Men's Basketball Gets First Look at Arena; Meets Media in Detroit
3/28/2024 3:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Creighton faces Tennessee on Friday night
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Regional Semifinal - Creighton vs Tennessee
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Little Caesars Arena
Creighton Bluejays
Greg McDermott
Ryan Kalkbrenner
Trey Alexander
Baylor Scheierman
Sweet 16 Pregame Media Conference
ÂTHE MODERATOR: Welcome to the dais at Little Caesars Arena. We'll be starting our press conference with head coach Greg McDermott.
GREG McDERMOTT: Obviously excited to be back in a Sweet 16, proud of the way our group performed last week in Pittsburgh. This time of year, you just never know. We've stayed relatively healthy, which has really helped us with our core group. They just continue to believe in themselves. They're incredibly connected. That's the reason we've had the season that we've had.
Realize we have a heck of a task in front of us in Tennessee with how talented and well-coached that group is.
Q. Greg, it feels like the momentum is pushing us toward an expanded tournament. How do you feel about that, and if so, what should that look like if it happens?
GREG McDERMOTT: People aren't going to like what I have to say, but I'm probably in favor of expansion to a certain degree and simply because last weekend is an incredible experience for every student-athlete that gets to participate. So why are we only have 15 percent or 17 percent of our teams participate?
Why not -- I don't know what the number is. Is it 15? Is it 20? Somebody smarter than me will figure that out.
But in this world of student-athlete welfare and doing more and more for student-athletes, why not give more student-athletes that experience?
I think most people that don't want the tournament messed with, it's for selfish reasons because they like it the way it is, and that's not a good enough reason, in my opinion. If it's really about the student-athletes, then give more opportunities for student-athletes that have had a good season.
I think it includes more of the mid-majors. This year was not necessarily a normal year in that there were a lot of bid stealers. So I think more than, at least in recent history, there was a lot of teams left out that could win games in the tournament.
Q. With Dalton Knecht, who do you think about match up with him? With him and Baylor, is he a good example of what could be good coming out of the transfer portal? Players who don't have a lot of choices in high school, they go to a smaller school, they take off, and go to a bigger school.
GREG McDERMOTT: They're both great stories of perseverance and tremendous work ethic. Obviously they've both had great years.
Two years ago Dalton was at Northern Colorado and Baylor was at South Dakota State. Now you have a first team All-American and a third team All-American playing against each other in the Sweet 16. So an unbelievable story.
I don't know that you'd guard him with one guy. I think you have to give him different looks, and that's the plan. Hopefully take away his easy ones because he's going to make enough tough ones because he's an elite player.
He and Baylor, their journeys are similar in a lot of ways. To watch their growth and development from where they were a freshman in college to where they are today is really a testament to their work ethic.
Q. With respect to obviously what Tennessee presents defensively, how tricky is corralling Dalton and Zakai on the other end of the floor and getting them out of sync?
GREG McDERMOTT: I don't know that you can get them out of sync. They have to see bodies. The problem is Tennessee is they're unselfish. They have 567 assists and 356 turnovers. They're a team that's more than willing to make the extra pass, and Dalton is included in that.
That makes a team difficult to defend. They run a lot of actions to try to get him loose and then play off of that. When you've got a guy that scores at his level and is still unselfish, it makes it very difficult to defend.
Q. One of the fans you're going to have back home rooting you on, Jack Elliott. You called him the most courageous child in Omaha. Can you speak to what he means to you and how he's inspired this program this year?
GREG McDERMOTT: I met Jack by chance. I think it was a Make-A-Wish request kind of at the last minute. He came to shootaround and visited with our team.
Jack is a tough little guy. His outlook on life, going through what he's going through at his age with radiation and chemo, and everything they're doing to his body, and yet he shows up with a smile on his face and texts me before and after every game and has developed a really good relationship with Baylor as well. He was by practice the other day, so we got to spend a little time with him.
It's a good reminder to our guys how good we have it and how blessed we are to be able to do what we do. For us to complain about a missed shot and we look over at Jack, what he's going through, we've got to get over ourselves a little bit.
So he's been an inspiration to me, and I know he has been to our team as well.
Q. You guys have talked a lot about how the process has been really important to get you guys here. How important is it to trust your process and your training as you're making this run?
GREG McDERMOTT: That's a great question. That's what it's about. We've talked about process all the way back to June, and trusting your work and being consistent with your daily habits, and if you do that, you'll be put in a position where you're going to have a chance.
Even though it looked a little bleak late in that Oregon game, I think they never really had any self-doubt creep in because they put so much work in. Now, you can still put work in and the shot may not go in, but had that shot not gone in, I would have still felt great about the shot Baylor got because I've watched him practice that shot hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times.
So he did the work. He prepared himself. Sometimes you're successful in those situations, and sometimes you're not. But these guys believe in each other, they believe in their work, and that makes it for a pretty fun experience from a coaching perspective.
Q. I'm wondering about kind of the other side of Baylor and Dalton's stories, what the transfer portal has done, particularly in the tournament, but beyond -- when you see guys now, their team ends, they go into the portal the first week or they don't make the tournament, I guess what does that do for the game as a whole? Guys going up or guys going down.
GREG McDERMOTT: I'm all about the student-athlete and them having choices. They deserve those choices. Could we do it at a different time? I wish we could. I would like the stories from Selection Sunday until Championship Monday to be about the teams in the NCAA Tournament. Not about who's leaving and who's joining this program.
It's just unfortunate that that's such a big part of what's going on in the daily news, and I think it takes away from celebrating the teams that have had incredible years and have made it to this point.
Is there a way to maneuver that time a little? I hope so because it's very difficult. My staff, while we're trying to prepare for Tennessee, my guys are also working the portal. You have to. That's an unfortunate thing for a team that's in the tournament trying to advance, that you have to spend that amount of time because, if you don't make calls, you're out.
I don't like the timing of it, but I understand why it's there.
Q. Greg, just wondering what kind of challenges do you expect Zakai Zeigler to pose, and have you seen a guy on his end that compares to him?
GREG McDERMOTT: [Posh] Alexander at Butler this year, very disruptive offensively. Still don't know if he's as quick as Zeigler is. He gets to spots offensively. He's so disruptive defensively. Coach Barnes has really carved out a huge role for him on that team on both ends of the floor. He's hit big shots. He can -- I don't know, whatever how many steals he's got, it's a lot.
But just as a menace defensively with everything that he does. He's a terrific point guard. In a lot of ways, kind of the straw that stirs the drinks for them in a lot of ways because of the impact he has on defensively and the plays he makes for other people offensively.
204 assists to 76 turnovers in the SEC, that's big time.
Q. You talked about -- you and the players talked about the impact of kind of finding joy within that stress had on the end of the Oregon game. I'm curious how you keep hold of that while knowing that you could be 40 minutes away from your season being over.
GREG McDERMOTT: It's the makeup of the team, and I think as a coach, the longer you've been doing this, you've got to let guys be who they are. You've been around practice enough. We don't take ourselves too serious. We don't take each other too serious. We have some fun with the game.
Some coaches, and especially young coaches -- and I was probably guilty of this when I was younger -- there's so much pressure to win and be successful that you coach the joy right out of the game. I don't ever want to do that to my guys. I want to make sure that -- they started playing this game because they fell in love with it, and if I do something to take the joy away from that, then I'm doing them a disservice.
This group really has -- they have fun. There's parts of practice. There's drills. We've joked about drills they don't like, which usually is my favorite drill. If they don't like it, it's probably a good drill.
But they truly enjoy coming to practice every day and being together. That's been pretty cool to witness.
Q. Mac, your initial takeaway was Tennessee's defense obviously. Have you learned anything else about them since diving into the film throughout the week?
GREG McDERMOTT: I've known Coach Barnes for a long time and obviously coached against him when I was at Iowa State and he was at Texas. Interesting story, when Bruce Rasmussen called me and asked me to meet with him about the Creighton job when I was still at Iowa State, I still had a few years left on my contract at Iowa State. Creighton was still in the Valley, and I was meeting Bruce in Des Moines, 40, 45-minute drive.
When I got in my car and pulled out of my driveway, I called Rick Barnes, because I had questions for him about that point in my career, this kind of move. I hung up the phone with him when I pulled into the hotel parking lot 40 minutes later, and he just drilled me with questions and things to think about, short term, long term, that I think speaks to who Rick Barnes is.
He's been a great friend of mine. I've always respected the way he's coached his teams and how he's gone about it. And this Tennessee team, it's got some of what he did offensively when he was at Texas, trying to run some cutters off the basket, stander under the basket. I've prepared for that a lot before, and he does that a lot with Dalton.
But defensively there's a standard there that's really impressive with how they play, how they compete, and how disruptive they are every single play, and it can turn a game in a flash.
That message has been drilled into our guys over the course of the week. Whether we're ready for it, we'll see. But Coach Barnes has done a great job with this program. It's been fun to watch him be as successful as he has been from afar.
Q. This team has a lot of guys with unique backgrounds: Ryan's a fisher, Baylor was a state champion quarterback, Steven is married and was an entrepreneur, selling at a young age. Talk about bringing different interests together and this team's identity and how they bond helps them be as successful as they are on the court.
GREG McDERMOTT: As you mentioned, they all have a lot of different interests, but they have a common interest in their love for the game of basketball. Because they're selfless on the basketball floor, they also like to learn about each other off the floor. They spend a fair amount of time with each other off the floor even though their interests are very different.
I know Kalkbrenner took Ashworth fishing here in Omaha, and we had a nice day. Steven caught his first fish that day or whatever. They do some pretty cool stuff together. Their leadership, that group of Baylor, Trey, Ryan, and Steven, Francisco, just like off the charts. Not about me, not a lot of an agenda for themselves. Let's figure out a way for us to be as good as we can possibly be.
Q. Just to follow up, why was Rick the one you called about the job that day? Did it have a lot to do with what you ended up deciding?
GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, I've always had a lot of respect for Coach Barnes. I didn't really know him until I got to the Big 12. Then you go and you spend time with guys at postseason conference meetings, media days, and then you get to know them and you sit with them recruiting. We just developed a friendship.
He's someone that I respected that had moved around a few times from George Mason to Providence to Clemson and had been in that situation. Of the guys in the Big 12 at that time, he was the one I thought could maybe give me -- make sure I'm thinking about everything before I made that decision, and to his credit, he asked a lot of the right questions.
Then when I had the opportunity, I decided to do it, and it's been a great run.
Q. Obviously Mason Miller is a Memphis area kid, Memphis product. How would you describe his growth from being a freshman and playing whatever, eight, nine minutes last season, to being a regular starter and integral part of this team?
GREG McDERMOTT: Mason, it's a great story. In this day and age, not many young people are willing to redshirt. Obviously Mason's parents, Mike and Jen, Mike has obviously a very accomplished professional career, and Jen was a terrific volleyball player at Florida. So they understood that Mason needed time and he needed to follow a process.
That first process was a redshirt, and then last year it was playing off the bench and trying to spark the team. Then in the off-season, once the season was over last year, we talked about our expectation was he should be fighting for this starting job this year.
To Mason's credit, he's worked, and he's done just that. Obviously was huge for us in the game against Akron to gain some momentum with a big three right before halftime and hit a couple more coming out of the locker room.
He's gotten better. He's worked hard and has become a very important part of our team.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
Pleased to continue with the Creighton Blue Jays. Congratulations. From your left to right, we are joined by Ryan Kalkbrenner, Trey Alexander, and Baylor Scheierman.
Q. Baylor, can you reflect on your journey here? And what choices did you have coming out of high school? Do you feel like you made the most of your opportunities in the transfer portal to be here and on this stage with this team?
BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: Coming out of high school, I only had one Division I offer and then chose to go to South Dakota State and transferred to Creighton. I just feel I'm happy with the journey and how it all worked out for me.
Going through the transfer portal is one of the best decisions I made, and I'm very happy with how it all played out.
Q. I'm curious what the difference is in the feeling, the prep, the lead-up, just all of the extra juice, compared to this stage last year and going through it the first time together?
RYAN KALKBRENNER: I think last year we were just a little extra excited about doing it for the first time, but this year we've got a little more experience. We're still super excited about it and trying to take it all in.
It's almost easier to take it all in because you've been here before and you can take a step back easier.
TREY ALEXANDER: Kind of what Kalk said. You kind of know what to expect now. You're still very grateful to be here and you're very excited, but you know what type of prep it takes now. We know what the feeling is to be here, and we know what it takes to get the job done.
Q. Baylor, when you make that decision to go to South Dakota State, it wasn't that far from home, but when you were going through that process of leaving, what were the things that you were thinking about at that point, and how do you feel the move to Creighton has maybe elevated your game from where you were at that point in the Summit League?
BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: I wanted to go to a place where I thought that I could grow as a player and a place that I thought fit the way that I played. When I first entered the transfer portal, I wasn't really thinking about anything specific, but once Creighton had reached out, I knew that I wanted to come back home.
I felt like just being here at Creighton these last two years and playing in the Big East the last two years and against a lot of the top competition in college basketball has elevated my game to just a different level than it was in the Summit League.
Q. I'm just curious what boxes you feel like you guys need to check to score offensively against a defense like Tennessee's?
TREY ALEXANDER: I would say just don't hold the ball too long. They're a very good team in terms of raking in the gaps and turning you over. So I think limit turnovers, we're able to get out in transition by getting stops like that. I think those are some of the boxes we have to check on the offensive end.
RYAN KALKBRENNER: Same stuff Trey said, just taking care of the ball, make sure we're getting shots and not turning it over. That will feed into our offense.
Q. This is for any of you guys. You've never made it past this weekend. Does that kind of add a little bit of extra pressure, motivation, or kind of both when you're thinking about your performances that have to be over this weekend?
BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: Yeah, pressure is a privilege obviously. Obviously we've never made it past this weekend, but we can't get to Sunday without taking care of business tomorrow. So really our whole focus is on tomorrow.
We've played a lot of basketball games in our career, and I think we just stay calm and collected, and we just prepare the same way. Even though it's a bigger stage, you can't really change your preparation.
Q. Baylor, did you and Dalton Knecht meet up at all on the AAU circuit when you guys were coming up? And have you kind of followed his journey through northern Colorado and all that?
BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: Yeah, we never met on the AAU circuit. However, I had a buddy who went to Northern Colorado and was teammates with him in high school. We don't know each other personally, but I do know he went to a smaller school like I did and transferred up, and he's had a phenomenal season.
Q. Kind of on that same note, how surreal is that that the two All-Americans in this game are kind of transfer portal success stories?
BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: It just shows that you run your race, everybody's different. Obviously I didn't have the high level offers coming out of high school right away, but I stayed down and trusted my work and ended up blessed to be in this position now.
Q. Baylor, how much do you expect to match up with Dalton? When you are, what do you try to do?
BAYLOR SCHEIERMAN: Obviously he's a tremendous player, and he hits tough shots. So for me, just trying to make it as difficult as I can on him. Obviously he's going to hit tough shots because he's a tremendous player. But I think at the end of the day, like I said, just trying to make everything he does difficult and not give him anything easy.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
142748-2-4096 2024-03-28 18:43:00 GMT
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NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Regional Semifinal - Creighton vs Tennessee
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Little Caesars Arena
Tennessee Volunteers
Rick Barnes
Dalton Knecht
Jonas Aidoo
Jahmai Mashack
Sweet 16 Pregame Media Conference
ÂTHE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Welcome back to the interview room here at Little Caesars Arena as we continue to preview the 2024 Midwest regional. We're joined by the Tennessee Volunteers from your left to right by Jonas Aidoo, Dalton Knecht, and Jahmai Mashack.
Q. Can you reflect on your journey from junior college and now you're here. Do you hope you're an inspiration to college players who aren't showered with a lot of offers or who are thinking about transferring up?
DALTON KNECHT: Yeah, I transferred -- not transferred, but I -- there are some people that are not the highest rated players and stuff like that. It just shows that you go a different route, going JuCo and stuff, and like you said, hitting the transfer portal. I hit that too.
You can make multiple ways to get to one of the best programs in the nation. I think it just shows that you don't have to be the highest rated kid.
Q. Jahmai, I asked you last week in Charlotte, did it feel different from last year? Can you compare the feeling today compared to where you were last year?
JAHMAI MASHACK: I've always been a confident player. I feel like everybody on our team last year and this year has always been confident. I wouldn't say the confidence level was different. I would just say probably I think the fact is like we're healthier. We're healthier. We have people able to play. We have people available. We have more depth.
I just think we're going into it knowing that nothing has to change. We don't have to adjust anything. We don't have to do anything different than what we've been doing all year, which I feel like is important for us as a team. It's just making sure we're all on the same page.
The fact we've gotten this whole year to grow and to come together and to really like learn each other's game and really be comfortable with that, I think it's just going to show as we play more games and as we get to where we are now that it's all going to come together in big moments like this.
Q. Dalton, to add onto that, if you could go back five years, what would you say?
DALTON KNECHT: I would just say stay in the gym as much as you can. You'll chase your dream, and everything will happen for a reason. Hard work pays off. That's one thing I'd say. Hard work pays off.
Q. How would you say you've grown off the court as this season has gone on?
JONAS AIDOO: I would say from the Europe trip, that's when we truly started to bond off the court. We spent so much time with each other in other countries, learning about each other. I felt like from there on we kept growing from there like to true brothers from there.
DALTON KNECHT: I would say for me, when I first got on campus, all these guys, like Zakai and stuff, we'd all get food and stuff and created that bond early. And when everybody was on campus, we'd play video games or going out and getting food or just staying in the locker room after practice.
JAHMAI MASHACK: I just think the bond of having the tough games that really showed our competitive spirit and I think the tough practices as well. When you have different games like that, it really builds and shows a team's true character, and it brings your teammates together. I think that's what happened to us throughout the season.
Obviously we started really well. We had a really good season overall. But there were certain games in certain stretches where we were still trying to get to know our teammates and our strengths and our weaknesses.
I think going through those games really helped us trust each other more on and off the court. I feel like we had that bond off the court, on the court is going to be extremely easy.
I think, with that being said, this whole year has just been a journey for everybody. I think we wouldn't take it back for anything. This is why we want to keep continuing to get farther and farther in this tournament, just to justify what we went through through this whole year and that it was worth it.
I think just showing just how those losses and how those close games and how those tough games really build character and really build togetherness.
Q. Can you talk about what you've seen watching film that has your respect?
JONAS AIDOO: We know they're a really good offensive team and they like to get up a lot of threes. We like to take pride in being the best defensive team in the nation and locking in on that scouting report.
DALTON KNECHT: Like Jonas said, they're a great offensive team. Also, they make sure they don't foul and get teams to the foul line. That will definitely be something we'll need to watch out for.
JAHMAI MASHACK: I think they both made really great points. Definitely a high offensive team that wants to get a lot of threes, wants to get out and run. Like DK said, they don't want to foul. They want to stay back. They don't want to force a lot of turnovers. They just want to force you into a short shot clock.
I think the thing that's going to give us the edge on the game is what Jonas said, taking pride in our defense. Whether we're hitting shots or not, if our defense is where it's supposed to be, we can create offense in transition, which is where I feel we're the best at is getting out in transition, creating easy layups, getting to the foul line.
I think, as much as they've had their tall center down low, being able to feed Jonas the ball and being able to feed our big guys the ball to try to get them points and maybe get him in foul trouble. But just trying to use everybody on the court and space the floor out and really just run our offense.
Q. Jonas, when you kind of study Kalkbrenner, their big guy, on film, what have you seen from some of your matchups this season and from some of the really big guys?
JONAS AIDOO: I watched him. He's pretty big. He's 7'1", 7'2", 270. I've played pretty much every single big in the nation that's top rated. So I feel like I've prepared for this moment, just to help my team lock in defensively and offensively on the scouting report.
THE MODERATOR: We're wrapping up today's press conference with Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes. Thank you for joining us.
Q. Coach, just the scout, what are a couple things that jump out at you that are primary focuses when you're getting ready to play Creighton?
RICK BARNES: Well, there's a number of different things. Obviously, one, transition. They're a really terrific team in transition. Discipline. They really have, I think, a high level basketball IQ. They know each other so well. They know what they're looking for. They know to play within the rhythm of what they do. Just an extremely sound team defensively. They do a great job of helping each other.
I've known Greg for a long time, coaching against him in the Big 12, and just a terrific basketball coach. His team, I think, plays the way he wants them to play.
Q. Coach McDermott told a story about when he first was deciding to take the job at Creighton, that he called you on the way to the interview. Do you remember that conversation and what you talked about at that time?
RICK BARNES: One thing I'll tell you about Greg is he's a program builder, and really truly a great offensive mind. After every time we played him, I would take something from what he did to us and add to what we were doing.
I'm sure the conversation would've been, one, everyone would want him in the league because he stands for all the right things. He's done it the way that you'd want any coach to do it. He's a guy that could coach at any level.
Again, when you're in a league that's as competitive as the leagues are that we've played in, you want to know the person you're competing against is doing it the right way. You knew he would do that. You knew he would build a high-level program. I think he did that.
He has done it certainly at Creighton and everywhere he's been. You ask anybody that's in coaching today about him, they would have the utmost respect for him, obviously as a basketball coach, but as a person that represents our business the way you want it. You can't find one better.
Q. Rick, when you look at Kalkbrenner, the big guy for Creighton, what sort of challenges does he present? What sort of experiences that your guys have had against every elite big man in the country you pretty much have played this season, how much could that help?
RICK BARNES: Again, he's a terrific rim protector. I think, when they use him on the offensive end where he facilitates, he sees the floor, great feel for his teammates and what he wants to do. I think he does a really good job of finding his space where he wants to be effective.
We've played against players, like you mentioned, but they're all different. He's a tough cover for our post players, and obviously their drop coverage that they use. He's just kind of daring you, what are you going to do here? Forces you into making the right decision.
But he's a person that you've got to give a lot of attention to.
Q. It seemed like yesterday you were here for the exhibition game against Michigan State. Can you talk about Baylor Scheierman, give us a scouting report? With him and Dalton, are they an example of what could be good about the transfer portal?
RICK BARNES: Yeah, I don't think there's any question that you give young people an opportunity and they can make the most of it. I think we know there's players -- in this tournament, you see players that play at different levels that can shine when the big lights are on them. I think both of those guys have made just unbelievable impacts on their teams.
Scheierman, when you see him, he's relentless. You can't stop him. He's got a great feel. Again, Greg has done a great job putting all those guys in a position where they have a comfort level about them.
They play a lot of minutes. They don't foul. But he is another guy where, if you just blink for a second, he's going to beat you some way. So you've got to be on edge.
Q. Rick, you talked about program builders, and I would argue that probably all four of you guys here are program builders, but you're also in the business of results. Whether it's trying to get to the Final Four or win a National Championship, there's always that push/pull. How do you stick to your convictions to kind of build the program when there's also the need to achieve whatever the next thing on the to-do list is?
RICK BARNES: I think obviously the key is adjustments. When the game changes, you've got to change and make the necessary adjustments. But I do -- we do believe in building through -- we want high school players. Now, if I were at a different level, I might not think that today. I think a year from now when the COVID year is over with, it could sway back a little bit where the older guys aren't here, not as many older guys.
But I think that's been the case throughout our time in basketball is that there's been so many different changes from everything. So I think you have to be able to adapt. The guys that I know that I've been able to grow up in the business with that are still with us and doing it are guys that have had the ability to adapt but not get away from their core philosophy in terms of what they believe.
Q. Coach, I know the fellas want to win for you. What does it mean to you to see them have success?
RICK BARNES: Again, I'm fortunate that I've been able to be a part of college basketball for a long time. They get a four or five-year run. It is something that they will look back one day and think that, hey, I had a chance to be a part of that.
It's something that you never, ever take for granted. To get here is hard. It's getting harder and harder every year. And we know that every seed has proven they can win, and it's hard to move on.
I love it for our players. We've got a good group of guys. A year ago they found a way to get to the Sweet 16 without Zakai. As coaches, we do what we do for the players. We appreciate when they do what we ask them to do as well. And when you get a group of guys that have bought into each other and are willing to play for each other, you want to see it last as long as you possibly can.
Q. Did you all come out okay health-wise from Charlotte? Is Santi good to go?
RICK BARNES: Yeah, he's just under the weather a little bit, but we expect him to be ready.
Q. What makes Creighton's kind of drop defense unique, and how do you avoid getting caught in that trap of taking a bunch of mid-range shots?
RICK BARNES: We don't care about the -- we do what we do. We're not based strictly on analytics. We're going to get our players in position. If they're good mid-range shooters, we want them to take those shots.
What makes them good is because they're solid, they do what they do. They're a team that they don't foul.
Believe me, I don't think there's a team in the country that teaches to foul. We don't want to foul either. We want to play a little bit different than they do, but yet we're not trying to foul, I can tell you that. They're a good shooting team, a free-throw shooting team.
There's so many different ways you can play defense, just like there's so many different ways you can play offense. They've got their style that's gotten them here, we have, and you can pretty much expect both teams are going to do what they do that's gotten them this far.
Q. Rick, you hear the term "players' coach" today, just the idea of coaches having a stronger relationship with their players. How have you evolved as a coach in terms of how you relate to your guys throughout your career?
RICK BARNES: One, I've always known it's about them. There's times in the past I didn't do a great job. I've said many times I've gone back and apologized to players that I didn't think I did my job with them.
I think, if you ask our players today, it would bother me if they didn't tell you I was the most consistent guy on the floor every day. I'm going to do my job, but when it's over with, I'm going to -- we're two people, and I'm going to respect them for that. But I hope they respect the job as a coaching staff we have to do.
Again, I think the best thing a coach can do is consistency every day. Whatever it is you're demanding with your details, you've got to stay with that. When it's over with, you want them to know, hey, if you've been on them hard, there's a reason behind it.
But I don't want them to ever not look forward to coming back to practice, not looking forward to coming back to their individual workouts, whatever it may be.
It goes back, and it's not just me, it's our staff. We're constantly talking, our staff. We have a great feel for our team. When you're around people as much as we're around each other, you can read body language. You can read where guys are. And the question to me is transparency. You've got to confront it head on. You can't just think it's going to go away if there is a problem.
A lot of it goes back to our staff. I just have a great group of guys around me that are as fully invested as you could possibly be.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
142757-2-4096 2024-03-28 19:47:00 GMT
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