2/12/24 - The Sean Miller Radio Show

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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
On the Xavier Sports Network from Learfield, Live from the Dilly Bistro in Marymont.
Welcome to the Sean Miller Radio 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,

(00:25):
be healed. Visit tryhealth dot com. Now Here are Joe Sunderman and
Byron Larkin. Welcome to the SeanMiller Show. I'm from Delan Piestro and
Marrymont. I'm Joe Sundraman along withByron Larkin and the head coach of the
Xavier Musketeers, Sean Miller. Liketo thank everybody for joining us once again.
Another capacity crowd here at Dilli Bistroand we certainly do appreciate it,

(00:48):
and another great night to talk Xavierbasketball. The past week, XAVI knocked
off Villanova fifty six fifty three anda heart fought win, and then lost
on Saturday the Blue eight to seventyone. The Musketeers are now thirteen and
eleven overall in seven six in BigEast play. And coaching both those games,
I know you compliment the crowd andcertainly instrumental in the win over villanov

(01:12):
at least according to how you feltabout it. No other crowd was amazing
and even better against Creighton, Andyou know, you feel terrible when you're
not able to deliver a victory.And I speak for everybody our players as
well. I have no, no, really ill ill feelings towards our Creighton
game in the and that our teamwas ready to play. We were very

(01:34):
confident coming off of three Big EastBig East wins in a row, you
know, and playing good basketball.We recognize the importance of the game,
the advantages that we have playing athome, and we also knew and respected
that we were playing against an excellentteam, and I thought we caught them

(01:56):
on the wrong night, you know. Byron, we were just talking about
it. If you followed Creighton,they had lost a heartbreaking game, a
game really they should have won hadProvidence and Kalkbrenner, their big guy,
gave up thirty two points to joshO Durrow. And you know, the
one thing about Kalkbrenner, he doesn'talways score a lot, but he always
seems to be the same defensive playerof the year and impacts the game in

(02:21):
a big way. He did notdo that against Providence, and I almost
felt like, you know, heredeemed himself. He was ready to play
in his offense, his defense.He was such a difference maker in the
game. He dominated the game.And when you play Creighton, the statistic
that is the most important is theirfirepower from the three point line. You

(02:42):
know, coming into our game,they had made the most three point shots.
They depended on the three point shotmore than any team in our league,
including Villanova, and just coming offof Villanova in which we experienced,
you know that I thought it wouldbe advantageous for us to play, you
know, Creighton on the heels ofthis. And if you look at it
and you pick up the stat sheet, you know, it's one of the

(03:04):
things that certainly I would have signedup for, and that they were seven
for twenty eight for twenty five percentin the game. You know, not
every team does that, and theymight have missed a couple open ones,
but when you can catch them ona game where they're seven for twenty eight,
that's the good thing. The otherpart is that they only shot eleven
free throws, so you know,they shot eleven free throws, they were

(03:25):
seven for twenty eight, but theywere just destructive from two. I mean,
Kalkbrunner had six over the tops.In terms of points he scored in
the low post, he was twelvefor fourteen on the night. And then
you know, the other guys dida good job as well, and the
percentage they shot from two and theirability to hurt us inside the arc was

(03:46):
a big, big difference in thegame. And the other part of the
game that was unique is it reallychanged dramatically in about three minutes, you
know, the last minute and ahalf, not the last four minutes,
but the last minute and a halfof the first half. We went from
being down four and really a onein a two possession game the entire first
half, as a matter of fact, we led for about the first eight

(04:08):
to ten minutes, and they wenta tough two, a steal, a
backbreaking three, and then all ofa sudden, we went in down eight
points int the half. And thegame's not over because you're down eight a
to half, But it all happenedin about a minute and a half leading
into the halftime. And when youplay against these really good teams, those
spurts sometimes are the difference. Theyjust have the ability to do it.

(04:30):
But I was very impressed with Creighton. I thought our guys played with a
lot of effort. We certainly foughthard to last eight minutes of the game,
which you're always proud of when youlook back and you watch your team
play. And now we have tolearn from it, move on like we've
done throughout our season, and beready on Wednesday at Seaton Hall. Yeah.
CLK BRENNERD definitely was dominated the gameon both ends of the floor.

(04:55):
I mean, it's just so nicethat in the half court, when you're
running off and you're defending all theiractions, you can just throw it into
the post and it's going to bea foul or a basket, you know,
like nine times out of ten.And it seemed like that's what was
going on with him, no doubt, and Byron, like they're very well
coached, they're organized, and youknow, they have the court surrounded by

(05:18):
the three point line. And youknow, we almost lost in two different
ways. In game one. Whenyou really looked at the box score,
Trey Alexander killed us. He wasten for eighteen from the floor and obviously
shiremen and you looked at it andit's like we have to do a better
job on these perimeter players in thenext game, and in a large part

(05:39):
we really did. I mean,Trey Alexander was five for fifteen from the
floor the first game. I thinkhe had twenty seven points in and he
was four from three. And theirpoint guard Steven Ashworth had been playing really
well. He came into the gamefifteen of his last twenty four from three.
He had made fifteen of his lasttwenty four to three point shots,

(06:00):
and in our game he went onefor eight. So if you can catch
Ashworth at one for eight and TreyAlexander zero for four, they combined one
for twelve from three. There's somethings you have to feel good about.
But what I tell you, RyanKulkbrenner destroyed us, and some of it
was they have three players on theirteam that have the ability to make the
lab pass. You know a lotof times if you have one, you're

(06:23):
happy. If you could have asecond guy out there, you're really in
business. What makes them so difficultto defend is they have three different players
that can read it and make thepass. It looks easy when you watch
it in slow motion or from theyou know, on TV or sometimes live
It's not as easy of a passas you think because it happened so fast,
and you know our lack of sizeinside and uh, you know,

(06:46):
he took advantage of it. AndI wish we could have done a better
job on caulk Brenner, But Icredit Creighton. I think they're one of
America's best teams, not just oneof the best teams in the Big East.
And if they're healthy and they're playingwell, you know they have a
chance to beat anybody in our country. When you look at them playing Yukon
in a couple of weeks, Ithink they have them really late in the
season at in Omaha. I wouldn'tbe surprised if Creighton's healthy on that particular

(07:12):
night, if they're not able tobeat Yukon, I think they're that talented
of a team. Sean, whenCreighton was kept running that that lob in
the middle kind of third of thefloor, what is the proper way to
defend it? You know you haveto Enviyron. What they got us on
is they have a rule in theiroffense. If you follow me, then
anytime you like trailing a cutter andinto last second, you go underneath,

(07:36):
or if you know they're on adribble handoff, and they run a ton
of these dribble handoffs. You're runningreal fast, and at the very last
second you go underneath the screen.It really helps because you know then you
don't have to deal with the roller. So you know, I got the
ball, I beat the screen,I went underneath, and that big man,
he doesn't have to worry about helping, right, He just he guards
his big man And wow, wedid it well. What they do right

(07:58):
away is they quickly flip and theyset a rescreen, and I would say
three of their six lobs came onjust that. And he then turns and
sets a quick rescreen and when theguy comes back off, there's no pressure
and the size that manage over aboo and just our bigs, where we're
at and who he is. Itjust it allowed them to get us over

(08:18):
the top. In game one,they might have got us once, yet
the floodgates were open to the otherthings. In this game, the floodgates
opened to the lob and to thelow post. Same thing with trapping.
In game one. We elected todouble team him some. In this game,
you know they're surrounding the court withso many three point shooters that you
have to be careful doing that becauseyou almost play into their three point shooting.

(08:39):
So, you know, can hebeat us? Yep? He gave
you the answer he can. AndI also thought we caught him, like
I mentioned where he played well,and I thought Creighton did a great job
against us. You know, sometimesyou have to tip your hat. And
their experience level is among the country'sbest as well. Not only are they
older, but they've played together.You know, Mason Miller was on last

(09:03):
year's team. Kulk Brenner, youguys have dealt with them even longer than
me. Now three years in arow. Steven Ashworth joined their team.
But for those of you who don'tknow, he made the most three point
shots in the country last year atUtah State and he's in his fifth year.
You know, he's twenty three yearsold. And then you throw in
Alexander and Shireman. They have alreadymade team and they were really good.

(09:24):
It's hard to believe that at thejump ball of our game we were both
seven and five in the Big East. It almost doesn't feel right in my
sense is that they're going to catchfire down the stretch. But it also
shows you how good our conference is. For them to have five losses in
twelve Big East games reminds me alittle bit of Yukon last year, where

(09:45):
you know, they finished in fifthplace and they lost I think five of
six at one point. But youalways had that feeling that if they really
put it together, that they couldwin it all, and obviously they did.
I don't know if Creighton's completely inthat category, but we certainly have
a lot of respect for him.Playing them, their offense is very difficult
to defend. Coach, I'm sureyou've watched the game, you know,

(10:07):
multiple times. I've watched it theone time we broadcast the game, and
it seemed to me and you mentionedthe two point shots for the Musketeers not
a very efficient shooting percentage like alot of those shots if you get them
again, I feel Zaver could makethose those shots. Was at the intimidation
of colwk Brenner that caused those misssor we just misfired on those shots?
Yeah, I mean our big guyshad a horrific night, Joe, mean

(10:31):
they did. I mean they playedsixty minutes and there was four of them,
not one or two, and youknow, four players played sixty minutes,
and I think I mentioned it inpostgame. You know, you picked
the statuet up, you added upand we were one for ten from the
floor, with five turnovers and threeoffensive rebounds. You know, that's difficult
in itself to win the game,regardless of who you're playing, when four

(10:54):
players combined for that. But onthe other end, when one of their
bigs goes twelve for fourteen for twentyeight points, you know, it's so
lopsided that it's a mountain that's hardto climb. And you know, and
it goes without saying when you lookat what Dez Quincy and Daveon did.
I mean they combined for twenty threeof our twenty eight made field goals.
You know, they were six forthirteen from three. You know, they

(11:18):
were nine for eleven from the line, They had sixteen rebounds, They had
twenty two, eighteen and twenty onepoints respectively. We were playing three on
five, you know, for mostof the game, and it just makes
it hard. And again, Ialways try to see it for what it
is, especially when you watch ittwo times or three. And I thought

(11:39):
those three guys did a really goodjob in the game. They made good
plays. We were just up againstit, up against it from there,
the total roster and what carlt Brennerdid, and just those three guys because
we really didn't have anybody else helpingthem. You know, I'd say Dalen
chipped in a couple good plays,but for the most part, we didn't
get enough from our supporting cast.And when we've won this year, you

(12:01):
can always point to and you doByron like, hey, you know,
bou did a good job, oryou start naming these other guys besides those
three that did. And oftentimes that'sthe case. And for us moving forward,
we're gonna need more production and we'vegotten it. If you talk about
Villanova, you asked a lot ofquestions about Dalan Swain because he did a
great job in helping us win,and we just need a couple other guys

(12:24):
to go with those three. InBig East play we do well. It's
gonna be hard to win any gamewhen you know your top three players.
I mean, I think they scoredsixty of your yep of how many one
of seventy seventy one, so allbut ten of your points came from three
players. I mean, if that'sthe situation out then the situation moving forward,

(12:48):
then you become very easy to defendbecause it's like, hey, stop
these three guys and you know,play off all these other guys, and
it's all about getting that production asyou talked about from the other players,
how do you get how you dothat? And and Byron, one of
the keys for our team is,you know, the better that we are
on defense, the more more opportunitieswe get out in transition, Like you

(13:09):
can get the fast push and thepace where you create an open three point
shot for Quincy or Devion's able toget in the lane and score the ball,
and you know, ditto for desand by the way, sometimes that's
when those other guys in fact scoreand it starts on that defense and end
a block shot, a great steal, quick outlet, a big push,
you know, and a defense offense. And that's why it's so important and

(13:31):
like part of I think the recipefor us to get everybody involved and to
get more balance in addition to thosethree guys is to really be good on
defense. And again, when you'replaying Crayton, they're good enough on offense,
they're not going to turn it over. They know what they're doing,
you know, they really are ableto beat you with four or five different
players. So those defensive stops andpace that you can get sometimes it's harder

(13:56):
to get against Creighton. And that'swhy moving forward, when you look at
like our next two games Seaton Hallin Providence, it's really important for us
to be good on defense, tonot foul, to get those stops because
that's when I think we have abetter chance of getting some easier opportunities and
also to create opportunities for some ofthese other guys to score more. And

(14:16):
you know that's that's clearly what we'reafter, what we're trying to accomplish.
If you'd like to call in andtalk with coach Sean Miller, the numbers
five one, three, seven,fifty five hundred. We also have a
microphone up here at the desk.You can come up and ask your question
here live. This is a SeanMiller Coaches Show from Dilli Bistro, Marriman
on fifty five KRC and the VarsityNetwork. Welcome back to the Jean Miller

(14:41):
Show. We're at Dilliy Bistro andMarymont Xavier fans help cancer advisors achieve victory
over cancer at the next home gameat the centasent and just grab a souvenir
cup for a chance to win greatprizes like a VIP private VIP suite,
courts seats or Xavier March at nice. Coach, I thought in the win

(15:03):
over Villanova, your team is startingto do this on a pretty regular basis,
the last four minute segment of agame, playing well and actually closing
games out. No, that's agreat observation, Joe. You know we
refer to it as the tenth war. You know it's that it's the tenth
four minute segment of the game.And you know I've even mentioned it on
this show earlier. If you goback to last season, in which you

(15:26):
know, we had won twenty sevengames, If you go back and say,
okay, out of the thirty seventhat you played at that four minute
media time out, when there's onlyfour minutes left in the game, what
was the score? And what wecame up with is twenty seven of the
thirty seven games were two possessions,either us up two possessions or less or

(15:46):
our opponent being up two possessions orless. So twenty seven of the thirty
seven times, that's what the scoreis entering that last four minutes and you
know, you're talking about making playunder pressure, strength and conditioning depth.
But this year we're actually better inthat segment than we were a year ago.

(16:07):
We've won more of those, andI would say that's that's a source
of pride a lot of times.And Villanova game as an example. The
Saint John's game was an example,and you know Creighton was an example in
a different way. But our fightto the end, you know, allowed
us to put ourselves in a chancewhere you're at the rim to go and
potentially be down three and the shotgot blocked. So but I do like

(16:32):
that about our team. I thinkit says a lot about our strength and
conditioning program. We're a team thatdoesn't play a huge bench, but you
know we do play three guys threefour guys off the bench, and I
think the pace of play sometimes canwork to our advantage. It'll be interesting,
Joe, a couple of weeks fromnow if you can say the same
thing, because we're going to bein these situations where we're going to be

(16:53):
at that media timeout and we're goingto be there and the team that's the
best in that last four minute segment, A lot of times will be the
winner of the game, and wecertainly hope we can continue that part.
Coach, do you do anything givenyou talk about the depth and making sure
they're fresh and possibly being able tohow you can sustain that effort throughout the

(17:19):
entire season. I mean, you'veplayed twenty four games, not including in
the Bahamas, and I don't knowhow many practices you've had sixty eight eighty
something practices, So not that youare specific about that at all, but
how do you and you say youdon't play a bench, you don't really
go into your bench very very deeplyon a night in a night basis is

(17:45):
your concern? How do you addressthe concern of, like, hey,
making sure our guys are fresh asyou enter these last seven games of the
regular season. Yeah, I meanwe're certainly well aware of and I think
you're talking about really three guys,you know, and I guess Taboo would
be the fourth, but because ofhis foul trouble and sometimes we sub more
at that position than we do theothers, I wouldn't put him in a

(18:08):
category of dez Quincy and Daveyon.You know, there are heavy minute guys.
You know. The other night,des played thirty nine, Quincy played
thirty four, and Davon played thirtyeight. So and they're playing defense,
offense or playing at a fast pacedSo we're well aware of it. We
try to be aware of it interms of the length of practice. But
you know, I'll also tell youthat we got to keep going. You

(18:30):
know, we just do. It'syou know, the secret, Sauce I
think isn't secret, and that isthe teams that can continue to practice,
not necessarily the longest practice byron,but that can keep preparing what needs repaired
and keep working to improve. Andyou know you mentioned our our offense,
and there's things that you can addthat can maybe give us an advantage that

(18:51):
can free our guards up even morethan they're already freed up. And we
have to be able to implement thosethings. That takes work. So,
you know, day it's like today, I didn't think our team had a
lot of energy in today's practice,and that happens. I don't think it's
because of anything other than what youjust said. You know, we've been
swimming in the deep end for along time. You know, you're looking

(19:12):
for the shallow, like when doesit get easier? Well, it's just
not going to get easier, soyou just you just have to just stay
with it. And and I thinkthat this year we have done that.
And I think you know that's thebiggest challenge is be all the way to
the end, working to be better, working to be ready. And it's

(19:32):
that attitude, especially of those threeguys, des Quincy and Daveyon, that
will win out. And uh,and so we're moving, we're moving forward.
But your point is well taken Byron. The pace we're playing at in
the heavy minutes of those three youhave to be aware of it so it
doesn't at the very end when weneed them to be at our best,

(19:53):
they don't have anything left. Thisis a Sean Miller's Coaches Show from Dilly
Bistro and Marymont on fifty five KRCand the Varsity Network. Welcome back to
the Sehn Miller Coaches Show from Jimley, Bistrow and Merrimont. 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.

(20:18):
Listen to college sports live with theVarsity Network app. All right, we've
got a microphone up here, We'regonna put it to use all right away.
Appreciate it. Just a quick question. When I watch a game,
I love watching picking out a playerand watching them move, you know,
I like, I think Swayne,I think I love watching Blazar. I
think off the ball, what doyou watch? I mean there's times I

(20:41):
see, you know, we're allwatching a shooter and then man, you're
on onto somebody. You know,what what what are you keying on in
a game? I know it's abig question offense and defense. It's a
different point of view. Yeah,I mean, really the execution of the
five players would say that would bemy kind of way to say it.

(21:03):
You know, you're certainly watching whohas the ball and how that's working.
But you know, on offense andyou generally have a good sense of where
everyone is supposed to be, andyou know, I think you just you
kind of follow the movement of thefive players of are they doing what they're
supposed to? On defense, samething, you know, I think most
of the time you're not just watchingthe ball. You're watching just the guys

(21:23):
and help and the ball, tryingto make sure that both are going.
But it's amazing what I'll tell youis like you think you see things in
a game, and you know that'sobviously my responsibility, plus our staff.
You know, we're all watching differentthings. But it is amazing what you
can watch after the game, whenyou watch it again, and you see
things sometimes much differently, certainly moreclearly. And I think that if you

(21:48):
would ask me after, I wouldwatch the game, not live, but
after we would watch it on videofilm. I really have a great sense
of what happened. You know,so in large part because you can rewind,
and sometimes you watch one thing thefirst time, the second thing you
double check you watch, you know, you really see it, see it
all. But uh, I thinkevery coach just tries to see all five

(22:11):
players because it's the game, isn'tjust the player with the ball. All
right, let's take a phone goodquestion, Take a phone call, Jill,
you're on with the coach. Howyou doing, Joe? We're good.
Oh that's your coach. How areyou younger players doing? Crib?

(22:33):
However are you doing? Yeah,you know, I'll give you, uh
how he wants to know how thoseguys are doing. Are you watching how
you guys are doing? Yeah,that's pretty you're pretty good listening coach Zach
Fremantle just crossed the twentieth week barrierof since his surgery, So that's five
months and uh, he got aclean bill of health. The surgery has

(22:56):
taken uh, bone as healing andalmost healed. I think he may experience
even more bone growth over the nextmonth or two, but he's protected.
He's cleared to come out and gonon contact, so he can shoot,
can run, he can do thosethings. He's still taking baby steps in
that way. You know, Zachloves the game. He's in great shape.

(23:18):
I mean, I'd say Zach's bodyfat is six percent right now.
He's just one of those guys whodoes a great job of working constantly in
the weight room or on the bike. The things he's allowed to do,
he's really doing. So, youknow, knock on wood, we're due
for some good stretch of health.And my hope is that Zach can be
with us next year from start tofinish and have a great summer leading into

(23:41):
that as well, which he wouldn'thave been able to do last summer.
So yeah, so he's five months. You think about it, and it's
February. You know, he'll havein essence ten to eleven months of rehab,
bone growth and rest and everything thathe's supposed to do, like the
true progression from his surgery to thetime our season begins. Jerome had surgery

(24:07):
on his Achilles tendon on Friday.The surgery was a success. He got
through the surgery, he's recovering,and he's back in Columbus right now.
You know, just making sure thathe takes the medication and gets through these
initial tough days of post surgery.So you know, your thoughts and prayers
would be appreciated for him with allthat he's been through, but we're optimistic

(24:32):
he'll make a full recovery. Thetime frame on an achilles injury in twenty
twenty four is more towards six months, So if you've kind of go to
mid March, mid April, midMay, mid June, July, August,
and then you add in two orthree more months in and around nine
months is when our season begins,and we're hopeful that Jerome will be able
to rejoin us, but he clearlyhas been hit with a lot. Campcraft

(24:56):
is a part of our team program, but he's red shirting this year,
all right, Byron? Go ahead? Yeah, then, coach about the
thing about Zach Fremanno that I reallylike to see is is you know,
he's obviously is not going to playthis year, but I see him traveling.

(25:22):
I've seen a lot of it lookslike a maturity in him. I
mean, you obviously know him alot better than I do. You deal
with him every day. But Isee him before the game out there,
like helping his guys stretch and beingthere for him, being enthusiastic, because
that's that's that's very tough to do, given you know, the hand he's
been Dell, he can just bea man. I'm just focusing on myself

(25:44):
and trying to give myself better.But it seems like he's doing He's kind
of showing some leadership in that aspect. I agree with you, Byron,
and I do think that because ofthe circumstances, you know, Zach has
has grown up, more matured,more accomplished a lot academically. You know,
has spot through some adversity that maybewhen he was younger would have had

(26:08):
a much more difficult time getting through, or maybe he didn't know if you
could get through it. I thinkon his end right now, he's pretty
confident that he can get through justabout anything, which is you know,
part of the journey for all theseguys when they come to college. You
know that they learn that that youknow, different things happen and you have
to be able to handle it,grow from it, learn from it,

(26:30):
overcome those things. And Zach's onthe other side of a lot of those
types of things. And you know, I guess for both him and our
program, my hope is that weget the best version of him, the
healthiest on court version, the bestplayer, and you're right, the most
mature person and maybe the best leaderthat he could be in college next year.

(26:51):
He clearly has earned a right tobe a leader, and this year
has been good for him when itcomes to that. All right, This
is a Miller's Coaches Show from DyliyBeistrill and Marriymunt on fifty five KRC and
the Varsity Network. Welcome back tothe Sean Miller show line from Delmy Fistro

(27:14):
and Marrinmat. I like to wisha happy birthday to Sandy and Baba.
Thanks for the cupcakes up here.We're enjoying those. But I have a
birthday. I know it's a daylate, but I'm sure you're still celebrating.
Congratulations, Coach Djokovic. Every timeI watch him play, I bring
it up all the time to you. He seems to be more instinctive to
how he's playing. Is there anytruth to that? I thought he played

(27:36):
pretty well in the Creating Game.You've watched the video. It sounds like
about ten or twelve times now,I don't know, but you've studied it.
How did he do against the greatboot? Yes, you're right,
Joe, he did a great jobat the end of the game. I
thought one of the reasons that we'reable to make a run and keep playing
is I thought he gave us thatathleticism and size and effort level. He
certainly understands like what it means tooffensive rebound and defensive rebound and be more

(27:59):
physical. He's probably improved in thatarea more than any other area he has.
He just has struggled to score,not that some other guys haven't,
but down the stretch, I thinkjust his his speed, his size,
his physicality can help us like weneed everybody. And I do think that
those younger guys, We've talked aboutit all year, they can show up

(28:21):
at different times and make a bigdifference. We've seen it with Trey Green,
We've seen it more with Daylan Swain, and you know, Sasha of
the three, of the remaining freshmanwould be the other player. And here
down the stretch, you know,we're gonna call on Lazarre every once in
a while, playing maybe more atthe five simply because you know, I

(28:41):
think with the Boo, you know, you have the foul trouble and sometimes
the inconsistency. You know, withwith Sasha, sometimes the game could be
almost too fast, and with Lazarremaybe he's in between them, and you
know, you end up playing alittle bit of a deeper bench and you
get more activity and action around therim. So down down the home stretch,
who were looking to do that.But I do think that he did

(29:03):
a good job. And then inthe limited role that he had in the
minutes that he played against Creighton,yeah, he was moving around. I
mean, his athleticism is the thingthat just really jumps out when he gets
onto the floor, and it wasgood he had fresh legs. Gave him
a different look against Karl Brenner becauseyou know, you had a Boo Uzman
just leaning on him the whole time. And then you bring out a different

(29:26):
defender and Lazar Djokovic who's not goingto be as physical, but he'll be
able to keep meet him at therim and just be give the But I
think with a Czar, I mean, I would think the key to him
is just playing with that energy thathe needs to play with. I mean,
we've met this level and just talkto him about that. You know,
it's in that game. One ofthe reasons that you guys would even

(29:48):
bring his name up is he hadthree rebounds to assist in a block and
his block was a really good one, and he blocked I think Trey Alexander
shot going right down the lane,and not a lot of guys on our
team are able to do that.So, you know, three rebounds in
a block shot and you play twelveminutes, you start to impact us in
a big way. You know,you catch a late lob, or you
catch it on a roll and score, you make a wide open three.

(30:11):
You know, now all of asudden, you're like, wow, that
he's impacting the game, and that'sthat's what we need. You know.
We talked about it a few minutesago about just relying so much on Dez
Quincy and Daveon in the Creighton game. We just really had those three and
they need they need help. Andby the way, each of those three
have to have to continue to playthe way they've played. You know,

(30:34):
we talk about Quincy, we talkabout Dez, and we talk about Davion,
but almost not not enough. Iwas looking at his Big East stats
today. If you look at Davonand just the Big East games, the
thirteen of twenty that we've played,you could make the case that he's playing
as well as any point guard inthe conference. He's shooting almost fifty percent

(30:57):
from the field, He's shooting fortythree percent from three, I think about
over eighty from the line. Heleads the league still and assist the turnover
ratio, and his points per gamenow are almost at fourteen. So you
think about, you know, theminutes he's playing, what we're asking him
to do in terms of pushing theball and playing with pace defensively, continuing

(31:18):
to guard the types of players hehas to guard night in and night out.
He's really been I think our team'soverall most improved player. When you
go back to November, I mean, Byron on this show, a couple
of times we had a conversation ofGod, how can we get more offense
from davey On. I know helooks like a tough guy. He's playing
defense and I watched him push theball, but we need, we need

(31:41):
some more production from him, andthat was true. We just did.
We'll think about how far he's comesince those earlier conversations, and I think
he's playing lights out. I meannext seven obviously will determine how great of
a year he's had, but justto watch him progress from when he first
got the consistency he's shown him throughthirteen games, I'm really happy with his

(32:04):
play and he's a fun guy tocoach. I've mentioned that shows up every
day doesn't change his expression. Sometimesyou almost want want him to do it
more. But he's that silent assassin. You know, he's the guy who
shows up game in, game out, you know what you're gonna get.
You really love the way he playswell. The one thing I think about
him is just toughness. He's gota toughness about him on both ends of

(32:29):
the floor that is definite when heplays coach. What about Trey green A
Trey has the pleasure of dealing withhim every day in practice, I'm sure
they guard each other for a lotof the times. And talking to Trey's
dad, David, he thought thatone of the reasons why he wanted Trey
to come to Zaber was to geta chance to play against a guy like

(32:53):
Dave on every day. Do yousee some growth in Trey as a result
of competing with him every day?I do. And you know, Trey
is he's your classic freshman. Youknow that he's up and down. It's
not that he isn't trying, isn'ttrying to learn. He has gotten better.
He has really improved, you know. I think when you look at

(33:15):
Tray, he's small in stature,but he's almost a combo guard. There
are times when he doesn't have theball, when he's playing off the ball
where he's at his best, andclearly there are times when he has the
ball that he's good enough where hecan make plays. I think his biggest
challenge is just on the defensive end, guarding today's guards, big physical players,

(33:35):
older guys being able to come inthe game not file the shooter.
I don't know if he's broken theXavier record on how many times he's filed
the shooter, but I'll be willingto bet he's hard after it. I
mean, we still have seven gamesleft, and I think if he does
it about four more times, he'sgoing to have the record. And I'll
also tell you about it, itwill not be broken anytime soon. It's

(33:58):
not easy to just foul the shooteralmost every game, but that those are
the things that sometimes hurt our team. But I think the things that I
refer to as a freshman, youknow, just it's not that he's small,
it's not that he can't do it. It's just it's that next level
of alertness, concentration and just youknow, you got to be able to

(34:20):
play twenty games in a row andmaybe you foul the three point shooter one
time and it's a bad call,but yeah, to deal with that at
the level's dealt with it. Sodefense is a challenge. And then just
I think learning how to just reallyvalue the ball all the time. It
doesn't mean you have to play safeor scared, but when you're a point
guard and that thing is turned over, nothing good comes from that. And

(34:42):
that's the one thing davey On wetake for granted. But he does a
really good job. I mean,he is pushing the ball at breakneck speed
for the entirety of the game,and he's playing with one or two turnovers,
and then that's not easy to do, all right. This is a
Sean Miller coach a show from DeilliBistro and Marymna fifty five karcity in the
Varsity Deflok. Welcome back to dyPistro and the Sehn Miller Coaches Show and

(35:10):
the coach. Last time you playedSeaton Hall your opponent this Wednesday, he
won by twenty points and abou Usmannwas a big part of that winn.
He ha sixteen points, ten rebounds, and six offensive rebounds in that ball
game. That was his best BigEast game. Joe and I talked to
him about that yesterday. Obviously,a Boo is struggling a little bit right
now and really struggled mightily against Creighton. And sometimes again you have to look

(35:31):
at the opponent. You have totip your hat to call Brenner. There's
a reason that that guy is theback to back defensive player of the Year
in our league. And I wouldhave to say he's about ready to win
it three times in a row.And he has experience and size and they're
very disciplined with how they use him. You know, he doesn't get enough
credit because he doesn't block a lotof shots. He doesn't HiT's deceptive.

(35:52):
I mean, you look and youthink he's a great shot blocker. What
he's great at is is going vertical. For example, des Claude drove the
lane really late in the game.We were down five after we just made
this run and my goodness, herewe are at the rim. It wasn't
that he blocked it. He justjumped way over the rim and almost like
interfered with the ability of the ballto go to the in the net.

(36:15):
He just he's smart. But thatalso contributed to a booze, you know
performance. But against Seaton Hall thefirst time, when you say he had
sixteen points, ten ten rebounds,six of those offensive, he was terrific.
And you know sometimes when that happensthe first time, you have confidence

(36:35):
the second time. We're going toneed him, certainly to be better,
and I think he's more than capableof putting a good performance against the Pirates.
We need him, We need himto be better than he's been recently,
for sure. But Light's a proudsponsor as Xavior Athletics, Easy to
drink and easy to enjoy. Youtalked about the drive by Desmond Claude a
couple of times late in the ballgame where he got it to the rim.

(36:57):
It was a great drive and heran into a great defender and he's
just a sophomore. If he hita do over again, would you give
many advice or was that the right? I know, we attack, you
want to attack. Is there anyway you can handle that as you go
through? I mean, he wassuch a strong drive job. I mean,
it's it's what you want, especiallyin that situation because a lot of
times the fouls called. I didn'tthink that he got fouled. Maybe it

(37:20):
could have been called, but hejust you know, I think his reputation
is size and just really his abilityto go vertical. Like I mentioned talking
about cal Runner a lot of times, it's just it's frustrating because it works,
you know, it works against you. But he does a great job
of playing without fouling. I thoughtthe one thing that hurt us in that
game is now we had two illegalscreens called actually three, you know.

(37:44):
One of them was what I wouldbe egregious. It was against a boot
meaning a boot. He did it. You know at some point you have
to stop and like you can't keepmoving and set the screen. If you
get away with it, it's almostlike the referee missed it, and they
called a foul and a good call. They called another foul on Lazaarre on
an underneath out of bounds play thatI thought was a terrible call. And

(38:07):
then they called a foul on adribble handoff. So again we have eleven
turnovers. Three of our eleven turnoversare on these illegal screens. When des
came down and just dribble hand off, just dribble flipped and Ashworth his credit,
you know, he flopped ran intoDez and whatever, and uh you
know when a referee calls a foulon that one, you know that that's

(38:30):
like the next level. Because theone thing Creighton does a great job of,
and I think any coach in theBig East would tell you this,
their ability to screen off the ball, on the ball especially called runner,
it's amazing. But they'll set afew illegal ones and I think in our
game one one was called and heset six hundred. You know. So

(38:52):
the thing about the coach, youhave choices, coach, what do you
do? And we don't like howthat's called you just you just deal with
it, you move on to thenext game because there's really nothing gonna change.
And uh, you know I dothink that you know, in that
game one of the three year refsstruggled and uh, we'll see I won't

(39:12):
name them. Like to thank thanksfor joining us for the Sean Miller Coach,
a show from dyl ad Istro atMarymount on fifty five PRC and the
Varsity Network live from the Dilly Bistroin Marymont. This has been the Sean

(39:40):
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
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