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Opening statement…
We opened yesterday so it’s a little more casual than other opening days and it’s very different now. Before it was a midnight frenzy, but now we have a new outlook. The other difference is that we went to Spain (in August). It seems like we’ve been practicing all this time. The good news is that the team likes it. The first official day was good. Today is the second day.
The older you get in this job, the more you realize that everyone has a job to do and everyone has a boss to please. I have 600,000 alumni to please.
I think we played pretty well on the trip to Spain. There were a lot of guys that we wanted to play, so it was hard to get a feel for them. So we let them play 12 to 20 minutes. Most of the guys played 16 to 20 minutes, so we saw a lot of guys and it wasn’t a good flow. There were some highlights over there. Jackson Kohler played really well. (Jeremy) Fiers wasn’t 100%, but I think he was back at 95%. (Xavier) Booker had 19 points in the first half in one game. I don’t think anybody’s ever had 19 points in the first half. Game 1, we played really well against a strong opponent. Game 2, we played pretty well against a not-so-strong team. Game 3, we played a Serbian team that we’d been practicing with for three weeks, and they were really strong. The score was 115 to 110, and we lost. Again, I didn’t play it as a game with the subtitles all the time. But we were able to get something out of it.
The biggest thing is, I think our team is a lot tougher than we were last year. I thought we blew out a little bit, especially with the guards. I don’t think we were ready for the pressure they put on us. That’s not something I’m worried about. The workouts have been great all summer. Lorenzo (Guess) has done a great job with the strength and conditioning part. Book probably gained 22 pounds, which was big for him. I’d like to see Tre (Holloman) gain a little bit more. I watched Xavier Tillman and Draymond last week, and none of them came in at 280 pounds, so most of the guys on my team have to gain weight, not lose weight. We’ve made progress. Book made a big step up, which was encouraging. Other guys have made progress. A guy like Jackson Kohler, I think he lost like two pounds, but he just got slimmer, which is a silver lining.
Both of our transfers have done well. Frankie is averaging 18 points a game and leading the team in scoring there. Simon (Zapala) is big, big, strong, 7-foot-tall and can shoot 3-pointers. He still has room to improve, but I’ve been very impressed with him.
On the development of redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fiers Jr.…
He’s improved, but the thing that I’ve been so impressed with with the guards is the guys. Tre Holloman is phenomenal, he shoots a lot better than he did last year, so he can play both. Same thing with Jace Richardson. Jeremy’s probably 95% healthy. He’s still not explosive at times, but he’s getting more explosive every day, and he’s getting better and better. He has incredible passing ability, and he’s continually honing his shooting. Thankfully, he’s a very good free-throw shooter. He’s improved. That’s good for him. That’s one of the reasons we’ve tried to give guys like him a chance to play. Cohen Carr has played great, too. We’ve used him a lot in the open court. His shooting’s gotten better. His free-throw shooting’s gotten better. What he’s really done is he’s gotten even better at shooting the basket. So hopefully, those things will translate into something good.
Regarding the program goals…
The objective is to get back to a championship level. My biggest expectation for this team is to get there. I said last year we lost five games where we were leading in the last couple of minutes. That’s inexcusable. Coach has to take responsibility, I have to take responsibility and hopefully we can improve. We’ve done a lot more with last-second shooting, adjusting the shot clock at the end and maybe even education on that. As far as college basketball goes, I would say college sports. It’s an interesting time. I don’t have an answer. You’ve seen it in recruiting, you’ve seen it everywhere. It’s a changing phenomenon right now and I think we’re all trying to adapt to it. I think that’s true for coaches, fans, administrators, even student-athletes. I think in any profession, you need some rules and without them, things will get out of control, so I hope and pray that there are enough guardrails. So hopefully we can get some understanding and get everyone on the same page. Right now, from a standpoint of where we are, that’s the hardest thing. It’s less about where everybody else is. So, we know where we are, what we like and what we don’t like. We don’t know where everyone else is, because we have a lot of teams in our league that have nine or 10 transfer players. We’ve seen teams that thrive because of transfers. We’ve seen some Florida football teams that have gone the other way. Time will tell. I talked to Nick Saban before he went to the first game when the rankings come out. You never know who’s going to be on top.
As we celebrate our 30th anniversary…
You know I had hip replacement surgery this summer. I would advise anybody, whether they’re 30, 40, 50, 60, don’t wait too long because I feel a lot better, healthier, happier. It’s good to have practice starting so I can go back to feeling miserable. The summer was too good. 30 is a blessing. I’ve talked to a couple of coaches of the year, Jim Boeheim and of course Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams. I talked to Tubby Smith a little while ago. I don’t have to be here. I can be here. I truly believe that. I hope every deal is good for both sides. This was a good deal for both sides for me. Now we just have to make sure the best is yet to come. I truly believe that. I love where we are right now as an organization. I think our president, our AD, our football coach and myself. Look at what Adam (Nightingale) did with hockey. I remember the old days. The old days were pretty good. It is our goal to be one of the spokes in the wheel that helps build a truly strong wheel.
On how the exhibition match against Northern Michigan came about…
I know the benefits of being a Super Bowler. I called up there and said I’d like to play there. They said, ‘That would be great.’ I said, ‘I want to play at the (Superior) Dome. I don’t want to play somewhere with 3,000 seats. I said I need a place that’s an experience for my guys. That’s great for me.’
(Steve) Mariucci and I went there this summer. We went there and spent some time in the Dome. For those of you who haven’t been there yet, it’s a great facility. I called some people there and we’ve been getting set up. Tickets went on sale yesterday and there’s really excitement going around. I think there are a lot of people here who haven’t been to the UP. A lot of the Michigan State guys want to go there, probably to see the leaves. My goal is to get there before the first snowstorm hits. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Either way, it’s going to be great.
As a kid, my first start in college was my fourth game of my sophomore year, at home against Michigan State. They were a really good team and we were the casualties, but it was a great game. The place was packed, it was full. There were like five or six thousand people in the arena at the time. I want to share my players in this blessed world we live in now. I want them to know that everybody got their start somewhere. I think people know where I live, what kind of car I drive. I’m going to make sure they know where I live, what kind of car I drive, what kind of school I went to. Like Judd says, if you play a game on a Sunday, leave on a Thursday, and come back the following Wednesday, that’s going to be a tough journey for you. I hope you enjoy it. I think my players will enjoy it, and I have some things planned when we get there.