We talked to Kowacie Reeves and Damon Stoudamire today, practice went 45 minutes longer than expected.
Kowacie said they are in desperation mode now and they can't dwell on all these close losses but need to start winning games.
Kowacie said he needs to do a better job of helping his guys as a leader when they are breaking down some mentally during games and guys including himself need to take shots with confidence when they are out there.
Kowacie said that Damon is the type of coach he prayed to play for and it has been a rollercoaster this year but success won't happen overnight and they are building up something special here.
I asked Damon how he approaches these final games to keep his guys motivated and playing hard and he said he comes in positive and upbeat every day and he knew it wouldn't be easy and the early wins over some good teams built up expectations in the locker room and now they are trying to manage than and get them to understand the margin of error and the importance of playing hard. He said that is part of the teaching and coaching part for him, he isn't going to quit pushing the guys and teaching them. He wants to teach them how to be successful players and in the game of life.
On Cuse and their big men, he said that they've had success against the best big men in the league in some of their wins and they just need to do the same things they did against them and fight through screens and limit offensive rebounds.
On Sacko, Damon said that things haven't always happened for him in games, but he has worked hard all along and built days of equity for himself and the staff are trusting him and that is translating on the court now. He should've played him more against Wake, but he thought they needed more scoring, but he even did a great job in that game.
Deebo Coleman is still out, he was doing non-contact work today.
On finding a go-to guy in the clutch, he said that they are 24 games in and guys have to make the right play, but they are a team not just one guy who has to go get the shot.
On Cuse, they have good guards and don't have a lot of depth. Good in transition and probably have the best guard scoring combo in the ACC right now. They are playing more zone now probably due to the lack of depth and GT has to really limit turnovers and keep them out of transition to have a chance to win as well as limiting offensive rebounds.
On the zone D, Stoudamire said they've been sprinkling it in to mix things up to help win games.
I asked Damon what he expects and is looking to see in these final games as he makes decisions on his roster moving ahead.
" It's all about seeing improvement. It's all about who's still bought in and you know who's playing hard and playing the right way. And those are things for me, you know, I get discouraged but when I look back on and I'm, I'm, I'm positive at the same time to like I say with the exception of a couple games we've been in every game we play we just haven't finished. We got to learn how to finish that's an issue for sure. But at the same time, too, we've competed and with the exception, I would say wait for his game. You know, we've done that from start to finish and I've been satisfied with the effort. We just gotta have more, you know, I mean, at this juncture, the game, you know, it gets redundant to talk about the same things but you know, we can't give up offensive rebounds and that killed his last game. We got to know scouting reports you know, we are closing out on the Davis on the Davis kid from Notre Dame and he's a nice shooter. So you know, there's that, to me, is the attention to detail and we just have to continue we have to keep doing that because we'll be in position we'll be in position to win the game against Syracuse. We just got to go do it."
I asked him about Tafara Gapare
"I think that too far is given, you know, big time effort. I think that he has to figure some things out as a player. That's and that's more you know, the little things, you know, we can help him with the big things, you know, obviously, but, you know, the little things he has to he has to you know, he has to help himself with at times, you know, but you know, he's done. He's done a good job and we just got to keep encouraging him we got to keep we got to keep being in his ear by playing hard. That's the biggest thing with me for him just just continue to play hard."
Kowacie said they are in desperation mode now and they can't dwell on all these close losses but need to start winning games.
Kowacie said he needs to do a better job of helping his guys as a leader when they are breaking down some mentally during games and guys including himself need to take shots with confidence when they are out there.
Kowacie said that Damon is the type of coach he prayed to play for and it has been a rollercoaster this year but success won't happen overnight and they are building up something special here.
I asked Damon how he approaches these final games to keep his guys motivated and playing hard and he said he comes in positive and upbeat every day and he knew it wouldn't be easy and the early wins over some good teams built up expectations in the locker room and now they are trying to manage than and get them to understand the margin of error and the importance of playing hard. He said that is part of the teaching and coaching part for him, he isn't going to quit pushing the guys and teaching them. He wants to teach them how to be successful players and in the game of life.
On Cuse and their big men, he said that they've had success against the best big men in the league in some of their wins and they just need to do the same things they did against them and fight through screens and limit offensive rebounds.
On Sacko, Damon said that things haven't always happened for him in games, but he has worked hard all along and built days of equity for himself and the staff are trusting him and that is translating on the court now. He should've played him more against Wake, but he thought they needed more scoring, but he even did a great job in that game.
Deebo Coleman is still out, he was doing non-contact work today.
On finding a go-to guy in the clutch, he said that they are 24 games in and guys have to make the right play, but they are a team not just one guy who has to go get the shot.
On Cuse, they have good guards and don't have a lot of depth. Good in transition and probably have the best guard scoring combo in the ACC right now. They are playing more zone now probably due to the lack of depth and GT has to really limit turnovers and keep them out of transition to have a chance to win as well as limiting offensive rebounds.
On the zone D, Stoudamire said they've been sprinkling it in to mix things up to help win games.
I asked Damon what he expects and is looking to see in these final games as he makes decisions on his roster moving ahead.
" It's all about seeing improvement. It's all about who's still bought in and you know who's playing hard and playing the right way. And those are things for me, you know, I get discouraged but when I look back on and I'm, I'm, I'm positive at the same time to like I say with the exception of a couple games we've been in every game we play we just haven't finished. We got to learn how to finish that's an issue for sure. But at the same time, too, we've competed and with the exception, I would say wait for his game. You know, we've done that from start to finish and I've been satisfied with the effort. We just gotta have more, you know, I mean, at this juncture, the game, you know, it gets redundant to talk about the same things but you know, we can't give up offensive rebounds and that killed his last game. We got to know scouting reports you know, we are closing out on the Davis on the Davis kid from Notre Dame and he's a nice shooter. So you know, there's that, to me, is the attention to detail and we just have to continue we have to keep doing that because we'll be in position we'll be in position to win the game against Syracuse. We just got to go do it."
I asked him about Tafara Gapare
"I think that too far is given, you know, big time effort. I think that he has to figure some things out as a player. That's and that's more you know, the little things, you know, we can help him with the big things, you know, obviously, but, you know, the little things he has to he has to you know, he has to help himself with at times, you know, but you know, he's done. He's done a good job and we just got to keep encouraging him we got to keep we got to keep being in his ear by playing hard. That's the biggest thing with me for him just just continue to play hard."
