EricLA
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I didn't see any "quotes" sections so I decided to listen to the pressers:
McGuff..
"We got our ass kicked tonight. They are a great team. Coached better, played better, they were more prepared. they deserved to win by the margin they did. We can either sit around and pout and sulk about it or we can assess where we are and where we need to get better and see where we need to improve.
They played zone early and we really weren't prepared for that. We looked out of sync so that's why I called a quick time out. Give them credit. They came out and were prepared and ready.
They did a great job defending Mitchell they were great defensively. Their habits and discipline is much further along that ours is so we need to work on that.
The game was starting to get away from us a bit in that first quarter so we needed to get Mitchell going to get the game going back our way but that didn't happen. They are great. they have a great team. I knew it would be tough. A lot of our issues were because of them and how they played.
Atmosphere was great. I feel bad - the fans showed out in tremendous force and that is great for WCBB, but it would have been better had we played better.
(He was asked about a conversation with Geno and he paraphrased what Geno said... "You are never going to know where you are at unless you play top teams, and if you want to be relevant, you have to play these types of teams". We were on national TV and it made us relevant in WCBB and that was what Geno's point was and he's right"
Me: I found him to be honest, upfront, he didn't shy away from any of the hard questions, and he was honest in his assessment of where his team is and where he thinks they need to go. I know some have complained about his recruiting, or style, or whatever, and I'll admit I don't know a ton about him or how he does things, but this is his 3rd year and he's trying to build a program, and I hope they are successful.
Then I listened to Geno:
"They have an ability to break you down 1 on 1 and you have to play defense for the entire shot clock or they will take advantage. I thought Gabby Williams and Moriah Jefferson were terrific and that we played really good defense in the first half. They may have made it look easy, but it's not easy guarding those guys, and I'm really happy and proud of them.
It's the first game of the year but we have 4 starters returning and they should look like they've played together for a while because they HAVE played together for a while. they looked in sync defensively. Everyone played as a unit instead of playing individual defense 1 on 1. How do you know you played good defense? By the quality of shots they other team gets, and they they did not get a lot of quality shots. You can look at the score and think you played good defense, but sometimes that's just the other team shooting poorly. We did NOT give them a lot of quality shots and that was good defense.
I think we pass the ball too much. We tend to think pass first so sometimes we just need to have someone put the ball on the floor and attack the basket. Moriah and Kia have gotten really good at that. For someone who's not that big, she really finishes at the basket (Moriah). She's good, huh? She's pretty good!
Our practices have been really good. This particular team we have right now - we haven't had a situation where were are begging them to do things. We ask them to o things and they do it to the best of their abilities and they do it every day. My biggest concern was i had no idea how the freshmen would play. we took 2 seniors out and replaced them with 2 freshmen and Gabby. I did not know how the young guys would play.
Napheesa was good. Lou was a little under the weather. Gabby was fabulous. People ask me all the time how do you stop great defensive players. You don't. The best you can do is get them into foul trouble [For the record, I disagree with him there. In the past, he and the coaches have put together great game plans to limit the other team's best scorer/player, and he's said that our players take great pride in playing really good defense and keeping them below their average].
I always thought Gabby had the ability to guard different people (Mitchell). We thought Gabby could guard their center, wings, and guards, and she did. Until you play against her I don't think you realize how quick she is.
We are not a team that plays in spurts. We don't play that way and we don't practice that. We try to play consistent and hard all the time. Because of that, we do go on spurts and that does fuel is. There were some things we did [shook his head] that we're not proud of, but we practice hard and play hard and that's how we coach, and those are the kinds of kids we recruit.
I've known Kevin for years. I knew him when he won a NC at ND, and I watched his career when he was at Xavier and Washington. He's one of the best coaches in the country. I knew when he got the OSU job and we asked him to play he wouldn't be like "nuh-uh". He's a competitive guy and that's how you build your program. He's a smart guy and he's not afraid. A lot of coaches in WCBB don't see the big picture and Kevin sees the big picture.
Geno is clearly a fan of Kevin and it seems the coaches have a lot of mutual respect for each other. Great stuff IMHO...
McGuff..
"We got our ass kicked tonight. They are a great team. Coached better, played better, they were more prepared. they deserved to win by the margin they did. We can either sit around and pout and sulk about it or we can assess where we are and where we need to get better and see where we need to improve.
They played zone early and we really weren't prepared for that. We looked out of sync so that's why I called a quick time out. Give them credit. They came out and were prepared and ready.
They did a great job defending Mitchell they were great defensively. Their habits and discipline is much further along that ours is so we need to work on that.
The game was starting to get away from us a bit in that first quarter so we needed to get Mitchell going to get the game going back our way but that didn't happen. They are great. they have a great team. I knew it would be tough. A lot of our issues were because of them and how they played.
Atmosphere was great. I feel bad - the fans showed out in tremendous force and that is great for WCBB, but it would have been better had we played better.
(He was asked about a conversation with Geno and he paraphrased what Geno said... "You are never going to know where you are at unless you play top teams, and if you want to be relevant, you have to play these types of teams". We were on national TV and it made us relevant in WCBB and that was what Geno's point was and he's right"
Me: I found him to be honest, upfront, he didn't shy away from any of the hard questions, and he was honest in his assessment of where his team is and where he thinks they need to go. I know some have complained about his recruiting, or style, or whatever, and I'll admit I don't know a ton about him or how he does things, but this is his 3rd year and he's trying to build a program, and I hope they are successful.
Then I listened to Geno:
"They have an ability to break you down 1 on 1 and you have to play defense for the entire shot clock or they will take advantage. I thought Gabby Williams and Moriah Jefferson were terrific and that we played really good defense in the first half. They may have made it look easy, but it's not easy guarding those guys, and I'm really happy and proud of them.
It's the first game of the year but we have 4 starters returning and they should look like they've played together for a while because they HAVE played together for a while. they looked in sync defensively. Everyone played as a unit instead of playing individual defense 1 on 1. How do you know you played good defense? By the quality of shots they other team gets, and they they did not get a lot of quality shots. You can look at the score and think you played good defense, but sometimes that's just the other team shooting poorly. We did NOT give them a lot of quality shots and that was good defense.
I think we pass the ball too much. We tend to think pass first so sometimes we just need to have someone put the ball on the floor and attack the basket. Moriah and Kia have gotten really good at that. For someone who's not that big, she really finishes at the basket (Moriah). She's good, huh? She's pretty good!
Our practices have been really good. This particular team we have right now - we haven't had a situation where were are begging them to do things. We ask them to o things and they do it to the best of their abilities and they do it every day. My biggest concern was i had no idea how the freshmen would play. we took 2 seniors out and replaced them with 2 freshmen and Gabby. I did not know how the young guys would play.
Napheesa was good. Lou was a little under the weather. Gabby was fabulous. People ask me all the time how do you stop great defensive players. You don't. The best you can do is get them into foul trouble [For the record, I disagree with him there. In the past, he and the coaches have put together great game plans to limit the other team's best scorer/player, and he's said that our players take great pride in playing really good defense and keeping them below their average].
I always thought Gabby had the ability to guard different people (Mitchell). We thought Gabby could guard their center, wings, and guards, and she did. Until you play against her I don't think you realize how quick she is.
We are not a team that plays in spurts. We don't play that way and we don't practice that. We try to play consistent and hard all the time. Because of that, we do go on spurts and that does fuel is. There were some things we did [shook his head] that we're not proud of, but we practice hard and play hard and that's how we coach, and those are the kinds of kids we recruit.
I've known Kevin for years. I knew him when he won a NC at ND, and I watched his career when he was at Xavier and Washington. He's one of the best coaches in the country. I knew when he got the OSU job and we asked him to play he wouldn't be like "nuh-uh". He's a competitive guy and that's how you build your program. He's a smart guy and he's not afraid. A lot of coaches in WCBB don't see the big picture and Kevin sees the big picture.
Geno is clearly a fan of Kevin and it seems the coaches have a lot of mutual respect for each other. Great stuff IMHO...
