We're not as flamboyant as last year's team, not an offensive juggernaut. But we play defense and we rebound, and that's got us to 20 wins. I feel this group can be special, too. |
We're not great and I've never said we are. But if we play hard and our seniors are great leaders, we can be pretty good. We've won 21 games. It still comes down to the Penn State game. If we win that game, we're (a half-game out of) first place in the Big Ten. |
We're not the same team without him. |
We've got to decide are we going forward? Are we going to be special? Or are we just going to be OK? |
We've got to get everybody going at the same time again. That's going to be a key down the stretch. If we can get them all clicking at the same time, we can make a run (at the Big Ten title). |
We've got to keep James in the game. We'll kind of rotate people and see if we can wear Marco down. |
We've had some good luck when we've gone with him at the four. The assistant coaches said, 'They're small so let's go small.' That disrupted some of their flow. |
We've lost two road games. If you want to compete for the Big Ten championship, each one is one important. I'm not going to say this is a do-or-die game. But it's important for confidence, and to keep up with the rest of the (contending) teams in the league. |
We've really struggled getting off to great starts. As a coach, you almost don't want to. That sounds crazy. But we haven't dealt with early leads very well, and once they made their run we got tentative. It's happened before, like we're playing on eggshells. |
What else can you say [about this season]? |
When he had the stress fracture or whatever it was two years ago, the trainers told him it was caused in part because of a circulation problem brought on by the high socks. |
When he plays well, he's one of the better players in the country. He could help spread their defense out. |
When his feet are squared up, he's a pretty good shooter. When he has to run and shoot, he's just not as consistent. We have to find ways to get him shots where he can get his feet squared up. That's a little different than last year when Luther could run and shoot, and Deron could do that, and Dee got better at it. |
When we get to the fall, if we have to start over again with skill development, it's just going to put us way behind. |
When we have made some progress, it's when Brian Randle and Rich McBride get involved. |