Meeting the basketball family
Posted: Thursday November 05, 1998 05:01 PM
As you may know, we lost last year's seniors Brad Miller and Chad Austin, both averaging about 17 points per game. Brad was our starting center while Chad was what I call a combo guard; he could play point guard or two-guard, and he could play small forward if he had to. Although Brad and Chad were both very valuable players who will be hard to replace, I think it can be done with leadership from senior point guards Alan Eldridge and Tony Mayfield.
We have a nucleus of six juniors: Mike Robinson, a 6-foot-6 small forward; Jaraan Cornell, a 6-3 shooting guard; Gary McQuay, a 6-8 forward; and Greg McQuay, Gary's older brother who transferred from the College of Southern Idaho, who can really be an outstanding inside player for us.
We also have the player that everybody really talks about in Brian Cardinal, who probably is the most hard-nosed player in the nation. Brian takes charges, he dives on the floor, he gives the team enthusiasm, but he must step up and become a scoring threat and average in double figures. Even if he could average double figures in rebounding, it would certainly make us a Top 10 team.
And then the people that may surprise some folks could be our sophomores and freshmen. We have Carson Cunningham, a transfer in here from Oregon State who I really told to stay at Oregon State because I think kids should stay where they start, but he wanted to get back closer to home. Also in that sophomore class is Cameron Stephens, a 6-8 forward from Fort Wayne (Indiana) who laid out last year because of Prop 42, and also Jamaal Davis, who's also at 6-8. Our sophomore class is untested, however.
As for our three freshmen, I've been pretty high on them so far. The main thing I like about them is that they've been very good in class and they've done what they're supposed to be doing. They were where they were supposed to be, on time, and it seems like they're enjoying the academic side of things, which has been unusual for the last couple of years.
Freshman Maynard Lewis is a special guard who has good athletic ability, could become a very good shooter, listens and is very intelligent about the game. Rodney Smith started in our first exhibition game, is very quick, has a nice shot, listens and is very coachable. And maybe the biggest surprise of the three has been John Allison, our freshman center, who even according to our players has been a nice surprise -- and that's unusual because players don't usually brag on freshmen. But Allison's been a great shot blocker so far in our intrasquad games, and that's been a nice addition to the squad.
I think the main thing about all three of these freshmen is that they listen. They don't think they're something that they're not. They have a chance to be very good, and I think the reason they came here was that they knew they could get a good education, we've had some success here traditionally in basketball, and I think they feel a part of the basketball family here.
To the e-mailbag
I wanted to know if you felt this year's team might be the most wide-open team (in terms of full-court pressing and shooting 3s) you have coached at Purdue due to numbers and lack of a true big man?
--Mick Sandhu, Farmington Hills, Michigan
I don't think that when you press and use up-tempo transition it means you are "wide-open." It means you're going to exploit your athletic ability.
We do have a lot of depth, and that's a big factor. We work very hard at taking good shots, and that means playing a game that takes great conditioning. We shoot a lot of 3-pointers, so we lift a lot of weights with our legs, which will help our 3-point shooting, our free throw shooting and our rebounding. And then we work very hard on pressing, trapping, forcing the ball to the right places, talking, rotating and making sure we don't let people have the easy basket.
The three things we really want to do are: take good shots, take care of the basketball, and play good team defense where we don't give up easy baskets. I don't necessarily think that is a "wide-open" game, but rather productive and hopefully we can win with it.
I am a high school basketball coach in Missouri and was wondering, since you're emphasizing the 3-point shot this year, what is your favorite 3-point shooting drill that you use during your practices?
--Jeff Cope, Springfield, Missouri
My favorite 3-point shooting drill is one that stresses a heel-toe technique, where we put the heel down first, turn the foot toward the basket and shoot off our toes with the regular shooting touch. We talk about heel-toe, squaring up and taking shots with good body balance.
Why do you think 20 hours of practice, a little more than three hours per day if you go six days per week, is not enough in the preseason? It seems that all that time practicing, and then visiting the training room, etc., puts a real strain on the kids who are also going to class for at least three hours per day and then studying later on? Do you worry that it will wear the kids down to practice more?
--Eugene Whitlock, Miami Beach, Florida
I think that when you have a young team, you need more practice time because they need to know more about how to do the things that we're trying to teach. We've always had a philosophy that there are six things we're trying to teach here during the year: conditioning and weights, fundamentals, team morale, flexible offense, fast break and pressure defense.
We really try to work hard on our kids' fundamentals so that they don't end up beating themselves. That means they should make the easy pass, make sure you have good body balance, see the ball and the open man and know the score and the time left in the game. I don't worry about the kids being worn down in practice because they're kids and they're young and they have a lot of energy. Energy has been my forte over the years, and that's what I try to give to my players and hopefully it rubs off.
From the season's first tip-off to its final buzzer, Purdue coach Gene Keady files a weekly column with CNNSI.com. In his 19th year as head coach of the Boilermakers, Keady provides an exclusive peek into the highlights, lowlights and sidelights of a full college basketball season. Follow one of the nation's top coaches within one of the nation's top conferences this season "From Midnight to March."
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