Sunday, November 14, 2021

Kevin Willard quote book: Yale

On Seton Hall’s defense:
“That’s kind of been our real thought process for the first two games, to really take FDU and Yale out of the 3-point line, and so we were really aggressive. And again, you can be aggressive when you have a big guy down low like Ike, so what I was really happy with today was both these games, we really stressed on letting guys get going, their best players, and I thought Myles Cale came out and was terrific. And then again, when you have Ikey down below, it’s a nice thing that you can be aggressive — switch and be aggressive — if you get beat, you still have to deal with him.”

On defensive improvement due to depth:
“Where it really is a big difference is with our big guys. (Isaiah) Kelly and (Jalen) Gabbidon, who I love — I think Gabbidon’s a phenomenal player — I looked at them at the 9-minute mark and they were shot. You come out and you start with Lex and Ikey, who are both, big physical guys, and then Tray and Tyrese come in, they’re still both pretty big guys and it gives us a chance to wear down — it starts hurting pick-and-roll coverage for them defensively. I think those guys have really been key so far, and I think for them — everybody wants to play 40 minutes — come January, they’re not going to be as beat down and worn down because of the fact that they don’t have to play so many minutes.”

On Seton Hall’s depth and differences in coaching it:
“This is kind of how I envisioned this team, especially when Myles Cale came back and Bryce came back. You’re going to get the same amount of possessions and shots, it’s just the fact that there’s not so much pressure on anyone on the court at any time, and I think that’s the biggest difference with this team than probably all my teams besides Isaiah, Khadeen, Angel and Desi, is no one has to stress about playing great every night. They all know that ‘hey, if it’s not my night, someone’s there to pick me up,’ and that’s a really nice thing for a player to have. Every time you go into the game, you don’t have to stress about ‘I need to play great for us to win.’”

On Seton Hall’s rotation:
“It’s going to be a work in progress until December, I’m sure. But I like the fact that — I’d like to see Bryce and Kadary on the court a little bit more, just to give a two-guard look at different times, I’d like to see Jamir out there with Bryce a little bit more just to kind of, again, two-guard look, different looks, two guys shooting, open up the court. As of right now, I think it’s progressing the way I want to.”

On Kadary Richmond:
“Yeah, Kadary’s been phenomenal. His attitude is off the charts, he’s working really hard to get in better shape, and as he gets more comfortable with the ball in his hands, you’re going to see more and more nights where, nine assists to turnovers. He’s progressing that way, he’s that talented, and he’s working really hard to just understand what I want from him offensively and defensively.”

On frontcourt play Tuesday at Michigan:
“I don’t know if you can just ask those guys to play well. You have to play well really team defensively against a guy like (Hunter) Dickinson because they do a phenomenal job of short-rolling him where they set a pick-and-roll, they space out two guys on the opposite side and they hit him early. If you rotate to him, he’s one of the best passing big men I’ve seen in a while, and he makes the right decision every time. If you don’t roll to him, he’s going to score, so it’s going to have to be a real team effort in how we want to stop him, and obviously stop them.”

On toughness of 48-hour turnaround between Yale and Michigan:
“It is tough. It’s tough from a mental aspect of getting ready — you’re not allowed to do anything tonight, if you could do stuff with the team, it would probably make things a little bit easier — from a mental side, it’s challenging because now you have to kind of figure out what you’re going to do on a scouting report. So for them, UMass doesn’t have enough size, I think unfortunately for Yale, our size really wore them down. For us, it’s going to be more of a mental, quick turnaround.”

On having Jared Rhoden back:
“He moved great, he practiced great all week. He was only allowed to play 22 minutes, so I was right where I wanted him to be. He moved great, he looked great. It was important for me to make sure he got a little bit of game action going into Tuesday because if he didn’t play tonight, I wasn’t going to play him Tuesday because I did not want that big of a game to be his first game and maybe re-injure himself, so it was important for me moving forward to get him in there. He’ll be on somewhat of a time restriction (Tuesday), I have to talk to my trainer and see what he wants.”

On the history between Seton Hall and Michigan:
“I was 14 years old, I know the history of this program better than anybody. I play enough golf with P.J. to know how much it stung for the most part, but Michigan’s a great program, we’re a great program. I think it’s going to be a great early preseason game. I loved watching Texas-Gonzaga, I love true college basketball games, not the neutral-site ones, I love the home crowd — I probably won’t be saying that after Tuesday — but I love the fact that early-season college basketball games on campus are being played more now than, I think, any of that time.”

“Jerry, I was 14 years old. Where was I when I was 14? Oh jeez, you want to go play-by-play? Or do you just want to talk about the foul call? I hear play-by-play from P.J. and Raf, and I hear from all our fans just about the foul call. I have watched the game, it was a phenomenal game. I’ve watched it quite a few times, actually, and every time it comes on, I watch it. It was an unbelievably coached game, it was unbelievably played, absolutely. I’m not going to argue that. I just don’t remember where I was when I was 14. I can’t remember my garage code, so I’m not going to remember what I was doing at 14.”

On opportunities against Michigan and Ohio State:
“I think the biggest way I’m looking at this, Adam, is this is going to give me a blueprint for December: What I need to work on, what we need to work on, where we need to improve, what we’re doing well. Chris Beard said it the other night, obviously he didn’t like losing, but it was also great that he understands now what he needs to go work on where he would not have had those opportunities if he didn’t go play the game.”

On preparing Seton Hall for its first road game:
“I think the good thing is we’ve got a bunch of old guys. It’s going to be what, almost two years since we’ve been in a true road game? Butler had 6,000 fans and that kind of shook us. I think it’s great. It’s going to prepare us for the rest of the season. It’s great being back in front of fans at home, I’ve got to shout out our student section, they were phenomenal. Our guys, the first thing they said coming out of the huddle was, ‘if they’re showing up, we gotta show up.’ So they’ve been great. I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere, they’re obviously a terrific basketball team, and it’s a great test.”

On suits vs. casual dress:
“I’ll be honest with you, I think I’m going to flip-flop, depending on my dry cleaners. I don’t fit into a lot of suits I fit into two years ago. I didn’t think I got the COVID 15, but I definitely got the COVID 15. I have like, three suits that fit me right now, so if you see us casual, it’s probably because I didn’t get the suit I’m wearing right now back in time.”

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