Thursday was Big Ten basketball media day, and with it came a set of special quotes and soundbites. Sure, this day is all about college basketball message control. The Universities and SIDs trying to manipulate the information they want you to have, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t some interesting and articulate statements out there.
When you get all the coaches and some of the top players in one conference room, you’ll have lots of gems. In fact, I’m going to do a separate post or two on the Michigan State Spartans Tom Izzo. but here’s some of the better non-Izzo soundbites.
The Indiana Hoosiers‘ Tom Crean‘s opening statement went through all “Four Seasons.”
He’s the classical composer Vivaldi, with a motion offense.
“started for us in the spring. I thought we had an outstanding spring, and one of the best I’ve been involved in in the sense of really trying to get our guys to understand that for us to take steps, it was going to have to be a complete year-round process.
This spring I think led to a very good summer. When they came back in the fall, when we were able to start working with them in the fall, I should say, we could see a difference in their bodies.
I think guys had worked very hard on their skills, and I like our fall. I like the fall we had with them in the sense of the work that we did to try to build a defensive mentality.”
Ok, so he left out winter. But the embattled-to-say-the-least coach has already made his pre-emptive excuses for another bad season, maybe. Or he’s just giving a ringing endorsement for the league.
“you can’t scheme your way through this league, you can’t show up, you got to have to have a solid plan for every game and a group of deep talented players that understand competition on a nightly basis because that’s what the other teams have.”
I didn’t get this one directly, but another reporter at the media luncheon told me this gem, probably the quote of the day.
RE: Twitter
“when you hit the send button it’s like a bullet leaving a gun that you can’t get back.”
Turning to Tubby Time with the Golden Gophers. Tubby Smith says he’s going to play his highest tempo game yet; all season.
“We’re gonna go up and down, we’re going to go a lot faster than we’ve ever played. This will be the fastest we’ve ever played. Let’s put it that way, cause we got enough people to play that up tempo style.”
This upcoming season may be a down year for the league, but don’t think that will affect attendance too much. Welcome Doc Sadler and the Nebraska Cornhuskers who talked about the league’s domination at the ticket counter.
“fact that the attendance in this league is just off the chart. I think that’s probably what sets this league apart from every other league in the country; if you can just get one or two wins on the road, you’re going to put yourself in pretty good shape.
you add those things, the road attendance, the crowds, things like that is probably going to make this league special. And it’s not just a one- or two-year deal, it’s a, what, 35-year deal that this league has led the country in attendance. A lot of people can talk about what you can do this year and next year, but when you talk about a 35-year record, that’s pretty solid.”
Never ever pick Wisconsin lower than 5th or 6th- not matter how many key guys they’ve lost. I’ve learned this lesson on numerous occasions. Matt Painter of Purdue shares the same philosophy as me.
“I’m not trying to pump up Wisconsin like I’m on their payroll, but I’ve always been impressed with them losing one or tow good players and you say ‘oh, they’re not going to be as good,’ and then they’re better. It really shows how good a coach he is and they’ve got a good system.”
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site that generates millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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