Murray State University Athletics
Weekly Press Conference
2/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Questions were addressed to head coach Mick Cronin.
Opening statement: Well, I'm worried about Thursday. We play Eastern Illinois. Our records prove that we need to take them one at a time and get better every game. Just try to keep our head down, keep worrying about improvement, finding a way to win the next one, then try to look up on Feb. 26 and see where we're at. That's the kind of approach we're taking.
Fortunately, we're pretty healthy, and I think our guys are starting to figure out who needs to get the ball and how to get it to them. We did a much better job Saturday at passing the ball and playing team basketball than we did on Thursday, so it was good to see progress in that area. That was something that was really distressing to me on Thursday. We're excited to be back home, to say the least.
On the frustration of losing at Eastern Kentucky on Thursday: We had prepared all week for the kind of environment that they were going to present from a defensive standpoint, prepared all week not to let them take us out of our offense, to stay within what we do as a team, and that it was going to be a tough situation, where we might be down a little bit, to maintain poise and to continue to execute and try to draw fouls and make the extra pass and attack the rim, and we just: one pass, shot; one pass, shot. Everything we prepared not to do, we did. It led to easy baskets for Eastern, it led to frustration for us.
Passing is infectious; unfortunately, taking bad shots can be infectious as well. One thing I pride myself on as a coach is that my team is playing unselfish basketball, and I don't feel we did that Thursday night.
I thought we panicked and -- we don't have selfish players, it's just a young team, certain guys feel that they need to try to grab the ball and score to help us win and get the ball and make a play for your teammates may be the play. That's just part of teaching these guys how to be an effective player, especially on the offensive end. I thought we did a great job in practice Friday night, and fortunately, it showed in the game Saturday.
On being concerned about Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri coming in on a high note: I'm concerned about everybody. I could give you a reason why everybody could beat us. (Eastern Illinois's) guards present a major problem, Josh Gomes and Emanuel Dildy. Dildy is a second-year JuCo guy who seemed to be finding his way last year, and he's obviously gotten comfortable. He's shooting the lights out from the three-point line; he makes tough shots, too.
They have a great backcourt, as good a backcourt as anybody in our conference statistically and from what I've seen on film. They're a "motion" offense team, which concerns me with our youth, trying to guard all their passing and screening and cutting. It's a major concern as well.
We have a lot of guys who have never played against them, haven't seen that type of offense that they run with the pure "motion," for the most part, so they're going to present some definite challenges to us.
On EIU freshman guard Bobby Catchings: I believe he's their third-leading scorer, and he's a first-year guy. I think we don't realize how hard it is for first-year guys at the Division I level. Everybody's not Carmelo Anthony, and that translates to our guys. You just look at Emanuel Dildy. He was a very highly ranked junior college player coming out of Kennedy King, and he struggled somewhat last year, and now, this year, he's obviously, playing at a whole other level. I think the more games Catchings -- or whoever it may be, guys in our league who are first-year guys -- is the difference in a year or two for some of these guys, especially JuCo guys. I think he's a talented guy on offense, there's no question about that, from what I've seen on film so far. I didn't see him before, so I can't really comment on that, on where (EIU) Coach (Rick) Samuels thought he was going to be.
On preparing for Southeast Missouri: Well, they're the hard luck team. It seems like every game they play is overtime, so I would expect Saturday to be close. I don't know if they participate in games decided by less than five points over the last two years.
They have definite firepower in the front court with (Reggie) Golson and (Dainmon) Gonner, kind of the opposite of Eastern Illinois: their best two players are on their front line. Gonner's making a play for -- I'd say, statistically, he's got to be in the mix for Player of the Year in the league.
They can score the ball; that's one thing about SEMO that scares me, because those guys are hard to defend. They could easily be 6-2 (in OVC play). (MSU assistant) Coach (Darren) Savino is scouting them; he's working on them already, and he's telling me, pointing at how they're 4-4 and saying how they could easily be 6-2. All you've got to do is flip both the (Tennessee) Tech games, both two-point games.
I'm sure, if they can win Thursday (at Tennessee-Martin), they come in at 5-4, trying to get into the race, and it would be a big game for them. They definitely create different challenges than Eastern Illinois. We're going to have to control their front court. Those guys average almost 40 (points) a game between them.
On the conference title race: I see a lot of teams are playing well, to be honest with you. If you look at SEMO, especially, is starting to play well. They're 4-4, and they could beat anybody in our league. They lose two games at the buzzer to Tennessee Tech, who's in first place.
I think the conference tournament is going to shape up to be one of any five or six teams could maybe win it. Tennessee Tech's in the driver's seat at 7-1, and they also do not have to go to Richmond where, obviously, Eastern Kentucky's a tough place to play. Samford found a way to win there, but I don't like people's chances in Richmond; not after what I saw up there Thursday night. The momentum they have, the physicality they play with -- Tech doesn't have to go there. Obviously, we don't have to go to Tech, but we're one game behind right now.
I think the race for us, anywhere from third (place) to seventh, could be a coin flip. (Seeds) two through six could be very close in talent. I think the key is: the higher seed you get, the lower seed you get in the first round. (Seed number) one playing eight is much better than four playing five, because the potential five-seeds in our conference tournament don't look very appealing as opponents in the first round of a (loser)-go-home tournament.
We're focused on trying to get better. We feel if we can continue to improve each night out -- we're a team that doesn't have returning players, unlike most of these teams. We're still finding a rhythm, and finding a strength that I think weve found with that late run at Morehead that we haven't been able to find on the road all season, to really outplay somebody big-time in the last eight minutes of a road game, to find some inner strength and some inner toughness amongst our team.
If we can continue to develop that, we're going to be right in the race, but we need to continue to develop that. There's a fine line between winning and losing, and a lot of it boils down to leadership and toughness, and there's a reason that usually, senior-laden teams and experienced teams win. They've been in the fire before, and they know what it takes. We're trial by fire, and we're learning as we go, and hopefully, we're going to be able to continue to improve and not have to take steps back.
On toughness down the stretch at Morehead: We were able for the first time to take our play up a level in the last seven, eight minutes of the game. When it became "winning time," we didn't allow them to score. We went on the other end and showed patience, passed the ball, got the ball to the right guys, looked to get the ball to certain guys, looked to screen for the right guys -- that being Trey Pearson a lot of times -- and then, we offensive rebounded.
We really eliminated mistakes down the stretch and played smart basketball on the offensive end. Then, what happens for us is, when we score, we're allowed to turn around and put the press on the other team, and fatigue can become a factor in the last 10 minutes of the game. I really felt like it was the first time we really played, because we've been up on some people 20 and didn't really have to play well. We really needed to play well late in that game to win it, and I thought the last eight minutes, we really dominated, obviously, a 21-1 run to put them away.
On the second half of the conference schedule: I think it's favorable, not from who we play, but with five at home versus three on the road. I'd rather look down and see that other teams have played six at home; if this (standings sheet) is right, it's got Austin Peay for six home games. So, it's college basketball, now. We're the only team in the whole conference last week to win a road game. So, home is where it's at, for the most part.
There's a lot of factors. I'm from Conference USA, with my background, and because of an unbalanced league and travel being what it is, it's just the way it shakes out. You've got to play the games. At the end of the day, we'll all play 16 -- 8 (home) and 8 (away) -- so I don't think it really matters, other than having the advantage where you can win some road games, and we've won three, so that's a big advantage.
You've got to be able to win on the road, and the teams that win on the road are the teams at the top. All you have to do is look at the standings, and the teams that win on the road are the teams that are at the top of the standings. Now, we're at a point where we're at home, and we can't fall asleep. We've got to understand that teams are going to come in here ready to play, much like Samford did last year.
All that aside, we're trying to stay focused on our improvement for March, and our improvement as a team, as a program, because we have everybody back, no seniors. We're just trying to stay focused on that.
On EIU and SEMO having "different" teams at home and on the road: It's the same difference I see in our team at home and on the road. You really need overwhelming talent or a collective group of seniors that can find a way to win on the road. That's just life in college basketball. Obviously, teams are a lot better at making shots at home and tend to be a little bit better defensively because their energy from the crowd, and a little bit more physical defensively at home.
It's February now, and I think you've got some teams, I think if you look at us, we finally played well on the road at Morehead. Some teams have now been out on the road and maybe now are going to believe their coach as far as how hard they've got to play to win on the road. You're not going to see the sweeps, you're not going to see every home team win every game for the rest of the season.
But teams just make more shots at home and they play a little bit better defense. It's a comfort thing, and they're no different than we are, SEMO and Eastern; it's just a fact.
On pleasant surprises in recent games: Pearson Griffith was a factor in the game Saturday night. The statsheet doesn't give him enough justice. When he gives us a physical presence -- and he was really, really hitting the boards hard -- what happens is, when he goes like that, he gets four offensive rebounds in the first half, and now, they're trying to block him out with two guys, and he's going hard, and there's plays where Issian Redding gets an offensive rebound because everybody's trying to block out Pearson Griffith, and he gets an "and one" (basket with a foul). Then, Justin Orr sneaks in for a rebound, because everybody's trying to block out Pearson Griffith, because he's so big and strong. When he uses his size and strength and throws his weight around, it really changes things for us. And, on the defensive end, when he gives us presence in the middle, and he's able to play solid defense, make people score over him without fouling people, we're a much better defensive team. That's just a fact: size matters defensively, especially when you're as big as him in our conference. For us to do what we need to do this year, he has got to be a solid factor. He doesn't have to be our go-to guy offensively, but he has got to give us some presence.
I think, at times, he gets a little lost as far as where he's supposed to be defensively. I think, maybe, he tries to do too much at times, and that's kind of our motto.
I told the team after the Eastern Kentucky game is: "We need to put the shovel away, because a lot of times, we dig our own grave." Trying to do too much on the defensive end and getting beat instead of just staying in front of your man. Pressure is being in front of your man. Pearson Griffith, he doesn't have to leave his feet. He can stay on his feet and be big, and change the shots; he doesn't have to block every shot. You've just got to rebound and defend and be solid. On offense, it's the same thing. We've just got to take what the other team gives us. We've got enough scorers, if we'll be tough enough to handle a little pressure and pass the ball four or five times.
But his problems resemble our team in that he panics a little bit, and he doesn't show a lot of composure out there, and he's just not solid, and it takes a while to get a guy solid. He's just getting into his career here as far as being an active player, and the more we can get him to just be solid, be big and strong, he'll be a factor for us.
On the starting lineup: It hasn't really crossed my mind. I think Charles (Johnson) is doing OK. What would be nice is to have that problem, where they are both (Johnson and Griffith) playing well enough. It would be nice to where if Pearson's playing well enough to where I was wondering if I should put him in the starting lineup. I've thought about it with Justin Orr; I've considered moving Justin Orr into the starting lineup to maybe bring Darnell (Hopkins) off the bench, that would give us a scorer off the bench. But, at the end of the day, I don't really think it matters who starts games, because we play nine guys anyway. I'm going to go with the guys who are being more effective in that particular game.
On the Bracket Buster's effectiveness for NCAA Tournament consideration (prior to knowing our Bracket Buster opponent): Obviously, we're not going to get an at-large bid, but I think it does matter. I think it would be great to get matched up against a team from a respective conference with an opportunity to play somebody on a national stage, because ESPN -- whether you're on TV or not -- ESPN is going to accentuate the mid-majors that weekend. They're going to highlight who you're playing, all those games, not just the ones that are televised. It gives your program a chance to get exposure, and I think that's important for us.
Murray State's won a lot of games for a lot of years here, and we're trying to uncover our program. Our whole thing, since I've been here, is to try to take us to another level, and we need to get exposure to prepare to recruit at another level. I think it's great for us to be involved in it. Obviously, I'd love to be in a situation where we play on TV, and hopefully, that will be the case. Our RPI (Rating Percentage Index) is in the 80s; I believe it's 87 today, which is a testament to our strength of schedule this year with such a young team.
I think it's a great opportunity for us to get some exposure for our program, and hopefully, we can get a quality opponent. I want the best opponent we can get, because that team, then, is going to come back here next year, and it gives our fans an opportunity for us to bring in a quality opponent, which we struggle to get.
You cannot underestimate the importance of television with recruiting, because TV equals status. The No.1 question asked in the home by parents of players who are mostly out of the area that we recruit: "Do you play on television? How many times?" And you can't blame them. Exposure for their kids, a chance to watch their kids play. Kids want to be on TV, because they see everybody else playing on TV. You go all the way back to when ESPN started in 1980 and their contract with the Big East. The Big East was a non-conference, so television exposure is everything as far as raising the level of your program.
