Murray State University Athletics
Cronin Pleased With Initial Practices
10/21/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Last Friday, Murray State basketball coach Mick Cronin was addressing 4,000 high school coaches in Lexington at the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches. By Saturday morning he was back in Murray putting his inaugural Racer team through its first practice.
"It was great to be out there with the guys and I've been extremely pleased with their effort so far," said Cronin, hired as MSU's head coach last April.
Calling it a "training camp mentality," Cronin got right to work implementing a system which features full-court offense and defense.
"The biggest adjustment for the guys is the style of play, getting used to playing fast, but under control at the same time," he said. "We spent a lot of time on defense, teaching our guys to be able to dictate tempo on the defensive end."
He said that teaching his first team how to play full-court defense is the first step in implementing his system, as well as teaching the fundamentals of defense, which means "getting five guys to play as one."
Cronin, who spent the last two seasons at Louisville under Rick Pitino, is counting on eight Racer seniors to lead the way in 2003-2004, noting that, "their leadership will determine what kind of season we'll have.
"I'm asking them to lead by example with the effort they show everyday in practice," said the first-year coach. "It's hard for (the seniors) to tell the younger guys what to do because it's a new system for them, too, but they can lead with their attitude."
While Cronin's system is new to the entire roster, he said the transition has been smoother with such a veteran team.
"We don't have any freshmen, so I expected the guys to pick things up easier," said Cronin. "One thing about freshmen is that they struggle a lot in adjusting to college basketball, so we don't have any of that."
MSU will hold a public scrimmage on Tuesday, Oct. 28 in the Regional Special Events Center, though the time has not been set yet. The Racers' first exhibition game will be Monday, Nov. 3 against the Global All-Stars.
