Interview with Fran Fraschilla
Tom Crean's relationships with coaches both in college basketball and other sports have been well-chronicled over the years.
One of his closest friends in the business is Fran Fraschilla, the former Manhattan and New Mexico coach who's found himself quite a gig in the past few seasons as a studio analyst for ESPN.
Fraschilla took Crean up on an offer to spend a few days at MU, and took in a couple of practices as well as the Golden Eagles' exhibition victory over Division II Northern State on Sunday.
Although he is biased - and said so more than once in the course of this 10-minute interview - Fraschilla nonetheless offers up some great insight into MU and its personnel.
Here is what he had to say:
What are your impressions so far of the 'Big Three' - Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews? I'm impressed with their continued maturity, which is not a surprise - they're juniors now and they've played a lot. But individually, I've certainly seen a change, I think, in Dominic in the sense that...first of all, he's a better defender than I think he ever has been on the ball. I thought he was outstanding in practice and outstanding (against Northern State). I thought he was terrific in looking for the open man, and I think he just needs to stay away from shots that are low-percentage shots, which I think he now understands. And once he consistently knocks down that open jump shot, I think he's going to have the kind of year that I think people are expecting out of him.
I think Jerel is just a junkyard dog. The beauty about Jerel is he's so valuable and yet he's a four-year guy; he's not going anywhere. Then I think Wesley may be the most improved of the three. He sometimes doesn't get the attention because Dominic's the quote-All-American candidate and Jerel is the defensive player of the year in the Big East. Wesley, to me, is a very consistent player. Coaches love guys that consistently give you the same effort night-in and night-out. I was telling Tom, watch Wes - he is just going to do this thing, he's not flashy. He's just a very solid, no-mistake player. That's the best way to put it. Coaches love no-mistake guys that they can count on. They like the guy that's going to get you 16 every night instead of 4 one night and 22 the next. That's what I see out of him.
So I've definitely seen progress in terms of their maturity. But that's not surprising to me because you'd expect that out of guys who have this kind of playing experience and also are coached hard every day. I think the greatest thing about those three guys - of course, I'm biased because of my relationship with Tom - Tom has this unique ability to be bluntly honest with guys, his players, and they still love him because he spends to much time off the court with him. I thought the way he coaches Dominic particularly - he's brutal. Brutal in his assessment and honesty. But to Dominic's credit, he's very coachable and I think you'll see a change from a guy that maybe had the pressure on him last year to get to the league to just being the best Dominic James he can be and let the chips fall where they may. I saw a guy last year that kind of had one foot in the circle and one foot out. And not because he's not a great kid, just because if any of us were in a situation where we had a chance to get to the NBA, we'd be doing the same dance. It's tricky when you have a player that good, and there's a lot of mental things up there with a guy that is trying to reach his dream.
What, in your opinion, will be the key to a great season for MU? Certainly the inside guys, for obvious reasons. I think it's the front line. They have got to hold up their end of the bargain. They play in a very physical league -- Marquette's greatest strength is its athleticism on the perimeter, its open-court ability - but those guys have to hold the fort down with Trevor not being available to play. It's that simple. I think it's obvious it's those guys. I think a Dwight Burke's got to be able to come in 15 minutes in one night against UConn at Storrs, or Dan (Fitzgerald's) got to stretch a defense like he did at Pittsburgh last year with his ability to shoot it. Then I think the other X-factor is (David) Cubillan, and (Maurice) Acker to a lesser extent, because those guys can come in and you don't really miss a beat. Maurice is like a punt returner. He's a specialist. He's not a 35-minute-a-game guy. He's a guy that can break a game open, may fumble every now and then. But both of those guys, I think, can keep the frenetic pace that Tom wants to create going. Scott Christopherson), I think, shows that he can be a good player. It's just that now there's a lot of guys on the depth chart. He won't get the same opportunity to play early that, say, Travis (Diener) did 6 or 7 years ago. But he certainly has the ability to be a very good player for this program.
Prior to the 2005-'06 season you were mentioned as possibly joining Crean's staff in an assistant's role, but ultimately turned down the opportunity. How close was that to actually happening? I had boxes here. (laughs) It's funny. I have two mistresses: coaching and broadcasting. I love the opportunity to be with Tom, and to help him continue to build the program, I mean, I can't tell you how many sleepless nights I had those last few nights. But at ESPN, especially because my boys are at an age - they're 15 and 12 now - where I've been able to spend a lot of time with them the last couple of years. It's given me a great opportunity from a family standpoint, and also ESPN's been great to me as far as the opportunity to grow in my job. I'm certainly not going to rule out coaching in the future, but it was just...it was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make because I have so much respect for Tom and the program and the university. Believe me, I thought about the free tuition that might be involved, and having the boys get a Jesuit education as they got older. There's a lot of things that went through my mind. But at the end of the day, Jimmy V. used to say, 'Don't mess with happy.' And I'm happy in Dallas working for ESPN - family considerations down there because of my wife - and yet I would have been happy here. I just felt, 'Don't mess with something that you really like doing,' even though I would have had an incredible experience here.
If you ever return to the sideline, will it have to be as a head coach? You know what? I was offered a job in the Big East this year that was open. It's a football school in Florida; I won't tell you where it is. (laughs) I thought about it but again, it got back to the 'Don't mess with happy' theory. One of the great things about coming here for the weekend, honestly, is as much as I love the coaching business, to watch Tom and his staff for three days, the way Tom micromanages and also the way he compartmentalizes, multi-tasks. I've never been around anybody - and I've known him since he was 19 - who can multi-task so well, how he can get a lot of things done in an incredibly short period of time. I've watched him practice three times, I've watched a game, I've watched a recruiting visit. It gave me kind of a primer on coaching again. It kind of gave me a reminder of how much work goes into a typical basketball weekend on the college level. So in that sense it's great preparation for getting ready to start my season.
Crean is sometimes criticized for working his players too hard in practice. What's your opinion? He's got a great feel. One of the things he talked to me about was giving them a couple of days off this week, going really light. Tom has a good feel for that. He has so many people that he can draw from, in terms of a Pat Riley or a Tony LaRussa or a Barry Alvarez - he's talked these things out. Anybody who says he works a team too hard probably doesn't like hard work. He has a really good feel for his kids. We all wish we could do something different...it's easy to say, 'Man, we're getting ready for Georgetown, I wish we hadn't gone so long on Wednesday and Thursday.' We've all done that as coaches. But for the most part he has a great feel because he's thought all these things out; he's had people help him as he's matured as a coach. I don't think that's an issue. When I say they go harder than most teams, they're doing all shooting and those things. Things that aren't that physically taxing. Skill work, standing in one spot and knocking down shots. Your arm might get a little tired, but that's about it.
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