11/28/23 - The Sean Miller Radio Show

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
On the Xavier Sports Network from learField, Live from the Dilly Vistro 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 the besthealth outcomes. Be seen, be heard,

(00:24):
be healed. Visit trhealth dot com. Now Here are Joe Sunderman and
Byron Larkin. Welcome to Sean MillerShow Live from Dilly Pistro and Marymont.
I'm Joe Sunderman along with Byron Larkinand the head coach of the Xavier Musketeers,
Sean Miller. Xavier now stands atfour and three in the season.
On Friday, the knocked off Bryantone hundred to seventy five. Last night

(00:48):
Boston Oakland by two seventy eight toseventy six. The number to call in
and talk with the coach is fiveon three seven four nine fifty five hundred.
That's five one three seven four ninefifty five and Sean, I'm sure
today was probably a lot of reviewof the game last night. Tell us
what you took away from the review? Yeah, I mean, Joe,
it was a very difficult loss,just being that we're at home and it's

(01:11):
really started the home stretch that inthe Bryant game for a couple of weeks
after we've been away from home anda challenging part of our schedule. You
think about we went at Purdue inLas Vegas against Washington and then a quick
turnaround against Saint Mary's. Now youhave the opportunity to come home and grow
and learn from that experience. Andlook, last night, we knew we

(01:34):
were playing a very dangerous team,a good team. They had already proven
that based on how they've played atOhio State and at Illinois. The difference
was at Ohio State and at Illinois. At that last four minute media time
out, both Ohio State and Illinoisreally put the game away, in Ohio
State's case by a single or twopossessions. In Illinois case, they went

(01:57):
on like an eight to nothing,ten nothing run almost to make the score
look bigger than it really was.But the games were very similar to ours,
you know, coming out of thelast media time out last night,
regardless of how we played. Nowwe got there to be up three.
You know, you have to beable to finish things off, and we
not only didn't finish things off,but we were irresponsible. We didn't make

(02:22):
the plays, not shots, notnot you know, three point shots,
not asking for that blockouts, youknow, missing you know, key assignments
in a row, going after aloose ball that you really don't have to
go through, leaving the best shooteron the other team wide open after we
had done a very good job almostfor thirty eight minutes up until that point.

(02:42):
But those are all the things thatsometimes, unfortunately on our end,
you have to go through with thegroup that we have a lot of newcomers.
You know, we were just finishedwatching the film and you know,
Dylan Swain, I thought I didsome really good things in that game.
And as you guys know, Imean, I think he's really a key
player to not only this year's team, but really our future. I mean,

(03:05):
the sky is the limit for Daylanwhen you consider his age and his
talent level. But in the lastthree minutes of the game, he missed
five consecutive blockouts. He almost frozeup. He just watched the ball and
you know, whether it was hisown guy followed a misshot or a guy
ran right around him, didn't resultin five consecutive offensive rebounds. But if
any one of those shots missed,his man would have had a clear tip

(03:28):
and just he wouldn't block out.He didn't block out. And if we're
playing on Houston, if we're playingyou call. It doesn't matter what name
of the team that you play.If you're in the last four minutes of
a game and his shot goes upand you have one of your four or
five players out there just just standingand a guy's running full speed by him,
it's gonna be hard for you towin. And he wasn't the reason

(03:51):
we lost. But those two playsthat he was involved in were two huge
plays, not asking you to doanything other than you got to hit the
guy on a block and give it. You're all one hundred percent to try
and get the ball. And youknow, that's the category that sometimes when
you see it on film and youlearn from it and you experience a loss
and you're reminded of it, andyou're reminded of it, and you're reminded

(04:13):
of it, and you just keepdrilling it and drilling it and drilling it.
You're going to see him block outhere in the future. But that
doesn't help you beat Oakland, andI think that's all part of why people
would say you can't win with freshmenin college basketball. You have to have
an older group, you have tohave an experience group. You don't want
to bring ten new players in.You want to bring in three returning starters
and then mix in one player.And that's that's what we're building. Where

(04:36):
we're at right now in the monthof November on this year's team. There
are too many things right now.There are too many holes that we have
that we're trying to plug on theday before the game, the day of
the game. And look, oneof the things I wish we would have
done last night is trap the lowpost, give them a different look,
give them a double team. Withour group, we really haven't gotten to

(04:59):
that point yet. And I toldByron, you know, I felt that
we would be okay in last night'sgame based on our personnel, our depth,
and our size against what we knewwere two very good players. But
I wouldn't have predicted that they wouldgo for seventeen of twenty five from the
field. If you're out there withno defense and you're running your plays with

(05:20):
the coach and you shoot twenty fivedifferent shots. I don't know if you'll
make seventeen. I mean, there'sa lot of games that have been played
at the Centas Center over the lasttwenty years. Two players haven't combined,
whether it be on our team orthe away team, to go seventeen for
twenty five, and in particular,that's seventeen of twenty three inside the Ark.

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So you had two players go seventeenmade field goals on twenty three attempts
in a forty minute game on thesame team, and they completely dismantled our
frontcourt guys, our forwards, andour bigs to the point where we had
Desmond Claude on them. And thatwas a tall order to ask Dez to
do. I thought Dez did aboutas good as any of our guys did.

(06:06):
And then when we tried the crowdand get two people on either of
them, we weren't good enough doingthat either. So we failed the test
and we ended up with a toughloss seventy eight to seventy six. And
it's hard really to go beyond thescope of that, simply because if they
then start kicking it out or someother guys make some threes, I think

(06:28):
it's easier to live with thought thatyou know what we caught them on their
A plus night and where we're atright now wasn't good enough to win.
We just didn't have an answer forthe problem. And you know, as
a coach, and I think whenyou coach a game like that, you
always want to at some point beable to say our plan B or the
next thing that we did either didor didn't work. We just never gave

(06:50):
them the Plan B last night,And again, I think that's probably from
my perspective, the most disappointing partof last night is that you know,
I was in cont of that,and then obviously you know the team,
everybody we failed the test. Whenyou're facing a player like that, a
strong forward like Townsend, theoretically,who would you like to match up with

(07:15):
a guy like that last year?Would be a guy like Jerome Hunter who
could defend a guy like that,but he's not not here now obviously on
this team. Who would be thatguy who would stop that? Wh would
guard that kind of player? AndI understand some nights you got it just
flowing, and Townsend definitely played hisbest game I would imagine of his career,

(07:38):
but relative to Dalen Swaying. Ithought his inexperience kind of showed in
that in that situation. He'd neverbeen in that situation on the college level.
Yet that intensity that when when thingsare are coming to the end,
at the end of the game orduring the game, and you're fighting so

(07:59):
hard and that intensity level, that'sa learning curve that freshmen have to go
through to kind of understand just howhard it is at this level, no
matter who you're playing against, thatyou have to play in the attention and
detail that has to be there.That's the experience that and the lesson.
Hopefully he learned from that. Yet, no doubt En Byron, we actually

(08:22):
guarded Townshend with four players. Iwould say at the end of the game,
Des ended up guarding him long thelongest stretch of the four. We
did try dayling on him, andit was overwhelmingly in Townshend's favor. You
know, Geetis surprised me Getis hadplayed against a couple of physical players already
at Purdue against Saint Mary's in Washingtonand usually had done better against the bigger,

(08:46):
stronger forwards. Last night, hecertainly wasn't able to do it.
We played Lazar on him, who'smuch bigger than those guys. But I
think the more that Lazar plays,I think the more that we learn that
his learning curve of physicality is thousandsof yards away. Thousands You know,
you have to be able to bephysical. You can look the part at

(09:09):
the jump ball, but you gotto be able to use that and play
above the rim and be able tobe physical on both offense and defense.
And it's up to us to beable to bring that out in him and
to teach him that it's a differentstyle in Europe. Sometimes it takes a
little bit of time. You know. We've seen him catch lobs over the
top of the defense, and we'veseen him show that both in games and

(09:31):
certainly in practice. But Lazarre needsmore time the three weeks that he missed.
Based on where our season is rightnow, he's still playing catch up.
And I think the best basketball samewith Dayalen. The best basketball is
in their future. Being able towin a game with them right now,
that's a completely different pressure and adifferent story. But Lazarre wasn't able to

(09:54):
do it. None of our guyswere able to do it. What they
needed was a different scheme in well, I'm not saying that would have worked
either, but I certainly wish wehad a do over because I think that
based on the overwhelming physicality of bothConway and talents and against our group,
we needed to help them more.And that's why I'm so disappointed in that

(10:18):
part of the game alone. Andyou know, we attacked the matchup zone.
Actually Oakland zone defense statistically, Ithink is the best part of what
they do. And we weren't perfect. We had a couple of head scratching
turnovers, but you know, atthe end, I think we had ten
turnovers for the game. We shotthirty free throws, We had plenty of

(10:39):
offense. We ended up scoring seventysix points. Our offense was good enough
to win the game. We didn'thave enough defense as far as the post
defense goes. You'll need that asa season goes on. Obviously, in
those situations when you watch the videoor that, are your players allowing themselves
we post up too deeply just tostart with it to play even starts or

(11:00):
what do they? What do they? How do you teach them how to
assimilate and play the post if youhaven't done that, say in their careers.
I mean it takes a moment ortwo. Yeah, it's like all
the presence under the Christmas tree andit's all of that, you know,
like it's, uh, there's notone thing, Joe, And you know,
I think the other part of itis we need more time with them.
So you know, the other partthat this game reveals is what we're

(11:24):
doing in practice, you can incrementallybe better. It's just you have twelve
players practicing and there's a lot ofdifferent things you're trying to be good at.
We're trying to organize our zone offense, We're trying to make sure that
you know, we're crisp with ourpace. You know, you're working on
man defense, different different things,a lot of full court stuff. What
they need is right now, justtime away from the group. We're one

(11:46):
on one with me and a coachin a in a gym for twenty minutes
forty minutes an hour, several timesa week to catch them up on on
just what I would call like fundamentaltoughness. So it's like, this is
what you didn't do in the game. We're gonna fix this. We're gonna
give you some extra reps. Doyou understand we're gonna go live, you're

(12:07):
gonna watch it away from the group, and I think that you know,
once we get through today, we'regonna implement that more, just with our
big guys, so that you knowthe cuts that you're talking about why they
gave that up? Well, howwhat is the reason. There's too many
reasons, and be able to getthem more additional teaching in reps. They're
seeing it on film, they're nowseeing it in games. They're learning through

(12:30):
failure, they're learning through doing itthe right way. We're doing things in
practice. But I would just say, based on their age and experience and
how much they're playing right now ina game, we have to be able
to speed them up. And look, part of our problem with our younger
guys is a boo. He's beenin foul trouble in all seven games.

(12:50):
He's probably leading America in fouls persecond or foules per minute. And you
know we needed him in last night'sgame more than sixteen minutes and he wasn't
able to play that. There aretwo fouls that that they didn't call.
He would add seven, I thinkfor six if they called those fouls.
He has to learn how to playlonger stretches without fouling. But again that's

(13:13):
up to us as a coaching staffto help him through that, because he
had some good minutes last year.He really had some good minutes the other
night as well. He just can'tstay on the court long enough right now
without just completely slapping a guy inthe chest, face, nose, arm
and then acting like he didn't doit. I've never seen a guy foul

(13:35):
more and not think he fouled thanhim. It's a world record. It's
like I said to him today,it's not the refs. There's too many
of them. There's too many ofthem calling the same thing, and they're
only getting you. So us we'retrying to break a world record. We
need to slow down. But gettinga Boo to play longer stretches without fouling,

(13:56):
bringing Lazaarre, bringing Sasha and evenGeetas coming from Europe and bringing them
up to speed in the fundamentals ofbeing more physical. Blocking out, being
in the right position is key rightnow to us continuing to take the step
to being a better team. Andwith Daylan Swain, the words are block
out. You have to block outin college basketball. If you don't,

(14:20):
it's hard for your team to win. All right, This is the Sean
Miller Coaches Show from Dilly, Bistrelland Marrimont on fifty five KARC and the
Varsity Network. Welcome back to Dilly, Bistrel and Marrimont and the Sean Miller
Coaches Show. Xavier fans help CincinnatiCancer Advisor to achieve victory over cancer at
the next home game at the CentaCenter. Just grab a souvenir cup for

(14:41):
a chance to win. Great priceslike a private VIP suite, courtside seats
or Xavier merchandise. Coach, youtalked a lot in the postgame interview about
the last four minute segment and theability of a team to execute the last
four minutes like they've done maybe inthe previous thirty six minutes of a ballgame.

(15:01):
Is that you've coached for a numberof years now, Is that something
that you see teams occasionally struggle withand to kind of grow into that?
Is that is a tough time evenmaking free throws at the end of a
game, a little different environment thansay Hundre's ten minutes plaite so far in
a game. So last year,Joe, of our thirty seven games we
played thirty of the thirty seven itwas either we were up to possessions or

(15:24):
down two possessions or in between.In thirty of the thirty seven games that
we played last year, most ofthe time in particular because of the league
we play in, in the schedulewe play, you know, you're you're
in these hard fought battles. Soit's not that the end is any more
important than the first four minutes.I mean, we've I think all learned

(15:46):
over time the consistency that a teamplays with is probably the most important ingredient
you can have. But that finishyou know, the details of the finish
time score situation, being able toget a big defensive stop without fouling.
How many times have you seen abig offensive rebound win or lose the game

(16:07):
to be the team that either canget the big offensive rebound or prevent it
from happening. Last night, abig problem in the tenth in that four
minute segment is we gave up twosecond shots and in both cases it led
to it led to three point sixpoints. And really, you know,
so it's just like the first shotgoes up. It's hard enough to make

(16:30):
miss the first time. Being ableto finish the game, and then from
an offense, you saw us comeunraveled. You know, we had a
Davon had an eight assists and twoturnovers, which is excellent. I mean
that's four assists, a one turnoverratio and eight assists, especially in a
game like that. I did anice job in that area. But one
of us two turnovers came, youknow, when when we're in a three

(16:52):
point game, and it just hadreally nothing to do with with with what
we were doing. Just the ballwent out of bounds. So I think
it's like that composure. It's notletting the game pressure overwhelm what we're trying
to do, whether it be onoffense and defense and know your assignment.
Some of it is coming out ofa timeout, the concentration, extra concentration
with a crowd being loud, makingpressure free throws. Those are all the

(17:17):
things that I think the good teamsare able to do at the end of
a game. In recognizing that somany games in college basketball, in fact,
really do come down to that lastfour minute segment. We were winning
sixty three to sixty entering that lastfour minute segment. If it wasn't sixty
three to sixty it was sixty sixtythree, you know, entering that last

(17:38):
four minute segment, it was theirball, and it was just like boom
six nothing in two plays, andin both cases we broke down on the
second shot. Coach, I thought, I was impressed even though your team
trailed for like thirty four to fortyminutes, how they did fold. I
mean, when you're down that forthat long, it's easy to abandon what

(18:03):
the game plan. Guys sometimes stepout of their of their natural roles in
trying to get back. And Ididn't see that happening with your team.
And you know, as bad oras many mistakes that were made through mostly
the inexperience, you still had achance to even tire or win the game.

(18:25):
Yeah, at the buzzer, ifthis was very one sided, buyer,
and I mean, we can't evencome up with ways to spend this.
I mean, if you go pointsoff of turnovers, which really that's
not our style, right to createa lot of points off of turnovers.
But you know, we had seventeenpoints to their ten. You go second
chance points, that's a big one. They had ten, We had twenty

(18:45):
two. We had twenty two secondchance points. We offensive rebounded in that
game better than we have all seasonlong. Twenty two second chance points.
That's a lot of points. Fastbreak points they had four, We had
thirteen. And you know, fromthe bench, our bench outscored their bench,
and they play a bench, soit's not like they only play six
guys. We scored twenty eight,they had ten, So twenty eight to

(19:07):
ten from bench points, thirteen tofour, fast break points, twenty two
to ten, second chance points,seventeen to ten off of turnovers, And
like, well, coach, howdid you lose? They had thirty eight
points in the paint, thirty eightpoints. They almost broke a record.
Two players went seventeen for the twentyfour from the floor, and that's from

(19:30):
two And that's why I go backto what I said, And you win
as a team, you lose asa team, and sometimes as a coach,
you really have to see it forwhat it is. We needed to
be able to give our guys adifferent look, to make it difficult more
difficult, at least put them ina position to score another way than the
way they were scoring. I completelyon my fault. Overestimated what our guys

(19:53):
would be able to do in termsof their own individual ability guarding those two
players. I will say that,Byron, you could hold me to this
one. We will never lose thatway again. That's the one thing that
that's the one thing that I definitelyknow. We'll lose a different way,
but we're not gonna lose that way. I now know. There we go.

(20:14):
I did see one time where TreyGreen did double the post and he
tied him up, and was thatjust yeah, that was just instinct on
his well. We started to talkabout crowding and we really did it twice.
So one time he Trey went andhe got up, tied the ball
up and became our possession. Thatwas a turnover. And one time he
ran at him and Dylan Swain interceptedthe pass when coast to coast and had

(20:36):
a layup which I believe gave usthe lead late in the game. So
again I have a little bit ofa snapshot of what that potentially could have
looked like if we would have doneit more. I wish we had to
do over, but we don't.All right. This is a seton Miller
Coaches Show from Billy b Strell andMarymont on fifty five KRC in the Varsity
Network im Mack, Sean Miller's CoachesShow with Jilly b Strell and Marriymont and

(21:00):
Byron Go ahead. When you're outof town and you want to keep up
with live college sports, be sureto download the new Varsity Network app,
available for both Apple and Android.Listen to college sports live with the new
Varsity Network app. All right,let's take a phone call. Brian.
You're on with coach Sean Miller.How are you, Brian, I'm pretty
good. How you guys doing good? Thanks for calling it, Hey,

(21:22):
coach, tough loss yesterday against Oakland, But I just noticed how I like.
I really like the newcomer Dalen Swain. He seems like he's got a
lot of length. And you guys, maybe do you have any plays like
to design for him to set up? Set up more plays for him,
to get him some more offense inthe offense. Yeah, you know,

(21:44):
Dalen is he's a unique talent.I think he's, you know, certainly
one of the most talented players onour team. He's also the youngest player
on our team. He really shouldbe a senior in high school by age,
so he'll turn nineteen in June orJuly. I think it's I think
it might even be early July ofthis coming summer he'll be nineteen, So
he's still eighteen years old, andyou know, I think the sky is

(22:07):
the limit for him. He's alreadyimproved a ton since he got here in
early June, and which includes Ithink he's eighteen pounds heavier to be the
thin Daylan Swain that he is.You know, I imagine what he would
have been eighteen pounds ago, right, So I think his body will keep
developing. You know, I thinka James posey when I when I see

(22:29):
Daylon play. You know, Jamesbecame more skilled as he grew older and
just could do a lot of differentthings. Daylan is about that same exact
size. But in terms of whatwe do for him on offense, you
know, I think putting him inwith the ball in his hands. You
know, he's one of our team'sbest passers. He's learning what play to

(22:51):
make, and you know, Ithink as as you keep watching him grow
and develop, you're going to seehim having the ball in the middle of
the court in a decision making role. I think right now, that's his
best bet. He can take hisown opportunity and then shooting the ball.
He's streaky, He's not on agood streak at the moment, but I
think he'll get back back to wherehe was and he's a much improved shooter.

(23:15):
But your assessment of him as atalented young players very true. I
think the sky is a limit forDaylan, you know, right now,
it's like baptism by fire, andthat we need him to do things now,
you know, And if this werethe perfect world, he would be
in more of a Desmond Claude rolea year ago, where you see glimpses
of him and you're almost calling tosay, hey, can you get him

(23:37):
in the game more? Can youplay him a little bit more? Because
he looks like he's really talented.Where we're at with him now is we
just need him to be good.We need him to be good every game,
and we need him to be goodnot only on offense but on defense.
We're counting on him, which isa really big role for somebody his
age. But I have no doubthe's already helped us win. I have

(23:57):
no doubt that if you keep watchingus closely, you're going to see him
incrementally improving, I think almost eachweek. And what I hope you see
number one here in the next goround. Is him blocking out rebounding more
because we need him to rebound better. Yeah, I know it's very active
defensively. He likes to the slectpasses. He did to the passing lanes,

(24:21):
I think a lot. I see, Yeah, he did it three
times last night. I mean yeah, I think he had a couple of
steels, one great steel where wetalked about it where he went coast to
coast. But it's it's his size. You know, he's not six three
or six four out there. Youknow, Dayalen is every bit six seven.
He's got long arms, but he'sgot great instincts and quickness, and
you're right, like he can gethis hand on a lot of passes and

(24:42):
different things. And you know,when you think of rebounding, you know,
a guy like him, he canbe a factor not only rebounding on
defense, but he can he canget us tip INDs and different things on
the offensive glass. So we're reallyon him right now to be more active
rebounding. I think to your initialquestion, that alone will make him more

(25:03):
of a playmaker where he gets tothe free throw line more. If he
gets a defensive rebound. He canpush the ball on the fast break,
where again he's clever and he hasthe ball in the middle of the floor.
But you know, Dylan is definitelysomeone that we really enjoy coaching.
Okay, thanks coach. And alsoagainst Houston, you guys Gonta, you

(25:25):
know there they are a real toughteam and I don't know if it's like
they're a real physical team. Doyou guys have how do you guys preach
get to get like tough more onthe on the team and how do you
guys try to get tougher? Yeah, I mean you you learn from the
Oakland experience. Sometimes there's no betterway than learning than to see yourself maybe
not doing that as well as we'recapable of on film and and having to

(25:48):
take the sting of a loss.You have that and then obviously our practices
leading into the Houston game. Clearly, any team that plays them, it
starts with you have to be ableto block out and keep them off the
offensive glass. You know, sinceCalvin Samson has been the coach at Houston,
they may do that better than anyprogram in the country. And this

(26:10):
year is no exception. Seven tozero, big margin of victory in every
game they've played, and they gotsome some older, really tough minded players
crashing the glass. Brian, thanksfor the call. We appreciate it.
Joe, you're on with the coach. How you doing, Joe? Pretty
good? I haven't guy done.We're good. Thanks for calling it.
Coach. You didn't pay any zoneand I did you? I just watch

(26:33):
that Joe defense? Lit, Idid you zone defense? Yeah? Last
night? Right? No? No, no, we did not, And
you know we had a pretty goodreason. They had what I probably is
America's best shooter on their team,Number three. He he led college basketball
and three point attempts coming into thegame, and he was second in the

(26:56):
country in three point makes. Ifyou think about the game that was number
three, go go hike. Hewas four for thirteen last night. It's
just, you know, playing hiszone, in my mind, with him
on the court makes it a tallorder, because you know you're working so
hard to prevent threes that there's nodoubt that you know you're you're really at

(27:17):
a point where you're vulnerable with himout there, especially the range he shoots
it at. But I'll tell youthis, it might have been better than
what we tried, Joe, Soyour question is well taken. Well,
you know, it seems like aquarter out of points in the paint that
maybe you play the zone, keephim out of the paint, you know,
keep the ball out of paint,and you know, but then you

(27:37):
know it's you know, really yep, no good point oriday. Thank you,
thanks for to call Joe Seawan.What about like in the future you
play against a real dominant player inthe post, do you prefer to play
man the man and double him upor do you prefer to play zone?

(27:57):
So in one situations is zoned bestversus man a man? Yeah? I
mean the thing with our team,Barron is, you know, if you
think about it, what we're whatwe're against up against the most is just
time. So you can only getso good at so many things in a

(28:19):
short amount of time. You know. For example, coming from Vegas where
we played those two games in threedays, this year's team is about ready
to face back to back zone defensesfor the first time. I mean,
when you have ten new players andyou're these freshmen who've never really seen a
college zone defense like both Bryant andOakland played, and there two different types

(28:41):
you have to spend time at that, you know, making sure that you're
as organized as you can be,that your your guys understand what to do,
what not to do, what howto avoid trouble. And because of
that, you're investing a ton ofyour your practice time in that. You
know you have that, and youstart to prioritize then you have you know,

(29:03):
we're a man demand program and team, and scouting is a big,
big part, so you have togo over what these guys are running and
how they get their shots. Youstart adding it up and say, hey,
by the way, let's work onour zone. You know, part
of the problem here early on isyou can only be so good at so
many things. And I think theythought of the change up. I get,
but you put the zone up anda lot of times it's just it's

(29:25):
not a good zone. And that'sworse than anything. Right. So I
would say to answer your question,Byron, you know, we want a
double team and we want to bea team that can crowd and I think
you'll see some of that moving forward. This is a Sean Miller Coaches Show
from Dilly Bistro and Marymount on fiftyfive KRC and the Varsity Networks. Welcome

(29:47):
back to the Shot Miller Coaches Show. You're at Dilly Bistro and Marriemont,
But i'd like perhaps sponsor Saver Athletics, Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy,
Sewan. Sometimes during the break,people come up instead of coming step
into the mic, they'll ask mea question to ask you. So someone
asked about Ryan Reynolds. It's beenpart of your staff at Arizona. He's
originally from Cincinnati, Cincinnati roots waswith you at Arizona and he's back at

(30:12):
Xavior. Talk a little bit aboutRyan's role on the staff. You know,
his title is this special assistant tothe head coach, but you know,
they're just there's so many different thingsthat encompasses a basketball program. And
I would say that Mario Mercurio,who I think everybody here knows and knows
well, you know, Mario ishe has a role that is huge when

(30:36):
it comes to our program. Buthe also has a role that's very important
to the entire athletic department, whichsometimes can require time spent doing other things
and with other sports. So whatRyan Reynolds is, he's really the eyes
and ears of our program, kindof like the Opsky, the director of
basketball operations, from scheduling to keepa track of our players, academics and

(31:00):
just the summer camps, my schedule, the schedule of our coaches when we
go out recruiting, and just lookat him almost as a clearing house to
a lot of really important aspects,including compliance and academics, those two being
two really important parts to what wedo in terms of the game. You
know, he's sat in the sameseat and has really been the person in

(31:22):
charge of like how many time outsyou have, how many fouls each player
as when we're in the bonus Andyou know that's a big role too.
Byron, you screw that one up. You know that's a forever moment.
But he's been with me, Ithink eighteen of the nineteen years that I've
been been a head coach. Andyou know, his roots here in Cincinnati,
attended Xavier as an undergrad and graduateschool. His dad, Jim Reynolds,

(31:45):
is a long time high school coachhere in town at Madeira High School.
And I think he's thrilled to beback. Big Cincinnati Bengals fan frustrated
with this weekend's results, Like alot of Bengals fans were, but he's
getting over it and we're thrilled tohave him here with us. Sue,

(32:07):
Hi, Hello, Sue. Firstof all, compliment from our table.
We love the way you break downthe game, the way you tell us
things, and we understand it's nota lot of the clique ish kind of
things that a couple of other pastcoaches engaged in, So we understand when

(32:31):
you tell us what's going on.Okay, here's my question. I know
a little bit about rituals at thefree throw line. I was married to
someone in the past who taught themand learned them at Penn State. So
you commented on rituals last game,and I watch for those I knew a

(32:57):
player many years ago. Is iteighty six percent at the free throw line
that Davenport had overall? I doknow that's right. Okay, So I'm
wondering, do all of your playersengage in a ritual and is it possible
if it's not working, that maybethey need to look at it and change

(33:21):
the ritual. Yeah? Yeah,So ritual, route or routine, it's
really means the same thing, andit goes from the perspective of remember at
a free throw the advantages. Youstand in the same place, you're always
going to catch the ball from thereferee underneath the basket. You have the
same amount of time nobody's guarding you. So the thought is that the tempo

(33:45):
that you do, whatever routine youhave, and the routine itself, that
it's muscle memory that when you practiceit in practice in the summer, that
you take the same amount of dribbles, your same release point, stop the
ball, don't overdo you would shootand shoot it in and just and then
when it goes in, it's justthat that repetition. So, yeah,

(34:06):
we we emphasize that all of ourplayers in fact have their own routine.
Sometimes we'll help them change it ifit's a little too much, and yeah,
if it's not working, no doubt, I think sometimes you can.
Most of the time though, ifyou start changing your routine, you're overlooking
something, you know, almost likea panic move. You know, we

(34:27):
all go through our dips where youhave a hot streak and then maybe you
have a couple of games where wedon't shoot it as well. You just
have to be careful. Sometimes theanswers just stick with it, really concentrate.
More repetitions are in your favor.We're going through that a lot.
I don't believe that we've shot theball to our capability. Last night's another
example. Although we were twenty threefor thirty seventy six percent, which is

(34:52):
pretty good, we still missed twoclutch free throws under the five minute mark
front ends of a one on one, which you two of those. It's
amazing how that adds up. Ayear ago. That was one of the
deceiving parts to our team. Somany games were in jeopardy or whether we
were gonna win or lose, andwe were so great at clutch free throw

(35:13):
shooting, especially Soulet Boom, thatyou tended to almost take it for granted
and overlook it. Right now,we're trying to re establish that good question
Byron, Byron will talk a lot. Well, we're gonna take a break.
We'll take a break, We'll comeback. This is the Sean Miller
Coaches Show from Dili Bistro and Marymonton fifty five KARC and the Varsity Network.

(35:38):
Welcome back to the Sean Miller Show. We're at DLLI Bistro and Marymont
and coach Desmond kwad. I thoughtplay well offensively and made some nice defensive
stops for you. You know,de des Is is a good topic to
bring up, Joe, because he'sa great example. And he's the only
example I have of somebody who ayear ago at this time, if you

(36:00):
have thought about him, you sometimesI would have to tap you on his
shoulder and say, hey, askme about DEAs. You know, the
young freshman that plays a little bit. He was just finding his way,
he was practicing, he was learningfrom Kobe Jones. Once in a while
we throw him in there and thegame looked too fast. Once in a
while we throw him in there andhe make a couple of plays, and
you know, Byron and say,you know, I think Dez has a

(36:20):
bright future. What do you think? But that's where he would have been
last November. Well this November,you fast forward and again he had twenty
four points last night, three steals, He had six rebounds. He got
fouled in the game, Joe eighttimes. I mean, that's one thing
to keep in mind, like whenyou talk about a dominant player, to
get fouled eight times, ten fortwelve from the line. Thought he was

(36:44):
more confident in his game from thefree throw line. He has right now
lost his confidence from behind York,and we have to get him back,
you know, with our travel schedulein four games in these last twelve days,
the Dez just needs some time tojust be in the gym and sh
He is a much better three pointshooter than he's currently showing. But I

(37:05):
think when you look at what he'sdoing right now, points per game,
rebounds per game, guard the otherteam's best player, take care of the
ball, and at the end ofthe game, you know you're saying,
Deaz, we need more. Andbut I think that that's something that that
Des and I have talked about asfar back as late this summer. It's
going to bring out the best inhim. He's going to develop. I

(37:27):
think when you watch him in Januaryand February, he's going to be an
even better version of the player you'relooking at right now. And I really
believe a lot like Daylon Swain.You know, Dez, the sky is
the limit for him, and we'rejust we're just on him right now to
just not take a playoff. Weneed him and to defend, to rebound,
to help us run the team,to be more vocal and look,

(37:52):
you could sometimes see it in hisface and practice, like, Wow,
I didn't realize that it was goingto be this difficult, and that's what
it feels like. And as youknow, to be the best player,
it's not for everybody. And thereis a learning and growing curve when it
comes to that as well, andthat is does what he's going through.
But i think early on through thefirst seven games, he's done a really

(38:14):
good job of doing what we've hadabsolutely coach. And then the other thing
is, like you said, he'slost his confidence in his three point shooting,
but he still gets twenty four pointsright, which is absolutely I mean,
I'd rather have a great score thana great shooter, because you know,
a great shooter sometimes is going tomiss and then what you got but
scores or get to the free throwline, get fouled, get into the

(38:38):
lane and make something happen. AndI'm so impressed with what he was last
year to what he has become now. I mean, he's the alpha dog
end of the shot clock into thegame, I'm sure he's in the huddle
like give me the ball. Iwant to be able to do that.
And that's a mantle that you haveto accept and not it doesn't necessarily just

(39:00):
happened naturally. You've gotta earn thatearn that trust from you, and he's
got to accept that he's done it. Like to thank everybody for joining us
here tonight a Deli Britz Stroke,thank you very much for being here for
the Sean Miller Koshi Show at MaryMutt. I'm fifty five KRC in the
Varsity Network live from the Dilly Bistroin Marymont. This has been the Sean

(39:35):
Miller Radio Show presented by bud Late. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy
and buy Try Health. Try Healthprovides surprisingly human care that drives the best
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