Ed Conroy's Quotes from Basketball Media Day
Oct 25, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 25, 2011
Opening statement... "We started on October 14th and that first weekend we kind of did it like a training camp and had two-a-days on that Saturday and Sunday. We have 11 new faces and are really trying to acclimate. The focus of the first two phases of our practices has been on the teaching. All those guys come from different backgrounds and trying to get them all on the same page and talking the same language and doing things our way, takes a little bit of time. We now enter the third phase of our preseason practice and what I want to see happen today is to put in more of our package and start installing more things and start to compete a little more in practice. Early on in practice sometimes competition can get in the way of learning a little bit and these guys, because we have so many new faces, it is wide open as far as who's going to play and comprise our rotation. Now we had into that and see if we can't start to figure out some kind of rotation. That will be a work in progress. Other than Kendall Timmons and Jordan Callahan, our early season schedule will be really interesting to see who emerges game in and game out. I kind of set it up that way. We have a number of games, many of them at home, in November and early December because I wanted to maximize practice time and put these guys in as many game conditions as I can so we can find out more about them. Then we move into our December portion of the schedule and hopefully our rotation will take shape and we really test ourselves. We have Georgia Tech at home and we go to Wofford who's been in the NCAA Tournament the last couple of years. We have a road game against a top 10 team in Syracuse. I think our schedule lays out nicely for this particular team. As far as individuals, Jordan and Kendall are both improved, but I'd like to see them both advance a little bit in their leadership of these young guys. That's a tough task because there are so many new one's out there, but we need to have them help us in doing that. Along those lines Ben Cherry, who's been with me for a couple years, is back to being close to 100 percent and is doing a great job with the leadership role at practice. His knee gets stronger and stronger all the time. Josh Davis, a young man that sat out last year, along with Trent Rogers are the returning guys and the guys kind of leading the way right now. I'm anxious to enter this next phase and see who sets up."
How does the offense morph with the addition of the newcomers... "No question we are a lot bigger that we were. We are longer, more athletic and are taller, which is a good thing. We have some depth at the center spot and hopefully we will be a more balanced attack. Especially come late in games when you has the other team in foul trouble or you are in the bonus, the ability to score inside or outside in key. Hopefully we can progress to that point. Tomas Bruha is not our there practicing five on five yet, but he's coming back and our other guys - Lotanna Nwogbo has done some good things early on and given us some inside scoring. Kevin Thomas has improved and put on a little bit of weight and has a little better ability to score around the basket. We've got some guys we can go into the post, but also Josh Davis gives us better size at the other forward spot along with Tre Drye. They have the ability to play with their back to the basket a little bit. I think you will be a more balanced offense, at least I hope you will, at least if these guys progress the way I think."
Does the tempo change any... "I think we will have more depth and if anything we will be able to pressure more on the defensive end and we will be able to push it more in transition. I'm really looking for Ricky Tarrant to help spell Jordan a little bit out front along with Malte (Ziegenhagen) and Jay Hook and other guys like that. Ben Cherry being back healthy. So more depth a different spots we will be able to press a little more and hopefully we will be able to push it more consistently during a game."
On playing non-conference quality opponents... "I wanted to make sure that we were able to get at least one marquee series where we bring teams into Fogelman and we were please Georgia Tech agreed to do that with us. The Syracuse game is just a one-time deal that kind of piggybacked with the football game. That was the end of Honeymoon gift from upstairs, but we get to go play that game in Syracuse. But I think that is a great one for us. I like the game. We have a lot of fan support up in New York and just before we go on Christmas break we get that change. I like the series with Navy and Wofford. My biggest thing with scheduling is I didn't want to get into any series that didn't fit us long term because I really would like to add some of those quality opponents."
On what needs to be done to win more games in conference and finishing games... "Great question. Number one, is why we set up the schedule the way we did, is you have to be deeper. No question we had some key injuries and they all came at the third perimeter spot. Jonathan Frye went down and Ben Cherry went down and we kept reinventing ourselves. Then Aaron Holmes steps in and starting doing a great job when he wasn't getting much time early in the year. There we sit 2-1 at East Carolina with the lead with a minute to go and Aaron goes down. Chance to go 3-1 in the league and we really couldn't withstand that blow. But those things happen. No excuses. You need to have the depth. So all of the early season games are to hopefully develop some of these young guys. I think a number of them can step forward. In addition to that our size gives us the ability to score in different ways. When Aaron went down we became very one dimensional with the three. We became very good at it, but we were one dimensional. Developing that depth early on and developing our size and our inside attack as we go along will help us finish games."
About all the new faces... "I've been in this situation before. This is very similar to year two at the Citadel and also our third year a Francis Marion where we found ourselves very, very young. Encouragement of these guys and their attitude has been great. They are doing a super job of learning. I'm excited to watch them go through November and December. We would all make a mistake is we tried to figure out exactly what our line-up and rotation is going to be because I can see different guys emerging all through November and December, much like last year in my first year. Aaron Holmes came on in December. Johnny Mayhane came on in January even though they were seniors. There is always an adjustment and I think you will see that with this year's team. You will see different guys emerge."
On expecting to build on the three-point shot success from last year... "How we teach every day and how we work on shooting this team has more potential as a shooting team. Young guys have a harder time knowing how to get those shots off in tough conference games and shots selection, but as they go through their career you will say there is are a lot of shooters on this team. Having said that, to get more size on the floor and be better on the boards rebounding and have a low post attack, we won't have quite as many shooters out there, but no question, shooting will always be a big part of what we do."
What do expect of Kendall Timmons this year... "Kendall became a fantastic creator last year of scoring opportunities for himself and for others. That's continued on this year. We had a practice the other day where he had eight assists and no turnovers in a game. That's a work in progress a little pit and what I've encouraged Kendall to do is trust these guys because they are young and there is going to be a little inconsistency. That's going to happen and he can't get frustrated sometimes when he creates a good opportunity and the guys doesn't finish the play. If he'll trust that process and keep going to those guys, he will be able to help those guys into very confident good players. You will see us use Kendall a lot like we did last year where we move him all over the floor so he is a tough guard. Where he is most exciting is when we create mismatches for him and let him create off the dribble."
On the full court press being a work in progress... "That pressure will always be a part of our package. If things go the way I would like, you will see us do a lot more of it this year. What is come down to last year was the depth at the center spot and the other forward spot. Right now on paper I think we have some depth there so you will be able to see us move guys in and out and really keep that heat up. Last year to ask David Booker and Kendall Timmons, who was playing 38-39 minutes a game, to do full court the whole night because hard. This year hopefully we will have the depth. I know you will see us in early season games try to develop that and hopefully be able to press throughout the season."
