GopherLady
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Richard Pitino had his 1st media availability, and here are my quick notes from it. Remember, I type as he talks, so it's not verbatim, but close:
• We have been starting workouts, we're in week 5, we've had only one team practice. I've been trying to stay away from them as much as physically possible because we didn't end until April last year, and have a lot of guys back.
• If we want to get to, Williams has to be the toughest place to play in the country. We can't lose home games.
• Andre Holins- vs. Florida State, you could tell he was hurt, he looks healthy, we gave him some rest, and is looking good.
• On having everything at Bierman, and making the pseudo practice facility - We were practicing, lifting, etc in 3 different buildings when I got here. Having them run around like that is not beneficial. What I love about it, if they go to lift, they're going to pop into my office. If they need to go from individual instruction to study hall, they just go right upstairs.
• We have faith in Norwood and what he's doing (as far as fundraising/practice facility)
• NC schedule - we're hoping it all works out, it's a little bit influx right now. They couldn't get 16 teams, and I think they're working on getting 2 games and 2 neutral games, we still want to play in it and want to make it happen. I hope we don't have to bow out, we want to make it work. We played in the Garden last year, it was a great experience. It's still influx, nothing is done yet.
• Carlos Morris has put on 17 pounds, Nate Mason looks good and put on weight, Mathieu put on 13 pounds of muscle.
• Walker put on a little more muscle, not a lot of transformation just yet
• Buggs (after surgery) has been cleared to do non-contact stuff, and by the time it's late September, he'll be good to go. It wasn't much of an emergence, he had one great game.
• Hollins soph year, he had a really good year, and he was trending toward that during the beginning for the year last year, he's a tough kid, you wouldn't notice because he smiles so much, he doesn't complain. He knows what's expected of him. I've only been around him from an hour, so it's too soon to tell. When you have 4 seniors, you hope they take different types of leadership roles.
• On sharing fatherhood with Mathieu: Whenever I see him - I say boy you're lucky, because his baby is in Kentucky. So I'm fresh off no sleep and he looks well rested. That was a great experience for him.
• Norwood has always got me doing a bunch of different things. What I love about Norwood, he lets you do your thing during the season, he knows what it takes. When it's the off season, I tell him to tell me what to do.
• It's never easy, but it's been less difficult. When they talk to me, they know we won the NIT. They understand they way that we play, it's so much less difficult. There were so many unkowns. Like me or not, but now you know what you're going to get.
• They will be releasing the non-conference schedule soon
• It's very remote, when people think of Puerto Rico, it's not in San Juan, it's on the other side of the island. It's on a coast guard base. I think we get 55-60 tickets each. My Dad already tried to steal some tickets from me, and I said no. It's not open to the public, it's on a hanger not on a ship. 10 of my Dad's tickets will be my family, so they should be rooting for me, making a little more of a home game.
• I love Josh Martin's potential, I don't know what goes on in Seattle, athletic kids. At the end of practice, I threw the ball off the end of the backboard, he caught it and did a reverse dunk. Joey King asked if he could do it too - I said no, that's not your game.
• It comes down to personnel more than anything. It's not the drills, we did those last year. Getting more quality and depth. It had it moments defensively. It's a process.
• I think it's important to have 4 seniors. Last year, we were old, but inexperienced. Now those guys will be comfortable. We don't need to talk about the crowd or endurance part of it. Hopefully they understood what kept us out of where we wanted to be last year.
• Does he know the starting 5 - no, we won't play until November.
• I stayed away from these guys for a month, I'd peek my head through the window. I let my assistants handle it. I see my players more in the weight room than the practice court, I lift with them, to strengthen our relationships.
• Pound for pound, Joey King is our strongest player…or DeAndre Mathieu.
• Last year, I didn't know our players, I didn't know how they'd take to coaching. Now we know what we have and we know what we need. The community part of it is all great too, meeting so many people.
• Wisconsin was phenomenal last year, and they are only going to get better, they are going to be the favorite going into the season only losing one player.
• We've tried to stress to them why we weren't the best we could be last year, that was defense and turnovers.
• Austin Hollins is on campus, trying to solidify things overseas.
• We only won 3 road games. You've got to be really tough to win on the road, the great teams win on the road. That mental toughness part of is was huge. We needed to beat WI to get into the NCAA tourney, and they kicked our butts.
• Eliason is under 10% body fat, which is great. They've all been very committed to getting in great shape. They know what they need to do.
• We have been starting workouts, we're in week 5, we've had only one team practice. I've been trying to stay away from them as much as physically possible because we didn't end until April last year, and have a lot of guys back.
• If we want to get to, Williams has to be the toughest place to play in the country. We can't lose home games.
• Andre Holins- vs. Florida State, you could tell he was hurt, he looks healthy, we gave him some rest, and is looking good.
• On having everything at Bierman, and making the pseudo practice facility - We were practicing, lifting, etc in 3 different buildings when I got here. Having them run around like that is not beneficial. What I love about it, if they go to lift, they're going to pop into my office. If they need to go from individual instruction to study hall, they just go right upstairs.
• We have faith in Norwood and what he's doing (as far as fundraising/practice facility)
• NC schedule - we're hoping it all works out, it's a little bit influx right now. They couldn't get 16 teams, and I think they're working on getting 2 games and 2 neutral games, we still want to play in it and want to make it happen. I hope we don't have to bow out, we want to make it work. We played in the Garden last year, it was a great experience. It's still influx, nothing is done yet.
• Carlos Morris has put on 17 pounds, Nate Mason looks good and put on weight, Mathieu put on 13 pounds of muscle.
• Walker put on a little more muscle, not a lot of transformation just yet
• Buggs (after surgery) has been cleared to do non-contact stuff, and by the time it's late September, he'll be good to go. It wasn't much of an emergence, he had one great game.
• Hollins soph year, he had a really good year, and he was trending toward that during the beginning for the year last year, he's a tough kid, you wouldn't notice because he smiles so much, he doesn't complain. He knows what's expected of him. I've only been around him from an hour, so it's too soon to tell. When you have 4 seniors, you hope they take different types of leadership roles.
• On sharing fatherhood with Mathieu: Whenever I see him - I say boy you're lucky, because his baby is in Kentucky. So I'm fresh off no sleep and he looks well rested. That was a great experience for him.
• Norwood has always got me doing a bunch of different things. What I love about Norwood, he lets you do your thing during the season, he knows what it takes. When it's the off season, I tell him to tell me what to do.
• It's never easy, but it's been less difficult. When they talk to me, they know we won the NIT. They understand they way that we play, it's so much less difficult. There were so many unkowns. Like me or not, but now you know what you're going to get.
• They will be releasing the non-conference schedule soon
• It's very remote, when people think of Puerto Rico, it's not in San Juan, it's on the other side of the island. It's on a coast guard base. I think we get 55-60 tickets each. My Dad already tried to steal some tickets from me, and I said no. It's not open to the public, it's on a hanger not on a ship. 10 of my Dad's tickets will be my family, so they should be rooting for me, making a little more of a home game.
• I love Josh Martin's potential, I don't know what goes on in Seattle, athletic kids. At the end of practice, I threw the ball off the end of the backboard, he caught it and did a reverse dunk. Joey King asked if he could do it too - I said no, that's not your game.
• It comes down to personnel more than anything. It's not the drills, we did those last year. Getting more quality and depth. It had it moments defensively. It's a process.
• I think it's important to have 4 seniors. Last year, we were old, but inexperienced. Now those guys will be comfortable. We don't need to talk about the crowd or endurance part of it. Hopefully they understood what kept us out of where we wanted to be last year.
• Does he know the starting 5 - no, we won't play until November.
• I stayed away from these guys for a month, I'd peek my head through the window. I let my assistants handle it. I see my players more in the weight room than the practice court, I lift with them, to strengthen our relationships.
• Pound for pound, Joey King is our strongest player…or DeAndre Mathieu.
• Last year, I didn't know our players, I didn't know how they'd take to coaching. Now we know what we have and we know what we need. The community part of it is all great too, meeting so many people.
• Wisconsin was phenomenal last year, and they are only going to get better, they are going to be the favorite going into the season only losing one player.
• We've tried to stress to them why we weren't the best we could be last year, that was defense and turnovers.
• Austin Hollins is on campus, trying to solidify things overseas.
• We only won 3 road games. You've got to be really tough to win on the road, the great teams win on the road. That mental toughness part of is was huge. We needed to beat WI to get into the NCAA tourney, and they kicked our butts.
• Eliason is under 10% body fat, which is great. They've all been very committed to getting in great shape. They know what they need to do.
