2013 NCAA Midwest Regional Coverage

Our lead writer for the Butler Bulldogs, Jimmy Cook, is spending the day at Lucas Oil Stadium for the 2013 NCAA Midwest Regional Media Day and practice sessions. Stay tuned for all the latest updates starting with Oregon, Louisville, Michigan State, and closing with Duke.

OREGON

The Ducks take the floor with a relatively sparse crowd in attendance at Lucas Oil. This makes sense due to the fact that the Pac-12 Champions have the furthest journey out of all the other schools combined.

At 28-8 overall for the 2012-2013 campaign, Oregon made it to this stage with upset victories over Oklahoma State(68-55) and more surprising Saint Louis (74-57).

Despite being the #12 seed, the body language and tenacity the Ducks have shown in this practice sessions is outstanding: the confidence and swagger they have presented shows they will not shy away from these bright lights of Lucas Oil tomorrow night. However, it’s very different performing in front of 250 for practice, than it is playing for a trip to the elite eight  for 35,000+ screaming fans.

Coach Altman at the podium.

[On keys against Louisville] “We’ve got to do a better job of handling the ball against them, because they are quick. They do extend their pressure. They do a great job at changing it up. We’re not, in three or four days, going to change the way we’ve played all season. We’ve got to try to clean it up a little bit.”

[On the team and Oregon as a program] “We’ve had some hits and some misses, but for the most part, this is a team that has been put together to try to make us relevant, to try to get us back in the hunt. And the guys have done that. We’d like to continue to build our base and have a core group of guys that we can really build for the future around, and I think we’ve done that, especially with a few of our freshmen.  But it is a work in progress, and we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”

[On Louisville] ” Right now, we just know we’re playing a very talented team and one that if we don’t stay focused for, for 40 minutes, they have a tendency to blow teams away. Their last 12 games, since  that five overtime loss to Notre Dame, the stats on those games are just unbelievable. They’ve only had one game closer than ten points, and that was a five point win at Syracuse. Their average victory has been 18, close to 18. So they’ve had an unbelievable 12 game stretch here. We better focus on that, and if we do that, then we’ll have a chance.“

MICHIGAN STATE

One of the most remarkable/exciting things to see at the practice session for the Spartans was Tom Izzo. Nothing eases a team more than a calm and collected leader.

At one point in the final 12 minutes of the practice session, the Spartans missed about 6 consecutive jump shots. Izzo then jumped in and reminded his players to go “straight down, straight up, straight down, straight up.”  An area where most coaches might let it go, this being only a practice session, he had the mentality to point out the simple flaws to the players.

“Straight up, watch it go in,” he said.

End Result?

Nothing but nylon.

Free Throws, jump shots, threes.

Regardless, Izzo continues to work the entire floor of this practice session.

After practice session, Izzo at the podium.

[On the thought of Duke] “I’m gonna get a disciplined team that doesn’t beat themselves. You’re probably going to get a pretty good shooting team, and you’re going to get a team that doesn’t beat themselves. Most of the time they are very solid defensively….. You don’t beat Duke, unless you beat Duke….I think a lot of teams can have good games, bad games They can have better shooting nights than not, but you’ve got to go out and earn your win.  That’s the first thing I think about. It’s the first thing I said to my team. You better saddle up, because there will be nothing given. Everything will be earned in this matchup,”

[On Coach K] I look at Mike, his family. I look at where he came from. I look at his parents in Chicago and just the way that he grew up and it reminds me a lot of the same things I did. So I guess when you’ve been raised right, you have a little more loyalty. I think that’s part of the whole deal, and I think we both have had loyalty. I keep watching. You’re putting us in the same sentence in one way, but I’ve got 17, 18 years in, and he’s got in the mid 30s, I think. So I’ve got a long ways to go to kind of get to that level.”

[More on Coach K, thoughts on family and Michigan State] “I think we’ve engaged our family, our personal family into our professional family. And I think that too would have something to do with we’ve taken ownership in our universities. We’re not just employees. And I think you ask your team to take ownership, but they can’t take ownership if you don’t take ownership. I think the one thing I’ve tried to do is take ownership in the place I work at. And I know he’s done that. And maybe that’s the greatest compliment, I think, anybody can give anybody is that he’s done some things over the test of time and sustaining them.”

[On the team] “We’ve had better offensive teams and better defensive teams, but you’ve got to find some standard that is pretty equal each and every year. And we’ve gone up and down a little bit, as I’m sure he has with his defense. But it’s been pretty consistent over time.”

Louisville

Rick Pitino at the podium right now for press conferences. Currently giving his thoughts on Frank Vogel of the Pacers. Vogel, who started his career as the head video coordinator for the Boston Celtics underneath Pitino.

[When asked about whether or not he remembered Vogel or still followed him]  “I follow every game, every box score. I’ve had over 25 assistant coaches go on to coach in college and professionals, and they’re great friends of mine. And I love following every one of them……….”

……”But Frank’s a special case, because he wrote me a letter and said he followed me from the Five Star Basketball Camp, and he’d like to come work for me. He was a high school kid at the time. Started out as a manager. And I said, Frank, you’re better off trying at Rutgers. Get a Metropolitan area. He spoke like me and with an accent. I said, These Kentucky people, it’s a little different here. You’re going to be in 98 percent Kentuckians and you may be a duck out of water. And he wrote me back, said, Coach, that’s not why I want to come. I want to come and obviously continue with the style that you’re playing and so on. And he moved up from a manager to a GA to a video guy, traveled with me with the Celtics…………”

………”And now I look back on that letter today, he’s doing an unbelievable job with the Indiana Pacers. Couldn’t be more proud, couldn’t be more happy for Frank and his family, because he’s not only become a great coach, but he’s a terrific person. So I’m real, real excited and happy for him and follow every box score.”

[On the contest against Oregon] “I think this will be a very close game. Their talent’s exceptional, they rebound great, they’re great defensively. Anytime you can beat St. Louis, a hot team, by 20 points, hold them to 44 and have them totally out of their game, you know you’re playing against a great team.”

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see as much of the Cardinals practice as I would have liked. They seemed relaxed and ready for the environment that Lucas Oil will present tomorrow night.

DUKE

The practice sessions here at Lucas Oil have been phenomenal, but as far as organization is concerned Duke’s session looked the most like a practice.

Constant three and four man weaves occurred to open up the session, followed up by simulated defensive drills, and for comedic value/strength drills they had senior Todd Zafirovski (#52) stand in the middle of the paint, and fellow players would collect a rebound off the glass. Once they collected it they would shot fake and Zafirovski would intentionally foul them as they went up for their layup/and one opportunities. This very unique drill really helps develop toughness for driving to the bucket and putting up second chance shots.

Coach K at the podium.

[On the matchup against Michigan State] “I think the main thing is that I know they are going to play every play. I know they are prepared to play, and that they play to win. I think he coaches every game like its his first, I try to coach the same way. There are no possessions off, they are going to show up, we are going to show up. This is a big time game, we are excited to be apart of it. We want to be in big time games.”

[On the coaching battle between the two schools] “It’s not going to be a chess match, that’s putting the coaches to much involved here.”

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