Delaware State post game interviews

[rocky_warrior]

Tom Crean
- Very workman like effort.  Have to have that against a team like DSU.  Bluntt was being watched by NBA scouts tonight.  It will be a good RPI game for MU down the road.  MU had 47 deflections.  Lot of good things (ball movement...)

- Felt that DSU was going to attack the middle more so MU gave up too many long range shots early.  MU wanted to set the pace, DSU tries to slow down the game.  MU played better with hands in second half.

- Had a strong feeling that Matthews would play very well.  He attacked tonight - didn't do that the past few games.  If they had a chance to beat somebody off the dribble, they wanted to take advantage of that.

- McNeal is on a great pace with deflections.  Had a couple great days of practice, he didn't pick spots well on Sat.

- Dan played well, 7 rebounds was great.  Starting Lott & Barro allows teams not to respect the outside shot like teams have to do with Fitz.

- Big games coming up, and good things to build on tonight.  Wisc is a big rivalry, SI listed it as one of the biggest in the state a few years ago.  MU has played some good teams and been in big games already to prepare them.

[rocky_warrior]

Dan Fitzgerald
- Didn't change much tonight.  TC was talking about rebounds and getting out of bounds quick.  When MU gets it down the floor quick they play best.

- Every player wants to start, but the ones who finish are the important ones.  MU has lots of players that can do both.

- Everyone wanted to forget about NDSU, and was good to do well tonight with big Wisc game coming up.

- MU does best when they get the extra pass. Always someones going to be open if you take the extra pass.

- Everyone always tell him to be aggressive and do what he does (i.e. shoot the rock).  When he can stick to that, he does well. (T Smith went on tirade saying Fitz sometimes passes up the shot too much. He needs to take more shots and kick more butt.) He knows he can open things up for everyone else when he is aggressive.

- The three sophomores are really aggressive and get after the ball, and the rest of the team follows their lead.

[rocky_warrior]

By all means...I welcome others to chime in and correct anything I get wrong. I'm not that quick at listening / typing, so I'm sure some of this stuff isn't quite right 

[SoCalwarrior]

Kudos to Tony for not lobbing a softball.  But judging Fitz's reaction, he's heard the same thing from everyone else.

I liked a lot of Tony's incite during the game.  Unfortunately his delivery reflected his experience.

[SoCalstu09]

Fitz starting is immensely better than Jamil. Crean said it best...it forces defenses to respect the outside shot. It showed tonight. Fitz came out strong, intense. Our guards could drive the lane. Even though he missed his first two open looks, he kept firing and he didnt miss again. Big change from last year (confidence issue). Fitz has definitely earned his starting position at the #3/4. Plus, I think I know where we're gonna be getting our Novak rebound replacements!

[herboturbo]

Are you guys talking about Tony Smith?  Is he working on the radio now?

[marquette09]

I think I saw Mac playing drums in the band tonight. What was up with that?

[MU71]

It took 9 games to realize that Fitz forces a team to respect the outside more than Lott???  Good change in the starting lineup - long overdue.

[DoubleMU0609]

I think I saw Mac playing drums in the band tonight. What was up with that?

Two years ago I was the student director of the pep band.  I think it was JMac's first year doing the color.  During one of the early games of the season before the radio show started JMac came up to the band and asked if he could play with us.  According to Dr. Contorno JMac played drums in high school and always wanted to play in the band during warmups while he was a player but coach wouldn't let him. 

As luck would have it, one of the drummers in the band had a MacIlvane Sonics jersey on underneath his rugby.  The band gave him a XXXL rugby a few weeks later.  JMac has played with the band most games before the radio show starts ever since and almost always has on the band rugby when he does the color commentary. 

Apparently last night he wanted to play the whole game so they had Tony Smith sit in for him.