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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 14, 2013Brad BrownellBRAD BROWNELL: Proud of our guys. We had a really nice win and a very physical game against Virginia on Saturday. Played well. It was good to see our two seniors, Devin Booker and Milt Jennings, play well together. Devin has played well throughout most of the ACC season, first couple games anyway, and it was just nice to have Milt back in a good rhythm and thought that was a big part of the game was their leadership and their excellent play. Q. I'm working on a story on scoring in college basketball, and it seems to be down a bit over recent years. I know you guys struggled last week against Duke. I was wondering, from a coaching standpoint, what do you say to your guys in timeouts or during the half when you guys are in a drought or how do you approach it with them as it continues to linger on? BRAD BROWNELL: Well, I think you have to look at the kind of shots you're getting. Are you getting quality shots? And if so, then I think you're encouraging. You're encouraging them to continue to run good offense and try to get the ball to the places on the floor that you feel like guys can make some shots and do positive things. You know, when you play certain teams, especially like a Duke, they're going to be difficulties of getting it to go places sometimes, so you kind of know that you're going to have to do some other things or they're going to force you into some things. But if you're getting decent shots, if you feel like you're getting it to good places on the court where you want it, I think you encourage that. If you're taking shots that are too quick or sometimes young players try to go a little bit too one‑on‑one when you feel pressure, and when you want to make a good play, you revert back to old habits, and most of the time young players, their habits are to put their head down and go try to make a play for themselves as opposed to either being patient and staying within the offense or having the ability to drive the ball and then make the second and third reads on penetration because you're going to get stopped at the rim, number one, the dump‑down pass is probably not there if you play a good team, and so now you've got to makeyour ‑‑ not unlike a quarterback, under pressure you've got to make a third read. That sometimes is difficult, especially for young players. We have a lot of young players, and those guys really aren't ready to do all that all the time yet. They're not used to doing that. So you just get back to the film room, show them some tape, clips, and try to work on it in practice. Q. Do you think the fact that college basketball has maybe become a younger game, does that play a part‑‑ BRAD BROWNELL: I think that's a part of it, no doubt. I think the lack of experience is certainly part of the‑‑ it's going to lead to some poor decision making. I also think the defenses are much more sophisticated now than they were 15 years ago. I think people understand what people are trying to do offensively and make much more of a conscious effort to take you out of your normal rhythm of offense and force guys to do other things. Especially with young players, when that does happen in difficult environments, it's not easy. Q. Just to follow up on that topic a little bit, do you think it warps your numbers just a little bit that you opened the ACC against three of the teams that have consistently played the best defense in recent years, Florida State, Duke and Virginia? BRAD BROWNELL: Well, certainly it does. You're not going to have your best statistics against those kinds of teams. But unfortunately there's a lot of teams that defend pretty well in this league, and to be successful and to get where you want to be, you've got to be able to execute in those kinds of environments. Now, I think as a realist, as a coach, there are going to be some things that other teams are going to be able to take you out of, either because of their style or personnel, and you're going to have to make some adjustments. Again, when you're dealing with younger players, I don't think it's as easy to do that. Things come quickly, games come quickly, and those guys just aren't used to that kind of environment, number one. I mean, we only had two players that had ever been in Cameron before, and it's a little intimidating at times. I think it just‑‑ the pressure and what you're playing against, it can mount a little bit, and you just revert back to hold habits, which are to put your head down and go try to make individual plays. Q. Usually older teams play better defense; would you agree with that? And if so, you've got only two really older players. BRAD BROWNELL: Yeah, it's all relative now. If you have some really good, young players, it's like they say, good young player, I'd rather have a good young player than an average older player. You want talent over experience if the talent is better. But there is something to be said for experience and just being in environments and handling certain situations, and I think it's‑‑ the one thing is as a coach, it's much more difficult to make adjustments. Things you could make on the fly, maybe in games or at halftime, you're hesitant. Or even in preparation for a game, if you only have a day or two to get ready, sometimes you'd like to change something or make an adjustment, and it's not as easy to do that if your team is younger and hasn't been used to those kinds of things. So I think that can all play into it, no doubt. Q. You know, I was just thinking, though, the game I saw you guys play against Duke, everybody talks about you only had 10 points in the first half, but you limited them, and they're one of the best offensive teams in the country, to 25 in the first half. You must have been pretty happy with your defensive performance. BRAD BROWNELL: You know what, I was. We played a lot better than it looked when you go back and look at it because you play 10‑‑ you only score 10 points, and I think we were 3 for 25 maybe, something along those lines. I mean, you're in transition defense a lot against a team as explosive as Duke, and for our guys to only give up 25, we really did defend well, because defending in transition is much more difficult than just handing somebody the ball and guarding them, and certainly Duke is as explosive as anybody. Our guys played very competitively in the half. We just‑‑ you just have to be able to make some shots. We missed a few shots around the rim, and certainly they sped us up a little bit. But I thought we played pretty well for 20 minutes. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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