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BIG TEN CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS

October 19, 2017

Greg Gard

Madison Square Garden - New York, New York

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard.

COACH GARD: I'm not sure on the numbers, this is year three -- I'll check out some other stats. Obviously off to a really good start.

We had two weeks in Australia and New Zealand in August. So our preseason got a kick start and a head start. And now, 12 days into practice, just building off of that, what we learned in Australia and New Zealand. Got a great group of young men that are working extremely hard, want to be good, very easy to coach.

So, just for us, knowing we have to replace a lot that graduated from last year's team, it's been a process of working through youthful experience and continue to grow and get better every day.

So great culture. Like I said, terrific group to coach to this point. They're really eager to learn and get better. And we're excited as we go through the fall.

Q. How will the 20-game conference schedule affect how you approach future nonconference schedules and how you schedule games?
COACH GARD: That's a good question. I think we're continuing to study it. I think we -- obviously the schedule we've always had and built from a nonconference standpoint has been extremely competitive. We're typically in an exempt event. We're playing typically in both Challenges, both in the ACC Challenge and the Gava Cup (phonetic) and home and home in our home state.

We've got a pretty full plate, normally. And now you add two more conference games, obviously, Power Five games. And you have to make a decision on what you're going to substitute out.

And the numbers, obviously, tell you that it's going to help RPI and help the league and those things. So I think it's to be determined yet how each school will go about that and how they will build their schedule. But from our standpoint, strength of schedule has never been an issue and being tested and being ready for what comes. Obviously the league now is going to come earlier than normal, including this year.

So I think it will be some trial and error of how you go through it. But it's going to be great for the game, I know that. It will be maybe not -- put a little more stress on the coaches a little faster, but I think our players are excited about it. I know our fans will be excited about it. It will really increase the quality and spread the quality out of the games you're going to be playing obviously well into December.

Q. Can you talk about one of the games you have on your schedule this year when you guys are playing Temple?
COACH GARD: Yes, that was a home-and-home that was done a few years ago. We played Temple I think two or three years ago at our place and had to move the return a few years down the road.

So I'm excited to do that. I know our players will be, to be able to come to Philadelphia and obviously Fran does a great job of coaching, always has.

So it will be another one of -- you look at our schedule, from mid-November all the way through the end of the first semester for us, by the time we flipped the calendar to 2018 we'll be extremely tested and we'll know where we are and where we need to go. And obviously the game with Temple will be one of those pieces of that challenge.

Q. Just wonder what sort of role you might have played with recruiting D'Mitrik Trice and what sort of season you expect out of him this year?
COACH GARD: I've known his family for a long time because I recruited his older brother, maybe not long enough with Travis. But terrific family. Obviously dad is a coach.

Has all the blood lines to be a really good leader. And the one thing I always liked about Meech, I have an affection for guys that play football and the toughness and some other elements it brings, and really multi-sport athletes. I'm a fan of it.

And D'Mitrik being a high school quarterback, that leadership quality that comes with that, I thought was really important. So for us it was -- we were able to advance the relationship pretty quickly because we knew the family and I trusted all the things that were involved with the family and how he was brought up.

So I'm expecting him to take another step in the leadership role. I thought he did a really good job last year as a freshman of stepping in with an upper classman-dominated team and figure out his role, and his role this year has changed.

He's in a leadership role. He's my point guard. He's doing a really good job of that. And he does a really good job of trying to communicate and understand. Part of being a leader is understanding what makes each teammate tick. And they're all different. You have to approach every teammate a little bit differently.

And I think D'Mitrik's ability to communicate and develop relationships with his teammates is what's jumped out. And he's improved himself as a player. He's stronger. He's quicker. He's improved his skill set. His shooting is better.

So all those visible things are evident. But I think the areas where he'll take the biggest jump and have the biggest impact will be off the court and in the huddles and those type of things when the leadership quality that he possesses kind of really shines.

Q. You lost a lot, Ethan's left. He's a really, really good scorer around the 10, can do all sorts of moves. Does it matter to you that he doesn't shoot jumpers? And do you want him to shoot jumpers? Do you want him to shoot more far away from the basket to help you out, because he'll have to help out in different ways?
COACH GARD: Yeah, the one -- one of his greatest qualities is that he understands who he is. And he understands where his bread is buttered and what he's the best at. Has he worked on his perimeter game? Yes. Has he tried to improve that part? Yes. Is it essential for him to shoot from the perimeter for us to have success? No.

We'll be able to surround him and will surround him with a lot of very capable players, maybe not experienced players right off the bat, but guys that are going to give -- we're going to be a little more multi-dimensional. We'll have a little bit of different look to us.

I think he's improved his game. Physically, he's bigger. He's obviously quicker, stronger. But I wouldn't say it's essential for him to have to shoot the ball from the perimeter.

He's got to continue to do what he does well and that's the one thing that I appreciate, or one of the things I appreciate about him, is that he's blocked out all the outside noise in terms of, well, why don't you shoot this or why don't you -- he's been compared to other bigs that we've had in our program over the years that shot a lot of 3s.

And his strength, he understands what his strength is, that's around the rim, and his quickness and size and how he's able to attack people and his footwork, those things.

His perimeter game has improved, but, again, he understands what makes him really, really good and that's playing with two feet in the paint.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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