1/6/2014: Fran McCaffery teleconference transcript (premium)
Posted on 06. Jan, 2014 by admin in Iowa Basketball
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
Below is a written transcript of Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery’s teleconference on Monday with the Big Ten media:
McCaffery’s opening statement:
“We had a decent week in terms of the fact we went 1-for-2. We won at home against a very good Nebraska team. We played well at times obviously at Wisconsin, who is a very good team and I think we’re getting great play out of a lot of different people. Most important, Roy Devyn Marble and Aaron White I think are both playing at a very high level. We look forward to competing this week.”
On whether he wishes he handled his ejection Sunday night differently:
“Oh, definitely. I think the game, you know, was unique in the sense that you know, we played near-flawless basketball for the first 20 minutes, especially in that environment, and I felt really good about that. We deviated from that in the second half and things were going in the wrong direction for us. You know, I wasn’t pleased with a couple of calls. Not out of the ordinary. That happens. You know, I felt like we needed to change some things, so I felt like the first ‘T’ was expected. No question about that.
“Really wish I hadn’t gotten the second one. You know, I think you’ve got to be able to assess things that happen. That’s what you ask your players to do and you know, you’ve got to be able to address that yourself and say, ‘All right. Not what I wanted, how I put our team in a position that benefited them.’ I think, you know, you’ve got to be man enough to admit that and say I regret that. You know, I don’t want to, in any way, put them in that position.
“Additionally, I would never want to do anything that would in any way embarrass the university. You know, we live in a different world where you get a double T 10 years ago, you get a double T and that was it. Now everyone looks at it, everybody wants to assess it and weigh in on it and that’s just part of the world we live in.
“To that end, I don’t want to ever do anything to embarrass the school, but more importantly, do anything to put our team in a position where it would make it harder for them to win. So I regret the second T.”
On finding that fine line of knowing what to say when as a coach:
“You know, that is a very good question and I think in many ways, it’s hard to define because I think it differs as a situation differs. You know, you almost have to say, ‘O.K., where was everybody positioned? Who was the crew?’ You know, in a perfect world, you say your peace, you get banged. You know, you’ll hope that will jumpstart things a little bit. You know, your assistants come and get you. They walk away. They pulled me away and we move on. They hit two free throws and we’re done with it.
“You know, it was unfortunate I think in that situation because you know, I was venting and it was bang-bang. But you’ve got to be able to walk away when the first one hits. It’s that simple. You can’t get the second one because you’re giving them two more. That’s not what we need at that point. You know, and sometimes, you’ve got to go along with it. Some guys won’t. Like I said, there are a lot of different things and that’s why you’ve got to rely on your staff a little bit and yourself. I shouldn’t have done that.”
On Josh Oglesby’s return to the rotation and the impact that has:
“Well you know, he brings experience and solid play. He didn’t score it last night, but I thought he had some great passes. You know, he’s a threat. They guard him in such a way that he does provide space for some other people and I think what you’re seeing with him is he’ll just keep getting better and better.”
On whether he was trying to get that first technical intentionally to send a message to his team:
“Yeah. No question. No question. I mean, it wasn’t like I was surprised. Right? I mean, and they did exactly what I thought. But what I got to do then is turn around. I was talking to one guy, the other guy banged me, you know, I say something else and boom, he ran me. So I got to be smart enough not to do that.”
On the contact that may have occurred with one of the officials just before the second technical:
“There wasn’t any.”
On the success Wisconsin is having sitting at 15-0 for the first time ever after Sunday’s game:
“I don’t know that there’s anything other than they’re staying true to what they do. They do have an experienced team. They do have five 3-point shooters that start and seven 3-point shooters in the top eight and eight scorers in the top eight. They don’t turn the ball over.
“So you know, they’re always a threat to come back. They’re always a threat to make shots late. You’re not going to beat them with them missing free throws late. You’re not going to do that. So it really is going to take a tremendous effort to get them because of all of those factors. You know, I think they really share the ball. When you have scorers like that, that are really unselfish, you know, they’re just going to keep scoring throughout the game and it puts incredible pressure on your defense.
“We played probably as good a defense as they’ve seen in the first 20 minutes. But you knew they were going to make a move and they did.”
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