Several things really stood out to me reading the presser Jon put up:
1 You can tell Fran cares about his players and is not just giving lip service to the student-athlete experience. He has tough love for these guys but wants to push them to succeed.
2. Fran is not close to satisfied. the way he describes his process it seems he has more things he wants to add to how his team plays.
3. He is good at praising and talking about his players. some coaches cant do this because of their egos.
Any other thoughts?
Really good read. Here's the URL on Rivals:
HawkeyeReport.com - McCaffery talks NIT semifinals
Below are some highlights:
Concerning the debate on deep run in NIT vs one and done in NCAA Fran says that there’s very little difference between the teams in the NCAA and NIT.
Q. It was a deep run for you guys. Is this ultimately better for the program than maybe a one and done would have been in the tournament, the NCAA?
FRAN McCAFFERY: I look at it like this: Everybody wants to jump to that. I'm going to argue that there's very little difference between the teams that you're playing. There just is. So if you make a long run in this tournament we could easily have made a long run in that tournament. It's really a question of who you match up against. Sometimes you get in your first round match and you're like that's the worst team we could have played or the best team. I've been there.
But I look at Virginia, they should have been in. They're better than teams that got in. There's no question in my mind. Same thing for Maryland, same thing for us. But it didn't matter. And the teams that got in had great resumes, too.
So we go into this tournament, you look at that field, and I don't look at it that way. To me, I think we had a team capable of making a run no matter which tournament we went to. The fact that we're getting an opportunity to play more with a young team I think is a very good thing.
On the value of playing in the NIT FF for recruiting:
Q. What does the winner of the NIT really get in terms of tangible things and intangible things?
FRAN McCAFFERY: Well, I think what you're going to get is two more opportunities if obviously we win we'll have two more opportunities to play on national television when hardly anybody else is playing, and every prospect in the country is going to watch those games. Sure, they're going to watch Saturday and Monday, but they're going to watch Tuesday and Thursday. There's nothing else on. They're going to watch those games, and what are they saying about the coaching staff? What are they saying about those players? What are the players saying about their coaches? What kind of interest does that program have?
People had a chance to watch this building with 15,400 twice. Everybody that watches says, "I want to play there. I want to go there and play." That is an unbelievable atmosphere, and that's what you want.
So ultimately I think the tangible benefits are we'll continue to get better.
MG is playing.
Q. Is there an update on Mike?
FRAN McCAFFERY: Nothing has changed.
Concerning Dev’s mid-season slump:
Q. What's allowed Devyn to take his game to another level here at NIT time?
FRAN McCAFFERY: Nothing specific. He's a guy that kept working and believes in himself. We kept believing in him. I told him you're my guy, I'm going to stay with you, and he knew that. He just overcame a little blip there in the middle of the season where his shot was a little off and his confidence wavered a little bit. Usually that's not a problem for him. And right now you look at assists, turnovers, steals, who he's guarding, his ability to sustain effort for long periods of time and make shots, his three ball is coming around, as we thought it would this year. He's been phenomenal.
Concerning AC’s struggles and how hard Fran has been on him:
Q. What does it say about Anthony, the way he's really been struggling, but when you needed big time in that second half he came through?
FRAN McCAFFERY: He's one of those guys that his concentration wavers occasionally, and that's why of all the players on the team, I'm usually on him the hardest because he's got everything that you need in terms of ability. He can guard, he can shoot, he can drive, he can make plays, but you'll see him fiddling with the ball once in a while and you'll see him stand up on defense once in a while. I am on him harder than anybody else on this team, and he can take it. He's a tough kid. He's an intelligent person, so he gets it. I'm not on him because I like to be on him, I'm on him because he needs me to be on him, and he knows that. He knows I love him and I'm going to come back to him. I might rip him and pull him out, but I'm going to put him back in and give him another shot.
Really looking forward to next year as well as Tuesday's game.
