ukfaninva
11-14-2006, 03:44 PM
Head Coach Tubby Smith
Opening thoughts on his team and the match-up with Miami (Ohio)…
“Good morning, we started this morning at nine and were reviewing and preparing some things for a very good Miami of Ohio team tomorrow. They got off to a tough start, a tough loss for them against Wright State. Charlie Coles is a good coach. I know he’ll have his team ready; they’ll be ready to play. The last time we played against them I think it was 1999 in the Sweet 16 up in St. Louis. His teams are always very aggressive and very physical. He has a veteran line-up. I look at it and he has some juniors and seniors and a few sophomores. They are a very talented team. I’m trying to get our guys to understand that anything can happen to you if you don’t come out ready to play. Not that they (Miami) were looking ahead to us, but we can’t look ahead at our opening game in Maui either. We have a lot of new faces and I know our young guys are excited about it (the game) as well as our veteran players. This time of the year everything is really serious and the intensity level starts to build. Sometimes players start to see a little different Coach Smith. It is real serious business in how we conduct ourselves and how we prepare. It was a pretty intense practice this morning to try and create game-like conditions. We’re going to miss some guys too. Jared Carter, we’re going to miss him, he went down with a shoulder separation (http://www.ukathletics.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=37&url_article_id=1885 5&change_well_id=2) in Saturday’s scrimmage. It was kind of a freakish accident in how the way it happened; his arm just got pulled back. It looks like he is going to be out three to four weeks. We’re really going to miss him though; Jared has been playing as well as anybody. He has improved probably more than anybody, and that is what usually happens between your freshman and sophomore years. For tomorrow’s game the line-up we’re going to start with Perry Stevenson, Randolph (Morris), Joe (Crawford), Bobby (Perry) and Ramel (Bradley). We’ll probably bring Lukasz Obrzut off of the bench. Everybody has some nicks and bruises and Lukasz has a tender knee. Without Jared, that creates a situation where we could probably have started both of them (Morris and Obrzut), but we’re not able to do that especially because Sheray (Thomas) will not be available to us until Friday. Those are the things we’re dealing with when you are a little shorthanded. I hope we can overcome that in tomorrow night’s game. I like how our guys have been playing. I like their energy level. They’ve been really communicating well with one another; especially the veteran guys and the young guys are in there too. It probably won’t be whole-sale substitutions like it was in the exhibition games. We’re probably going to sub one sub here and two subs there. We’re going to try and make sure guys are fresh and get guys into situations where they can help us. We are going to see a team tomorrow that is big, who are going to screen you. They’re going to try and throw their weight because they are very heavy and very aggressive. They have a big front line, and they have some big guards too. Nathan Peavy is an outstanding player who averages like 20 points a game. It looks like it’s going to be a pretty good match-up for us.”
http://www.ukathletics.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=37&url_article_id=1886 5&change_well_id=2
Opening thoughts on his team and the match-up with Miami (Ohio)…
“Good morning, we started this morning at nine and were reviewing and preparing some things for a very good Miami of Ohio team tomorrow. They got off to a tough start, a tough loss for them against Wright State. Charlie Coles is a good coach. I know he’ll have his team ready; they’ll be ready to play. The last time we played against them I think it was 1999 in the Sweet 16 up in St. Louis. His teams are always very aggressive and very physical. He has a veteran line-up. I look at it and he has some juniors and seniors and a few sophomores. They are a very talented team. I’m trying to get our guys to understand that anything can happen to you if you don’t come out ready to play. Not that they (Miami) were looking ahead to us, but we can’t look ahead at our opening game in Maui either. We have a lot of new faces and I know our young guys are excited about it (the game) as well as our veteran players. This time of the year everything is really serious and the intensity level starts to build. Sometimes players start to see a little different Coach Smith. It is real serious business in how we conduct ourselves and how we prepare. It was a pretty intense practice this morning to try and create game-like conditions. We’re going to miss some guys too. Jared Carter, we’re going to miss him, he went down with a shoulder separation (http://www.ukathletics.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=37&url_article_id=1885 5&change_well_id=2) in Saturday’s scrimmage. It was kind of a freakish accident in how the way it happened; his arm just got pulled back. It looks like he is going to be out three to four weeks. We’re really going to miss him though; Jared has been playing as well as anybody. He has improved probably more than anybody, and that is what usually happens between your freshman and sophomore years. For tomorrow’s game the line-up we’re going to start with Perry Stevenson, Randolph (Morris), Joe (Crawford), Bobby (Perry) and Ramel (Bradley). We’ll probably bring Lukasz Obrzut off of the bench. Everybody has some nicks and bruises and Lukasz has a tender knee. Without Jared, that creates a situation where we could probably have started both of them (Morris and Obrzut), but we’re not able to do that especially because Sheray (Thomas) will not be available to us until Friday. Those are the things we’re dealing with when you are a little shorthanded. I hope we can overcome that in tomorrow night’s game. I like how our guys have been playing. I like their energy level. They’ve been really communicating well with one another; especially the veteran guys and the young guys are in there too. It probably won’t be whole-sale substitutions like it was in the exhibition games. We’re probably going to sub one sub here and two subs there. We’re going to try and make sure guys are fresh and get guys into situations where they can help us. We are going to see a team tomorrow that is big, who are going to screen you. They’re going to try and throw their weight because they are very heavy and very aggressive. They have a big front line, and they have some big guards too. Nathan Peavy is an outstanding player who averages like 20 points a game. It looks like it’s going to be a pretty good match-up for us.”
http://www.ukathletics.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=37&url_article_id=1886 5&change_well_id=2