Carmody Addresses Media Monday

Bill Carmody met with the media Monday to give an early overview of his team.

10/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Oct. 20, 2008

EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern men's basketball head coach Bill Carmody met the media Monday afternoon to give an overview of his team three practices into the 2008-09 season. A transcript of Monday's news conference follows.

Opening Statement...
"It's the start of a new year. We've had three practices. In three practices, from what I've seen, people are talking about us having big guys and a lot of size, which is true, but I don't want to forget about some of the guys that we have here. Craig Moore led the Big Ten in three-point shooting last year. He took the most and he made the most. Kevin Coble has been the leading rebounder and scorer for two years here, which doesn't happen that often, freshman and sophomore years. Michael Thompson comes in as a freshman and runs the team. I think he was first or second in the Big Ten in assists, minutes played and assist-to-turnover ratio. In three days you could see that we have some pretty decent guys on the perimeter, backed up by I call them "steady Eddie" kind of guys like (Jeff) Ryan and Sterling Williams, who played a lot of minutes over the last few years. Also there's Ivan Peljusic and Jeremy Nash, who have seen limited action and had ups and downs, but they seem a little different. They seem older, wiser and better. That's what we have on the perimeter. Having said that, we won one game in the Big Ten last year, so we clearly need help and I think that we've gotten help. We're big, and I think some of the big guys are pretty good. That's what people are talking about now. There's a buzz with football and with some of the new guys we have in, and I think they're going to help us. I wouldn't tell you if I didn't think they were pretty good. The center position is going to be manned by a 7-foot kid Kyle Rowley and Luka Mirkovic. Probably those two guys are going to split the time. Kyle is probably 290 pounds, 7-feet tall. He sees things, can pass the ball well. He's big, he's strong, he's smart. He's got a little Caribbean culture in there, so I've got to make sure the guy's a consistently hard worker. A little laid-back. He just seems to be getting better since he got to school here. We've worked with them two hours per week and now it goes from two hours a week to three hours a day. He seems like he's getting better. President (Henry) Bienen came by practice and said the guy looks better already. I think that's because he's a pretty hard worker. If he is, he'll be pretty good. Coach (Tavaras) Hardy, I see him sitting here, he's like a little shrimp compared to this guy. You can't move the guy. If we can put him in positions where he can be successful, that means within like 10 feet of the basket. He's used to just pushing guys and shoving guys, and he's been successful that way. We always try to play with our feet around here. I don't want to dismiss the fact that he's very strong, but I want him to move and cut and do the things we do. Mirkovic is a crafty guy at 6-11. He's pretty good. He can pass, he's moving better. He's not small either. He's about 235 pounds, and he's a young guy. He's never lifted weights before. Now he's been lifting and really improving. He came here for summer school and the strength coach was telling me that he's gone up 70 pounds in the weights that he's using, which is a lot. He's good, he'll be one of the better guys around here for running the stuff that we run since I've been here, I can say that. I don't know if right off, but I think so. He'll be helped by those perimeter guys that I was talking about. Last year we had Coble playing center sometimes, not on offense, but guarding guys. Ivan Peljusic was 205 pounds, and that just doesn't go in this conference. Those two guys will man that spot. We have two forwards I like a lot. John Shurna is about 6-8. Runs, has a good motor. He's like that guy (Joakim) Noah, but not as crazy. He runs around and he's good. He can shoot the ball, he's tough around the basket. I think he's going to help us right away. The surprise guy has been Davide Curletti. He played with his back to the basket a lot as a senior in high school. When we saw him, he was stepping out and taking some shots, basically in warm-ups and things and we saw him practice, and we thought he could. He's going back and forth between forward and center, but he's the most athletic of the guys. He's 6-8, strong and he dunk everything. He's an emotional kid. In other programs I think they'd say he a 4 (power forward) man. Anyway, he's a big strong guy, likes it around the basket. He's been a real surprise. He's been better than I though he would be. Usually it goes the other way. The guy comes in and you say, 'oh, momma mia; the guy's not as good.' This kid's pretty good. The last freshman is Nick Fruendt. We're trying to have him play in the backcourt, sort of like a swing guy in high school. He puts the ball in the basket, and is a little bit like Coble. He doesn't look that great, it's a little unorthodox, the ball comes out of his hands a little differently but it always goes in. So I've been noticing that. We're trying to put him in the backcourt because he's about 6-5. He's a little bit like (Tim) Doyle. In the half-court he just gets it done somehow. You can't figure out the little trickery or chicanery. You think you can stop the guy and then good things usually happen when he has the ball. So that's a pleasant surprise for me. Three days, what can I tell you? What I just told you is what I can tell you."

How do you see Kyle (Rowley) fitting into the offense, especially since big guys have typically played at the top of the key like Vince Scott?
"He seems fine out there (away from the basket). In fact, he sort of likes it out there, I think. He passes the ball well from there. He doesn't shoot the three-point shot, but he makes 15-footers. We've played before with centers who don't take that shot. Some of the best centers I've ever coached took maybe 20 to 25 a year. So that's not that important. The passing, and the seeing, and the understanding are so much more important. I don't think you reshape things. You look at your guys and you sort of let them tell you what to do with the team. Can I get this guy Curletti to play on the outside? Can I get Kyle, how's he going to do this? Don't have any preconceived notions, which is hard. Just let them play for a couple of weeks, look it over and say, 'Ok, uh huh, yep, I thought this maybe, but'...and that's what I'm doing with Kyle. I know some of the things he can do and I want to see if we can expand it a little bit. If not right away, then you continually work at that kind of thing. You always try to hide weaknesses and exploit strengths, and that's what we're doing."

How do you think the guys will affect the rebounding margin that the team had to deal with last season?
"I don't think it will be like ping pong up there. If they were no good, then just the fact that they are all three inches taller would help, but they are pretty good. I feel good about our possibilities on the backboards. There's competition there too. Last year you'd go down the bench and I'd look at my assistants and they'd say, `get him the heck out of there.' And I'm looking down and I'm going...Now I think I can look down and get somebody else in there."

How much will it help having Kevin Coble from the start this year?
"I think it will help a lot. Last year he came back for the Big Ten season, and he had some decent games scoring-wise, but he was out of sync had some not-so-good games. It changes the team, the dynamic of the team. He's going right from the get-go. He was here for summer school and I think it will help a lot. He seems ready to go, ready to prove something. As does Moore. I named him captain. I think he's the first guy I've named captain. Coach (Tavaras) Hardy had on his resume, it said he was captain his last two years. I don't know. I think he just did that after the fact. Anyway, Moore has come on strong, I think. He had a nice freshman year, a not-so-good sophomore year and last year he played really well. I attribute that to (Tim) Doyle again. I see Doyle here and I don't like to toot his horn too much, but Doyle his body was nothing special there and then he came back that next year and boom. He wasn't eating junk. His body changed and he was faster. He never got tired and he got to be a better player. Moore did the same thing. Body fat, pounds, this, that, all sorts of stuff. I had the guys over for a barbeque yesterday after practice and there was some lasagna there and the guy wouldn't even eat the lasagna. So he had to eat my sausage and peppers, which is...and he had one. He didn't eat the roll. I said, `holy mackerel, this guy...' Anyway."

A lot of people think this the best recruiting class you've had since you've been here. If that's the case, what do you attribute that to?
"We went early and went after some big guys. So we ended up with two 6-8 guys, a 6-11 guy a 7-foot guy. All the guys except for Davide Curletti were two and a half years of recruiting. Luka, a long time. Kyle, a long time. John Shurna. The staff just started early. I used to joke that you've got to get in touch with guys when they get out of little league and I think that the staff decided that this is what we've got to do. So my assistants have done that. All those guys, Nick Fruendt, John, all of them since the beginning of their sophomore years at least."

Would you consider redshirting any of the freshmen?
"That's down the road. You don't have to decide now. The NCAA two years ago said that you can watch them in an exhibition game and in a scrimmage. I don't have any plans for that yet. I haven't talked to them about that yet."

As the Big Ten season went along last year, you kept searching for answers on defense. With the group you have now, do you feel like you have the pieces to play defense like you'd like to?
"I wish we had a little more speed so that we could pick up a little bit. I'd like that. I think we will press because I think we're deeper. For pressing, you have to have depth and speed certainly helps. I think we have the depth; I'm not sure about the speed all around. I know we'll pick up and change defenses a little bit, play a little more full-court, or at least 3/4 court defense."

Could you elaborate a little bit more on Fruendt and how he might fit into the rotation?
"Your backcourt, Moore and Thompson are starting. I know that. Then I think that there's a possibility for somebody else. Who's going to back up? Do you have a backup guy who's going to run the team like Mike? If there's an area there of some concern, that would be it. I don't think Nick is that, but I think he's a pretty crafty kid. There's an opportunity somebody, like who's the third guard? Who's coming in there? Or do we play him at small forward a little bit. If you have some big guys...if Luka or Kyle is in the middle and you've got Curletti or Kevin there. I didn't mention Capocci too. He's looking pretty good. He's as athletic as one on the team and he's not as wide-eyed as he was last year. Plus, he's a lefty. All that goes along with being a little wacky. Fruendt's got a shot. So is Sterling going to take that spot? Is Jeff Ryan going to go there? Who's it going to be? Nash? Fruendt's got a shot. He doesn't seem to be afraid either."

What do you think about the changes in the three-point line and how do you think that will affect things?
"I don't know. I haven't thought about it too much. We've had the (new) line down there for a long time and I don't think it affects it too much. It might, in the short run, affect it, but then 14-year-old kids will be practicing from there and then it won't matter in a few years. The best teams are making about nine per game, the top 20 teams in the country. If it goes down to eight or seven and a half...I don't know. Does that change the whole game? I don't think so, but we'll see."