Indiana University Athletics
Tom Crean Previews Matchup vs. Maryland
1/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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BLOMINGTON, Ind. - Read what head coach Tom Crean had to say as he previewed Thursday's game vs. Maryland (9 p.m.; ESPNU).
On Maryland and IU players growing over season:
“I don’t know Mark real well, but I know him enough to know I think he was excited about his team. I think that’s pretty obvious when you watch the way that they play and I haven’t gone back to any film from last year, so I really don’t know what the difference is there. They can play through everybody on the court, and I think that’s what makes them rare.”
On Maryland’s players and what they do well:
“They’re a tremendous low post passing team, especially Dez Wells. They can pass without the dribble. Smotrycz and Layman are unique in that not only can they shoot and drive, but they can really pass. They can rebound. Trimble does so many different things for them, but he’s also the beneficiary of being around some really good players. Nickens is a tremendous 3 point shooter. Wells is a tremendous 3 point shooter. Pack can get a shot at the rim and shoot three’s. Trimble is so good at drawing contact and getting to the foul line, as they all are.”
On similarities between Maryland and IU:
“They’ve got a lot of length. They’re size is really hard to deal with. I think we’re going to see that tomorrow night. They’ve beaten teams that have played spread out basketball and they have beaten teams that have played along the 3-point line. We’re just going to have to see what the game gives us.
“Certainly we want to get the game in transition, as I would imagine that they would. There are similarities in the sense that I think you can see there’s good chemistry on the court with guys pulling for one another and playing together. I think those kind of things stand out. They’re one of the best passing teams I’ve seen and I’m not sure we’re at that point. We’re not at a point where we can play through everybody on the court. Some similarities, but they’ve earned their stripes, they’ve earned their ranking, they’ve earned their notoriety because of the way they’ve played the entire year.”
On Yogi’s leadership:
“It’s ongoing. Moving without the ball, he’s a committed two-way player. He’s committed to defense. The thing he has to make sure of is that he doesn’t let offense dictate his defense. The key sign of leadership, the key sign of consistency is if something is not going well for you in one area, that you don’t let it take away from another area. He’s driving the ball extremely well. He had tremendous poise the other day.”
On Maryland:
“They can play a lot of different line ups. They can go with five shooters, and create a lot of havoc around the basket. This is not a game where we’re going to match up with three 5-11 guys. We’ve got to really move them.”
On Dez Wells:
“Wells is as good of a passer as there is in the conference in my mind. He’s doing things in that low post that we were doing with Dwyane Wade back at Marquette. I’m not calling him Dwyane Wade, I’m saying he has the ability to do that out of a low post. It’s an unbelievable weapon. When you start talking about length and versatility and size and skill set, Wells is as hard a match up as there is in the conference.
“This team is, if you watched UConn last year, it’s very similar to that. There’s probably even more skilled guys up front and there’s even more guys that can create offense for other people. They’re the real deal. They’ve built it and they’re a little bit older than people realize. They’ve been down the road a little bit, and they’ve got some good young players playing, but I wouldn’t say there’s anybody that we’ve played that has that size and that skill set that they have.
“If we go into the game overly worried or concerned about how we’re going to guard the post, we wouldn’t even show up for the game. We’re not there. Emmitt’s getting better certainly, but the key is to fight. We’ve got to mix things up. That’s just how we have to be right now. Emmitt is learning how to guard those positions, as is Collin, as is Troy. We have to make sure that he’s a great communicator defensively, that he’s covering ground, that whether he’s behind, in the zone, or guarding his man down low, there’s some real responsibility of communication with the guys out front, that offensively we’ve got to continue to expand him and utilize him and take advantage of his skills. At the same time we’ve got to find a way to score some baskets in the post.”
On staying focused on the day-to-day work:
“That means not jumping too far ahead and learning from the past certainly in the sense of film from the last game and things of that nature. But there are too many guys that want to play if someone gets caught up in the glamour of college basketball. You can’t be that way. Winning is very very very hard at any sport at any level but certainly in this level and this league it is very hard to win. You’ve got to put all your energies and efforts into what it takes to be successful and what it takes to eliminate what you’re weaknesses are. If you spend time getting distracted on other things, you won’t be very good. That’s the best answer I can give you.”
On the matchup against Maryland overall:
“I’ve always had great respect for Maryland and great respect for that area. And respect for Mark Turgeon and his staff. They’re really, really good, so even if we didn’t know much about them, you’d be looking at it with a lot of respect because of how they play on both ends of the court and how they move the ball.
“But they are really, really good. There are guys on that team that are going be playing basketball for a very long time at a very high level. So that is what you’re getting ready for more than anything else.”
On playing other guys at the ‘5’ to create mismatches as opposed to reacting to the other team’s lineup:
“We’ll put Yogi in positions where he is at the 5. Offensively, we just have versatility. We have done that for some time and that is all part of what you see in matchups from watching film and certainly what you see inside the game. But you can’t spend so much time on matchups and so much time on isolations and things like that when you need a flow team. If you just had a couple of guys you really wanted to take advantage of then that’s another story and there is a time and place for that.
“But when you are trying to play in flow as much as we are and we have sets but it is more conceptual than it really is sets, the sets get the concepts going. The concept has to be make the pass one dribble sooner, keep reversing the ball, play through the entire court, get the ball into the paint and fly like crazy to the glass.
“Defensively, get back, take away transition, be in a position to stop the drive, challenge shots and make sure all five are locked into rebounding, whether they are blocking out or whether they are not.”
On what Collin Hartman has done to improve:
“I think we’ve covered that and he just keeps getting better. There is good versatility to him. He’s smart, can pass, shooting the ball, wants to win, and he’s definitely tougher and stronger because he is more mature and I think that is the bottom line.
“The key is we’ve got to have a lot of different guys that can contribute for us, but he has room to improve believe me, and they all do. He has a lot of room to improve and it’s not one of those seasons right now, with where we are at, where you can look at it and say he’s not ready to guard him or he is not ready to guard him. We cannot do that. We cannot do that. So, we have to be ready to take on anything we see inside of that game and have the toughness and intelligence to do that. With that being said, he’s got a lot of toughness and he’s got a lot of intelligence.”
On having Hartman play the ‘5’ spot on the floor:
“He has been doing that really all year and again that position certainly brings you out. That’s why we’ve got to have a lot of movement because he can pass and he can drive the ball and this is still not a guy that practices without restrictions every day. Not even close to that. There are still some limitations, athletically, to him right now that have not come all the way back, because he is certainly healed enough to be playing and playing pretty effectively.
“But he is not all the way back without pain so that is why we sit him out certain days. I think he’ll continue to get better because we certainly don’t over practice him because he likes to be in there and there are times where we don’t have him in. He can do that.
“I think Max has to be able to do that for us. I think Emmitt being able to bring the driving game - I think I said this the other day, that is going to be crucial to as we go forward. We are not and we were never going to be conventional this year. We thought we would be a little more conventional inside, but we’re not based on circumstances and injuries, so just deal with it. You do your best every day to put packages in that are going to utilize those guys. But again it really comes back to the flow and their willingness to be smart and tough when it comes to defending people. Because you have to be as smart as you are tough. We don’t want to over-foul and be in position where we’re putting guys on the foul line, especially this team.
“One of the keys to the Illinois win was that they’re so good shooting free throws but they only got there 12 times. That is key for us. We have to defend the three and keep people off the foul line and do our best to keep it off the rim as much as possible. Collin provides a lot of that in all areas, as do the other guys.”
