Bill Self Press Conference Quotes
Nov. 23, 2009
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Head Coach Bill Self
Press Conference Quotes
On Oakland’s team this year:
“They’re up and they should be up. They return just about everybody, just like we do, and the coach has been there a long time. I only hope I can coach here as long as he’s coached there. But they’re always a team that has a chance to beat some good teams. They’re a highly-rated program and they schedule well. Last year, we played North Dakota State in the first round and Oakland had them in the conference championship game and just let it get away at the very end. I assume they will be picked in the pre-season to win the Summit League and I think they’ll be a difficult game for us. With the exception of Memphis, they’ll be the best challenge we’ve had by far.”
On preparing his team for a tougher opponent:
“I think you have to be honest with them. You have to tell them they’re capable, and through tape we are usually able to do so. This is a team that has a history of beating people and they can certainly beat us if we don’t come ready to play. If we do that, it will be a good game.”
On C.J. Henry’s role on the team:
“I don’t really know his role yet. I think he’s done well in practice the last couple of days, but I don’t know what his role will be yet. We won’t know until he gets out there and gets enough reps. He’ll have to figure out what we’re trying to do and react instead of think. You guys saw him on a night where he did look pretty good. He looked athletic and he made shots, but we didn’t call one set, we didn’t switch out any guard balls or change how we played the post, so he’s going to have to get comfortable in a lot of areas before he will have a role. He’s doing well.”
On Tyshawn Taylor’s slow start to the season:
“I don’t think he’s playing as well as we had anticipated. I don’t think he’s played poorly, but based on where he finished the season last year and how he played this summer with the Under 18 team, I had anticipated him getting off to a faster start. There have been a lot of players who have gotten off to a slow start. We are only three games in and if you make shots, your whole team looks better. He didn’t play his best against Memphis, but that was also a good teaching tape for him. I think if he was put in that situation again he would act more favorably. He’s a really, really good player. He will play better. I have total confidence in that.”
Sophomore Marcus Morris
On how the team can improve its rebounding:
“We can improve by playing to the ball more. We box out really well, but it’s a matter of boxing out, then going to get it. That’s what I need to do because I box out, but then I don’t get the rebound. In the Memphis game I only had one rebound, so that’s the stat line I know I need to raise.”
On depending less on Cole Aldrich to grab rebounds:
“I think that was definitely a last year thing. We just let Cole have the rebounds. This year, our guys are fighting more to go get them. I know Markieff (Morris) is doing really well for the minutes he’s playing. All of us are going to have to rebound more. My mom says it’s more of not letting my man not get the rebound.”
Junior Cole Aldrich
On improving the team’s rebounding:
“We just emphasize it in practice. Coach (Bill) Self has a treadmill in the practice gym, so if we miss an assignment or miss a block-out, you’re going to be running on it. It’s pretty much 15 seconds of hell. It really gets the point across. It’s one thing that really helped me get a lot of rebounds last year, but this year there are a lot of guys going for rebounds. Now there’s me, Markieff, Marcus, Xavier (Henry) and Tyshawn (Taylor) is even getting in there.”
On his evaluation of the season so far:
“I say we look pretty good. There is definitely a long way to go. Some people may say we’re not too far off, but I really think we have a lot to do. The ball sticks a little bit on offense, so just moving the ball and getting open shots would really help us.”
Senior Sherron Collins
On learning from the Memphis game:
“I think the Memphis game was a big learning point for us. We learned so much from just watching the tape. We need to move the ball better and get offensive possessions.”
On having more scorers on the team this year:
“There are a lot of scorers on the team this year, and that means the whole team is better. It makes us better as a whole and takes the pressure off of me and Cole.”
