BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS

October 19, 2005

Thomas Gardner

Jimmy McKinney

Quin Snyder

Kevin Young

COACH QUIN SNYDER: It's good to be back in Dallas. And good to be here with a few new faces for us. I think our primary goal since the end of last season was to truly become a team and we went about that, I think a number of different ways, particularly with just general emphasis in everything that we did. Having said that, that's a bit of elusive concept and one that can come and go, but I think for us fundamental I had to try to build that foundation of team basketball and that's not to say that we haven't had it in the past but we felt like we need it on an even greater level this year, not just for our potential success, but because it's the right way to play. I think it's something that our guys, I know, will enjoy embracing and I, for one, will enjoy coaching. I think we have made great steps in that regard. Have more work to do obviously, but pleased with our progress with respect to that goal. Thomas Gardner here on my left dressed in blue. Jimmy McKinney also dressed in blue. And Kevin Young dressed in blue. Welcome to these guys. I think three kids that I am incredibly proud of and have shown tremendous leadership ability in the off-season in facilitating some of these subtle shift in attitude.

COACH QUIN SNYDER: I think Jimmy and Thomas have really developed an even greater rapport on the court. You can see them finding one another and when they do implicitly or explicitly recognizing that that's going on. I also think that Kevin has put in a tremendous amount of work in the off-season and is playing with a lot more poise. He still is that anchor in the back of our defense, but is a guy that we feel we can throw the ball to and provide us an even greater interior threat. Our success is still going to come based on whether or not we consistently defend from a day-to-day -- scoring can come from different places, that has been demonstrated early. But I think our kids have enjoyed playing with one another and they have been a very coachable group. I think that bodes well for our ability to improve throughout the course of the year.

COACH QUIN SNYDER: With respect to?

COACH QUIN SNYDER: I think it starts with an attitude, like a desire, kind of an appreciation for the fact that that's the right way to play. I think when you don't make the extra pass or you take a bad shot or you are selfish, first and foremost you have to hate that about yourself. If you can't hate it about yourself that means you don't recognize it and someone needs to point it out to you. In this case someone other than the coach. I think it has to be something that's internalized and that the kids take ownership in. We have not had -- I mean, I can count on one hand the amount of bad shots we have had in practice. We haven't handled the ball as well yet as I think we can, because our defense -- we're trying to really pressure. We are pressuring ourselves into real mistakes. It begins with an attitude and a commitment. Secondly, simple things strategically like spacing, ball movement, screening, man movement, that facilitate those opportunities to play together. If everybody goes and stands in four different corners on the court, you put one guy in the center circle, it's hard to play together. So I think what we have tried to do on the offensive end is encourage our guys with quick ball movement, ball reversal, and various other things offensively to really facilitate that connectedness. I think our guys have embraced it. I think they have found -- the right guys are still getting shots, it involves more playing to roles and strengths where guys have to understand, you know, who needs to get shots, you know, we like to throw it to Jimmy on the post. So when he's down there, you know what, let's give it to him, you know. Thomas, for instance, instead of settling for a 3-point shot, is shot faking and getting in the lane and giving it up to Leo Criswell for a dunk. The things like that that to me are indicative what our mindset is. Is Kevin Young instead of bearing it and trying to go through somebody, pivoting and throwing the ball back out and then playing off penetration. So lots of little things that demonstrate that type of commitment.

COACH QUIN SNYDER: I think Marshall has improved significantly. I think he's still got you know, Marshall Brown isn't going to kind of transform before our eyes from what was really a post player in high school that can shoot the ball into Scotty Pippen. That's not going to happen right now. That's not to say Marshall doesn't need to be working on a daily basis on his perimeter skills. I liken it a lot to Ricky Paulding, in Ricky's development. Although Marshall is bigger and can play more inside, I think Marshall's value to our team is really to embrace his role as a warrior. Marshall guarded Wayne Simeon last year, he guarded Ronny Turiaf. He guarded perimeter players, and if he can do that, as a coach, it's pretty tough not to have him in the game. He's a capable shooter. I think his ball skills are improving. The less he tries to do in a creative tricky way with the ball, I think the better that he will look. Marshall's game right now on the perimeter needs to be one, two dribbles, hard pullup into his jump shot, and to keep working on those other things. I don't want to limit his development, which I think is really important. He needs to keep working on those other things but maybe know that -- it is like a pitcher that has got two pitch chest. You know if you are going to be a great, you know, starter you need to develop you know, a slider and you are working on your slider and maybe it's not ready for prime time yet that doesn't mean you don't keep working on it. Marshall has got, I think some pitches that he continues to work on that, who knows when we're going to see them, who knows, right now he needs to do things simply. Like he needs to dunk two handed instead of one handed because when he does he makes them.

KEVIN YOUNG: What happened last year was just motivated me to work harder. Motivated our team to work harder, even the freshmen that came in know that we just got to work harder, be better players. And, you know, at times everybody gets frustrated a little, but it's just how you handle your frustration and Jimmy and Thomas and Coach, Jason Horton, we all just learn how to deal with it. They taught me how to handle it a lot better. Just go into the next play, don't keep thinking about that play anymore, and that's just how it is for me now. Doesn't really bother me that much now. I just try to play hard, go out there and do my best, I was curious with Linas gone obviously rebounding is going to be a factor for this team, how are you going to kind of supplement that? Is that a team rebounding? Is there one guy who might step up do you have that go-to guy?

COACH QUIN SNYDER: I worry more about that than I do scoring. I think when you look at Linas's production, Linas shot below 40 percent from the field and I think in Big 12 play was right around 13 percent from the 3-point line. From efficiency standpoint scoring-wise, Linas wasn't necessarily our most efficient offensive player. Now he did other things to create offense for other players. I feel like if we're more after team offensively we'll be able to generate better shots and shoot a better percentage. Having said that, when there was a big defensive rebound, Linas Kleiza went and got it. There were times whether it was on a free throw, he was a man possessed, and I don't know if it was because he wanted to get fouled and get back to the line to can score again, or he wanted the ball. But nevertheless, he got so many big rebounds for us. That's something that I don't know that we can replace that. I mentioned Marshall earlier. I think Marshall athletically, he doesn't have the bulk that Linas has. Linas is a wider body but I think Marshall needs to be -- when I say being a warrior that needs to be something that he needs to take on. The other thing is we got to gang rebound. We can't have Jimmy kind of taking two steps back. He has got to go -- we got to see Jimmy McKinney going up and grabbing a rebound away from someone, you know, at the rim. We have got to see Thomas Gardner driving a big guy under the goal so that Jason Horton can sweep up a ball. We have got to gang rebound. That to me goes with a defensive mentality. But Linas is as good a defensive rebounder as I have seen in a long time. He was a warrior on the glass. And I think our guys know that. Something that we have talked about and we have really worked hard on, some of those physicality drills just getting used to banging each other and developing some pride in that, but that's a concern. Especially against teams with height, you know, where they are batting it around, we're going to have to be a group that where we have five guys just really mixing it up down there.

COACH QUIN SNYDER: I think we're in better shape right now than we have been in, in a while. I think -- I have maintained this for a few years, our strength and conditioning coach, Jeff Watkinson, I think is as good as anybody and really good at gauging where our guys are. You don't want to run the race next week. You want to run the race throughout the course of the year. And the thing that we haven't had in a long time frankly is depth. I mean, two years ago we had -- we have had 4 perimeter players. Then we had -- when Linas got hurt we had 3 interior players. Last year we had 4 freshmen, 3 perimeter players. One of them was Horton, one game was suspended, then we had Brian Daily (phonetic), a walk on. So we have got some depth right now that I think has pushed guys in practice to play at a higher level. I worry less about our conditioning physically as I do our focus mentally, kind of changing style a little bit where Jimmy has got to know that if it's not 30 minutes, and it's 24 or 25 that those 24 minutes can be way more productive even from a numbers standpoint. Certainly more efficient, but it may be that in 24 minutes that he's not having to take a rest; that he's running the lane harder, and I look at it a little bit like, we need guys coming off the top turn buckle, tag beginning each other, and going after it. Again, it gets back to a team first mentality -- you will see it the first time a guy comes out of the game and pouts, you know what, you are not going to get back in. You may not get back in for two games and we can do that right now. We can do that right now because we don't -- because I don't have to suit up. We have got other guys that can come in and play that want to play and I don't think we're going to have those problems. I think we have matured a lot. I think we can play unbelievably hard. For us to be good, we have got to play harder than the people we play against and we have got to play more unselfishly.