3/4/24 - The Sean Miller Radio Show

The Final Sean Miller Radio Show of 2024

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
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,and by Try Health. Try Health provides
surprisingly human care that drives the besthealth outcomes. Be seen, be heard,

(00:23):
be healed. Visit tryhealth dot com. Now here are Joe Sunderman and
Byron Larkin. Welcome to the SeanMiller's Coaches Show from Billary Pistro and Merinmont.
I'm Joe Sunderman along with Byron Larkin, and of course we'll have the
head coach the Xavier Musketeers, SeanMiller, but Sean won't be with us
until the bottom of the hour.Great reason for that. We are very

(00:46):
very fortunate. We have three specialguests our first we'll be Desmond Claude,
followed up by Davian McKnight and thenQuincy Olivery in the first half hour segment.
So Cana is a big, bignight as I last show of the
year here at Delli Pistro, anothergreat capacity crowd and I want emphasis thank
you very much for a great yearhere at Dylar Pistro. Thank you very
much, Desmond. You just madethe Honora role for the fourth time Big

(01:11):
East. You did it by scoringthirty six points. And I was telling
Brian that might have taken me amonth to score thirty six points. What's
that like when you're in a rolelike that. You know, it's an
amazing feeling. You know, theteam needed me to step up, and
you know they all trusted me alongwith coach Miller, and you know,
we got the job done. It'sa great feeling. You know, I

(01:34):
didn't scored, you know, asmuch as Quincy did the other game,
but it was definitely a good feeling. And you know, I'm just I'm
just happy that, you know,we won the game. But does you
and Quincy have the two highest individualscoring outputs in the league this year?
So, but I want to goback to like last year, there's like
you last year, you you averagedabout four points a game. This year,

(01:57):
you know, you're you're you know, and you were you were You
really didn't start. I only startedone game last year. You had a
different role on that team. Nowyou know you're asked to have a bigger
role. What did you do toprepare yourself for the expanded role that you
were going to have this year.I just continue to work hard. You
know, I wanted to make thatjump obviously this season, so you know,

(02:20):
this summer was very important for me. You know, I had a
or we all had a game planfor you know, what I wanted to
improve and and just how I wasgoing to be this season. So you
know, I just worked hard andkept pushing. Another thing for me too,
it was just my confidence took abig jump from last year. You
know, the game slowed down.You know in college at least everything last

(02:42):
year was like fast paced, andyou know I was just getting used to
everything. And even then I wasin like a solid role, especially for
a freshman. I was very fortunate. So but like I said, confidence,
you know was a big thing forme, and you know, the
game slowed down for me, andyou know, I just continue to work
hard and you know the the Iproduced. So yeah, it's a it's

(03:05):
a big time mental thing. Iwould think going into the game this year
versus last year, and last yearyou had you know, four seniors and
you know they could kind of handlethings and you you know, you could
help. But now it's definitely likeyou're the Alpha Dog. There's a very
different approach to the games. Sowhat did you so when you say you
were working on your game, didyou were you at home or were you

(03:28):
here? And then what's it goingto be like to kind of take it
to the next level this this thisoffseason. Yeah, So, I mean
I was here most of the time. I think before we had a return.
I was with Michael Lancaster. He'sa pro trainer, and it was
very different than how I normally trained. But it's because it was more on

(03:54):
specific, uh specific skills than itwas in game situations like hand movements,
where to place my feet to helpme you know, give more shifty or
take better angles. And it wasjust all the little stuff that added up
to, you know, leading intoin game situations. So I did that

(04:15):
and then you know, I cameback here. You know, obviously we
had a whole new team, soI was just trying to bond with the
team, and then you know,he was working out a lot and we
also played a lot. So butthat's kind of how I was mostly here
for for most of the time.Though I admire the fact that you stay
after practice. A lot of leadsto practice. Should all be had.
It always seems you come back out, you're at early, you're aut late,

(04:38):
you're always working on the game.Who was your role model growing up
or where did you get that workethic from? You know, I would
say my mom and my stepdad.You know they played you know, high
d one. My stepdad played overseasand you know, my goal is obviously
to try to go to the NBA. And you know I expressed that,

(05:00):
uh, you know, around them, and you know they they gave me
confidence and you know, they helpedme out. But I would say it
really came from them, you know, always working out and and uh,
you know, making sure that Iwasn't being lazy, and you know I
got my stuff done and that's reallywhere it came from there. So in
practice, uh, I'm sure coachlike splits you up in teams at times,

(05:25):
and you probably the ALF on yourteam, and I would imagine Quincy
would be the ALF on the otherteam. So who usually wins in that
situation? Don't do that? Don'tdo that? I would I would probably
say it's me, Yeah, butit's very competitive though, like you know,
some days it would be him,some days it would be me.
I definitely got it though. You'reboth like they got it though. The

(05:48):
talk to him, Yeah, yeah, I would say me. But you
know, they're you know, allvery good players. You know, he
helps me get better, especially Garden. You know, a player like him
that's a a dead eye shooter andyou literally can't leave him open or he's
heading pretty much every shot. Idon't think I ever played with somebody likes

(06:08):
him, So it's it's definitely.It's definitely fun though. So who would
you say is the hardest guy toguard in the Big East? The hardest
team to play against? You say, I'll probably say you come the hardest
team wise? What is it aboutYukon? It makes it so good?

(06:29):
And you only got four seconds,buddy, I mean they just they just
you know, got all the answers. You know, they got you know,
every player and everybody plays their roleon the team, and all right,
they succeeded. That's been Thanks forjoining us. We're appreciate it.
Congratulations on another Big East donor thisweek. Continue locking good success for the

(06:49):
rest of the season. We appreciateyour time. That's been plot. Now
bring up your teammate David and comeon up. All right, this is
a Sean millerk o't your show,and as soon as we can exchange the
headset here, we'll be talking withDavy and McKnight. Always a special special
night when you're able to have playerscome in and talk to you. David's

(07:10):
making his way up. Just popon the headset, Davian. Okay,
go ahead and put that on rightnow Forrest please, and thanks for joining
us. It's a good deal.What did you learn how to play defense
with a toughness and persistence that youdo. I know occasionally people will score

(07:30):
on you now and then, butyou're on daunt. You just you don't.
You don't you worry about it,I guess, or maybe you redouble
your efforts, but you never backdown and you just seem to play harder.
Where did that attitude come from?That, that ability to focus like
that. I feel like my mom, you know, she she embedded a
lot on me, just being tough, a hard nosed dude, never back

(07:51):
down on nobody. And at theend of the day, like it's basketball,
so like he might do some well, I might do some well,
but who's going well? Even scorestwenty points. He average is eighteen.
But he had to take sixteen shotsmaking only six, so you made him
work. Those are kind of maybeinefficient numbers and good defense, Yes,
sir, I try to. Youknow, that's a great player. He's

(08:13):
probably one of the toughest matchups mepersonally guarding one on one, but Epsy
just I just had to make ithard. He had twenty still, but
it was a hard twenty. Well. I noticed during the game that you
like gave him a couple of shotslike hard, like you were going to
the bucket. And that's probably likethe most aggressive I've seen you, like

(08:33):
all year relative to taking on likea personal challenge. Right last game,
you know he was he was talkinga little crazy out there, So I
feel like this game I had Itook a little personal just not backing down,
letting me know I was gonna bethere all game. So, Davian,
I've been around the team probably wellevery game. I don't think I've

(08:56):
ever heard you say ten more thanten words, so and usually a point
guard. You got to be themost vocal guy out there because you know,
you're the quarterback on the team,And how do you like navigate that
like not being a real you know, vocal guy. I know you lead
by By kind of example is doesdoes Sean tell you say, hey man,

(09:18):
you gotta be a little bit morevocal or you know, it's just
just my personality. I'm more ofa you know, laid back dude.
I don't do too much talking.But I just remember coming here and Coach
Miller down on everybody and he wasjust like, somebody that's not talking is
selfish. So like I just fromthen, I just took that on,
like I know, I'm not aselfish player. So every day I try

(09:39):
to improve on talking. I willsay this watching your team, we have
three great teammates in this building tonightactually, and how you play, I'm
sure it inspires the rest of therest of your team. I do have
to ask. I know you likethe fish right, yeah, asman Claude,
you like to fish right, Who'sthe better fisherman? I'll probably give

(10:01):
it a DC. I don't.I don't do it too much. I
don't do it often, but Itry to go as much as I can.
But he probably he probably does itmore than me. You got your
three point shot is up at fortypercent right now. You're shooting tremendously.
In fact, does mcleode sets youup in the corner on the right side,
big shot. Late in the gameagainst Georgetown, you hit a couple
of those, and you look veryvery comfortable doing that. Talk about how

(10:26):
that has arrived this season. I, Oh, you've done your whole career,
but you've been really, really tremendousfrom distance here recently, just you
know, the whole coaching staff justhaving the belief and really wanting me to
shoot the three, saying it's thebest shot for the team. So you
know, I just took that asa as a positive, non negative,
and I just keep betting in thegym and working on my side and keep

(10:48):
believing. David, I like cominghere. You were played three years at
Western Kentucky Conference USA. What's thebiggest adjustment playing at Western versus playing here?
For you? Personally, I'd saythe skill set you know, Confers
USA is more grittier, smaller guards, you know, big eastes, you

(11:13):
know, all all shapes and sizes, So just being able to lock in
on different scouts, you know,just being able to transition my game offense
and defensively. That's probably the biggestadjustment. And one of the things I
like the way you play is isXavier leads the Big East and pass break
points a lot of times. It'smainly because of the point guard player,

(11:35):
I believe. And it seems likewhen you get when you guys take the
ball out of the basket on theother team from the other make of the
other teams, you seem to justlike try to ram the ball down their
throats on the break. And Ilove the way you do that because sometimes
they're like they're three players back justbecause they're back, donet meaning that they're
ready. And a lot of timesyou just push the ball so hard.

(12:00):
Is that something that you've just donehere at Xavier or was that always part
of your game? And what's yourmentality when you get the rebound and you
start going, Oh well, Ianswered that. For my mentality, just
keep going until somebody stop me.So till somebody stop me, I'm gonna
keep going good. I feel likeI've always had that pace in my uh

(12:20):
you know, in my game set. But coming here and you know,
being coached by coach Miller, He'sjust allowed me to open that up more
often. You know. That's whathe encouraged us to do. That he
likes playing fast, and I enjoyedit. So I noticed in your bio
you said when you're done playing basketballyear from now, that you may have
an interest in coaching someday. Ifyou can give a young man, uh,

(12:43):
starting to say his high school career, advice on on reaching the level
that you've reached, what would thatbe? You know, just just fall
in love with the process, keepworking and don't don't try to base your
skill set onto somebody else's and justyou know what you're good at, you
know what you're not good at,focus on that, and just keep getting

(13:05):
better every day. And when didyou fall in love with the game?
Uh, I'm a late bloomer,so I'll probably say late my freshman going
my sophomore year in high school.What'd you do up up until that point?
Did you play any other sports?I played football until I got hurt,
and once I got hurt, itwas over. So what position did

(13:26):
you're playing football? I was everywhere? Yeah, everywhere on the field.
And Byron was a great football player. Also that it was a dbroke half.
All right, you don't want totime to take a break, Davey,
and thank you very much for yourtime. Were appreciated. Gradulations on

(13:48):
a great so you said, Daveon Bicknight. This is the Sean Miller
Coaches Show from Billy b Strow andMarry Mont on fifty five KRC at the
Varsity That Works. Welcome back tothe Sean Miller Coaches Show from Dylly Bistro
ed Mary mott Ark. Special guestsis Quincy Oliver Zigar. Fans help Cincinnati

(14:09):
Cancer Advisors achieve victory over cancer atthe next home game at the Centai Center.
Just grab a souvenir cup for achance to win great prizes like a
VIP suite, course side seats orXavery merchandise. Quincy, you scored two
thousand and forty six points in yourcollegiate career. That is phenomenal. I
appreciate that that. Yeah, pullthat Mike a little bit closer. When

(14:30):
did you realize you had a giftor a knack for scoring like that?
And it's more than a knack,but it's incredible. Oh, I just
say, probably my sophomore year atcollege when I scored thirty five off the
bitch and off the bench. Yeah, and it was just like the easiest
thing ever. Honestly, Coach CoachMiller smiling. Now he's gonna expect that

(14:52):
every night, so I'm not gonnabring him off the bench. Quincy,
what is it about to Paul thatyou like playing so because you drove forty
three in the first game against themand then thirty two in the next one.
Actually, if you call my mycoach from Rice, coach Para,
he'll tell you that the Paul Iprobably look at them like Houston Baptist back

(15:15):
at Rice. I did Houston Baptistsimilarly to De Paul the first time I
played them, twenty eight off thebench, second time thirty five. Like
every time I played DePaul, itwas like it was a career at night.
How made you have to score todot come off the bench? So
I came on to the bench thatwas like personal reasons, And then they
had just told me after a while, I was like it was inevitible.
I was the best player on theteam, but I was coming off the

(15:37):
bench and I was playing like twentyminutes. So Quincy, I you know,
I've been broadcasting games. This ismy twenty fifth year, and I
don't think I've ever seen a playerreleased the ball at such a higher trajectory
than you. Like, what isit about your shot. What are you
thinking about when you're shooting that makesyou so accurate? You're leading the Big

(15:58):
East and scoring right now, youwere leading in percentage three pointers made.
But your shot is so high.Tell me what do you think about when
you're shooting the ball? What's themost important? Steph Curry had a he
had a type of advice that Isaw like three years ago. He always
said, look at the front ofthe room and get it over the front
of the room. And if youshoot it higher, it's softer. So

(16:21):
even if it's not perfect, it'sstill soft on the rim, and it
gives you a chance to make it. And you know, I'm most of
the time the shortest went on thefloor, so I gotta get it over
to defend it, honestly. Yeah, Okay, you mentioned Steph Curry in
your life. Who was some ofthe big influencers, the biggest influence in
terms of your basketball career and youraccomplishments in life. You know you attended

(16:41):
Rice, you already have your degree, you're in graduate school, you've done
a lot of wonderful things already,and you're continuing your basketball career at a
very high level. But where'd theinfluence come from if any. Definitely Jason
mccreath. He went to Rice andhe's probably the person I talk to the
most. And then I have areally Trey Murphy is like a brother to

(17:03):
me, so I talked to himlike every day. And those two guys
I just talked to about basketball,and they just inspired me to keep going.
I mean I started like the NBAplayers, of course, but those
are the two that I know,like like family, Quincy, what was
it like like when you first gotthe Xavier and the first couple of games,
you know, you just it wouldn'tsay you struggle, but you had
to settle into selling into your role. And in the first time Sean went

(17:30):
bananas on you. How what wasthat like? It was weird, you
know, coming coming coming from Rice. I'm able to take plays off,
you know, sitting sit in thecorner, just tell everybody else what to
do. But he got me athalf court garden guarding the ball and I'm
I'm I'm lost, and then I'mrunning back down. I'm not really comfortable
with the offense yet. I'm usedto getting the ball off the glass,

(17:51):
pushing it out, letting the balland getting it. He telling me to
sprint down the sideline. It wasa little weird, but once you kind
of watch faim with Coach cong andyou get comfortable and realized that I came
here to be this type of player, and it's going to take this to
become this. I just bought inand it became a little bit easier once
once that like Thanksgiving stretch hit itwas. It was it was pretty si

(18:15):
what, so, what what makescoach upmost upset that you do? Probably
I would probably say shoot Probably probablyshooting a thirty footer when I'm exhausted after
I just asked for a sub fiveseconds ago, and then not getting back
on defense. Very specific sounds likewhen you scored the forty three, No,

(18:36):
that was actually last game against Georgegame, Well, I missed that
the Paul game that you scored fortysomething. And it was my understanding that
that you, uh, you likeshot the ball like two feet over half
court after Oh, yeah, that'swhat we work on. You're working on
your half court shot during your youroffense. But you had a heat check

(18:59):
moment. It was my understanding lostit because he had just looked at me.
I got two minutes before I waslike, don't go out there and
shoot nothing crazy. But to me, what's crazy? There's nothing that's no
such thing as a crazy shot.You were open, there, are you
you? I had what like thirtyone You gotta let me, you know.
He took me out. I knewit was coming. I ain't even
look him in the eye. Iknew, I knew it was going,

(19:21):
sat me down for two minutes,and then when he checked me back in,
he grabbed me and said, don'tdon't, don't do that again.
Quincy, you've been out in thecommunity. You went to Saint Mary's Grade
school, right, and uh Chickfil A and so forth, and you
make friends everywhere. That seems verynaturally. Where'd you get the love of
people like that in the ability tostep out and engage and make friends like

(19:44):
that? Definitely my dad. I'mreally just a brown skin version of my
dad. So if you don't knowmy dad or you don't think he's easy
approachable, he's literally just me butlight skin and no here. Do you
have a desire to coach when youget older? Possibly, I don't.
I don't. I don't have thepatience if like, if I explained something

(20:04):
once and you don't understand I don'thave the patience to keep explaining myself,
nah, because they I gotta Igotta get a little bit older. So
hopefully if I'm like fifty two,it's like thirty years from now. That's
not old man, that's not old. Quincy, tell me who's the okay?
So between you and Deaz, whenyou guys like pick teams, me

(20:26):
are like in pick up, I'msure let's talk about pickup games. Whose
team's gonna win? Who gets thebetter of the two? Me? You
get cooked here? Quick pick upstory. When back over the summer,
when when we were playing with Rome, I was I was killing asks Roman.
Rome was double team in me andpick up picking. He was double
team in me. And he he'lltell you. At one point he told

(20:48):
he told Dez, he said,I don't even think you can guard him.
That was the first week I gotout here, right. So then
three weeks three weeks ago, wein practice doing fast break build up.
I swear, I swear to God, this is a true story, asked
Dad, you can bring them backon the mic. We running up and
down the floor. I sat myfree throw fast by bla blah blah blah
blah. I'm running through. Irun to the corner. Here go dead
in the corner. You can youcan? You can? You stop running?

(21:08):
Please? I'm tired, I said, Oh not sock, I'm running.
What I'm gonna get you a breakfor baby? That's you know.
I'm not gonna say I wasn't tiredeither, right, but you on the
other team, I'm not trying todo it twenty two. I understand you
want to be a sports broadcaster.Oh yes, same thing, y'all doing
the same thing real soon. I'mgood. Anybody like give me about like

(21:33):
fifteen years, twenty year, thatwould be fine. That'll be okay too.
All right, we're running out oftime on for Schlink. We could
be up here all day. Allright, thank you, thank you.
All right. Coming up next we'llhaveing Sean Miller up here to talk about
Zave your basketball team Puncy. Thankyou very much. All right, This
is a Sean Miller Show from BillyBistro on fifty five k r C.

(22:00):
Welcome back to the Sean Miller Showfrom Dilly Bistro and Mary Matt. When
you're out of town and want tokeep up with live college sports, be
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(22:22):
And we have some exciting news fromDilly Bistro. We'll be here for
two more years for the Sean MillerCoaches Show. Yes, sir and Joe,
that's great, great news. Thishas been an amazing place in the
two years that we've been here together. I don't know if there's been a
single radio show where it hasn't beenfilled to capacity every night. Yes,

(22:45):
and my wife and I we comehere in the off season as well.
Food is wonderful. It's a greatplace to come in the summer, in
particular if you love fish and chips. I don't think that there's a better
fish and chips anywhere in Cincinnati.It's amazing. I love the burgers too,
Burger sandwiches, every every everything thatthey that is here is just it's

(23:07):
It's terrific and a great atmosphere aswell. Sean, we just had your
three your players up here. QuincyAlaberry really needs to cheer up a little
bit, doesn't he. Yeah,you know, what's it like to coach
three guys? You know, That'swhen I talked to him this morning.
You know, we talked about anumber of things, one of which is

(23:29):
how big this week is the finalweek of our regular season, and really
we've been at it for a longtime. But these three guys, I
don't know. If there's three players, well, certainly I'll talk about the
Big East Conference, which, aswe all know, if it's not the
best conference in the country, it'scertainly first one be us in the Big
twelve. I think that that hasplayed itself out. But I don't know

(23:53):
if there's any program that relies moreon three players more than are our team
does this year Byron, and ithasn't been recently. You know, sometimes
you lose a player, somebody getsinjured, et cetera. And all of
our guys they went down before itstarted, right So when these three lost

(24:18):
Zach fremann On and Jerme Hunter,I think they knew and we all knew
that, Okay, we're going tohave to develop some younger players around them.
But I don't know if I couldhave anticipated how much we would have
to rely on them every single day, and I mean every single day.
From July through the fall into ournon conference, and that means that they

(24:41):
have to be the best they canbe every day in game in game out.
If any one of these three hasan off night, if any one
of these three just isn't on theirbest, there are times when we've still
been efficient and maybe had enough,but it puts amazing pressure on our ability
to win. And I say thatbecause if these the respect that they deserve

(25:04):
with their work ethic, their leadership, and really their their play You know,
you talked about Dez and Quincy andtheir scoring ability and a lot of
the other things that both guys do. You know, Quincy defensive rebounding leading
us in defensive rebounding. You know, sometimes you forget the playmaker that des
is and his assist He's had highassist games. He's one of the highest

(25:26):
assists leaders in the Big East inaddition to his scoring. But when you
look at Daveyon, you know,he's almost like the silent assassin between the
two of them, and real quietlyhis street points shooting, his points per
game leading the Big East, andassist to turnover ratio, being one of
the high steel players in the BigEast as well, Statistically, their performance

(25:48):
on the court speaks for itself.Combining the three of them, those three
guys, and you add up theirpoints per game. You know, we're
talking about over what six fifth areWhat would it be per game if you
add the three of them up,you're looking at about thirty six and fifty

(26:08):
year You're you're talking about more thanfifty points per game in the Big East.
And I'm only talking about the BigEast right now. When you start
going through assist you're talking about betweenten, twelve, eleven and thirteen assists
rebounds the three of them, youadd it up, and that's every game
that we rely on them and dependon them, and I just think that

(26:30):
it's remarkable what they've done and sometimesI wish, you know, we almost
had that next score. But Ithink that and the patience they've shown with
their teammates, the competitive spirit thatthey have every day. You know,
Dez right now isn't one hundred percentdealing with an ankle, and he's played
through it. Daveyon, he's playedthrough it, and so has Quincy.

(26:53):
So they've given everything to our team, is my point. And where we
would be without them, I don'teven want to think about it. It
would be like a nightmare. AndI think that the postseason accolades and the
respect they have from the opposing BigEast coaches is very, very well founded,
and it's because of the seasons thatthese three guys have had for us.

(27:17):
Coach, How do you you relyon them so much? How do
you like not wear them out?I have worn them out? You ask
them, I'll tell you. Wemet earlier today and actually, I for
the first time I've had some credit. We're close enough to the end that
I'm not worried about what they're goingto say when I ask them. So
I said, fellas, look,I just need to know, like,

(27:38):
what is it that we can doto put you at your best down the
home stretch. We're in a bigweek, We're at the very very end.
And we talked about everything from thelength of shoot around to the length
of practice, and look, Ididn't even need to ask them. We
have to be more short, andwe have to get done what we need
to get done. But just towear and tear. You talk about Davon

(27:59):
pushing the ball, Well, it'sall three of them pushing the ball,
and it's all three of them running, and it's just playing at that pace
game. In game out against Georgetown, you talked about him guarding Epps dave
Yon. I never took him out. You know, in Dez's case,
he barely practiced leading to Georgetown,and yet I don't know if I took
him out. Maybe for a quickminute. I took Quincy out because he

(28:19):
took a crazy shot. Other thanthat, you know, those three guys,
we ride and die with them everysingle game. But I think we're
looking for ways Byron right now,just to make sure that in between games
that they can recover in that,for example, when we played Butler on
Wednesday night, that they have thebest opportunity to be the most successful they

(28:41):
can be, because game twenty nineis different than game nine, and you
know that from all the times thatyou've played. This is a Sean Miller
Coaches Show from Dilley Bistro, Marimounton fifty five KRC and the Varsity Network.
Welcome back to the Sean Miller CoachesShow from Dilley Bistro. Am.
We have a question right here,Sean. I think I speak for a

(29:03):
lot of the fans and that weenjoy the competitive nature and then never give
up that your young men experience.But I think one of the things that
at least makes me cheer for themcame in and game out is what quality
young men they are and how wellthey conduct themselves on the floor. And
I think that comes from the top, but it's also inbred in our recruiting.

(29:26):
So can you maybe address how wecontinue to keep this excellence that we've
experienced for the last several decades up? Yeah, well, thank you.
I appreciate it. And you know, I think everything starts not with me
or even Xavier, but where theseguys come from. They each have wonderful
families that are supporting them. Youknow, if you just kind of look

(29:48):
at where all three of these guysare, you know, they didn't grow
up next to each other. Butpart of why they represent themselves the way
they do is they were taught ata very young age and then the coaches
that they've had, you know,both in high school and travel team,
their moms, their families, thesupport that they've experienced. Like Dez said,

(30:10):
hey, my goal and dream wasto one day become an NBA player,
Well, there's people in his lifethat have really supported that since he's
been younger and shown him the way, and you really feel it. With
all three of these guys, itmakes your job a lot easier when then
they become a part of a programand a team. And look, when
you choose Xavier, you're not choosinga huge football stadium, a huge state

(30:33):
university, a campus that's filled withsixty thousand people and fraternities, et cetera.
You know you're choosing it because youknow it's a private Jesuit school and
it's a small, intimate atmosphere thatloves what they're doing college basketball where there
isn't football in a great city.So I think when they go through it,
they also know that as well.And I think a lot of times

(30:57):
we at Xavier attract a certain typeof player in person too, And that's
been one of the secrets. Youhave two next to me, you know,
Joe and Byron, that had choicesabove and beyond Xavier, yet they
made that decision to come here withsome of those same factors that these three
guys chose us when they did it. Yeah, coach, Yeah, good

(31:19):
question, coach. You know,I look at these three guys here and
then kind of abu Uzman is anotherguy who's kind of been there all season.
He's a transfer as well, andtalk a little bit about what he's
meant to this program. You know, I wish you could ask each of

(31:40):
those three guys which you just askedme, and I think you'd get maybe
a different version of the same,and that is, there's no teammate that
they have that works harder at hiscraft and shows up every day more than
a book. I mean, he'shad his low moments, high moments,
frustrating moment, but the next dayhe walks out there and he gives it

(32:02):
his best. I mean he isdrenched in sweat, whether that's in a
weight room, a player development workout, team workout, et cetera. And
you know, there's sometimes I thinkfrom an offensive perspective that because he works
so hard Byron that he just can'tbelieve that he misses the shot that he
misses or goes to the free throwline, and sometimes he can almost become

(32:23):
his own worst enemy. But interms of going to battle on the basketball
court, and let's talk about Wednesday, these three guys know that you can
count on a Boo that he's goingto give it his all and he's going
to be ready to go some gameshe makes more shots than others, but
in terms of his effort and hisintent, he plays the game to win

(32:45):
and he's a hard worker, andI think that's what we all love about
him. I also think, Byron, that if a Boo is surrounded by
some other frontcourt players, that couldtake some of that burden and pressure off
of him. And that's we hadit set up when he came here.
I think that the role would beeasier for him. At times, I

(33:06):
think about who he's played against thisship, all three of these guys have
played. I laugh when I seethe number one seeds and it takes me
on my own tangent right because wedidn't pick Houston and we didn't pick out
Purdue. The Big East did.But you start going down who's the number
one seeds? We're gonna play themfour times. You throw Marquette in as
the top seed. Now we're upto six. I mean, we've played

(33:28):
him, so back to a Boo. He's gone against Caulk, Brenner and
Klinging in our league. He's goneagainst Soriano, He's gone against OsO from
Marquette. He's gone against Zach Edy, He's gone against Houston's front line.
I mean it's almost like the who'swho of college basketball. A Boo has
jumped center against every one of them, and that has brought out I think

(33:49):
the best in him, especially movingdown the line for his future. But
there are times when, quite frankly, it's not always a fair fight.
And he has the younger group aroundhim. So we've asked him to do
a lot, no different than whatwe've asked these three guys to do.
But I think that Aboo here downthe stretch is going to play his best
basketball. That's my sense, that'smy feeling, and his work ethic is

(34:14):
something that I really admire in him. Coach, when you say he struggles
with the shot making around the basket, how do you coach him through that?
What do you tell? What kindof conversations are you having around that?
Sometimes he can be his own worstenemy, you know, and he
misses one, it sometimes can leadto the next one. His free throw
If I told you his percentage sinceJune, and we chart him, we

(34:35):
call it stripe work. And thesethree guys are epitome. So if you
have their their respective free throw shooting, des has improved incredible and incredible amount.
I think that was one of thethings as a freshman where he sometimes
was inconsistent and up and down.He's really settled in right now to be
one of the Big East best freethrow shooters. Quincy is the best free
throw shooter that I've ever coached,and Daveon is in between both of them.

(35:00):
I mean, when you look atthe three percentages that these are the
three guys have shot, it's oneof many things that you almost take for
granted that they've done so well forour team. But a boot he shoots
a much higher percentage every day thanhe does in the game. And again
I think it's he historically hasn't beena great free throw shooting team, so
he holds on too that it almostbecomes his own worst enemy, and instead

(35:23):
of making two in a row,he just I think he just clenches his
fist and I want to make itso bad that it can work against you.
So I do think that he'll eventuallysettle in. It may be more
in his future, kind of likeyou look at a guy like Daz who
he would have been a year agoand who he is this year. It's
like night and day with some ofthese things like free throw shooting and you

(35:45):
know, my hope is that aboot can settle into that as well.
All Right, you're listening to theSean Miller Coaches Show from Dalli Bistro,
Marrimout on fifty five KRC and theVarsity Network The Sean Miller Coaches Show from
Delway Bistro. There must be tearstraveled to Washington, DC this past week.
They would beat Georgetown ninety eight toninety three in a game's Avier trail

(36:06):
by as many as fourteen, gotback within four points five or six times.
Finally at the last five minutes climbedover the top and ended up winning
that ballgame. And coach, I'mgoing to give some credit to the Xavier
fans that were in Washington, dC. They made a lot of noise
that night, they really did.We felt their presence and if anyone is
listening, you know, thank you. And you know, having Quincy and

(36:30):
Daveon and Dez here tonight, Ithink those guys would echo my sentiment.
When you think of Xavier, what'sthe one thing that stands out the incredible
fans. You know what it feelslike before the game at Centile Center.
You know what it feels like whenyou're playing in the Crosstown Shootout in the
Centime Center. So when you're whenyou're a season ticket holder and you're somebody

(36:52):
that invests, know that the biggestdifference you can make in our program is
to be there on game night,to buy season tickets, to use those
tickets to show up. It's thedifferential between us and a lot of other
programs that think they support their theirteam and and the players. That's that's

(37:15):
It impacts recruiting, it impacts howthey feel and when you leave here.
And Quincy is a great example.He's a forever spokesperson on how did it
feel to play in a Big Easta Xavier and he's going to be able
to articulate that feeling he had winningthe Crossdown Shootout, you know, beating
teams in the Big East and howit feels. And there's no better feeling

(37:36):
in the world as you as youknow, So thank you for all the
support and the radio show, theI think the thirteen that we had fourteen
who was counting back before you knowit. But the place here, it's
been it's been packed every every Monday, and we appreciate that as well.

(38:00):
So thank you for your support.And our hope is that we can finish
as strong as any team can herethis week and next week. We're working
hard, and I think the Georgetownsecond half gave us some great momentum headed
to Indianapolis to play Butler. Thething about it too is, you know,
it's like the Xavier Nation, Likeit's easy to come and support the

(38:23):
program when things are going great.But when we have a season that's kind
of up and down, you know, the support has not wighed well.
I would tell you this, Byron. From my perspective, I just lived
it because last year was one ofthose seasons, right seemed like a magical
run all the way to the sweetsixteen. You almost forget our record in
the Big East Conference a year agoesfifteen and five, and we were right

(38:45):
there to win the regular season championship. We went to New York City,
we got to the to the finals. So that was that. And there's
not a big difference for me betweenlast year and this year. I know
there is, but there really isn't. Based on the observation you just made,
and I think that's that's the ultimatecompliment you could pay. Up says
all right, thanks for joining usfor the Sean Miller Coaches Show, All

(39:07):
Says along from Dillingt Show at fiftyfive KRC and the Varsity Network Live from
the Dilly Bistro in Marymont. Thishas been the Sean Miller Radio Show presented
by bud Late, Easy to drink, easy to enjoy and buy Try Health.

(39:29):
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has been a lear Field presentation onthe Xavier Sports Network fifty five w KRZ