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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 3, 2011

Frank Haith

THE MODERATOR: We have with us Miami head basketball coach Frank Haith. Coach, if you could, a few comments about your team, and we'll open it up for questions.
COACH HAITH: Well, we opened up ACC play last night at Duke. Thought our kids played extremely hard, very competitive game. Going back, looking at it last night, you have Reggie Johnson got his second foul. Score I think was 22-20 or something like that. Nolan hits three threes. They go on an 11-0 run. I think the game was pretty even throughout the game. I thought we had a chance in the second half. Cut it to 9. We had a chance to get a stop. There was a flagrant foul. Instead of getting a chance to cut it to 7 or 6 with plenty of time left, we were down 13 after that play with the flagrant foul, two shots, and they scored also.
All in all, for our first ACC game, I thought our guys competed really hard. It was a hard-fought game.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it for questions.

Q. Frank, Duke's No. 1. They're the only ACC-ranked team. You guys played on their home court. It was a very competitive game. Is there really as big a gap between Duke and the rest of the league as the rankings seem to indicate?
COACH HAITH: You know what, I think it's just amazing to me, our league. It is what it is. I think Duke is the best team in the country. But obviously our league is not used to that right now in terms of the perception right now of what you just talked about.
Time will tell. I think we've got to win some games and other teams in this league have got to win some games. I think it's going to be a competitive year, I really do. There have been a lot of tough out-of-conference losses for this league. I think this team is very competitive and time will tell.

Q. Could you talk about Reggie Johnson a little bit. Seems as though he's taken a big leap from his freshman to sophomore year.
COACH HAITH: Reggie is playing very, very well. I think he's got a chance to be a really good player. He's only a sophomore. He's continued to work on his conditioning. He has some physical attributes that give him a chance always because he's got great hands, and for a big guy he makes free throws. Just got to keep him on the floor more. I think he's having trouble staying on the floor, getting in foul trouble. His production is really good.
Hopefully as he progresses and matures more, he'll stay out of foul trouble. He gives us a post presence, which I think is good, because I think our guard play is pretty good. Having a guy like that is very helpful, you can throw the ball inside to, that can go score. Back to basket guys are hard to find sometimes. He's a guy that can score with his back to the basket and be productive in the same area.

Q. How many guys 300 pounds have you had that can move the way he does?
COACH HAITH: I haven't seen one. He's got great agility. He runs the court pretty well. When you see those numbers, obviously the first thing in your mind is, We got to run him, we got to run him. The only time that Reggie doesn't get back is when he's late, when he's fatigued or whatever.
But he's got really good agility. During his time at Miami over his tenure, he gets a couple more pounds off, gets down to 280, you'll see him be even more agile. Like I said, for a guy his size, he moves pretty well. He leads our team in charges. He's not afraid to go on the floor and take a charge. Those things are very hard to find in a big guy.

Q. Frank, there are several teams in the league that are just heavily dependent upon freshmen this year. You're working yours in because you have a more veteran team. How do you gauge their progress so far, and if they're in the ACC portion of the schedule, that we'll see them playing more minutes or fewer minutes?
COACH HAITH: I think Rion Brown is someone who we need to play more. He didn't play much last night. But we do need him because he can score the ball. I think he brings a lot to the table in that record.
He is youthful. Erik Swoope, who is now in our starting lineup, has just got better and better as time has moved on. He's really playing a position he only practiced at two or three weeks. We started him at the perimeter. But he's learning to play in the post. He worked in the post in high school.
It's been great. Both those guys I think we'll play more. Raphael and (indiscernible) will probably get opportunities too in the post. But I do think we want all freshmen to play a little bit more.

Q. Having just seen Duke last night, from afar, what do you admire most about a player like Nolan Smith over four years you've got to see a lot of him?
COACH HAITH: I think he's really just made great strides. Talking to my staff after the game, we talked about Nolan's development over the last three years, four years he's been in the league. He's just gotten better and better. He's an All-American. He's put himself in position to be one of the best players not just in our league but in the country, and a tremendous kid. He has a great disposition out there on the court. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a player and a person.

Q. When you talk about his disposition, what stands out to you?
COACH HAITH: He's become a leader in terms of how he carries himself. You can see his communication with his teammates. He just plays the game. He really just plays the game. Looks like he's enjoying playing the game.
He doesn't let things bother him. I think that comes from his maturity. But just seeing that growth, how he carries himself, is very impressive.

Q. From what you've seen of your team to this point, do you look at the team and say, If we do certain things as well or better we can be one of the better teams in the ACC?
COACH HAITH: I think we can be an upper division team in the top six. I've said this all along. We just got to continue to get better. I think there's little things we got to tweak and get better with.
But I like our team a lot. I think we have a chance. I mean, we continue to grow. Our guard play is really good. I think you always have to have good guard play to be good in this league. I think we've got good guards.
We have a post presence. We got to bring some of the other guys along and continue to improve our bench and I think we got a chance to be an upper division team.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for taking time being with us today. We'll hear from you next week.
COACH HAITH: Thank you.
THE MODERATOR: That concludes today's basketball teleconference. Thank you for taking part.

End of FastScripts

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