2/5/24 - The Sean Miller Radio Show

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
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

(00:22):
heard, be healed. Visit tryhealthdot com. Now Here are Joe Sunderman
and Byron Larkin. Welcome to SeanMiller Show live from Dilly bist John Merrimott.
I'm Joe Sunderman along with Byron Larkin, the head coach of the Xavier
Musketeers. Sean Miller. I'm surejust minutes away from our private here at
his show. So well, Byron, I will chat a little bit.

(00:45):
Byron. We missed you on Saturday. You were at it in Miami,
had a wedding with your brother Steve. Wolf was able to sit in and
took your place for a game andhe did a great job. And I'm
glad you're back. I'm glad tobe back. It was my brothers Otis
doc her uh Brielle. She gotmarried actually in Sarasota, and it was
yeah, it was, it was, it was. It was that's okay.

(01:07):
It was beautiful. It was Yeah. It was everything that you could
imagine and more so. And yougot back yesterday, right, yep,
got back yesterday. Actually it wasabout eighty degrees there on Saturday. I
know, I sent you a pictureof me son and uh on the beach.

(01:27):
We had a nice response for that. I miss you guy, Yes,
she responded with a few choice words, but but yeah, it was.
It was good though. I missedthe broadcast and I was checking the
score during the wedding, but mywife, Terry, it was she put
that phone away, so yeah,but it was. I was really happy

(01:49):
to see that Xavier took care ofbusiness and gotta win, all right.
Sean Millers just sat down between usand good to see your coach. Thanks,
se Congratulations on two wins, thetwo wins the past week, Xavier
beach Saint John's eighty eight seventy seven, Xavier ninety three to Paul sixty eight.
And you talked last last week aboutbouncing back from the Connecticut the laws.

(02:10):
Davier did that in a big way. You've got to be proud of
your team. I am Joe.It was you know, you go back
to a week ago when we werehere. You know, it's not like
we had a crystal ball and weknew how we were going to respond.
And obviously I'll start with the SaintJohn's game. I think Zant John's is
more than capable of going on abig run here at the end of the

(02:31):
season. You know, Joe L. Soriano their their frontcourt player, and
I think sometimes he's understated based onhow good of a player he is,
you know, just both on offenseand obviously playing for coach Patino, I
think has developed some other things inhim this year that maybe in the past
he hasn't done as much. Theirpoint guard, Dannis Jenkins, I think

(02:52):
is an NBA point guard, andsure when you have an NBA point guard,
you know that's that that's a big, big quality to have. And
you know, they have a fiveman and a point guard that really I
think are as good as maybe anytwo players certainly in our league. They're
they're in that conversation to be twoof the top ten players in our league.

(03:12):
So playing them, dealing with theirpressure, their press, it was
it was a tough game to bounceback from and I really thought we were
ready to play the game and dida great job in that game, Joe.
We were I'm sorry, Sean,we were talking about Soriano. Why
they don't go to him more.I mean, he can be a dominant.
I mean he had huge numbers eighteenpoints, fourteen rebounds, but he's

(03:37):
a handful. He is he iswhen he they do a really good job
of getting him the ball in themiddle of the lane to Byron. And
when you do that, you know, it's hard to bring help. You
know, like it says a traptrap that big man double team the big
guy. The way Saint John's playsgenerally like, it's it's high lows and
he's right in the middle of thelane. So if he catches it in

(03:57):
there, it's a big problem.And he was a problem for us.
But that was a great win.And then you know, you go to
DePaul. There's a lot of thingsto not like about that game in that
you know, just they have everythingto gain in some ways. Whatever big
East visiting team visits there. Rightnow you have to answer the question are
you going to be the one anda year ago? Obviously we didn't play

(04:19):
as well. They played well andbeat us there, so you know,
being able to go from the SaintJohn's win. Now something good go on
the road, and in that typeof environment, which is different. It's
there wasn't as big of a crowd, and you get used to being in
front of a big crowd. Youdon't want to let down, and you
know, I think Quincy alone tookcare of that. If Quincy had a

(04:41):
normal night, or maybe didn't playwell, I think we may have still
been all right. The game wouldhave felt different. We weren't perfect in
the game. There's a lot ofthings that I wish we could have done
better, but he was such agreat player in that game individually that you
know, we weren't able to lose. And you know, it was maybe
the greatest performance of a player thatI've coached, or maybe even in the

(05:02):
game that I've been in. JimmerFodet from BYU my first year at Arizona,
he put a quiet forty seven upin McHale Center, and if you
remember him at BYU, he wasan amazing player. So I put that
one up there, and there's beenquite a few other ones. But Quincy,

(05:23):
you know, looking at the gamethat he played against the Paul,
he had zero turnovers in thirty fiveminutes which that alone is a big stat
for a guard. I think hehad three assists. He had three steals.
So if you had three assists,no turnovers, three steals, you
know that's man, that's really alot of good things. He's your leading
rebounder too. He had ten reboundsand nine on defense, and again nine

(05:46):
defensive rebounds if you're a center isa big night, let alone if you're
two guards. So he had adouble double as well. Twelve for twelve
from the foul line. He gotfouled seven times, and you know,
twelve for twenty from the floor,seven for twelve from three man, it's
hard to top that, knowing thathe played thirty five minutes. So he
was He was spectacular, and Iwas glad to see him get the Big

(06:08):
East Player of the Week, andI believe he won a couple national Players
of the Week awards, which hewas very deserving. D Smith Trophy Player
of the Week award. Coach,I obviously weren't there for the game.
Oh yeah, round of applause forwhat Quincy's done. I mean, he
scored forty points against anybody, andin any division is something. And because

(06:30):
you know, he was at thetop of the scouting report for everybody they
that Xavier plays, he's going tobe we got to stop this guy and
for him to produce the way he'sdone. He is now the leading scorer
in the Big East. He leadsthe Big East in three point percentage and
three pointers made per game. Imean, and you know, it was

(06:54):
just like coach, like, youhave a way of developing these players that
come in. I think of lastyear Sue lay Boom, how how much
heat improved throughout the year and howhigh of a level he was playing,
and and and kind of the samething is going on with Quincy. Quincy
is having an unbelievable year and notknowing what those guys are going to be

(07:16):
when they step up in this competitionand when they're coach the way they are.
But but you have really developed thoseat least those recent two guards at
the height of their game. Howdo you do that? You know what
I mean? Thank you Byron.It takes a team effort and really starts
with the player himself. What's interestingabout both Sue le Boom and Quincy is

(07:40):
last year we scrimmaged Vanderbilt, whoscrimmaged them at Northern Kentucky, and you
know that's the quiet scrimmage, andyou know whether you win or lose,
and who plays well and who doesn't. I don't think you're allowed to elaborate
now that that season's over. I'msure I can, at least I hope
I can. But reflecting back onthat, you know, you know,

(08:00):
we were a really good team.You think about it. We were a
three seed in the NCAA tournament,came within almost the game and a half
of winning the Big East regular seasonchampionship, so as we know, that
was a very very good team.But we lost by I'm going to say
twenty to twenty five points in thatscrimmage, and in large part because we

(08:22):
didn't have a point guard. Sulestruggled to bring the ball up to court,
he struggled to defend, he struggledto make a shot. We after
that scrimmage were wondering, if youknow how it was going to go.
Do we play you know, desClaude as a young incoming freshman half the
game and then Suele half the game? Do we move Soul off the ball
and whatever? But that was hisstarting point that changed dramatically. If I

(08:46):
would evaluate Quincy on this year's scrimmagetwo of them. Scrimmage is I would
say, roughly the same thing,you know, wondering if he was going
how good he would be now lookingat it. A year earlier, we
still had the example that I gaveyou towards Quincy and knowing that you have
to be patient. But I thinkwhat it says is, I don't care

(09:09):
if you're a two thousand point score. You're in your fifty year of college
when you transfer from one place tothe next, and you don't have that
year to sit out. It takesthose guys some time to really get comfortable.
Daveon McKnight is having a very goodseason as well. And if you
evaluated Daveon just on his non conferenceseason, maybe minus the Crosstown shootout,

(09:31):
I think the Crosstown shootout would havebeen maybe this first big step forward when
you knew he could do more,But it just took him ten games,
it took him three or four months. And now when you watch him and
I watch him every day, he'slight years away from where he was.
So I think part of it iswith those guys is recognizing, like staying
with them, continuing to work withthem almost like coach them like they're a

(09:52):
freshman in those first couple of months, knowing that they have a huge jump
that they potentially could get to.And it's just it's great the sequency because
where he is right now, he'sone of the best players in the Big
East. A year ago you couldhave said the same thing about Soule.
And I believe the Davion is becomingone of the best point guards in our
conference when you look at him statisticallyand what he's been able to do as

(10:15):
well. So no doubt those guyswhen you're able to get them a little
bit older, I certainly believe inand I think, you know, we
always go back to the things wewish we could have done better, but
we certainly did well in a coupleof those decisions. And Quincy's having a
spectacular season almost in an understated manner. You almost are taking for granted all
of the different games that he's played. Delaware. He had more than thirty

(10:39):
points against Delaware. You don't rememberit. We didn't win. It's maybe
the hardest loss of our season,the Crosstown shootout. He was terrific in
a crosstown shootout against Saint John's inthe last four minutes of the game.
You remember he went a three,a three in a two that broke the
game open. The score was tiedup with four minutes to go in that
game single handedly put us on therun. So he's been timely. He's

(11:05):
been there in the biggest moments,and you know, like I told him
today, you got to keep going. You know, this is the time
when you want to be at yourbest, and I hope that he's at
his best moving forward. Coach,when you say you have to coach him
differently, maybe earlier in the seasonversus later on in the season, what
does that mean really from a developmentalstandpoint, Almost like with a freshman,

(11:26):
you give him extra time, youwatch extra film, you work with them
because they're just not comfortable yet.They just sometimes it's as simple as you
know they're coaching. Called it ahard hedge. I call it a jump.
You know, I say advance pastand he says pass it up the
court. You know, just terminology. If you're playing for a coach a

(11:48):
certain way of practicing where he's doneit the same way for four years now,
you get him and even though yourway is different, or maybe you
like your way better. He's beendoing things a certain way for four years.
You just can't undo that in threepractices or four weeks. So that
patience, and that's where some ofthe non conference games that we play.

(12:09):
If you think about who we werelast year in non conference, we improved
as the year went on. Thisyear. I think we're starting to do
that now a little bit later inthe year. Coach, when you have
a player scoring forty three points rightin front of your eyes like that,
you're probably not aware how many pointshe has, but you're ware that he's
playing well. Are you starting tocall his number a lot then? Or
you just let the team do whatthey're looking for. Let it happen.

(12:31):
That's all. No. I figuredout he had forty. I mean,
you know, you start asking,geez, how many does he have?
Because every shot he shoots going inand you know, if he would have
got closer to fifty, I wouldhave called his number all the way to
the final buzzer. Yeah, that'sjust the way it is. It's not
about the other team. This isabout us and the players we have,
and we're in the Big East andit's just killer be killed. So if

(12:52):
he could get fifty. If Ithought he could get fifty, I would
have let him in. We neededto get him out of the game to
rest him and you know, allowus to move forward. All right.
This is a Sean Miller Coaches Showfrom Dilly, Beastrow Marrymount on fifty five
KRC in the Varsity Network. Backto Deli, beast Grow and Marymount and

(13:13):
the Sean Miller's Show and Coach.We've watched j Xavier come out in multiple
uniforms, different colors, different shapesand sizes and so forth, and I
always wonder how the players react tothe different uniforms. There's a few of
them I don't want to see again. I don't know how you feel about
it, but you have an opinionon that at all. I do you
know I'd like the Running Man.I know some people love it, some

(13:35):
people are okay with it. Maybethere's a few people that don't like it.
I think the colors in the wayit looks. The one thing about
the Running Man. I remember whenthe running Man was on the court.
So when you know something was onthe court, it automatically triggers I think
something good. So you know that'sthe one. But you know our blues

(13:58):
are aw some white, black,gray, I don't know, but the
blue and gold for a lot ofreasons. Now I think it's retired.
We'll send them the We'll send themmaybe they can use him mix them in
and change their name on the front. But now on a serious note,

(14:18):
the gold also we've we've mixed inwith it's a color of pediatric cancer during
Coaches versus Cancer Week. So youknow, you see pink a lot during
cancer week. You know, forexample, at Creighton they have the Pink
out and they mix in pink aspart of their their their cancer game,

(14:39):
and and what they're promoting gold isis a color for pediatric cancer. And
you know, Andy Ketler lost hisson to pediatric cancer years ago. So
we mixed in gold with gold shoelacesduring that and and that from that perspective,
that's one hundred percent awesome. Wejust might have to get rid of

(15:01):
those uniforms and be able to doit in a in an equally good way.
But you know, and then remembera year earlier we wore those uniforms
at Yukon, and so we broughtthem back. I don't know what happened
to the basketball gods but they leftus. Yeah, it did did not

(15:22):
help. So but I'm I'm avote no on the on the gold,
I just don't see it feel it. I'm I'm a vote yes on being
able to do it in a differentway. For the reason that we're doing
it, that's the obvious part ofit. But separate from that obvious part
of you know, really making peopleaware of the pediatric cancer and the story

(15:43):
of the Kettler family, we haveto come up with a better way of
doing it in a different style ofuniform. Coach want to speaking speaking of
different colors, I mean this issomething that I've seen that recently with the
Zabor teams. Is it's the colorof the gym shoes. Yeah, guys
wear yellow gym shoes, green gymshoes, purple gym shoes. I see

(16:04):
every color of the rainbow, andI you know, back when we were
playing, you just didn't see that. So what's going on with that?
Is there? No, Byron,it's our main colors are always going to
be black and white gray. You'reallowed to have black, white, gray,
and then certainly blue, et cetera. And then once in a while,

(16:26):
no doubt, guys deviate. Butso We were in a gym in
the fall and there was I thinksixty four kids in this gym playing on
multiple courts, and a guy nextto me said, I want you to
look and see if you can lookat all sixty four if you can see
them, and like, you know, you took five ten minutes to really

(16:48):
look at the twenty that were inthe game and the ones that were on
the bench or whatever. There weresixty four different pair of sneakers. And
I would tell you, Byron,that is the norm if you go to
a young kid's game, start goingand pay attention to it and start looking
at it. It's just like alot of things. It's the way of

(17:08):
the world. But it's it's it'shard for me to really talk about it,
and it's not really a fight.Ours is Nike. As long as
you wear a Nike and you havethe base of a couple of those colors
in there, we'll do it.And then we support For example, I
think Quincy wore pink and you know, in honor of you know, breast

(17:30):
cancer awareness and his reason there.And once in a while a guy will
go out of the box. Butyeah, for the most part, that's
something that among the list of thingsto worry about, and there are so
many. I've checked that off andno longer on that list. I'll also
tell you this that when I wasat Arizona, we played a really meaningful
game in early March. It wasa CBS game. The game is at

(17:52):
Oregon. I think we were rankedmaybe in the top ten. Oregon could
have been ranked really high as well. And it was like the last regular
season game of the PAC twelve season. It was sold out. Phil Knight
was at the game. Phil Knightwas sitting literally across from my seat in
the first row of that crazy lookingcourt at Oregon. And I had a
guy on my team, a freshman. His name is Stanley Johnson. Stanley

(18:15):
was a great player, and Stanley'sgirlfriend played on the volleyball team at Oregon.
He went to high school with her, so she's a volleyball player at
Oregon, student athlete at Oregon.He had a dare bet with her that
he would come out in bright neongreen and gold sneakers, so you know,

(18:37):
we're red, white, and blue. Oregon is bright green and gold,
and everybody on Oregon's team had brightgreen and gold sneakers on and right
before the national anthem, Stanley snuckinto the locker room, switched his shoes
and came out, so that there'snothing we could do. We did the
national anthem, and as he's onhis way walking to the huddle, I
look down and it was like adream wear. You're wearing Oregan's shoes?

(19:03):
How did that happen? Like?And you know you want to suspend them,
you want to you're not playing,but we're like three minutes before tip
off, and deep down you're wonderingwhat did he really do wrong? And
I watched him for two hours playin front of Phil Night and bright green
and gold sneakers and there and andand I asked him I way up to

(19:23):
the game, and I said,you're gonna have to help me understand this.
That's a question. He looked atWe won. We won, so
he was good and he said,Coach, my girlfriend dared me to do
it. I had to do it. And uh, and I I guess
that's the rest of the story.So these sneakers, I mean, they

(19:47):
mean a lot to these guys.And Uh, it's really changed Byron from
the days that you and I walkedout there where we only had about three
choices and if you dare to goand add a different color, I mean
you make it boot off the courtright, yes, now, it's just
it's a way of the world,all right. The number to call in
and talk with coach Sean Miller's fiveone three seven four nine fifty five hundred.

(20:07):
That's five one three seven fifty fivehundred. And this is the Sean
Miller Coaches Show from Billy Bistro andMarimunt on fifty five KRC and the Varsity
Network. Thank you, welcome backto Dylly Bistro. This is a Sean
Miller show, and thanks for joiningus. Another great crowd. Thanks everybody
for joining us on another Monday,here to talk about Xavier basketball. Xavier

(20:30):
fans help Cincinnati Cancer Advisors achieved victoryover cancer at the next home game at
the Centai Center. Just grab asouvenir cup for a chance to win great
prizes like a private VIP suite,court side seats or Xavier merchandise. And
I would like to wish Jenna ahappy birthday. Understand it's our birthday.
She's here every Monday, so happybirthday, Jenna, number twenty five.

(20:55):
Happy birthday, Jenna, and youknow Byron and Joe also like the you
know, our crowd to two partsto it. One. You know,
the people that came to the CentaCenter against Saint John's. You know,
that was in the aftermath of avery tough loss at Yukon in which you
know, we didn't play well andthe score got out of hand, and
you know, not every fan basethen the next time support you without you

(21:21):
know, evidence and proof that hey, are you going to be better?
Uh? You know, the factthat we had the crowd, the student
section that we had against Saint John'sand just the energy in the building.
It it propelled us. You know, again with four minutes to go,
it's a tie game, and sometimeswhat breaks the game open late is just
that roar of the crowd and justthe other team having to play against that
noise for two hours with no support, so it can really wear down the

(21:45):
other team. And I like tothank them. And then we had such
a great crowd in Chicago at DePauland you know, we had we had
a lot of people traveling here fromSati. Thank you, but also I
know a lot of people from Chicagothat that are there and have their home
in Chicago. It's awesome to feelthat energy on an away court, and
again it helps all all of thecrowd noise and just it impacts the game

(22:11):
in such a positive way, whichleads me to my final point. You
know, Wednesday is a really biggame for both teams, both Villanova and
US, and uh we're looking forwardto playing in front of maybe the best
crowd of the year, so itimpacts us and looking forward to seeing everybody
there in full force. All right, let's take a phone call, Dave.
You're on with a coach. Howyou doing, Dave, I'm doing

(22:33):
well. Joe good thanks for callinghim coach. First of like a common
quinch. It's fit of player ison the court. I've been hearing great
things about him as a person offthe court as well. No, he's
an amazing He's an amazing young man. You know he's he's a graduate of
Rice University, and you know,Rice University is one of the elite academic

(22:57):
institutions in the world. I mean, what it takes to be admitted into
Rice when you're part of Rice University, the curriculum and just you know the
type of education you get. Quincywas able to graduate there with terrific grades,
in four years he has his diploma, and he came to Xavier,

(23:17):
you know, to play in theBig East Conference and to play in his
style and have a role that he'salways wanted to have. And you know,
a lot like soul Boom from ayear ago, he's just a true
professional. Every day. It's hardwork early in the morning with our coaching
staff, in particular Adam Cohen andAdam worked a lot with Soule and he's
doing a very similar thing with Quincy. That routine where you know, most

(23:41):
of their academic life is in theevening, so their days are freed up,
so they start to structure their day, you know, lifting what time
they wake up, what time theycome into the gym, what they do
in the gym, the routine,the shooting, the player development, and
then they go to practice and alsotime for Quincy, that's the second time
that he's been in the gym anduh, you know, that has a

(24:02):
way of working, as you knowByron and but those guys have really put
in a lot of time. Butyou're right, and he's also a great
teammate, cares a lot about Xavieras a university, and he's really impacted
our community in a short period oftime and ways that that he's been able
to So I appreciate you you acknowledgingthat. Anything else, Dave, Yeah,

(24:23):
a couple of questions. I'm alwaysinterrupted recruiting the ten of recruit?
How is he doing? Who's that? The set of recruit for next year?
You recruit from next year? Yourfreshman for next year? Yeah,
John Jonathan Powell plays at Centerville HighSchool and plays for an excellent high school
coach. You know, their goalat Centerville each year is to advance in

(24:45):
Ohio State playoffs and compete for astate championship. And uh and right now
I think that that's what their teamis trying to do. They have a
few more weeks of their regular seasonand then you know, the Ohio State
playoffs start, as we know lateFebruary early March in Centerville will be a
fixture in those playoffs. But Jonathanis a six foot five guard, can

(25:07):
really shoot the ball and has abright future ahead of them. We're really
excited to have them. Anything elseDave, Yeah, Oh, and Hunter
doing both physically and emotionally of themto set this season out. You know,
they're doing the best they can.You know, they're working hard every
day and uh, you know,eager to get back on the court.

(25:30):
You know, they're with us prettymuch every day, whether it be uh
in practice, on game day,shoot arounds, and they travel with us
now as well. So like ifyou watched us in Chicago, they would
have been on the bench and eagerto get their opportunity next year. All
right, let's try one more phonecalled Jill Yann with the coach. How
you doing, Joe, Yeah,we can hear you. Yeah, go

(25:53):
ahead and give it a shot.I got to ask you when you heard
it coming in the does who evercome in the locker room talk to your
players? Yes, we're allowed todo that by you know, n C
double A rules. So, uh, whenever we have the opportunity to get

(26:18):
that young person in our locker room, either before the game or after the
game, we do it. Sometimesit doesn't work out based on when they
arrive or or when they depart,but if we have it our way,
we like them to be a partof that that scene as well. It
helps them better understand Xavier and maybewho I am as a coach and how
we how we do things next year. How many freshmen you think you'll bring

(26:45):
in next year the phone call,you know, but I think at most
too, and uh, you know, I think we'll probably by the time
everything settles, you know, probablyhave three or four new faces. Certainly
not like we had this spring andsummer, but there'll be enough change that
will have a number of new faces. And I think it'll come in a

(27:06):
combination of maybe a couple freshmen,but a couple impact transfers as well.
All Right, you're listening to theSean Miller Coaches Show from Dilly Bistro at
Marimant on fifty five KRC and theVarsity Network. Welcome back to the Sean
Miller Coaches Show from Dilly Bistro.When you're out of town and want to
keep up with live college sports,be sure to download the new Varsity Network

(27:30):
app, available for both Apple andAndroid. Listen to college sports Live with
the Varsity Network app. Coach,we had practice today? Any how was
practice? Anybody stand out? Wehad a good practice today. You know
what we're talking off era about LazarDjokovic, And Lazarre has certainly had his

(27:52):
struggles, especially scoring the ball throughoutthe year. I thought against the Paul
he really came in and played well, and he played well at a key
time in the game. You know, we started the second half unfortunately like
we sometimes do, where we foulat the beginning, and it's again something
we're working to solve. But thenwe left that part of the game and

(28:15):
ended up getting maybe about a fourto eight minute stretch where we were really
playing good defense without fouling, andthat's when he was in. And the
one thing that he's really started toimprove is on defense. He moves really
well, and he has great size, and there are times when you almost
notice him. It looks different whenhe's out there and you know, if

(28:38):
channeled properly and he's on assignment andhe stays down on fakes and rebounds,
you know, he can really comein physically and give us more depth in
a key area, and that isour ability to rebound and defend all the
different types of players. You weretalking about Soriano just having a third guy
that you could throw at somebody likehim instead of just two. But I

(29:00):
thought he did a good job inDe Paul game. He made a three
and then he caught a lob overthe top and probably had his most extended
minutes that he's had in some time. I was anxious to see how he
would be in practice today, andI thought he responded and almost played in
practice today like he played in thegame, which is which is good to
see. And we're just on himto really embrace his role, to come

(29:22):
in the game and really not worryabout how many shots he makes or trying
to score, but being able torebound at both ends and being able to
help us run our style both ondefense and offense contribute. You know,
late in the year, you cansee players sometimes can wear down. Being
able to call on a ninth playerin a game instead of eight can sometimes
really be the difference, especially inthe month of February. So we're certainly

(29:47):
hard at it working with him.He has a good attitude and I thought
today's practice on the heels of DePaul'sgame may be the best that he's been
in sometimes a coach, I thoughtthat was interesting because I believe in the
Saint John's game he didn't play atall. He didn't and for him to
respond that way probably the first Iknow his playing time has been dwindling down

(30:07):
a little bit, but I thinkhe's played in almost every game. But
for him to respond like that afternot playing says a lot in the Saint
John's game, says a lot abouthim and his character, no doubt,
especially for a young player who's along long way from from home, and
it was good to see him getthe opportunity at the Paul take advantage of

(30:29):
it. And sometimes with the youngestplayers on your team, byron confidence,
it just means so much, youknow, just watching the ball go in
one time, getting a little bitmore of an opportunity and it can spur
a younger player on. And youknow, my hope is you know,
not just with Lazarre, but withSasha, Trey and Dalen. You know,
our bench is filled with young,inexperienced players, freshmen, and these

(30:53):
guys are now in the month ofFebruary for the first time and in the
second round of conference play. Youknow, sometimes you can really see them
start to settle in and be moreconsistent, and we're gonna need them to
be consistent. This week. Thetwo games that we play Villanova at home
and Creating at home are against thetwo I think the two most experienced teams

(31:15):
in college basketball. I don't thinkthere are two more experienced teams both playing
with each other on the same team, but also the age of the players.
You know, if if you wentdown the list of Villanova, you
have Eric Dixon in his fifth year, Justin Moore in his fifth year,

(31:37):
Longino in his third year, Bambain his fourth year, Burton in his
fifth year, Armstrong in his secondyear, Keem Hart and his fifth year,
Housing in his second year, LanceWare in his I think third year.
You know, these are guys thathave both been at Villanova together.
But also, I mean we're talkingabout twenty four, twenty three, twenty
three, twenty two, twenty one, twenty years old. Creighton might be

(32:00):
older. So the experience level ofthose guys, that's something you're really trying
to fight against. I recognize thateven in our game when you look out
there and you know, just thinkabout a guy like Calt Brenner. How
many games, biggest games he's playedin shireman. You know, those guys
are not only terrific talented players,but to their credit, they've been in

(32:21):
their program for three and four years. And that's what we're building. You
know, as you look at SwayingGreen and Shawne you talk about your freshman,
I think they've played well. Certainlyin the last four games, and
it feels to me there's more adefined role and there's a coaching staff.
Do you have a better understanding ofwhere to utilize them. I mean,
you brought Trey Green into several gameswhere he lights it up and suddenly you

(32:42):
get a spurt of energy on theoffensive end. Shawne played good defense against
the Paul swainn will get a stealfour year breakout take a great defense to
play for you. You know,you really try to coach those guys and
teach him on who their role roleis like who they are supposed to be,
because it's not always clear for theyoungest guys. You know, Dylan
Swayin, We don't want him toshoot a lot of threes. You know,

(33:06):
he could shoot a wide open,uncontested three once. If it goes
in, then will allow me maybego twice. But he could really impact
winning and not make a three ormiss two joke. Georgetown's a great example
because he can offensive rebound. Youknow, he's one of our most athletic
players. Sometimes when you guys askme about our press when we've pressed at

(33:28):
certain times or late in the game. Dyalen has been impactful in that area.
So it's just you know, beingable to defense, a rebound,
offensive rebound, push the ball intransition. And at the end of the
game, someone may say to him, point, you didn't score, but
you want him to know, butno, you did your job. You
really did a great job in therole we need you to play in.
In terms of Trey, he hasthe ultimate greenlight to shoot the three point

(33:51):
shot at any time. He's oneof the best shooters that I've seen him
and Quincy if they are in amatch, just shooting before practice or have
to practice, or you wanted towatch two guys shoot against each other in
an hour, I'm telling you,i'ven't seen too many guys be able to
do what they do in terms ofconsistency in the range and in different ways

(34:13):
they can shoot. But in Tray'scase, his ability to take care of
the ball, not turn it overand have one of those turnovers that lead
to a dunk that's way more importantsometimes than him even making a three.
And to coach him, we're nottelling you to be tentative or play scared,
but I guess the analogy and quarterback, when you're rolling out and you're
a young freshman quarterback, throw itout of bounds or run in slide,

(34:37):
but don't try to make a playon the run. And that day may
come, but not right now.And I think in Tray's case, being
safe with the ball and knowing that, look, you played fifteen minutes and
you didn't turn it over. That'samazing And a lot of times when they're
that young, they don't really thinklike that. Sasha a great example of
Sasha. You had three defensive reboundsyou blocked out really well. You didn't

(35:00):
score, but we don't need youto score, but we need you to
rebound. Know this, You dida great job in the game. He
guarded Soriano and you were physical andyou didn't foul him, which never happens.
He always found us all but youknow, coaching him to say that
stretch of not fouling really helped uswin because in large part, I think

(35:22):
those guys when they at the endof the game, they don't really see
it like that. So that's whatwe're trying to do with those guys.
All right. This is a SeanMiller Coaches Show from Dilly, Bistroll and
Marmont on fifty five KRC and theVarsity Network. Welcome back to Delly,
b Stroll and Marrimont and the SeanMiller Show. Bud Light proud sponsor Xavier

(35:42):
Athletics. Easy to drink, It'seasy to enjoy, Sean. Now you've
got a rematch with Villanova. Ithink you played them back in January January
third, and he lost that gamesixty five to sixty six. But in
that game, coach, I thinkthat was the first time I might have

(36:05):
seen you you really press a teamand it really got it yielded some really
good results. I mean, yougot some turnovers, you got steal eight
steals in that game, and youdid a lot of good things well in
that game. So this time around, coach, what what do you anticipate
that game being? Like, youknow, same thing? You know.

(36:27):
I think when you play Villanova it'sit's such a game of discipline because most
of their shots they take are inthe last ten seconds of the shot clock,
and they try to break you downwith shot fakes and drives and jump
stops and ball movement and all fiveplayers taking their time. Sometimes it's guards
posting up in their centers at thetop of the key. Who's an excellent

(36:49):
three point shooter. Sometimes they playthrough their center and they play the double
team game, so if you leavethe double team, they try to move
the ball quickly. They shoot alot of three point shots. Both teams
this week, Creighton and Villanova dependa lot on three point shooting. So
I think first it's that being ableto do a really good job defending against
that style. Mixing in our pressure, I think that's the answer as well,

(37:13):
giving them different looks, you knowthat that helps maybe give us the
opportunity to get a steal, tospeed them up, maybe take them out
of their rhythm. But the otherpart, Byron, is we have to
score like we have to play anefficient game on offense. A year ago
we lost to Villanova at home.We had a three or four just head
scratching turnovers. I don't know ifyou remember it, but it just they

(37:34):
all happened in the second half.We're uncharacteristic, you know, we just
we just had these unforced turnovers.And when you're playing in a style game
like Villanova, they're so deliberate andthey do such a good job of taking
care of the ball themselves, youryour offense has to be on point.
And I think for us being ableto create good shots, being able to
score. We talked about our freshmencoming in off the bench. I don't

(37:57):
think it'll be enough just to beable to get good play from our artists.
These games this week, villanov andCreighton, we're gonna have to play
really well as a team, andwe're gonna have to do it both on
offense and defense, and really utilizethe environment and the centa center to our
advantage. And both teams I thinkare, like I said, incredibly experienced.

(38:17):
Villanova had lost five games in arow. Last night they beat Providence
might have been their best performance ofthe year. They were up by as
many as twenty points throughout the game. And then of course Creighton. You
know, they're basically competing for oneof the top seeds in our league and
a top seed in the tournament.So it's a big week for us.
We know that, and I thinkit's Updust to embrace it and be at

(38:40):
our best. All right, thankyou for joining us for the Sean Miller
Show from Daily Bistro at Marimount onfifty five KRC and the Varsity Network live

(39:05):
from the Dilly Bistro in Merrimont.This has been the Sean Miller radio show,
presented by bud Light, Easy todrink, easy to enjoy, and
buy try Health. Try Health providessurprisingly human care that drives the best health
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(39:27):
The preceding has been a Learfield presentationon the Xavier Sports Network