Basketball Media Day Quotes

October 25, 2016 | Men's Basketball

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By: Troy Andre, Assistant SID

Colorado Head Coach Tad Boyle

General
"It's another year for Colorado basketball. We're extremely excited, anxious for the season to start. We're 18 practices in and I think that those of you who follow this team and this program know we have some pretty talented guys in uniform this year. Right now, if I had to describe our team in one word it'd be overrated. We're not consistent enough to be considered an upper tier Pac-12 team right now. That's as of today, October 25. But we're a work in progress. We're getting better. Thank God the season doesn't start right now. We still have some time to get better. We have a couple of scrimmages coming up and we'll find out where we're at. We've got a lot of room for improvement and we've got to get there in a short time to make it happen."

On high player expectation in the preseason
"I think with an experienced team it's common. In today's world with social media and information and how it travels, I think it [high expectation] is probably a little bit more that way today than it was 15 or 20 years ago before the onslaught of all the ways the kids communicate and get information. I think it's pretty common. I think you can talk to a lot of coaches that have teams that have external expectations on them and they'll feel the same way."

On coaching players who have high exception
"I think you have to be hard on them, more demanding and you have to be truthful. That's why we film every practice that we do. This is the time of the year when, as a coach, I have to step back and really analyze things. I'm usually in a bad mood after practice because we have a gold team and a black team that are playing against each other. The nature of coaching is that if the gold team wins then I'm mad at the back team and vice versa. What I'm looking for is guys who separate themselves with a consistency factor and I haven't seen that yet. There are one or two guys who I think are separating themselves, but might come back and have a bad practice or do some bone headed things the next day and I'm questioning that. I'm looking for separation. Consistency is where we need our work. We have talented guys who understand what needs to be done but they just don't do it consistently."

On where the team needs to find consistency
"Defense, showing on ball screens, switching on ball screens, guarding the ball. I might guard really well this possession and the next time get blown by. Rebounding; we're charting every offensive rebound. Am I going? Am I pursuing the ball the way I'm supposed to be pursuing the ball? We want to be doing that at a 90 percent clip. We're not even close to that. We're doing it 40-50 percent of the time. Again, the reality factor is that we're not getting it done. That reality is going to become painful if we don't figure it out between now and when we start playing games. So rebounding, defense, taking care of the ball. It's little things, passing and catching the ball cleanly. I could go down a whole list of areas where we need to get better."

On the importance of pre-season scrimmages
"That's why we have these closed scrimmages, I can't talk about them per say but you do get a closed scrimmage or exhibition game against quality opponents that expose your weaknesses, show your warts. We'll find out a lot more over the next two weeks. We've got a week to figure it out after that last one before we start tipping it up. That's why I'm not waiting until those scrimmages. I'm trying to analyze our team on a day to day basis."

On role of the upperclassmen
"We have four fifth year seniors, Xavier Johnson, Wesley Gordon, Derrick White and Josh Fortune. I expect those guys, their fifth year in college and college basketball to understand what leadership looks like and what needs to be done. George King, he's a fourth year junior and I expect it to come from him too. Dominique Collier and Thomas Akyazili, two point guards who have great qualities. I've always said it, when Josh Scott left, that we can replace his production, his points, his rebounds. What the question is if we can replace his leadership and I'm not sure of that right now. That's a big question mark with this team. The only way we're going to find out is when adversity hits. It's the only way you figure out what kind of leadership you have, when that adversity happens. We don't know when that's going to happen. It could be November 11th against Sacramento State. It could be in the next two weeks, one of these scrimmages. Adversity is going to hit is and then I'll be able to answer that but right now I just don't know."

On the competition in the Pac-12 Conference
"The league is very good, very talented. There are very good coaches. The coaches who don't win move on. You look at the players coming in to the league. Teams have reloaded and added to their arsenals and I think we've recruited well too. We have a team that has a lot of pieces coming back and that are capable. But, our players may think they know, but this league is no joke. The margin for error is very thin and little things make a big difference. Right now we have a lot of little things that we have to get better at. But the league is terrific."

On this year's freshmen
"I like freshmen. Every year is different but again, we have a team that has a lot of pieces coming back. Xavier Johnson coming back off of his Achilles, Derrick White sitting out last season. We have eight guys returning so the freshmen are certainly going to help us infuse some energy and talent. But how much are they going to contribute? How many minutes are they going to get? We're in a nice situation because we don't have to count on them but whatever they give us is almost like a B12 shot in the arm that will make us that much better. But Bryce Peters, Deleon Brown, Lucas Siewert and Dallas Walton have done some nice things. Dallas is a possible redshirt, we'll figure that out the next three weeks. But those four guys are really talented. They're going to have good careers at Colorado. What kind of freshmen year are they going to have? I don't know. But, most freshmen have ups, downs, inconsistencies. But those guys are all talented and they're going to help us whether it's this year or in the future."

On point guard play
"I think our point guard has to be better this year than it was last year for us to continue on our upward trajectory in terms of advancing in post season play. Dominique Collier is a capable player going from an underclassmen role as a sophomore year a new role his junior year. Now he has two years of college basketball experience. He had a good year in the weight room, his body changed. Thomas Akyazili went through a lot his first year, a foreign kid goes through a lot more of an adjustment even than a domestic kid in terms of that freshman adjustment. But he's much more comfortable this year. We added Bryce Peters and Deleon Brown. We have depth. Derrick White is someone we can throw in at point guard if we need to. We have a lot of depth there, a lot of choices, a lot of options. But the one or two guys who do emerge, I said this in San Francisco (at Pac-12 Media Day), that position is very well manned. Now it has to be very well played. That's the step we have to make."

On preseason play
"Our players have no idea how good Xavier is right now. They could beat us by 20 right now. It wouldn't even be close. Our guys don't understand that. They're going to find out and we have some time hopefully to figure that out. Notre Dame in Brooklyn on the 21 of November is a pretty good program, pretty good coach. Sacramento State, I'm nervous about that right now on November 11. That's how I feel right now as a coach and you guys probably chuckle but that's the reality of where I'm at as a coach. We have talent. We have these expectations but I think they're a little bit out of whack right now."

On how expectations of this team have grown
"If you talk to people who have been around here before, we've had that chip on our shoulder. We've been the underdog and the team that everyone is counting out. You can really inspire a group of guys a little easier that way. With those expectations grown now, people do expect us to go to postseason play, they do expect us to go to the NCAA Tournament and advance. Your program is either getting better or it's getting worse, it's not staying the same. We all want to get better. For us to get better and make that next step, it's not easy. It's not going to be given to us or handed to us or tweeted to us. We're going to have to go out there and earn that and we have to beat people to make it happen and we have to do it on a consistent basis. That's where we're not; where we could have been right now. We're not consistent to say, 'okay people need to hunt us.' We still need to be the hunter in my opinion. I mean, (the Pac-12 Preseason Media Poll) picked us fifth. The exceptions have certainly grown, internally with coaches and players. They've grown externally certainly with media and fans. And I think they've grown with recruits. We're going to have a great recruiting haul in November and that's a result of the expectations on this team getting bigger and better."

On one big change his team has to make
"I just haven't seen the separation in practice in some of our guys who have the Allen Iverson approach to practice right now, with all due respect to Iverson who's a hell of a player. The fact is that we have to bring it every day. Whether it's Sacramento State on November 11 or Xavier in December 10. Once we get into Pac-12 play, it's on. We can't wait until then though. That's the one thing about our league. November and December are so important for a basketball program and a set of programs in a league like the Pac-12. We had seven teams in the tournament last year. Every team in the Pac-12 had a great nonconference showing in their schedule. It's important that we do that for ourselves because six years ago when we didn't get in and we're the number one seed in the NIT, that's not a good feeling. We have to make sure we have a good non-conference for ourselves and also for the league."

On transfer Derrick White
"Again, I don't like to hype guys up. Derrick's a terrific player and he's worth the price of admission. When he's got the ball in his hands, he's going to make the right decision nine out of 10 times. What makes Derrick White such a special player though is when he doesn't have the ball in his hands. The lost art of basketball today is guys moving without the ball and playing without the ball. That's what Derrick White does at a level that's so much higher than the average player. That's what makes him so dangerous. He's dangerous with the ball but he's just as good without the ball, reading screens, making cuts, blocking shots, getting rebounds. He's terrific and I expect a lot out of him. His teammates have a lot of trust in him. I'm not going to hype him up but he's very good."

On work done in the off season
"We watched a lot of film with our team. (Assistant Coach) Bill Grier has been a great addition to our staff. Obviously we lost a great coach in Rodney Billups when he went to Denver. But Coach Grier has been a great addition. There are new ideas, new thoughts, new energy. Sometimes change can be good even when you lose a good coach. We replaced a good coach with a good coach. Coach Grier has really helped myself and my stuff with that infusion of ideas and energy. Went down to a clinic in Florida and spoke and shared ideas. You get new ideas. With this team coming back, you know what you have coming back. We don't know the freshmen, all of the roles that the they are going to have and what they're going to do. But we kind of knew the guys coming back. So figuring out what we need to do differently defensively this year now that Josh Scott is gone. What we need to do different offensively and making those adjustments in the off season."

On growth seen in post players Tory Miller & Wesley Gordon
"We want every player to add to their games in the off season, whether it's a post or perimeter player. It's important that both of those guys had good off seasons. We want them to have a low post presence offensively. I don't expect either of them to be Josh Scott because they're not but be the best Tory Miller you can be. Be the best Wesley Gordon you can be but certainly expand your game. Wesley is a good low post scorer but he's also a good passer, can step away from the basket. He worked on his jump shot a lot this off season. Hopefully he can be an inside out guy. Tory, same thing. He's really worked on his perimeter game. Those are the guys we want to get the ball down low to. But we also have guys like Xavier Johnson, George King, Derrick White, Josh Fortune, who are big wings and can post up as well. What makes this team so exciting to coach and watch is that we have a lot of balance and can post up a lot a lot of different guys. Last year we were playing through Josh Scott whether it was at the post or the elbow or wherever. This year it can be a multitude of guys."

On George King's progress as a player
"Good players make themselves better. In his redshirt year, George made himself better which is obviously because he's Pac-12s Most Improved Player with his breakout season. He is a good player, we all know that. Now, what does it take to become a great player? Great players make those around them better. That's George's challenge now. You've made yourself a good shooter, you're a knockdown guy who can get to the foul line, get to the rim and score points. That's great. But, people can take that away from you. Now can you distribute, make plays for your teammates; be a better screener, be a better offensive rebounder. All of the things that you can do that don't involve scoring points, you can do those things too. Going from being a good player to a great player is the hardest jump to make but he's got to make those around him better. That's been the biggest challenge for George."

On the two biggest changes the team needs to make to finish games
"Number one is taking care of the basketball. The UConn game was lost because we couldn't take care of the basketball, gets back go guard play. The second thing is getting stops when we need to get stops. There are times during the season when we are going to have to get a stop and we have to get those stops when they need to be had. Those are the two things. We have some offensive things; George King doesn't hit the three here against Washington State, we probably lose that game and maybe the NCAA Tournament bid is jeopardized. You have to make plays there as well and your players have to make plays. But, defense and taking care of the ball at critical times [are key].

Colorado Players

Derrick White, Sr., G

On whether or not he's sick of practice
"I'm not sick of it because it's important but I am going to be excited to play someone else and finally get out there and play in that meaningful game for the first time in a year and a half."

On taking the next step
"We are an experienced team. We learned from all of those late game losses that we've had. I feel like we can learn from that and make the adjustments needed to close out games and win games on the road. The experience will help us but only if we learn from it and improve from it."

On the kind of leader he can be for the team
"Coach has kind put all of us fourth and fifth year seniors into the role to step up and be leader – and to help the other guys and to help lead this program. So I think I can be a leader by my example and I've been working on trying to speak a little more and saying what I see, and trying to help this team."

On how defense plays into his game
"It just shows that if you want to play, if you want to get minutes, you have to play defense. It doesn't matter if you score 40 points - if you give up 45, you are not going to play much. The first day I came here I realized that defensive rebounding is huge so it's something I have to continue to work on and something we have to continue to work on as a team."

Xavier Johnson, Sr., F

On whether he is surprised to see the progress of George King
"Yeah, definitely. Last year left a big opportunity for him to show what he can do. We had seniors leave and I was out. So it was really him and (Josh) Fortune on the wings. Derrick (White) wasn't playing yet so it was a chance for him to show what he can do and he showed it. He shot well from the three and he's a big guy like me so he can attack the rim. He's doing a great job so far."

On the potential dynamic duo of King and himself
"Not just us. We've got Derrick White, Wesley Gordon, we are going to be all punches from all different angles. So hopefully we can just put that all together and keep winning, and winning, and take it all the way to the top."

On if he now cherishes the game more after sitting out with injury
"Yeah, I think so. I'm just able to go out there and just play my game, and keep winning, and keep working my hardest. That's all I can ask for is just to work my hardest – and win, not just the game, every competition, everything I do."

On how to take the next step
"Besides not losing? Just the little things. Being able to keep our turnovers low, keep our assists high, team comradery is a big thing, and experience. We have a lot of experience right now coming into the year. Hopefully we use that fifth-year 'veteran-ness' to win."

On the chance of adding excitement to the campus that the other sports have created
"It feels really good to see that Colorado is being put more on the map. Hopefully we can come out here and make an outstanding season as well."

On the how the past year has been for him
"It was difficult at points. Especially when we are losing. It was hard to watch us lose and know that I can maybe play but I don't want to risk it. Sometimes it was hard but for the most part it was a learning opportunity. From a mental aspect, to be able to go out there and watch maybe mistakes I would've made as a player myself."

Bryce Peters, Fr., G

On the key to turning last year's close losses into wins
"I would say composure. Once adversity hits, if you don't compose, everything just falls apart; turnovers and not getting back on defense. If you are close throughout the whole thing, it wouldn't be a problem coming back."

On his time here in Boulder as a freshmen so far
"It's pretty chill. It's not like Cali where there's a lot of things going on. There's no traffic. The people here, they love athletes. And I'm starting to get to know more people around town who aren't athletes to show me around. Basketball wise, all of the other guys have taken me under their wing like I've been here before."

Wes Gordon, Sr., F

On Flexible Rotations
"We can go with two big men, one big man, we can switch, we can do a lot of things defensively and offensively that make the other team frantic."

On Four Fifth Year Seniors
"It's a great luxury. We have great experience with all four fifth year seniors, going to the CBI as well as the NCAA Tournament. We also have a fourth year junior in George (King) so our experience is going to play a huge role. We're going to go through adversity, with five seniors we'll be able to stick together."

On How Good the Team Can Be
"We can be as good as we want to be, but we can also be as bad as we want to be. It's really up to us. We can play at a really high level as long as we do it within ourselves. If we play to our competition, we can play badly. We have to try to be consistent every game and just show the young guys that you do your job and don't worry about scoring, scoring will come. It's really doing your job every day is where you separate yourself and that's what coach is talking about. For me it's more of setting an example and letting other seniors do the talking."

Dominique Collier, Jr., G

On Taking Next Step and Winning NCAA Tournament Game
"Just play a full 40 minutes. I thought we struggled with that last year, we'd play half of the game good, whether that be the first half or the second half, we couldn't put a full 40-minute game together. I feel like that's on the point guard, when stuff starts going wrong, [I need to] bring them in and run a set play that will either get us a foul or a bucket. I think that's the main thing this year is just to play a full 40 minutes."

On Addition of Derrick White
"He's really good, he's going to help us a lot both defensively and offensively. He moves so well without the ball, he's a good shooter, and he's athletic so he's going to help us a lot this year."

On Added Motivation From Football Team's Success
"Of course (it motivates us). We always want to do well, and then we see our football team is doing really well making a bowl game, congrats to them, but we always want to do well regardless of what other teams are doing. Even soccer, and all the other programs have been doing well at CU, it's exciting and it makes us want to do the same."

On Growing Expectations
"I try to block all that out. I just try to go out there and do whatever it takes to help the team win. That's the main thing, is just winning."