Barry Hinson press conference transcript
10/03/2018 | 6:45:00 | Men's Basketball
The Southern Illinois men's basketball team is in its first week of practice for the 2018-19 season. Head coach Barry Hinson met with the media to discuss the veteran team, the none-conference schedule, season goals and more. Below is a partial transcript. To view the full press conference, watch on YouTube.Â
On having a veteran team…
We're able to get into things quicker. Normally at this time of the year, you're teaching the freshmen, 'This is the spot you need to be. This is the spot you need to go.' That's one of the advantageous things of going to Cuba: these guys know exactly what we're doing. With that being said, when we went to Cuba, we didn't run any plays. We had one segment of, 'This is how we're playing.' Now we're putting in our stuff, and we have some deer-in-the-headlights looks. That will be the case for a while. But the thing I can tell a difference in is maturity. When you have six seniors on the floor, the things that normally would take time in practice to get from Point A to Point B, doesn't take quite as long. Instead of me teaching, you have six seniors, and quite frankly, (Brendon) Gooch, Aaron (Cook) and Eric (McGill) out there teaching as well. So we have nine guys back that are teaching.Â
On the non-conference schedule…
The whole goal of the non-conference schedule was to give us the best opportunity to prepare ourselves to win a conference championship, to play in postseason, and if you're not fortunate to win it outright, to get an at-large bid. I think we accomplished that. I knew what I was doing. I didn't even tell my staff until the last two weeks. I didn't tell anyone except Coach Kill what I was doing with the Kentucky game. There was one other member of my staff who is in charge of scheduling who knew about it. I didn't even tell my wife. As a matter of fact, my wife was upset about it because the first she heard about it was from you guys (the media), seriously. I didn't want it getting out. We wanted to hold onto that last non-DI game as a bargaining chip, that if we didn't get what we wanted, we would play that game. The schedule that we had already put forth was a phenomenal non-conference schedule. When you add Kentucky to that, we have a chance to play the toughest non-conference schedule in the history of this program. Hopefully, it will prepare us for what we need down the road.Â
On Kavion Pippen…
I tell him every day he has to be meaner and more physical, and I think he is. He's gradually getting there. Sekou (Dembele) is helping him a lot. When we get Amadou (Fall) healthy, that will help us a lot. That's something we have right now, look at our freshman class. We have bigs; we have athleticism; we have skill level; we have size. I really like our freshman class, and we have some great announcements later on when it comes to National Letters of Intent of some other incoming freshmen, as well.Â
On Thik Bol...
I need everyone to understand that Thik Bol will never be healthy this season. Ever. He well never be back to full strength. With that said, regardless of what Thik is at percentage-wise, it's better than what some of our guys can do. That's no disrespect to any of our other guys. Thik has the ability to alter shots and block shots that we just don't have in the DNA of our other players. Even if Thik is at 60 or 70 percent, he's able to do that. This is in pain every day. What this young man has done is absolutely incredible. The reason I made that statement (about not being healthy) is the protection of him. I don't want people thinking for one moment that it's going to be the Thik Bol of the past. There may be moments of it. There may be lapses. But this kid is giving us everything he's got, and he's playing bone-on-bone. His guts, his pain tolerance is at the highest level that I've seen in several of our players.Â
On the start of the season…
Everyone wants to talk about Kentucky. We better start talking about Buffalo. They come into our building, and this is a potential top-25 team. Our first two games, we're going  to find out right away where we are, and how far we have to go in order to win a conference championship. It doesn't change our preparation. Our preparation is the same that it's always been. I think it changes everything else. When you get up in the morning, and you get ready to come to practice after school, your first game is not against a low major or a mid-major or a non-DI. Your first game is going to be in front of 23,500 in Lexington, Ky. Quite frankly, that's why we held that date. Let's find a game to catch our guys attention and let our guys know, this is what we're preparing for. We knew we had Buffalo on the back end of it. I hope it pays off; I'm banking on that it will.Â
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On having a veteran team…
We're able to get into things quicker. Normally at this time of the year, you're teaching the freshmen, 'This is the spot you need to be. This is the spot you need to go.' That's one of the advantageous things of going to Cuba: these guys know exactly what we're doing. With that being said, when we went to Cuba, we didn't run any plays. We had one segment of, 'This is how we're playing.' Now we're putting in our stuff, and we have some deer-in-the-headlights looks. That will be the case for a while. But the thing I can tell a difference in is maturity. When you have six seniors on the floor, the things that normally would take time in practice to get from Point A to Point B, doesn't take quite as long. Instead of me teaching, you have six seniors, and quite frankly, (Brendon) Gooch, Aaron (Cook) and Eric (McGill) out there teaching as well. So we have nine guys back that are teaching.Â
On the non-conference schedule…
The whole goal of the non-conference schedule was to give us the best opportunity to prepare ourselves to win a conference championship, to play in postseason, and if you're not fortunate to win it outright, to get an at-large bid. I think we accomplished that. I knew what I was doing. I didn't even tell my staff until the last two weeks. I didn't tell anyone except Coach Kill what I was doing with the Kentucky game. There was one other member of my staff who is in charge of scheduling who knew about it. I didn't even tell my wife. As a matter of fact, my wife was upset about it because the first she heard about it was from you guys (the media), seriously. I didn't want it getting out. We wanted to hold onto that last non-DI game as a bargaining chip, that if we didn't get what we wanted, we would play that game. The schedule that we had already put forth was a phenomenal non-conference schedule. When you add Kentucky to that, we have a chance to play the toughest non-conference schedule in the history of this program. Hopefully, it will prepare us for what we need down the road.Â
On Kavion Pippen…
I tell him every day he has to be meaner and more physical, and I think he is. He's gradually getting there. Sekou (Dembele) is helping him a lot. When we get Amadou (Fall) healthy, that will help us a lot. That's something we have right now, look at our freshman class. We have bigs; we have athleticism; we have skill level; we have size. I really like our freshman class, and we have some great announcements later on when it comes to National Letters of Intent of some other incoming freshmen, as well.Â
On Thik Bol...
I need everyone to understand that Thik Bol will never be healthy this season. Ever. He well never be back to full strength. With that said, regardless of what Thik is at percentage-wise, it's better than what some of our guys can do. That's no disrespect to any of our other guys. Thik has the ability to alter shots and block shots that we just don't have in the DNA of our other players. Even if Thik is at 60 or 70 percent, he's able to do that. This is in pain every day. What this young man has done is absolutely incredible. The reason I made that statement (about not being healthy) is the protection of him. I don't want people thinking for one moment that it's going to be the Thik Bol of the past. There may be moments of it. There may be lapses. But this kid is giving us everything he's got, and he's playing bone-on-bone. His guts, his pain tolerance is at the highest level that I've seen in several of our players.Â
On the start of the season…
Everyone wants to talk about Kentucky. We better start talking about Buffalo. They come into our building, and this is a potential top-25 team. Our first two games, we're going  to find out right away where we are, and how far we have to go in order to win a conference championship. It doesn't change our preparation. Our preparation is the same that it's always been. I think it changes everything else. When you get up in the morning, and you get ready to come to practice after school, your first game is not against a low major or a mid-major or a non-DI. Your first game is going to be in front of 23,500 in Lexington, Ky. Quite frankly, that's why we held that date. Let's find a game to catch our guys attention and let our guys know, this is what we're preparing for. We knew we had Buffalo on the back end of it. I hope it pays off; I'm banking on that it will.Â
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Players Mentioned
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