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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 21, 2013Brad BrownellBRAD BROWNELL: I certainly thought our guys played very well the last‑‑ at least the middle 30 minutes of the game, maybe not the last three minutes and certainly not the first five minutes, but played well against a talented NC State team yesterday, and disappointed we couldn't find a way to win at the end. Proud of the way our guys responded after having been down 10‑0 and thought we showed some growth in the game. Q. I wanted to ask you about Devin Booker in terms of obviously he's a veteran guy, a guy you were counting on, but he really seems to have elevated his game in ACC play. He's gone up against some of the guys, Mason Plumlee and Richard Howell Saturday, either played them to a standstill or outplayed them. Can you talk about what he's doing and what he's giving you? BRAD BROWNELL: Well, he's played great in the league without question. I wish we could have gotten a few more of these games out of him in the non‑conference. I don't know if some of it is probably a combination of factors. I think it's us doing a better job of getting him the ball in good places, and I think a lot of it is really just his confidence. I think Devin is a guy who's maybe not been 100 percent comfortable all the time down in the low post, and he's really had to work at it these last couple of years as he's gotten to play down there. Really his sophomore year when we had Jerai Grant he didn't get to play down there very much. He played out on the perimeter some and a little bit down there, and then last year and this year he's been down there, and he's just ‑‑ this year I just sense a more willingness to actually be a true low post player. He's always kind of wanted to fringe out some and certainly showed last night ‑ he made two jump shots ‑ that he can make a high post shot. But he needs to continue to work down in the low post. That's where he does his best work, and I think a lot of it really is his just confidence of having played well in a couple of games this year, and kind of looking around our team and realizing that we're playing with mostly young players and that he's the guy. He and Milton had to be the guys to make plays for us, and we've done a better job of helping him, and he's done a tremendous job in ACC play of scoring. And like last night he found a bunch of different ways to do it, which was exciting for me to see, and that's why he had 27 instead of 16. He got offensive rebounds, he got transition baskets, made a couple jump shots, he made some low post moves off of sets, he made some low post moves off of motion, ball screen stuff. So he scored in a variety of ways, and that's what you have to be able to do to produce 20‑point nights. Q. In terms of you talk about with a young team you only have the two veterans, can you talk about his role as a leader and what he does? Is it just by example? BRAD BROWNELL: Yeah, he's not a very vocal guy. It's one of the things I would complain about with him in regards to I wish he would do a better job of holding his teammates accountable. He's not an overly fiery guy. He's very laid back, and it's hard to turn his personality that way. We've talked to him about it at times, but he just is more comfortable just kind of going about his business. But he's really had a professional approach to the way he's doing things this year, I think, and it's been fun for me as a coach to watch him as he improves and as he gains confidence. He's getting a little bit of a swagger out on the court of a guy who's a good player, and he's earned that. Q. This is I believe the first rematch of the ACC season since you've already played Florida State one time down at their place less than three weeks ago. That's kind of an unusual circumstance. What do you recall from that first game that will be beneficial this time around playing on the road? BRAD BROWNELL: Well, we got down a good bit and didn't play well early, and Florida State made a bunch of threes. They got some in transition on us, and then we had some young guys make some really poor decisions defensively that resulted in some open shots. To Florida State's credit, they made them. They have a very good perimeter shooting team. They came in here really ready to play and really just outplayed us in that game. So we've got to regroup and try to go down on the road and find a way to win. Q. They've had some struggles recently. Obviously they sort of got‑‑ their offense got strangled at Virginia, which has happened to other teams up there, too. Are they kind of a‑‑ do you look at them as a team that you don't want to poke too hard for fear they might really awake? BRAD BROWNELL: Well, I don't think that I'm going to be the one poking them. I think Leonard is going to be the one poking them in practice to be honest with you. I wouldn't worry about that. I'm pretty sure that they're going to have difficult practices here, and Leonard is going to have them ready to play. They don't have the kind of success that he's had down there doing that‑‑ I mean, Leonard and I are in similar situations, young teams. He's playing a bunch of young players, too, and this is what happens sometimes with young teams. It's difficult for these guys to play as well as you would like them to play consistently at this level when they're facing competition every night that is very challenging, and the intensity of the games is certainly ratcheted up a notch when you come into league play and the arenas are full and every possession is meaningful. And I think you're going to have some times when your young players aren't going to play as well as you'd like. Q. Particularly in the Wake Forest game you had a knack for blocking shots, KJ McDaniels in particular. Is that just something that this team does well, that you emphasize? How does that manifest during games? BRAD BROWNELL: Well, I can assure you as a 6'4" white guy from Indiana who probably had four blocked shots in his career that I have nothing to do with it. The guys who block shots on our team, KJ and Devin Booker, it's not something we go around and do a lot of practicing. We don't talk a lot about it. It's something those guys just have, and it's innate ability to get off the floor quickly, and certainly KJ is the one that's even more surprising because he's 6'5" and not some 6'9" center that you would normally see doing those kinds of things. It's just a knack that those guys have, and there are times we encourage them to block the shots obviously because they have the ability, and then there are times we'd rather them wall up and be more physical and just use their chest to bother players. But certainly it's not anything that I help them with. Q. Just watching the game against NC State, the guy that really struck me that looked different was Rod Hall. His ability to get to the basket down the stretch was a thing that kept you in it a lot. Can you talk about him? He's a sophomore playing the point, and just how he's developed and come along at that position? BRAD BROWNELL: You know, he's a tough kid. He's a guy who didn't play point guard in high school but has a lot of the characteristics that you would want in a point guard. He's a guy that embraces passing the ball and sharing the ball. He really just wants to win games. He's not a guy that would ever even look at a stat sheet to care what he did in a game. He's a guy that I think can do some good things, make winning plays because he's strong enough that when he gets into the paint he can shoot through people with size. He's a good passer. He's really a good defender. He's a guy that can guard point guards and bother the ball handler, but he can also fight guys off screens and guard shooters off screens. We've had him guard Joe Harris from Virginia at times in games against them. He's a versatile guy that has a great sense of how to play. He's a guy who's gaining confidence certainly as he's in his sophomore season, is starting to play a little bit better. He's a guy who I'm trying to get to shoot a little more. He really is a better shooter than people realize. He doesn't have one of those pretty shots, but he's a guy that can make shots. He really makes 17‑foot shots at an unbelievably high percentage even in practice. He just doesn't shoot a lot of threes. He's a guy who can make some, and he's kind of a big‑game shooter type guy. So we feel comfortable with him on the floor. Q. Could you give us an update on Blossomgame's condition? BRAD BROWNELL: Yeah, Jaron is probably I would say 80, 85 percent healthy. He just doesn't have full strength in the leg. He is practicing and working out with us every day and going through competitive drills and can do all that, but there's certainly a little bit of a lack of explosiveness that they're hoping and thinking will come back as he gets full strength in the leg. But he obviously broke both bones in his leg and had the surgery I think it was in April, and it's been a little frustrating for all of us to not have him helping us this year, but it's been a good learning experience for him, and he and Devin Coleman, we have two guys sitting out this year, but both guys now have finally returned to practice here this week, and not 100 percent either one of them, but on the mend, so that's good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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