Got to chat with Grant this afternoon. Some notable quotes:
Opening Statement:
"Great opportunity to be home. It's awesome anytime you're playing the United Supermarkets Arena, playing a fantastic opponent, coming off of a great learning experience in Brooklyn, Northern Colorado, I think, is a well coached team. Coach Smiley has done a tremendous job. They played a good schedule. Played Colorado in a really close game. Obviously, Washington State's had some success. They've got a good team, so we got our hands full, and it'll be great opportunity to play."
What has this week done in practice after the 'learning experience' in Brooklyn?
"Yeah, we needed practice. We just went through a three week, four week stretch where not having Elijah and Christian practicing kind of put us behind just the ability to go up and down. And there's nuances to this game. I mean, there's a physicality that it takes, but there's a flow that you need to get into and to compete at the level that we want to defensively, we've got to play against each other, and so that way we can improve. And we just went to a stretch where we were just managing honestly practices and trying to make sure nobody else got hurt, and it put us behind. And it showed, I think, especially in our first game against St Joe's early I mean, defensively, we just allowed too many catch and shoot threes that put us behind. And we've got an awesome team, but we've got a long way to go, and I think we need games and practices to continue to improve, and this will be a great opportunity to test ourselves."
What did you learn about your team in Brooklyn?
"I think the biggest thing is, can we win games when we don't shoot it well? And to be a great team, you have to find a way to win it with defense, and you can't always plan on making a bunch of threes. And then how do we get to the free throw line? How do we continue to put pressure on the paint. We've got enough talent, and I've got to do a better job as a coach of just making sure we've got the right guys out there with a plan. We played a lot of different combinations at times, and you can tell our lack of experience together cost us some. I mean, it wasn't a great flow to a few possessions with what we were doing, and then the last thing probably I learned was we've got a team that's extremely capable of being a great defensive team, but playing this game without fouling, and getting in that condition where we can be physical longer in possessions, we needed to stretch that reservoir of depth and our ability to guard longer."
"These early season games are important. They're all important. There's not a game you don't look at go, well...We're going in every game, trying to do everything we can to win the game. But there's also a process to this where we need to get experience together, and you got to put people in different positions. And it was clear that we lacked some experience with some lineups, and I made some mistakes too, of putting lineups out there that weren't weren't as effective as we needed them to be but, man, we had great film coming back. We've had great practices since we've been back. So that's that's really been positive."
Gave up a lot of corner threes in Brooklyn, how do you clean that up?
"Part of that is rotations. We gave up some transition baskets that were corner threes, and that's communication and fatigue, I mean, you see those possessions and when we gave them up, and then we've been out there for a little bit with the same lineup for foul trouble reasons. Then part of it is our communication in the middle of the floor and being able to guard ball screens the more effective that we are at communicating it and being physical. And we dropped the ball in that area."
What have you liked from Federiko defensively thus far?
"Federiko is such an awesome teammate, and Fede a is a great defender, and we need to play him more. We can find an opportunity to get him more minutes. And, you know, playing he and JT together at some point would be something that I think needs to continue to be an avenue that we we find some time for. He was out a game, trying to get him back into practice flow, because he was in such a good rhythm prior to that. Felt like he was where we needed him to be, to kind of take that next jump, so that setback curtain and getting confident again, because when he's confident offensively, then he's really awesome. He's such a great lob threat, but he's also got some skill and feel to get to the next action. So Fede is a huge part of what we do defensively, but I think a lot of it depends on his ability to play the game confidently offensively."
Another team in Northern Colorado that you guys are familiar with, what's the scout like on this one?
"Coach Smiley, having worked for coach Linder and took over at Northern Colorado after coach Linder left, we're familiar with him. He's a guy that I consider a friend who we do have a lot of respect for. Their team is well drilled, and they've got a good plan, and they can bait you into playing the game a certain way. So we are familiar with them, but also, you're playing against a lot of personnel that is different. So a lot of these games are personnel driven as much as they are scheme driven, and you got to make sure that you guard the personnel the right way, and that doesn't matter who the coach is, but they do. They have got a great plan on both ends, and we've got to attack inside out and do a good job on some actions that they run, that we feel like causes a lot of teams problems. Obviously, Colorado beat UConn, and they took them into a double overtime game. So they've got our attention, and we know we have to play great in order to win."
What'd you see from JT in his 18 rebound, 20-plus point game?
"He's got an elite nose for the basketball, and he's an elite rebounder. And JT really was upset after that St Joe's loss, and I think, as a coach, he played well. So by every you know measure, you could walk in that locker room and go, Hey, I played pretty good, and he was the most upset in the locker room. That's the thing I love about JT right now is he's playing this game to win, and he didn't score it well against Syracuse, but I thought he made some strides going in the right direction. We got to the end of that game, and he did make some plays so he didn't let maybe the negativity of how he was scoring the ball early in the game impact the way he finished the game, and he stepped up, made a couple of free throws at the end of the game against Syracuse. So I just love his fight to win. But obviously he's a great talent. His nose for the basketball is as good as anybody I've seen. He really is an elite rebounder. So we know we have high expectations for him to continue to have those kind of nights."
What was Darrion's bounce-back like after missing the game-winner on Thursday?
"D5, he's a winner. He wants to win. And that game really bothered him that he didn't finish the game. And it could have went both ways against Syracuse, because he got foul trouble in that first half, and we did have to sit him. And it wasn't like he was just in a complete flow. And man, I thought his composure level to come back from a disappointment like he did on Thursday, to play really composed, and I thought he was on balance, and he made some great defensive plays too. He's a good rebounder. I mean, we showed a couple of wall ups in the game that I think he's making strides. If you ask me, any place I think we need to continue and improve is how can Darrion play this game physically without fouling? Because when he's in foul trouble, it costs us, it really hurts us. So how do we keep him in the game? And he's getting better, and he's embraced that, and I've been thrilled with his effort on that end."
@finsraider07
Opening Statement:
"Great opportunity to be home. It's awesome anytime you're playing the United Supermarkets Arena, playing a fantastic opponent, coming off of a great learning experience in Brooklyn, Northern Colorado, I think, is a well coached team. Coach Smiley has done a tremendous job. They played a good schedule. Played Colorado in a really close game. Obviously, Washington State's had some success. They've got a good team, so we got our hands full, and it'll be great opportunity to play."
What has this week done in practice after the 'learning experience' in Brooklyn?
"Yeah, we needed practice. We just went through a three week, four week stretch where not having Elijah and Christian practicing kind of put us behind just the ability to go up and down. And there's nuances to this game. I mean, there's a physicality that it takes, but there's a flow that you need to get into and to compete at the level that we want to defensively, we've got to play against each other, and so that way we can improve. And we just went to a stretch where we were just managing honestly practices and trying to make sure nobody else got hurt, and it put us behind. And it showed, I think, especially in our first game against St Joe's early I mean, defensively, we just allowed too many catch and shoot threes that put us behind. And we've got an awesome team, but we've got a long way to go, and I think we need games and practices to continue to improve, and this will be a great opportunity to test ourselves."
What did you learn about your team in Brooklyn?
"I think the biggest thing is, can we win games when we don't shoot it well? And to be a great team, you have to find a way to win it with defense, and you can't always plan on making a bunch of threes. And then how do we get to the free throw line? How do we continue to put pressure on the paint. We've got enough talent, and I've got to do a better job as a coach of just making sure we've got the right guys out there with a plan. We played a lot of different combinations at times, and you can tell our lack of experience together cost us some. I mean, it wasn't a great flow to a few possessions with what we were doing, and then the last thing probably I learned was we've got a team that's extremely capable of being a great defensive team, but playing this game without fouling, and getting in that condition where we can be physical longer in possessions, we needed to stretch that reservoir of depth and our ability to guard longer."
"These early season games are important. They're all important. There's not a game you don't look at go, well...We're going in every game, trying to do everything we can to win the game. But there's also a process to this where we need to get experience together, and you got to put people in different positions. And it was clear that we lacked some experience with some lineups, and I made some mistakes too, of putting lineups out there that weren't weren't as effective as we needed them to be but, man, we had great film coming back. We've had great practices since we've been back. So that's that's really been positive."
Gave up a lot of corner threes in Brooklyn, how do you clean that up?
"Part of that is rotations. We gave up some transition baskets that were corner threes, and that's communication and fatigue, I mean, you see those possessions and when we gave them up, and then we've been out there for a little bit with the same lineup for foul trouble reasons. Then part of it is our communication in the middle of the floor and being able to guard ball screens the more effective that we are at communicating it and being physical. And we dropped the ball in that area."
What have you liked from Federiko defensively thus far?
"Federiko is such an awesome teammate, and Fede a is a great defender, and we need to play him more. We can find an opportunity to get him more minutes. And, you know, playing he and JT together at some point would be something that I think needs to continue to be an avenue that we we find some time for. He was out a game, trying to get him back into practice flow, because he was in such a good rhythm prior to that. Felt like he was where we needed him to be, to kind of take that next jump, so that setback curtain and getting confident again, because when he's confident offensively, then he's really awesome. He's such a great lob threat, but he's also got some skill and feel to get to the next action. So Fede is a huge part of what we do defensively, but I think a lot of it depends on his ability to play the game confidently offensively."
Another team in Northern Colorado that you guys are familiar with, what's the scout like on this one?
"Coach Smiley, having worked for coach Linder and took over at Northern Colorado after coach Linder left, we're familiar with him. He's a guy that I consider a friend who we do have a lot of respect for. Their team is well drilled, and they've got a good plan, and they can bait you into playing the game a certain way. So we are familiar with them, but also, you're playing against a lot of personnel that is different. So a lot of these games are personnel driven as much as they are scheme driven, and you got to make sure that you guard the personnel the right way, and that doesn't matter who the coach is, but they do. They have got a great plan on both ends, and we've got to attack inside out and do a good job on some actions that they run, that we feel like causes a lot of teams problems. Obviously, Colorado beat UConn, and they took them into a double overtime game. So they've got our attention, and we know we have to play great in order to win."
What'd you see from JT in his 18 rebound, 20-plus point game?
"He's got an elite nose for the basketball, and he's an elite rebounder. And JT really was upset after that St Joe's loss, and I think, as a coach, he played well. So by every you know measure, you could walk in that locker room and go, Hey, I played pretty good, and he was the most upset in the locker room. That's the thing I love about JT right now is he's playing this game to win, and he didn't score it well against Syracuse, but I thought he made some strides going in the right direction. We got to the end of that game, and he did make some plays so he didn't let maybe the negativity of how he was scoring the ball early in the game impact the way he finished the game, and he stepped up, made a couple of free throws at the end of the game against Syracuse. So I just love his fight to win. But obviously he's a great talent. His nose for the basketball is as good as anybody I've seen. He really is an elite rebounder. So we know we have high expectations for him to continue to have those kind of nights."
What was Darrion's bounce-back like after missing the game-winner on Thursday?
"D5, he's a winner. He wants to win. And that game really bothered him that he didn't finish the game. And it could have went both ways against Syracuse, because he got foul trouble in that first half, and we did have to sit him. And it wasn't like he was just in a complete flow. And man, I thought his composure level to come back from a disappointment like he did on Thursday, to play really composed, and I thought he was on balance, and he made some great defensive plays too. He's a good rebounder. I mean, we showed a couple of wall ups in the game that I think he's making strides. If you ask me, any place I think we need to continue and improve is how can Darrion play this game physically without fouling? Because when he's in foul trouble, it costs us, it really hurts us. So how do we keep him in the game? And he's getting better, and he's embraced that, and I've been thrilled with his effort on that end."
Open Door – Where Finances meet Faith & Family
opendoorfa.com@finsraider07
