11/17/25 - The Richard Pitino Radio Show

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Live from the Dilly Bistro in Merrymont. This is the
Richard Patino Radio Show on the Xavior Sports Network from Learfield,
presented by Try Health. Try Health provides surprisingly human care
that drives the best health outcomes. Be seen, be heard,
be healed. Visit tryhealth dot com and buy but late,

(00:23):
Easy to drink, easy to enjoy. Now Here are Joe
Sunderman and Byron Larkin.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to Dlly Bistro and Merriemont and the Richard Patino
Coaches Show. I'm Joe Sunderman along with Byron Larkin and
the head coach of the Xavier Musketeers Richard Patino. Great
to see a full house again here at Hilly Bistro.
It's always great to see it. And thanks for joining
us live tonight as well as on the radio and coach.
The Musketeers are now two and two. You trailed to Iowa.
You lost the game eighty one to sixty two, but

(00:51):
as you mentioned after the game, there was about a
seven minute stretch where the game maybe got away from
it a little bit, but their Savior played some good basketball.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
Well one, thank you for showing up. I thought it'd
be an empty house. So I appreciate it very much. Yeah,
you know, I mean, obviously we want to win every game,
but I think kind of as you're building from the
ground up, sometimes these little victories come before the wins.
And you know, we knew certainly at Iowa was going
to be difficult. That coach brought six of his key

(01:22):
players from his team before, so they had a little
bit more chemistry continuity than we did.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
The kid starts as a terrific player.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
But the biggest thing I loved from our team, like
when you watched this for Santa Clara, we had no
competitive spirit. Now you're down twenty points, like you can
understand that, but like I just thought our guys they
were ready to go.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
The energy on the bench, the energy on the court
was really really good.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
So that that's like the first step in building a
championship type culture. Obviously, the execution and some of those
things have got to get better. But that was like
my first kind of VI three was like seeing that
I was really proud of the guys, but we certainly
know basketball wise, to go a long way to go.

Speaker 5 (02:06):
Coach, from it's four games into the year, well five
including the exhibition game, what what do you like most
about your team and what what concerns you most?

Speaker 4 (02:18):
Well, I would say it I like about them. Is
there a joy to be around on a daily basis?
You know, they're they're a team that needs confidence. When
you're two and two after four games, that's gonna happen.
I mean its certainly when you play Santa Clara at
home and you're a packed house and then at.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
The end of the game it's empty. Don't blame anyone,
any buddy, by the way, Like I.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
Understand that, but that's like a humiliating feeling. Again, don't
blame the fans, And so you got to pick them
up in that type of thing. Now they have to
understand what goes into that, Like if you play that way,
nobody's gonna come watch you play, so like totally justified.
So I gotta get their confidence going. But they've got

(03:01):
to earn the right to have confidence, and that's with
they practice hard. But there's another level that they could
go to and then those shared experiences of you know, blood,
sweat and tears is going to really bring them together.
So you know, I'm not surprised. I thought Santa Clair
would be a really difficult game. I hated the way

(03:22):
we played, but I think they're a really good team.
I did think at Iowa would be hard as well,
so you know they're level headed. I need them to
almost be irrationally confident, but that comes with winning as well,
and we got to taste that a little bit.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Got you hit the Santa Clair gaming to hear the
Iowa game. Two games that were tough. How do you
take that as a coach and turn those games into
something to build on a positive? It's easy to talk about,
but you've got to go to practice every day, bring
your players back up, lift up their spirits, so to speak.
But to keep that competitive drive alive in practice.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah, I mean you have to be realistic about the
situation that we heard no coach in the history of
the program has ever inherited no players to scored a basket.

Speaker 3 (04:04):
So that's not an excuse, that's that's reality.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
So, like, I'm not surprised that we've hit some bumps
early like that, there's gonna be some bumps this year.
But like I said to them today, like yesterday we
had a phenomenal practice. I mean we were diving on
loose balls, we were defending, we were rebounding.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
The effort was amazing.

Speaker 4 (04:22):
Today we dropped off a little bit and I said,
like when you're starting over, like you just need to
stack days. And yesterday we all walked off the court
with great spirit, great confidence. Today not as much, so
like nothing else really matters besides today when you're building
a program and you just got to get little victories.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
While you can.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
But as a coach, I'm not going to give them
false confidence if they don't deserve it either, Like I'm
not I'm just that type of guy. I'm I'm a
very realistic guy. And in order for us to win
and to win at Iowa, like we got to be
as close to perfect and we're just not there yet.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
If you want to call in a to talk with
the coach, the numbers five one three seven four nine
fifty five hundred. That's five one, three seven nine fifty
five hundred. Coach. We had seats that were just six
feet away from your bench, just to the left of it,
so you walked in front of the pain.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
You felt the pain well hours.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
You know, it's very entertaining to have those seats because
we're here in your comments, enjoyed it.

Speaker 5 (05:20):
Glad somebody did yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
You know the one comment I noticed that that I
did enjoy and every player would in a sense that
you've had three players come off the floor at least
three maybe four in the first fifteen minutes, and you
told you looked them in the eye, said when you're
open to shoot the ball. Yeah, And that to me,
you're trying to get your players to play your system.
When they get an open look you wanted to fly.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
Again, it comes down to confidence and belief. None of
them are shooting a good percentage. I don't I don't
have the numbers in front of me. But like when
when nobody's really making shots, there becomes a little bit
of fear.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
We can't have that fear. You're never as open as
when you first catch the ball.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
And this team because we don't have a true kind
of low post threat just yet. I think Anthony and
Pop will get better in time. You have to spread
teams out. I actually thought offensively, although we didn't score
a bunch of points going small, there was a little fluidity.
There was a fear of Yova and popping diving. There
was some going off the bounce getting fouled. That was good,

(06:25):
so I think we might be onto something a little
bit offensively.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
That was good.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
But yeah, I mean, if you're out there and you're
you're scared to make a shot, I can't play.

Speaker 5 (06:33):
You coach when when you're like when you're down and
you say your team lacks confidence and every when you're
drawing up a play, who's who's that play for?

Speaker 2 (06:45):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (06:46):
Well, yeah, it depends on a lot of factors that
go into it. The one thing certainly that we don't
really have just yet is all right, we're gonna throw
it inside and see what we can get just yet.
But it just depends on the flow of the game
and what's going on to kind of see how they're guarding.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
Who can we attack from there.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
So it really it's just time out to time out.
It depends on who the lineups are in moving forward. So,
you know, I think they've been very very attentive. I
thought the huddles, I thought the timeouts were awesome. You know,
so they want it. We've just gotta we got to
do every possible thing to help them right now, and
I believe we're doing that coaching.

Speaker 5 (07:28):
In the Santa Clair game, the lak Messinamore didn't shoot
a field goat attempt. We talked about it, and then
against Iowa, he his first shot was about with five
minutes to go in the first half, his first attempt
is he what are you doing to kind of encourage
him to be more aggressive and assertive offensively because we've

(07:51):
seen at Spurts he can do it.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:55):
You know what's funny is I got to get to
know them too, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (07:59):
And I don't know, I've got to help him more.

Speaker 4 (08:03):
He might be the type of guy where we got
to run him off a pin down, we got to
run him off a stagger, things like that, And I
talked to him about it.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
I think it was the next day.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
And you know, I think that he clearly wants to
score now he's got He certainly has times where it's like, hey,
you need to go attack. But I think there's some
things we need to do myself, especially to help free
him up a little bit more. Maybe he's not as
good in the pick and rolls and things like that.
So there's also that adjustment period for the coaches, you know.

(08:34):
I mean, that's what people have to realize. Like the
guy in the four games. In my opinion, that two
guys that have felt the most confident and comfortable in
the system are Philip and Jovan. Shockingly, they played for
me last year. So it's gonna get better and better.
But to the player's defense, like, we're trying to evaluate

(08:56):
what works as well and.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
See if we can adjust a little bit and do
those things.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
So now that's why it's so very very hard to
sign twelve guys, you know, So hopefully we're not in
a position to do that. But what I do know
is we're going to get more comfortable with what they need.
They're going to get more comfortable with what we're trying
to tell them to do, and it'll just get better
and better.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
As you're watching the half court offense and they're running
that around the perimeter, trying to your team is trying
to find a way to get to the bucket. Is
it more often now that you're saying, hey, that's the
system I want, they're doing more what I want. Are
you starting to see that emerge at all? You know,
the hard crowd not to your satisfaction.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Yeah, I mean obviously not.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
But you know, I think we averaged last year in
New Mexico eighty one points per game, So it was
the same offense, but again, to the players in this
locker room's defense, maybe that's not what they need, you know,
And we've tinkered and we've switched a little bit, and
you know that roster.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Last year is different than this year's roster.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
So you know, as much as you want to blame
the players for everything, like I look myself in the
mirror and see am I helping them? Am I putting
them in the rights? So you know, it's we're gonna have.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
To adjust as coaches to this roster.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
And then I think in time, as we have time
for a high school class or retention class, a portal class,
you'll see it evolve a little bit more.

Speaker 5 (10:15):
Coach you talk about tempo, offensively and how you won.
I think every coach has an idea on how they
want to play until you get in practice and you
get in live situations where Okay, I can play this
way or I cannot play this way. Making adjustments if
you will. Do you feel like your biggest adjustment with

(10:39):
this set of players has been on the offensive end
or the defensive.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Now, I think it's been both.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
We've you know, subtle changes, but we've kind of changed
our core base not to bore everybody, but you know,
we would go too bigs and kind of ball screen
duck in and see what we could get.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
We totally abandoned that verse. Iowa.

Speaker 4 (11:00):
Obviously we started Yova and Tray together an offensive lineup.
That lineup can be really good offensively, but now you
don't have shot blocking. You don't have, uh, maybe the
athleticism in the front court that you'd have with a
pop and Anthony being able to rotate and block those shots.
So you know, you're you're you're trying to adjust. But yeah,

(11:22):
I can't be stubborn and say we are gonna play
exactly the way in New Mexico with this roster.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
I can't do that.

Speaker 4 (11:27):
That would be silly, and especially now with I don't
know who's coming back next year, so like, I got
to do everything in my power to win with this group.
And I can't be stubborn as a coach and say no,
like we're we're gonna build for like because they could
all leave and they I mean, not.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
To depress everybody. Right now, you're at a bar, so
you can you know, I mean, that's kind of the
reality of this thing is. It's it's it's year to year.

Speaker 4 (11:53):
I think when you have a you know, a true
recruiting cycle, you have a little more time to be
and not that these players can't do it, but maybe
they can do it the way my team's.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
Last year, you know, the last couple of years did it.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Coaches, as you look at your lineup, you mentioned you
start a smaller lineup. Have you made a decision for
tomorrow night or maybe you want to keep it close
to the vest is who you'll start tomorrow?

Speaker 4 (12:15):
I have made a decision, yeah, I mean it'll be
similar to last last game from a front court standpoint
with with Jovann and Trey. You know, I'm trying to
I think I've switched. I don't know be exact, but
the lineup every game. So we're going to keep kind
of work and see what combinations look good.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
If you in the past and your coaches is your
fourteenth year been traditionally a coach that finds a lineup
and stays with it if you can, if we're winning,
if you're winning, just go right right around on there.
I don't blame it.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, it's a good strategy. I to endorse.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
That is the Richard Patino coaches show from Dently Bstoel
Marrimount on fifty five KRC.

Speaker 3 (12:51):
And the Varsity Network.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Welcome Back to Gentle Bast Joel and Marrimont and the
Richard Patino Coaches Show.

Speaker 5 (13:00):
Tomorrow night, Xavier celebrates a milestone, the twenty five year
fifth year anniversary of the very first game played at
the Centai Center on November eighteenth. You're two thousand, how
about that? Join us as the Musketeers face Old Dominion
at seven pm Tomorrow night. Quick Change performs at halftime,

(13:23):
and the first three thousand fans through the doors will
receive a special commemorative ticket celebrate twenty five years of
Musketeer basketball. Get your tickets now at Gozavier dot com.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Do you think that's a favorite halftime show quick Change?

Speaker 4 (13:40):
Oh, coach, you see one of the I'm normally busy,
but have you ever seen seen it on on like
Twitter and stuff? I mean, I think quick Change in
Red Panda with provably popular.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah they are, they're both. They're a lot of fun.
You mentioned the milestone there Byron milestone.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
But if we keep playing like this, I might go
the halftime.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Well, you have two hundred and forty nine wins and
you've only been coaching. This is your fourteenth season. You've
ever been right, just under twenty wins a season, which
is quite an accomplishment as far as coaches under forty
five years old. You're second in the nation in terms
of wins for coaches that age. So what does that
mean to you to get the twohuner? Do you ever
think about it? Are you aware of it? No?

Speaker 3 (14:22):
I didn't even know. That's to be honest with you.

Speaker 4 (14:25):
I mean, you know, I've been very, very lucky that
people have believed in me. I've had really good seasons,
I've had really bad seasons. And what I can tell
you is it's never just one guy, you know. I mean,
it's so much that goes into winning. It's fans, it's now,

(14:45):
it's boosters, administration, coaches now, so more than ever, you
cannot win unless you're kind of aligned with everything. And
I just, you know, every time I've had a really
good team, it's been really really good players and really
really good coaches who were all pulling in the right direction.

Speaker 5 (15:06):
Coach, do you remember your first victory as a head coach?

Speaker 3 (15:10):
Yeah? I have it in my office. It was FIU.

Speaker 4 (15:14):
I believe we beat Coastal Carolina. My brother had it
framed for me. So it's been a long time ago.
I mean, it's crazy to think. I mean, it's it's
your fourteen, and it is funny. When I first started,
I was like, oh, it's just you know, cause I
was twenty nine years old. But I'm now so much
more prepared and confident than I was to start, which

(15:35):
is normal.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
But yeah, I mean it's.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
Been a fun, fun journey, and I certainly look forward
to building this thing to where it needs to be.
You know, Xavier needs to be the class at the
Big East. We got a lot of work to do,
but we're gonna do it.

Speaker 5 (15:48):
And Coach, you've been a part of assistant coaches and
different I mean you're of course your dad and you know,
having him as someone to look up to and to
pattern your life behind. But at one point did you
make the decision like, yeah, I want to be a
head coach.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Well, I was always around basketball growing up.

Speaker 4 (16:11):
You know, my daughter Avis here right now, I'm going
to coaches shows, I'm going to practice after after school.
I was always around it and I always wanted to
be a part of it. In high school, I would
work camps, you know, that was when camps were kind
of a big thing and I'd work Eastern Invitational, really
got to know all those guys. And then when I
decided to go to Providence College, I met a guy

(16:32):
by the name of Mike Hart who was a prep
school coach, and he said, hey, you know I met
him at a camp and he said, well, why don't
you be my assistant coach?

Speaker 3 (16:40):
And that's when I decided. You know, that year, I
really loved it. We were really good.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Had done to do with me, but like we were
a really good prep school team with four or five
D one players, and I'm like, man, I really really
love this.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
The thing that I.

Speaker 4 (16:53):
Knew was the the all the other stuff that comes
with it, And that was the pause that I had
of like, what do I want to really get into
right now? Moving my family around. I've moved I think
sixteen times, you know, having to move. You know, your
your three kids, who had great friends in New Mexico,

(17:16):
your wife had great friends, and all those things. So
I kind of I knew the what you know, the
pain that you feel. There's a lot of great but
I also knew, like, if I dive into this thing,
the media scrutiny now social media, all that stuff, like
it's really really hard. So you constantly got to tell
yourself as a coach, like, that's not why I got
into this.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
I didn't get into it for the money. I didn't
get into.

Speaker 4 (17:38):
It for good comments, bad comments, any of that stuff.
I got into it because I love coaching basketball. It
used to be because you developed players, they graduated and
then you, you know, you were at the graduation and
you were proud of them.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
You don't even talk about that nonsense anymore, but it is,
it is what it is. I mean, you know, I'm not.

Speaker 4 (17:58):
Gonna complain about it, but yeah, yeah, I mean I
think going into college, I thought I did and then
it's just snowballed, you know. And I always believe if
you if you handle yourself the right way, if you
work hard, you meet the right people, you surround yourself
around winners, that it'll elevate your career. And I've been
lucky to work for some really good people have helped
me along the way.

Speaker 5 (18:17):
Coach. Being to say, hey, I want to be an
assistant coach in college and being a head coach in
college are two different levels.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Oh my big job.

Speaker 5 (18:28):
But but was it like when you were like, Okay,
I want to be a coach. Was it immediately Okay,
I recognize I want to be a head coach.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
No?

Speaker 5 (18:35):
Yeah, no, No on the college level.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
Well, at first I thought high school.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
Honestly, because you know, I'm a history major. I like
kind of the high school environment. The problem with high
school a little bit. Well, one is the parents, but
no offense though, you got it. But I wanted to
be a part of a roster that was driven for more.
And you know a lot of high school teams, eighty
percent of the team, they're just doing it because it's
recreation they want to do, which is fine. But I

(19:00):
wanted more commitment to motivate these guys.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
So I thought, okay, college.

Speaker 4 (19:07):
I didn't really have a timetable of when I wanted
to be a head coach. I was an associate head
coach at Louisville, went to a final four. I had
worked for my dad for three years, and I said
that is enough. I don't want to work for this
man anymore. And so I was going to take the
first job possible, and I took FIU and then we
had a great year, and all of a sudden I'm
thirty years old in the Big ten, and it was like, whoa,

(19:28):
I'm going against Tom Izzo and I'm going against Matt
Paynter and Bo Ryan and all these guys. But yeah,
I didn't have like a plan. I just wanted to
work my way up.

Speaker 3 (19:38):
You know.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
The best thing I did was obviously working for my
dad was great, But to work for Billy Donovan, to
work for Tom Harry and Ron Everheart, Tim Welsh, to
work that was the best thing I ever did because
I just wanted to earn it, you know, as my
dad opened up doors for me, of course he has,
but I wanted to have the confidence in myself that

(19:59):
I went out and did this.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Coach, the first time you walk the sidelines as a
head coach, I'd like to know what that's like. And
we've watched coaches come to Xavier and sort of you
can kind of tell when they first do it they're comfortable,
but not as comfortable as they are like six weeks,
eight weeks, you know, it's two seasons into it. Their
demeanor changes a little bit. What was like the first
time you walked the sidelines?

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, side coach, that's real.

Speaker 4 (20:21):
I've had a couple of coaches reach out to me
for first time head coaches this year and like, hey,
just you know what went into how you're going to
stand on the sidelines?

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Are you comfortable? What are you going to do? This
and that? And that takes some time for sure.

Speaker 4 (20:33):
And at FIU it was kind of nice because I
had grown up in the limelight.

Speaker 3 (20:38):
You know, every time that's Rick Patino, Sun, that's Ri Patinilla.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
The whole deal and the beauty of FIU was like, legitimately,
this would have been the biggest crowd of our year
by far.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
And h but I wanted that, I really did.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
I wanted that and then uh, then you get thrust
it into the limelight a little bit.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
And I think the biggest.

Speaker 4 (20:56):
Thing that I've learned is, you know, you have to
just be yourself and you know, live with the results
and the way that you behave on the sidelines, in
the media, in front of your team, just be as
true to yourself as you possibly can.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Work on the officials. Is that an archie development or
is that just a spon spontaneous reactions? Wonder what I
just say?

Speaker 4 (21:17):
Yeah, you know, I I was in the Big ten
for eight years and nobody complains to the refsmore and
tom Izzo, now I will say he calmed down a
little bit. Uh, but you're going again and you're looking
down there and all they're doing is complaining, and you're like,
do I need to do that again? It just it
comes down to comfort, you know, and do I work them?

(21:38):
I work them probably in a different way, but they're
people too. They're working hard, they're trying to be good
and you know, we're all trying to figure this thing out.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
You listening to the Richard Patina's Coaches Show from Billy
Bistro at Marriyman on fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network.
Welcome back to Gilly Bistro and Marymount and the Richard
Patino Coaches Show. Save Today Xavier fans on site today
November thirtieth at two thirty pm. Xavier Women's basketball. Welcome
to the number one ranked and defending national champion Yukon

(22:08):
the Husky Say or be at Senti Center. The Radygo
Dog Show, a high energy fan favorite, performs at halftime.
Tickets are twenty five dollars for adults and twenty dollars
for kids. Fees include get your seats or if fees
are included, gets your seats now at go Xavier dot
com so you can see the defending national champions take
on the Xavier Musketeers at Senti Center.

Speaker 5 (22:29):
Coach junior transfer mere PanAm played six minutes versus Santa Clair,
but he did not play against Iowa. Uh, what's his
What's going on with him? Do you have a setback
or was it against already?

Speaker 4 (22:42):
What?

Speaker 5 (22:42):
You know, he's in a good situation for him or what.

Speaker 4 (22:44):
He's a great kid and he totally sees the big picture.
He's rusty right now. And I talked to him. He
had a good workout the next day when he got
back and I said, like, you're not where you need
to be, but it took two months off, so like
I want to get you ready and then you more minutes.
So he's been good, you know, I mean he's still
you know, he's still you know, making some mistakes that

(23:07):
I know. He's like, oh, I didn't do that last year.
So he's just had a rhythm right now. So he
didn't do anything, but he'll play a role. I just
I want to see like a really good week of
practice where he looks himself and he's not quite.

Speaker 5 (23:19):
There yet when you do play him or what he
when you see him doing what you want him. What
are those things that you need to see.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
Yeah, you like to see.

Speaker 4 (23:29):
Him deflections, rebounds, steals, getting to the rim. He's probably
the best athlete on our team. But again, it's just
the game is fast for him right now. So being
able to do that within the flow of the game
is a timing thing, and he hasn't He hasn't had
the benefit of that when he gets hurt and he's
out for however long he was out. So high energy guy,

(23:53):
quick twitch, can go by, you can get steals, can
block shots, do a lot of those good things.

Speaker 5 (23:59):
Has he regained that athletic bounce that he's had, and
he had he broke his foot and sometimes that takes
some time to get be able to push off and
regain that lateral quickly.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
Yeah, he's still got some sortness after practices and stuff.
So you know, you know this, when you get hurt,
there's a physical side, but also a mental side, and
especially with the way that he plays, you know you
want him to kind of let's get you one hundred
percent before we throw you back in there.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
But he's getting back into rhythm and doing some good
things in practice.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Coach Jovon Melisiavich. I thought he had an outstanding game,
got off to a great start. Hit a couple of
threes for you between the circles straight away, and is
that his game entirely? I believe he can post up. Also,
will you have a roll him down the lane and
get him the ball.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
Down ye know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (24:46):
So much he's good down there? Is he great? I
don't know. I mean, I think his threat is out
on the perimeter. Okay, if you're not going to switch
the ball screen, I'm gonna pop. I'm gonna get an
open three. If you stunt with the next guy, I
can pass it so he can score down there. He
can definitely get foul down there. But you know, he
played I don't think he played the five. He played

(25:06):
the five a little bit last year. The beauty of
him is like he's like whatever it takes to win
type of a guy. So again, like I said, like
when you watch our team, you see those two kids,
Philip and Jovann, and you say, like they're ahead of schedule,
and that is solely going through a championship year with
me understanding what I want. But he's got a great

(25:30):
skill set. You just lose a lot defensively when you
put him at the five. But it's kind of a
give and take right now.

Speaker 5 (25:37):
Coach, you talked about I don't think we've talked enough
about how Philip board Beach and him played. Yeah, against Iowa,
you know, off the air, he said, that's probably the
best you've seen him play, even going back to last
year against Iowa. He had twelve points. It was six
for twelve from the field, five rebounds, three assists, three
steals and no turnovers and almost thirty five minutes.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah play.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
He was terrific.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
And you know, Philip had a totally different role for
us last year.

Speaker 3 (26:06):
He was kind of the role guy.

Speaker 4 (26:08):
He started almost every game, but we were not asking
him to score twelve points. We weren't asking him to
shoot twelve shots. That was not his role on that team.
But Philip wants to win. He's a great kid, and
I think he understands like this team may need a
little bit more from him.

Speaker 3 (26:24):
And I agree with you.

Speaker 4 (26:27):
I mean, I think that was obviously he didn't see
last year, but that was as complete of a game
by Philip as I've seen and he's had some great moments.
He had twelve rebounds what was at Lemoyne. He plays really,
really hard and I'm really proud of him.

Speaker 5 (26:41):
It's guy and he's almost like a Swiss Army knife
out there. He can do a lot of different things.
And at that height, you know, six foot nine, who
can handle the ball and get to spots and he
gets into the lane. Yeah, he can just usually just
shoot over the top of a smaller defender. And I
think he's but what about defensively, coaches, he he needs

(27:02):
to be.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yeah, he's good.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
He I mean again, we try to line up last
game where we played him at the four and Tray
at the five. But Philip last year was the guy.
We would put him on the best perimeter player. But
now we're sliding him over to the four and things
like that. But yeah, he's a very very willing defender.
He's got length, you know. I mean the year two

(27:24):
years prior when we went made the NCAA tournament, we
played Clemson and got blitzed.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
We were really small on the perimeter. Clemson was huge.

Speaker 4 (27:32):
And we went out and got Phillip with that mentality
of we need length on the perimeter. Going into this year,
before Pasado got hurt, I really tinkered with played Pasado
and and Phillip together on the perimeter defensively, you could
be really really good. So Philip is terrific defensively. He's physical,
he's tough, and he's got great length.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
He got a stretch of defensive plays against the All
American starts where he's stripped him to the ball a
couple of times in a row. Yeah, and to think
about that at six foot nine or of each with
that type of quickness. He stayed right in front of him,
made some nice plays. Kind of exciting to see.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Szef.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
You had a run, a ten point run in the
second half. What was going well during that run?

Speaker 3 (28:12):
You know?

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Defense?

Speaker 3 (28:13):
Yeah, I mean the defense. We were getting some steals.

Speaker 4 (28:15):
You know, starts really puts you in a bind. Pick
and roll coverage wise, we tried nine different combinations of
coverages and you know, he sees everything and he really
burns you. But we just said we're gonna go after him,
and we didn't do it the whole time, but we
got a couple of steals and we're able to create
on the break.

Speaker 5 (28:33):
There were a couple of possessions where I really loved
the segments where you were scored almost consistently against their defense,
where you got great ball moving, the ball went inside
the chain sides of the floor and you got a
good look, a dribbled drive, a kick out, and a three.
I don't know if that was in the first half.

(28:55):
I think that was in the first half. Those segments.
I'm sure you clip those seconds together with your team
and say, hey, boom, yeah, we need more of this.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Yeah, I mean we've had really good moments. We just
haven't had a full forty of doing. You're never going
to have a perfect forty minutes. But there was You
know what I loved about the team was they were
in the fight right from the start. It was just
that stretch at the end of the first half that
got away from us. Made a little run in the
second half. But yeah, I mean, like I said, I mean,
you never want to lose. You never want to lose

(29:26):
by double digits. But with that being said, with all
these new guys, I saw growth last game for sure.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
But light proud sponsor Xavier Athletics. Easy to drink, easy
to enjoy. You're listening to the Richard Patino's Coaches Show
from Billy Bistro at Marymount on fifty five KRC and
the Varsity Network. We'll come back to Dilly Bistro with
the Richard Patino Coaches Show.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
Knew this season Behind the Mic presented by Deer Park
Roofing allows fans to watch every Richard Patino Coaches radio
show live from Daley Bistroll. Check out the Xavier Men's
Facebook page to receive notifications on upcoming shows, and check
out the shows you may have missed. Now, Coach, I

(30:11):
understand you got a letter of intent from a Klek House.
I believe you coached his brother at New Mexico and
son of Eddie House, longtime NBA player. Talk a little
bit about him and what do you like about Well?

Speaker 4 (30:24):
His brother helped win us a championship, was an all
conference player.

Speaker 3 (30:28):
He started at Arizona State.

Speaker 4 (30:30):
Didn't play a lot, came to us and really believed
in kind of what we were selling we had and
you know, we were starting over, not to the extent
of here in year one, but he believed in us.
And then you know, we went from I don't know
thirteen wins, then we went to the NIT. Then we
won a championship, won a championship. He had a big
you know reason behind that, and so yeah, it makes

(30:52):
me proud. I mean, Kaylik is a very good player.
He's exactly what we need.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
He's a big East type guard, combo guard, Hugh. You know,
we expect him to make an impact right away.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
So yeah, proud of the fact that Jalen had such
a good experience that he wanted to be a part
of our family and continue that.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
That that's a reward.

Speaker 4 (31:15):
You don't get a lot of rewards anymore as a coach,
but that was one for sure. You know, we set
out that's the first true high school class. High school
recruiting is still a big part of the growth of
our program, that development, Yeah, for sure, and so we
want to take two or three every year. You know,
we're still involved in some guys and you know, we'll see,
we'll see where it all goes. But we feel really

(31:36):
good about that being the first piece of a really
good class.

Speaker 5 (31:40):
So in theory, every year you're going to have a
couple high school.

Speaker 3 (31:45):
In theory, uh, I mean, I think you got a building.

Speaker 4 (31:49):
You've got to build a complete program, you know, and
I don't want you're seeing it right now. I mean,
I don't want twelve thirteen transfers every year. You know,
I want guys that row in the program and you
know they understand what Xavier is all about and they
want to be a part of this community. It'll be more,
you know, guys are gonna leave and move around that

(32:09):
everybody is dealing that with right now. But we recruit
some great high school players in New Mexico. Donovan Deent,
one of the best point guards in the country, came
out of our program.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
JT.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
Topping is Big twelve Player of the Year, one of
the best players in the country came out of our program.
True Washington is starting for Miami. We recruited him as
a high school kid. So that's very much gonna be
a big part of what we're doing.

Speaker 5 (32:31):
Well, coach, and also too, you made the decision when
you brought in twelve transfers that a lot of those
transfers were underclassmen. I mean, like you could have gone
a different route and said, Okay, I just want you
could have record recruited all seniors if you will, and
probably had more experience. Yeah, but you elected to take

(32:51):
a different route and to hopefully develop these guys.

Speaker 4 (32:54):
Yeah, I mean I don't know if I decided like, okay,
that's exactly what I want to do to you know,
tell everybody kind of the way this thing works is
you have to understand you have a budget. Now it's insane,
but you know we as you build the program, we
want to build that budget as well. And so we
got the best group of players we could get. I

(33:17):
didn't necessarily wanted at least a year experience. And then
you look at kind of the sophomoores that we brought in.
Pisada was second in all freshmen, all right, was an
all freshman player in that league. You know, we thought
Anthony had great upside pop we knew and recruited, so
it wasn't necessarily that like that was the master plan.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
It comes down to, you're scrambling.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
You take a new job, and you're trying to stay
within the budget so you don't get fired before close.

Speaker 3 (33:48):
Coaching the game. And so we did that.

Speaker 4 (33:50):
So you know, year one is that that's never the
ideal situation and taking over a job, especially when the
market was so insane because because everybody was breaking the
bank before the rules got into play. So you know,
I mean, I don't think I decided like you know,
I tried to put together the best team with what
I had for year one, and you know, hopefully Posado

(34:15):
comes back healthy. We loved him as well, and see
if we can build it from there.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Couch.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
When you get a quality signing like you just had
the last few days, how does that impact the rest
of the recruiter. I think that makes it very attractive
for other players and easier for them to say.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yes, well again, and times have changed.

Speaker 4 (34:32):
But the first true build is you get a high
school class, you go through a season to see what
you have, see what you want to retain, and then
a portal season. There's three seasons. We didn't have a
high school season. We didn't have a retention season. So
and any coach that takes a new job, you're going
to have to endure that. Right now, you look at

(34:52):
some of the players, if we could ever kept them
and we're in the program, whether it was Swayne Conwell
and all those guys, certainly those are really really talent
to players. So I didn't have the chance to retain them.
And not bitter about it. That's just part of the deal.
So when you get the job, and the only guy
you can retain is Roddy Anderson.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
We were one for one, you know. And but uh
that's that's not the way to build a program in
my opinion.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
Will we take transfers, Yes, but we want to start
with a great high school class like Kaylakkus and I
think that is attractive.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
I Land, when I visited you back in the spring,
I guess before any players were here on campus. You see,
you'd have a team meeting. It would be you and
and riding in the office.

Speaker 3 (35:32):
Right, that's it. Yeah, I've still the team. Yeah, it was.

Speaker 4 (35:36):
It was kind of fun, I mean not have to
have a lot of player meetings, which was nice. But
uh yeah, no, that that that's not an ideal way
to build a program.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Let's put it like that, all right.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
This is the Richard Patino Coaches Show from Billy Bistro
Merrimunt on fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network. We'll
go back to Nilicht and Richard Patino Coaches Show.

Speaker 5 (35:55):
When you're out of town and want to keep up
with live college sports, be sure to download the new
Varsity Network app, available for both Apple and Android. Listen
to college sports Live with the new Varsity Network app.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Oh, Jamier took the first road trip. So you're flying
back from Iowa. On your way back, are you dissecting
that game on a computer and watching the video of
the deal?

Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (36:17):
I was telling Byron, you go through stages of angry, sad,
angry sad.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
You know what we got to get to is happy.
But yeah, I mean I watch it a lot.

Speaker 4 (36:28):
I'll dive in on the plane and just kind of
like I've said before, like I try really hard to
take the emotions out of it, whether even good, bad
or whatever, and really just dissected play by play. So
I would say by the time I've entered the office
the next morning, I've probably watched it about three times.
And then as I watch it, then I'll just break
down all the offensive clips, then the defensive clips. I

(36:51):
make the postgame edit, you know, so I go through
with our video coordinator and you know, I'm okay, we're
gonna clip that. This is what we're gonna say on
this and go from there. So it's a tedious process.

Speaker 5 (37:02):
Coach, so you have like an offensive coach defensive coach
on your staff or does everybody do everything?

Speaker 3 (37:11):
I kind of break it up.

Speaker 4 (37:12):
Coaches so Dante and Tarvis do the offense, so you
can blame them for that, and then that's that's why
I always get annoyed when people ask me, because I'm like,
nobody ever blames these guys, and then.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
Kareem and Chew do the defense.

Speaker 4 (37:28):
You know, Danny is kind of the he scouts us
a little bit more.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
But you know, we meet.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
You know, some basketball staffs are turning it into kind
of football offense coordinator defensive coordinator like.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
All of you know, I'll meet with them kind.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
Of separately on that, but you know it, try you
try to make it be a collaborative effort like I
never want Hey, Byron, would you.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
Think, well, I only do the defense coach. I don't.
I don't want that either.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
I want them to be well rounded because that's not
what coaching is.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Like.

Speaker 4 (37:55):
I want all those guys to become head coaches one day,
and you can't just be a defensive guy in not offense.

Speaker 3 (38:01):
So but i've that's the thing you asked.

Speaker 4 (38:05):
When I first started, I didn't delegate very well, and
I think I do a better job now than ever
before a delegate and put together plan coach.

Speaker 5 (38:12):
What about individual meetings? How often do you do the
coaches meet with individual players and are you involved in that?

Speaker 3 (38:22):
Very often? Yeah, I take it upon myself.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
You know, I don't have Peyton or whoever, Hey grab
him like no, I will text the guy that come
up to my office, and that's more valuable.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Than the team.

Speaker 4 (38:34):
Hey, you come watch film me up upstairs in my office,
Like you get so much more done because then when
they sit in a team meeting after a game, especially
after you lose, they're just in fear of me calling
them out. And I've always felt like it's way more
productive to just get face to face with them and hey,
tell me what you're thinking on this, you know, And
they're way more honest in that setting than maybe.

Speaker 3 (38:57):
In the team setting.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
And thanks everyone for joining us here Dilli Bistron the
Great Crowd And this has been the Richard Patino Coaches
Show from Dilly Bistro on fifty five KRC and the
Varsity Network.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
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(39:48):
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Speaker 5 (40:00):
You