Gophers coach wants credit for scheduling St. Thomas

What did you learn most about your team? You know, I don't know much we learned. I mean, again, it was great to see us moving the ball and playing unselfish. And I thought we played hard, you know, the things that have showed up in practice. Again, I thought we showed grit, you know, in that Creighton exhibition to come back from being down and down a man and doing all that. And so I thought that really showed up, you know, but I just focus on, hey, we did some things really well. What are some things we need to get better at? And just keep focusing on the next. So we learned a little bit, but you got to get some games under your belt to really learn about yourself. Um, you know, people have strengths and weaknesses. I think that, you know, Grayson's been such a good defensive player, energy guy, knows really how to run our stuff. He's had a great offseason. We're going to need both of those guys playing at a high level to get where we want to get to. And you'll see different games, different nights. It's going to be, you know, guys that are make a bigger impact. You know, like the game we play tomorrow night, you know, the way they run offense and they play smaller, they space the floor and whatever. However, Malik, he can play, but it's going to be a challenge for him defensively at times, and so sometimes it's just a matchup thing, too. Thank you so much. Malik, he's just grown. This is his first real minutes he's ever played of being counted on at this level, and so that's going to take some time. Some nights, he's like, man, he made a huge impact for us the other night, but he's going to keep getting better as the year goes on, but you know me. I could care less who starts. I just want everyone who plays to play well and make an impact on winning. Well, a ton. I mean, you know, our teams like at Colorado State and from when I played there, we always had most of the time like a shooting five, you know, and we kind of have that when, you know, Crocker Johnson's playing the five. I think it just kind of changes the way you have to guard. It creates a lot of spacing advantages for the offense. Yeah, it's not just him shooting threes, but it's also just the threat of him being out there. And, you know, bigger guys having to guard on the perimeter takes them away right from the basket. And so they're a terrific offensive team and they run great concepts. And I think having bigs who can shoot and play just changes their spacing. So, yeah, it's definitely a challenge for your defense. Oh, I think it'll be good. I mean, I think, you know, what they're saying, there'll probably be 10,000-some fans tomorrow. I think that that's great for basketball here. And, yeah, it should be fun, you know, especially early in the season. And, um... That's a big game, but again, I don't want to make it bigger than it is, too. No matter what happens, we've got, what, 27 games left? We go to Cincinnati on Monday. I know they've got another game on their schedule. I think they've got to go back to West Point or whatever right after this, and so the games just keep coming. It's a great opportunity for us early in the season, and, yeah, it should be good atmosphere tomorrow night. It's got to be a quad one or quad two game. I mean, you know what I mean? Everyone talks about that doesn't make sense. There's no reason for us to play that game like that. It doesn't make any sense. I mean, I hope I get some credit for playing it. You know what I mean? Everyone's, like, greedy. They're like, no one ever plays it, and we play it. Why don't we play it every year? It makes sense. I mean, I see some of these other rivals. I mean, if Cincinnati. And Xavier played, it's a quad one game for both schools. So it just, again, it has nothing to do with emotion or all that stuff like that. My job is to do what's best for Minnesota. And you just take it year to year in scheduling. You just look at what's going on, who are you playing, what are the other games you have on your schedule, what open dates do you have, what makes sense. So you're never saying you won't play them again, but there's no way you can commit to doing something like that every year. Yeah, I mean, he's had a great off-season. I think he was really diligent about recovering from his injury. I think he's stronger. You know, He's spent time doing Pilates and you name it. I think he's really trying to be better about his diet and all those things. And so I think the older you get in this business, I'm going to call it now too, these guys are like pro athletes. They are pro athletes. You realize how much... That matters, you know, taking care of yourself for the grind of a season and wanting to perform at your highest level and giving yourself the best chance over the grind to do that. And so I think, yeah, he's made a real concerted effort here in the offseason. And I think you'll see that pay off for him this year. He's shooting about two-thirds of the shots from three. Is that the balance you want? Are you talking about getting more? Yeah, I think it's got to get, you know, a little bit more inside. I think, you know, sometimes these things take time. You got to, you know, at Colorado State, you know, he was pretty much playing power forward for us. He sometimes would slide into what we call our, you know, our P spot. Thank And then last year, you know. He was forced to play more center, right, in the Big Ten before he got hurt just based on numbers and injuries and all that stuff. So now he's trying to find himself again kind of back at this spot and, you know, where is he going to get his shots, where do we get our shots. And, you know, the way we like to play, you know, concepts, reads, you. sometimes those things just over the course of you kind of take time to figure out sort of where you want to get your shots. At the same point in time, He is a good shooter, guys. You know, he's got to take the open ones. Sometimes different games will present different opportunities. You know, I don't want him going out there and turning down open shots. Sometimes he's maybe shooting ones that maybe he could, you know, turn into something different, but he'll figure it out. We'll get there. Some people call it the center position, but you can see a lot of times how we run offense. That spot can trigger a lot of different things. Those guys make decisions depending on who you are and whatever, allowing that guy to play on the perimeter, play in the post, to trigger some actions for us. And so it's not a guy who's just going to sit block to block and play like that. No, I mean right now the way it looks it'll just be Isaiah and we're excited about that one and like I said said this before I mean it's just really a challenge in this class with the five for five rule and it's not just our team but look around the country I mean all these guys you know can come back again next year and so it's going to create a roster crunch kind of all over the country and I mean there's so many unknowns right with who's going to come back who's not and all that but I think You know, again, it kind of made us think a little bit, you know, long and hard about how many freshmen we wanted to take in this particular class. That's a great question. And, you know, I don't know, but it probably helps them a little bit to, you know, maybe just relax, live in the moment, you know, understand that, hey, this isn't the end, you know, for me. At the same point in time, you always want to have the sense of urgency that, you know, tomorrow is not promised to any of us. But I do. I do think that's an interesting scenario for these guys. You know, again, they're all listed as seniors, but I don't know what we're going to call them now. Do we need to come up with another name? Are they super seniors or whatever it is, you know, because these guys are all going to get five years moving forward. But, yeah, it's going to be an interesting scenario all over college basketball, and especially like in our league at the highest level, there's going to be a real opportunity for retention and it's just going to make the best league in the country even harder. Do they? Okay. I know they have a few, but I mean, the one thing about, I would say about them and you look at this kind of all over the country with really good coaches or people who have continuity, you could take their team and you could go pop on the tape five years ago and you would see a similar team, right? The way they want to play, the way they move the ball, The way they cut, they're stylistically, right? Pop on the film this year, they have some guys returning, they lost some guys, but it still looks the same, right? And I could say that about the teams that I've admired all over the country who've had continuity, is that they have a culture, they have a system, they know how they want to play, they know what they want it to look like, they recruit guys that fit their program, and they do a great job of that. And so no matter who they put in there, You know what I mean? You know how it's going to look. They're going to be very, very difficult to guard. They're going to play scrappy. And, you know, we know, you know, they're going to come in here and this is, you know, a massive, massive opportunity for them. So it should be a real challenge for us tomorrow night. I think he's fine. I mean, I think it's just precaution. I mean, I think he would be he would be available. Yes. I think that's great. I mean, I think he, I think fans can remember before he broke his foot, you know, in that Michigan State game, I thought he was really, really coming into his own and playing at a high level. I think one thing that I know about him and fans will see. I think one of his greatest strengths is he's a two-way player. I think when he's really locked in I think he is elite defensively. He's one of those guys that literally could guard one through five. Some people will say that but he literally has the physical ability to guard one through five and that's hard to find those guys. I think that's maybe his biggest attribute. And then he's also a big, like you said, who can step away and shoot the three. He's physical. It's very practical. So, no, I think he definitely deserves to be on that list. And I think as he kind of keeps rounding into form this year, I think he's poised to have a really good season for us. Guys, yep, thank you.