Sha Sounds Off: Butler

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

On Seton Hall’s first half:

“(Butler) scored a lot of points. They scored a lot of points, Jerry. They scored a lot of points on a bad defensive team right now.”

On constructing Seton Hall’s roster again if he could:

“Adam, come on, man. Fellas, if this is gonna be one of those things, then we’re not gonna have a press conference. I really don’t feel like talking to you guys, it ain’t personal, I’m just not in a great space. I came in here because I know you guys got a job to do, I get it. But people talk about the roster, it is what it is right now. I can’t do anything about it, Adam. We got the team I got, we brought them here so I’m responsible for this. I’m a big boy and I gotta take it. It sucks right now, especially that we keep losing at home. It’s the worst, Adam. Obviously, we don’t have three guys that could help us, but it’s hard to win when you’re fully healthy, imagine not being healthy with three guys who could score the basketball and play a lot of minutes for you. You gotta have other guys play. So to answer your question, I don’t want you guys thinking that I’m coming here trying to be a jerkoff or anything like that, but I can’t do nothing about the roster right now, alright? So to ask that question is kind of not fair to my guys. If I could do something different with the roster? If I say something like that, how does that look on me? You know what I’m saying? I get you have a job to do, I get it, when things are terrible, this is the kind of stuff that comes with it, so I get it.”

On Chaunce Jenkins, Scotty Middleton and Dylan Addae-Wusu:

“Yeah, I don’t know. I just told the radio guys I don’t know. None of them did anything the last couple days practice-wise, so I don’t think they’re gonna play on Saturday either. It’s a quick turnaround. What’s today, Wednesday? Obviously you can’t do too much tomorrow, then you gotta try to have a practice on Friday and then play early Saturday, so I can’t see any of them playing.”

On Isaiah Coleman:

“I know him and I watched film last night of the last six games and his shot selection. And I told him, a lot of shots that you’re kind of rushing, you’re gonna get those shots anyway, so you ain’t gotta rush. I don’t know. I think today, I saw him pressing a little bit. I saw him miss a couple shots, put his head down, press a little bit, and that kind of dictated his defense and that’s why I got upset with him. I was like, don’t let that dictate your defense. You got a good shot? Shoot it. But I saw him miss a couple early and he got really, really down, he got a little tentative and he wouldn’t shoot anymore. Good players don’t do that, good players just keep playing and find a way. He’s a good player, he’s gonna figure it out.”

On the feeling of losing:

“It’s a feeling that I never thought I’d be experiencing. I can’t tell you how I feel because I don’t feel great, and I feel bad—not for me—I feel bad for those young men in my locker room. I’m a big boy, this comes with the territory. Sometimes you have tough seasons, but I feel bad for them because they’re working hard and they’re trying. It’s just not a good feeling. It’s not, Jerry. It’s not a good feeling and it’s hard to explain how I feel. I just don’t feel good at all.”

On getting Seton Hall back to full health:

“I’m hoping. I’m hoping. I’m not sure where Chaunce’s at. Dylan, it’s his ankle, Scotty just had another day. I know Scotty and Dylan, they want to be out there. I’m not saying Chaunce don’t want to be out there, his is a little bit more serious than theirs just because it’s a knee. It’s not an ankle, right? But if those guys could have played, I know they would have played. Yes, I’m hoping to get them back after the bye week, but it all depends on where those guys are at. I’m not making guys play if they can’t compete at a level that they can’t compete at. I’d rather just play with the guys I got than mess a kid’s career up. I’m not about that.”

On Jenkins being out for the season:

“I don’t know. I don’t think so. Those talks never happened yet. It’s all on him right now, right? The diagnosis is what it is, he knows what it is, the doctors talked, the parents talked. It’s all on him trying to feel comfortable playing with it. It’s up to him right now and the doctors.”

On Seton Hall’s defense not being up to par:

“It’s awful. I came out tonight, to tell you the truth, I came out tonight trying to play a zone because I didn’t think the lineup I had could match up with them, and the zone was awful, so that’s a bad call by me. Then we got out of the zone and they were still scoring. I don’t know. It’s a lot of them that probably wouldn’t be playing together if we had a full roster and everybody healthy, so there’s guys that are not just guarding men right now. That’s what it comes down to, guarding your yard. We can beat everybody, it’s not just one person. Everybody’s getting beat and then we’re rotating, we’re scrambling, and they shot the ball great early and got us in another hole.”