Coach Mark Gottfried Press Conference Transcript
1/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -
University of Alabama men's basketball head coach Mark Gottfried met with members of the media Thursday afternoon at Coleman Coliseum as the Crimson Tide continues preparations for Sunday's Southeastern Conference opener against LSU.
Opening statement ...
"The guys are excited about the start of the SEC season and I think everyone is anxious around the nation for league play to begin. We've got a great challenge with LSU and they've got six of their top seven guys back from a year ago. They're athletic, they're long, they've got experience and obviously have a new coach as well. We know their players and they're very, very good. Now it's time to zero in on league play and our guys are ready for that."
On his squad's strong rebounding ...
"I think we've rebounded very well at times. Other times I think we could have rebounded the ball better than we have. It's going to be a pretty collective effort for us all year. For us, rebounding is a part of our defense. Obviously if you defend someone and give them a second or third chance, it negates what you've been doing defensively. That's been a point of emphasis for us. That's why our defensive field goal percentage numbers have been lower, because we've rebounded the ball defensively very well at times."
On the team's steady improvement through the non-conference season ...
"I do think we've improved a lot. We've gotten better and I think our team chemistry has gotten a lot better. Individual players are improving. If you look at our inside play, between JaMychal (Green) and (Justin) Knox, there's very little experience there, but they're improving and getting better than they were a month ago. The pieces are better and I think we've improved and are getting better and still have a long way to go."
About the loss at unbeaten Clemson ...
"I think we played very good defense at Clemson, at times. There were other times, during that stretch in the second half when we weren't scoring, that we needed our defense to be better and we had some lapses in there."
"The encouraging thing is that we went on the road to a top-15 program and played them pretty well. The discouraging part is that I think we handled their full-court press well all night long, but our turnovers were all on the other end of the floor where we shouldn't have turnovers after we had handled their pressure. For this team, that hasn't been characteristic. This team has taken care of the ball and that was discouraging. We had too many turnovers at key times and it's something we'll obviously spend a lot of time on the next few days."
On facing LSU Sunday ...
"They're not playing any player, for the most part with significant minutes, that is a new player. Every player on the floor has been through some wars in this league. So from an experience standpoint, they don't have a ton of youth."
"LSU's not a team that presses for 40 minutes [like Clemson]. They're going to play us mainly man in the half court. We know what we're getting ready to play with LSU."
On the SEC ...
"I think our league's wide open. I think you've got 12 teams that all feel like they've got a shot at winning their division. Our league's had some tough losses around the whole league, but they've also had some very good wins. When you get to this weekend, you're going to have great games every night. It's not a top-heavy league, so going into it, it's very wide open."
