2/26/24 - The Sean Miller Radio Show

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
On the Xavier Sports Network from learField, Live from the Dilly Bistro in
Marymont. Welcome to the Sean MillerRadio Show presented by bud Late. Easy
to drink, easy to enjoy andbuy Try Health. Try Health provides surprisingly
human care that drives the best healthoutcomes. Be seen, be heard,

(00:24):
be healed. Visit trhealth dot com. Now Here are Joe Sunderman and Byron
Larkin. Welcome to the Sean MillerShow Live from Dilly Bistro and Marmont.
I'm Joe Sunderman along with Byron Larkinand the head coach of the Xavier Musketeers,
Sean Miller. The Musketeer stand atthirteen and fourteen, overall, seven

(00:45):
nine and Big East Play. Lastnight in Milwaukee, Zigger lost to Marquette
eighty eight to sixty four. Xavier'llget another shot at Marquette on March ninth
at the Centa Center. And Coach, I don't know hear you feel about
that, but I think that's somethingwe're going to look forward to. I
mean, I guess it depends,Joe. I mean, we we have
to we have to be a lot, a lot, a lot better on

(01:07):
that on that day than than wewere last night. And you know,
we we've had our our bumps inthe road along the way, and on
this show. I think I've saidit to the both of you several times
and one one of the things thathas made me very proud, and it's
not an easy thing to talk about, but regardless of our circumstances, we've
had tough losses. You know,we've played a difficult schedule from the onset

(01:32):
that's been well documented. We've stuckwith it, you really have. And
just just when you like, boy, they had a tough loss, I
wonder how they'll respond, we've respondedand uh, and I really think this
is like the first time in thelong journey that we've been on where we
didn't respond. And it's not thewin or the loss of the game,

(01:52):
because right now, in late February, I looked at our game a year
ago when we played Marquette. Basicallywe played the identical team last night that
we played a year ago. Imean, one of their strainths is they
returned everybody on their team except onea guy, a prosper who went to
the NBA. But I think eightof their top nine from a team that

(02:14):
was a two seed last year,so it's a difficult journey to Milwaukee to
beat them at home. And Ialso think they're playing really good basketball.
So the fact of the winner ofthe loss, that's one thing you can
make the argument you go up thereand you play your heart out and you
lose the hard fought battle and didthe best that you could. But I

(02:35):
really can't put our effort level inwhat we did last night in that category.
And that's why I mentioned, youknow, to this point, we
really bounced back and responded. That'sone of the reasons that we've remained hopeful
that at some point we might havean opportunity to play our best basketball at
the end and enter Madison Square.Garden is a very dangerous team. We

(02:57):
didn't show any of those signs lastnight. When it got difficult, we
had a couple guys just absolutely goaway. And I think the next challenge
becomes Wednesday, and that's really whatmatters the most, and that is to
be at our very very best infront of our home fans back at the
Santa Center against DePaul and DePaul isin the last place in our league.

(03:20):
That's been well documented. But they'replaying better and right now, based on
who we are, We're going tohave to play a lot better on Wednesday
to have a chance to leave withthe victory. And then after Wednesday,
we go to Washington, d C. And we play Georgetown. And you
know, the last time that weplayed Georgetown, it was a thriller.
We were very fortunate to win thegame. You know, Georgetown right now,

(03:42):
I think is two and fifteen.You know, their two wins come
at the expense of De Paul.So that's our week home against the Paul
on Wednesday, Saturday at Georgetown,and that's our entire focus. Now,
who's going to start the game,you know, our film set, how
practices are going to go, that'sa completely different different deal. I think

(04:04):
that everybody right now is at levelone in these next twelve days which leads
to New York City. You know, it is an audition for many many
things. There's two ways that wehave to go. One to be the
very best that we can be inthese next twelve days with our practice,
the intensity of how we play,in the accountability of effort, effort,

(04:27):
just trying your best during games.And then the second phase is the season
ends and there's some things that reallyhave to happen to get us back moving
in the direction that everybody here deserves. Coach, you you've been been coaching,
but this is your nineteenth year asa head coach, and you've been
on many teams and had a lotof situations. But how do you manage

(04:48):
a team that's that's struggling? Youknow, your team is going through kind
of a tough spot, a toughspot right here. And I know each
team is different their personalities. Youknow, good teams are led by by
their players. You know, mediocreteams are led by their coaches, and
bad teams there's just no leadership.So how do you go about like managing

(05:11):
this particular set of players through thistough time of the season. I mean
number one buyer And it's no differentthan what you you know, you ask
the question, you know, howyou treat your players? Well? Each
one of those guys is wired differently. You know, I think what brings
out the best and Dalen Swain maybe far different than what would have brought
out the best in Colby Jones asa junior. So you know, your

(05:32):
first, I think thing objective isto determine what is it that allows you
to coach to teach, to helpthis young person grow and within the confines
of the team, to allow ourteam to be the best that we can
be. The team is the same, you know, right now, we
don't really have a lot of leadership. I think the Daveon and Quincy,

(05:53):
you know, in some ways,if you think about it, neither guy
was here a year ago. They'vethey've risen to be the two leaders of
our team. And I would creditDavon in a really big way of just
being incredibly consistent with who he is, but also improving more than any other
player on our team from the startof the season to finish. And I

(06:14):
would put Davon in a category evenlast night after the Marquette game that for
the most part, he did whathe did. You know, he wasn't
perfect, but he played with maximumeffort. You know, he's the silent
assassin. And although he didn't shootthe ball as well as he's been,
you know, I thought we hada really good effort there. You know,
Quincy by just his statistics and deliveringin the clutch and being fearless,

(06:39):
and I think with his personality,you know, to some degree, we're
really lucky to have him and Ithink those two guys have risen, you
know, from where they once werepeople that weren't even here a year ago
to our two leaders. And that'sthe difference between Marquette, who welcomes eight
of their top nine from a yearago and us that really lost to thirteen
players since we were in Kansas Cityplaying Texas. If you think about that,

(07:04):
so here we go moving forward.But how you deal with the guys
lack of effort is something that's hard. I really try to stay away from
saying that, because there's a lotof times over the years where when you're
on the plane going back, you'relike, they didn't try. I can't
wait to get these guys in practice. You watch the film, you let

(07:24):
a day go by, and youfigure out they actually did try. It
wasn't as bad as I thought.You know, we just had one of
those nights where the other team wasmuch better or offensively, we struggled.
The disposition of our group in Milwaukeeplaying Marquette is just fundamentally unacceptable. They
were not ready to play, Theydid not play with great effort, and
there's a couple guys that quite frankly, don't deserve to play anymore. It's

(07:48):
where it's at, so we haveto be able to see it for what
it is. I think that youknow where we're at twenty twenty four.
It's like it is holding people accountablein a world that really doesn't allow you
to do it. Sometimes, andyou have to give Xavier maximum effort,
you have to show up on time, you have to play for something that's

(08:09):
bigger than yourself. Those are justthe beginning stages. And by the way,
no one's saying you have to scoretwenty and ten, or especially this
season with the schedule that we've had, that you have to win twenty five
games. That's not what I'm saying. But what is expected is that you're
gonna play your heart out. You'regonna play with tremendous effort level from the
start of the game to the finishor else. I'm telling you right now,

(08:30):
you will never play here. Youwon't even know who these guys are.
So these next twelve days, Ithink we have five games left.
It reminds me a lot of acouple moments I had when I was here
the first time. It's like,a couple guys are gonna be here,
A couple guys may not, becausewhat we're trying to do at Xavier is
not for everybody to win in thisconference in the Big East, you need
guys who love the game, whoare willing to give everything they have for

(08:54):
the school, for the program thatthey're playing for something that's bigger than just
out there and scoring twenty points orwhatever wherever it is. But we're after
that, and I think that we'regon we're gonna be really hard at holding
our standard right there. And ifthat means Brad Colbert starts or Brad Colbert
plays more. The one thing Iknow about Colbert is he's gonna give you

(09:16):
everything that he has for the sakeof the team. And that's why I
put him in there last night andright now, I think just playing him
a little bit earlier, getting himin the mix more so that we can
have fresher legs and you can getsomeone who you know is gonna play with
all their heart and might. Ithink that's where we're at right now.
It's really not any This isn't acomplicated puzzle. It's really simple. It's

(09:39):
like, this is the expectations andyou're gonna meet him, and no one
is at all saying you have toscore twenty and ten. But what you
do have to do is you haveto give us your maximum effort. Is
I hear you? Yeah, SoI'm not assuming the minutes are gonna change
and who's gone it. But onthe other hand, they may change,
and that's all gonna be determined toit's going to change the other the starting

(10:03):
lineup with you know, our startinglineup has been fluid anyway, Joe.
So it's not like that's news.I mean, we've started a number of
different guys, But I think thatwho we start is determined by the film
that we watch, not only ofgames, but of practice, the effort
level to talk, the communication.You know, at the jump ball,
If you watch the game, thegame started with the jump ball, and
the referee threw the ball up anda Marquette player ran full speed and stole

(10:28):
the tip. When he had theball in his hands, we had two
guys at that point who had notmoved yet. If the player would have
just taken the ball that he stoleand took three dribbles, he had a
chance to score on a breakaway layupand start the game right there. That
already tells you there's two guys whoshouldn't be starting. They weren't ready to
play. They're not alert, they'renot thinking about what we need to be

(10:48):
thinking about. And at the endof that four minute segment of the starters,
they could be up ten to nothingand we could play with maximum effort.
But you have to play with maximumeffort. That's the first thing.
And you know we have Dante andBJ on our staff. The one thing
that I know about Dante Jackson andBJ, every practice that they attended,

(11:09):
every game that they played, thatwas always the standard. There was never
a standard that would be any differentthan that. Dante played with me for
me for two years. When coachMack took over in the next two years,
it was no different. It wasabout the final score and it was
about how hard. We prided ourselvesin the effort column that you may beat
us, but you're never going tofeel good that it was easy, and

(11:31):
you're going to know that our programand our team plays with tremendous passion and
effort. When that doesn't exist,that's a major problem, and I think
that has to be addressed. AndI think that where we've gone to this
point, we've shown it. Wehaven't been perfect with it. But right
now at Marquette, that's a differentcategory. All right, this is a
different category. This is je SeanMillers Coaches Show from Dylan Bistro and Mary

(11:54):
Mona fifty five KRC in the VarsityNetwork. Welcome back to the Sean Miller
Coach a show from Jilly b Strilland Merrimack. Xavior Fans help Cincinnati Cancer
Advisors achieve victory over cancer at thenext home game at the Centai Center.

(12:16):
Just grab a souvenir cup for achance to win great prizes like a private
b P suite, courtside seats orXavier merchandise. Coach, the team got
home last night deac an hour eleveno'clock and you have Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, you have a game,the players get today off and you have
these issues of your team. Whatmore effort so forth? Did you address

(12:39):
that the day or was the dayof day off? No? No,
no, we addressed today, andyou know, we're we're you know,
it's it's not like, hey,coach, you really did a great job
today and now it's fixed. Youknow, I think today we really worked
at that and both on the courtwith the film, like we really reviewed
the lack of effort. I thinkit's one thing for to say it.

(13:01):
I think it's another thing to showthirty seven clips. In all thirty seven
you're pointing out the same thing,and you know you have two or three
players that are in eighteen of thethirty seven clips. Just there's really nowhere
to hide. You guys have bothlived it. Probably the thing that you
dread the most as a player.I know I did, is when you
go into that film room, youknow what's coming and there's nowhere to just

(13:22):
you're on the film. There's nodisputing it. It happened. And if
I rewind it ten times, fifteentimes, twenty times, you've watched the
same clip twenty times, so youknow. And the other part of it
is it's not we didn't. We'renot running, you know, because I
think part of what we're experiencing rightnow is we've been at this a while,
both mentally and physically. You canget worn down. I think des

(13:46):
Claude, Daveon McKnight and Quincy OLIVERIwith the pace that we play at the
minutes that they've played, the consistentplayers that they've been for such a long
period of time, no doubt aboutit. They can wear down in late
February when things aren't going well.Our freshmen, the alleged freshman wall.
You know, I think there's twotypes of freshmen. There's the freshmen that

(14:09):
you give him the great excuse andsay, ah, that's that freshman wall.
We'll get there next year. Andthen there's the other freshman like Castle
from Yukon, that you say,he's no longer a freshman. Right,
You're in one or two categories.Is you're the freshman that he did as
a heck of a job and thatfreshman wall got him. And then again

(14:30):
back to the other one. It'slike, boy, he's no longer a
freshman, he's really good. Wehave a couple of freshmen right now that
are struggling, and we've had acouple of freshmen that are doing a good
job. But I think for themost part for us, it comes back
to that one theme and that isand it's the same with the rebounding at
halftime. We were down ten pointslast night and one of the statistics that

(14:52):
we're well aware of during the firsthalf we really are trying to share with
our team is our defensive rebounding andWe checked in an eighty percent of getting
eighty percent of our defensive rebounds inthe first half, and that's very good
regardless of the score. That's somethingwe did well. What we have a
problem with is really being able tocontinue to do that in the second half,

(15:15):
and that's plagued us. It's reallywhat happened in the Providence game,
and the same thing happened in thesecond half. You know, we got
out worked, we gave up keysecond shots, which is in the Marquette
game, the reason why you're notdown ten, you're down twenty, right,
it's because those three second shots thatthey convert or get fouled in.
So being able to do better jobthere, and Mike I mentioned effort,

(15:39):
and then it also comes to thesame point Joe, of what's the best
route to beating DePaul? How canwe be the best team we can be?
And that's the path we're trying tofollow, because unless we play with
greater effort, all these other thingsthat we talk about sometimes after the game,
they don't mean nearly as much.So can we be the hardest play

(16:00):
team we're capable of being on Wednesdaynight, that's what our fans deserve.
That's what our program deserves. That'sreally what everybody is signed up for,
and there's no tolerance for anything lessthan that, because that's just unacceptable.
Sean, how do you balance offlike after a game when you say,
hey, we need to work onthese things that we didn't do well,

(16:22):
these other things that we did dowell. How do you kind of balance
like not being you know, toomuch on either side of that. You
know, Byron, mostly you knowthis. You don't reinvent the practice based
on how you did, you know. I think you have pretty much a
template of the this is what makesus a good team, this is what
we believe in, and you justconstantly try to reinforce and work on those

(16:45):
things almost on an everyday basis,emphasizing sometimes some things you need to put
more work in. Rebounding is thehardest one because usually you fix that between
April August with who's on your team. And I think like for us,
there's nothing that's more important to ourfuture than getting players and people that will

(17:10):
rebound the ball. Could be aguard, could be a wing player,
could be an undersized inside player,could be a seven foot or the ability
to rebound the ball to really goafter it to be you know statistically that
where you know that that's something you'regetting, I mean Byron during your time
playing, you know the value ofa guy that can get every rebound in
the gym. David West I waslooking at it the other day. In

(17:33):
his last year at Xavier, heaveraged just under ten defensive rebounds a game.
Just under ten. Now, it'salmost unfair to bring that up because
David played in the NBA for youknow, fifteen plus years, and he's
an NBA World Champion, an NBAAll Star, all the different accolades he
earned. But it just goes toshow, like what that stat means.

(17:56):
If you looked at Tyrone Hill andyou you look at these guys like the
best that's ever played here, they'regetting around nine ten defensive rebounds per game
in conference play. Right now,we're we're the guy that has four and
his name's Quincy. So if youthink about the biggest problem that we've had,

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the biggest problem that we have totry to fix on Wednesday and Saturday
and next Wednesday, next Saturday,is to get our team to defensive rebound
guys that don't start the game.Wing players like a Dylan swaying guys that
start to make them aware that you'veplayed ninety six minutes and you've had three
defensive rebounds in ninety six minutes,that just you have to do better than

(18:42):
that and we expect more of that. So I think when you look at
rebounding and just go gob by thenumbers, Dalen had five defensive rebounds,
that's maybe a career high. Abouhad three, Des had two, and
twenty seven minutes, Quincy had fiveand Dave had six. And those are
two things that both Davion and Quincydon't get a lot of credit for.

(19:04):
Those two guys in the Marquette gamecombined for eleven defensive rebounds and again playing
with effort and going and getting theball. Those two guys have done a
really good job. We just needmore and we need to improve the guys
that are playing, and certainly lookat that as priority one. When you
see the guys not defensive rebounding,a lot of times it's because they're trying

(19:25):
to leak out on the break andleave early. And this situation, what's
going on with when you see thisteam not rebounded, is it just kind
of staring and it's watching them ball. It's embracing the physicality of the game.
You know, it's in the BigEast. I think we're one of
the most physical leagues in the country. It's always been that way. Guys

(19:47):
crash the offensive glass. There's sometremendous athletes throughout our conference. And think
about the center position. You know, sometimes there's a reason our center won't
have a lot of defensive rebounds becausehe's just in this tug of war with
a giant on the other team,and he's constantly blocking out, and he's
constantly fighting to help his team getthe defensive rebound, and that frees up
somebody like Quincy to go in thereand get it. But I think when

(20:11):
you just look at just the templateor the players that play the most,
we just across the board have todo a better job of blocking out.
Something I've talked a long time about. We came back from Vegas and we
were sitting here and we just finishedplaying Saint Mary's in Washington. I think
one of the things I tried totalk a lot about is the development on
the defensive glass, being a teamthat when you make a miss that you

(20:33):
get the ball. Because when youthink about that, the other part of
it for our team this year,it also becomes our best offense. So
anytime we can get a defensive stop, it ignites our transition and right now,
scoring in transition might be the singlebest thing that we do. So
all the times that we don't getthat first shot rebound, give up second

(20:53):
shots and not only hurts our defense, but it also hurts our offense.
So that's why it's so important.And you know, I'll just talk about
the DePaul game. DePaul's not astrong offensive rebounding team. Providence really wasn't
either. We have to do agreat job of being able to get our
guys to block out, to stayin there, to rebound the ball,
to make them miss, and toget those keep those key second shots away

(21:17):
from DePaul. All Right, you'relistening to the Sean Miller Coaches Show from
Billy Bistro and Marimont on fifty fiveKARC and the Varsity Network. Welcome back
to the Sean Miller Show here atJilly Bistro and Marrimont. Yeah, and
the Xavier musket Cheers will be takingon DePaul on Wednesday. That game will
be on seven hundred WLW. Whenyou're out of town, and want to

(21:40):
keep up with live college sports,be sure to download the new Varsity Network
app, available for both Apple andAndroid, and listen to college sports live
with the Varsity Network app. Becauseyou were talking a lot about your rebounding,
I know, as I listened toyou over the last three months,
I'm going to say there's four orfive, maybe six games you thought were
lost because of inability to gray youhave some of the rebounds you're talking about.

(22:02):
How many times in your career asa coach have you seen players develop
into great rebounders after the freshman yearor is it really the case where you
got to go out and find rebounding. I've always been told if you're rebound
in high school, you can reboundin college. If you rebound in college,
you can rebound on the pros.But it's sort of a knack that
you have, maybe as a fifteenyear old kid, and it just stays
with you. No, Joe,your point is on point, and that

(22:25):
is you know, I think reboundingis the one area that really translates,
you know us David West as theexample, what's the one thing that he
did really really well his entire careeras an NBA player. He rebounded Tyrone
Hill. What's the one thing thathe really did a great job of his
entire career, maybe made him havethe long career his rebounding. Romayne Sodo,
what's the one thing in Europe thatthey talk about. Never has there

(22:48):
been a guard at six foot fiverebound the ball like Romayne Sodo. He
became a EuroLeague hero over there.It translates so from high school and when
you look at guys trans spring in. It's a huge statistic and I think
it's something that can be undervalued.Sometimes you have to be reminded of what
it feels like to not have it. So, you know, Byron,

(23:10):
you said, nineteen years as acoach, So the nineteen years that I've
been a head coach, this isthe nineteenth team that I've had. This
is the nineteenth best defensive rebounding teamthat I've had. Nineteen and that's year
one here, year one, youknow whatever. So when you think about
it, how big of a problemis it is a major problem. It's

(23:30):
it's a major problem. It's thething that you don't like to talk about
in December January because it's like youdon't let you don't want the cat to
be left out of the bag,right You don't want to let everybody who's
getting ready to play us say,did you hear what he said about his
team? But it's true right now, there are no secrets. I think
that when you watch us play,it's the thing that doesn't show up,
and we have some guys that justreally struggle in that area. We as

(23:53):
coaches our staff, we have todo the best job we can in the
next twelve days to get the mostout of them there. And it's the
number one thing we have to fix. I think it's like playing football without
an offensive line. I mean,you just nothing works. And I think
if you can't get the team whenyou make a miss, as hard as
that is, especially in the BigEast Conference, and you can't keep them

(24:15):
off the offensive glass, it justcreates so many problems. And in the
second half at Providence, you knowthat game, among a couple was a
really tough loss for us. It'sthe one thing that changed from the first
half to the second half against Providence. In the first half, if you're
into analytics, we gave up pointseven to five points per possession, and

(24:41):
I would tell you that would beborderline outstanding. Defense in the Big East
Conference. To hold the other teamto point seven to five points per possession
for the first twenty minutes, youfeel really good about what happened. And
I don't remember how many points theyhad at halftime, but it wasn't many.
I think it was like thirty three. I think you had thirty eight.

(25:02):
You had scored thirty eight and theyyou held them at thirty two.
Also, your offense was outstanding inthat first half. You had I think
fifteen may Field goals and assisted onfourteen. That was It doesn't get any
better than that. So in thesecond half of the same game, same
team, not a lot changed.We gave up one point one five points
per possession. That's a difference ofpoint four to zero in the same game.

(25:26):
And again I don't want to boreyou with the math of it,
but it's it's almost like you couldwatch five hundred basketball games and it would
never change that much in the samegame between the same two teams, between
one half and the other. Maybeit could change between one game when you
play them at Yukon and you playedthem at home in Cincinnati. From time

(25:47):
to time, it can really bea different type of game. Home versus
away. But in our case,the difference in the two halves was one
thing. They got over fifty percentof their misses back there are inability to
keep them off the glass, youknow, to keep them from getting those
key second shots. It broke ourback. So with that, I think
recruiting to it, dealing with it, teaching it, coaching it, trying

(26:11):
to hold people accountable to that rightthere, and whoever plays the most,
I think we really have to lookat it. It's one reason we started
to go to Kachi enz and playhim a little bit more here in recent
days because I think Kachi's the oneguy on our team that has some talent
in that area that's untapped. Andyou know, even last night, you
know, he got into Marquette gameand he had five defensive rebounds. That's

(26:33):
really good when you think about fourfour defensive rebounds in fifteen minutes. Six
overall, did a good job fora young freshman to come in the game
and get six rebounds. And youknow, we talked to him a lot
today about what a great job hedid and how important that's going to be
on Wednesday. If Kachi can comein against the Paul and help us keep
them off the offensive glass. Andthat's like gold for our team because it's

(26:56):
such an achilles heel for us.He's been I'm kind of excited with the
way with his productivity, and Imean he's kind of waited his turn.
I mean, he kept working andhe put himself in a situation where you
wanted to give him an opportunity.And I think he's made the most of
it. Even though he hasn't playedmuch. He's he's given you more out

(27:18):
of that position than what you weregetting. Yeah, and last week we
talked about Kotchi Byron, and youknow, I talked to him about you
about he's kind of a throwback inthat he came in as a young freshman
with no expectations. We talked tohim a lot when we recruited him that
his best days would be in frontof him and that development is a big
part of why he should choose US. So he's worked and quietly, even

(27:42):
when he hasn't played in games indays and weeks go by. It's not
as easy for a young freshman tostick with it. He's done that in
practice, He's done that in theweight room and in the Providence game.
You know, We really had plansof playing him a little bit more.
He got in the game, butI think he played maybe two minutes.
A big reason was a Boo hadthirteen points and thirteen rebounds and maybe had

(28:07):
his best Big East game, sothat affected Kachi's minutes. But against Marquette,
I'm thrilled about the fact we're ableto get him in there for fifteen
minutes. That seems to me roughlyabout a good a minute comparison on what
we're going to try to do heremoving forward, just because I think he
gives us some athleticism and rebounding.And the other part is I've talked a

(28:29):
little bit about attitude, talk aboutyou know, how hard guys work,
you know, are they willing togive us everything they have. Kachi is
clearly one of those young guys thatpractices hard every day, plays with tremendous
energy, and really gives us everythingthat he has. All Right, this
is a Sean Miller coach a showfrom Billy Bistro and Mariymunt on fifty five

(28:51):
KRC and the Varsity Network. Whereasin the past, college basketball recruiting was
more towards you know, leading upto November, right, you signed your
class in November, and you knewthe incoming freshmen three of them, four
of them, sometimes five in aclass, and then maybe in the spring
you would add just one transfer orone other high school or junior college player

(29:12):
to your roster. Now you knowthe lion's share of what happens happens right
at the beginning of March into May. And so to answer your question,
it's almost like we're not there yet. A lot of the players that I
think will be on next year's team, you know, we don't have yet,
and I wouldn't call us any differentthan, for example, the other

(29:33):
ten teams in a big East.I think what you'll see is a lot
of our rosters will be shaped herein the next three months. So we're
looking forward to that. It's goingto be a big, big moment for
us. I think the biggest recruitingthat we have is, you know,
you have Jerome Hunter, who obviouslyhad his other setback with his torn achilles.
He's had that repaired. He's afew weeks since his surgery and he

(29:57):
now is going to begin his rehabthis week. You know, we're hoping
that by mid to late summer thathe'll be you know, clear to resume
play. But Zach Fremantle has alsobeen cleared to practice with us. And
you know, Zach's about five anda half almost six months since his surgery,
and hopefully Zach can have a cleanbill of health for the next year.

(30:18):
So when you look at those twoguys, those are two that you
know, certainly Zach's case and thenJerome as he gets healthier. Those are
two additions that we're supposed to beon this year's team, but now we
hope to have him on next year'steam. So those two start our recruiting
for next year. Joe, thanksfor your phone call. We appreciate it.
Thanks for checking in. You mentionedZach freedmanl He's traveled with the team

(30:41):
a lot, and I personally amnot that close in a sense, but
I'm close enough to see his attitudewith his teammates and the fact that he's
sitting out this year, and theencouragement and getting involved with the ball club.
I've been impressed by that. Idon't know how you feel about it.
Zach's done a really good job,you know, he's I think it'd
come a long way, both onand off the He's certainly gone through a
lot of obstacles in adversity, andyou guys know this. When you go

(31:04):
through it, you overcome it,and you're on the other side of it.
Sometimes it shapes how you think.And I think zack'son a really good
place academically. He's graduated, he'snow moving towards graduate courses, and I
think he's really excited to be apart of the team, the program and
compete in the Big East and hopefullyhave a healthy final year next year.

(31:26):
Coach, against Marquette, you hadfreshman get more minutes, and I've seen
all year long in the fact Greenplayed twenty five minutes, Swain played close
to thirty minutes, I think,and you had NJ play about fifteen minutes.
And I know it certainly was bydesign in that moment, and I
was that something you were thinking aboutgoing into that ballgame trying to get more
time, or just as the gamesort of fashioned itself, has said I'm

(31:48):
going to play these guys. Yeah, No, if it's really of circumstances
of the game, Joe, thegame started heading in a different direction.
Not that those three guys aren't clearlyin our lands right now. For each
game, But as it went further, I thought it was a great opportunity
to let them grow, let themlearn, give them great experience. And

(32:09):
look, everything is about Wednesday andSaturday. This week. Having the opportunity,
what's going to allow us to bethe best we can be against the
Paul, Daylan Swaying, Trey Greenand Kaciense. If they could give us
quality minutes both on offense and defenseand give us bigger minutes, that really

(32:30):
helps our team. So sometimes whenyou get the experience that they gained at
Marquette and you're out there, thegame doesn't feel as fast for a guy
like Kachi, somebody like Trey hasthe opportunity to score. I mean Trey
had sixteen points. You have alot more confidence. And you know Daylin
played maybe maybe that's the career higheleven points and six rebounds in thirty minutes.

(32:52):
You know that gives them the confidenceto come in here on Wednesday for
a home game and play really well. So when we line things up,
every mote move we're making right nowisn't for anything outside the next twelve days,
And in particular, as it pointstowards DePaul to try to get a
sweep against them to beat them forthe second time this year. And right

(33:15):
now our conference record is seven andnine. You know, we're hoping that
we can make that record be eightto nine on Wednesday night. Coach,
I would think your freshmen have togain some confidence after playing at that Marquette
game, because, especially in thefirst half, in the first half of
that of that game, Quincy Desmondand McKnight were two for seventeen yep.

(33:37):
And you were still in that gamebecause of, at least offensively, of
what your freshman did. Trey Greenhad ten first half points and Dalan Swain
had six first half points. Theyhad most of your points in the first
half, and you gotta feel goodabout them being able to step up and
play with confidence. And given thatsituation Shore Byron and look, we've asked

(34:01):
those guys to do something that isso difficult to do. Once in a
while, I get asked, whydo so many coaches and why is the
narrative against freshmen right now? Youhave to remember that there's a majority of
great players in every conference that isusing their COVID year their fifth year,

(34:23):
right, So a difference between dalenand eighteen years old as an incoming freshman
and somebody that's twenty three years oldin their fifth year. That's a gap
that's never existed, you know,before the last three or four years.
So when you start talking about somebodylike Suley Boom who came with us a

(34:45):
year ago. Remember Souley scored closeto twenty five hundred points. You know
he had played four years. Whenyou're watching him play for US last year
in the Big East, he isso seasoned. He is so that you
know he has another level to him. And when you compare an incoming freshman,

(35:06):
so like think about Trey Green,a true freshman coming in the difference
between his one year in Soule's oneyear. So that's the big difference.
And in the Big East Conference,when you look through the roster, even
Marquette, you know, I givethem a lot of credit. You know,
Oh Soo, Jones and Kolik,those guys were big fixtures on last

(35:27):
year's team. All right, coach, we're going to take a break.
You're listening to the Sean Miller CoachesShow from Billy Bistro and Marrymne not fifty
five KRC end of Varsity Network forXAVIERY Athletics. Easy to drink, easy
to enjoy. Like to thank everybodyfor joining us again, another capacity crowd
here at Deali Bistro. You guyshave been tremendous all year long. Thank
you very much. We have ourfinal show next Monday. We hope to

(35:47):
see you then. Two all yearcoach, you've now seen every team in
the Big East. What's your impressionof the overall talent as compared to some
of the other other conferences that you'vebeen affiliated with. I mean, I
think our conference is neck and neckwith the Big Twelve this year. On

(36:08):
which conference is the best, itall depends on how you want to frame
your argument. So we're playing inAmerica's best conference, byron, and that's
not a coach in the Big Easttrying to act as if we're better than
we really are. I just thinkthe numbers don't lie. The reality of
it is. We have the nationalchampion from a year ago that could repeat

(36:30):
in Yukon, you know, playingagainst Creighton and Marquette, then a handful
of other teams. We're going tohave so many teams in our postseason,
and I hope they you know,they have the opportunity to go as far
as I think they can in particular, especially that top three teams in our
league, but they're led by terrificplayers, you know. I think that

(36:52):
Tyler Kollik, when you just lookat who he is, I mean,
it's amazing what a great point guardand player he is. I think he's
going to be a long time NBAplayer. Maybe the biggest surprise in our
legas how great of a player CamSpencer is at Yukon, you know,
one of their secrets of you know, why are they back when they've lost

(37:12):
these types of players that they lostfrom a year ago. I mean,
arguably he's America's number one impact transfer. I mean, he's just really good
on offense, really good on defense. I don't know if everybody truly knows
how great of a player he isand what a terrific year he's had.
But every team you go to Creighton, the uniqueness of Kalkbrenner on defense,

(37:35):
how he can change the game,you know, and against US he had
twenty eight. There are games wherehe wins the game on offense in every
game he's there on defense. Butthe talent and experience of the Big East
is I think second to none rightnow, and you're going to see in
the next five years. I believethis from this year in the Big East,
A ton of guys playing in theNBA and doing really well. All

(37:57):
right, thanks for joining us forthe Sean Miller Coach, A show from
Bill at Bistro and Merriman on fiftyfive KRC and the Varsity Network live from
the Dilly Bistro in Merrimont. Thishas been the Sean Miller Radio Show presented
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(38:22):
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