Coach K To Speak to the Media at 3

[Skitzle]

As per the front page article.

Is this something he normally does or is this some sort of special announcement...


EDIT: Just a normal chat... here's the link http://www.wralsportsfan.com/rs/video/14551594/ which I found in the article..

In other words feel free to add this to the please delete thread :D

[Billy Dat]

I think this is a normal pre-tournament travel presser, and it was awesome:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/rs/video/14551594/

He enters around the 18 minute mark and speaks for about 30 mins. Here are some notes:

-Thinks MSU's Trice has been the best player in the NCAAs
-When it comes to stats, he only looks at the last 4 games because that shows how a team and player are playing right now, older stuff not really relevant to him
-On the stats theme, he says that everyone thinks Duke was a bad defensive team because of stats. He was playing the crowd here, but it was a sore spot. He said they never would have won so many games if the defense was bad. It was good, but it has gotten much better, and he chalks that up to the team understanding the game plan better, not allowing their offense to impact their defense (cites Jah)
-When asked about preparing to win a title, he changes the line of questioning and says they focus on improving. Kids come to Duke to be around excellence, because all the students at the school are excellent and they can learn from that. They don't come to "be in an athletic dorm and be segregated" - shots fired!
-He talked about the importance of second semester in summer for the players to bond and get ahead of their schoolwork. "I tell my coaches, school here is a lot harder then it was when you guys went here".
-To keep his energy, he tries to stay in shape. He talked again about how his brother's death messed him up the second half of last year, and that USA Basketball helped him get over it because there was a lot of doubt about the US winning and they kicked butt
-He also said that the USA basketball cemented his working relationship with Capel because with Wojo gone, Jeff was stepping into the main assistant role and they got that rolling this summer. he couldn't say enough about how important Capel is to the program, that he is "an MVP". He said the summer with Capel was like a Shakedown cruise (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakedown_cruise)
-He talked about how USA BBall changes the way he designs practice. He does the most important stuff first because he rarely gets through a full practice plan because he can sense when they've had enough and doesn't want guys to get hurt. It sounds like practice is designed to be shorter but more intense and focused
-One reporter tried to ask about Rasheed and he shut it down quick. He added, I am talking about this team, just like when we get to Indy, I am not going to be talking about politics.
-He lauded Quinn Cook's defense, he said defense wasn't always important to Quinn because he was always such a great scorer, but he said Quinn's D on Pangos and Wright made him the MVP, in K's mind, of the regional. He said Quinn was one of the strongest Duke players in the weight room and laughed talking about his facial expressions
-He talked about how, when he was younger, to learn he'd order instructional videos sold by the other pro and college coaches and programs he admired to get ideas and strategies. He says USA Basketball has made that whole process a lot easier because they guys he works with share freely
-He ended by talking about his ongoing loyalty to Duke who stood by him when he started poorly, and who never waivered when he got sick in 1995.

[jv001]

I think this is a normal pre-tournament travel presser, and it was awesome:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/rs/video/14551594/

He enters around the 18 minute mark and speaks for about 30 mins. Here are some notes:

-Thinks MSU's Trice has been the best player in the NCAAs
-When it comes to stats, he only looks at the last 4 games because that shows how a team and player are playing right now, older stuff not really relevant to him
-On the stats theme, he says that everyone thinks Duke was a bad defensive team because of stats. He was playing the crowd here, but it was a sore spot. He said they never would have won so many games if the defense was bad. It was good, but it has gotten much better, and he chalks that up to the team understanding the game plan better, not allowing their offense to impact their defense (cites Jah)
-When asked about preparing to win a title, he changes the line of questioning and says they focus on improving. Kids come to Duke to be around excellence, because all the students at the school are excellent and they can learn from that. They don't come to "be in an athletic dorm and be segregated" - shots fired!
-He talked about the importance of second semester in summer for the players to bond and get ahead of their schoolwork. "I tell my coaches, school here is a lot harder then it was when you guys went here".
-To keep his energy, he tries to stay in shape. He talked again about how his brother's death messed him up the second half of last year, and that USA Basketball helped him get over it because there was a lot of doubt about the US winning and they kicked butt
-He also said that the USA basketball cemented his working relationship with Capel because with Wojo gone, Jeff was stepping into the main assistant role and they got that rolling this summer. he couldn't say enough about how important Capel is to the program, that he is "an MVP". He said the summer with Capel was like a Shakedown cruise (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakedown_cruise)
-He talked about how USA BBall changes the way he designs practice. He does the most important stuff first because he rarely gets through a full practice plan because he can sense when they've had enough and doesn't want guys to get hurt. It sounds like practice is designed to be shorter but more intense and focused
-One reporter tried to ask about Rasheed and he shut it down quick. He added, I am talking about this team, just like when we get to Indy, I am not going to be talking about politics.
-He lauded Quinn Cook's defense, he said defense wasn't always important to Quinn because he was always such a great scorer, but he said Quinn's D on Pangos and Wright made him the MVP, in K's mind, of the regional. He said Quinn was one of the strongest Duke players in the weight room and laughed talking about his facial expressions
-He talked about how, when he was younger, to learn he'd order instructional videos sold by the other pro and college coaches and programs he admired to get ideas and strategies. He says USA Basketball has made that whole process a lot easier because they guys he works with share freely
-He ended by talking about his ongoing loyalty to Duke who stood by him when he started poorly, and who never waivered when he got sick in 1995.

I couldn't hear the question that the reporter asked Coach K, so thanks for reporting that. Well now I know what a Shakedown cruise is. Being a Army man I never heard that in my service time. Coach K the Army man using a Navy term. I bet Bob Green knew what that meant. GoDuke!

[CatDevil]

I think this is a normal pre-tournament travel presser, and it was awesome:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/rs/video/14551594/

He enters around the 18 minute mark and speaks for about 30 mins. Here are some notes:

-Thinks MSU's Trice has been the best player in the NCAAs
-When it comes to stats, he only looks at the last 4 games because that shows how a team and player are playing right now, older stuff not really relevant to him
-On the stats theme, he says that everyone thinks Duke was a bad defensive team because of stats. He was playing the crowd here, but it was a sore spot. He said they never would have won so many games if the defense was bad. It was good, but it has gotten much better, and he chalks that up to the team understanding the game plan better, not allowing their offense to impact their defense (cites Jah)
-When asked about preparing to win a title, he changes the line of questioning and says they focus on improving. Kids come to Duke to be around excellence, because all the students at the school are excellent and they can learn from that. They don't come to "be in an athletic dorm and be segregated" - shots fired!
-He talked about the importance of second semester in summer for the players to bond and get ahead of their schoolwork. "I tell my coaches, school here is a lot harder then it was when you guys went here".
-To keep his energy, he tries to stay in shape. He talked again about how his brother's death messed him up the second half of last year, and that USA Basketball helped him get over it because there was a lot of doubt about the US winning and they kicked butt
-He also said that the USA basketball cemented his working relationship with Capel because with Wojo gone, Jeff was stepping into the main assistant role and they got that rolling this summer. he couldn't say enough about how important Capel is to the program, that he is "an MVP". He said the summer with Capel was like a Shakedown cruise (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakedown_cruise)
-He talked about how USA BBall changes the way he designs practice. He does the most important stuff first because he rarely gets through a full practice plan because he can sense when they've had enough and doesn't want guys to get hurt. It sounds like practice is designed to be shorter but more intense and focused
-One reporter tried to ask about Rasheed and he shut it down quick. He added, I am talking about this team, just like when we get to Indy, I am not going to be talking about politics.
-He lauded Quinn Cook's defense, he said defense wasn't always important to Quinn because he was always such a great scorer, but he said Quinn's D on Pangos and Wright made him the MVP, in K's mind, of the regional. He said Quinn was one of the strongest Duke players in the weight room and laughed talking about his facial expressions
-He talked about how, when he was younger, to learn he'd order instructional videos sold by the other pro and college coaches and programs he admired to get ideas and strategies. He says USA Basketball has made that whole process a lot easier because they guys he works with share freely
-He ended by talking about his ongoing loyalty to Duke who stood by him when he started poorly, and who never waivered when he got sick in 1995.

This is a ton of great info....Man, I wish I could hire a secretary with this skill to cover my conference calls :)

Go Duke!!!

[weezie]

Billy, did you catch who the nitwit reporter (which news outlet) was who pressed the Rasheed question?

[Billy Dat]

This is a ton of great info....Man, I wish I could hire a secretary with this skill to cover my conference calls :)

Go Duke!!!

You don't want me working for you, I spend all my working hours on DBR!

[Billy Dat]

Billy, did you catch who the nitwit reporter (which news outlet) was who pressed the Rasheed question?

I am going to guess that it was with Adrian Wojnarowski, Israel Gutierrez or Curry Kirkpatrick.

;^)

I all honesty, it can be hard to pick out voices. At this point, I can recognize Laura Keeley and Al Featherston when they ask a question. I am not great with anyone else. It sounded like a younger guy - maybe a Chronicle scribe????

[Olympic Fan]

Billy, did you catch who the nitwit reporter (which news outlet) was who pressed the Rasheed question?

The questions about Rasheed came from Dan Kane of the N&O.

Kane is the paper's investigative reporter, not a nominal sports writer -- although he may win a Pulitzer Prize in the near future for his exposes of UNC's athletic-academic scandal. Basically, every time UNC has tried to close the book on the scandal, Kane has had another article revealing more dirt.

Not sure where he is going with the Rasheed questions ... it sounded like he was trying to persuade K that FERPA did NOT prevent him from talking about Sulaimon's dismissal.

[FerryFor50]

The questions about Rasheed came from Dan Kane of the N&O.

Kane is the paper's investigative reporter, not a nominal sports writer -- although he may win a Pulitzer Prize in the near future for his exposes of UNC's athletic-academic scandal. Basically, every time UNC has tried to close the book on the scandal, Kane has had another article revealing more dirt.

Not sure where he is going with the Rasheed questions ... it sounded like he was trying to persuade K that FERPA did NOT prevent him from talking about Sulaimon's dismissal.

I think Coach K should have invoked NUNYA (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nunya) in response.

[Henderson]

The questions about Rasheed came from Dan Kane of the N&O.

Kane is the paper's investigative reporter, not a nominal sports writer -- although he may win a Pulitzer Prize in the near future for his exposes of UNC's athletic-academic scandal. Basically, every time UNC has tried to close the book on the scandal, Kane has had another article revealing more dirt.

Not sure where he is going with the Rasheed questions ... it sounded like he was trying to persuade K that FERPA did NOT prevent him from talking about Sulaimon's dismissal.

That's exactly where he was going. He's parsing FERPA and getting ready to point out that FERPA doesn't prohibit all such discussions, only some. He's right, but it's complicated. Better to invoke nunya and just not get into it. That way the line is clear without hauling around a troop of FERPA lawyers.

P.S. Not to say FERPA lawyers aren't handsome, funny, smart, witty, and great to be around....

[FerryFor50]

I also missed this nuance the first time...


-One reporter tried to ask about Rasheed and he shut it down quick. He added, I am talking about this team, just like when we get to Indy, I am not going to be talking about politics.

I'm guessing he means, don't ask me about that new and super popular state law there. ;)

[UrinalCake]

Thanks for the recap. Loved the part where he talked about Duke players being surrounded by excellence. He said that was his recruiting pitch to the big three - that basketball-wise Duke does a great job and that other schools do a great job too. But what sets us apart is the opportunity to be around excellence, in the classroom, around your dorm, everywhere. The players wanted that and their parents wanted that for them.

[jv001]

Thanks for the recap. Loved the part where he talked about Duke players being surrounded by excellence. He said that was his recruiting pitch to the big three - that basketball-wise Duke does a great job and that other schools do a great job too. But what sets us apart is the opportunity to be around excellence, in the classroom, around your dorm, everywhere. The players wanted that and their parents wanted that for them.

We'll let the uncheats take the high school players that don't want the excellence. GoDuke!

[Henderson]

Thanks for the recap. Loved the part where he talked about Duke players being surrounded by excellence. He said that was his recruiting pitch to the big three - that basketball-wise Duke does a great job and that other schools do a great job too. But what sets us apart is the opportunity to be around excellence, in the classroom, around your dorm, everywhere. The players wanted that and their parents wanted that for them.

He's really quite eloquent when he talks about that stuff. It seems to come from a place inside.

I got the feeling he was talking past (or through) the media to recruits and their parents. Not just the 2015 and 2016 recruits. I think he's helping establish the "brand identity" of the program. We know what the brand identity of UK is. "Well, here's ours," he seems to be saying. "What do you want out of college?"

If you haven't had a chance to see the whole thing, it's worth your time. He's laying down a marker: This is who we are. GoDuke.com has it in full.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I have been critical of when Coach K speaks about religion, politics, and anything that is controversial where he isn't in the center of.

I probably don't agree with Coach K on politics and, while his religious beliefs are the same as mine, I'm sure we differ on the role of religion in the world as well. And that's totally cool.

Thus, I applaud him for not commenting. The Final Four - whether it be in Indiana or not - is not the platform for these social issues. If Coach K wants to invest time and money for a cause, that is amazing. But a one-off question is not the way to act here.

Great job, Coach!