Murray State University Athletics
Weekly Press Conference
2/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Quotes from head coach Mick Cronin during the weekly men's basketball press conference on Feb. 24 at Pagliai's restaurant in preparation for the Racers' Ohio Valley Conference home games this week against Southeast Missouri (Thursday, 7:15 p.m.) and Eastern Illinois (Saturday, 7:15 p.m.).
Opening statement:
"The game with Southeast Missouri is going to be an interesting game because we're playing a team that's in a must-win situation. We're also not sure if Brandon Griffin will play or not for them. Regardless of that, the guy that filled in for him last week, Reggie Golson, had 25 points in their last game. Whenever you face a team that is a must-win situation, you have to be prepared for them to come out fighting. They're going to be playing like it's a first round conference tournament game, so it's going to be a real challenge for us to meet their intensity and emotional level. Again, we have very few practices left because of playing so many games late in the season and the NCAA-mandated off-day, so we have to use each game as an opportunity to improve. We need to improve as a team, and we need to improve as we continue to adjust to playing without Adam Chiles (dislocated shoulder)."
"We're also trying to get better and get more efficient offensively when teams force us to play in the half-court. At the same time, we've got to maintain our defensive intensity so we can get fast break baskets. Last night (against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi), we were 20-2 on fast break points and you can't run without the ball, so that goes back to defense and rebounding. But we are continuing to work on being more efficient in the half-court. I thought, from start to finish, we played a tremendous game last night. I think it was one of our better games of the year. If we had made shots from the perimeter, we'd have won by a much larger margin. But it was a great lesson for our guys to learn, to be able to win even when you're not making shots from the perimeter. At some point in March, you're going to have a night when you're struggling to make shots, and you can't just pack it in and go home. You've got to find a way to win."
On whether he thinks, with his team locked into the No. 2 seed in next week's OVC Tournament, the risk of getting someone injured outweighs winning two games this week:
"We don't worry about that. I didn't play football in high school because I didn't want to get hurt, but I blew my knee out playing basketball. You risk injury walking across the street the way some people drive on our campus. Seriously though, you can't worry about those things. If I took that mentality, we wouldn't even practice. I may have to adopt that if we get down to five or six players. I think (Morehead State head coach) Kyle Macy's adopted that because he can't practice with all the injuries they've had. We've got to look at it as an opportunity to get better. I will tell you this, when we're up at the end of games, it does enter my mind. I've been that way all year and as soon as I think we have a game in hand, I'll try and get guys out of there. But we really don't talk about injuries, and we don't talk about the loss of Adam (Chiles). Whoever is eligible and healthy has to be tough enough to go out there, play and find a way to win. It doesn't matter how many you have or who you're playing. That's my approach to every game."
On SEMO's struggles this season while having so many close losses, and the Racers' upcoming game with them:
"They could be a lot higher in the standings with all of the close games they've lost. You take five of those games that they just missed on and flip them aroudn and they could very easily be 9-5 instead of 4-10. Obviously, we're not going to approach the game thinking they're 4-10 and we're 12-2 because the records are irrelevant. They're a team that led us for 35 minutes the first time we played. They have guys that can really shoot the basketball from the perimeter. They have some very smart players. They're hard to guard from a defensive standpoint because they can make shots and they really spread you out. They're also a very good passing team. It's going to be very challenging for us to beat them, but it's been very challenging for everybody. We're talking about a team that had a last-second shot rim-out to win the game at Austin Peay. They led us for 35 minutes and lost to Peay by two and by four. They're very capable of beating us, so we're going to have to be ready to play."
On whether there's any extra motivation knowing his team can eliminate a team from OVC Tournament contention:
"No, not really. I'm of the opinion that some how we should be able to work it out so everybody in our conference makes our conference tournament. It would be nice if that was how it worked. Obviously, I'm a head coach now and I understand the pressure that's on those guys that may or may not make the tournament. It's supposed to be a true 'March Madness' where everybody has a chance. I think it would be great if everybody legitimately had a chance. But I understand the finances of it as well, so I try to stay focused on our team and what we need to do to improve. The other thing is that you never know who you're going to play. It's conceivable that SEMO could, with all of the right breaks, end up the No. 7 seed and we could see them again next Tuesday. So I don't try and figure out who we're playing in the tournament or who should be where because you never know how things will play out."
On the importance of the Racers' two games this week on any potential seeding in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT:
"You would hope that with our RPI, which I think you certainly have to figure in, that we'd be in position for an improved seed in the NCAA Tournament if that's an option for us. The way I look at our record is that we should at least be in the post-season. Whether we make the NCAA Tournament or not is still to be determined, but you'd think we'd still be able to secure an NIT bid with our win total, but you never know with that as well. I think with our fan base, whether we're at home or away, we take people with us and our fans support us. The one thing I've learned is that if you get in a post-season tournament, it doesn't matter what seed you are. Whether it's the OVC Tournament or the NCAA Tournament, records go out the window. Playing in March, especially as March goes on, everybody's good or they wouldn't be playing and they wouldn't still be alive. Records go out the window starting next Tuesday. I'll go over that with our guys because there's new life for all eight teams that make the OVC Tournament, and we must understand that."
On whether he expected or even had any real hopes that he'd be this successful in his first season as a head coach:
"I'm ambitious, so I'd be lying if I said no. I felt, from watching tape, that we had some athletes, but I didn't know our schedule. I had never played the kind of schedule that we've had to play here at Murray State, so I wasn't sure how many games we could win. But I was still very optimistic, though it may have been youthful optimism. I have had plenty of people call to remind me how lucky I am and that it's probably not going to be this way for the rest of my career. Most guys don't get the chance to win 23 games every year, let alone their first year. But to answer the question, I'd be lying if I said I didn't plan on winning."
On the adjustment to being a head coach and running a program like Murray State:
"I'll say this, I think the best thing I did was come to Murray State where young head coaches have been able to come and be successful and learn. I've had a chance to deal with it on a level that's manageable for a young head coach. I think it's been a great learning experience for me, and it was definitely the right move for me. There are some mistakes I've made that have not gotten as illuminated or as much attention as some things that happen at other places where you get thrown into the lime-light that goes with a high-major program on the national level. I think it's been a big advantage for me to come to Murray State where I've been able to be more successful, but also learn on the job. Going to Louisville and coming to Murray State are No. 1 and 1A as the best moves of my career. There's so many advantages to being the coach at Murray State. I didn't have to go out and drum up fans because we have great fan support. We had some senior leadership in place and we had some guys who were very capable of being leaders already in-house. Also, we already had a great arena, so I came to a place where I could build upon things that were already here. It's a lot to ask of a first-year head coach to have to go out and build things that aren't already in place. When you combine our great tradition and our history with our fans, the situation was set up for me to be successful in my first year, and I took all that into account. I also knew that if I didn't win, I wasn't going to be very popular."
