Not much I like better on a gray autumn day than the squeak of sneakers on hardwood.
Observations from Chairman Rick at Media Day:
“The team has a great attitude, maybe the best since I’ve been coaching.
“Reggie Delk will be much better than (we) witnessed last year. TWill simply dominated him so in practice. (Later, during one on one conversations, Pitino emphasized how much Delk was intimidated by Terrence Williams, that he’s a totally different player this season with a greater confidence level.)
“Swopshire is also better with Earl gone.”
On Siva: “He’ll pressure Sosa, but not enough to start. Incredible personality. Great leadership. It’s a great freshman class. It’s like having four Larry O’Bannons.”
“Rakeem (Buckles) is battling Swopshire for a starting spot. Kuric is pushing Delk. He could start.
“Edgar and Jerry are doing a great job as captains. They did something that’s never happened anywhere I’ve coached. The coaches were late to individual instructions. We were arguing over recruiting. Jerry went ahead and started the instructions.
“The Big 10 and Big 12 are the two strongest leagues this year.
“I told Van Treese I need only three things from him. Set screens. Rebound, offensive and defensive. Run the floor.
“Preston is the best sixth man. When he comes in the game you can just feel how the crowd sits up in their seats.”
When asked if U of L would be primarily a zone or man-to-man team, he said: “We’ll mix it up. We’re not as experienced as last season. We need to confuse our opponents. Notice during practice how the players are talking more.”
He compared Buckles to Otis George when he was a freshman, except he’s more offensive oriented. He said Swopshire has improved his footwork and offensive rebounding and is a better shot than Buckles.
“On offense, we’ll have to adapt to personnel. We’ll go inside more. We need good spacing.
“I said it before. It never crossed my mind to leave the job this summer. I’m not going to face anything on the road that I haven’t faced before.”
He mentioned how new assistant Ralph Willard has been talking with the freshmen about the mental aspects of the game. He reiterated several times how he’s fired up about the team because of the work effort and the fact that they enjoy each other.
– Seedy K