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Thursday, October 28, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Notes from SIU Media Day
Chris Lowery addressed the media on Wednesday and had the following things to say:
- Lowery is confident that the team will get back to playing the way they want to play.
- The team is much more committed in the weight room, and everyone's commitment level is higher this year.
- He'd like to get back to a ball control style of offense.
- The new facilities have helped in recruiting, and it feels more like a home court.
- Working out with the football team was impressive to the basketball players because the football team was not just talking about winning a conference championship but a national championship.
- The current players want to do what's right and this group of players has not complained about the work they've done so far.
- Lowery says the biggest area of improvement will be defense and he says that during the last two years he watched other teams do the tough things while his team just complained, and that it's not going to be that way this year.
- The biggest adjustment that the coaching staff has made is to talk about Saluki 'culture' as much as possible. He went on to say that they have been ashamed of the 'culture' that was created during the past two seasons because they didn't have the personnel to play the way they wanted to play.
- He said it's very difficult to convince players who don't think that what you're doing can win games, which is crazy to him because that's why those players came to SIU in the first place. Lowery says he has no hard feelings towards the people who are not here any longer, that he's moved on and has guys who want to wear the SIU jersey and in the past when he's had guys who want to wear the jersey they've been successful.
- There is not an obvious vocal leader on this team, but the team has seen a lot of players leading by example in practice.
- The biggest on-court question is who will play in certain situations. The team has a lot of utility guys, like Seck and Freeman, who can do a lot of different things, but the #1 thing is that the players will play defense and that is what will ultimately determine playing time.
- Lowery expects to rotate 9 or 10 guys, so they can play the style of basketball they want to play. He said the team will not just be picking up defensively at half court anymore.
- The coaching staff has challenged Teague to show improvement physically and he has embraced that challenge. His mile time is down almost 4 minutes from last year and he weighed in at 288 a few days ago, which is down from 310 at this time last year.
- The team will not run a lot of sets this year and will focus on running the motion offense. There will be lineups where Fay plays as a 5 and Seck plays as a 4, because Seck's defense will make that possible.
- Lowery is not sure if he will redshirt Devonte Drinkard or not. Drinkard is still 17 years old and will not be 18 until April. However, his body is very mature and he is making Teague work in the paint.
(EDITORS NOTE- Drinkard is listed as being born on April 11, 1992 which would make him 18 years old. I'm not sure why Lowery is saying that he's 17 unless there is an error on his listed date of birth)
- Lowery is confident that the team will get back to playing the way they want to play.
- The team is much more committed in the weight room, and everyone's commitment level is higher this year.
- He'd like to get back to a ball control style of offense.
- The new facilities have helped in recruiting, and it feels more like a home court.
- Working out with the football team was impressive to the basketball players because the football team was not just talking about winning a conference championship but a national championship.
- The current players want to do what's right and this group of players has not complained about the work they've done so far.
- Lowery says the biggest area of improvement will be defense and he says that during the last two years he watched other teams do the tough things while his team just complained, and that it's not going to be that way this year.
- The biggest adjustment that the coaching staff has made is to talk about Saluki 'culture' as much as possible. He went on to say that they have been ashamed of the 'culture' that was created during the past two seasons because they didn't have the personnel to play the way they wanted to play.
- He said it's very difficult to convince players who don't think that what you're doing can win games, which is crazy to him because that's why those players came to SIU in the first place. Lowery says he has no hard feelings towards the people who are not here any longer, that he's moved on and has guys who want to wear the SIU jersey and in the past when he's had guys who want to wear the jersey they've been successful.
- There is not an obvious vocal leader on this team, but the team has seen a lot of players leading by example in practice.
- The biggest on-court question is who will play in certain situations. The team has a lot of utility guys, like Seck and Freeman, who can do a lot of different things, but the #1 thing is that the players will play defense and that is what will ultimately determine playing time.
- Lowery expects to rotate 9 or 10 guys, so they can play the style of basketball they want to play. He said the team will not just be picking up defensively at half court anymore.
- The coaching staff has challenged Teague to show improvement physically and he has embraced that challenge. His mile time is down almost 4 minutes from last year and he weighed in at 288 a few days ago, which is down from 310 at this time last year.
- The team will not run a lot of sets this year and will focus on running the motion offense. There will be lineups where Fay plays as a 5 and Seck plays as a 4, because Seck's defense will make that possible.
- Lowery is not sure if he will redshirt Devonte Drinkard or not. Drinkard is still 17 years old and will not be 18 until April. However, his body is very mature and he is making Teague work in the paint.
(EDITORS NOTE- Drinkard is listed as being born on April 11, 1992 which would make him 18 years old. I'm not sure why Lowery is saying that he's 17 unless there is an error on his listed date of birth)
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