Colorado University Athletics
Colorado Pomona-Pitzer Quotes
vs
Eastern Washington
Nov 8 (Sat)
2 p.m.
Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle
Opening statement“It was a good win; good to get the uniform on and play against somebody different. These guys have been beating each other up for the last 17 practices, so I know they were excited about it, and I was excited too. Pomona Pitzer, obviously, my son has played there the last three years. He's going into his senior year. My oldest son, Jack, played for Coach (Katsiaficas) for four years before that. So I've been watching that program for the last seven years, and the one thing I know is that they're well coached; they can really shoot the ball, they're skilled. They can pass the ball, and we over match them a little bit with our size and athleticism, obviously, but I was disappointed in our defense in the first half, in terms of giving up six 3s and plus a three point play, but we did a better job in the second half. We shut them down to three. But, in the first half, I was happy with our turnovers. We had five turnovers in the first half, but in the second half, we got sloppy with the ball and had 10. It's about playing for 40 minutes, and these guys will figure that out as we get going, but give us a chance to look at film. And we tried a few different things defensively, nothing major - we're kind of vanilla on offense. I thought we shared the ball extremely well, and so it's a good first outing.”
Coach Boyle on second half adjustments
“I think energy and making it difficult on them, and keeping the pace up, making them work, picking them up full court, and wearing them down. I mentioned to these guys after the game that teams that come in that aren't used to playing at altitude will get tired in the second half. I think that happened with them. And we're a deep team, and I thought we used our depth. I thought in the second half we did some good things defensively. I thought our energy was good. And that's what it's got to be. The big thing is, again, in the first half, they had six 3s and they had four layups. That's 18 points plus eight, that's 36 points. We got to make tough twos. If they're hitting jump shots from mid range over our hand, we'll say, great shot, come and do it again. But we can't give up layups. We can't give up open 3s.”
On playing against his son
“Obviously I'm always pulling for him. He's my son. I love him, and I'm proud of him. I want him to have a great senior year. It was good to get him back and in front of Boulder, but I got a lot of respect for all those kids, and I've got tremendous respect for Coach (Katsiaficas) and division three basketball in general. I've been watching it for seven years now. I didn't know anything about division three basketball until my sons played it. So it was special.”
On team progression:
“I think over the last two weeks, we've made strides. These guys are coachable. They're listening. They're trying to do what we ask them to do. And that's, as a coach, all you can ask. We're not in mid-season form yet. Our conditioning got better from one week to the next. We didn't play anybody heavy minutes tonight, and that was by design. We weren't worried about foul trouble. We weren't worried about if a guy made a mistake, he's coming out, or even if they took a bad shot. I didn't pull anybody out of the game tonight. We had a set rotation that Coach Roan stuck to, and everybody got a chance. And now it's about going back and digesting the film. Because the one thing I've asked these guys to do is to make sure, number one, they're not pacing themselves, and number two, that you may not play for as many minutes as you want to play, and that's something we've got to talk about over the next couple weeks as we get ready for November 4. I think a strength of this team can be our depth, our versatility. We’ve got two guys like this [Bangot Dak and Sebastian Rancik] 6 '11, 6' 10, that can play inside and out. Elijah Malone down low is a problem. These guys know that because they practice against him every day. In the inter squad scrimmage we had he didn't get a lot done, didn't get a lot of touches. But today, we did a better job looking for him. So we’ve got some weapons on this team, and we’ve got some depth on this team. We just got to keep developing.
On teams offseason work and coaching a mostly new team:
“Well Bangot [Dak] mentioned it, the off seasons for these guys to work on their game and improve in every aspect of their game. Whether it's ball handling, whether it's shooting, whether it's getting in the weight room getting bigger and stronger, whatever the case may be. Bangot has had, I think, a great offseason. And with Sebi [Sebastian Rancik], obviously coming in as a freshman, there's no baseline for me to look at, but he’s got bigger and stronger in the weight room as well. So, the offseason is all about individual improvement in their game. Now, we did some stuff as a team, as a group. We spent 98% of the summer on offense. We played a lot of one-on-one to work on guarding the ball, which we’ve got to keep getting better at. But this team is interesting because we’ve got returning guys like Bangot, who are looking for a bigger role than what he had last year. Guess what? He's going to have that. Guys like Sebi [Sebastian Rancik], who’re coming in as freshmen who want to impact this program. Guess what? He can do that. I'm really proud of both these guys, not just for today, but just being part of the program and understanding that there's going to be some ebbs and flows in the season. There's going to be good days and bad days. Adversity is going to hit us. We’ve just got to keep fighting and keep getting better.”
On he upcoming season
“Look, this season is going to be fluid. Roles are going to develop, roles are going to emerge, roles are going to be redefined even as the season goes on. Each guy has to understand what he does well, and what are the things maybe he doesn’t do real well. We gotta shy away from the things we don’t do well. What I mean by that is that if you’re not a great passer don’t look to make great passes. Just make simple plays. If you’re not a great rebounder, at least box out. If you can’t rebound the ball it’s okay but the guy you're playing against, they don’t get the rebound. So whatever the roles may be, it’s going to be a long season. There’s going to be high points and low points. We just have to understand as a group that things get tough. Whatever team we play against, they're trying to win the game too. They’re trying to execute their offense, they’re trying to guard, and that’s what makes college basketball so much fun. Seeing your team grow and develop, and that to me by looking at the Colorado basketball team this year, you’re going to see a team that will grow and develop as the year goes on. Whether that’s individual players within that team or the team as a whole.”
Bangot Dak, So., F
On this season's team changes“I feel like I'm pretty comfortable with it. I feel like it's something that's pretty good for our team, because you see, we got 6”10, 6”10, 6”9, 6”11. That's four pretty big guys, and I feel like if we're all able to play different positions that just spaces the floor; that's more options for us offensively, and that's just more powerful teams defensively, too”
On his outside game:
“I feel like it's something I worked on this offseason. I feel like it's something that I've added to my game. I'm pretty comfortable doing it. So I just feel like I'm gonna flow with the game and just shoot what I got.”
On Tristan Da Silva’s impact on his playing
“I feel like just watching him, our game translates. We play like each other, I just try to take in things he’s done. From the way he’s scored and defended. I feel like he’s obviously really good at scoring and he’s a really good defender. I feel like he’s pretty underrated. He’s just helped me a lot by watching him and leading by example.”
Sebastian Rancik, Fr., F
On his first college game“I feel great, I had a great time and it just made me even more excited for the season to come. Just keep plugging along each day. Learning from the coaches, keep listening, and just excited for the season to come.”
On seeing Felix Kossaras put together a good game and playing against real opponents
“I think it’s great we have a really good freshmen class that can impact winning this year and moving forward. I’m just really happy for them, and am excited for what the future bring. It’s great they are an awesome staff. That’s the reason why I committed here because I want to learn from coach Boyle and the rest of the coaches. I’m just really blessed to be a player for them.”