Northwestern University Athletics
Carmody Addresses Media Monday
10/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 19, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -
Northwestern head men's basketball coach Bill Carmody met with the media Monday and previewed his team for the upcoming 2009-10 season.
A complete transcript follows.
Opening remarks...
"Well it's nice to get back on the floor. We've had three days of practice and it's a good bunch. We had a decent year last year and we're all pretty enthused about some of our wins and heartbroken with some of our losses, but I think our guys are pretty confident that they can play with just about anybody. So the first three days of practice have been very good. It's a veteran team. They know what they're doing, basically. Last year we had five freshmen, and we knew that three of four of them were going to play significant minutes and that's what happened. Three guys played a lot: (John) Shurna, (Kyle) Rowley and (Luka) Mirkovic. This year those guys are sophomores, you add some juniors and seniors that have played a lot and only two freshmen. For the first month you get two hours on the court with the team and I could tell right off the bat that the freshmen were quick studies, fast learners. You've got Alex Marcotullio and Drew Crawford, and they've picked things up. That's always good to see. I don't think that there will be a big transition. I know (Northwestern women's coach) Joe (McKeown) talked about that transition and I think what he was saying is true. When you get older and more experienced the game does get a little slower. You see things and put them in context a little bet better, but I think both guys are going to be helpful to us this year. We need some help in the backcourt for depth, and I think they're going to provide some help there. As I said, we have a veteran team. We're excited about them. You have (Kevin) Coble up front who has led us in scoring and rebounding the last three years. He got stronger. He's good out there and we're going to have a hard time, I'm going to have to put Coach (Mitch) Henderson out there and play him because he can score just about any time he wants and he's making long shots. Those of you who have been around a while know that when he was a freshman and he came here and he wasn't really a three-point shooter. He didn't shoot long shots. He was a scorer, but he's moved it out further and further. Each year he's gotten better and now he shoots two-and-a-half steps past that three-point line pretty consistently. He's getting to the hole, getting to the rim, not getting knocked down as often. Still getting knocked down; he went down three times today on his drives, but he's definitely stronger and heavier and that's good. Shurna had a very good summer. He made the Under-19 USA team where he played for about two weeks down in Colorado Springs, made the team, and went to Sydney, Australia, for three or four days then to New Zealand and he was a significant part of that gold-medal winning squad. So he's confident. Luka looks really good to me. He's probably about 235 pounds now. Last year he might've been 215, I forget, but something like that. He doesn't look as robotic as he did last year, he seems more rounded and smooth. We lost a guy in Craig Moore who was a firey guy, a competitor. He led the Big Ten in three-point shooting two years in a row, and I don't think we will be able to replace that shooting from that spot, but you have, like I said, the freshmen, and then you have some veterans. You have (Jeff) Ryan and (Jeremy) Nash. Nash was one of the guys who I thought had a really nice year for us last year. Just looking at the stat sheet you don't really see it, but if you're at the games you know it. Things that he did counted. He stole balls, he energized the team, he got offensive rebounds, he blocked some shots. Now some of those things that he did show up, but the energy he brought and the way he put teams back on their heels I thought was invaluable to us. So he's back and I like some of the things that are able to be counted, like make some more shots and he's being more aggressive offensively so I like that. Ryan's been slowed down a little bit with a stiff back, but he'll be able to give us some depth. Kyle Rowley broke a bone in his foot in the summer and he's just starting. He's been basically staying off it for a while, but now he's back just starting to walk a little bit, jog a little bit, and he's doing stuff in the swimming pool. It'll be nice to get him back, and I don't have a timetable on that, not sure about it exactly. We're waiting to see, make sure it's healed, and being cautious there. We're pretty excited and I think we're going to be pretty good. We'll play a couple of defenses, we'll play our match-up zone, we'll play some 1-3-1. I don't know if we can play man-to-man. Every coach would like to play man-to-man, but I think with our team we're going to be long, we're going to be pretty tall, and like I said it's a veteran team so if we're going to be good all of those guys that played a lot last year are going to have to play well. The freshmen that played a lot last year are going to have to go up. You can't have Mirkovic get 16 (points) and then 4. Shurna gets 18 and then 6. They have to be a little bit more consistent. So that's where we are. Three days of practice, I can't tell you much more than that, but the guys have a good feeling and so does the staff."
On whether they'll miss Craig Moore's shooting or leadership more...
"Well both. I don't think that we can replace his three-point shooting, but Shurna has taken a lot of them in three days of practice and I think he's going to surprise some people. A guy that can shoot the ball, but Craig was just a firey guy. I'd say something to him in practice and he'd give me that look, which you like as a coach once in a while a guy that has something going on in there, and who's a fighter. He thought he was good. He thought he was as good as anybody he played against, and that's important. You don't have to be cocky, but you have to be convinced that you belong out there. He probably thought that he was better than he was, but that made him good. That leadership that he gave us, and you know he ticked guys on the team off sometimes and he ticked me off sometimes but he was a competitor and that's going to have to come through with some of these guys this year."
On Drew Crawford...
"He picks things up quickly. He listens and he learns fast. He's strong, he's a strong kid with long arms about 6-4 or 6-5. I think he plays a little bigger than that. We're trying to put him in the backcourt. In high school, all of these guys say they played point guard because they bounce the ball up three times and no one was guarding them until they got to the top of the key and then throw it and say `you know I was a point, I was a 1,' all of that. So we're going to have to work with him with his understanding, seeing the court this way from the guard spot and the basket's there instead of over here where it's different, there's the baseline and all. But he's a pretty athletic kid. He's a fast learner and he's a hard worker. If you're a hard worker and you're talented, good things happen. Today he took four 3s and he made three of them in the scrimmage. So I like that, forget all of that other stuff, the ball going in the basket is good."
On whether its tougher to pick up on the offense or the defense...
"I don't think about defense for a few weeks. All we're doing is offense. No slide drills, none of that stuff. Coach McKeown loves that stuff. For me it's like defense, if you have good kids and you get them going and you can motivate them a little bit, you're going to be okay defensively unless your talent level is so bad. But offense you have to pay attention to detail and you have to work together. You have to be precise and you just can't be sloppy and be good unless you're just a so much better player and sometimes that even comes back to haunt you so I don't think our defense is...I mean it might be different, some of the stuff we do, but I think offense is hard for guys to pick up. That's what everyone tells me, but I don't know. I'm trying to think about who hasn't been able to pick it up. Thompson came in and had a nice freshman year. Coble was a little slow, I have to admit that, but defense is easy."
On who his top defenders are...
"We haven't played that much man-to-man, but when you play match-up you have to keep the guy in front of you a little bit. I'd say Nash is pretty good, not just because he steals balls but because, when he wants, he can keep his body in front. Coble is a very good low post defender. Even though he's a skinny guy, he's long and he runs around guys. Once they get it, it might be troublesome sometimes but he keeps ball away from guys so he doesn't have to play defense, which is okay. I think that Kyle and Luka will be pretty good defenders. They'll be pretty good defenders as they move along."
On depth at point guard...
"We don't really have someone that can run the team like Mike (Thompson) can, and Craig could last year. But our two guards and our forwards can dribble the ball a little bit. In the recruiting, we're really trying to get a guy like a leader, and a guy that can do that and this year, I've been messing around. Even in three days, I've put Coble in the backcourt and Alex Marcotullio has a really good idea of things, and we just have to wait and see if the speed and the strength and all of that are going to hamper him. If the defense isn't oppressive, then he'll be able to get it done because he understands it very well. But what happens when they sic the dogs on you? How does he respond? That's what we'll have to find out."
On Michael "Juice" Thompson...
"I think Mike has deferred to Craig for a couple of years a little bit because of that strong personality that Craig had. We talked about it a bunch in the spring, but now this is your team. You now have to tell people what to do even if you don't like telling people what to do; you have to tell them. So I think there's definitely an improvement there. We'll see though. It's the first few days of practice, but he's leading in a lot of things and just in the drills and warming guys up and all of that he's certainly been more vocal."
On if the Big Ten Network has helped the team...
"Yeah, definitely. I think it's great, it's fantastic. I think we're involved with some kids nationally that we haven't been before, and a lot of that goes to my coaches, but you know when they can see you on TV and they've been up here and they've seen the kids and they hang out with the guys and then they seem them on TV and then their parents can see them. I mean it's definitely significant so we're loving that."
On players stepping up...
"I don't think any of us would be surprised if Shurna had a good year, but Luka is the guy. He looks like he's worked really hard and he had an internship this summer down in Chicago. He had to be there at 8:30 (a.m.) but I'd come in the office around 7 and he's in there shooting on the shooting gun thing four days a week, at least. So he went to work a little bit. He looks a little bit better. Now, having said that, Kyle's not out there to knock him around so he looks good in practice right now, but when Kyle's out there beating him up a little bit, we'll find out how he responds. But he seem to have put the time in so I think if he has a good year then we can be really good."
On team confidence and moral...
"I think we were pretty confident last year, but winning some games was good and the summers you have. Shurna feels a little bit better about himself, Coble feels good. Mike Thompson played extremely well in the Sonny Parker League which is, I think he was MVP of the league and they won it and it's a lot of good college players and they're hard games, so he's feeling good. So I think the confidence level is right where it should be, not crazy, but just right where it should be. They're working hard in practice and that's good."
