Mike Brey Notebook: 10/2
Notre Dame basketball started practice on Monday afternoon, and head coach Mike Brey spoke on several topics before practice.
On hoops scandal:
“It was disappointing. I don’t know if we can get any lower with the situation we’re in now. We’ve had this underworld as part of the fabric for a long, long time. Now that it’s a criminal investigation, it’s an all new territory.
“Starting yesterday, I am trying not to be distracted by this so I can coach my team. People want to talk about that every day, but I don’t have much more to comment other than what I just said. I’m sure there is going to be a lot of drama throughout the season.”
On if it’s easier to coach his team with Notre Dame not involved:
“We’ve had a template here for 17-18 years on how we run things. I feel very good about it. There is a lot of moving pieces in recruiting. I think I know just about everything that goes on, but there may be things I don’t know.
“I’m confident on how we’ve run it and the way we’ve done it. I was looking back at all the kids we recruited from high school team and shoe affiliation. We had some guys in my early years where it said ‘shoe affiliation,' it said ‘None.’”
On Notre Dame’s program in relation to scandal:
“I’m pretty darn confident in how we do business. You never know completely. There is no question about it. I pride myself in really being plugged into everything that goes on. I’ve always been confident in our philosophy and how we’ve run it. The kids that are attracted to us kind of makes for a young man that’s getting the big picture of the package of room, books, board and tuition….and associated fees.”
On program’s success:
“The guys I’m going to be on the floor with in 45 minutes are thinking bigger than what we thought maybe my first 14 years. They are driven by a senior class that wants to play in the Final Four and an ACC Championship Game and to try and win the darn thing.
“We’ve hit a new level of confidence. When you have veterans back, there is no need to not think it’s not possible. The one thing you always have to remind them on day one is this is a methodical grind of trying to get better, and we aren’t going to have it figured out early.
On schedule:
“This has got to be the toughest schedule in the history of the program, especially when you look at where we have to go on the road. Our road stuff is amazing. I feel we have some maturity, toughness, and leadership to help us maneuver this.
On Austin Torres:
“He has a stress fracture. He will be out a month to six weeks. We thought it was shin splints and we got x-rays. A month would be pushing it, but I think it might be more six weeks.
“For Austin, who is a veteran, his role isn’t going to change. He’s going to be the same guy. We can get him healthy and the real stuff in time. The first game will be tight. I think it would be a close call.”
On big men:
“You never want to see a guy go down but it solves an issue on the front end to get (Elijah) Burns, (John) Mooney, or Rex (Pflueger). Mooney and Burns, how do we play when we downshift and play small? If we played DePaul tonight, we’re committed to Geben and Colson starting up front.
“Do we play a little bigger this year? That’s the one thing on my mind. We have a number of bigs and how do we work them all in and feel part of it? That’s a challenge for me this season.”
On protecting Bonzie Colson:
“Martin Geben gives us such a great defensive body. Torres does too. I think Mooney and Burns can do that too. They can take the pounding a little bit. You don’t want Bonzie to do that all the time.
“If we are downshifting and DJ Harvey is in the role of a stretch four, Bonzie is so smart in using his length and not fouling. Maybe we play a little bit more zone sometimes too. We’ve been mostly man-to-man, and we will be – I think it will be the strength of this team more than some of my other teams, especially if you have a (TJ) Gibbs and Pflueger on the floor at the same time. Maybe we’ll turn people over a little more than we have done traditionally.
“I think how you pace Bonzie and who is he guarding is important. But where am I putting him on the floor offensively to take advantage of him? With how he is shooting the three, there is another element and sets to have him really spread the floor.”
On Geben playing internationally this summer:
“He’s come back, one confident guy. You can only say so much as a coach. To have that experience, winning a gold medal and the impact he had as their key big guy – I mean he comes back in a great frame of mind.
“The guy deserves a really good senior year. He’s a great kid, and he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do.”
On Nik Djogo and DJ Harvey:
“I thought Nik had a really good summer. We have him handling the ball. Our perimeter if we played DePaul tonight would be Matt (Farrell, Rex, and TJ. Who handles the ball with the second group? We kind of forced Nik into that and it’s really helped him. He’s taking better care of the ball, and he’s had to do more.
“The one thing about him is we lost shooting with VJ (Beachem) and Steve (Vasturia). A guy coming off the bench that can really stroke it can really help us.
“DJ is physically ready to do it. He has a great mid-range game and a great stroke. He can be a little bit of a shooter for us. He also rebounds with anybody for his size. It’s funny how he stands out a little bit when you have all these old guys. We have to slow him down a little bit and understand what a good shot is.
“The good thing is he has played with all old guys all summer, who have coached him when I’m not around. Both of those guys we really have evaluated. I think both of them are going to have a role for us.”
On progress over the next few weeks:
“What I’m interested in is who we will offensively, which is unusual to say about this program. I have a better feel for who we are on the defensive end right. We’ve grown on that end the last couple years. With Gibbs and Pflueger, there is a real pride in how we guard.
“Can we turn some people over to get some easy buckets? That’s not usually how we’ve done business, and I think we’ll be able to that. Maybe that takes some pressure off how we’re shooting the ball.”
On makeup of team:
“The drive and the will of this group to want to do something special is very impressive. To the point of I’m going to have to keep them steady. You look at the personalities of Farrell, Colson, Pflueger, and Gibbs, they are edgy guys. They are emotional guys. 98% of that is good, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I’d rather have that and downshift it a little bit.
“When we don’t have success – in the midst of the game and the midst of a tough stretch in the ACC, can we poised and understand the big picture? I think that’s going to be a big part of my job. I’ve talked to Matt Farrell about it as the quarterback and senior. I don’t want to take away his juice, but his talk in huddles may have to be a little different.
“Last year we have Steve and VJ. They were like listening to jazz in the huddle. They brought everyone else down. I’m thinking I guess I’m the jazz guy right now and maybe Matt Farrell can join me.
On Farrell toning it down:
“I don’t want to screw his game up, so maybe I’ll just do it. He’s conscious after being the quarterback for a year. We have him talking more. We couldn’t get him to say anything the first two years.
“He’s really grown into the talking leadership role of the point guard.”
On National Anthem:
“We have handled it collectively. Last year in the midst of the protests, we got together as a group, and my thing was about how we could be part of the solution. Remember we had that practice with the police in downtown South Bend.
“I tried to get them to understand instead of protesting, how about we do something constructive and try to bring the community and police together. I thought it was a very educational event for our guys. I thought it was good for the community.
“That’s a discussion as we get closer to the first exhibition game that we’ll have again and talk about it. I’m always open to hearing guy’s feedback and getting a vibe of things. I have not talked about it with them, and I don’t think I’ll bring it up the first two weeks of practice, but as we get a week out from the exhibition game, if we need to have a discussion, it would be a group discussion.”