Colorado University Athletics
Media Day Press Conference Quotes
October 21, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
General
“Thanks for coming this rainy Wednesday. It's year six for our staff and we couldn't be more excited about where our team is and I think we're 12 practices in right now. We've learned a lot and we have a long ways to go as well. I feel a bit of a sense of urgency just because of how our schedule unfolds. We start with Iowa State on the 13th of November so we have to be ready to go. There's a lot of work to do between now and then but I like this team, I like the makeup. I love the chemistry and the camaraderie and I think we have a chance to do some damage in the Pac-12.”
On This Year's Defensive Scheme
“It's funny, going through some numbers and some statistics, I was looking at our three point field goal percentage defense, which over the last two years has not been very good. I think we were eighth in the league and 10th in league. Three years ago we were first in the league in that category. You start looking at your personnel and we had Spencer Dinwiddie and Andre Roberson on the perimeter as defensive players and that might have something to do with it, I think it did. So we've changed a few things in terms of how we're guarding, not necessarily the basic philosophies but just to stand closer to three point shooters to that puts a little more premium on guarding the ball; really working on guarding the ball without fouling with the new rules in college basketball. The officiating emphasis that's going into this season is they want to take the physicality out of college basketball. We're trying to really work on position defense and playing with our feet and without fouling. I think you're going to see a lot of fouls early in the season. I like where the mentality of this team is defensively. We've got some deficiencies. We've got some players that we have to bring up to speed and, quite frankly, some liabilities defensively right now. Hopefully we can shore those up in quick fashion.”
On Team Camaraderie
"It's good. Again, adversity shows all of your warts and when we faced adversity last year, we weren't the most cohesive and together group. I think we'll face adversity this year as well. I think that's when leadership comes in. I look at what Josh Scott has been doing on the floor and off the floor with his teammates. I think he's the unquestionable leader of this team. I've got great faith and belief in him and what he's about. Hopefully when adversity hits this year, this group can come together and galvanize together rather than not. I don't think last year's team did a great job of that. Hopefully this team will; because adversity will hit. It's not a matter of if; it's a matter of when. That's when I think the character and make up of your team really gets tested and I feel good about that this year. I really do."
On Thomas Akyazili
“I am really pleased with where he is relative to all of the things that are being thrown at him. Everything is new to him, being in a new country, a new campus, a new university. Everything is new. He's really processing it well. He's very coachable. He's in the gym all the time and he wants to be good. Thomas, over the course of the season and his career is going to get better and better. The character and makeup and workup he's got [is great]. How quickly can he acclimate to the college game? I'm not sure yet. It's a work in progress. But, I really like his mindset. That's the one thing I think i like about him the most, his mindset and his coachability. He'll be a great player here for us at Colorado when all is said and done. I don't want people to expect too much in terms of production. But he does a great job running our team, he's a good quarterback, he's vocal and it's a great start.”
On Whether Or Not George King Will Start
“It's too early to say. George King is certainly going to be in our rotation, there's no doubt. I'm not in a position right now to name a starting five. Again, that can be a very fluid thing throughout the season and it's not who starts, it's who ends. George is certainly a weapon and a matchup issue for opposing teams because he has a skill set that can really make it difficult for the opponent. He's so big and strong as a perimeter (player). He can get them to the rim and even post them up and overpower them. He can take big guys away from the basket. He shoots well from the perimeter. The biggest thing with George is making good decisions with the basketball, not trying to do too much, and playing within himself. If he can do that and understand where his advantage is given the match ups then he's going to be a heck of a player. I'm really excited about George and I'm glad we have him for three more years. There was part of me that did not want him to redshirt last year, there was part of him that did not want to redshirt last year but in the end it's going to be a great decision much like Wesley Gordon's was.”
On Moving Forward After A Disappointing Season Last Year
“I think it starts with our front line. I look at our front line, I look at Josh Scott and Wesley Gordon. I know how good Wes can be. His talent level is unquestioned. What we need is more consistency out of Wesley this year. I also look at Tory Miller who is a guy that is probably our most improved player quite frankly given the first few weeks of practice that I've seen. He's made great strides not only with his body but with his mindset as well. He's not the finished product yet but he's made great strides. And then Kenan Guzonjic who's one of our new players as well gives a stretch four, a pick and pop type guy. Again, he's another work in progress. He's probably had the most difficulty in acclimating to the new style much like Thomas has but he's going to be a good player. I think those four guys, our front line, our big guys, I feel very very good about. The question mark with our team comes on the perimeter. We did lose Askia [Booker] who was a very explosive, experienced, productive player. We have capable players out there but they're unproven at this point.”
On The Big Men Getting Enough Touches
“That's going to be a key to this team. We are going to play inside out, there's no question about it. That doesn't always mean post touches but Josh Scott and Wes and Tory have to see the ball. If not on every possession, certainly every other possession. We have to play through them no doubt. In basketball, it's kind of like football. You have the running game and the passing game and the best teams have a balance between the two. Basketball is the same way. You have an inside presence and a perimeter presence. The better the inside presence the better for the perimeter guys and the more open shots they get. The one thing, with this year's team, relative to last years, is that we're going to be able to stretch the defense. We'll be a better perimeter shooting team this year than we were last year. That should open it up for those inside guys as well.
On Officials At Practice/New NCAA Rules
“That's one of the things, the NCAA allows you either two exhibitions or two closed scrimmages. We've gone the closed scrimmages route and the nice thing about that is the officials in those scrimmages, they're not in front of fans either, they don't have to worry about TV cameras and they can talk to your guys and communicate with them. You can stop play and have them explain hey this is why that was foul, or this is why that wasn't a foul, or whatever the case may be. It allows the learning curve, hopefully, to flatten a little bit, but I'm concerned with these new rules, especially early in the season the effect they're going to have in the game. I think the thought process is we're going to take the physicality out of college basketball so we're going to call a lot more fouls early and that gets the officials mindset and guess what that's going to happen. Whether the games are physical or not physical they're going to blow the whistle more often because they're being asked to, or being told to. It worries me a little bit in terms of ticky tack fouls that might put Josh Scott on the bench in the first half for 10 minutes, which we don't want. That concerns me a little bit. I mean we'll adjust to it and again it's something that's here that we're going to deal with, but the new rules do concern me. You know coaches can't call timeouts anymore, now players have to call timeouts. There's a lot of the 30-second shot clock. It seems like more new rules this year than any time I've coached in college.”
On Derrick White
“Derrick White is a terrific player. I don't want to get too excited because we don't get him for a year from now, but I think he's got the strength, he's got the speed, he's got the skill, he's got the feel. He's going to be a heck of a player for us. I wish we had him this year. I'll be saying that a lot to myself, not necessarily to you guys, but Derrick is very coachable. The thing I love about him is he's very energetic and he has a great feel for the game that you can't coach. You guys are really, really going to enjoy watching him play next year and I'm sick to my stomach that we don't have him for two years; we only get him for one. He's going to be a terrific player, a Pac-12 player. It's the classic late-bloomer. I think he was 6'1” when he graduated from high school and now he's 6'5”. He was a good high school player, but yeah, how many Division I schools are here in this Rocky Mountain region: you have Air Force, Colorado, Colorado State, and Wyoming. Not one of us even considered him and it's a neat story. He's a terrific young man, a hard worker, a great teammate, and he's very humble. He'll be a pro. There's no question that he'll be a professional basketball player when he leaves here. Now what level? That's yet to be determined, but he's a terrific player.”
On Off Season Training, His Coaching Style
“I do know we did conditioning in the spring, which we've never done since I've been here. We ran, we got in shape, we worked harder in the spring. We had our players here in the month of June and July. Normally, we do the month of June and let them go home in July and get a break. We kept them here all summer. So we've done some things differently in the off-season. This fall I feel like, certainly in the first 12 practices, I've been more dialed in and engaged. I don't know if I've been tougher or meaner, but I think what I'm trying to do is be consistent every day. I think last year I made a lot of mistakes. One of them was I figured we have guys in this program who have won, who have proven they can win, they'll figure it out as time goes on. I'll kind of let them learn and guess what. Never happened and that falls on me as a head coach. I'm not going to let that happen this year. If I see something that's not right, I'm not going to ask our players to take care of it, I'm going to take care of it.”
On This Being A Big Year For CU Basketball
“Every year's a big year. This is no bigger than last year, no bigger than next year is going to be. Every year's a big year. This league is good. It's more balanced. It may not be as top heavy. We don't have that top five program right now. Last year Arizona, I think, was a number one or number two program in the country going into the season, but I think we have more good teams in the league this year than in years past. It's going to be a heck of a league race. That doesn't start till January 1 when we open up at Cal. I don't feel any more pressure or less pressure than in years past. But I do think this: I think we've had some success since we've been here. Last year was a down year. I don't mind saying that. I feel like I failed last year and I think our players feel that way too. That's not a good feeling you want in the pit of your stomach when you go to bed at night. I think our players are committed to make sure that doesn't happen again and I know I'm committed to it, and it's not going to be easy. There are some good teams in this league, but I like our chances. If we play together and we play team basketball and we're committed to each other, there's not a team in this league we can't beat.”
On The 30-Second Shot Clock
“30-second shot clock does not change much about our offense. I think what it does is maybe change us defensively a little bit. We're playing around with more soft presses. We're playing around with more switching. We certainly want teams to get deeper in the shot clock because I think college players, unlike NBA players, don't operate as well with five or six seconds. That thing's ticking down you see more panic set in with college players. Offensively, we still want to push it, score fast. I like to be scoring in the first 12 to 15 seconds of the shot clock. Defensively I told our guys the good news is we have to play rock solid defense for 30 seconds now and last year we had to play rock solid defense for 35 seconds so it should be easier.
On Dominique Collier
“It's a big year for Dom. It's a big year for him. Going from his freshman year to his sophomore year. I've always said the greatest strides college basketball players make is usually between their freshman year and their sophomore year. That's when they understand what the game's about, they've made their freshman mistakes, they addressed those over the summer, and they get better. Hopefully, Dom is one of those players that figures that out. If you see him physically, he's bigger, he's stronger, and he's 185 pounds now. Coach (James) Hardy's done a great job with him in the off-season. Dom's done a great job getting into the weight room and getting more mass to his frame. Now what he has to do is start running the team and the biggest challenge I've given Dom Collier early here this season is to be more vocal. He's not a vocal guy by nature. He's not a guy who runs his mouth and talks a lot, but guess what, when you're the quarterback of a basketball team you better open up your mouth. He's getting better at that, now can he do it in a game, start directing people, that's going to be the challenge, and that's the challenge we've given him. He's got a great feel for the game, he understands the game, he's really good in the open floor, Dom can make plays for himself and for others. I don't think his talent is questioned, the big question mark with him is can he take that vocal leadership role and run with it.
On Team's Vocal Leaders Other Than Josh Scott
“Not alongside Josh, no. Not yet. That's something that will have to emerge because it's hard for Josh to do it all by himself. One of the things I love to do this time of year is I love to bring in outside coaches to our practices and just have them observe because it gives me an unbiased opinion of what's going on. Look, I've been here six years, our assistants have been here with me during that time, so we have our biases, we've recruited these players, we know them. Somebody comes from the outside to sit in on our practice for two days, they don't know the difference between George King and Josh Scott or Dom Collier; it's all new to them and getting their feedback is interesting and one of the guys I brought in, a guy I respect, he's been a head coach for 19 years, and his comment to me was 'outside of Josh Scott nobody on your team talks, they're all too quiet.' I shared that with our team and I thought it was good feedback so that's an area we have to improve. I know we have to improve and that's what we're working on.”
On Recruiting Leadership
“It's difficult, sometimes when you see players, they got 'it', the 'it' factor, you can tell they've got 'it'. I think there's multiple players, whether it's in high school or even in college, have leadership qualities and abilities but they haven't come to the surface yet. I don't know if you're born with it (leadership), I think maybe some people are, it's a great philosophical question: are you born a leader or are you developed into a leader. It's pretty easy when you see that, and you can recruit that, and you can get that. Spencer Dinwiddie I would put into that category. I think Spencer, even when he was a sophomore, he wasn't afraid to speak up, now he wasn't that way as a freshman, he was still kind of checking things out, but some people it takes them until they're a senior. And that's where Josh Scott has got leadership qualities and abilities and those are now going to come to the forefront, whereas maybe as a freshman or sophomore they didn't. We've got a whole program within our athletic department called 'Leadership Development' and I think it's a great program because it teaches all of our student athletes what leadership is about, what it looks like, here's when it works, here's when it doesn't work, you look at teams that are successful or not successful because of it, or because of the lack of it. These kids are here to learn, grow, and get better. You look at a guy like Josh Scott, I think he's really developed into that, and what we need now is for some of those younger guys, Dom Collier, George King, Tre'Shaun Fletcher, to get on that same track.”
On a More Hands on Approach
“That's the mistake I made last year. I didn't take the bull by the horns, and say ok it's not here I'm going to take it. I'm not going to make that this year, I'm not going to make the same mistake. I've got a lot of confidence in Josh Scott and the respect he has in that locker room, that when he says something people are going to listen to him. Again, we'll see how it plays out but I'm not going to make the same mistake again.”
On Xavier Johnson Injury Rehab/ Timetable for Return
“He's rehabbing right now. I'm not going to sit here and say he's coming back, I'm not going to sit here and say he's not coming back, because I don't know that. I think mid to late December would be the absolute earliest. I always say when it comes to injured players you hope for the best, which would he comes back as soon as possible and help this team win. You prepare for the worst, which is he's not coming back this year and he'll come back for his fifth year, we have had those conversations with Xavier. He's going to be the one who has to make that call with his doctors based on where his injury is, but we're probably at least a month away from really knowing yet.”
On Replacing Xavier Johnson
“It's tough because you can't replace experience. You can replace production and that's the challenge that falls on George King and Tre'Shaun Fletcher, and Josh Fortune to some degree, Kenan to some degree. Ten, 11 points, six rebounds, we can replace that. What we can't replace is X's experience, his toughness, and all the things he's learned up to this point. Look, I love this year's team. I look at next years with Derrick White and Xavier Johnson if he does not come back (this year), we've got two pretty darn good players that are going to be coming on to next year's team. Again, if XJ doesn't come back we lose three seniors, so if nothing else the stable next year is a little more full. But it's hard to replace experience, if he doesn't come back two of our top three scorers of last year's team aren't back, but that's why your recruit, that's why you've got guys sitting out, you've got freshman that become sophomores, it's somebody else's turn to step up and hopefully somebody can do that.”
On Wes Gordon
“I look at Wes Gordon and say why couldn't he average a double-double? He's being more aggressive offensively; he has been without a doubt our best rebounder in practice. It's early, I understand that, but he is a terrific rebounder. He's had some games where it's just like 'wow', it's just consistency and focus and that's a challenge for Wes, that's just kind of who he is, and you hope that the light bulb comes on so to speak and he's there each and every night. Because if he is, we know Josh is, and that gives you a pretty good one-two punch on the frontline. If we can make some shots around those guys, we'll be ok.”
Senior Forward Josh Scott
On Difference In Coach Tad Boyle
“Honestly yes there is a change. He talks a whole lot more, he explains a whole lot more. He takes the time on the court to really get his point across. Even if it's the smallest detail, he's going to take the time and pay attention to it. Just looking at practice that's just how our practice has been. He's been taking the time to explain the smallest thing if it's showing a ball screen mistake or being on help side. He's paying more attention to detail I'll put it that way. He's always been tough.”
On Shooting More Three's This Season
“Yeah I just didn't shoot them (last year) honestly. It's one of those things where, especially if people are going to down ball screens and our guards come off and they leave me open at the three point line, I'm going to shoot it just because the defense needs to respect me. Not to mention, I've been shooting them all off season so it's one of those things where if they're not going in I'm probably going to shoot at least one or two of them so yeah, you'll probably see more three's from me.”
On USA Basketball Experience
“It fired me up. In terms of the experience itself it showed me how different people do basketball and how they go about preparing for their seasons. In terms of what I did for me, more than anything, it kind of worked as motivation because I didn't make the team. So it's kind of just another chip on my shoulder for this season.”
On Dealing With Injury Last Season
“Honestly it was a struggle. It wasn't a fun situation for me but, both these guys know, it's painful sitting and watching your team and not being able to do anything about it. For me it was just, even though it was a struggle, it was one of those things where it was better to have me out there struggling then me sitting on the bench. So that was my mentality just to push through and fight for it even though it wasn't exactly what I wanted out of myself. In terms of how appreciative I am of my health, I'm very appreciative. It kind of means the world to me now. I understand how it kind of feels to get basketball taken away from you when you have no control over it and so now it's more of valuing the time that I have.”
On Approach To Contributing To The Team
“I think, throughout my career at least, I've seen that when you focus too much on your own personal career it doesn't really lend much to your whole team so for me it's more of a been there, played against good players, played against good teams, and it's just more of lending my experiences. In terms of looking at other people's games, I think last year I was probably too quiet and you know, I'm probably going to get on guys more. Guys probably won't like me at times but I figure it's my senior year and I don't really have time for worrying about it. It's one of those things where I hope everybody including these guys are honest with me as well. It's just one of those things where I'm going to look at it and if there's something that needs to be addressed it's going to be addressed and we're going to have a good year.”
On Difference Without Xavier Johnson
“XJ was like an energizer bunny. When he really set his head to it, he was bull. For us the biggest difference without him is just making sure that we rebound the ball and that people stay aggressive especially on the perimeter. That's something that I thought XJ did extremely well as a player. But other than that he's still with us. He's still there to cheer us on and honestly I enjoy when he kind of speaks up and says, 'hey you guys are turning the ball over too much', because a perspective that none of us have. It's good to still have him but we're going to have to make up for it and I think we're going to be fine honestly. We're going to be perfectly fine.”
On Lessons Learned From Last Year
“There was a lot of them. The biggest one I think, maybe you can ask both these guys, but one I think all of us have kind of taken away and kind of felt in practice has been a sense of urgency as well as almost a willingness to commit to what we were founded on and what our program is about which is defensive and rebounding and I think those things as well as, I've said it before, I feel like guys are kind of talking to each other and letting people know when something's not alright which is a good thing going into this year that I think as a lesson we can really improve upon and keep us going.”
On Evaluating Himself As A Player
“I think my body of work so far through my career puts me as a pretty dang good player. I think every player has his weakness so I keep improving upon them and I'll continue to work on my game but honestly I've been pretty pleased. I think I've always had people doubt me, not believe in me and you know that was high school, that was me starting as a freshman in college and it's kind of our team a little bit and me right now. I always look forward to proving people wrong and somehow I always end up coming out on top and I plan on doing that again along with this team.”
On Dealing With Criticism During Your Career
“Honestly I heard that, I remember coming out of high school and even as a freshman in college, saying that a kid from Colorado basketball couldn't succeed at the college level and now I just say first team All-Pac-12 if I hear it. I think I've succeeded, our team has been to two NCAA tournaments since I've been here. I think Dom (Collier) probably understands that doubt. It's one of those things where you just continue to prove them wrong with your actions rather than your words.”
On Preseason Expectations Compared To Last Year
“I don't think it's easier. I'm not a big believer in rankings either honestly we'll prove it when the pac-12 season comes around. I do think our motivation is more of we don't want to have another year like we did last year. I don't think it really has anything to do with the rankings, I think we saw pressure on ourselves to make it back to the tournament and to put the program back where it was before last year. We don't want to be looked at as the group that let it slip. Coach Boyle and this program put this program in a good place so we don't want to be the group that let it slack two years in a row. Last year, for a number of factors didn't go how we wanted it to and this year is a new year and we're going to fight and make sure nothing happens like last year.”
On Difference In Coach Boyle
“There's nothing different in his demeanor per say. Like I said earlier it's more of, he's extremely more detail oriented in practice and film. You could think you played well at a practice, then you go into film and he's going to look at every single little detail. We might be on a play for about four or five minutes it feels like just going over each individual person. Honestly you've got to change something after last year so it's not even a big deal. It's one of those things where you accept it because honestly, we had a bad year last year and we don't want to repeat it so something has to be different.”
On Difference In Wes Gordon
“Wes from last to this year I think the biggest thing I've seen so far in practice is he's more aggressive offensively. I think defensively he's always been pretty solid. But offensively he's been more aggressive and he's kind of been more vocal. I hear him voicing frustrations, not bad frustrations just like, 'don't turn the ball over, get the ball moved'. To hear Wesley's voice somebody's who's actually been really solid the past two years is really important because he is such a good player and for him to be more aggressive offensively makes our team better.”
Junior Guard Josh Fortune
On Returning To Competition After Redshirting
“It's been a long time not playing. I'm looking forward to playing again and competing in hostile environments at away games, home games where the crowd is rooting for us, I'm just looking forward to playing again.”
On Three Point Defense
“Defending the three will be important for us this year. We've worked on it a lot in practice every day in close out drills and just staying focused on that. I think it'll benefit us a lot in the season if we can defend the three.”
On Team Scoring
“We can all score on our team. We have low post players that can score, we have guards that can get to the rack. Me, being a shooter, when low post players get double teamed, being able to make shots from outside will open the floor for everyone. We can all score so it's going to be fun.”
Observation From The Sideline Last Season
“It was hard watching. I think at certain time we would not come out the gate as strong and wait until too late (in games) to play hard and that was kind of an ongoing thing throughout the whole season. I think we need to fix that this year and come out playing every game like it's our last.”
On Sophomore George King
“He's a really athletic wing, one of our bigger wings, he can play a lot of different positions from the two to the four. (Him) being that diverse in our system is very good for us, having him crash the boards on offense and defense, and just be a physical wing player.”
Sophomore Guard Dominque Collier
On Putting On Muscle Weight And Progression From Last Year:
“I feel like I am more confident out there, having that weight and having that year under my belt. Learning from the older guys makes me more confident and more aggressive on the court.”
On Struggling On The Road (2-11) And How To Improve This Year:
“We just have to go out there and play more as a team. Last year, we would play one good half of basketball and then the next half would be a letdown off of the first half. We just have to put together a complete game, and if we do that we will be fine. We played Oregon in the Pac-12 tournament last year and played one half of great basketball then we slacked off and it really hurt us because we ended up losing that game.”
On Learning From Ski (Askia Booker, Graduated Senior PG):
“He wasn't scared to fail. I mean, he would go out there with so much confidence and that's really what I learned the most from him, not being scared to fail and having the most confidence out there. Feel like no one is able to guard you.”
On Being A More Vocal Leader:
“Like you said, it has been a problem for me throughout growing up, whether in school, or basketball. I have been trying to work on it outside of basketball as much as I can so I can be more comfortable with it on the court. Having these guys yell at me or whatever as a teammate to get your head in the game, that lights a spark in me and I start to open my mouth more but overall, I have just been working on it every day.”
On Being A Leader In High School And Transferring That Leadership Into Collegiate Basketball:
“I think I just have to be more aggressive and have that confidence. I think the leadership will come throughout the year and like I said, I have been working on it. High school was two years ago; although I had a good high school career, I just need to look past that and have a good college career.”
On Coach Boyle Having A Different Approach:
“Oh yeah. I've noticed it a lot in practice. Like Josh (Scott) said, he knew the little details last year but this year he's voicing his opinions and letting us hear what is on his mind. I feel like that's good for us because we can learn from it and get better. He has always been tough on us but he's voicing himself more this year.”
