Remembering from the top of my head so paraphrasing some:
1. Olivier Sarr seems to be lacking confidence, what can be done to help him play better
DM: Olivier was behind last year because he was playing with his French team but he had a good Freshman campaign. This summer he put on 20-25 pounds and reshaped his body. He has been practicing hard and done well in practice. He is due for a breakout game.
2. Your full court press worked well at the end of the game against Western Carolina, why not use this defensive strategy more since it plays into your team's length, athleticism and versatility?
DM: Its something the coaching staff has definitely talked about. The problem is the amount of minutes Brandon Childress plays. We play him a lot of minutes and rely on him. He can't play 30+ minutes a game pressing full court. We lack depth behind him, so we need to pick our spots to use it.
3. You talk a lot about needing more paint touches, similar to Dean Smith's old rule about a certain amount of passes before a shot, why not institute a rule that the team needs to get a certain amount of paint touches for every X amount of shots?
DM: We don't want our guys to be robots. Everyone needs to be ready to shoot if they get the ball. Of course we want to take good shots, but I don't want to make any rules for our offense. The way our system works is when there is a good shot for a player they should take it.
4. What is the main reason this team has struggled so far this season in games like Richmond and Houston Baptist?
DM: Well we are a young team. A lot of these guys came in with big expectations like Jaylen Hoard, and I think Jaylen is having a great season so far but he can do more. I told him expectations and being a heralded player out of high school don't mean anything on the court. June (Wright Jr.) is playing well for us, but he needs to get better defensively and not pick up ticky tack fouls. He could hand check in high school, but in college that is a foul. Mucius has played well, he is a starter in my eyes. He doesn't start but he plays starter minutes. We like what he brings to the game. Lewis needs more time to get adjusted to the pace of college basketball, but he has shown us some things in practice that make us think he will be a good player for us in time. Mikey (Wynn) hasn't played really, but he can shoot the ball. The tough thing for Mikey is he is playing behind Chaundee now who is playing well but even Chaundee could give us more. These guys are young, but I've told them you can't be young anymore. We are 7 games into the season, the reality of being a young team doesn't matter anymore. These guys have to step up and I think they will for us.
