Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Basketball Media Day transcript
10/20/2015 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Southern Illinois University men's basketball team held its annual preseason Media Day on Tuesday in the Cook Club at SIU Arena. The Salukis return three starters, including All-Conference senior guard Anthony Beane, and six letterwinners off last year's team that finished ninth in the Missouri Valley Conference. SIU opens its season with an exhibition game against Maryville on Nov. 9, followed by the regular-season opener at home versus Air Force on Nov. 13.
Barry Hinson Transcript
Opening Statement
I told a group of gentlemen last week that I'm as excited or more excited today than I was the day I took the job. I really like this group of young men. On paper it looks like we have seven new guys. We actually have nine new players because we have two redshirts. We have three new staff members, so it's kind of a change of pace around here. We have a lot of newness.
I like our schedule, I think it's conducive for this type of team that we have. I think it's tougher than what we played last year. I entered the season as I always have. Every coach always enters the season optimistically. But I'll go back, I really like this group of young men.
What's the next step for this program?
I think the first step is to have a winning season. I think we all know that, and I'm ready for it. I think the next step is for us to get out of the bottom half of the league. I think that's a step that we have to take. This program is too tradition-rich and too storied to be in the bottom half of the program. I know that, we all know that, and certainly that's a big challenge for us right now, but that is definitely, without question the direction where we want to head, and that's the target for us.
How is everybody on the team meshing together?
I think that's the question of the day. We were not able to have all of the guys here over the summer and we were just able to get those guys in at the start of school, so one of the things we did as a staff was we really wanted to go after these guys really hard at first. We demanded really three things out of these guys from the moment they got here, whether it be on or off the floor. We really want them to concentrate. That's a big deal to us. We want them to give maximum effort, and we want them to have a phenomenal attitude. We just hit them on that every single day, and if anything we felt was less than positive for us we've gone at them right away. I think one thing we've tried to do is create a culture that this is what our expectations are every single day -- every single possession, every meeting, every classroom, every academic environment, and that's one of the things we've tried to do. Consequently, I think one of the things we've found out is that we have an atmosphere this year that's really conducive of guys liking each other.
You have 11 upper-classmen, but you also have a lot of new players. Does it feel like a veteran team when you watch them practice?
I think it feels like a veteran team based on a lot of the things that we do that we don't have to teach over and over. I like that part. The junior college players that we have have all been well coached. The two redshirt kids have already been through the system one year, and I think that makes a big difference, too. On paper we've got six returners, or what I call veterans, but you add Austin [Weiher] and Armon [Fletcher] in there and it makes it a whole lot easier for us.
Point guard was a position you needed in the off-season. Do you feel you have the guys to fill that position this year?
We do not want to play Anthony Beane at point guard and we wanted to make sure that we could move him into the position where he was most comfortable, so we went and we found a true point guard in Michael Rodriguez. Michael's fall has been very impressive. I cautiously tell you that because as most junior college players go, the common rule is that you get about a year and a half out of those guys. There will be a period of adjustment -- sometimes it's first semester, sometimes it's second semester. We've certainly pressed a little bit more this year and tried to speed up the process so hopefully we won't go through that tenure as long as we have in the past.
How much better is Rodriguez than Vincent? If Vincent is a point guard in your eyes, what allows him to be a shooting guard again?
The best way for me to answer that question is, after what happened last year, I challenged our staff as well as the head coach that we have to go get better players than what we've had, no ifs, ands or buts. My first impression, without playing a basketball game is that we have better players than what we've had in the past. No doubt and no question, we have better position players than we've had in the past.
What has assistant coach Brad Autry brought to the program as far as recruiting?
I've known Brad for 15 years and the thing that Brad brings is he is just intense and energetic every single day. Our big guys needed that. They love it. They love him. There are days that they hate him, but by the end of practice they love him. That's the type of coach we needed. That's the type of coach we always want to have in a program. I'm not the only energizer bunny rabbit out there right now. There's another sheriff in town that's got a lot of energy and it's certainly Brad. And what's happened is it's been contagious and has affected everybody, including the head coach.
Has he opened up new areas as far as recruiting?
No question. I'm not allowed to comment right now on recruiting, but you guys are on Twitter and you've seen the tweets, but our guys have done a good job in the fall. It was really important for me to go back into a certain region and secure players, and I'll let you read between the lines there. I thought it was very important to go back into a certain region and prove to people that this is our hotbed and this is where we want to be.
Where else do you feel you're better prepared position-wise aside from point guard?
I think our bigs are better. Deng's a lot better. He's limited and we know that, but he's a lot better. We've simplified the game for him. Ibby is still Ibby, but he's going to be able to play three to four minutes at a time because his knees are bad. There's nothing we can do about it. We can't hurt him anymore. I don't mind talking about it openly, but he can't play for extended periods of time. One things that's helped is Ibby is in graduate school right now and he has night classes, so he misses basically three practices a week, which gives him a chance to be a little fresher. Bola without question had his best practice yesterday. He completely dominated the floor. And I'm really excited about the freshmen. I think when you're 18 years old and you play on a 20 and younger national team for a country known for basketball, Latvia, I think that's promising. Rudy [Stradnieks] is like a deer in headlights right now, but he's doing well. I think our other players are a lot more confident. Tyler Smithpeters, I'll make a statement here, but he's going to have a heck of a year. He's shooting the ball better than he's ever shot it. I think the pressure is off of him now because we have a point guard. We have Leo Vincent, Armon Fletcher. Armon Fletcher has been our best shooter statistically all summer long. We have not done anything in the summer and anything in the fall that we haven't kept stats of; every sprint, every rebound, every turnover, every assist. I do think we'll protect the ball better. I don't think we'll turn it over quite as much. We're still going to turn it over, but I do think we have a chance to have more assists this year than turnovers and we haven't done that in the three years I've been here.
How do you see the new point guard [Mike Rodriguez] meshing with Beane so far?
I think that's been good. The reason I say that is because he understands his role. We never mixed words throughout the recruitment, and he played for probably one of the sternest, meanest guys I've ever seen in AAU basketball in Leo Papile for BABC. Leo was in those guys' tails every single day. I knew I was getting a tough kid. I knew the program he was coming out of, Marshalltown, was a very well respected junior college program. And at the same time, this kid had more assists than turnovers and his most impressive stat, which I think with this new rule change will help us, is he shot the second-most free throws of anybody in the country last year in junior college basketball, and I think that's huge this year. I believe every game at the start of the season you're going to see 40 to 50 free throws in the game at the start of the year.
Did you make a conscious effort to recruit three-point shooters?
Yes.
Have you seen that take effect in practice so far?
Yes.
What's the biggest concern going into the season?
I think the biggest concern is like it is for everybody else is we have so many new guys so we have to get them so that they play well together and they mesh and there's chemistry and that they kind of accept the culture. The one thing that we've done is we've really gone after these guys hard early on. I want to make sure that guys want to be here. We've challenged them harder than I've ever challenged any team that I've ever coached ever, and this is my 35th year.
You mentioned Armon's shooting, but how have you seen Austin [Weiher] and Armon [Fletcher] improve otherwise?
I think the one thing that helps is they've been here one year so they kind of understand the system. We've changed some things in the way we play, but I don't think I'm going to be able to comment on that until I've seen how they play in the first part of the season. The thing that Austin gives us right now is a big kid that can score. You have to guard Austin on the perimeter. You have to guard Armon. You have to guard Rudy on the perimeter. You have to guard Ibby 15 feet away from the basket. You don't have to guard Deng away from the basket, you just have to guard Deng at the basket. But the thing that Deng does is we can't score on him. It's the Deng rule and this what we have. We call it the Deng defense.
You said you're going to play a little differently this year. What's going to be different?
I think I'll let you guys wait and see. I don't think I'm comfortable letting that out right now.
Is the 30-second shot clock going to be good for you or bad for you?
I watched Bill [Self] and them [Kansas] when they went to the World [University] Games this year and they played with a 24-second shot clock, and I was blown away by how much it didn't change the way they played. I think early on you'll see a lot of shot clock plays, where guys aren't used to it, but they'll adapt. I made this comment last year, I thought it would change the game quite a bit. But after watching the World [University] Games and watching Kansas play through that, and after evaluating through our practices, I don't see that big of a difference. I think our fans need to be educated. I think the games early on, and supposedly all year long, the officiating is going to drive people nuts. We've done this in practice where if you put your hand on a player at any time during practice we automatically blow the whistle. If you have any body language, roll your eyes, mumble, anything, I call a technical, which in practice means you get on the line and you run. Now we've got guys saying `Keep your focus,' `Don't show your emotions,' and we're trying to do our best. We have our first scrimmage Saturday and we'll have officials there, so it'll be interesting to see how we adapt.
What are your expectations for Anthony Beane?
I think they're the same as they were last year. I'm not going to say that he'll score more points, but I'm pretty confident in saying that he'll have a better year because of the people surrounding him.
I've heard Tyler had a good off-season. What strides has he made?
You heard right. The things that Tyler did this off-season was he got stronger, he's actually put on some weight, and his shooting has improved tremendously. He's a lot more confident. He walks around with a smile on his face, he doesn't have his head hanging, he's in the office all the time and we're going back and forth. I think you're going to see that he's going to have a solid year.
What big picture things have you and your staff done because retention has been a problem? Where are areas that you've made adjustments to help deal with that?
I don't think I'll share everything, but I'm my own worst critic. There's no one around here that can criticize me more than myself. So the one thing that I did was I sat down with my staff and everything, but I really had to take a look in the mirror and say `Ok, what are our problems?' I've made a conscientious effort about my relationship with our players, but I haven't changed being who I am. I'm not going to change that. I'm doing a better job as a head coach conveying that message on a daily basis and reinforcing it with my actions, and there have been some other things that we've done that I think have really helped us. I'll be shocked if by the end of the year we're not talking about how much closer our guys are and how much more of a family atmosphere it really is. But I think the first thing you always have to do is look in the mirror and check yourself. I'm not going to back down and I'm still going to be honest with the kids. When kids ask me a question I'm going to give them an honest answer. I go back to the movie with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise -- "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth." I'm going to give you the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts people's feelings and they take it in a different way, but I'm going to give an honest answer.
