Marquette University Athletics
Head coaches quotes from Monday's teleconference
3/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2006
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MILWAUKEE - The following is a transcript from a media teleconference held Monday.
Marquette head coach Tom Crean
First of all, I've always had great respect for Alabama and the SEC. Ever since Mark has taken that job over and I've been in the Harbaugh family, we've always had that much more of a special feeling for Alabama. Mark is not only family to my wife's side of the family and he's not only been a friend to me, but he's someone that's looked after me. He's always been someone that I've turned to for advice Xs and Os wise and strategy wise, but career wise. I have a great respect for him in all those areas. Bottom line is that he's a great basketball coach and has put together a great program. The way they have played the last few years and this year is no different. He lost some players at the beginning of the year, then he loses Chuck Davis to injury and he's still right there battling away. Anytime you are the only team in a league that's beaten three teams like LSU, Florida and Tennessee, you know you have a really good club. We have great respect for playing Alabama, but we know this is a huge game and they pose a lot of problems for us.
Q: Any specifics when you say Mark has kind of looked after you?
TC: I was certainly aware of him when he was a player and I was certainly aware of him when he was at UCLA. Just advice on jobs that would come open, especially when I was an assistant coach. Recommending me for jobs or just being there. He's such a good person and is so well rounded. I just have a lot of respect for him. Even if we weren't related by marriage or friends the way we are, I'd have a ton of respect for him with way he runs his program and as a coach.
Q: You have three freshman guards that have done the bulk of the scoring for you, I'm wondering how it was blending them into the offense and how they've evolved as such a big part of your team?
TC: First of all, they are a big part of the offense and we knew that from the very beginning. So the way we tried to formulate this team, especially on the offensive end is we really slow the process down with the amount of plays and sets that we put in from the beginning. Over time, we've added a lot more. In the beginning, it was just getting the understanding of how to play and how to make the next pass, get our spacing down. There has been times when our screening has not been good. There have been times when it's been excellent and they've been a part of that. I think where we tried to come together was how much everyone had to trust each other on defense. When other people stepped up to pressure the ball, they had to learn a lot about help defense. We're trying to become more of a gang rebounding team all the time. It's really something that's ongoing. The freshmen have been great about learning and accepting and becoming a bigger and better part of the process the whole time.
Q: What do you think on the three freshmen that Alabama has?
TC: I think overall, they have so many talented players. I know they are only playing seven guys right now, but it's seven pretty impressive people. More than just the freshmen, I'd cover the team. I think Steele ... what we're doing with our players is we're comparing him to a Randy Foye who plays the point guard. Randy Foye plays at Villanova, is a great scorer, can pass the ball, can play any position on the floor and he did that for Villanova this year. The way they score and the way they break you down, the way they pull it up, especially out of their left hand. So we've got a lot of respect for Steele. Obviously, you have to keep him off the free throw line and do the best job you can of keeping him out of the lane. There's no way it is a one man job. When you look at freshmen, like Alonzo and Richard, and you look at those guys are stepping up and making things happen. Alonzo is on fire right now, shooting the ball really well. He's averaging 14 points in his last five games. Brandon Hollinger totally understands what he's doing right now. So those three freshmen are a little like ours. They are not playing that way. We got our players attention this morning when we started talking about Richard Hendrix getting 17 rebounds against Florida. Certainly Dominic James is aware of him from the Nike camp, and we all are because he was such a household name at the high school level. Really, what I think what's a tribute to Mark and the staff, with the players, those three freshman, over the last three weeks, they have really come alive together, where they are all playing at a high level at the same time. When you look at the confidence which they are playing, it's the way Steele runs the club, it's a tribute to the way Davidson does things up front. It's a tribute to the way Mark and his staff runs the team because those guys are really playing like veterans.
Q: Looking at your team, Novak is a guy that stands out. Can you talk about his development?
TC: It's been a continual process. He's a guy that even his first year here made big shots for us and made big shots in the NCAA Tournament. He came off the bench in the next two years and continued to get better. I think he had 31 at Louisville his sophomore year. Even at the end of last year when Travis Diener went out. We felt going into that injury we were and NCAA Tournament caliber club. Steve still had over 20 three of the last five games. This year is where it's really changed because he's become a much better rebounder. The mindset of being a rebounder is there. He's moving it off the dribble so much better. He's more alert in his decision making. His shooting continues to improve. Where we saw the real emergence was actually against South Carolina in the championship of the Great Alaska Shootout. I believe he had 27 or 29 in that game and he won the MVP of the tournament. It was just the mindset that he played with. From there, he's taken it to another level. There were times in the non-conference that he was good and times he wasn't so good. But every since the UConn game when he had 41 and 16, he's been a very consistent player.
Q: Can you talk more about the family dynamic with Mark and are they going to be ganging up on you this week?
TC: Our family will be there. Mark's cousin Jim Harbaugh is the head football coach at the University of San Diego. He'll be there. My other brother-in-law John Harbaugh is the special teams coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. I believe he's going to be there. All our family will be there. I'm not sure how much of Mark's family will be there. It's one of those things that with the jobs you have, you never see each other enough. It's usually during recruiting or something like that. The Harbaughs and the Gottfrieds all grew up together in Crestline, Ohio. So there are a lot of deep rooted feelings and togetherness there. Again, I'm just an outsider who married into the family, but I was welcomed in it. I knew Joe when I was an assistant at Western Kentucky and he was the athletic director at South Alabama. So there's a ton of respect there on both ends. I don't think I'm wrong in saying that Mark and I have a mutual friendship and a mutual respect for each other, but at the same time, he'll be doing everything to win as will we.
Q: Rebounding has been a concern for you all year. Can you translate into how you match up against Alabama?
TC: Well, on paper we don't. We don't match up with their rebounding. We really don't. They've been rebounding at such a high level. Where they're so strong right now is, outside of the scoring and defending, its when they are shooting a lot more free throws than their opponents and when they are out rebounding them by a high margin. That's when they are very hard to beat. We're going to have to do a better job in what we have done of blocking out. Richard Hendrix at 265 looks humungous on film. Davidson is so active. Alonzo and Jean Felix, those guys are capable of rebounding the ball. Brock, those guys are solid rebounders. They really go hard to the offensive boards. We have to do a great job with our fours and fives and even our guards of blocking out. We're going to give up a little bit in weight and certainly a lot in height when it comes to perimeter positions, but we have to be really strong and solid and make it a challenge for them to rebound. They've done such a great job of that in the league. They are averaging 13 offensive boards and we have to really be cognizant of that. At the same time, we have to get to the offensive boards ourselves and try to get some easy baskets. Hendirx is strength and Davidson is quickness and strength. Those guys are two of the best four or five rebounders in the country from what I've seen this year. They are really quick and athletic to the glass.
Q: You were talking about rebounding is where Alabama poses problems for you. Anything else?
TC: They force you to foul. We've got to be really smart there. They duck in as well as any team around. We haven't had a ton of teams in the BIG EAST duck in like they do. We've had a lot of good post up teams in this league. If you are not prepared, they hammer you inside. We have to do a good job of preventative management in the post. We have to have good ball pressure and be in position to take the duck in. That's where they are causing a lot of problems. They are averaging 21 free throw attempts. I know it's probably been higher over the last five games. A lot of that comes from penetration, but the majority of that comes from the post ups. We've got to be alert. We've got to be ready. We've got to pressure the ball and try to keep them off the foul line, because they are shooting over 70 percent and they are getting a lot of attempts. I don't know how well they shot the three throughout the year, but it certainly looks like they are getting some good three looks right now in these games. Especially Alonzo who's like nine of 16 in his last three games from the three, so he's shooting it well. There pose a lot of problems, but I know we pose some too, so that's why it's going to be a great basketball game.
Q: I was going to ask you about Alonzo and Jean Felix because they are inside and outside?
TC: Sure. For one thing, with the exception of Dan Fitzgerald, who's 6-9 on our team, they are taller and probably a bit longer than our wings. Right away, that's a concern. They can play both inside and outside. Felix, he shoots 60 percent of his shots from three, but he can still offensive rebound and slash to the rim. You have to be concerned about that. What I don't see with the Alabama team, they don't look like they have situational players. What I mean by that is it doesn't look like they bring in a guy just to shoot threes. They don't bring a guy just to defend. They've got very versatile players. I know they have seven of them. Those seven are pretty versatile and can do a lot of things. When you have a guard like Steele, who can create and move the basketball the way he can, it makes everybody better. We're not going to change our lineup and go from being a three guard lineup to matchup. We're going to have to do a really good job of trying to guard the dribble, be on their bodies when the shot goes up and not give them a lot of uncontested threes.
Q: I'm curious how teams have tried to defend Novak this year?
TC: We've seen it all with him. Literally, over the last three years, we've seen people try to be big and physical. We've seen people try to small and physical. We've seen box and one, triangle and two, double teams, switching. When you shoot it the way he does, you really get a chance to see a little bit of everything. In our practices, we really mix up how we guard him so that it keeps him strong and fresh and alert to what we can see. That's been a real part of how we've been able to play in that he's been able to deal with that pretty well. That's where our screening comes in. When we've screened at a high level, we've had pretty good offense. We've focused on guarding differently in practice and we've focused on our screening.
Alabama Head Coach Mark Gottfried
I think we've had a chance to watch Marquette a number of times with the tapes we have. They are very impressive. The way they push the ball up the floor is impressive. They really, really push it, especially after made baskets. They are coming at you pretty hard. That's the first area of concern is just getting back. They are a tough matchup team because they play with three smaller players and Novak becomes the fourth perimeter player, which really creates matchup issues for us with Jermareo and Richard on the floor defensively. Novak, we're in our staff meetings trying to figure out who to compare him to and he's a 6-9 player that makes shots that you don't think college basketball players can make. And he makes a lot of them. He's been awfully impressive watching him on tape.
Q: What about James? You play in a league with a lot of great point guards. What about that matchup?
MG: He would be a great player in this league. He's one of the best freshman guards in the nation. He has put up impressive numbers for a freshman. Really all three of their freshmen have. I really like him. He's strong, quick, gets to the basket. He's strong and kind of compact. He can beat you off the dribble. He can make threes and he's been an impressive player watching him and realizing that he's just a freshman.
Q: The fact that there are so many freshmen playing key roles, does the fact that they are freshmen really matter with as many games as they have played?
MG: Well, I think they are still freshmen. They are not sophomores yet. They have a lot of experience under their belt, but college basketball is at a point where there are so many young people playing. So many older players have tried to venture into the NBA. That's just a part of the landscape of college basketball nowadays. I think everybody in some degree is counting on freshmen a lot more than they used to.
Q: Evaluate how your team has done this year defending the three, getting around screens and getting out on the perimeter.
MG: Well, I would grade us at a B, B-plus. There have been times in which we've been really good at that. There have been times that we've really struggled a little bit. When we have played a smaller lineup, we're obviously a lot better defending the three point line. Part of the issue sometimes with us is to play two post players when a team plays four perimeter players -- Novak is a perimeter player -- it becomes really hard for our team. You look back to the Auburn game and the Mississippi State game and times when teams have put four smaller players out there, it really forces you to either take advantage of that offensively and if you aren't, you are really at a disadvantage on the defensive end. Then you have to make adjustments.
Q: Can you say how much importance there is on guard play at this time of year and how comfortable you are with Ronald Steele as your point guard?
MG: I think in the NCAA Tournament, you can go deep wihtout one. Obviously two years ago with Antione Cutway there as a senior, I thought we had a point guard that was tough as nails. I think Ron is from a similar mold as that. You like having a guard like that.
Q: How do you go about defending a guy like Novak? What do you do?
MG: Hold your breath. He is something else. He's a player that when you start watching him on tape, you're a little bit in awe and amazed that a guy like that can shoot it as quickly as he shoots it. When he comes off screens, he's phenomenal. His size and his height makes it such a difficult matchup. He can shoot over smaller guys. He's got a great, quick release. He makes shots from deep. You just don't watch very many basketball players that do what he does. He's been impressive.
Q: Does it become part of your defense in that you know Novak's going to get his and you keep the other guys in check?
MG: We want to a do a good job on Novak, but it's hard to do. Every team that's played him has tried. That's your goal going into it. You want to do a good job defending at every position and he's the guy you have to start with. We're not one of those teams that kind of tries to have that opinion that we're going to let one guy score and try to stop the others. I don't think that works. Collectively as a team, we have to do a good job collectively against their team.
