As most of you likely know, the Red Raiders will head up to Canada on Saturday, where they'll play four exhibition games for an international trip to start the season, get some extra practices in, etc. Teams are allowed an international preseason exhibition trip once every four years, and Coach Smith decided to take his team north before things get rolling this fall.
Here's the team's games schedule:
vs. McGill University, Sunday 3:00 PM CST
vs. Laval University, Monday 6:00 PM CST
vs. Carleton University, Wednesday 6:00 PM CST
vs. Ottawa University, Thursday 6:00 PM CST
The team will also do some sight seeing, including going to Chinatown, the Notre-Dame Basilica, Olympic Stadium, Old Motreal, and Saint Joseph's Oratory.
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So, Coach Smith spoke with the media, and here are a few notes from what he had to say...
*First, the head coach was very pleased with summer workouts and how they went.
"Very pleased with our summer workouts. Guys like Isaiah Manderson especially. He's made the biggest strides because he wasn't here last summer, missed the workouts,' he said. "He was a whole summer behind, so he's really bulked up, and that's made a major difference. Then we've been playing with the new 30 second shot clock. We want to play faster, play more aggressively defensively. And, we've developed some of those skills we had problems with last year. We had problems taking care of the basketball, had problems scoring, so we've really harped on that this summer, and I've been very impressed with all of it."
*On the trip to Canada, what it means to the team:
"I think it gives us a lot of time to bond, to see what our young players look like. We have quite a few. We were one of the youngest teams in the country last year, and we'll be - again - one of the younger teams in the country," he said. "I expect it to pay off in the season."
*Tubby also feels that the games against these Canadian squads should give some good preseason competition for Tech to get better against, prepare for the season.
"They'll be good. I know the last time we played in Vancouver, some of them are universities, but some of them are club teams, but they play a very competitive schedule. They play teams just across the border in New York, Vermont and places like that. McGill, Carlton - they've beaten Wisconsin, beaten Notre Dame, beaten some teams over the years in these tournaments. But, it's not about winning. It's about playing against stiff competition in the three games - not sure about the fourth game - but those three games will all be very competitive."
*Tubby said that his one concern with going to Canada is guys getting worn out too early in the season by essentially pushing their preseason schedule up a few weeks with the trip. Minnesota was 15-2 the year they went on a foreign trip, and they had two players get stress related injuries, which essentially derailed them in Big 10 play, where they only won 6 games. Tubby also made a point to knock on wood, and by wood I mean the top of his head.
*On his two freshmen, CJ Williamson and Jordan Jackson:
"We've become a lot more athletic with both of those players."
*Williamson is playing both the two and three right now, but Tubby believes he can play both guard positions as well as roll down into a roll as a forward at the three.
*Right now, Tubby expects Devaugntah Williams and Toddrick Gotcher to both play about equally at shooting guard, but he likes what he's seen from both Devon Thomas and Keenan Evans so far in the offseason at the point, and they're both fighting to start. Smith would give Evans the lead over Thomas right now.
*Gotcher and Williams are the two senior leaders on this team, and Tubby is hoping to see one thing from them.
"Leadership. I need those two guys to really take charge, and Toddrick is more quiet, as where Devaugntah is a bit more vocal. I think they'll make a good pair here. They're the seniors, and they're the guys that have gone through things in the room."
*There is some concern with Norense Odiase and the shape that his knees are in right now. They're trying to bring him along gingerly, and Coach Smith said he can't really put two extremely hard practices together back to back right now.
"He struggled this summer with his knees. He's had that tendonitis, so we've done different workouts, exercises to try to alleviate that. He's had an injection in his knee where they try to recycle your blood. So, he isn't able to go - he can't hardly put together two hard practices, so I'm really concerned about that."
*As for the season, Coach Smith is going to cut back Odiase's minutes unless things get markedly better with his knees, and they'll just take things essentially day to day, game to game with how much he plays.
*Coach Smith noted that they have two scholarships still open, and they're looking for a few big men, said they may be close on one without giving a name, which likely means they feel good about landing Rokas Ulvydas.
*Justin Gray is at about 80 to 85 percent right now according to Tubby. He can't quite put together two really hard practices quite yet, but Coach Smith noted that he looks really, really good right now when he's fresh.
*On Aaron Ross, the progress he's made.
"Aaron has looked as well as he ever has since I've been here. His knee is healthy, he's jumping, so I expect him to have a great year."
* Coach Smith said that "It's a world of difference" when it comes to guys knowing the offense, defense now as opposed to last season.
"We're trying to play faster, we're trying to play more aggressively defensively, so that's been an adjustment for us. But, because of our depth in the backcourt now, I believe we can be much more effective in our uptempo style."
*Something else that will be very interesting to me is to see how the 24 second clock in Canada will effect how they play during the season. It's much faster than anything they played at last season, for sure.
Here's the team's games schedule:
vs. McGill University, Sunday 3:00 PM CST
vs. Laval University, Monday 6:00 PM CST
vs. Carleton University, Wednesday 6:00 PM CST
vs. Ottawa University, Thursday 6:00 PM CST
The team will also do some sight seeing, including going to Chinatown, the Notre-Dame Basilica, Olympic Stadium, Old Motreal, and Saint Joseph's Oratory.
-----
So, Coach Smith spoke with the media, and here are a few notes from what he had to say...
*First, the head coach was very pleased with summer workouts and how they went.
"Very pleased with our summer workouts. Guys like Isaiah Manderson especially. He's made the biggest strides because he wasn't here last summer, missed the workouts,' he said. "He was a whole summer behind, so he's really bulked up, and that's made a major difference. Then we've been playing with the new 30 second shot clock. We want to play faster, play more aggressively defensively. And, we've developed some of those skills we had problems with last year. We had problems taking care of the basketball, had problems scoring, so we've really harped on that this summer, and I've been very impressed with all of it."
*On the trip to Canada, what it means to the team:
"I think it gives us a lot of time to bond, to see what our young players look like. We have quite a few. We were one of the youngest teams in the country last year, and we'll be - again - one of the younger teams in the country," he said. "I expect it to pay off in the season."
*Tubby also feels that the games against these Canadian squads should give some good preseason competition for Tech to get better against, prepare for the season.
"They'll be good. I know the last time we played in Vancouver, some of them are universities, but some of them are club teams, but they play a very competitive schedule. They play teams just across the border in New York, Vermont and places like that. McGill, Carlton - they've beaten Wisconsin, beaten Notre Dame, beaten some teams over the years in these tournaments. But, it's not about winning. It's about playing against stiff competition in the three games - not sure about the fourth game - but those three games will all be very competitive."
*Tubby said that his one concern with going to Canada is guys getting worn out too early in the season by essentially pushing their preseason schedule up a few weeks with the trip. Minnesota was 15-2 the year they went on a foreign trip, and they had two players get stress related injuries, which essentially derailed them in Big 10 play, where they only won 6 games. Tubby also made a point to knock on wood, and by wood I mean the top of his head.
*On his two freshmen, CJ Williamson and Jordan Jackson:
"We've become a lot more athletic with both of those players."
*Williamson is playing both the two and three right now, but Tubby believes he can play both guard positions as well as roll down into a roll as a forward at the three.
*Right now, Tubby expects Devaugntah Williams and Toddrick Gotcher to both play about equally at shooting guard, but he likes what he's seen from both Devon Thomas and Keenan Evans so far in the offseason at the point, and they're both fighting to start. Smith would give Evans the lead over Thomas right now.
*Gotcher and Williams are the two senior leaders on this team, and Tubby is hoping to see one thing from them.
"Leadership. I need those two guys to really take charge, and Toddrick is more quiet, as where Devaugntah is a bit more vocal. I think they'll make a good pair here. They're the seniors, and they're the guys that have gone through things in the room."
*There is some concern with Norense Odiase and the shape that his knees are in right now. They're trying to bring him along gingerly, and Coach Smith said he can't really put two extremely hard practices together back to back right now.
"He struggled this summer with his knees. He's had that tendonitis, so we've done different workouts, exercises to try to alleviate that. He's had an injection in his knee where they try to recycle your blood. So, he isn't able to go - he can't hardly put together two hard practices, so I'm really concerned about that."
*As for the season, Coach Smith is going to cut back Odiase's minutes unless things get markedly better with his knees, and they'll just take things essentially day to day, game to game with how much he plays.
*Coach Smith noted that they have two scholarships still open, and they're looking for a few big men, said they may be close on one without giving a name, which likely means they feel good about landing Rokas Ulvydas.
*Justin Gray is at about 80 to 85 percent right now according to Tubby. He can't quite put together two really hard practices quite yet, but Coach Smith noted that he looks really, really good right now when he's fresh.
*On Aaron Ross, the progress he's made.
"Aaron has looked as well as he ever has since I've been here. His knee is healthy, he's jumping, so I expect him to have a great year."
* Coach Smith said that "It's a world of difference" when it comes to guys knowing the offense, defense now as opposed to last season.
"We're trying to play faster, we're trying to play more aggressively defensively, so that's been an adjustment for us. But, because of our depth in the backcourt now, I believe we can be much more effective in our uptempo style."
*Something else that will be very interesting to me is to see how the 24 second clock in Canada will effect how they play during the season. It's much faster than anything they played at last season, for sure.
