UGA's Tom Crean: We've Got to Move the Ball Better
Head coach Tom Crean
On the what he is hoping to see change between game one and game two…
“I think the ball’s got move better, offensively. We've got to do an even better job of getting to the offensive glass. I think just playing competitive longer, a longer period of time, and really understanding that it's not just about a hard to play, it's not competitive you are. It's winning those battles when the shot goes up. It's getting back when you're tired and making sure we've got the rim covered in the ball stopped in transition. I think it's just making sure that's what our focus has been this week is understanding what fatigue is and where fatigue isn't. Right? And a lot of times it's so mental you've got to be able to overcome it, and you've got to be able to practice through it. You got to be able to get through it you gotta be able to execute through it. And I think frankly I mean at the end of the game last week, because we had had some tough practices those guys were able to bear down and figure out a way to get the win at the end. You have to continue to build on that, especially with what we have coming up with two games this week and then obviously the Georgia Tech game then three games in three days. So to me – it's the execution. We're still building chemistry. We’re still building a synergy on the court. I think that's going to take time. You want a cleaner game in the sense of crisper passing, better cuts, better shots, better communication on defense. That's what I mean by cleaner game. This can be a hard challenge this team averaged 12.3 threes a game last year. I think they were second or third in the country and made threes and first or second and attempted threes (last season), and they play fast 50% of the shots are threes. Duggar [Baucom] has always played extremely fast, and they mix defenses. I say all that and we're probably going to see a myriad of things tomorrow night then we're going to have to navigate defensively, and we're going to have to be fantastic. A challenge in three point shots of stopping penetration and getting back on defense.
On three different guys bringing the ball up and if that results in losing consistency or gaining versatility…
“No, not yet. I don't look at it that way. We want to get the ball – you earn bust out dribbles on this team, you earn in quarter threes on this team, I mean it there's certain things you've got to earn as you go along the way. What we've got to get better at, and I thought we did inside of that game, was running without the basketball. The biggest thing about our break is not who has it, it's how's it getting thrown ahead. That's what we've got on there be there'd be something that I would say that we've got to get better at right from game one to game two—throwing the ball ahead, and you know when you've got guards that are used to having the ball in their hands a lot they're used to bring it up the court, instead of understanding how quick you got to get it out, move without it, get it back, play out, and that's what we're trying to get all of these guys especially the younger guys and we have to understand that. But to me it's quicker ball movement it's better concepts, making sure that balls getting reversed, and the ball can't sit where they think, ‘Okay I've got to play now.’ No, we have to let the offense create the play, we have to let the, the concepts create the play. We have to let the ball create the play, and that's what we want to have happen in the cutting rate to create the play.”
On Sahvir Wheeler’s maturity, intelligence and how important that is…
“He's a winner. I mean he's a pure winner. He always has been, and he’s infectious. People like playing with him. He moves the ball. He works extremely hard, extremely hard and what I like is he's controlling what he can control. He's making passes. He's defending at a really high rate. He's getting into the lane, very unselfish, and has just a level of toughness about him and he's got a very strong mental toughness about him not to, not to mention just it being—to go along with his physical strength. He’s played his first college game the other night like so many the rest of them, and I think he'll just keep getting better.”
On what what contributes to who brings the ball up the court in a game…
“How well it's moving. How quick the ball is moving. How quick we’re getting it up the court, who's making decisions. There's a lot of right now going 90, 60 to 90, or 60, 30, to 90, right? With the speed of it—not just 90, 90, 90 but not just 30, 30, 30. You've got to mix it up, and that changes direction .change of pace all those things that go into it a huge part of that but the bottom line is, it's got to be thrown ahead, and we've got to get the game moving on offense.”
On whether Sahvir Wheeler’s maturity was something Crean and his coaching staff saw before he came to Georgia or something that’s developed here in practice...
"That's just who he is. I think we saw it in recruiting, and certainly I've been aware. He was going to (go to) Texas A&M, but I've been aware of him. I'd seen his team. Once he became available, we just dove in completely, studying his game. You could just see the personality he had on the floor and the way his coaches felt about him. So, I don't think it's been anything that's really just kind of come alive in practice. I think he's just getting better and better, every day in practice.”
On what a coach is looking for in a player other than talent, particularly with a freshman player like Wheeler who knows he wants to be an NBA GM / how important is maturity when evaluating a player like Wheeler...
"The key to a kid like [Sahvir] is to make sure he never loses his confidence, because he's got really good confidence. The bottom line is that you continue to build on his confidence, and that you continue to build on his belief of what he can do, and he's capable of that. He walks in the gym, and he feels like he can play. I think he would feel like that in Athens, Ga., or Athens, Greece. That's the bottom line with a kid like that. Our job is to enhance and expand the skills, keep building on his confidence, and to keep showing him different ways to play and improve his game, His job is to just keep being that infectious personality, that energizer that he is and that tough guy that he is. [His job is] to keep making an impact on his teammates— whether he's scoring or not— on both ends of the floor. So far in this early season, he's doing that at a pretty good rate."
On whether he was ever concerned about Wheeler’s stature...
"No. My first point guard was 5-foot-8, 5-foot-9 on a good day. It makes no difference to me. It’s, ‘Can you play? Can you impact the game? Do you have the maturity and the leadership to impact it when it's not going well for you? Do you want to win?’ [Sahvir] is very competitive, and competitiveness and desire to win outweigh anything size-wise, for sure.”
On what the process of recruiting Donnell Gresham was like/what stood out about him to Crean and his staff...
"We needed maturity, and he was a winner. We knew we needed a guy who could do different things. We saw on film that he could move without the ball. He could make shots. He’d been extremely well-coached in high school, in AAU, and at Northeastern. To me, that was a plus. He fit what we wanted, character-wise, certainly academically. I was a little surprised that more people didn't recruit him, and I'm glad that we got him. I think he fits extremely well. He has family in Georgia, which helped us to a degree, butI think he believed that he could come here and have a role. He's definitely building that."
On his overall confidence in where the team is now...
"It's early. Certainly winning helps for confidence, but we've got to get chemistry and continue to improve. There's been a measuring stick inside of every game which is really, really important. To this point, we've answered it, but it's early. We only have a 1-0 record, so we've got to keep going through tough things and keep overcoming. We've got to keep making sure that when we get up, we figure out how to stay up. it's like anything else— your confidence comes with a consistency level. They don't always realize that yet. As young players, a lot of times they’re used to things evolving around them in so many different ways. Sharing the ball, playing with teammates, making each other better— that takes time. When we get to where that gets a lot better, our confidence will grow exponentially.”