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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 7, 2011

Seth Greenberg

COACH GREENBERG: We had a good week, it could have been a great week. We were unable to finish it. Playing three games in six days. We went up to Boston against a very good Boston College team that executes extremely well and plays hard. Had a chance, but just didn't finish it.
But Jeff Allen had one of his better games as a Hokie. I mean, it seemed like he got every single defensive rebound and finished around the basket. We did some good things, we got some good shots, we just didn't make shots.
I say all the time, it's a make and miss game. We couldn't get a stop at the end. We did a poor job at the end of the game guarding the basketball, and that cost us.
But we got a road win this week, which is a good thing and hard to come by. But I think it's good we have some time off that we can get back to our defensive fundamentals. Going two weeks in a row with three games is not an easy deal. But we're excited about having two good days of practice, taking a day off, and getting ready for an extremely athletic Georgia Tech team.

Q. Give me your take on a week off at this time of the season being good or bad?
COACH GREENBERG: That's a good question. I'll tell you next week. That's a good question. In a perfect world we'd like to have maybe a non-conference game on Tuesday or Wednesday. Knowing that we were going to -- obviously, we didn't know we were going to play on Sunday when the schedule came out.
I think with our situation in terms of our numbers, I think it works a little bit to our advantage in that we can still practice this week and do a lot of three on three and four on four, and get back to our fundamentals which I think has slipped in the last few weeks because we've played so many games and we've been a little cautious in practice.
So I think it comes at a good time. We'll get a chance to watch everyone else beat each other up for the week and take a deep breath.
My biggest concern probably is that we don't go up and down very much because of our numbers and our inability to simulate an opponent in practice. I'm going to have to make myself at least make the guys do some transition stuff to keep them in game shape and game speed.

Q. Given your numbers this year, how do you balance, especially in a week like this, how do you balance rest and resting legs versus work? Like you're saying fundamentals and transition and stuff like that. How do you balance that? Have you had a situation like this before where you've really had to walk this tight rope?
COACH GREENBERG: No, I've never had a situation like that. But what we're trying to do is shorter but hard, short and hard. We'll go Monday, Tuesday, take off Wednesday, and go Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
The other thing is keeping the kids attention. When they know they don't have a game for the week this time of the year, you don't want bad practices. So we gave them off yesterday. And we'll go today and tomorrow, more fundamentals. Closeouts, one-on-one, help them recover, communication, skill work. Lot of shooting, but short and quick.
Probably don't want to be in there more than an hour and 20 minutes either of these days. Get good lifts in. I'm very, very aware and cognizant of our guys staying mentally and emotionally sharp, and not getting worn down in any of those other aspects.
There is so much strain on the kids this time of the year when you're in our situation. You've got a chance. And the result, success or failure is blown so far out of proportion. In the end we'll find out. When the season's over, we'll know where we stand. We've just got to take it one day at a time.

Q. Coach Bzdelik called it a loaded question, so I apologize in advance. Can you talk about the delicate balance of having to work with players and their parents and other hangers on that may be trying to influence their playing time or their starting position or that kind of thing? Is that a problem ever, or is it something that you have to deal with?
COACH GREENBERG: I think it's something you deal with before the fact. I send a letter out to our parents before the season. Basically telling them if you have a concern about social, academic or any other type of issue, feel free to give me a call, but I'm not going to discuss playing time.
Because once you discuss playing time, another player's name usually comes up in conversation, and I don't think it's right to discuss another player when that Parent isn't available to have their toward cents.
I just tell them that playing time is earned in practice. I love all my players, and they'll all get an opportunity to play. For us it isn't that impossible to play all eight of them. But that's not something I really discuss during the course of the season.
After the season, I sit down with all of them and meet with anyone and everyone. But during the season, my number one concern has to be what's in the best interest of our team.

Q. Give me your take on how you guys are playing defensively right now? How will you balance zone and man you think on the rest of the season?
COACH GREENBERG: I'm not really pleased with our -- I wasn't pleased with our defense Saturday, that's for sure. Just on the ball. I think it really depends on who we're playing. There's been some personnel on the other team and who they are in the game. But probably 70-30, maybe 50-50, depending on the opponent.
I did not think we were as alert as we needed to be. Our communication was not what it needed to be. Again, I don't believe that fatigue is an issue with three games in six days. I think it was harder to play the three 9:00 o'clock games in a row on the road than the three games in six days.
But we sure didn't guard the ball very well at the end of the game the other day. So we've got to get back to our defensive is fundamentals. We're going to spend the next two days closing out one-on-one defense, early help, being in a stance, getting to a good spot. So hopefully we can shore that up by just reinforcing it the next few days.
Again, we're not going to berate the guys. They're trying. It's just at this time of the season sometimes you need to go back and get back to your foundation which sometimes you don't have a chance to do when you're playing three games in six days two weeks in a row.

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