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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 3, 2011

Jeff Bzdelik

JEFF BZDELIK: I'll just go ahead and take questions. Thank you.

Q. I wanted to ask you about -- I know you have this non-conference game coming up Wednesday but then after that it's all conference games for the remainder of the season for you. As the team that has a reliance upon freshmen as yours has had to be, how ready are they do you think for the rigors of an ACC schedule?
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, we're working on it obviously, and those who have followed our basketball team, we are getting better slowly. Experience, hey, the only way you do that is just to experience it, plain and simple. You know, we've played on the road at Xavier, we've played Richmond, we've played Gonzaga recently here, and I think we're gradually understanding the physicality and the quickness and the force of college basketball at its best. Obviously the competition will get tougher and tougher; we know that.
I see progress. We need to take care of the basketball better. We need to finish our plays defensively by defensive rebounding better. We're seeing slight improvement on that.
So hey, let's -- we're looking forward to the challenge of the ACC schedule. We know that to be the best we have to play against the very best, and obviously that will happen very soon.

Q. Most of these guys came out of winning basketball programs in high school, and I just wonder how they're adjusting to not being able to win as consistently as they used to.
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, that's part of life; you don't always get what you want. That's just the way it is. You know what, all these high school players come from programs that obviously have won; otherwise they wouldn't be playing at this particular level. But when you lose a team of five seniors and a lottery pick in Al-Farouk, and one of those seniors, Ish Smith is a pro and all the experience that they had, obviously there's going to be an adjustment period, especially when you play the number of young players that we are playing, coupled with the challenges that this young basketball team has encountered with Tony Woods in that particular situation, coupled with Tony Chennault, our only true point guard in our program with a screw now in his foot, C.J. Harris, who's doing a very good job under the circumstances considering he's never played the point, including throughout his high school career.
So it's an adjustment, but hey, you can't put your head down. As a coaching staff our job is to be positive, to teach, to correct, to encourage and to motivate, and you can't look back. You have to just continue to look forward, and that's, like I said, part of life; you don't always get what you want. Winning is a hard thing. You need to understand what it takes to win, and we will continue to strive for that.

Q. How important is this game this week to maybe get a little bit of confidence going into this season, especially since you've already lost to a couple teams in High Point's league, maybe just to get your footing a little bit before this next stretch?
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, obviously my players understand that no matter what name is across the chest -- they understand it now. No matter what name is across the chest, everybody can play. You need to bring your very best effort individually and collectively every time the ball is thrown up. They have found that out the hard way, and obviously it's a big game for us. We want to get that winning feeling one more time here before we encounter the ACC obviously, and it's a chance to show progress once again. We're playing longer stretches of good basketball now, we just need to continue to get more and more of those stretches and just lengthen that out so we can win some games.

Q. For those of us that aren't local, you mentioned Tony Chennault has a screw in his foot. What's the prognosis, and when do you reach the point where you decide to hold him out for the season and save the eligibility?
JEFF BZDELIK: I believe you asked about Tony Chennault. You were kind of breaking up. You asked about his progress?

Q. Yes, sir.
JEFF BZDELIK: And where do we reach the point of deciding whether to red shirt him or not?

Q. Yes, sir, that's it.
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, you know, he's been cleared for full rehab, and if everything goes well in about another ten days, he will be cleared for full basketball activity. And so we're just taking it day by day.
If after he's released for full basketball activity, if things go well, there's a chance according to the doctors that he'll be able to play at least a dozen ACC games. If that is the case and his foot feels great and he's responding well and medically he is 100 percent that he can play regular season ACC games, maybe 10 or 11 or whatever, we will sit down with he and his family and decide if we should play him.
So right now we've put that thought on the back burner to just let nature take its course and see just exactly where he is when he is ready to play and then deal with it then at that time with his family and himself and the medical people.
I will not jeopardize a young man's health at all. We will think of that foot, we will err on the side of caution, but if he responds well and he's 100 percent physically ready to go, he will play.

Q. I know you guys play Wednesday, but you'll see NC State at the end of the week in your ACC game. I just wanted to know what are some of your thoughts on the Wolf Pack?
JEFF BZDELIK: I'll be honest with you; I have no thoughts on the Wolf Pack right now because the only concern I have is our game Wednesday night and getting my team better today in practice, which will start in about 20 minutes here, and that's obviously no disrespect to North Carolina State whatsoever. Believe me, Wednesday after our game with High Point, I will dive right into NC State and everything, and by Thursday noon I will know everything I can know about them, and that's just how we progress.
Our next opponent is High Point, and that's who we're concerned with, along with making sure that our basketball team is getting better on a daily basis, as well.

Q. You guys had a relatively good result against a good Gonzaga team. What kind of progress is your team making? Obviously the record is not where you want it to be, but what kind of progress do you think the team is making?
JEFF BZDELIK: Well, you know, against Richmond, for example, we had a tie game with 11 minutes to go at Richmond and then with eight minutes to go in the game at Richmond we were down just two possessions, and yesterday we were down two possessions with about three minutes to go. So what I'm seeing is we're taking a little bit better care of the basketball, we're defending a little bit better, we're executing a little bit better. Our players are getting a little bit more confident in terms of understanding the collegiate game at this level.
Everything is slowly getting a little bit better, and that's all I want as a coach is just continue to see growth and togetherness. It's interesting, I met with all of my young -- I met with all of my players just recently, which I do every couple of weeks, and I had players respond to me by saying -- making statements like, Coach, I didn't realize so much of the game is played without the ball. I made a statement to them that if they play a 40-minute game, 35 minutes are plays -- if you played all 40 minutes, you would play about 35 minutes without touching the basketball. You'd only have the basketball in your hands for five minutes. I had one freshman tell me, Coach, I never realized that; I always had the ball in my hand, and I realize how important all these other little things are.
I had another freshman tell me, Coach, I didn't realize there were so many good players out there. Well, yes, there are. In other words, all young players experience this, and yet we have so many that we have to depend on. I've looked out there many times and I've seen three, maybe four freshmen out there at once, along with players like Ty Walker who are playing more minutes than they've ever played in their life. Gary Clark, my lone senior, is playing more minutes right now than he's ever played in his career.
So it's an adjustment for everyone, and I'm seeing growth. I'm seeing more of a competitive nature in our games against quality teams now, so we just need to continue to get better and stay positive and understand where we are and where we need to go.

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