Episode Transcript
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(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 tryhealthdot com. Now Here are Joe Sunderman
and Byron Larkin. I'm going withthe Sean Miller Radio Show live from Dylli
Pistro Merriman. I'm Joe Sunderman alongwith Byron larkerm are waiting for Sean Miller
to join us. I understand theyhad a film session backets in school that
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went extended and helpe you hearing aboutfive or ten minutes. So I guess
for the next five or ten minutes, I'm gonna rename it the Byron Larkin
Show. Let's go good to say, don't we need to resign a contract
or something? Of course, XaviorMusketeers. This past week loost A Yukon
by five eighty seventy five hit aterrific victory on the road at Providence,
Rhode Island, beating the Providence Friarseighty five to sixty five, and that
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was, without a doubt, thebest performance the Musketeers have had in a
long long time. It was somethingto witness the last thirty minutes of that
ball game. Yeah, especially whenyou consider Providence. Providence had lost three
games in a row prior Xavier hadlost two games in a row, so
both teams are super desperate, soyou knew you were going to get their
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best shot. The other thing thatwas really impressive to me was Providence was
ten and one at home. Xavierwent there and beat them by twenty on
their own floor, and I thinkthat says a lot about the program.
How you think about the two thetwo wins and the big eat. Xavier's
won by twenty or more when theybeat Seaton Hall and then Providence. And
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Seaton Hall they hit ten three pointers. Against Providence they had twelve three pointers.
It just shows you the value ofshooting the ball well. And of
course Trey Green had an outstanding performancetwenty three points and was just remarkable,
certainly in the second half and Byron, when I was watching Trey Green and
thinking about that ballgame as a freshman, he had a breakout game. You
had a similar situation like that whenyou were a freshman, when Xavier played
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Pittsburgh on the road. They werein the Big East, they were ranked,
and the thought was aavery wanted toplay him in their place, not
much of a chance. You cameoff the bench in that game, you
were not starting as a freshman.You scored seventeen points and the rest is
history. As you've kind of learnedin that ballgame that I can do this,
and I can do it at ahigh level. Now, Trey Green
maybe a similar experience that he's finallygoing to get that confidency. Most of
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shots he's taken this year, Ithink are going in. A lot of
them didn't for early on, butto talk to him in practice, he
always had confidence. He always saidhe was going to work hard, which
he did and then he had greatsuccess, which is thrilling to see.
But what's a breakout game like thatwhen your experience as a freshman. What
might that do for Tray Green ashe moves forward? It's huge. It's
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like a water shed for you becausewhen you're a freshman and well all these
players, like in high school,you're you're you're you're the best player on
your team, and now you cometo college and you know, for lack
of better or you're you're one ofthe worst because you're playing with guys who
are three years older than you.You're playing with guys who have beards,
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and you know, I wouldn't evenyou know, I wasn't even shaving when
I was a freshman, you know, so, uh it was it was
really enlightening. I remember the firsttime I played pick up with the guys
at Xavier and uh, you know, I my eyes got really big and
I barely touched the ball and Iwent back to the coach and I was
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like, hey, you know,I made a mistake. I'm gonna go
play football. I you know,because I got recruited for football, and
but I always loved playing basketball.And that that first that first indoctrination to
playing with those older guys was itwas. It was kind of harsh.
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The coaches like encouraged me to say, hey, you have to you know,
have to work a little harder,you have to adjust your game,
and you know, it's that freshmanyear is a tough year. And then
you have your teammates, your olderteammates, who aren't giving you any grace
either, you know, they're like, hey, you're not taking my spot
byron, So I'm just going tokeep knocking you in the dirt as hard
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as I can, you know.So, so you have a lot of
that going on as well. Butit says a lot about Trey Green one
to keep working hard because for thefirst time in his life, he's not
playing much. You know, allthese players on Xavier's team have always been
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the best player on every team,you know, from the times they can
walk to the senior year in highschool. Now you get to get to
college and now you're not only notin the rotation, you're not playing at
all, and you a lot oftimes don't and you're away from home when
this is happening and you're trying toadjust. So there's a lot of pressure
on freshmen to to stay the coursegiven those circumstances. And it says a
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lot about Trey Green that he respondedthe way he did in that circumstance,
because you know, you could veryeasily just say, eh, you know,
you know, I'm I'm getting screwedover by the coach. I should
be playing. I'm not playing,So I'm just going to have a bad
attitude or oh I'm just going totransfer with the transfer portal. Now that's
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you know, that's an option offor some players. But Trey Green what
he did. He kept working andhe kept and I credit Sean and his
staff to be able to keep himmotivated, keep keep the freshman motivated,
to keep working hard when they're notseeing the results in playing time. So
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Trey Green has earned the playing timebecause no one on this team, and
people come up to me and say, well, why don't he They try
this guy, Why don't they trythis guy. Sean is not going to
try anybody unless you have earned theright to play, and you do that
in practice. If he doesn't trustyour effort, if he doesn't trust your
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your mentality defensively to be tough mindedout as as he likes to see you
play, you just won't play.And uh, Trey Green has done a
lot to put himself in that positionto where Sean will trust him. I
think in that Providence game is oneof the first times he was able to
play through traffic, play through mistakesand uh where he had an ability uh
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to play, And it says alot about him to keep keep working hard
giving that Yeah, he wasn't playingto put himself in a position to win.
His number was called, he wasable to to come up big for
the musket. What about his confidencemoving forward, Oh, Joe, this
I think hopefully this is something thathe can build on. You know.
Sean often talked about what they seein practice every day. It's different in
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practice than when the lights are onand people are in the stands, and
he was able to do that ina big way. I guess your show's
over now, thank you very much. Yeah, sorry, we have such
a quick turnaround here. We hadan extra film session and went a little
bit late. Next thing, youknow, I'm late to my radio show,
so sorry. Well, you knowwhen coaches involved, and Byron talked
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about it all the time with PeteGillen, how they get involved in that
from they just kind of lose.I mean, yeah, that's where you
are. You're so much in thatmoment. I mean things you need to
teach. The game's got to fixpeople going to a trance. Like we're
watching and all of a sudden wedisappear and he's just talking to himself,
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you know, rewinding and then we'relike, hey, coach, we're back
here. We're this together. Sohow often do you watch film with your
with your team coach? What isit like after a game and how does
that that work? Is it areyou watching it as a team or breaking
it out into positions or how doesthat happen? Yeah, I mean like
everything Byron today, it's like youhave a system in place. So you
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know, if you're a player onour team, we play a game number
one, you know you're gonna havesome individual clips, individual moments that you're
gonna watch isolated with an assistant coach. And sometimes I'll be involved. Most
of the time with that, Iwon't be involved. That's the relationship between
our staff and that player. Thingsthat you can show him that sometimes you
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can talk to him about at alonger length than if the other twelve or
thirteen guys are sitting there watching thesame thing. So, and you know,
some of this, Byron is justlearning your learner, right, Guys
like I'll give you an example.Somebody like Sasha, you know, who's
learning English as a language, clearlycan can speak it, but just as
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he listens and learns and tries totake it in, learning one on one
is much more powerful for him.If he could sit with you for twenty
minutes fifteen minutes and watch himself orteach points just you and a coach.
He learns so much better, whichmakes sense. Yeah, and then there's
some other guys that maybe it doesn'tmatter quite as much, So you figure
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that out. And then the secondpart is we always have what we call
feedback, and we're going to gothrough the good and the bad, both
when we had the ball and whenthe other team had the ball, the
highlights, the low lights, andmostly it's about teaching and trying to grow
and learn and improve improve our team. So we always do that, even
on a quick turnaround. So wedid that yesterday. Is that with the
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whole team or is that that willalways be with the whole team? And
you know, sometimes it takes fifteenminutes, sometimes it could take up to
forty five minutes to an hour.I think it varies on how we did
when we play the next game,the time of year. But between your
clips with an assistant coach and thefeedback with the team, you know,
that's a lion's share of the learning. And now the third part is you
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move into the scouting which we're inwith Butler, and that is to show
them their personnel, and what Butlerdoes well on offense, does on defense,
what we have to do to getready, and if you're following our
schedules, it's coming at us inwaves right now. You know, you
had a Yukon at home on aWednesday, you had Providence two o'clock Saturday.
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Here we are tomorrow night, Tuesday, six thirty game against Butler,
and then when that game ends,we played Georgetown on Friday at six thirty.
So you start to add that up. That's like three games in essence
in about nine days. There's alot going on, especially now that school
has resumed. So our guys theyhave a lot, a lot on their
plate. You mentioned it's so coldoutside. What else do they have to
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do besides basketball school? In basketball, you wouldn't want to do anything else,
That's right, Sasha Shani. Didyou compliment him on some of the
picks that he sent to free thecards up a little bit? I thought
he did a great job doing thatthat game he did, I thought,
not only him, but we executedagainst Providence, you know, freed up
a number of different players. Itwas Trey, it was Quincy, it
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was Dez and I think some ofthe good offense that we ran. To
your point, joe, I knowyou always look out for those big,
slow guys. I thought they dida good job screening, and they did
a great job. It's like theoffensive lineman. They never quite get the
credit for the running back that hasthe one hundred yard night, right,
So those big guys have to setgood screens and you're right, we show
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now we're ready to go. They'rethe reason for all the success always,
Coach Joey, you said a littlebit about Desmond Claude. I mean,
I don't know if we've talked enoughabout how well he's been playing, especially
in that first half. I meanhe had nineteen points and well he was
he had it all going for him. You know, des is uh that
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was the best game of the seasonfor him. He really put it all
together. Byron. One of thethings that's happened the last two games,
quietly is the ball has gone downwhen he shot the three, and you
know, it's just like it's it'sI think to some degree frustrating for Dez
because he's put in a lot oftime an effort from last year where three
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point shooting really wasn't a part ofwhat he did to this summer and fall,
and I think I would be theone telling you, like, boy,
his shot has really gotten better.It's taken a while to translate.
And I think for the first timehere we're starting to see him settle in.
And you know, he doesn't haveto make four or five threes in
a game, but man, hemakes such such a better team. And
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he's much more difficult to defend whenhe can keep you honest from the three
point line. And you know he'sshooting the ball with more confidence, and
it's good to see, all right. This is a Sean Miller Coaches Show
from Dilley Bistro and Maryman not fiftyfive KRC in the Varsity Network. Welcome
back to the Sean Miller Show fromDilley Bistro and Mary Matt. Xavier fans
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help Cincinnati Cancer Advisors achieve victory overcancer at the next home game at the
Centa Center. Just grab a souvenircup for a chance to win great prizes
like a private VIP suite, courtsideseats or Xavier merchandise. Like to thank
everybody for coming to Night Brave andCold Weather. Another capacity crowd here at
Delli bistro, and we sure doappreciate it once you know that for sure,
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and we have a birthday, wedo appreciate it. And thank you
guys here. The crowd this yearin last year has been amazing and Martha
liked to wish you a happy birthday. Happy birth yesterday, Martha Yesterday related
birthday. Yeah, so you're oneof the great fans, Martha, and
I know this. In the tenseasons that I've been a part of Avier
basketball, you've been here from startto finish in all ten. So thank
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you. She had Martha Hewlett,thank you coaching a win over Providence.
And you have been yelling to yourball club from day one or practice faster,
quicker, moving up the court.I think you finally had that against
Providence for at least a period oftime. Your team was flying up the
court both directions, getting back ondefense, but certainly when they grabbed the
ball, any and everybody, theywere hustling across the timeline that we played
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with really good pace. And Iwas really proud of our team because when
you play a game like we playedagainst Yukon, which you really part pour
your heart and soul into that,it's very emotional. There's a couple of
things in that game that we weren'tproud of what we did. We talked
about it. Our transition defense reallylet us down. And look, sometimes
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you have to tip your hat tothe team we're playing as well. That's
an area where Yukon might be thebest in the country. So we did
get exposed. But so you haveto leave that game, learn from it,
and quickly, all of a sudden, you find yourself in Providence,
Rhode Island, playing in the ProvidenceCivic Center, the Dunkin Donut Center,
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whatever it's called these days, infront of that crowd and a good team,
a team that needed a win,and you wonder, like, God,
are we going to have the energyfrom start to finish that we're gonna
need? And we did. AndI appreciate you saying that, Joe,
because I've had a couple of peoplebring it up, and I thought our
guys were just you know, playedwith a lot of energy and link the
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words sometimes is force where just youknow, you're fast up and down the
court and you just almost can feelit and it has a real impact on
the game. Now the key canwe do it again? Because we again,
you leave the quick turnaround at Providenceon Saturday. You guys traveled with
us, We got back in theevening and now a pretty quick turnaround here
for Butler. But we're always goingto be better when we push the pace.
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That's part of the identity of Ithink what we're building. We had
it last year, we've really hadit this year. We just Arnest arn
A talented making shots as we wouldhave been a year ago. But I
think that in that game, somebodylike Trey Green comes in the game,
Byron, you've talked about Geatis.When those two guys are chipping in and
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making some shots, it's just Ithink that that pace that we're talking about
shows up better Joe coach. Accordingto tom Ier to Sid's aver second in
the Big East, twenty seventh inthe nation, and assist you lead the
Big East in fast break points.So that's something that that just doesn't happen
organically. That's something that you gotto work on in practice, and it's
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got to be really nice to seethat. Yeah, I just think it's
Look, if you're a fan,and everybody in here is it's just a
much funner game when you watch ateam push the ball you know, push
the ball. There's a lot ofways to play. I think in recruiting
there's nothing that a young person looksmore, looks forward to more that haven't
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a chance to play with pace.That's how the game's played at the highest
levels, and it's something that Ithink that if it's done correctly Byron,
it's it's not only a fun wayto practice and play the game, but
really you can maximize your talent.And when you look at a guy like
Quincy, think about the big gamesthat Quincy's had, what's the one common
thread he gets shots in transition,three point shots in transition. You know,
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you see Daveyon when he's had hisbest games, he seems to be
playing with that ball in the middleof the floor like he did against Providence,
making things happen. So we certainlywant to keep that up. And
I thought we did a good jobon Saturday, and we want to build
on that for tomorrow. And Johnthat not every everybody wants to play fast,
but now everybody can do that withoutbeing reckless, right and being able
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to kind of control your turnovers.You talk a lot about that all the
time, the turnovers and rebounding.How it's important, but turnovers, especially
when you're playing fast, you gotto get good looks, and I think
it starts with your point guard makingsure you right people have the ball in
the right spots, and he makesthe right decisions. And daveon mcnight,
I think is really coming on.It's really solid thinking he had eight points
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and eight assists. Yeah yeah,leads the league and assist and assist the
turnover and you got to have thatgood quarterback out there if you're playing fast,
And I think he's really really justgetting better as the season goes on.
He is, by the way,I would just describe him as just
he is a really fun guy tocoach. He's the same every day.
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He's the same whether we have aheartbreaking loss or he doesn't play well,
or we have a huge win andhe does play well. He just he
just steady. And it's that steadinessand his willingness to show up and work
hard every day. Aboo is verysimilar. You know, those two guys
have done a great job just reallyleading by example. And as you know,
like Debion didn't start the season onfire, I mean in the month
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of November, I think he wasreally learning a lot about Xavier and our
style and how this is going tofeel. But I agree he's more comfortable
now and uh, when he's reallypushing the ball, playing at at his
best. I'll go back to UCthe Crosstown shootout. That's what I think
our team is at, is atour best. He he's that engine that
I think we really need, andI'm really excited about his development. I
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still have not seen or heard himever speak a word. He's quiet.
He really can't talk. He opensup I think, you know alone,
but just by nature, it's justhe is. He is certainly quiet,
but does a great job leading byexample. I'm constantly on him to communicate
with me more. You know.Again, I thought back to the Yukon
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game. The game got so fastand frenetic that we didn't communicate with each
other really well. You could feelit in the game. That was part
of our problem in transition defense.So again, you talk to him,
you show him. Is he awilling learner? Absolutely, And in the
Providence game he did a better jobcommunicating with me. With our teammates and
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eight assist in two turnovers. We'lltake that any night. From our point
guard. Coaches, I watch yourteam evolve. It seems to me preparing
for Xavier now versus a month agois much more difficult. For example,
you're seven minutes of the game oftrailing by eleven points and you're bringing I
think a three quarter court press andmaybe a full court press, and you're
throwing different looks. And to me, you watch teams prepare for that,
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you can talk about a lot whenyou see it and it changes on you.
You got to rethink it. Whatam I supposed to do now?
And you're doing that with the opponents? Yeah, for sure, Joe.
And you know, it's like everythingin life. Sometimes in hindsight you look
back and say, Okay, whatwe have done better? What could I
have done better? And it's themost difficult part in today or especially for
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our team this year, is whenyou have ten new players and I know
I've talked a lot about it.You know, you just think about it.
If you give them too much,you already know the outcome. They're
not going to ever have a chanceto be good at any one thing,
just because we haven't been together longenough to get the repetition and the familiarity
that basketball requires. So you know, you want to build the strongest foundation,
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the most important things, and youwant to get as far up the
ladder with those things as you canbefore you start adding different things that you
can add as a coach. Offense, defense, you know, even like
zone offense. You know, anexperienced team sometimes that alone takes care of
zone offense. It's it's not beinguncomfortable when you see the change of defense
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when you have a new group.That's something that can really oh and we've
felt that a couple of times throughoutthe course of the year. We're better
at that area now. But whatwe finally have settled in on, I
mean, I think we'll continue todevelop it and build as our year goes
on, and certainly in the future, is to be able to pick up
full court, change the game andbe able to press, maybe not for
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forty minutes, but after free throws, a after a timeout, and give
the team different looks. To yourpoint. Harder to prepare for us,
and I think it gives us achance to do exactly what happened at Providence.
Sometimes you force a steal, youscore it, and it changes the
game. And I thought near theend of the first half, our press
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forced two quick turnovers and it reallygave us some good momentum going into halftime.
Coach. It helped in the Yukongame as well. Sure, I
mean you had Villanova as well.Yeah, And I guess when you're a
team that's probably a better defensive teamthan offensive team, and I would kind
of describe your team as that thisyear definitely. Last year was a little
different. I think you were abetter offensive team defensive team line year.
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This year's team when when you whenyou struggle to score in the half court,
you need to be able to createsome offense off your defense and being
able to extend your defense at timeto create turnovers, get in transition,
to get people out like a DaylynSway, to get a layup, to
get a dunk, to help getthat confidence. There's got to be something
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great to have and you know inyour back pocket to throw out there.
Now, that's something that your opponentshave to prepare for, no doubt about
it. And we're we're working onit almost daily right now, whether it
be day of the game and shootaround and just through our film. So,
for example, you asked earlier,you know, part of what we
really wanted to show our team afterthe Providence game, is just that our
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press being effective and maybe why itwas effective and showing them, you know,
what we did well in that game, so it leads into the next
one. So but yeah, we'rewell aware of it, and I think
our guys like it as well.For the same reason that you described Byron,
I'm always amazed about how many ofyour guys can grab a rebound off
the glass and take it on thedribble and start a fast break. I'd
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say typically have four of the fiveplayers on the floor that can actually grab
it and go, whether its Twain, Green, OLIVERI mcnight, quad and
maybe Usmand but probably he's looking fora guard right away. Maybe you're hoping
he is. Anyway, Yeah,God, I hope he doesn't dribble out.
He dribble out the game against Providence. Coach. Yeah, and we
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saw gas on the fast break againstYukon and that didn't look real well how
that worked out. But you know, back to the Providence game, we
talked a lot about rebounding. Thatwas our best rebounding game in the Big
East, you know, and TreyGreen, among the many things that he
did well, I'm sure not alot of our fans realize he led us
in defensive rebounding. Trey had sixdefensive rebounds against Providence. You know,
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there would have been a time amonth ago that you would be begging him
just to enter the almost, enterthe fly, enter the fight, right,
just like don't don't leak out.He's never really had to rebound,
and we've talked to him about it. Good teams on defense, good rebounding
teams. Usually you get contributions fromfrom guards. I mean, I remember
as far back as Drew Lavender,who always was the smallest player on the
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on the court. There are timeswhen Drew would lead us in defensive rebounding.
He just had a knack, hada way of going and getting the
ball. But among the many greatthings Trade did against Providence six defensive rebounds,
we gave him the standing ovation inthe film session and hopefully that'll that'll
encourage him to keep doing that,right, the little treatment. You're right,
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they do it all. We're gonnatake a break. This is a
Sean Miller coach a show from BillyBistro and Marymount on fifty five KRC in
the Varsity Network. Don't your showfrom Billy Bistro and Marymuck When you're out
of town and you want to keepup with live college sports, be sure
to download the new Varsity Network app, available for both Apple and Android.
(25:03):
Listen to college sports Live with theVarsity Network app coach. During the break
we were the question was posed,this league has so many good coaches.
They have experienced coaches like a Patino, and they've got guys that are in
their second or third year. Isthere much difference coaching against I say,
a coach has been coaching for thirtyyears versus someone's been coaching for three years.
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Can you feel the difference in thepreparation of what needs to be done.
It's like the analogy I'd give you, It's like driving a car on
a bike trail versus a super highway. Yeah, meaning I can't explain you
the difference, you know, AndI don't mean that because the last coach
that I coached against, you know, is younger that That's not what I'm
saying. But there's some coaches,and Coach Patino would be there that they're
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the best in the game, anygame, NBA, FOBA, Europe,
best coaches in the world, youknow, eyes that in every area their
team is prepared and you know theylook at they bring out the best in
you when you try to prepare yourteam. But that's really a unique question
to ask Joe, and one hundredpercent I would say that, yeah,
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I would say you really notice thatyou do throughout the years too. You
just you just know when you knowthere's some coaches that have better players,
and that's all part of this.You know, no coaches can win without
good and sometimes great talent, butyou know when you're up against a quality
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coach, and in our league rightnow, from top to bottom, it's
probably as strong as any any conferencein the country. And one reason is,
you know, we don't only Iknow, I use the word only
only have eleven teams, right Theyused to be that was the norm.
But in these super conferences, youknow, most of the time, I
think the ACC has what sixteen teams, the Big twelve, I don't know
(26:59):
what they're going to have or theBig ten is now going to have.
But in our league, it's tenhome games, ten row games, and
we have some great coaches in ourleague. And Rick Patino when you play
Saint John's, he's bringing out thebest in everybody or the worst. They're
getting better. And I think analready terrific league is that much better,
in particular with his addition Sean againstProvidence, we had the pleasure to be
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our broadcast position was right behind you, well, right next to the bench,
so you were kind of in ourway when we were watching. Watching
again, I was gonna I thoughtabout tapping you on the shoulder and asking
you to move, but I didn'tthink that that would probably be a good
idea. But watching you, coach, and sometimes sometimes I'm looking at you,
(27:49):
coach and your substitution patterns. Youknow, sometimes you sub a lot,
sometimes you don't sub very often.What is kind of your mindset when
you're and I know it's a differentfor each game, but do you have
kind of a general set of thingsin your mind that says, Okay,
this guy needs to come out orwhat you what are you looking at mainly
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when you're when you're kind of assessingthe substitution. I understand some coaches don't
eat. Head coaches don't even sub. Some of their assistant coaches sub.
How what's your mindset relative to that? Yeah, I mean there are times
when I make the decision, buta lot of times are staff's able to
sub. I mean a couple ofthings. One starting group generally is going
to play the first four minutes ofeach half. If not, it's going
(28:33):
to be because of a foul problemor some something that we see it doesn't
look or feel right. But mostlythey've earned the right to start both halves
and you want to allow them todo that. And then I think the
second thing is you want players tobe comfortable generally on who's going to be
the first one or two players in. And in our case this year,
Byron, I recognize it hasn't alwaysbeen the same, but that's more a
(28:56):
function of who our team is versuswhat we want to do. Like a
year ago, you could pretty muchtell me ahead of time what this substitution
pattern would be. And then foultrouble the pace of the game, and
sometimes quality of play can dictate whosesubs or who sits out a little bit
more. Against Providence, we gotin bad foul trouble, so Quincy sat
a long stretch simply because we hadto. I think a Boo sat another
(29:21):
long stretch. We actually played desfor most of the first half with two
fouls. Yes, I'm glad wedid that. I think that was the
right move again. Each team's different. With our team, he's important,
especially on the road, to haveout there, and he was playing so
well. I didn't want to sacrificethat and it ended up working out.
He didn't pick up his third fouluntil I think midway through the second half.
(29:44):
But usually we have the beginning ofboth have set and who's coming in
first, and then foul trouble andthen the other part. And Joe you
talked about it is sometimes a guywill ask to come out, he gets
gassed, you know, just thepace gets so fast. Raise your hand
and you know that's an understanding thathe needs a quick sub. We do
that and we allow, you know, our guys who are in off the
(30:06):
bench to play. But our benchis quietly getting better. Obviously, Trey
Green's performance speaks for itself. Idon't know if we've even talked about that
meet twenty three points, five foreight from three to nine for fourteen from
the free throw line or from thefield, and you know, six defensive
rebounds and zero turnovers. Clearly thebest game of his young Xavier career.
(30:27):
And I was really happy for tradebecause it hasn't been an easier smooth path
for him. He's had to reallykeep working Byron behind the scenes, keep
his confidence. You know, hemissed a week because he got sick.
That didn't help, but it wasgreat to see him be who he was
against providence as far as running youroffense. So we're going to take a
break. Thanks Byron. This isthe Sean Miller Coaches Show from Billy Bistro,
(30:49):
Marymount on fifty five KRC in theVarsity Network. Back to Dilly b
stro and the Sean Miller Coaches Show. Bud Light proud sponsor is Xavier Athletics.
Easy to drink and easy to enjoy. Coach. I thought Dalan Swain,
he had the tomahawk dunk gets outon a fast break. Can you
(31:10):
hear me? You hear you?Just fine? Did you hear it?
You can't hear me? Just alittle bit, just a little bit,
all right, But Daylan Swain gotout on a fast breakhead a tomahawk dunk.
I can it. May it maybe wrong you see him in practice,
but I almost feel he's to thepoint where he's going to break out
for you and score more. Areyou seeing some of those signs? Also?
I am and and we've talked aboutthis in our in the previous shows,
(31:32):
at some point when you play afreshman from game one throughout the season
non conference. Now you get intothe conference season and Christmas break is over,
now you're in your second semester.Academically, you hit that that I
don't want to say freshman wall Iwould go the other way. You hit
that line where the young players areno longer just inexperienced freshmen. They seem
(31:52):
to be more than that. Andwe saw that with Trey the other day.
He wouldn't have been capable of havinga game like that a month ago.
And I do think that Daylan ison the right track. And you
know, that's the advantage of playingthese young guys. They have an upside.
And I think the biggest upside theyhave isn't this year, It would
be in the future. And ByronI had a question asked from a knowledgeable
(32:15):
fan and it was on along thelines of what we were talking about earlier,
and that is just you know,us pressing and the implementation of it.
You know why now and you knowas that on offense, we're playing
a fast pace and you know,how do you what's your thought press us
on implementing it? And doing itnow and how how do you evolve it
(32:35):
and move it forward? And Iwould say that we want to play with
an incredible tempo on offense. Youknow, run the score. Doesn't mean
we're going to shoot quick, butthe pace should be fast. That's the
identity of what we want to doon offense. And when you can trap
and you can show different looks andpick up full court, even if it's
for portions of the game or aftera timeout or after a free throw or
(32:59):
late in the game, I thinkit complements how we're already playing on offense.
The other thing it does is,you know, it makes us more
difficult to prepare for and it givesus a chance sometimes to change the momentum
of the game. You know,I would say that man and man defense,
no matter how good you are atit, it's a fastball. Each
(33:20):
guy has man to man, you'repicking up at the same point, and
you know you can wear them downand grind him down. It's kind of
like a running game in football.But sometimes you match up against a really
talented offensive group and that fastball isnot going to work on its own.
We've experienced that a couple of times. This year, so being able to
trap the post, being able topick up the full court and do different
things. And we started it probablyabout four almost five games ago, and
(33:45):
it's something that's going to be withus and in the future as you watch
us, I think what you'll seeis almost from that first game of the
year all the way on, thatwill be the identity of our defense,
where we're a manda man team,but we want to give the other team
those different looks to create change thetempo, be more difficult to prepare for,
and sometimes to create that coveted turnoverthat can really change the momentum of
(34:08):
the game. And it really workedespecially against Providence when you look at I
think you gave up forty five orforty something points in the first half.
Second half you only gave up twentyfive points, right, I mean.
And to be able to do that, changing up that defense had a lot
to do with that, I think. With the press and then sometimes you
would double in the post, sometimesyou wouldn't. Sometimes you would double on
(34:30):
the base, sometimes you wouldn't.All those, you know, all those
different looks that you give them,I think are really a result of being
able to hold them down and tobe a good defensive team that you know
that that's so important to you,and it'll be really important in tomorrow night's
game against Butler. They're very goodon offense, they're skilled, they're older,
(34:54):
they have one of the oldest teamsin the Big East. You got
a lot of new faces, butthey play well together on offense. And
then it can be difficult to guarda couple of great shot makers and balanced
scoring. So those different looks inthe matchups and sometimes in order to protect
one of our players and change thegame. You know, my hope is
(35:14):
that we this question and this topicright now, that we can be talking
in good terms about that, youknow, tomorrow night around eleven pm.
All right, this is a SeanMiller's Coaches Show from Billy Bistro and Marraymount
fifty five KRCA and the Varsity Network. Welcome back to the Sean Miller Coaches
Show from Billy b Strow. Justa reminder that we'll be no show next
(35:36):
win. Xavier's on the way toCreighton on Monday night to take care of
the Creighton Blue Jays next week,so we'll be here on January the twenty
ninth. Sean big Man abu Uzmanhas really started starting to play better for
you. He's fifth in the BigEast in offensive rebounds including eight offensive boards
versus Yukon, and fourth in theBig East and block shots. A Boo
(36:00):
very similar to Davion is just theultimate every single day player and that he
just he never cuts a corner,whether it's a weightlift, you know,
a player development as far back,and I know I've talked about this already,
but just his attitude, his effortlevel in the summertime. You know,
(36:21):
I wondered if he would be thatway once the school year began,
and he really has. And heloves the game. He takes it serious,
almost cares in some ways about hisperformance too much. He has a
lot of pride in what he does. And you know, part of what
we've tried to talk to him aboutis don't let a misshot or a negative
play influence or affect your next play. And he's improved in that area.
(36:43):
But his defensive ability, his physicality, the role that we have for him,
you know, sometimes he's a oneman band in there, in and
around the basket, but he's donereally remarkably well. You think about those
statistics that you just mentioned to beone of the best offensive rebounders in the
Big East, to be one ofthe leading shot blockers in the Big East.
(37:05):
And you know, quietly, he'sa little bit better scoring too.
I don't think that's ever going tobe his gift or the thing that he
does best. But he's starting toscore it in and around the basket a
little bit easier than maybe he didearlier in the year. But really,
you know, pleased with him andhopeful that he can just continue to grow
and build on the things he's alreadydoing well and do them better. Coach
(37:29):
the score that he had in thesecond half where Aboo took the ball from
the free throw line down the leftside of the lane, scored it with
his left hand. I was impressedby the drive because it was patient and
he kept the ball, he dribbledat work could control it. What did
you think of that finished five orsix dribbles too. Yeah, no,
for sure, he didn't have thisnormal rebounding night. I credit Providence.
(37:51):
I think Providence did an excellent jobof king on him and not allowing him
to get second shots. Remember hehad eight against Yukon. Eight offensive rebound
against Yukon so you do that,it gets everybody's attention. But we're gonna
need him to be good tomorrow night, both on offense and on defense.
You know, Butler has two fivemen, Thomas who was with them a
(38:13):
year ago, and then a newguy who's a very adept low post scorer.
So we need a Budode to stayout of foul trouble and be at
his best tomorrow. All right,That game will be on fifty five KRC
tomorrow night. Thanks for joining usfor the Sean Miller Coach a show from
Billy Beestbro and Marymount on fifty fiveKRC and the Varsity Network live from the
(38:47):
Dilly Bistro in Marymont. This hasbeen the Sean Miller Radio Show presented by
bud Late, Easy to drink,easy to enjoy and buy Try Health.
Try Health provides a prizingly human carethat drives the best health outcomes. Be
seen, be heard, be healed. Visit trhealth dot com. The preceding
(39:09):
has been a Learfield presentation on theXavier Sports Network
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 tryhealthdot com. Now Here are Joe Sunderman
and Byron Larkin. I'm going withthe Sean Miller Radio Show live from Dylli
Pistro Merriman. I'm Joe Sunderman alongwith Byron larkerm are waiting for Sean Miller
to join us. I understand theyhad a film session backets in school that
(00:44):
went extended and helpe you hearing aboutfive or ten minutes. So I guess
for the next five or ten minutes, I'm gonna rename it the Byron Larkin
Show. Let's go good to say, don't we need to resign a contract
or something? Of course, XaviorMusketeers. This past week loost A Yukon
by five eighty seventy five hit aterrific victory on the road at Providence,
Rhode Island, beating the Providence Friarseighty five to sixty five, and that
(01:10):
was, without a doubt, thebest performance the Musketeers have had in a
long long time. It was somethingto witness the last thirty minutes of that
ball game. Yeah, especially whenyou consider Providence. Providence had lost three
games in a row prior Xavier hadlost two games in a row, so
both teams are super desperate, soyou knew you were going to get their
(01:30):
best shot. The other thing thatwas really impressive to me was Providence was
ten and one at home. Xavierwent there and beat them by twenty on
their own floor, and I thinkthat says a lot about the program.
How you think about the two thetwo wins and the big eat. Xavier's
won by twenty or more when theybeat Seaton Hall and then Providence. And
(01:52):
Seaton Hall they hit ten three pointers. Against Providence they had twelve three pointers.
It just shows you the value ofshooting the ball well. And of
course Trey Green had an outstanding performancetwenty three points and was just remarkable,
certainly in the second half and Byron, when I was watching Trey Green and
thinking about that ballgame as a freshman, he had a breakout game. You
had a similar situation like that whenyou were a freshman, when Xavier played
(02:15):
Pittsburgh on the road. They werein the Big East, they were ranked,
and the thought was aavery wanted toplay him in their place, not
much of a chance. You cameoff the bench in that game, you
were not starting as a freshman.You scored seventeen points and the rest is
history. As you've kind of learnedin that ballgame that I can do this,
and I can do it at ahigh level. Now, Trey Green
maybe a similar experience that he's finallygoing to get that confidency. Most of
(02:37):
shots he's taken this year, Ithink are going in. A lot of
them didn't for early on, butto talk to him in practice, he
always had confidence. He always saidhe was going to work hard, which
he did and then he had greatsuccess, which is thrilling to see.
But what's a breakout game like thatwhen your experience as a freshman. What
might that do for Tray Green ashe moves forward? It's huge. It's
(02:58):
like a water shed for you becausewhen you're a freshman and well all these
players, like in high school,you're you're you're you're the best player on
your team, and now you cometo college and you know, for lack
of better or you're you're one ofthe worst because you're playing with guys who
are three years older than you.You're playing with guys who have beards,
(03:19):
and you know, I wouldn't evenyou know, I wasn't even shaving when
I was a freshman, you know, so, uh it was it was
really enlightening. I remember the firsttime I played pick up with the guys
at Xavier and uh, you know, I my eyes got really big and
I barely touched the ball and Iwent back to the coach and I was
(03:40):
like, hey, you know,I made a mistake. I'm gonna go
play football. I you know,because I got recruited for football, and
but I always loved playing basketball.And that that first that first indoctrination to
playing with those older guys was itwas. It was kind of harsh.
(04:01):
The coaches like encouraged me to say, hey, you have to you know,
have to work a little harder,you have to adjust your game,
and you know, it's that freshmanyear is a tough year. And then
you have your teammates, your olderteammates, who aren't giving you any grace
either, you know, they're like, hey, you're not taking my spot
byron, So I'm just going tokeep knocking you in the dirt as hard
(04:21):
as I can, you know.So, so you have a lot of
that going on as well. Butit says a lot about Trey Green one
to keep working hard because for thefirst time in his life, he's not
playing much. You know, allthese players on Xavier's team have always been
(04:42):
the best player on every team,you know, from the times they can
walk to the senior year in highschool. Now you get to get to
college and now you're not only notin the rotation, you're not playing at
all, and you a lot oftimes don't and you're away from home when
this is happening and you're trying toadjust. So there's a lot of pressure
on freshmen to to stay the coursegiven those circumstances. And it says a
(05:08):
lot about Trey Green that he respondedthe way he did in that circumstance,
because you know, you could veryeasily just say, eh, you know,
you know, I'm I'm getting screwedover by the coach. I should
be playing. I'm not playing,So I'm just going to have a bad
attitude or oh I'm just going totransfer with the transfer portal. Now that's
(05:30):
you know, that's an option offor some players. But Trey Green what
he did. He kept working andhe kept and I credit Sean and his
staff to be able to keep himmotivated, keep keep the freshman motivated,
to keep working hard when they're notseeing the results in playing time. So
(05:50):
Trey Green has earned the playing timebecause no one on this team, and
people come up to me and say, well, why don't he They try
this guy, Why don't they trythis guy. Sean is not going to
try anybody unless you have earned theright to play, and you do that
in practice. If he doesn't trustyour effort, if he doesn't trust your
(06:12):
your mentality defensively to be tough mindedout as as he likes to see you
play, you just won't play.And uh, Trey Green has done a
lot to put himself in that positionto where Sean will trust him. I
think in that Providence game is oneof the first times he was able to
play through traffic, play through mistakesand uh where he had an ability uh
(06:38):
to play, And it says alot about him to keep keep working hard
giving that Yeah, he wasn't playingto put himself in a position to win.
His number was called, he wasable to to come up big for
the musket. What about his confidencemoving forward, Oh, Joe, this
I think hopefully this is something thathe can build on. You know.
Sean often talked about what they seein practice every day. It's different in
(07:01):
practice than when the lights are onand people are in the stands, and
he was able to do that ina big way. I guess your show's
over now, thank you very much. Yeah, sorry, we have such
a quick turnaround here. We hadan extra film session and went a little
bit late. Next thing, youknow, I'm late to my radio show,
so sorry. Well, you knowwhen coaches involved, and Byron talked
(07:21):
about it all the time with PeteGillen, how they get involved in that
from they just kind of lose.I mean, yeah, that's where you
are. You're so much in thatmoment. I mean things you need to
teach. The game's got to fixpeople going to a trance. Like we're
watching and all of a sudden wedisappear and he's just talking to himself,
(07:41):
you know, rewinding and then we'relike, hey, coach, we're back
here. We're this together. Sohow often do you watch film with your
with your team coach? What isit like after a game and how does
that that work? Is it areyou watching it as a team or breaking
it out into positions or how doesthat happen? Yeah, I mean like
everything Byron today, it's like youhave a system in place. So you
(08:03):
know, if you're a player onour team, we play a game number
one, you know you're gonna havesome individual clips, individual moments that you're
gonna watch isolated with an assistant coach. And sometimes I'll be involved. Most
of the time with that, Iwon't be involved. That's the relationship between
our staff and that player. Thingsthat you can show him that sometimes you
(08:26):
can talk to him about at alonger length than if the other twelve or
thirteen guys are sitting there watching thesame thing. So, and you know,
some of this, Byron is justlearning your learner, right, Guys
like I'll give you an example.Somebody like Sasha, you know, who's
learning English as a language, clearlycan can speak it, but just as
(08:48):
he listens and learns and tries totake it in, learning one on one
is much more powerful for him.If he could sit with you for twenty
minutes fifteen minutes and watch himself orteach points just you and a coach.
He learns so much better, whichmakes sense. Yeah, and then there's
some other guys that maybe it doesn'tmatter quite as much, So you figure
(09:09):
that out. And then the secondpart is we always have what we call
feedback, and we're going to gothrough the good and the bad, both
when we had the ball and whenthe other team had the ball, the
highlights, the low lights, andmostly it's about teaching and trying to grow
and learn and improve improve our team. So we always do that, even
on a quick turnaround. So wedid that yesterday. Is that with the
(09:30):
whole team or is that that willalways be with the whole team? And
you know, sometimes it takes fifteenminutes, sometimes it could take up to
forty five minutes to an hour.I think it varies on how we did
when we play the next game,the time of year. But between your
clips with an assistant coach and thefeedback with the team, you know,
that's a lion's share of the learning. And now the third part is you
(09:52):
move into the scouting which we're inwith Butler, and that is to show
them their personnel, and what Butlerdoes well on offense, does on defense,
what we have to do to getready, and if you're following our
schedules, it's coming at us inwaves right now. You know, you
had a Yukon at home on aWednesday, you had Providence two o'clock Saturday.
(10:13):
Here we are tomorrow night, Tuesday, six thirty game against Butler,
and then when that game ends,we played Georgetown on Friday at six thirty.
So you start to add that up. That's like three games in essence
in about nine days. There's alot going on, especially now that school
has resumed. So our guys theyhave a lot, a lot on their
plate. You mentioned it's so coldoutside. What else do they have to
(10:37):
do besides basketball school? In basketball, you wouldn't want to do anything else,
That's right, Sasha Shani. Didyou compliment him on some of the
picks that he sent to free thecards up a little bit? I thought
he did a great job doing thatthat game he did, I thought,
not only him, but we executedagainst Providence, you know, freed up
a number of different players. Itwas Trey, it was Quincy, it
(10:58):
was Dez and I think some ofthe good offense that we ran. To
your point, joe, I knowyou always look out for those big,
slow guys. I thought they dida good job screening, and they did
a great job. It's like theoffensive lineman. They never quite get the
credit for the running back that hasthe one hundred yard night, right,
So those big guys have to setgood screens and you're right, we show
(11:20):
now we're ready to go. They'rethe reason for all the success always,
Coach Joey, you said a littlebit about Desmond Claude. I mean,
I don't know if we've talked enoughabout how well he's been playing, especially
in that first half. I meanhe had nineteen points and well he was
he had it all going for him. You know, des is uh that
(11:41):
was the best game of the seasonfor him. He really put it all
together. Byron. One of thethings that's happened the last two games,
quietly is the ball has gone downwhen he shot the three, and you
know, it's just like it's it'sI think to some degree frustrating for Dez
because he's put in a lot oftime an effort from last year where three
(12:01):
point shooting really wasn't a part ofwhat he did to this summer and fall,
and I think I would be theone telling you, like, boy,
his shot has really gotten better.It's taken a while to translate.
And I think for the first timehere we're starting to see him settle in.
And you know, he doesn't haveto make four or five threes in
a game, but man, hemakes such such a better team. And
(12:22):
he's much more difficult to defend whenhe can keep you honest from the three
point line. And you know he'sshooting the ball with more confidence, and
it's good to see, all right. This is a Sean Miller Coaches Show
from Dilley Bistro and Maryman not fiftyfive KRC in the Varsity Network. Welcome
back to the Sean Miller Show fromDilley Bistro and Mary Matt. Xavier fans
(12:43):
help Cincinnati Cancer Advisors achieve victory overcancer at the next home game at the
Centa Center. Just grab a souvenircup for a chance to win great prizes
like a private VIP suite, courtsideseats or Xavier merchandise. Like to thank
everybody for coming to Night Brave andCold Weather. Another capacity crowd here at
Delli bistro, and we sure doappreciate it once you know that for sure,
(13:05):
and we have a birthday, wedo appreciate it. And thank you
guys here. The crowd this yearin last year has been amazing and Martha
liked to wish you a happy birthday. Happy birth yesterday, Martha Yesterday related
birthday. Yeah, so you're oneof the great fans, Martha, and
I know this. In the tenseasons that I've been a part of Avier
basketball, you've been here from startto finish in all ten. So thank
(13:26):
you. She had Martha Hewlett,thank you coaching a win over Providence.
And you have been yelling to yourball club from day one or practice faster,
quicker, moving up the court.I think you finally had that against
Providence for at least a period oftime. Your team was flying up the
court both directions, getting back ondefense, but certainly when they grabbed the
ball, any and everybody, theywere hustling across the timeline that we played
(13:48):
with really good pace. And Iwas really proud of our team because when
you play a game like we playedagainst Yukon, which you really part pour
your heart and soul into that,it's very emotional. There's a couple of
things in that game that we weren'tproud of what we did. We talked
about it. Our transition defense reallylet us down. And look, sometimes
(14:09):
you have to tip your hat tothe team we're playing as well. That's
an area where Yukon might be thebest in the country. So we did
get exposed. But so you haveto leave that game, learn from it,
and quickly, all of a sudden, you find yourself in Providence,
Rhode Island, playing in the ProvidenceCivic Center, the Dunkin Donut Center,
(14:30):
whatever it's called these days, infront of that crowd and a good team,
a team that needed a win,and you wonder, like, God,
are we going to have the energyfrom start to finish that we're gonna
need? And we did. AndI appreciate you saying that, Joe,
because I've had a couple of peoplebring it up, and I thought our
guys were just you know, playedwith a lot of energy and link the
(14:50):
words sometimes is force where just youknow, you're fast up and down the
court and you just almost can feelit and it has a real impact on
the game. Now the key canwe do it again? Because we again,
you leave the quick turnaround at Providenceon Saturday. You guys traveled with
us, We got back in theevening and now a pretty quick turnaround here
for Butler. But we're always goingto be better when we push the pace.
(15:13):
That's part of the identity of Ithink what we're building. We had
it last year, we've really hadit this year. We just Arnest arn
A talented making shots as we wouldhave been a year ago. But I
think that in that game, somebodylike Trey Green comes in the game,
Byron, you've talked about Geatis.When those two guys are chipping in and
(15:35):
making some shots, it's just Ithink that that pace that we're talking about
shows up better Joe coach. Accordingto tom Ier to Sid's aver second in
the Big East, twenty seventh inthe nation, and assist you lead the
Big East in fast break points.So that's something that that just doesn't happen
organically. That's something that you gotto work on in practice, and it's
(15:56):
got to be really nice to seethat. Yeah, I just think it's
Look, if you're a fan,and everybody in here is it's just a
much funner game when you watch ateam push the ball you know, push
the ball. There's a lot ofways to play. I think in recruiting
there's nothing that a young person looksmore, looks forward to more that haven't
(16:17):
a chance to play with pace.That's how the game's played at the highest
levels, and it's something that Ithink that if it's done correctly Byron,
it's it's not only a fun wayto practice and play the game, but
really you can maximize your talent.And when you look at a guy like
Quincy, think about the big gamesthat Quincy's had, what's the one common
thread he gets shots in transition,three point shots in transition. You know,
(16:41):
you see Daveyon when he's had hisbest games, he seems to be
playing with that ball in the middleof the floor like he did against Providence,
making things happen. So we certainlywant to keep that up. And
I thought we did a good jobon Saturday, and we want to build
on that for tomorrow. And Johnthat not every everybody wants to play fast,
but now everybody can do that withoutbeing reckless, right and being able
(17:06):
to kind of control your turnovers.You talk a lot about that all the
time, the turnovers and rebounding.How it's important, but turnovers, especially
when you're playing fast, you gotto get good looks, and I think
it starts with your point guard makingsure you right people have the ball in
the right spots, and he makesthe right decisions. And daveon mcnight,
I think is really coming on.It's really solid thinking he had eight points
(17:30):
and eight assists. Yeah yeah,leads the league and assist and assist the
turnover and you got to have thatgood quarterback out there if you're playing fast,
And I think he's really really justgetting better as the season goes on.
He is, by the way,I would just describe him as just
he is a really fun guy tocoach. He's the same every day.
(17:51):
He's the same whether we have aheartbreaking loss or he doesn't play well,
or we have a huge win andhe does play well. He just he
just steady. And it's that steadinessand his willingness to show up and work
hard every day. Aboo is verysimilar. You know, those two guys
have done a great job just reallyleading by example. And as you know,
like Debion didn't start the season onfire, I mean in the month
(18:12):
of November, I think he wasreally learning a lot about Xavier and our
style and how this is going tofeel. But I agree he's more comfortable
now and uh, when he's reallypushing the ball, playing at at his
best. I'll go back to UCthe Crosstown shootout. That's what I think
our team is at, is atour best. He he's that engine that
I think we really need, andI'm really excited about his development. I
(18:36):
still have not seen or heard himever speak a word. He's quiet.
He really can't talk. He opensup I think, you know alone,
but just by nature, it's justhe is. He is certainly quiet,
but does a great job leading byexample. I'm constantly on him to communicate
with me more. You know.Again, I thought back to the Yukon
(18:59):
game. The game got so fastand frenetic that we didn't communicate with each
other really well. You could feelit in the game. That was part
of our problem in transition defense.So again, you talk to him,
you show him. Is he awilling learner? Absolutely, And in the
Providence game he did a better jobcommunicating with me. With our teammates and
(19:21):
eight assist in two turnovers. We'lltake that any night. From our point
guard. Coaches, I watch yourteam evolve. It seems to me preparing
for Xavier now versus a month agois much more difficult. For example,
you're seven minutes of the game oftrailing by eleven points and you're bringing I
think a three quarter court press andmaybe a full court press, and you're
throwing different looks. And to me, you watch teams prepare for that,
(19:45):
you can talk about a lot whenyou see it and it changes on you.
You got to rethink it. Whatam I supposed to do now?
And you're doing that with the opponents? Yeah, for sure, Joe.
And you know, it's like everythingin life. Sometimes in hindsight you look
back and say, Okay, whatwe have done better? What could I
have done better? And it's themost difficult part in today or especially for
(20:07):
our team this year, is whenyou have ten new players and I know
I've talked a lot about it.You know, you just think about it.
If you give them too much,you already know the outcome. They're
not going to ever have a chanceto be good at any one thing,
just because we haven't been together longenough to get the repetition and the familiarity
that basketball requires. So you know, you want to build the strongest foundation,
(20:32):
the most important things, and youwant to get as far up the
ladder with those things as you canbefore you start adding different things that you
can add as a coach. Offense, defense, you know, even like
zone offense. You know, anexperienced team sometimes that alone takes care of
zone offense. It's it's not beinguncomfortable when you see the change of defense
(20:53):
when you have a new group.That's something that can really oh and we've
felt that a couple of times throughoutthe course of the year. We're better
at that area now. But whatwe finally have settled in on, I
mean, I think we'll continue todevelop it and build as our year goes
on, and certainly in the future, is to be able to pick up
full court, change the game andbe able to press, maybe not for
(21:15):
forty minutes, but after free throws, a after a timeout, and give
the team different looks. To yourpoint. Harder to prepare for us,
and I think it gives us achance to do exactly what happened at Providence.
Sometimes you force a steal, youscore it, and it changes the
game. And I thought near theend of the first half, our press
(21:37):
forced two quick turnovers and it reallygave us some good momentum going into halftime.
Coach. It helped in the Yukongame as well. Sure, I
mean you had Villanova as well.Yeah, And I guess when you're a
team that's probably a better defensive teamthan offensive team, and I would kind
of describe your team as that thisyear definitely. Last year was a little
different. I think you were abetter offensive team defensive team line year.
(22:00):
This year's team when when you whenyou struggle to score in the half court,
you need to be able to createsome offense off your defense and being
able to extend your defense at timeto create turnovers, get in transition,
to get people out like a DaylynSway, to get a layup, to
get a dunk, to help getthat confidence. There's got to be something
(22:22):
great to have and you know inyour back pocket to throw out there.
Now, that's something that your opponentshave to prepare for, no doubt about
it. And we're we're working onit almost daily right now, whether it
be day of the game and shootaround and just through our film. So,
for example, you asked earlier,you know, part of what we
really wanted to show our team afterthe Providence game, is just that our
(22:44):
press being effective and maybe why itwas effective and showing them, you know,
what we did well in that game, so it leads into the next
one. So but yeah, we'rewell aware of it, and I think
our guys like it as well.For the same reason that you described Byron,
I'm always amazed about how many ofyour guys can grab a rebound off
the glass and take it on thedribble and start a fast break. I'd
(23:07):
say typically have four of the fiveplayers on the floor that can actually grab
it and go, whether its Twain, Green, OLIVERI mcnight, quad and
maybe Usmand but probably he's looking fora guard right away. Maybe you're hoping
he is. Anyway, Yeah,God, I hope he doesn't dribble out.
He dribble out the game against Providence. Coach. Yeah, and we
(23:29):
saw gas on the fast break againstYukon and that didn't look real well how
that worked out. But you know, back to the Providence game, we
talked a lot about rebounding. Thatwas our best rebounding game in the Big
East, you know, and TreyGreen, among the many things that he
did well, I'm sure not alot of our fans realize he led us
in defensive rebounding. Trey had sixdefensive rebounds against Providence. You know,
(23:55):
there would have been a time amonth ago that you would be begging him
just to enter the almost, enterthe fly, enter the fight, right,
just like don't don't leak out.He's never really had to rebound,
and we've talked to him about it. Good teams on defense, good rebounding
teams. Usually you get contributions fromfrom guards. I mean, I remember
as far back as Drew Lavender,who always was the smallest player on the
(24:18):
on the court. There are timeswhen Drew would lead us in defensive rebounding.
He just had a knack, hada way of going and getting the
ball. But among the many greatthings Trade did against Providence six defensive rebounds,
we gave him the standing ovation inthe film session and hopefully that'll that'll
encourage him to keep doing that,right, the little treatment. You're right,
(24:40):
they do it all. We're gonnatake a break. This is a
Sean Miller coach a show from BillyBistro and Marymount on fifty five KRC in
the Varsity Network. Don't your showfrom Billy Bistro and Marymuck When you're out
of town and you want to keepup with live college sports, be sure
to download the new Varsity Network app, available for both Apple and Android.
(25:03):
Listen to college sports Live with theVarsity Network app coach. During the break
we were the question was posed,this league has so many good coaches.
They have experienced coaches like a Patino, and they've got guys that are in
their second or third year. Isthere much difference coaching against I say,
a coach has been coaching for thirtyyears versus someone's been coaching for three years.
(25:26):
Can you feel the difference in thepreparation of what needs to be done.
It's like the analogy I'd give you, It's like driving a car on
a bike trail versus a super highway. Yeah, meaning I can't explain you
the difference, you know, AndI don't mean that because the last coach
that I coached against, you know, is younger that That's not what I'm
saying. But there's some coaches,and Coach Patino would be there that they're
(25:52):
the best in the game, anygame, NBA, FOBA, Europe,
best coaches in the world, youknow, eyes that in every area their
team is prepared and you know theylook at they bring out the best in
you when you try to prepare yourteam. But that's really a unique question
to ask Joe, and one hundredpercent I would say that, yeah,
(26:15):
I would say you really notice thatyou do throughout the years too. You
just you just know when you knowthere's some coaches that have better players,
and that's all part of this.You know, no coaches can win without
good and sometimes great talent, butyou know when you're up against a quality
(26:36):
coach, and in our league rightnow, from top to bottom, it's
probably as strong as any any conferencein the country. And one reason is,
you know, we don't only Iknow, I use the word only
only have eleven teams, right Theyused to be that was the norm.
But in these super conferences, youknow, most of the time, I
think the ACC has what sixteen teams, the Big twelve, I don't know
(26:59):
what they're going to have or theBig ten is now going to have.
But in our league, it's tenhome games, ten row games, and
we have some great coaches in ourleague. And Rick Patino when you play
Saint John's, he's bringing out thebest in everybody or the worst. They're
getting better. And I think analready terrific league is that much better,
in particular with his addition Sean againstProvidence, we had the pleasure to be
(27:26):
our broadcast position was right behind you, well, right next to the bench,
so you were kind of in ourway when we were watching. Watching
again, I was gonna I thoughtabout tapping you on the shoulder and asking
you to move, but I didn'tthink that that would probably be a good
idea. But watching you, coach, and sometimes sometimes I'm looking at you,
(27:49):
coach and your substitution patterns. Youknow, sometimes you sub a lot,
sometimes you don't sub very often.What is kind of your mindset when
you're and I know it's a differentfor each game, but do you have
kind of a general set of thingsin your mind that says, Okay,
this guy needs to come out orwhat you what are you looking at mainly
(28:11):
when you're when you're kind of assessingthe substitution. I understand some coaches don't
eat. Head coaches don't even sub. Some of their assistant coaches sub.
How what's your mindset relative to that? Yeah, I mean there are times
when I make the decision, buta lot of times are staff's able to
sub. I mean a couple ofthings. One starting group generally is going
to play the first four minutes ofeach half. If not, it's going
(28:33):
to be because of a foul problemor some something that we see it doesn't
look or feel right. But mostlythey've earned the right to start both halves
and you want to allow them todo that. And then I think the
second thing is you want players tobe comfortable generally on who's going to be
the first one or two players in. And in our case this year,
Byron, I recognize it hasn't alwaysbeen the same, but that's more a
(28:56):
function of who our team is versuswhat we want to do. Like a
year ago, you could pretty muchtell me ahead of time what this substitution
pattern would be. And then foultrouble the pace of the game, and
sometimes quality of play can dictate whosesubs or who sits out a little bit
more. Against Providence, we gotin bad foul trouble, so Quincy sat
a long stretch simply because we hadto. I think a Boo sat another
(29:21):
long stretch. We actually played desfor most of the first half with two
fouls. Yes, I'm glad wedid that. I think that was the
right move again. Each team's different. With our team, he's important,
especially on the road, to haveout there, and he was playing so
well. I didn't want to sacrificethat and it ended up working out.
He didn't pick up his third fouluntil I think midway through the second half.
(29:44):
But usually we have the beginning ofboth have set and who's coming in
first, and then foul trouble andthen the other part. And Joe you
talked about it is sometimes a guywill ask to come out, he gets
gassed, you know, just thepace gets so fast. Raise your hand
and you know that's an understanding thathe needs a quick sub. We do
that and we allow, you know, our guys who are in off the
(30:06):
bench to play. But our benchis quietly getting better. Obviously, Trey
Green's performance speaks for itself. Idon't know if we've even talked about that
meet twenty three points, five foreight from three to nine for fourteen from
the free throw line or from thefield, and you know, six defensive
rebounds and zero turnovers. Clearly thebest game of his young Xavier career.
(30:27):
And I was really happy for tradebecause it hasn't been an easier smooth path
for him. He's had to reallykeep working Byron behind the scenes, keep
his confidence. You know, hemissed a week because he got sick.
That didn't help, but it wasgreat to see him be who he was
against providence as far as running youroffense. So we're going to take a
break. Thanks Byron. This isthe Sean Miller Coaches Show from Billy Bistro,
(30:49):
Marymount on fifty five KRC in theVarsity Network. Back to Dilly b
stro and the Sean Miller Coaches Show. Bud Light proud sponsor is Xavier Athletics.
Easy to drink and easy to enjoy. Coach. I thought Dalan Swain,
he had the tomahawk dunk gets outon a fast break. Can you
(31:10):
hear me? You hear you?Just fine? Did you hear it?
You can't hear me? Just alittle bit, just a little bit,
all right, But Daylan Swain gotout on a fast breakhead a tomahawk dunk.
I can it. May it maybe wrong you see him in practice,
but I almost feel he's to thepoint where he's going to break out
for you and score more. Areyou seeing some of those signs? Also?
I am and and we've talked aboutthis in our in the previous shows,
(31:32):
at some point when you play afreshman from game one throughout the season
non conference. Now you get intothe conference season and Christmas break is over,
now you're in your second semester.Academically, you hit that that I
don't want to say freshman wall Iwould go the other way. You hit
that line where the young players areno longer just inexperienced freshmen. They seem
(31:52):
to be more than that. Andwe saw that with Trey the other day.
He wouldn't have been capable of havinga game like that a month ago.
And I do think that Daylan ison the right track. And you
know, that's the advantage of playingthese young guys. They have an upside.
And I think the biggest upside theyhave isn't this year, It would
be in the future. And ByronI had a question asked from a knowledgeable
(32:15):
fan and it was on along thelines of what we were talking about earlier,
and that is just you know,us pressing and the implementation of it.
You know why now and you knowas that on offense, we're playing
a fast pace and you know,how do you what's your thought press us
on implementing it? And doing itnow and how how do you evolve it
(32:35):
and move it forward? And Iwould say that we want to play with
an incredible tempo on offense. Youknow, run the score. Doesn't mean
we're going to shoot quick, butthe pace should be fast. That's the
identity of what we want to doon offense. And when you can trap
and you can show different looks andpick up full court, even if it's
for portions of the game or aftera timeout or after a free throw or
(32:59):
late in the game, I thinkit complements how we're already playing on offense.
The other thing it does is,you know, it makes us more
difficult to prepare for and it givesus a chance sometimes to change the momentum
of the game. You know,I would say that man and man defense,
no matter how good you are atit, it's a fastball. Each
(33:20):
guy has man to man, you'repicking up at the same point, and
you know you can wear them downand grind him down. It's kind of
like a running game in football.But sometimes you match up against a really
talented offensive group and that fastball isnot going to work on its own.
We've experienced that a couple of times. This year, so being able to
trap the post, being able topick up the full court and do different
things. And we started it probablyabout four almost five games ago, and
(33:45):
it's something that's going to be withus and in the future as you watch
us, I think what you'll seeis almost from that first game of the
year all the way on, thatwill be the identity of our defense,
where we're a manda man team,but we want to give the other team
those different looks to create change thetempo, be more difficult to prepare for,
and sometimes to create that coveted turnoverthat can really change the momentum of
(34:08):
the game. And it really workedespecially against Providence when you look at I
think you gave up forty five orforty something points in the first half.
Second half you only gave up twentyfive points, right, I mean.
And to be able to do that, changing up that defense had a lot
to do with that, I think. With the press and then sometimes you
would double in the post, sometimesyou wouldn't. Sometimes you would double on
(34:30):
the base, sometimes you wouldn't.All those, you know, all those
different looks that you give them,I think are really a result of being
able to hold them down and tobe a good defensive team that you know
that that's so important to you,and it'll be really important in tomorrow night's
game against Butler. They're very goodon offense, they're skilled, they're older,
(34:54):
they have one of the oldest teamsin the Big East. You got
a lot of new faces, butthey play well together on offense. And
then it can be difficult to guarda couple of great shot makers and balanced
scoring. So those different looks inthe matchups and sometimes in order to protect
one of our players and change thegame. You know, my hope is
(35:14):
that we this question and this topicright now, that we can be talking
in good terms about that, youknow, tomorrow night around eleven pm.
All right, this is a SeanMiller's Coaches Show from Billy Bistro and Marraymount
fifty five KRCA and the Varsity Network. Welcome back to the Sean Miller Coaches
Show from Billy b Strow. Justa reminder that we'll be no show next
(35:36):
win. Xavier's on the way toCreighton on Monday night to take care of
the Creighton Blue Jays next week,so we'll be here on January the twenty
ninth. Sean big Man abu Uzmanhas really started starting to play better for
you. He's fifth in the BigEast in offensive rebounds including eight offensive boards
versus Yukon, and fourth in theBig East and block shots. A Boo
(36:00):
very similar to Davion is just theultimate every single day player and that he
just he never cuts a corner,whether it's a weightlift, you know,
a player development as far back,and I know I've talked about this already,
but just his attitude, his effortlevel in the summertime. You know,
(36:21):
I wondered if he would be thatway once the school year began,
and he really has. And heloves the game. He takes it serious,
almost cares in some ways about hisperformance too much. He has a
lot of pride in what he does. And you know, part of what
we've tried to talk to him aboutis don't let a misshot or a negative
play influence or affect your next play. And he's improved in that area.
(36:43):
But his defensive ability, his physicality, the role that we have for him,
you know, sometimes he's a oneman band in there, in and
around the basket, but he's donereally remarkably well. You think about those
statistics that you just mentioned to beone of the best offensive rebounders in the
Big East, to be one ofthe leading shot blockers in the Big East.
(37:05):
And you know, quietly, he'sa little bit better scoring too.
I don't think that's ever going tobe his gift or the thing that he
does best. But he's starting toscore it in and around the basket a
little bit easier than maybe he didearlier in the year. But really,
you know, pleased with him andhopeful that he can just continue to grow
and build on the things he's alreadydoing well and do them better. Coach
(37:29):
the score that he had in thesecond half where Aboo took the ball from
the free throw line down the leftside of the lane, scored it with
his left hand. I was impressedby the drive because it was patient and
he kept the ball, he dribbledat work could control it. What did
you think of that finished five orsix dribbles too. Yeah, no,
for sure, he didn't have thisnormal rebounding night. I credit Providence.
(37:51):
I think Providence did an excellent jobof king on him and not allowing him
to get second shots. Remember hehad eight against Yukon. Eight offensive rebound
against Yukon so you do that,it gets everybody's attention. But we're gonna
need him to be good tomorrow night, both on offense and on defense.
You know, Butler has two fivemen, Thomas who was with them a
(38:13):
year ago, and then a newguy who's a very adept low post scorer.
So we need a Budode to stayout of foul trouble and be at
his best tomorrow. All right,That game will be on fifty five KRC
tomorrow night. Thanks for joining usfor the Sean Miller Coach a show from
Billy Beestbro and Marymount on fifty fiveKRC and the Varsity Network live from the
(38:47):
Dilly Bistro in Marymont. This hasbeen the Sean Miller Radio Show presented by
bud Late, Easy to drink,easy to enjoy and buy Try Health.
Try Health provides a prizingly human carethat drives the best health outcomes. Be
seen, be heard, be healed. Visit trhealth dot com. The preceding
(39:09):
has been a Learfield presentation on theXavier Sports Network
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