New York, New York
Mailbag: Big Ten conference anything but top-heavy
Posted: Tuesday December 08, 1998 04:40 PM
First of all, I want to express how happy I am that there is such a great response to the mailbag questions. I must admit, there was some wondering on my part if we'd ever have a response to this type of a segment. But so far it's been very interesting. I've really liked the questions and appreciate all the questions from different people.
We had a great trip to the Preseason NIT in New York City. We got to see a Broadway show, eat at Tavern on the Green, have Thanksgiving dinner at the Marriott Marquis with all the other teams while seeing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade going right by our hotel. One day, our bus driver took us on a tour of the different parts of New York City, and it was very, very educational for our players and great for our entire traveling party.
The NIT has always been special to me because as a young boy the NIT probably was more popular than the NCAA tournament in those days. Being a basketball junkie -- even in those days -- I really appreciate the NIT. These exempt games are good because it's always a win-win situation. We play four extra games over our regular schedule, so it should help our team, especially since we have so many guys who are equal.
I get kind of amused at the NBA lockout and the Mike Tyson situation, and all the pro athletes that have troubles. I think it all comes down to the fact that it's not all the young man's fault -- that there's a situation where he didn't have parents like I had that made me listen, and made me be on time and taught me how to do things in the right manner. So, that's what I try to do with my players. And it's interesting that the two games in New York City all came down to self-discipline -- the system we use.
North Carolina's system won out in the last few minutes because they just got the ball inside better in the last few minutes. We didn't execute our offense with good screens, good spacing and good cutting, and we didn't play good post defense. The Tar Heels executed their inside offense against us and they did a great job of getting the ball to the right people. And Ed Cota , their point guard, was very instrumental in the win.
I think the post defense was a big concern of ours after the North Carolina game. We worked hard this year on spacing, cutting, setting good screens. Running the fast break with good judgement has been a problem, so probably the three things we'd like to improve: passing judgement (especially on the fast break), getting with our people on the press and not leaving someone open, and then recognizing situations and being able to adjust to them. We did not adjust to our post problems in the North Carolina game.
In the St. John's game, however, we came out and played about as bad as we've played in a half since I've been at Purdue in 18 years. It mostly had to do with St. John's half-court, three-quarter press, which we had worked on somewhat in practice because the Red Storm had played one possession of it in the previous games. And when we see something like this in a game and it works, we can anticipate they'll stay with it. And I know that Mike Jarvis was real happy with it because it was working great against us.
We don't see people evidently. I asked our trainer the other day if we needed to have our players' eyes checked because I don't think they see very well. I was just kidding, of course. But we really played lackadaisically in that first half. At halftime, I had a pretty good butt-chewing contest for our players about pride, about listening, about understanding how important it is to practice and have a will to practice, to win.
Our strategy was to try and get the score into single digits by the last 10 minutes of the second half. To do so, we needed to keep picking away, taking good shots and being smart with our pass selection. We also needed to get two guards out in front of the man in the middle of the press and get the two big guys deep in each corner, attacking the press from there and getting into our half-court offense with good crisp passes, making sure we get the ball to the right people.
One of the things that we worked very hard at in practice in the last 20 minutes -- especially when we go three hours and we're fatigued -- is running through a variety of last-second scenarios :
"Six seconds to go full-court."
"Under our basket with three seconds left."
"Score is tied at 70 with two minutes left."
"We're behind two and they're shooting two free throws with three minutes to go."
Coming of age: Jaraan Cornell, who leads the Boilermakers in scoring, nailed the game-winner against St. John's AP | |
All these things we work on for game situations. So in this particular game against St. John's, we're in a situation where we've got to get a good shot off. We foul them with 12 seconds left and miss the free throw -- unbelievable since the guy that missed the free throw had shot 87 percent for the year. He missed the free throw, senior guard Alan Eldridge pushes the ball down quickly, gets it to the shooter -- in this case, junior guard Jaraan Cornell -- and he knocks it in. Now, our strategy is: If it's between 10 and 20 seconds, we don't call a timeout -- we play. Anything under 10 seconds, we try to get it to halfcourt and call a timeout. So, at least we have a game plan there.
The Preseason NIT was a great experience. Beating Gonzaga was a good win for us, beating Illinois-Chicago was a good win for us, but losing to North Carolina was a downer because we have not beaten them since I've been here. And then to win against a quality program such as St. John's was a great win for us. So we had a great experience in the NIT, appreciated being in it and hope we are asked to return.
To the e-mailbag
Over the last few years, the Boilermaker non-conference schedule has been getting tougher and tougher. How do you get the team prepared for matchups against big-name programs like North Carolina or Kentucky?
Jay Sampson, Toledo, Ohio
A lot of that has to do with the exempt games, because of being in the Great Alaskan Shootout, being in the Maui Invitational next year, being in the Puerto Rico Shootout a few years ago, being in the NIT this year, etc. All these games are exempt games and always are against quality teams, so that's one reason we've upgraded our schedule. Plus, I had a philosophy change in our scheduling about 10 years ago where the NCAA has been a nemesis of ours, as everybody knows. I've decided to play in big venues, against great teams, on neutral courts with hostile environments so we'd be ready for the NCAA tournament. And that's another reason why we've upgraded our schedule, so we can get into those type of situations, and I think it's helped us somewhat because we're winning more in the NCAA than we used to.
In the latest edition of Sports Illustrated your team was left off its Top 25 list. How do you feel about it, and would you rather be left off a preseason Top 25?
Patrick Getts, Kendallville, Indiana
Well, I just guess Sports Illustrated didn't think we were good enough. It doesn't bother us because you've got to earn your way in there. I'd rather be left off that Top 25 and then earn my way back in it than start high and then not be able to fulfill that compliment. That really didn't bother me.
I realize that you have a deep bench at 11-12 starting quality players. I was curious how long it usually takes coaches with excellent roster depth to figure out what are the best combinations to play these players satisfying everyone's playing time and continuing to win games?
Wade Warfel, Pendleton, Indiana
We haven't had a team in a few years with the depth of this team, and we hope it's quality depth. But, it will sort itself out probably in 10 to 12 games, and that's what we play our non-conference schedule for.
Coach, I am certainly glad you teamed up with CNN/SI. I love the alpha-to-omega concept applied to a basketball season. My question centers on the use of timeouts. Over the years, has your philosophy changed regarding when to call a momentum-ending timeout?
Don Billheimer, Noblesville, Indiana
My philosophy on timeouts has changed because TV has become so prevalent. Probably one of the biggest things I've changed in my coaching in the past few years is not calling timeout with 20 or 30 seconds left -- we let the players go ahead and run the offense like we teach and not kill the momentum. But when we get it inside 10 seconds we do call a timeout to run something there, on the out of bounds or in a half-court situation.
Other than Michigan State, no one from the Big Ten seems to be getting much preseason hype. How do you see the Big Ten race taking shape?
Ryan Kikendall, Hartford City, Indiana
I think the Big Ten race is going to be as tough as it's been since the early '80s, mainly because Penn State, Ohio State and Northwestern are going to be vastly improved. I also think everybody else is going to be just as good as they've been. So, the Big Ten's going to be really good this year from top to bottom, not just the top.
What are your feelings about the season starting sooner every year and the increase in the number of games?
Derek Fellows, Indianapolis
I don't like the season starting sooner because I don't like it interfering with football and other sports in the fall. Secondly, I don't think our players are in condition to play too soon, so therefore I'm concerned about injuries. And third, I think that sometimes when we start too soon, you kind of lose that excitement for the game late in the season. The main thing I'm concerned about is teaching the kids good fundamentals early, making sure we don't have injuries because we're not in the proper shape to play games, and then be able to handle all situations -- like St. John's half-court trap. That trap was really good and we weren't ready for that because we hadn't worked against it enough. We just got by because we were lucky. The number of games should stay around 30 or 32 before we get into the NCAA tournament. I think when we get up into 35 or 36, that's too many and the players miss too much school.
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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