Mark Gottfried Holds Preseason Press Conference
10/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 15, 2008
TUSCALOOSA - Mark Gottfried Press Conference Transcript Opening Comments: "Like every year, you get to this point in time, everybody's excited. I am. I think our players are. We're excited about this year. Our team has worked hard over the summer. They've worked hard this fall. We've got some new faces. We've got some young guys who are going to have to step up early. And we also have some veteran players, too, who are coming back, so we're excited about that. We're ready to get going."
On the latest regarding Ronald Steele's health: "I get asked that question all the time about Ron Steele. `How is Ron?' And I think that if you were to ask him, he'd tell you that he feels 100 percent. In the workouts that we have done, he's looked very good to me. He hasn't complained of soreness or those types of things. Now, we haven't practiced for two-and-a-half hours every day like we're going to start doing, but I don't anticipate there being any problems. I think it's a thing where we need to let him get back in the flow. I don't know that on day one of the first game of the season he's going to be playing like an All-American--maybe he will. But I think it just takes a little bit of time to get back in the flow of things and I think when he does and he begins to feel comfortable, we're going to see a pretty good player."
On reason for closing practice: "I just think the last couple of years, and it's nothing dramatic, but I think we just have a little bit too much going on in the gym distraction-wise. I've never been one to close them, but I thought last year at times we had a little bit too much going on, so we'll see how that goes throughout the year."
On whether he is less tempered and perhaps speaking out more confidently about this team than perhaps he has others in recent past: "I'm not one of those guys who is going to jump out there and guarantee anything. I don't think any coach can do that or wants to do that. But I do think we have a chance to become pretty good. I like our athleticism. I like our quickness. I think we can put five guys on the floor pretty regularly that can all run and get up and down the floor. You have three seniors out there with (Ronald) Steele and (Brandon) Hollinger and (Alonzo) Gee, something that we haven't had a lot of at times here, a lot of seniors, especially in the backcourt. You have to remember that Ron Steele, not only is he back and all those kinds of things that we've talked about, but you have to remember that he's also a fifth year senior, which I like that in college basketball. So there are just a lot of things. Now, we still have a lot of work to do to get there. We'll see how long that takes for us to become a good team. But I'm excited about our team's potential more than anything."
On who he sees replacing the points and rebounds put up by Richard Hendrix and if it will be JaMychal Green: "JaMychal has to earn it like every freshman does. We expect him to come in and compete pretty hard for it. But you've also got Yamene (Coleman) and Demetrius Jemison and then Justin Knox. Those three guys, too, have all played. Justin hasn't played as much. But I don't think you take one player who is a potential 20 points per game guy and 10 or 11 rebounds guy like Richard would have been and just replace him with another one sitting there that's ready to get 20 and 10 on the first day of practice. That doesn't happen. The younger guys have to step up. JaMychal's got to get ready quick. We've got to do a good job of helping him get prepared as fast as we can. But I don't know that it's just going to be one player to fill that void." On whether or not he has a lineup in mind already: "Nothing's set in stone and I'm not going to make any decisions on that. That's something that changes a lot throughout the year, especially in your preseason. Each team has to figure out itself, figure out who needs to be doing what. Our team will need to do that as well. I think every coach in the back of your mind, you kind of have guys penciled in. `Maybe this guy. Maybe that guy,' and these combinations together here, there. You're always thinking that way through. So we have a pretty good idea with our team, but they're going to go at each other pretty hard starting this week. We'll have three or four weeks before we start to play so we'll learn a lot more during that time period."
On any change in rituals as a new season and practice begin: "You're always looking to do some things a little bit different. I don't think any coach just completely changes everything. That's not what we're going to do nor should we or should any coach do that. What we've got to do is try to utilize what we have. Last year, obviously, with a guy like Richard in there, that was a focal point of a lot of what we did. You had to slow down a little bit for him at times. Hopefully this year we can get back to where we'll score a lot more points and getting up and down the floor and really defending people a little bit differently and all those types of things. So we start working on that this week."
On conditioning work the team did in the offseason: "You go back to the spring and Terry Jones had them a lot in the weight room. We're allowed now within the rules to spend two hours a week in skill instruction, so we went at them pretty hard in the spring before school was out. And then, the good thing about this team I liked is most everybody was here all summer long. Alonzo Gee, this was the first summer where he spent Interim, first session and second session of summer school here. And pretty much everybody was that way, so we got a lot of work done this summer. When classes started again we were back doing our individual workouts which I thought went very well. There's some energy on this team. We've got some energy. I like the energy of this team, the energy level. Some excitement and enthusiasm I like about this group. So that's something we've got to nurture and bring it out in them."
On different spots players may play, particularly Mikhail Torrance: "I think Mikhail is going to play two or three different spots on our team. He can play some point. He can play some off guard. He's 6-5, so he can play your small forward position as well, so I think he's going to be one of those guys that this year becomes a little more valuable because he can move around and play with different people. He's kind of the guy that can fit with anybody else. So we liked that about him in all the workouts this year. I think he's done a great job. He's somebody that I'm looking forward, in my mind, someone who is going to step forward a little bit more than he has in the past."
On Maui Invitational and possibility of having a set rotation by then: "I'm not sure. That's something that you just don't know. You'd like to. You'd like to on the first game say, `Okay, this is our team; let's play all year long.' But those things change a little bit. It depends on how people are playing and how well they're playing. Some of these young guys may get into the game and all of a sudden you realize, `Hey, we like this guy in there a little bit more than maybe we thought we would.' So there are a lot of those things that change as you get playing. This year we're going to play two exhibition games. We've played one the last couple of years and we've used that other exhibition as a scrimmage with another Division I team. Now this year we're going to play two games where we're going to turn the lights on, pop popcorn, the whole thing, and it's an opportunity to get a game type read on those young guys. Really, we're doing it for the younger players. We can see where they are and who needs to be doing what with this particular group. And then we have two games before we go to Hawaii, so we really have four opportunities before the lights come on, not counting the Crimson and White game. So hopefully by then you've got a pretty good idea of how you need to play."
On the point guard situation: "I think Ron Steele is going to be ready to go right when we start. Now, I don't know that Ron Steele is going to play the best basketball of the season on November the 16th (Mercer/opener). I think he'll be a lot better as he gets games back underneath his belt. Brandon (Hollinger) has played enough for us at the point the last couple of years that he knows he's ready to play. We know him and he knows us and there are not a lot of surprises there. Now, obviously with a guy like Anthony Brock, you'd like to get him some chances as well. I don't think that Ron Steele needs to be a 40-minute-a-game guy like he was for us three years ago. But, again, we'll see how it goes. We'll see how the team develops. Some of those things you don't know exactly how they're going to turn out, but we'll hope that Ron is ready to go all year long. He's going to play significant minutes. If he's 100 percent healthy we're not going to play him 12 minutes a game. We're going to try and play that guy a little bit because he can help us."
On excitement/competition level he may be seeing for "heirs" to possibly replace Richard Hendrix: "That's a great question. I think what happened last year when Richard decided to stay in the draft, that day there was a different attitude from all those big guys. A guy like Justin Knox, I told him that day (when) I saw him in the gym, and I told him, I said, `Your world just changed. You do realize that?' And he said, `Absolutely.' He knows. Those guys know. When there's an opportunity for significant minutes, there's a little bit more pep in your step all summer long to get yourself ready because you know there's a great opportunity. So I think all those guys have done a good job. All of them. Justin Knox, without having practiced a day yet, going through the summer and all that, he's probably made the best impression just of guys that you say, `Boy he took a step up.' He has really improved his game. I think all of them have done that. And I think it's directly correlated to the fact that (they know), `Hey, I know I'm going to play. I know I'm going to get a chance to play a lot more minutes because Richard isn't here.'"
On what he saw in JUCO transfer Anthony Brock to bring him into the program: "When we signed him if you remember the timetable with Ron Steele it was undecided. There was an unknown there as far as which way that would turn out, and you obviously had to be prepared. He's a good player. We're going to see how he fits in this year with our team. If he's impressive like we think he can be, then we're going to try to get him some minutes. But, obviously, once Ron decides to come back and Ron is healthy and Ron plays like everybody in this room anticipates him playing, then the need for another point guard isn't nearly as great. At the time, you didn't know that. So we'll work through that as best we can with him. We'll see how it turns out and try to make sure that we do the right thing for everybody involved."
On if he feels like Alonzo Gee knows he'll be depended upon even more this season: "I think that Alonzo worked really hard this summer. I think that he realizes there are some things with his game that have been really good, and there are some things where he wants to make sure that he improves upon. I think he's tried this summer to really do a good job with that. His ball handling, his shooting percentages from the 3-point line or inside the line; his body to me looks really, really good. So, again, he's done a lot this summer. He's worked really hard. He and I have talked a number of times about all those things. `I want to be a great defender this year.' My goal for him is to be one of the best defensive players in the country. He's physically able to do it. And that's something that we've just got to keep working with him to become."
On possibility of redshirting any players this season: "Here's what you've got to remember about all that. We've only got 11 scholarship players who will dress this year. All we've got is 11. Greg Cage is a non-scholarship guy, so he's our 12th guy. There are 12 guys. That's all we've got in uniform (11 scholarship and one non-scholarship). That's all we're going to have practice. So the whole concept of redshirting is not something right now that we're even thinking about with any player. If after two or three weeks of practice, before we play in our first game, if that's something that we feel at that time is something we need to talk about with somebody, then I'm going to do it then. But right now we've got 11 (scholarship) players and we need all of them to play."
On any other players who can play the three, in particular Andrew Steele: "I think Andrew is a guy that can. And I think when you say, `Who else can play the three?' I think Alonzo Gee is the only guy that if you just had to make a definition of what position he is, he's a small forward. But I think if he's not in the game you can see us playing three guards and that third guy being your small forward. Whether that's Mikhail Torrance, whether it's Andrew Steele, maybe even Senario Hillman and playing two smaller guys with Senario. So we'll see. We'll see how it works out. We've got some versatile players. I think they can move around and play some different spots. So I'm not so caught up on who's the one, two and three guard."
On Senario Hillman's development during the summer: "Senario has been really, really good this summer. Here's what you have with him: he's a human highlight film. He's an athletic guy that's just phenomenal. I've told people that he's a 6-foot-1 Gerald Wallace. He plays like that. Now what happened last year is a lot of understanding the defensive things you're doing and how to defend certain things and what's a good shot and what's not a good shot--all those things as a freshman for him, he was kind of going through. I think now that he's got all that behind him and he's got a year under his belt, he feels much more confident right now because, `I've got a foundation now, and now I've got that plus now I've got my athleticism and I'm going to go out there and play with reckless abandon.' So he's done a good job. I'm excited for him this year. I think he's going to have a terrific year, a really, really terrific year."
On the SEC West: "I think we can compete for the West but we've got to play awfully well to do it. LSU, when you talk about Garrett Temple who was a starter on the Final Four team in 2006 at the point, (Quintin) Thornton at the two was phenomenal last year as a first year junior college player; Tasmin Mitchell comes back off an injury just like Ron Steele did. Chris Johnson's back inside. They've got some pieces there to be terrific. But I think our league, people ask that all the time (how strong will the league be); you get going in your league and you get to January in this conference, and my experience over 10 years that I've been in this league, there has rarely been anybody that's been bad. That you walk out of there and say, `Boy that team is just bad.' That hasn't happened. I haven't seen them. Everybody has recruited good athletes. Everybody in this league does a good job recruiting and coaching their team. So you get to January and February, and you better lace them up real tight because it's been that way every year I've been in the business."
On the possibility, if a team is zoning Alabama, of putting Anthony Brock on the point and Ron Steele on the wing: "Absolutely. Not only against a zone but just in the man. He's a pretty good little player. You're going to see. He's small but he's got some moxie. He's tough. He can shoot it. He was a very, very good player last year at Itawamba Community College. Those are all the type questions sometimes that you don't know when you sit here in October: how good is he really going to be? And how well does a guy like Senario, (how well is he) going to play? And how well does Brandon Hollinger shoot the ball? He's a senior now; he's been with us four years. And Alonzo? Here comes Torrance. Andrew Steele: we like him. They shake themselves out. The cream rises to the top with every team. This team will be no different."
On the extended 3-point line and who he has that is consistently making the longer shot: "First part of the question is, the 3-point line: I think it's great. I voted for it. I wanted it in college basketball. I think the old line was too close. I've got a 13 year old that's been in sixth grade games, makes five or six of them (even when he's) 11 or 12 years old. That's too short for our level. I think it's going to change the game a little bit. I think there are players like (Chris) Lofton and JaJuan Smith last year at Tennessee--they're going to make that shot. Mykal Riley, that (extended) line wouldn't have affected him. There are other players in college basketball that that extra foot now, they've got to prove that they can make it. And when you're playing against somebody and you're defending them, and they've proven they can't make it, then you may not have to go all the way out there and get them and really be able to help inside more and those type things in the game. So I think it's going to have an impact. We'll see when we start. Our team, Ron has been a great 3-point shooter. Brandon Hollinger shot a great percentage last year. Didn't take a ton of them but shot a great percentage. What you want, you don't want shooters, you want makers. You want guys that can make them and make a good percentage. So with our team and that new line, that's going to be a little bit of a learning curve I think for everybody in the country. You used to watch TV every night and you come down and see some big guy floating down there as a trail on a break and they'd get---every coach lets a big guy jack one up every now and then just to make them feel good. You probably won't see that any more. It's a different shot. And so now those kinds of guys, it will be interesting to see if everybody uses that with those guys."
On the repainted floor at Coleman Coliseum: "I like it. They did a great job re-doing our floor, painting the floor. I think it looks really, really nice. The players liked it, so that's good."
