husker bball press conference

[Benard]

NU men’s basketball press conference quotes

 

Oct. 12, 2004

 

 

 

Coach Barry Collier

 

Opening statement:

 

For our team, this is the most exciting time of the year.  We are anxious to get rolling with the cool air and the squeaky shoes on the new court at the Devaney Center. 

 

 

 

On Saturday, we begin with a promotional scrimmage on the track right before the football game, and then we get going in the afternoon with our first practice of the year with the entire team.  Our guys have been working hard at the various things we do in the fall, with conditioning, individual workouts and weight training. We had a little bump during the summer trip to Australia, but  I think that is going to give us an opportunity to continue what we were able to work on this summer. 

 

 

 

It is a great time for us as coaches because we actually get on the floor and we can coach all of our guys.  We can start to build for that opening game on Nov. 23.  We can see the newcomers and how they fit in with the rest of the team.  Because of NCAA rules, we can’t see them through the fall, so now is the first time that we have had them all together for this year’s team, and that is an exciting thing.  We can now begin to form as a team.

 

 

 

On the summer trip to Australia:

 

The big things that we can take away from this is that it was a chance to be together for an extended length of time, and try to work together as a group without Nate Johnson, Andy Drevo and Brian Conklin who graduated last year.  We think that the competition in Australia was really stiff and the physicalness of the game was extremely similar to what we will face in the Big 12. I thought that we played with some poise and aggressiveness.  I also think that you can learn from the negatives.  We didn’t shoot as well, we were less than careful with the basketball and we had too many turnovers.  Those are the things that stick out that we have to straighten out, but obviously we gained a lot of experience in games over there.

 

 

 

On the standouts on the trip:

 

Jake Muhleisen played the best on both ends of the floor. He shot the best, he passed, defended, communicated on defense and rebounded.  Out of all the things we were looking for, Jake probably had the best trip.  He would’ve been our MVP if we were naming such a thing on that trip.

 

 

 

On the guys that improved on the trip:

 

Jason Dourisseau played very well on the trip and showed more aggressiveness.  I thought that Wes Wilkinson got into a groove scoring the ball.  There are some other areas that we are continuing to work on with him.  Wes has done an excellent job in conditioning this fall, and I think he is in the best shape he has ever been in.  Those are the guys that stuck out. 

 

 

 

Other guys had a good game or two, but went up and down a little bit.  That is good to know because they can see how it is going to be without those three key seniors that we lost last year, and what has to happen.  Now we add in this new group of guys that will give us some depth that we were lacking.  That was one thing we saw over there, we could see that we didn’t have the depth with the level play that we needed to succeed consistently.

 

 

 

On the newcomers helping with the depth issue, especially inside:

 

Among all the newcomers, their size, speed and shooting ability from the perimeter will help us, all of which we lost from last year’s team. While the bulk of our season will be determined by the play of our senior class, that is not going to be enough alone.  It is going to require that we have a core of at least eight players, give or take one, who give us the kind of play that we want. 

 

 

 

Aleks Maric has size -- he is just a shade under 7-0, and just a couple bags of chips under 270.  Aleks is big, strong and has good hands, and gives us some size and force inside that will really compliment John Turek, who in some ways has been our most effective big guy to consistently rebound inside.  It will be an interesting combination, whether Wes Wilkinson and John Turek take most of those minutes at the two inside spots, or whether Aleks can mix in there and maybe take a spot.  Between the three guys, it looks like there is going to be real good competition, and they will push each other.

 

 

 

On individual workouts for Marcus Perry and Joe McCray:

 

The workouts are there to try to improve their individual skills.  When you only have four guys together, you can only work two-on-two in those scenarios, so we don’t really know how they are going to grasp all of the team defense that we throw out there.  But they both shoot the ball really well, and that’s something that we didn’t do well in Australia. 

 

 

 

On this Saturday’s season-opening event, Husker Madness:

 

It’s our version of midnight madness, and it’s a chance to get in front of a bunch of people and let our team show itself a little bit and maybe draw a few more fans over to the Devaney Center this season.  It is certainly unusual to be playing outside, and if we could do it, we would like to slip that court into the middle of Memorial Stadium at halftime for 10 minutes, but that can’t get done.  We are going to do it out on the track and it will be a fun time.  I am really looking forward to it.  I will probably close my eyes and hope that no one gets hurt during that period of time, since we are going to jump right into practice an hour and a half later.

 

 

 

On any new dimensions of the offense:

 

It would be more of an inside threat.  John Turek is a fourth year senior with a lot of experience, and Aleks has a lot of international experience and adds his great size.  So while we were only able to go inside a limited number of times last year, it is all predicated on results. We are hoping that it will play out and give us an inside threat, and that is going to make everyone’s job easier.  It is just as important that we as a team shoot the ball well from the perimeter because without that, we wouldn’t have the space to operate inside.

 

much more here.good read

[Manute]

great post benard....any news on how the scrimmage went? any standouts?

[Benard]

great post benard....any news on how the scrimmage went? any standouts?

Here is what I've heard and seen from highlights.

 

Get real excited. For the circumstances I saw some real good things out there

Jake looked good. I don't think we can afford to redshirt JD. Looked real smooth out there at times. Being 6-7 and as athletic as he is he can pose some match up problems

Maric is a wall. he is going to be huge, has great hands and knows how to position himself. Also think that Ledsome will contribute this year. He is thin but also appeared to be very quick and can jump. Many think Wes is going to have a breakout year, I don't know about that. He looks like he has put on some weight and seemed to play more aggressive out there. Perry is quick very athletic looking very impressed with him. McCray was so-so out there but he definetly has the frame to be solid.

[Manute]

jake is going to lead this team no doubt and will have to in order for the huskers to do well. however, maric is going to be vital to this team's success. turek gets into foul trouble often and needs a solid backup if not a solid center to start beside him to move turek to the 4. that would really be beneficial to turek in my opinion because it would give him even better matchups.

[Benard]

jake is going to lead this team no doubt and will have to in order for the huskers to do well. however, maric is going to be vital to this team's success. turek gets into foul trouble often and needs a solid backup if not a solid center to start beside him to move turek to the 4. that would really be beneficial to turek in my opinion because it would give him even better matchups.

There is no doubt in my mind that Maric will start alongside turek. With Wes coming off the bench.