Mark Gottfried Weekly Press Conference Transcript
1/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Following is a transcript from University of Alabama basketball coach Mark Gottfried’s weekly press conference as well as quotes from Tide starting point guard Brandon Hollinger for use in stories previewing Tuesday night’s Alabama vs. Tennessee game.
Brandon Hollinger, 5-11, JR, Guard, Mobile (6.5 pts/3.1 assists):
On Tennessee:
“Tennessee is a very good team. They are ranked in the Top 10 in the nation right now. The strong part of their team is the defensive part. They’re going to stop you from trying to get the ball inbounds. They’ve got a pressure defense that I think it’s the best pressure in the nation as I’ve seen so far. It’s kind of hard to get past them. But once you get the ball inbounds, they kind of back off you. But they’ve got a pretty good team all around. They play four guards most of the time. They’re athletic. They can shoot. They can drive the ball. They are strong all over. The whole team is just strong all over. Like I said, they are ranked in the Top 10 in the nation, and you aren’t in the Top 10 for nothing, so we are going to have to come out ready to play those guys.”
On Alabama’s play in its last game, a 97-77 win against Auburn Saturday:
“We played very well as a team against Auburn. Everybody contributed to the game. We shared the ball with each other. We had 19 assists with only four turnovers. Any team that has 19 assists with only four turnovers is probably going to win the game. Two of the turnovers came from a jump ball turnover and an offensive charge. With two minutes left in the game, we only had two turnovers. We made two more at the end of the last two minutes. But we could have finished the game with only two turnovers. And, like I said, when guys share the ball with each other like that, you’re going to play well every night.”
HEAD COACH MARK GOTTFRIED, complete press conference transcript:
Opening Comments:
“They are a terrific team. As you watch them on tape and begin to study Tennessee, they’ve got a lot of weapons. They are very, very athletic. And I think they have played at a high level all year long, from the first day of the season. So they’ve proven it. They belong in consideration as one of the best teams in the country. And when you watch them, (as) you study them, I think you’re pretty quickly where you agree. It’s a great opportunity for us. A big game, so we need to get ready to play.”
When you play a team that runs as much as they want to, how do you approach that?
“I think every game unfolds---I talk about that a lot-- a little bit differently. I do know they want to push it and I think we’ve played our best when we’ve scored a lot of points, too. And I think you’ve got to be wise with the opportunities that you have. When you’ve got advantages, I think like any team you want to take advantage of those situations and attack the basket. I think where you’ve got to be careful is to get caught up in pushing the ball and taking quick shots when you really don’t have an advantage. I think there’s a fine line in there. I watched a tape this morning. I watched our last two games we’ve had with Tennessee, the last two years, two years ago in here and last year up there. And it’s obvious when Ron (Steele) was playing two years ago, we controlled the tempo of the game. And last year we didn’t control the tempo, even though we were in positions to win the game at the end of regulation and at the end of overtime. So we’ve got to do a better job with that, and I think that’s the biggest key to the game is making sure you’re playing at the pace that you want to play at and not the pace they want to play at.”
Against Auburn, there was a time you went with five guards and that seemed pretty effective. Is that something you might do against Tennessee?
“The small ball, if it fits at the right opportunity, we can look at it. It helped us the other day. I don’t know that that’s something we’ll do every game. Auburn is a little unique in that regard, too with who they play on the floor as well so we’ll just take a look and see how the game unfolds.”
Foul shooting is a reoccurring topic: is it just a matter of at practice shooting more or are there other technical things you talk to your players about?
“We’ve talked to all of our players. And I think with every player, every coach would do that, too. You’re always trying to find ways to help them with any part of their game. Foul shooting is a part of it. We’ve certainly done that. I think you’ve got to be careful at times, especially mid-year, to try to change somebody’s shot. I don’t know that coaches feel real comfortable about doing that because foul shooting is a rhythm. You’ve got to get into a rhythm now. Obviously if you had four or five 90 percent foul shooters on your team, you’re team’s foul shooting percentage will be better. We have struggled there this year. It’s something that we work on a lot every day. It’s just something we’ve got to get better at.”
There’s been some talk that there were some words exchanged between your wife and Paul Finebaum after Saturday’s game. Do you want to respond?
“No, I’m not going to talk about that.”
Will you talk about how you’ve caught some criticism until this weekend’s win, and how you deal with that and tell your family (how to deal) with criticism about you?
“We’re just concentrating on our team right now and this game with Tennessee. We’ve talked about it in here enough this year. It’s not going to be something that’s going to be a distraction for us.”
Do you know who is going to start at point guard tomorrow?
“We’ll stay with the same lineup with (Brandon) Hollinger in there. We’ll bring Rico (Pickett) off the bench.”
Did starting Hollinger help him have the shooting night he had?
“I don’t know if you ever know that for sure but the results of that one game were certainly good for us. He and Rico both played well. I don’t know that just starting Brandon guarantees you every night that you’ll get he and Rico playing like that but maybe it helped us for that one game. We’ve tried to take some of the pressure off Rico as a freshman, knowing he’s still going to play a lot of minutes. Brandon’s going to play a lot of minutes. But I don’t know that all of that is set in concrete. We’ll just kind of see how it goes.”
Are you using Hollinger more this year than maybe you thought you would at the beginning of the season because it seems like every time he works himself out of the lineup he ends up as the guy in there anyway?
“I think if you look over his career, Brandon’s career, he’s always found a way to stay in the mix of things. You’ve got to give him credit for that. (It’s) Mostly because he’s a very intelligent player. He knows what you’re trying to do and what you’re trying to accomplish. I think he’s good in that regard. He is quick. He’s an additional ball-handler for us. The other day he was making shots. I think he’s a very good shooter. He has done a great job for our team this year. He’s done a good job.”
You talked about this on Saturday, but talk a little bit more on the effect that Tyler Smith has had on Tennessee.
“I think that he’s the key for them for their team right now just to go to another level. They were obviously very good last year. I think they would have been very good this year without him. But with him I think he just elevates them from an athleticism standpoint, from a guy that’s an additional scorer for them. It’s unique where a guy in basketball transfers without having to sit out a year. So you’ve got to give Tennessee credit for that. And Tyler has played great. We know Tyler. We’ve watched Tyler since he was in high school and when he went to Iowa last year. He’s done a good job for them and I think he’s been a big difference maker.”
So you did recruit Tyler (Smith) in high school? What were your thoughts on him?
“He’s a good player. We’ve always had a lot of respect for him. He’s a great player. I knew his dad before his dad passed away. Terrific person. Terrific family. I’m happy for him. Obviously you go through a tough situation when you lose your dad, so we feel for him there. He’s doing a great job under I’m sure tough circumstances from that aspect.”
Does he change their team at all?
“If you look last year at their team??and they pretty much have the same team; they’ve kind of traded Dane Bradshaw for Tyler Smith---well, Dane was very good. He was a glue guy for them. Tyler is just so much more athletic. He gives their team an additional player that’s got a great deal of athleticism: rebounding, a lot more scoring. So that’s been a big difference for them. I think he’s had a great year.”
With the amount of times you are allowed for practice and individual shooting, how much of that is (left) on the individual player to work extra on their own time?
“We spend a lot of time at practice. And I know players, they still work on their games outside of practice sometimes, but we spend a lot of time at practice trying to address those things that we feel like need improving on, and foul shooting has been one of them. I think traditionally here at Alabama, we’ve had great foul-shooting teams, some of the best in the league. This year that hasn’t been the case and hopefully we can turn that around.”
When you talk about shooting, a lot of its mental; you just had a big game Saturday. How far does that go and how much better is a confident shooter than a guy who’s been struggling?
“When you make shots like we did the other day it boosts your confidence. It’s true in any sport. You can play golf and hit it in the woods all day long and you feel like you can’t even hit the ball, and then other days you hit it right down the middle. We went through a period where we weren’t shooting the ball very good and now, at least for one game, we shot it much better. Guys feel a lot better about how they played. They feel better about themselves and hopefully that’s something we can continue.”
Jeff Lebo said after the game that you guys were doing some things defensively that they weren’t really prepared for, that they hadn’t seen you guys do yet. Can you talk about some of the things you put in the off-week and whether or not any of those things will be in effect for the Tennessee game?
“Not really. Don’t want to talk about them. We didn’t re-invent basketball. I can tell you that much. And you’re always trying to find an adjustment here or there that can help your team. And we tried to do a few things differently with our defense, both in our man and our zone, but again, I think sometimes things that apply in one game may not apply in another game, too. We played well and did some things that helped us. But, again, it’s one game.”
This past weekend, Chris Lofton had seven 3-point shots. Can you talk about perimeter defense and playing a team like Auburn on Saturday and if their style is similar to what you are going to see Tuesday?
“I don’t know that their styles are similar. But I think with Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith you’ve got two of the best 3-point shooters in the league; you’ve got two of the better 3-point shooters in the country. I mean those two guys can really fill it up. I’ve got great respect for both of them. Chris was at the Pan Am Trials this summer with me when I was coaching the team. I really got to know him better and liked him even more. I’ve got a lot of respect for him as a player and a person. We’ve got a lot of respect for both of those two guys. When you play Tennessee, if you look up there at the stat sheet when the game is over and both of those guys have drilled you from the 3-point line all night long, you’re going to be in trouble. So we’ve got to do a good job there of not letting those two guys have those kind of nights.”
Has it helped you that you got a sneak preview of a little of what Bruce Pearl wanted to do at Tennessee, the fact that y’all had faced him when pretty much no one else had when he came in?
“Not necessarily. We played him in the (NCAA) tournament. And that first year they came here and we had a pretty solid win here. Last year’s game I thought was just a great game. Ron didn’t finish the game. I think he only played a half and was gimpy (both knees). Watching the tape, it’s tough to watch a little bit. Bruce does a great job. He’s injected a ton of enthusiasm into their program. They’ve recruited well and he’s done a good job with all that stuff. I don’t know that playing them that one time has made that much of a difference for anything.”
How well does Richard Hendrix use his body and his experience over the last couple of years?
“I think the way you asked the question is right: he does know how to use his body. His body is much better. We’ve talked about that a lot this year. He’s done a good job there. He has been tremendously consistent for us. As our team has struggled at times, he really hasn’t. I think if you look out there, you can look at maybe his foul shooting but other than that this guy has just been so solid every night. He’s done a great job. He’s definitely improved every year, from his freshman year to his sophomore year now to his junior year. He’s gotten better all three years.”
Ramel Bradley of Kentucky has played every minute of every game this month except for one minute in one game. I remember Ronald Steele pretty much did the same for you guys. I wonder what you think about that, the positives and negatives of playing that many minutes?
“Number one, I think certain players can do it. I don’t think every player can do that. I think Ramel is the same way, a little bit like Ron. I think that he is an unbelievable athlete who is well-conditioned. He’s such a good foul shooter that there are so many advantages to having him on the floor for Kentucky. I think those players that do that and understand that, they know when there are some pockets of time here and there in the game to get a rest or get a blow without coming out of the game. Ron did that with us a couple of years ago. I think there are players that can do it and be very effective with that.”
