton, all the sudden has an 11-year career. When I said he’d be a professional, he will be a professional, it may not be the NBA and it may be the NBA. Someone is going to like his size and what he does. They are both going to graduate which is neat. They have both done the work they need to do and they have stayed out of trouble. Last night I get a call at 11:20 and Eloy Vargas is on the treadmill, last night at 11:20. He is waiting for his opportunity, that’s hard now, it’s easy to be out there playing, it’s hard when you are standing there waiting for your opportunity and working hard every day.”
On what he tells scouts when they ask about Eloy … “What I say is, you have a 6’10, 6’11 player who can rebound and run the court and is more skilled than you think. You look in the NBA, how many big guys are there, they have 30 teams. You look at all these teams in Europe, if he chooses to do this he will continue to play.”
On Darius Miller late in games … “It’s not been calming, he’s just changed. I got on him because he was 1-13 on free throws after someone calls a timeout and he has to go shoot a free throw. I told him, you know why, because you sit there and think too much then you go out there and almost shoot an air ball. Well the last game there was a timeout and he made one and he said, ‘did you notice I made that free throw after the timeout.’ When you let him know, he responds and he has responded for this team. Like I said, we have six starters and he has started some of the games and if he’s not the sixth man of the year you have to show me who it will be. He’s awfully good.”
On how much Eloy will play against Georgia … “I’m going to try to play him as many minutes as I can which is what I always do with the seniors on senior night.”
On Darius being a “glue” guy … “It means he does everything the team needs him to do, he completes everybody. He’s not competing, he’s completing. He’ll do, if he needs to rebound, defend, he’ll play some guard, and he’ll play some forward, whatever position we ask him, he just completes everybody.”
On what he saw from Darius when he became the coach at UK … “Well when I first got here, of the all the players that I watched and this is before the freshman class came in, he had a better feel for the dribble drive than anybody there and I was pleasantly surprised. Then I said, ‘how much did he play?’ ‘Two minutes a game.’ What? So obviously there were two different styles of play. I liked what I saw and obviously he has just gotten mentally and physically tougher. All these kids are on different time tables. Just because a young man stays three years, four years doesn’t mean the guy that’s one or two years (is better). No, they are just on different time tables. When you talk about us having three guys in that ‘Rise’ game and no other school had more than one, I hope that’s every year. Which means, not only are they leaving to go to the league, they are performing, Josh Harrellson. When you look at that and a guy like Darius, it has taken him some time but at the end of the day he is going to be in the position he wants to be in.”
On Darius Miller getting an opportunity to play more … “There is no such thing in any program that I have coached that says it is my turn. It doesn’t matter if you are a sophomore, junior or senior. There is no such thing that says it is my turn. Either you play or he plays. There is no real emotion about it. We are trying to put the best team on the floor and the best players on the floor. You like to reward, but at the end of the day, it is about performance and you know, it’s like he was playing in front of guys my first year here and then some guys were playing in front of him. That’s just how it goes. There is no ‘my turn’. If you have that kind of program, you don’t have that competitive fire within; you’re not going to reach the height of your team in my opinion.”
On Darius Miller playing better off the bench … “It didn’t matter if it was he or Doron (Lamb). And it still doesn’t matter. If Doron is in, and he’s not playing, then he’s out. If Terrence (Jones) is not playing, he will go in at the four and we will go small. My point guard threw it away two times in 2:30, then you’re out. Then he went in, and Doron moved to point. This is about performance and it is day-to-day. We talked today about this team in general. I told (assistant coach) John Robic, how many bad practice days have we had? We have probably had over 100 practice days. Maybe one or two, and it’s hard for me to remember. How many games did we just play flat this year? I don’t really remember any. These kids are not machines and they are not computers. They are trying. They know they are up against it every game they play. Someone is going to come out and try to blow their brains out. I’m really proud of all of these guys. Leadership on this team, you think about it, whether it’s Darius (Miller) coming off the bench or Eloy (Vargas) not playing a whole lot. They haven’t affected us, except in a positive way. They have both been positive in how they have done this. I really want them to do well.”
On Anthony Davis being a Player of the Year candidate … “I think there are some other worthy candidates too, but I am going to be biased and at the end of the year, he is going to take 200 shots less than all of those guys that they are considering; 200 shots less, yet probably has more of an impact on any of these games. And that’s not taking away anything from anybody else because, you know, those other guys are just as deserving. He has had a special year. What he has done defensively for us, what he has done offensively for us, and he has done it in a way where he is not selfish in anyway. He has taken 200 less shots. That’s a big number now. You’re talking about averaging five more points a game, maybe six. The best thing for my team is to pass it more and get it less, and he is fine with that.”
Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari talks about UK's home win over Vanderbilt and Anthony Davis' huge game. Coach Cal also talks about NCAA Tournament seeding and where he feels the Wildcats and Commodores are at this time. - Feb. 25, 2012 Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com
UK Coach John Calipari talks about Saturday's rematch between the Kentucky Wildcats and Vanderbilt Commodores in Rupp Arena. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com
Kentucky basketball coach Calipari and players hold a press conference after their defeat of Mississippi State. Feb. 21, 2012. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com
Opening Statement … “Fantastic victory tonight for our team over a very good opponent and I just loved the way that we started the game with tremendous defensive intensity and great aggressive play on the offensive end. It was clearly a game that we wanted to win and we played like we wanted to win. We played really, really hard and hustled tonight. I am really proud of our team.”
On the character of the team that they play that well coming out of the gate after three consecutive losses … “Yeah, I tell you, I really liked the way that we practiced the last couple of days. We were in a tough spot, clearly and had not played well and suffered some losses. For us to be able to come out and stay focused and not get down (was big.) What a great crowd for the late tip, I really appreciate people coming out, but I was so proud of these players. I thought that they came to play tonight.”
On the effort of Samarie Walker, especially offensively … “It was a big night for her and just an unbelievable effort, particularly in the first half. We have struggled so much to score against zone defenses and Vanderbilt probably does a better job than anybody of mixing defenses. I tried not to focus on what they were doing and focused more on what we were doing and how we were moving and how hard we cut and screened. I just thought the aggressive play by everybody got Vanderbilt in a lot of rotation situations and that opened up the offensive boards and Samarie was a monster on those. Really good effort and, you know, I just think that she can continue to get better. She missed a lot of layups and free throws so the effort you saw tonight I think can get better with her, as far as being more efficient. I am really, really happy because she played 35 quality minutes tonight.”
On getting good scoring games from players other than Bria Goss and A’dia Mathies … “The six-minute draught in the second half really turned a game that we had firmly in control into a really tough game that we had to grind out. I was really proud of the players because sometimes those are harder to close out when you start to lose the momentum. Just balance across the board. If we ever hit on all cylinders in a night we will be tough to beat. No matter how it happened, or how it needed to happen tonight, we got what we needed and that was a victory.”
On ending the three-game losing streak … “I am just so happy for our players because you get off to such a great start at 10-0 and then you lose some tough games and there has to be a point for them where their confidence is down. There is no question about it. I am so happy for them. Really proud of our coaching staff because we just tried to stay behind them and believed that we had a good team. I think we can continue to get better. This was a tough game for us to win tonight and I was proud we were able to get it.”
On Amber Smith’s status … “She is just not 100 percent. I just think that probably rest (will help.) She was available, but I think that probably trying to get her back at 75 percent (isn’t what we need to do), but get her back to 100 percent where she can have some explosiveness. She just doesn’t have a lot of explosiveness right now. We have a lot of basketball left to play and I know that she wants to finish her career out really strong. It just worked out tonight where we didn’t have to play her. She is ailing, but could have gone. Probably better that she didn’t.”
On Maegan Conwright’s play recently … “I thought that Maegan played a beautiful game for not playing that position in months. I thought that she was fantastic. I told her during the game, she had a couple of turnovers that she felt bad about, I told her, ‘With what was on the line tonight, coming off what we have come off and to be thrust into that position, I am very impressed.’ She needs to embrace that role and you see we are much more explosive with her in that position.”
On if this team is where he wants them to be at this point in the season … “I think we can get better. As far as our position, we are in better position than we probably have ever been in a SEC season in the history of the school. As far as how they award the championship is based on a 16-game schedule and I love the position we are in. We are still striving to win the championship and we are still in position to do that. I am happy with that, but I still think we can play better.”
On the rivalry with Mississippi State … “They have been exciting games. Even our game here last year where it looks like the game is over, we miss three front-end one-and-ones up six and give them a chance. They have played inspired and we expect that they will play inspired this game.”
On Arnett Moultrie seeing the matchup with Anthony Davis as a chance to prove himself … “I think all players, like I tell them, they aren’t only playing against the name on the front of the shirt, they are playing against the name on the back of the shirt and that is what makes this unique and different. I don’t care that we start three freshmen, they aren’t looking at it that way. They are looking at it, ‘hey they are saying this guy is all that.’ It’s not just Mississippi Sate it is every team we play. They play against us because of the name on the front but they are also playing against that name on the back. No (Anthony does not get that more than others). Every guy, our point guard, Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones, I mean every guy that we have on our team, Darius Miller, they are all saying I’m going after this guy, I’m going to show I’m better than him. That’s why this isn’t for everybody, every game you walk out there somebody is trying to make a name at your expense. Someone is trying to make their team’s season at our expense; every game we walk into is that way.”
On the defensive challenge of Dee Bost for Marquis Teague … “It’s hard, but they put him in a lot of pick-and-rolls and he’s been pretty good in pick-and-roll defense. You can’t go under, the kid will pull up and shoot the shot, you have to fight over the top. He’s pretty good at going to the basket but Marquis has done fine, he’ll be fine.”
On playing at Humphrey Coliseum … “Well they are in to the game. The arena is fine, it’s a great little college town. The whole town shuts down for this game, they have been talking about it for months, they can’t wait. I wish I was in the t-shirt business down there, I heard they had a white-out or something. It’s going to be cowbells and all the other stuff going on, it’s exciting down there. We’ve had some unbelievable rivalries at different schools but with this one, obviously they get up for us and we better get up for them or we don’t win the game. If you don’t play well against them we’ll lose, if we don’t play well we will come back with an L.”
On where Kentucky got better against Ole Miss … “I thought we did some things defensively that we hadn’t done, they made some shots that kind of surprised me. Our press has got to get better if we are going to use it, it stinks right now and that’s not their fault I really haven’t broken it down. We’re going to do some stuff today; I don’t think they have a mental picture of what I’m looking for because they aren’t very good in it. The zone offense, I think we are getting better but we have a long way to go. I would predict this team will play us zone 60 pct. of the time, they are not going to want to bring their big people out in the pick-and-rolls. It’s all good though, we’ve got to get prepared to go in a tournament game and somebody play us forty minutes of zone and us be prepared to play against it.”
On having many options being a relief to players … “There are two things in that. One, it is good for your team but it’s good when you are running plays at the end of the game it isn’t for one guy, everybody gets a look on that set. Whether we need a 3, everyone will get a look, here it is, not there, look there, look here, alright you have to take it. I think it’s important that they understand that we just want you to play their best, play to win and if we don’t we move on to the next game. I don’t want them focused on winning and losing, I just want them focused on playing harder than the opponent and let’s just try to get better every game, we are just trying to get better.”
On what Coach Calipari is looking for at this point in the season … “Well we want fresh legs and fresh minds. Probably three weeks ago, we backed up. Look, there are 100 ways of doing this. I’m not meaning this towards anybody else, but there are a hundred ways to do this. There are guys who go three and a half hours right now, and that’s what they do and they’re doing it now. And, they win and they do fine. There are coaches that go live right now and they go at each other the whole game, not worried because, ‘This is who we are.’ There are other guys that back up. There are some guys that do nothing live right now. Everything is conditioning and being sharp and dummying up. There are 1000 ways to do this. We back up right now. We do go live some, but I try to keep as little body to body as I can. I’m coaching their minds right now. I’ve coached their bodies two, three weeks ago like conditioning and toughness and now we’re coaching minds. We’re trying to get them into a frame of mind as they go in, as an individual and as a team. I’m talking about swagger right now. As I said, there is only one place to develop swagger and that’s in that building. You walk out knowing you’re going to play well. Doesn’t matter how well you play the beginning of the game. You know over the course of the game, ‘I’m going to play well because I deserve to and I’ve worked at it and I’m prepared to play well.’ The swagger is developed in there. Ego is, ‘Well we just beat this team by a ton. They’re not ranked, we should beat them. I’m just hungry, what time is the meal?’ And then you get beat. So, we’re working on that. And again, we could all say, ‘Well we’re really that good.’ They’re all freshmen and sophomores. They have no idea. I don’t know what they’re going to do down here. I don’t know how they’re going to play. I hope they play well. I think we’re prepared to play well but they’re all young kids. You just don’t know.”
On whether it was Larry Brown’s influence that gave him the idea of backing up at this point … “Being that he is a mentor and a dear friend, we talk all of the time and his thing is, you have to be their cheerleader at the end. You have to back up and that’s his thing to me all the time at the end of the year. ‘You be the cheerleader, man. You know you’re not changing them now. They are what they are. Cheer them on.’ But the stuff, I’ve always done it this way and I think historically my teams have played well in March and in April but we’ve backed up this time of the year. Now, I’m going to say it again. There are all kinds of ways of doing this. Someone is more comfortable doing it a different way and they win, you know. We do well winning it this way and that’s how we do it.”
On how much of coaching is psychological … “It’s a big part of it. You can beat guys down. You can blame them every time they lose. Or, you can take responsibility so they just let it fly and don’t feel that, ‘if I lose, I’m going to get blamed.’ If we lose, I’m just going to try to do everything I can to win. The other thing is, letting them feel good about each other. We do a lot of talking right now and I keep telling them, ‘You want to feel joy? Wake up every morning and feel grateful, grateful that you’re having an opportunity to be with this team, these guys. There are a lot of teams right now that have turmoil. There are a lot of teams that have all kinds of issues. You guys are enjoying each other. That’s great joy. The second way you feel joy is you think about, what am I going to do for somebody else today? Doesn’t even have to be for a guy on this team. You want to feel joy? You start thinking about other people instead of thinking about yourself and you start to feel joy.’ So there is a lot of stuff you are trying to get through. I told Michael [Kidd-Gilchrist], ‘you’re too hard on yourself kid.’ When guys look at me when they missed a shot, I will say, ‘What are you looking at? Why are you looking at me? Just play.’ I’m just trying to continue to coach to get them to think right. It doesn’t guarantee anything. It just gives you your best chance. Your team plays its best. If that’s not good enough, you go on, it’s next game. Sometimes it’s the next season.”
University of Kentucky basketball coach previews Saturday's game vs. Ole Miss at Rupp Arena and also talks about New York Knicks' sensation Jeremy Lin. Calipari is a former coach of the New York basketball franchise. Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
"This was two teams slugging it out, it really was. [Vanderbilt] wasn't going away and we weren't going away. We made some shots; they missed some shots; we won the game. Hats off to Vanderbilt fans. It was a great environment. It is why we do what we do, both players and coaches."
On the Play of Kentucky's Marquis Teague:
"It was great. He did great. He broke down defensively twice, but kept playing."
On Playing a Close Game after Several Big Wins:
"We need all of this. In every huddle, I kept saying this is great for us. It is what we need. To be honest, I would rather we be up 23 points. They are an execution team, a veteran team, seniors. They played like that. We got better today."
On the Play of Darius Miller Down the Stretch:
"I told him the three he made was the play that got us going again... I tell my guys that it doesn't matter how they play the whole game, it is the last three or four minutes...and he did that."
On Kentucky's Play:
"It was a good win in a hard-fought game... Hats off to Vanderbilt. Basically, they beat us in the second half... They caught up with threes. In the huddle, I kept telling my team to make them beat us with twos."
On Vanderbilt Missing Their Last Nine Shots:
"I will have to watch the tape. We are good defensively, but it may have been them [missing shots] too... Lots of people had this as a [loss] for us."
On Having a Week Off Before Playing Again:
"It will be a little different than last time we had a week off before playing Indiana... We will do tape work on Sunday, practice Monday, take off Tuesday, on Wednesday we will doing something special, practice Thursday and Friday so we will be ready for Saturday's game. It is late in the season, so they don't need two days off... We will change it up and doing something special on Wednesday."
On How Kentucky's Players Handled the Unusual Bench Configuration:
"It was hard to communicate. I knew it would be. I told Marquis Teague that anytime he was confused to just pick and roll, so that is what he did."
On Vanderbilt Being a Tough Environment to Play in:
"Every game we play is like walking into this... We get the other team's best shot and after the game, there are 25 cameras... Any of the places we have been end up being like this. We handled this game like we have other and will handle future games the same way. On our board, I tell the team to love the road, love this, relish this."
University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari previews Saturday night's ESPN College Gameday game at Vanderbilt and comments on his birthday.Video courtesy of Courier-Journal.com.
On turning 53 and being three years into the job … “Two years got vacated so I’m 51. You know what, when you enjoy what you are doing, there are bumps in the road and this thing is all over you, you need to step away from it and I haven’t had a whole lot of time to do that but I’m enjoying myself. I’m enjoying our players, I enjoy our fans. I think we as a program have connected as well as you can and have been as transparent as we can for everybody because everybody wants to be a part of it. They want in, they want knowledge of what is happening, they love seeing us practice and those kinds of things. This is one of those programs where you can’t go in the office and hide; it’s just not what you can do here.”
On the team … “I’m excited for our team; today I just spent the day thinking. I like adding things, tweaking the offense and tweaking the defense because it makes them think. I don’t want them to walk into practice because it is monotonous in that we do the same things throughout the year in some cases, so I like changing things up to just make them really focus and concentrate.”
On the team’s routine … “We handle every game the same way. The format of our practice is exactly the same even though some of the drills are different. We go on the road, we do exactly the same things when we go into town, when we meet and what we do on game day. Part of it is that you want them to understand that every game has an importance and no game is more important than another. The other thing, in practice, is there are certain things we do from day one ‘til the season ends to let them understand that those things are important, so there are some fundamental things that we do when we start that first day and we’re still doing today. Some of the practice is monotonous but you want those guys to really zero in on a few things. You can’t be great at everything. You can’t be a great pressing team, a great zone team, a great man team, a great motion team, a great play calling team; you can’t be great at everything. You have to do decide as a coach, what does this team need to be great at? Let’s just focus on those things and let’s get real good at those things.”
On playing at Vanderbilt … “This is a great challenge for Marquis Teague and I think he’ll do fine. This is one where you give him a couple play calls and this is all you are going to run the next sets. He’ll be fine; this will be a great test. We were just talking, every one of these teams give us something different. We’ve never played Vandy with this team. Just like Tennessee is totally different than Vandy, who is totally different than Florida, who is totally different from Mississippi State. You have teams, for us, it is important to see how we will respond. Every experience is new for us and we’re learning.”
On keys that this team focuses on … “I think one of the things you are seeing is we zero in on defense. This is a team that should be a great defensive team which I believe I said on day one. We are long enough, we are athletic enough, and we can really play the ball pretty good; we should be great defensively. Offensively we are still trying to figure each other out, we are trying to zero in on what do we do, when do we do it. You see that we grind it out pretty good late in games; we do a good job of that. Maybe in the guts of the game there are some things we are still trying to figure out. Like I said, I tweaked some things for tomorrow just to get them to think a little bit out on the basketball court.”
On guarding Vanderbilt … “They are a terrific team, they are big, their guard play is good, and point guard play is good. Obviously they shoot the ball; (Jeffery) Taylor is way better than what he was and what I mean by that is he is consistently making 3s which he didn’t before. Now, you have to go out there and play him which makes him better off the bounce. They still have those three or four guys that always come in and hurt us. They are a veteran team; they are a team that has played us three times now, it’s the same guys that have played us for three years minus one or two guys. I imagine they are ready for this, their fans are ready for this, Nashville is ready for this, their administration is ready for this, their parents are ready for this. They have probably been ready for two weeks. We have to go up there and say, ‘let’s see where we are right now, let’s play as well as we can play and let’s see if we are getting better.’”
On comparing Vanderbilt and Florida … “They’re just different. They are two totally different teams and like I said, that is what’s good for us. With (Festus) Ezeli they can throw it to the post, which they did a year ago on us and he dunked like four or five balls and they can do that. He is very physical. I just watched them beat Tennessee by about 25 and (Jarnell) Stokes could not handle, physically, Ezeli. Now you think about what I’m saying, we couldn’t handle Stokes physically. It is a tough matchup for us. What if (John) Jenkins goes 12-12 from the 3? It’s been a nice start to our season, when’s the next game? You could be all over him and he still does that. We’re trying to learn about our team, we’re trying to get better. I would imagine, watching the tape, I think they are going to try to be a little more patient with the ball against us. I think they are going to go back to the other way of playing which is, let’s give them (fewer) possessions, let’s make either a post-up or a 3 or a drive and let’s do it later in the clock. I don’t know, I’ve been wrong before.”
On the challenges of playing at Memorial Gym … “We won there two years ago. You are in the end zone coaching; you are on a raised floor. It’s no different. Whether we win or lose will be based on how we play and how they play. There isn’t going to be anything about a building or fans. We play on the road, we’ve had tough environments. We’ve won in tough environments; we’ve lost in a tough environment. It’s how your team plays and how their team plays.”
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