Ryan Addresses the Media
November 19, 2007 | Men's Basketball
After winning all three games in the America's Youth Classic Tournament, head coach Bo Ryan addressed the media Monday at his weekly press conference. Bo discussed the tournament and the upcoming game versus Georgia.
Click here for the archived video of the press conference or check out the transcript below.
QUESTION #1: Coach before the three games, you talked about you're going deep into your bench trying to keep players fresh. Do you like how they responded all three days, all your players with their conditioning, and they were able to stay healthy and everything'
BO RYAN: Yeah, I don't think there were any telltale signs going into our third game. So the fact that we were able to play some guys in the other two games, sure, that certainly didn't hurt us. When you end up playing three games in a row again, it would be against teams in the Big Ten who know and size-wise and everything else, they'll be different type teams. So for right now, that's how the schedule played out. That's what those types of tournaments call for, and you just do it. You just take care of it as much as you can and do the best you can. And I thought our guys responded to one another really well.
QUESTION #2: With the energy that Mike [Flowers] has been bringing off the bench, in your time at Wisconsin, is that a dynamic that maybe you haven't had' What are your thoughts on that'
RYAN: Well, you can never say something that you haven't had. Are you talking about here or, you know, a Freddie Owens coming off the bench, a Mike Wilkinson over the years, and other guys. So, I mean, there's the bench. It's called the bench because you can only put five guys out there, but it's still about the minutes and productivity. So I don't even refer to it anymore as that.
QUESTION #3: And as far as just, I mean, at this point, are you even considering tinkering with your starting lineup, or are you pretty much happy the way with it as it is these first few games'
RYAN: I don't fool around a lot with lineups because I don't worry about them. I don't obsess about them. I don't try to play games with them. That's never been the way I 've had to motivate players because I think there's better methods. I think if you have rapport with your players and an understanding, and you're doing the things that you hopefully should be doing, then you don't have to play with the lineup as far as starters.
QUESTION #4: Bo, just looking at the field goal percentage for your club, you're shooting the ball pretty well. Are you pleased with how the offense in general has attacked the first games, or do you see even a better shot selection down the road'
RYAN: Well, just finishing with a shot 5% to 8% points higher, just finishing in the paint, which sometimes comes from being a little too anxious, not absorbing contact, not picking spots out on the glass, so very few bad perimeter shots as far as shot selection, very few. We can finish better in the paint. And we're going to play bigger teams, so what I'm hoping is not only finishing, we can get to the free throw line even more.
QUESTION #4: Coach, what does Tim [Jarmusz] provide for you guys, just as that he's not redshirting this year, what do you perceive that his role is going to be this year'
RYAN: He's just a competitor. He 's a player that wants to do as much as he can and try to get minutes. I don 't know why he would want to do anything else because that's the reason we brought him into the program because of the things we feel he's going to be able to do. And when that happens is just a matter of time.
QUESTION #5: Bo, how much does a freshman like Tim have to play to make it worthwhile for him and for you to take off the redshirt here '
RYAN: Well, there isn't a magic number of minutes. Sometimes just playing and getting a few minutes makes a person even hungrier and, okay, I got three left then after this one. I'm going to make the most of those. And eventually, there's going to be two left. And then there's going to be one left. And then it will be down to the last year. No regrets. You just play.
And in basketball, there's not always the luxury of redshirting as many people as say in football because of obvious reasons. I never would even have thought about not competing for a spot as a player. Some guys do it because of size, because of strength, and those have paid off. But no matter what you do, you just make it work. I don't think there's a magic number of minutes that you have to play in order to make it a worthwhile competition here.
Because there will be guys coming in trying to get the minutes that he was trying to get his freshmen year when they're freshmen next year. And then those guys will be going head to head in practice, and it's never ending. If it is, then that means you're not getting very good players in. I think we'll have some players in next year that'll compete with these guys and make things interesting at practice.
QUESTION #6: Greg Stiemsma has gone through a lot in his time here. What has impressed you, or what is the biggest maybe development he 's made physically, mentally as a player to where he's at right now '
RYAN: Well, he's here, so he's made steps to improve his lot in life, and he contributes. And that one stretch Saturday, that's pretty good, but I know those guys aren't as big as a lot of the guys you're going to face now coming up in the scheduling. That's a great start for him to is timing on the blocks is pretty good, but he still knows that he 's got to stop the ball without leaving his feet at times, when to block, when to leave your feet. That's not something that's just easy as what you might think.
You know, sometimes, you ought to play with a bunch of guys about six or eight inches smaller than you are and play against them and try to block their shots all the time. You find out how many fouls you pick up in a hurry. Some of you guys in this room, it would be hard to find guys smaller than you. I know what you're thinking.
QUESTION #7: Bo, I know you're concentrating on Georgia, but Duke follows, when you think of Mike Krzyzewski. I'm sure you know him and have spoken with him, what have you, but obviously he's been successful. But when you think of Coach Close, anything in particular stand out '
RYAN: He's from the same town as my wife, Chicago. I think Dennis Feltman is the guy we ought to be talking about. His mom 's here in town, and she works in the Kohl Center, for those that haven't already been on that story. So I'll talk about Mike when we get ready for Duke. But I know Dennis. I know Mike. And I never get too far ahead of myself.
Coach Close had to tell me who we played after Georgia one Saturday. That's not embarrassing to me. But he did say that there were some things that Georgia will do that Duke does, and he's got both those teams in his scouting report. And I said, well, who do we play after Georgia' He goes we got Duke. Oh, okay, that'll fit then, since he has both teams. They're getting a suntan right now.
QUESTION #8: Bo, last year, you had a problem handling the shuffle pass Has either Trevon [Hughes] or Michael done this at all this year '
RYAN: Shuffle passes, you know, the amazing thing is is that I learned a long time about the anatomy of the body. And where your shoulders are and where your arms hang, if you take, who was it Leonardo da Vinci, the body with the '
Yes, well, if you throw a pass from here to here, the easiest place to have it deflected is right here. So if you're driving, and you think you're a great passer, and you look this way, and you go like this with the basketball, you don't have to be a great defender to get a deflection and get a steal. So those balls, those passes are outlawed in every program I've ever coached.
And it started in 1972 with a junior high school team that I had the first kid that made a shuffle pass. We don't make those. But I saw this guy on TV back when there was only one game on the NBA came on a Sunday. I saw Nate Archibald do this or, I said you 're not Nate Archibald, and you can't make those passes.
So he stopped making those passes. And the guy was a better player. You either drop it to the floor, or you throw over the top of people. So whether it was Kammron [Taylor] on anybody else, I just have a problem with those passes because I wasn't allowed to make them either and learned in a hurry.
QUESTION #9: Coach, the rebounding has been pretty spread out. Is there a design to that, or is it just a matter of there only being four games at this point'
RYAN: Four games and maybe teams that aren 't as powerful as we're going to see on the boards. Not to say that those other teams don't have strengths, but all teams have strengths and weaknesses. There wasn't a parade out there, convertibles for our rebounding for the past four games. We weren't driving down Main Street with the band playing or anything. It was guys who were aggressive to the glass, but we're going to be challenged on the glass a lot more.
QUESTION #10: Bo, Greg's committed only three fouls in four games this year in more minutes. What does that tell you about his understanding or you think of what he needs to do on that end of the court'
RYAN: Well, I could give the same answer about the fact that we haven't played teams with a lot of bigs, but that wouldn 't be true because he picked up his fouls against smaller teams before also. Discipline, it's his time. Greg feels this is his time. And he doesn't have to have 30 minutes on the court, but knows that he has to feel that he is a better player this year and has learned some things.
And it's his last year, so you don't want to go out there, and reach, and grab, and bump, and get overly physical, and have, put fouls on you, and get on the bench too many times. It might happen. Hopefully if it does, it's only a game or two. But he does have presence in the middle.
QUESTION #11: How much have you seen Trevon 's shot improve since his time' It seems like it's really showing this year. He's shooting 50% from the three-point range.
RYAN: That was after shooting 20% from the floor. In the first four or five practices he didn't stress over it. He didn 't, he just knows it's there. It's a little streaky at times, but confidence is a factor, and hopefully he won't lose any of that. So I just think it's, in the shooting drills, he works at it. If you get 10, 15 minutes, 20 minutes of shooting in a practice where it's just shooting, make the most of it. And he's the kind of guy that seems to be doing it.
QUESTION #12: Bo, Brian [Butch] made the all-tournament team, and yet after Saturday's game, was talking about how many mistakes he was making, how much he can still improve. Is that encouraging to see that he 's got the stats, and yet he's feeling he's still higher.
RYAN: I didn't even know they were doing an all-tounrament team, and I've been asked at some different tournaments about voting, and I said I'd never for an all tournament team. Let me put it to you this way. I didn't pick the all-defensive team when they named the team. I might have had a little different all-tournament team. But it is what it is, so I don 't comment on an all-tournament team. But Brian's got work to do, and he 's trying to do that just like everybody else. And then we've got to get better defensively with our feet. That's not to say Brian shouldn't be on the all-tournament team, I guess.
QUESTION #13: What have you seen from Michael Flowers so far this season, mental, from a team standpoint, obviously he had to take a step away from the team for a short period of time, but didn't come back' What have you seen from him in the way he's dealt with everything whether it be on and off the court so far'
RYAN: Well, he's just a team player, had some great assists, other than maybe one shot or two, it was a little quick, but all our guys have been guilty of a couple of those. If you could take one or two shots away from every guy on our team, our shooting percentage would be through the ceiling.
But defensively in passing and understanding transitionwhen he gets back on defense, you don't see too many people getting to the rim. But he's better than last year from the standpoint of now he can actually help. I see him helping Pop in practice with some things, and that's good, and upperclassmen need to do that. So he 's a guy that's been through the league, through a lot of tough non-conference games in his career here, so he's putting that to good use.
