Media Day Begins 2017-18 @MizzouHoops Season
9/29/2017 3:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball
September 29 was the first day of official practice for the Tigers
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Men's Basketball began official team practices on Friday, Sept. 29, as preparations for the 2017-18 season continue. Head coach Cuonzo Martin met with the media to describe the squad's summer workouts, conditioning and the excitement surrounding the program.
Opening Statement…
"We're excited to get started. This is always a great time of year, for me. I'm ready to roll. That's my opening statement."
On what Martin feels the team needs over the next six weeks before Nov. 10…
"I think the biggest thing for us is toughness and mental toughness. The mental part, because this is the first time in my career that I didn't spend so much time defensively in the summer time. I mean, you don't do a lot, just some of the principle things that we've always taught. I just try to consume ourselves with seeing development in our guys, offensively, and just putting them in position so we can see what guys do well – what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses. So this should be the first day when we spend some time defensively. And then being physical, being tough. But I think the mental part, you'll get that situated. I think going through adverse situations: when a guy said he thought he was going to play this many minutes; coming off the bench now when I was a starter. You know, those sorts of things. Where are you mentally? You have to go through just the toughness part.
"I was talking to one of my close friends, he's an assistant coach at Purdue, and they played an international game this past summer and lost in the championship. We were just talking and I just said, 'What do you think it was down the stretch of the game?' And he said they controlled the tempo of the game, they were physical, and they were tough. So for us going into it, that's one of things that we really have to identify – the physical part of being tough. It's one thing to be strong, you can lift weights, but do you have a level of toughness. So I think those are probably the biggest two things I will say going into the season."
On potential lineups and minutes planned out for the first six weeks of practice…
"I've always been a guy to say 'It's your job if you earned it.' I just try to leave it at that. But you put guys in a position to be successful, but you have to earn it. One thing about players, especially the guys that work hard, they feel like they earned the right to play. They would sense it, if I was a player I would have sensed it, 'Why is this guy in front of me when I know I've outplayed him consistently? So hold up Coach, the things you're saying over here – they don't add up.' So if you earn it, you earn it. I've always been a guy where it's all equal. Meaning - if both guys have done a good job and it's hard to decide which one is which, meaning the starter, I would go with the guy who is older, the guy who is battle tested, who's been in the program. I've always tried to do that."
On the progression of Jontay Porter since his arrival in the summer…
"I think Jontay, outside of just being around – that's two months behind the incoming guys and years behind the guys that have been part of the program – but Jontay is very intelligent, so his adjustment was sped up from that standpoint. I think the conditioning part, not that he was in bad shape, just wasn't around as much. But he's intelligent and he can make shots, and he's big. The thing with him we talked about is he'd be good at this level, because he's a good all-around basketball player. He's a guy that has the ability to score 20-plus points. He's the guy that has the ability to get 10 assists and the rebounds because he's a good all-around player. So, his transition is smooth because he's not a guy that you say 'Okay, the only way he's successful is if he scores 30 points.' He's good in a lot of areas of the game, so his transition is a smooth one because he can do so many things."
On Michael Porter, Jr.'s ability…
"He's talented. You know what, Mike can score the ball. I think the thing that should impress you about Mike is his ability to try to compete. You think well, everyone should compete to try to win a game. But I've been around a lot of guys in the past. You know five-six years, young guys and it's just about playing. If I'm just trying to get what I get out of it, then that's considered success. But I think Mike is actually trying to win the drill, you know, whatever it is he wants to win it, and I think that's what separates him from a few guys."
On the length of the squad and its ability to defend the paint…
"I think the biggest thing with big guys and their ability to block shots is just staying out of foul trouble. Because of the way the game has been officiated the last two or three years, you have to be very careful. You have to put yourself in the position to not foul – that's the most important thing. So we try to teach, even if that's a shot block and trying to block the shot away from the ball and trying to block somebody else's shot – not necessarily your guy when you're defending 1-on-1. Because if a guy gives you a good shot fake, it puts you in a vulnerable situation. So we try to work hard on not fouling, which is not easy because we also try to make practice very aggressive and rough. So we have to work on that as well."
On Mizzou's point guard depth…
"Last year you had Terrence (Phillips), you had Jordan Geist. Now you have Blake (Harris) coming in and C.J. (Roberts) is more of a combo – not necessarily a one, but I would consider him more of a combo, scoring guy as opposed to a point. So I just think between guys like Terrence and Blake, all three of these guys have a chance to get major minutes at that position. So we'll see. I see that as the most important position for what we're trying to do; to really defend the ball. As far as defense, that's what kind of starts our defense off. It's not an easy position, but they're working hard at it."
On the team's expectations and fan excitement…
"You want your fans to be excited. I think that is very important. The thing that we try to control, what we want our guys to understand, I try to make it clear to them to see, when you tip the ball there will only be five guys on the floor at one time. We have 16 guys on the roster. So June through July, you start earning minutes. As well as into these first days of practice. And again we can only play five guys at a time. How we try to improve the expectations around our locker room and our guys is letting them know what they can do without all the expectations. We've had some tough years here, and that's a fun thing to be a part of. It's our job to do our job."
One conversations with Michael Porter, Jr. about his professional aspirations…
"No, you know sometimes you just don't waste time with certain things. Some things are really understood, and I think that's a part of it because I'd be cheating him if I did anything less than that."
On his thoughts about Columbia…
"It's a good time. Even when I saw Columbia from afar, I always thought it was a great town. I thought they embraced their teams, the fans have been great. And I've always felt like that."
