Rich and Brian and Shaun Pruitt are no longer rookies. They've been in big games. They've been on the road. They've got 20-some games under their belts. That's where we're starting to make progress. They understand what it's about. |
Rich McBride asked out of the game early. He said he couldn't breathe. I thought, 'Oh, great. James is out with foul trouble, Dee is nervous and Rich can't breathe.' I smelled a disaster coming. |
Richard came in with a lot of notoriety - you had Dee (Brown), Luther (Head) and Deron (Williams) ahead of him. Two of them were first-round (draft) picks and Dee could be, so he did not get a whole bunch of time like he hoped. |
Since Mike resigned, we've all talked about how they would react. We told our guys we needed to get off to a good start and play with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. We got off to a good start and that kind of nullified any motivational edge. |
So they advised him that we're in that part of the season where he might want to make a change. It's for his health, his longevity. |
Some people think if you lose early, you (benefit) from the extra rest. |
Sometimes as a coach you worry about preparing and forget about enthusiasm and excitement. We have depended on Dee for the energy and the chest bumping, and he had a little doubt in his head about his performance. He got it back in the second half and then it's contagious. |
Sometimes they play off the coach, so if you show like it means something, they play like that. |
Teams are not quite able to just lock in on Dee. We have other guys you have to think about. |
That could be a factor, but we can't control that. It's not affecting us, but it could affect them. Do they rally around their coach? They still have a chance to get into the NCAA tournament, but they need a good finish. |
That made my dinner go down easier. |
That right there speaks volumes to what Dee has meant for the program. It's a little costly. We tried to figure out something for both of them. James is probably the ultimate team player and we didn't think he would cringe at the headband. It's a great keepsake and hopefully when they're introduced everyone will put them on in the arena. That would be quite a sight. |
That was a decision by their agents, who didn't think they needed to play there. |
That's fine. I'd question the guy who picks 'em if he had us any higher than that. |
That's OK. I always tell coach he has a big head. |