Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times’ audio:
Mick Cronin
HUGE GUT-CHECK WIN, WHAT IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST ABOUT COMING BACK FROM DOWN 15?
“A lot of things. We’re still not perfect, but they’re really hard to play against, they’ve got great length and athleticism and quickness. You know, their team speed and the way they attack the ball, it’s hard to get the ball inside against them. You know, when we were able to do it, Adem, he had some turnovers early but his passing got better, we were able to get a lot of open threes, but we were able to make some adjustments that the guys did a pretty good job of as the game went on with defending their quickness. Obviously, I’ve been here a long time. There’s no give-up. I’m not allowing that–there’s never going to be give-up. But you’ve got to get the ball in the basket to get some juices flowing, I’ve been telling you that. When you start getting the ball in the basket, you get some juices flowing and I’ve been working with these guys on having fortitude and a bounce in your step and not worrying about missed shots and not worrying about the result. Like, I’m happy with the result, but my job is to help these guys all get better and they’re super young, so they’ve got to be better. I’ve accomplished enough–I know some people don’t think I have; I have. I’ve been coach of the year in many conferences, I’ve been to a Final Four, I’m a kid from the west side of Cincinnati whose dad was a high school coach. It’s about them, so I’ve got to help them keep getting better and if you do the right things, you get a chance to win.”
SEBASTIAN HUGE?
“Yeah, well, once we got in the bonus. It’s hard to run offense with multiple passes the way they [inaudible], so we went to try to spread them into attacking and use their aggression against them; he did a great job.”
WHAT UNHAPPY ABOUT TO START SECOND HALF GOING WITH WILL OVER SEBASTIAN?
“Um, I had told him in this game–him and Adem–you can’t dribble multiple times in short space, they’re going to steal the ball. Now, if we get them spread out, that’s a different animal. I thought both of those guys tried to do the dead opposite of what the game plan was, so I just wanted him to calm down, that was really it, you’ve got to calm down.”
ADEM HUGE ACROSS THE BOARD?
“Hard to get him the ball in a game like that. I’ve still got to improve his perimeter defense against smaller people for his career–obviously for us, but also for his career.”
WHAT THINK OF COOLER HEADS PREVAILING ON YOUR TEAM WHEN ASU WAS GETTING TECHS?
“I was happy with it. Very happy with it.”
HARDER THAN IT LOOKS?
“I’m sure it’s not easy. I wasn’t very good at it as a player–my dad’s laughing at that one right now. But I was happy with it.”
A MOMENT WHERE YOU CAN KIND OF PINPOINT THE GROWTH?
“Somebody asked me that the other day. You know, I don’t believe in one game turns it around, I told you. We’re still grossly inexperienced. Saturday’s going to be another brutal test and we’ve just got to continue to–I’m trying to make it about the guys on the team, not about me, OK? You know, I love our fans but we went to the Final Four and if Jaime don’t blow his ankle, we could have won the national championship, I think we would have, the St. Mary’s game when he blew his ankle late in the game. Then last year I think we were clearly the best team in the country and we had two guys out for the season. So we’ve been on a charmed ride. Tough run this year, it is what … great kids on the team, I’m going to try to coach them hard and try to get them better. They have to improve. So for me, it’s about them. We’ll address the roster at the end of the season, but right now, it’s about them and trying to help them get better. They’re all great kids and they’re just young and inexperienced.”
ANOTHER YOUNG GUY WHO STEPPED UP, BRANDON WILLIAMS?
“Yes. You know, one thing about it is, toughness is, you can try to put it in people but when I recruited Jaylen Clark it wasn’t for his skill, it was for his heart–the same with Brandon Williams, and you’ve got to recruit a guy that is naturally a tough dude. That’s just who he is–tough rebounds, he’s not afraid. We can’t score, the guy’s made one three all year and he shoots it anyway like he’s Steph Curry. He’s just a tough dude, the guy turned 18 about 60 days ago. He’s just a tough dude, great kid, playing like I told you at that one press conference, you go from 17-and-under last year, now college basketball’s 25-and-under, so it’s a huge jump, it’s not what it used to be. I remember Kenyon Martin was 22, I was working him out every day and people were saying he was old, I was like 27, and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m old, you’re not old–22, now you’re a sophomore in this day and age, it’s crazy.”
AND ASU HAS A LOT OF VETERANS?
“Everybody does. Huge win. I’ve got great respect for Bobby, how hard they play, how hard they scrap, Frankie’s really improved. You know, I’ve known Alonzo Gaffney’s dad was a great player at Cincinnati, Kevin Gaffney, Double-Zero, baseline jumper, one of my favorite players as a little kid. He’s been to all my practices, come down for every homecoming at Cincinnati since he was a little kid and he was this big and I was feeding him balls in the practice gym at Cincinnati, so now he’s 6-10, so he’s going to be able to make some money playing somewhere. A great win for us.“
Mick Cronin
HUGE GUT-CHECK WIN, WHAT IMPRESSED YOU THE MOST ABOUT COMING BACK FROM DOWN 15?
“A lot of things. We’re still not perfect, but they’re really hard to play against, they’ve got great length and athleticism and quickness. You know, their team speed and the way they attack the ball, it’s hard to get the ball inside against them. You know, when we were able to do it, Adem, he had some turnovers early but his passing got better, we were able to get a lot of open threes, but we were able to make some adjustments that the guys did a pretty good job of as the game went on with defending their quickness. Obviously, I’ve been here a long time. There’s no give-up. I’m not allowing that–there’s never going to be give-up. But you’ve got to get the ball in the basket to get some juices flowing, I’ve been telling you that. When you start getting the ball in the basket, you get some juices flowing and I’ve been working with these guys on having fortitude and a bounce in your step and not worrying about missed shots and not worrying about the result. Like, I’m happy with the result, but my job is to help these guys all get better and they’re super young, so they’ve got to be better. I’ve accomplished enough–I know some people don’t think I have; I have. I’ve been coach of the year in many conferences, I’ve been to a Final Four, I’m a kid from the west side of Cincinnati whose dad was a high school coach. It’s about them, so I’ve got to help them keep getting better and if you do the right things, you get a chance to win.”
SEBASTIAN HUGE?
“Yeah, well, once we got in the bonus. It’s hard to run offense with multiple passes the way they [inaudible], so we went to try to spread them into attacking and use their aggression against them; he did a great job.”
WHAT UNHAPPY ABOUT TO START SECOND HALF GOING WITH WILL OVER SEBASTIAN?
“Um, I had told him in this game–him and Adem–you can’t dribble multiple times in short space, they’re going to steal the ball. Now, if we get them spread out, that’s a different animal. I thought both of those guys tried to do the dead opposite of what the game plan was, so I just wanted him to calm down, that was really it, you’ve got to calm down.”
ADEM HUGE ACROSS THE BOARD?
“Hard to get him the ball in a game like that. I’ve still got to improve his perimeter defense against smaller people for his career–obviously for us, but also for his career.”
WHAT THINK OF COOLER HEADS PREVAILING ON YOUR TEAM WHEN ASU WAS GETTING TECHS?
“I was happy with it. Very happy with it.”
HARDER THAN IT LOOKS?
“I’m sure it’s not easy. I wasn’t very good at it as a player–my dad’s laughing at that one right now. But I was happy with it.”
A MOMENT WHERE YOU CAN KIND OF PINPOINT THE GROWTH?
“Somebody asked me that the other day. You know, I don’t believe in one game turns it around, I told you. We’re still grossly inexperienced. Saturday’s going to be another brutal test and we’ve just got to continue to–I’m trying to make it about the guys on the team, not about me, OK? You know, I love our fans but we went to the Final Four and if Jaime don’t blow his ankle, we could have won the national championship, I think we would have, the St. Mary’s game when he blew his ankle late in the game. Then last year I think we were clearly the best team in the country and we had two guys out for the season. So we’ve been on a charmed ride. Tough run this year, it is what … great kids on the team, I’m going to try to coach them hard and try to get them better. They have to improve. So for me, it’s about them. We’ll address the roster at the end of the season, but right now, it’s about them and trying to help them get better. They’re all great kids and they’re just young and inexperienced.”
ANOTHER YOUNG GUY WHO STEPPED UP, BRANDON WILLIAMS?
“Yes. You know, one thing about it is, toughness is, you can try to put it in people but when I recruited Jaylen Clark it wasn’t for his skill, it was for his heart–the same with Brandon Williams, and you’ve got to recruit a guy that is naturally a tough dude. That’s just who he is–tough rebounds, he’s not afraid. We can’t score, the guy’s made one three all year and he shoots it anyway like he’s Steph Curry. He’s just a tough dude, the guy turned 18 about 60 days ago. He’s just a tough dude, great kid, playing like I told you at that one press conference, you go from 17-and-under last year, now college basketball’s 25-and-under, so it’s a huge jump, it’s not what it used to be. I remember Kenyon Martin was 22, I was working him out every day and people were saying he was old, I was like 27, and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m old, you’re not old–22, now you’re a sophomore in this day and age, it’s crazy.”
AND ASU HAS A LOT OF VETERANS?
“Everybody does. Huge win. I’ve got great respect for Bobby, how hard they play, how hard they scrap, Frankie’s really improved. You know, I’ve known Alonzo Gaffney’s dad was a great player at Cincinnati, Kevin Gaffney, Double-Zero, baseline jumper, one of my favorite players as a little kid. He’s been to all my practices, come down for every homecoming at Cincinnati since he was a little kid and he was this big and I was feeding him balls in the practice gym at Cincinnati, so now he’s 6-10, so he’s going to be able to make some money playing somewhere. A great win for us.“
