11/21/23 - The Sean Miller Radio Show

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
On the Xavier Sports Network from learField, Live from the Dilly Viistro in
Marymont. Welcome to the Sean MillerRadio Show, presented by Bud Late,
Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, and by Try Health. Try Health
provides surprisingly human care that drives thebest health outcomes. Be seen, be

(00:23):
heard, be healed. Visit trhealthdot com. Now Here are Joe Sunderman
and Byron Larkin. Welcome to theSean Miller Show live from Deli Feast,
John Merrimont. I'm Joe Sunderman alongwith Byron Larkin and the head coach of
the Xavier Musketeers, Sean Miller.This past weekend, the Xavier Musketeers travel

(00:45):
to Las Vegas. They lost toWashington seventy four to seventy one and knocked
off Saint Mary's interpressive fashion sixty sixto forty nine. The final score.
If you'd like to call in andtalk with the coach, the numbers five
one, three, seven four ninefifty five hundred. That's five one,
three, seven four nine fifty fivehundred. Coach. Yeah, we returned

(01:06):
from Vegas on Sunday night, andI don't know about you, but my
head hit the pillow at six am. How was it for you? What
time did you get to bed?About the same as you Byron, You're
right in our players as well,it was uh, you know, we
were fortunate to be able to travelthrough the night and get here. But
no doubt that's when you go westto east, you lose those three hours

(01:29):
and you really do feel it whenyou when you get back. But I
thought, overall, uh, itwas it was a great learning experience for
our team and we were able toget one quality win. You know,
certainly there's a lot of things Iwish we could have done better against Washington
because I believe in my heart thatwe let one slip away. We were

(01:49):
a much better team in the firsthalf than we were in the second.
Maybe it was the fact that itwas about two am East Eastern Standard time
when the second half was being played. But you know, Washington has a
veteran group. We were talking aboutit off air Byron, an older group.
I think three or four of theirstarters are twenty three years old,

(02:10):
and I really felt like there aretimes in a game where you felt that
difference in physicality and age between ourteam in THEIRS. But to be able
to bounce back from that play avery well well coached, terrific program in
Saint Mary's. We have a lotof respect for them, and I really
loved our guys response, and Ithought we from a defensive perspective, really

(02:36):
put our best game not only ofthis year, but maybe one of the
best games since I've returned back toXavier in place for forty minutes. We
did it in both halves, andwe had a lot of guys playing with
terrific energy and effort, and Ithink it's a really good sign of things
to come coach. What about thevenue? You know Zaber's played in,

(02:59):
what plays it plays in these multipleteam events. You know this was in
Vegas. They've you've been to differentparts of the country and your different places
where you've coached. Uh, doyou prefer to be anywhere over the other?
Like you know, we were justin Vegas. Sometimes you go to
Puerto Rico, sometimes you go toand I think next year the Musketers are

(03:22):
supposed to go to Florida. Ye, is there a preference for you relative
to where where you to play?I think that it for our fans,
for our team, it's great ifwe can we can travel to a place
that the distance from Cincinnati is doable. It makes it easier for everybody.
And I think I clearly understand thata year ago was the p K eighty

(03:43):
five, and you can't really sayno to that amazing event. The fact
that we were invited says a lotabout the history and tradition of our basketball
program. And a couple of things, you know, didn't go as planned
this summer and we ended up goingto, you know, the main event,
which is you're out a quality event. It's just I mean, Byron,
it takes some time to get thereand it certainly takes some time to

(04:04):
get back. I will say thisthough, when you challenge your team through
travel playing in t Mobile Arena,I mean, look from a from a
physical perspective, at that arena's worldclass. I mean you're talking about one
of the nicest arenas in our country. And to be able to play in
that it was it sold out,of course, not but in that venue
playing against two quality opponents Washington andSaint Mary's two and three days on the

(04:29):
heels of playing at Purdue. Soit's not like we we went we skipped
the step. We went to WestLafayette came back and then went there.
You know, I think that ourgrowth on and off the court is prevalent.
I believe we're a better team.We're more prepared to be successful.
We know, we know our weaknessesmore. We also know some straints that

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we have. Our younger players gainedsome valuable experience and what you worry about
in November. Sometimes the experience ofa young player it's fool's gold. They
end up having a really good game, they go, ah, this is
what college basketball is all about.Awesome, this is easy, and then

(05:10):
they play Yukon and it's like,wow, that's different. Right. Well,
we don't want to wait until weget to the Big East, you
know. We want to prepare ourguys day in, day out, game
in, gay out, game out, different styles, but certainly a high
level of competition. In the lastthree games we played, we don't have
to trip over anybody and apologize onwhy we're playing them who we're playing.

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And all three games were away fromhome, which makes the challenge even more
Purdue, Washington and Saint Mary's andI really I think that our team is,
like I mentioned, more battle tested. Are freshmen are more aware of
how difficult it is to win,and my hope is that we can build
on our experience. Coach, Ithought the difference in the Xavier basketball team

(05:56):
between the time they lost to Washingtonseventy four of anyone then went under defeat
Saint Mary sixty six to forty ninewas rather largely in a short period of
time. Give us an idea whatthose forty eight hours were like and how
did you How did you do that? I mean you got to refresher players
or legs and everybody else. Butwhat was the process? Like? How
much how much film did you watch? What'd you do? I mean,

(06:17):
we were It probably wasn't a funtwenty four hour experience for anybody, but
we went to work. Joe,you know, it's early in the year.
When we were here last week,we talked about that you can't judge
any team in the month of November. For example, yukon a year ago.
I don't know if they looked likethe national championship team in early November.

(06:38):
Maybe they did, I don't know, But there's plenty that made the
Final four this past year that ifyou judge them on November twentieth, they
really don't. I don't see it, but teams improve, and you know,
you find yourself in young players becomeveterans, and all the things that
we all know are a part ofit, Joe. But so we worked
hard. I think it's it's nottime to panic, but you know,

(07:01):
our responsibility is to be the bestwe can. I didn't think that the
second half of the Washington game thatwe in fact held our end of the
bargain up across the board, effortlevel, breaking down in crucial moments,
you know, energy for off thebench. First five minutes of the second
half, we committed as many teamfouls as we did the first twenty minutes,

(07:25):
and we studied it, we talkedabout it, We practiced at the
hotel more in the ballroom than onthe court. Watched the entire game fast
forwarded to Saint Mary's, and Ithought that our players did an amazing job
of leaving the Washington game behind,bringing things with them that we needed to
be better at, and just playingwith a lot of togetherness and a lot

(07:47):
of fight against Saint Mary's. Andit felt right from start to finish.
We did a better job in thesecond half. And if you remember when
we played Purdue, we played reallyas the same way. If you judged
us on the first twenty minutes,you know, going into halftime, we
were like a two possession game.We had a lot of momentum, but

(08:09):
we just couldn't sustain it. Andthat's the hardest part with a younger group.
And I think that part of theway I would put it to you
guys is we're trying to grow ourgood play, and we did that against
Saint Mary's. The one thing Iwas impressed with. I know you mentioned
the defense that might have been thebest forty minutes, but what stuck out
is I watched that ball game wasthe pace that Xavier executed their offense.

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To me, that was a dramaticdifference. And correct me if I'm wrong,
But I thought the rebounders were lookingfor the outlet pass much quicker,
and the guards when they got it, they were really looking to make a
play. You're right, Joe,And again sometimes like two games in three
days, do you guys have enoughlegs? Of course they do, right.
That was our second game. Weplayed at a much faster pace.

(08:52):
If you judged our half court offense, not full court, the ball moved
faster, we cut harder. Wasit was if you visually. It was
a faster pace in our half courtas well, and I think that's one
of the lessons that our team learned. To be hard to guard. It
takes five people that move and cutand catch and pass, and it's not

(09:13):
something that three guys can do itand two can't. And too many times
against Washington the ball stopped or acut was made with no purpose, and
you're much easier to guard. Andif you're playing against great athletes like Washington
has, they just sit on youand you make the game just easier for

(09:33):
them. But I thought both fullcourt running and in the half court,
we played a better pace, moreto the identity that we're trying to establish.
And it wasn't just our starters,it was the guys coming in off
the bench as well. And Ithink we left the Saint Mary's game with
a good feeling and so we gotto keep it going. Now. Your

(09:56):
guards, I thought, were justmuch more aggrestled. Something you've talked about
in between the games. One ofthe things that happens in our offense is
if the screener, the big thatsets the screen is slow into it or
doesn't mediocre or poor job of doingwhat he's supposed to do. It makes
life a lot harder for the guardsmore difficult. It wasn't just the guards

(10:20):
who did a better job against SaintMary's. I thought our screens had a
lot more pop to them. Ourbigs ran into the screens better, they
executed, they took more pride inthat. And conversely, you know some
of the recipients of the best playsin the game was the screener. Right.
So if you said a great screen, your man has to help.

(10:41):
When your own man helps, guesswho's open you are, And you've heard
that Joe is a big guy.You got to set screens. It's not
all fun and games for you guys. You can't just shoot threes and run
around and complain you don't get theball. You have to set our screens,
and a lot of times you're hardfor your dinner. Your hard screens
lead to your best opportunities, andI think if you really looked at our

(11:03):
Saint Mary's game, you saw moreof that if you watched our Washington game.
To your point, there wasn't asmany of those opportunities for our bigs
because I didn't think they did avery good job of setting those hard screen.
How about the past Green made aBoo. The passa exam great example.
That was a tremendous pass. Idon't know how he recognized that.

(11:24):
He was just had to be practicethat he recognized he was going to make
that game. And we watched thattoday, so you know, part of
today was to go over what happenedin Las Vegas, the good and the
bad. And you know that wasa clip both for a Boo and Trey.
You know, look at the greatscreen. You said, look how
fast you ran into the screen.Look what happens when your man helps on
Trey, and Trey you made thecorrect read. You know, we call

(11:45):
that free throw decisions, Joe.So the ball gets into the free throw
line, you have your own opportunity, You have the roller, you might
have another opportunity. And on thatone, you're talking about Trey Green through
a great lab pass to a Booand we're looking to create more of those
opportunity offense. Coach. I lovedthat play because it was more trust.
I don't know if it was necessarilyopen, because when Trey threw that law

(12:09):
pass up, I'm like, whatin the heck is he doing? Is
that a shot? Is that apass and then you know, our Boom
comes down boom and dunks it.And I think it happened with Lazar as
well. And I know that's partof the offense that you run. I've
seen in practice, and that justtakes trust. And I think that's chemistry
when you got to trust your guysgonna be there. Yeah, So remember

(12:31):
a year ago, like we developedthat over time, you saw more of
those opportunities happen as the year wenton, where Jack Nungee would catch it
over the top or Zach Freeman wouldcatch it over the top, and a
variety of our guards would pass theball. Right. It wasn't just sou
Le Boom. It was Kobe Jonesa lot. It was Adam Kunkle quite
a bit. So right now,that's what we're trying to develop. Multiple

(12:54):
guys players that can make the pass, that can set the great screen and
run and catch those easier, highpercentage shots. You know, and you
know, Joe, when you're playinggood teams back to your earlier point Byron,
you know, when you're playing teamsin November like Washington, like Purdue,
like Saint Mary's, you're not gettingthese easy ones. I mean,

(13:16):
you have to earn them. There'snot because you're bigger and faster do these
opportunities come your direction. So again, that's one of the byproducts of playing
against good competition away from home.And I believe that our team grew in
Las Vegas. This is a SeanMiller Coaches Show from Billy Bestrow and Marrymont
on fifty five KRC end of VarsityNetwork. Welcome back to Jilly Bistro and

(13:39):
Marymont and the Sean Miller Coaches Show. Xavier fans help Cincinnati Cancer Advisors achieve
victory over cancer at the next homegame at the Centa Center. Just grab
a souvenir cup for a chance towin great prizes like a VIP suite,
courtside seats or Xavier merchandise. Coachin the game against Saint Mary's to change

(14:00):
in the lineup, so Sa Shiannagot to start, Aboo Usmann came off
the bench, and as a combination, you got ten rebounds and fourteen points
out of the post play, whichis those are great numbers. What was
your thinking behind that change? No, that's a great question, Joe.
You know, we we talked afterthe Washington game, and you know I've

(14:20):
coached Aboo now for in essence fivemonths. He arrived here in June,
and Aboo has not missed a singleday since the first day that he arrived
on our campus. And you know, sometimes you don't realize how much we
do with him in the summer,every weightlift, you know, a lot

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of times our weightlifting in the summer'searly morning player development groups, sometimes in
groups of four, sometimes by himself, our team workouts, and then you
know, now we're up to almostforty practices every day. He works at
it, and just kind of watchinghim early on, I think he's putting
too much pressure on himself. Heknows what a foul is and what a

(15:07):
foul isn't now it's one thing todo it against Zach Edie. That's a
tall order in a lot of ways, right, But you know, watching
him in the Washington game, hehas to settle his mind and just relax
a little bit about by not startinghim. And we talked to him about
why and about the reasons behind it, and I thought, exactly what we

(15:31):
hoped would we would be able toaccomplish with that did happen. He just
entered the game and just played basketball. Whether he missed a shot, made
a shot, but there was noway he was going to foul out.
Against Saint Mary's. He was almosta completely different defender and his mindset was
in a much better place. Sasha, on the other hand, he also

(15:52):
is very responsible and although he's afreshman, as you learn more about him,
he's very very responsible, and hetook the starting opportunity for what it
was, and that is, I'mgoing to go in the game and I'm
going to do what coach needs meto do. In that is, I
am going to play without failing.I'm going to move the ball, I'm
gonna rebound the best I can.He actually raised his hand and then asked

(16:15):
to come out of the game beforethe first media time out. He was
so exhausted, you know, whichagain shows you the anxiety that a young
player has at the opening tip Byron, you alluded to it a minute ago,
like you think back to how itfeels as a freshman, you forget,
you know, you have a lotgoing on there. So we were
able to start Sasha. I thoughthe got us off to a good start,

(16:37):
and he, in his own playeda very good game in both halves,
and I think it allowed a booto quiet his mind, maybe play
a little bit easier, freer,and not have that pressure and burden that
he that he felt he had bystarting. And you know, who knows
what happened in the future, butI think for now, I think that

(17:00):
works for both of those guys.And to your point, Joe, and
we shared that with those guys thatat the end of the forty minutes,
you just want to combine good play, and I think when you look at
both Sasha's performance with a Booze,we really did, in fact get good
play from our center position. Yeahcoaching, and I think both of those
players improved from the Washington game tothe Saint Mary's game. Sasha had a

(17:22):
tough go in the first game againstWashington. He just couldn't catch the ball
clean. I mean, he wasup against some big, physical guys in
both games. But in that Washingtongame, I mean in that Saint Mary's
game, six points, six rebounds, he got a block shot, didn't
turn it over, got to steal, played twenty one minutes and just was
kind of solid, right, Andthat's what you're looking for. And you

(17:45):
know, Sasha played for some excellentcoaches in Europe, playing for his national
team Slavania, that's where Luka Doncikis from, and he's very well coached,
like he's wise beyond his years.But his offense for his for his
club team and for his national teamasks him to do a couple of different

(18:07):
things in terms of like screen androll. So if you ever watch Sausche,
he'll come into the screen and sometimeshe won't roll, he'll stay.
He'll say stay and almost like saidanother one, and that's that's the style
that he played. Once in awhile, he'll do that in our offense
and it's a disaster. It's exactly. It's like a football analogy. The

(18:30):
right guard's supposed to pull and youknow, and block him, and he
forgets and goes the other way,and we all know how that looks when
that happens. So you know,there's a few mistakes he's made here initially
combining two different philosophies. So we'retrying to get him out of the last
philosophy and moving them more towards us. So I say that because when you

(18:52):
watch our offense against Saint Mary's throughfilm, through watching himself make mistakes against
Washington, and he corrected some ofthat and did a much better job of
sprinting into the screen and finishing witha role because even if you don't get
the ball receive the pass, whenyou roll to the rim hard, it
can open some things up for otherpeople and it keeps the ball moving.

(19:14):
He's learned that by not doing that, the ball stops. So again back
to him being a young player,very coachable freshman, and I would like
to think that games moving forward,you'll see him do less and less of
what he once did and more andmore of what we want him to do
coach. What about his skill setother than right around the basket, because

(19:34):
a lot of times teams aren't evenhe don't even look at the basket when
he's twelve feet not necessarily three pointers, but I think I saw him take
a face up jump shot. Buthe's going to have to do that against
some of the players that he's goingto be playing against in the future.
Is that something that you see himbeing part of his part of his game

(19:56):
eventually, So you know, thegift come from FEBA in Europe is that
you really understand team concepts. Ifyou watch the game, it's actually visually
a really fun game to watch,right the ball moves more, there's less
dribbling, and biggs are required todo all these different things. What sometimes
they're not required to do is scorein the post. And I don't mean

(20:19):
every one of them, but sothey come to you if you get them
at a younger age here in college, more well versed and more skilled facing
the basket, but not nearly ascomfortable close to the rim. I only
give you that through my own experienceswith Lowry markinen Or or Julis Tabelli's Dusan
ristage. Three guys who became reallygood players for me at Arizona, but

(20:41):
if they were freshmen, you know, they weren't as good around the rim
and almost surprised you Lowry Marketing wouldget an offensive rebound and almost looked funny
when he did. Is simply becausehe was never down there. They was
never in and around the rim.Now you move them beyond the three point
line, you're almost mesmerized. Howa guy of that size could shoot the
ball that well. Probably what youwanted to do growing up there in the

(21:03):
United States. He still wants todo it. You're talking about the show
he goes nuts anytime, a bigguy. To answer your question, we're
working with him and Byron. Youhaven't seen it yet in games, maybe
just a little bit, but whenI tell you, he's made some big
progress in the three months he's beenhere. Also, Sasha wasn't here this

(21:26):
summer, and neither was the Lazaar, so we've only been with them for
in essence two months. So thebest is yet to come. I think
as the year goes on, butin particular beyond this year, he will
get better. I watched him today. He's more physical, he knows what
he's doing. He's more sure ofhimself around the basket, because you're right,
we want to be able to throwit in there and get a solid

(21:47):
shot off. And his hand,he's got really good hands. He's going
to eventually be able to be aplayer can do that, all right.
This is a Sean Miller Coaches beStraw and Mary Mont on fifty five k
r C and the Varsity Network ruccleBack to the Shanviller Coaches Show from Jilly
Pistro and Barry Mind Xavior fansh helpsince then of Cancer, Advisor's achieved victory

(22:07):
over Cancer at the next home gameat the Centha Center. Just grab a
Souvenir Cup for a chance to wingreat prizes like a private VIP squee fort
side seats or Xavier merchandise Coacha.We were talking about Sasha Siani before the
break, and I want to talka little bit about Lizardjokovic. He made
his debut in Las Vegas, firsttime against a pretty tough opponent in Washington,

(22:34):
and I think when he's on thefloor, Coach, he gives you
a different element. You talked aboutadding depth and Abney athleticism, adding size.
Talk about what you've seen from himand what you expect out of him
moving forward. No, Byron,I mean he's a big part of our
team's development. We're clearly a betterteam because I mean what happens is we're

(22:59):
bigger, we have way more depthinside, which is rebounding, getting fouled,
playing through fouls, protecting the basket. And the thing that you'll see
with Lazars he gets more comfortable ishe can also be a productive scorer.
He can shoot behind the three pointline. He's maybe our best low post

(23:19):
score. Like you're talking about Sasha, Lazar is also developing the same skill
set. He's more comfortable facing butin and around the rim, especially if
you have to guard him with thefore man, he can score the ball
and you'll see that more as hegets more comfortable in playing. So it
gives us more firepower, more size. And then when you look at our

(23:40):
team, you know, there's alot of things that you wish we were
more advanced on. You know,like, guy, we're young, We're
depending on a lot of young players. But the one thing about this year's
team is we're deep. Really,we have the ability to play four players
off the bench that I believe thereisn't a big difference between them and a

(24:03):
number of our starters. So ongiven nights, a guy like a Daylan
Swain who has already done it,Trey Green who's done it, I think
his best is yet to come shootingthe ball. And then you look at
you know, Lazarre. These theseare guys that I think can come in
the game and impact winning Sasha ora Boo whoever doesn't start, you go

(24:23):
to Redo Charm, you go toKachi Hense the depth of our team.
As we keep moving forward, it'sgoing to continue to develop and help us.
Uh, well, we're not ata loss when we when we get
guys in foul trouble, and sometimesa player just isn't playing well. My

(24:44):
hope is that we can make upfor that by bringing in a young player,
bringing in a talent and player offthe bench and him impact winning.
Not every team has that, andour depth is something that I think is
deceiving, especially with the Lazarre.Back when Lazarre was and here, he
had some but I still thought wewere vulnerable. Yeah, certainly that's a

(25:06):
luxury you have this year that youdid not have last year. Looking at
Lazarre, coach and it was hisbaby, his knuckle on his shooting hand.
He was waiting for that to recover. And sometimes when I see him,
he doesn't seem like he does hefully trust that yet, And it's
totally understandable because gets smacked on yourhand a lot when you're playing. Is

(25:30):
where is he at relative to himpercentage wise where you one hundred percent?
Where is he at relative to hiscomfortability handling the ball? I think the
more comfortable he is, the morelikely he'll be willing to go ahead and
shoot the ball or make plays.You talked about him falling down because he's
trying to kind of protect it,which is totally understandable if anyone has ever

(25:52):
injured their hand playing basketball. Butwhere do you think he is percentage wise
to where you think he can be? Well, I think health wise he's
really going more towards one hundred percent. But the problem is, you know,
he had a broken knuckle on hisshooting hand. First two weeks is
nothing, and then you go fromtwo to three where you're cleared to play.

(26:14):
But the next thing you have todeal with is this weird protective device.
And unfortunately, on Lazar's hand,it's a shooting hand, right,
so every time he catches it byron, every time he shoots it, and
every time that he's getting ready tofall, you have this. This.
The good news is you have somethingto protect yourself. You know. The
other news is that it certainly doesn'tmake you the the smoothest player that you

(26:34):
can be when it comes to catching, dribbling, passing in those things.
But today is week three ended,so he's now entering the beginning of week
four and he has much more rangeof motion. He's he has one more
week here with the protective device,and then I think he can really take
the protective device off. So whenhe finally has the protective device off.

(26:56):
And he's four weeks since his initialinjury. I think that's when you truly
will see him at his best,but he has no further risk of damaging
it. We're through that period,he's able to practice. For the first
couple of weeks he didn't practice.So you know, you're a freshman,
you're from Serbia. You weren't herethis summer. You missed three weeks of
practice, you missed the first threegames or two games, and we're gonna

(27:18):
throw you in in Las Vegas atT Mobile Arena against Washington and expect you
to be great. I talked tohim today and he was disappointed with how
he played, and I just said, look, some great players in his
game, if they judged themselves onyour circumstances, they certainly would not have
gotten off to a good start.You helped us win, You re entered,
and now you're able to practice.From this point forward, you're only

(27:41):
going to get better and more comfortable. And it's got to be tough for
a skilled player, right if it'shis dominant hand, I mean, because
shooting it's all, and then thefingertips and touch and feel, and I
would be I would imagine it's reallydifficult to have a protective advice device on
your and still try to manipulate theball and get that feel that you that

(28:06):
all good players don't have to haveon the on the court in that touch.
You know, Byron Lazaar is big. He's six foot ten, he's
to forty, he's more than toforty, and he's, you know,
nineteen years old. He can't quiteuse all that right now because he's not
he does, he's got the deviceon his hand and he's just again just

(28:26):
going in when he's finally healthy withboth hands here and again, I think
we're about a week away. ThenI think then you're going to start to
see the physicality part of him.And I really have a lot of high
hopes for his career. Really,I think from the talent size, skill
level, he's got a great startingpoint and it's up to us to develop

(28:48):
him. All Right, you're listeningto the Coach Sean Miller show Life from
Billy Be Still located in the heartof Marie Mont. I'm fifty five KRC
in the Varsity Network. Welcome backto Dyllany Bistro and the Sean Miller Coaches
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(29:11):
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But like Brown sponsors Avery Athletics,easy to drink, easy to enjoy.
Coach one of the we had aquestion. I know, we got somebody
on the phone, but one ofsomebody came up to me and asked during
the break about coaching free throws,like what do you do? How do

(29:33):
you improve? And I'm sure it'smore than just hey, make more free
throws. It's got to be morethan that, because you know, guy,
no one's trying to miss. Howdo you deal with the team that's
struggling to make free throws? Yeah, I mean that's a big question for
us right now. I mean youcan make the argument, you know,
here we were talking about that wedidn't play well against Washington, in particular

(29:53):
in the second half. But whenyou're eighteen for thirty one from the free
throw line and you miss a coupleof front ends of a one on one
as part of that eighteen for thirtyone, that's a lot of points to
leave and still expect to beat atalented, good, good team. So

(30:14):
I will tell you this that thissummer we started a program which we call
stripe Work, and we really requiredeach of our players to make fifty free
throws, you know, five daysa week, really do it throughout the
summer and just you know, havingthem keep track of it, you know,
create a champions club. So likeyou finished first, you want it,

(30:38):
finished eleventh ranked. And we've doneit in different ways really from the
beginning of June. And if Ihad the percentages in front of me and
I showed you this is what ourguys if shot, you almost wouldn't believe
that I'm telling the truth. Butwe've struggled here in the first four games,
five games obviously from the line,and it's hurt us in every game.

(31:03):
I probably have done a poor jobbecause I'm almost at the point where
I'm the coach actually getting angry atthem when they're missing. And I already
know the answer to that, likethat doesn't help them. But we just
have to, in my opinion,relax, go the line, shoot the
percentage that we're capable of. Atthis point, we're not trying to make
too big of a deal of it, other than when we practice them and

(31:26):
staying with our stripe work outside ofthe practice forum that we take it serious.
Guys go through their ritual, theyshoot the same tempo and you know
that they're not talking while shooting andreally staying with it because we have a
number of players that are much morecapable of making a better percentage than they've
shown so far. You know,a Boo and Sasha I think are two

(31:48):
that we really have our eye on. They don't seem to be comfortable or
confident in the game, and they'renot great shooting free throws, but they're
clearly better than they've shown. ButI will tell you that that's something that
my hope is that we show significantimprovement on, especially over the next month,
but throughout the year. Where we'reat right now is not good enough.

(32:09):
Right, let's take a phone call, Joe. How are you this
evening? I'm doing all right.How are you guys? We're doing good.
Thanks for calling it, Joe.You and Barron are doing a super
job on the railroad again this year. Thank you, Joe. I'm going
to ask you, coach, howdo you feel about all the changes becaus
sports right now? With football andbasketball and all that playing players and and

(32:32):
one and done and pay their ownchange and around all. How do you
like all that stuff? You know, Joe, it's probably not as much
how you like it or not,is you know, the industry in the
world and everything just seems to evolveand change and grow. And you know,
no matter I think what any ofus would have done or do for

(32:52):
a living. If you think aboutthat profession or industry five years ago and
you think about what it looks liketoday, I'm sure there's a few things
that you just almost shake your headand say, it's hard to believe that
it's still the same job, thesame the same industry. And you know,
college sports, I think sometimes youwant it to stand still and stay
the same. But the industry incollege athletics is like everything else, and

(33:15):
it evolves and it grows and itchanges. I think some of the changes
that that have been implemented are probablygood, especially for the young people that
are that are playing the game.And then there's there's some others that you
almost scratch your head and just say, who thought of that? Uh that
that that's not gonna help anybody.But my hope is that uh, you

(33:37):
know, the leaders of college sports, and they're really more the presidents of
universities than than any other governing bodythat that they continue to, uh,
to make great decisions and keep thegame better because college sports there's nothing like
it. You feel you feel ita little bit this week with Feast week
when you turn the TV on andyou see the Maui Invitational and you see

(34:00):
you know, teams all over thecountry now playing these games. It's really
exciting and I know there's a lotof people that love it. So my
hope is that that those that aremaking decisions can continue or maybe do it
a little differently and we get thingsgoing in a maybe a better direction.
That's I have to put some morepressure on you the coach. Yeah,

(34:24):
I mean you probably I would saythat, you know, the lifespan of
a coach maybe isn't as long asit once was, but uh, that's
that's that's to be expected again thoseI think that's one of the changes that
seems to have evolved over the lastten years, twenty years. Hey Joe,
thanks for calling in. We're upagainst the break and we're going to

(34:45):
take a break here at the Dillyb stro This is a Sean Miller Coaches
Show. It's on fifty five KRCand the Varsity Network. Welcome back to
Dilly Bistro and the Sean Miller Show. And when I have Mama Thanks,
I like to thank everybody for comingtonight, another great crowd, have a
wonderful things, giving a weekend andlooking forward to Aver basketball Friday, and
Joe, I would echo your sentiment, thank you guys for coming to the

(35:07):
show. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody.And I will say that Friday's game against
Bryant, it's a noon tip off, and you know it's unique with their
students now on Thanksgiving break. Youknow people use the term trap game.
I wouldn't use that term. AndI don't know how closely everyone's paid attention.

(35:28):
But Bryant last week went to FloridaAtlantic and Florida Atlantic was in the
Final four last year. Florida Atlanticreturns virtually seven of their top eight players
from a team that won thirty gamesand was in the Final four, and
Briant beat them on their home court. Really from start to finish, Bryant
plays five guards. They play ata breakneck fast paced play a matchup zone.

(35:53):
Phil Martelly's son the Great Coach coachedagainst US at Saint Joe's all the
all those years is doing. He'sthe head coach this year. He's doing
a great job. They then followedthat performance up by beating Howard at home.
They've lost a couple of tough onesRutgers. Early on at Rutgers with

(36:13):
about three minutes left, they weredown two points and had the ball.
So I'm telling you we're expecting areally tough game. I talked to our
team a lot about how good Ithink Briant is. What they just did
to Florida Atlantic. They pose ussome problems, and I just if you
can't make it because you're out oftown for Thanksgiving, give your tickets to

(36:35):
somebody who can. I'm a hopeis we can have a packed house the
Centa Center like we always have it, and we have to be ready to
go. In college basketball, thesegames in November are pivotal to a lot
of things, and every game counts. It's what makes the sport so captivating.
And I just want to make surethat we're as ready and welcoming as

(36:57):
we can be for Bryant because they'rean excellent team. We have a lot
of respect for them, and atnoon on Friday. If you can't use
your tickets, please give them toa neighbor and make sure that they show
up. So big game coming upfor US. Kroger and Xavier Athletics are
teaming up again this year and supportingSaint Vincent de Paul with the annual food
Drive. Please show your support bybringing can goods to the men's basketball game

(37:22):
versus Oakland on November twenty seventh.For more information or to donate, please
visit gozavire dot com backslash Food Drive. Seoan, you've been head coach of
Xavior. Now was a seventh season. I guess here in you one hundred
and fifty games. You're now inthird place in terms of all time wins
at Zavier. Thanks, thank you, Joe. Glad to be here.
Quincy OLIVERI made the AL Tournament team. He did, and I was surprised,

(37:45):
not because Quincy didn't have good moments. I thought that was Quincy's best
game for US against Saint Mary's,but I thought I thought Geetas the Miska
who he talked about, and wehaven't talked about him at all tonight.
You know, getas is As reallydone a great job for our team.
His performance has surpassed my expectations,you know, just because you don't really

(38:07):
know how guys are going to doearly on. And we had somebody come
up to the table during the breakByron and just say, you know,
with so many new players, whatwere your expectations? Are we ahead,
are we behind? Where do youthink? And I really didn't know what
to expect to some degree other thanI know that our best basketball isn't in
the month of November, and it'scrucial that we get better every day and

(38:30):
each game that you visually can seeprogress. And we're we need to have
that happen at noon on Friday againsta very dangerous and well coached Bryant team.
All right, thank you for joiningus for the Sean Miller Coaches Show
from Bill by beast Brow and MaryMan on fifty five there and the Varsity
Network m HM live from the DillyBistro in Merriymont. This has been the

(39:06):
Sean Miller Radio Show presented by budLight, Easy to drink, easy to
enjoy and buy Try Health. TryHealth provides surprisingly human care that drives the
best health outcomes. Be seen,be heard, be healed, Visit tryhealth
dot com. The preceding has beena Learfield presentation on the Xavier Sports Network