Murray State University Athletics
Weekly Press Conference
11/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Quotes from head coach Mick Cronin during the weekly men's basketball press conference on Nov. 17 following the Racers' 99-69 exhibition win over VASDA-USA. MSU opens the regular-season this Saturday at 7:15 p.m., against Wagner at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky.
Opening statement:
"I was happy with our exhibition game on Saturday night. We were able to play a lot of people. We were able to get our style of play going offensively. To be able to score 99 points and only shoot 3-of-17 from behind three-point line says a lot about how are big guys are running the floor and finishing. Not that it was our planned forte, but in the two exhibition games, offensive rebounding has been our biggest offensive weapon. We've shot the ball well in our scrimmages, but against outside competition, offensive rebounding has been big for us."
"I thought Cuthbert Victor's work on the offensive glass against VASDA was the difference in the game, from taking it to a 10-point game to what ended up being a blowout. When we went on our run, he was cleaning up everybody's misses around the rim."
"Kevin Paschel, Adam Chiles and T.J. Wolf did a nice job of passing the ball and getting it up the floor. We ended up with 25 assists, which is above our goal. If you can have 18-20 assists, it's a great assist night. We only had two or three turnovers in the second half, and limited them to just two offensive rebounds in the second half. So, we were able to adjust at halftime to the things I talked about, which is going to be very important for us as we go and prepare for a team like Wagner, who is coached by Mike Deane. He's taken three teams to the NCAA Tournament and now he's in his first year at Wagner, so he'll probably end up having these guys in the NCAA's at some point, too. He's a guy that's going to make adjustments, and we're going to have to make adjustments."
"At halftime of the VASDA game, we made some adjustments to stop them from getting on the offensive glass and to take better care of the basketball. The guys were able to take some instruction and apply it in the second half, which I was happy to see."
On whether his team is ready to open the season against a tough Wagner squad:
"You know, I don't think anybody is ready to play at their peak level right now. Our game is all about March. Unlike football, where one loss can really knock you out of the picture, basketball is all about March, and in particular for us, it's usually about winning three in-a-row in March. So, without question, it's a marathon and not a sprint, but we're as ready as Wagner's going to be. We've all had the same amount of days to prepare."
"Being a first-year head coach and a new style of play for our guys, it's going to take us some time. We're still picking up our system. We're still missing some screens. We're still missing some assignments on both ends of the floor, and we're still missing some defensive rotations. We're probably not in the game-shape yet to play our style, which is to press for 94 feet and push the ball for 94 feet, and it's going to take a little bit of time. But with all of that said, I do think we're about as good as we could be right now."
On the Wagner Seahawks:
"They lost Jermaine Hall, the Player of the Year in their conference, to graduation and they also lost Dedrick Dye, who was an excellent shooter. But, their point guard (Courtney Pritchard) is back, and as a pressing team, that's the first thing we look at in our opponent. He's a real quick guy and an excellent ball-handler. He's going to be a tough guy for us to rattle and wrestle into a trap. Hopefully, we'll be able to corner him a few times."
"The question is really going to be with their new guys. They only have two starters returning, so, how well the bench players from last year and the new guys they added through recruiting handles everything will tell the story. I know they're starting a player named Sean Munson, who's a big guy, that didn't start last year. He put up about 30 points in their first exhibition game. Then, they have another big guy and a wing player that's played a lot for them. But more than anything, I know Mike Deane. He was in Conference USA at Marquette when I started at Cincinnati. His team's play tough, hard-nosed defense. They're very fundamentally sound, and they set meaningful screens on the offensive end. It could be a test of styles because his team's tend to be more ball-control, and obviously, we're trying to get out and make it an up-and-down affair."
On the expected rotation of players as the regular-season begins:
"It'll be at least nine players, probably, 10 to be honest with you. One thing that I've learned from the coaches I've worked for is that it's about March and about preparing and getting better. Guys are not going to get better if you don't play them. With that being said, you've got to play to win. In our style, a guy like T.J. Wolf playing fresh for two minutes is a lot better than another guy that's so tired he can't breath playing those two minutes. It also helps to get a guy who may inject some energy, and after being around it at Louisville with Coach Pitino, I know it's infectious. If you look back when he was at Kentucky, he had the faith to put Cameron Mills in the game and he ended up becoming a weapon for them later in his career. If you don't play those guys, they're never going to gain confidence."
"The other thing it does is that it allows you to be more prepared if you have injuries because the guys have actually played. If you look at last year, when we lost Ellis Myles at Louisville, we were able to put in some guys that had been playing through the year, and not just put in some guys that had no game experience."
On where he is with his projected lineup:
"I'm comfortable with knowing that we have enough guys to choose from. I'm more concerned with who finishes than who starts. Right now, we're trying to get to the point where we're versatile enough where Cuthbert Victor knows two positions and where Antione Whelchel, Chris Shumate, Kelvin Brown and Adam Chiles all knows two different positions. The more spots those guys know, the more versatile our team will be. It will also allow us to exploit our opponents' matchups. If we can play Antione and Cuthbert at the small forward and have guys like Kelvin, Shawn (Witherspoon) and Andi that can make shots at the power forward, we can post those guys up on our opponents' small forwards. The more versatile we are, the better off we'll be, and we do have a lot of choices and that's what I'm happy about."
On the MSU defense:
"You have to play defense because defense wins championships. You can't run without the basketball. If you're getting the ball out of the net everytime, you're not going to be very fast pushing the ball up the floor. We focused on our pressing and applying pressure early on. Now, we've gone back to trying to get a little bit better at guarding in the half court, so when teams break our press and make us play half-court defense, we will be able to get stops there. I told the team Sunday, now that we're getting ready to prepare for real games that will count, that they're commitment to defense as a team is going to decide how far we go this season and what kind of season we have."
