Dilly Presents: Chris Mack Coach's Show (Ep 1) October 21, 2013

[Muskie]

Chris Mack Coach's Show
Time: 7:00 P.M.
Location: Dilly (Menu (http://www.dillycafe.com/appetizers.php))
Address: 6818 Wooster Pike, Mariemont, Ohio (Call for Reservations: 513-561-5233)
LISTEN 550 WKRC (http://www.iheart.com/live/1709/?autoplay=true)

[Muskie]

Show's season debut is tonight!

[dabott]

Show's season debut is tonight!

We are ready to go at Dilly! Looking forward to talking a little Xavier hoops!

[Muskie]

I'll be listening but probably won't be in a position to type my thoughts till I get home from work. If anyone wants to do a running commentary, feel free.

[casualfan]

I hope Chris is better than when I heard him on with Lance last week.

Not that he was bad then, but at one point Lance asked him flat out "Chris, is this an NCAA Tournament team".

The response left me a little uneasy as it involved a long explanation of how young an inexperienced we are and about how tough the challenges of a new league will be without ever really answering the question.

I realize it's a difficult question to answer, but at least throw an "I think so" in the mix before reeling off all the reasons why it may not be.

[paulxu]

I'll be listening but probably won't be in a position to type my thoughts till I get home from work. If anyone wants to do a running commentary, feel free.

That sounds like a 911 call to Xuab.

[xuab]

Okay, I'll come out of retirement - at least for tonight.

JS: Welcome to the Chris Mack show. Chris Mack has already discovered the beer cheese. It’s delicious. We’re going to be here every Monday with a few exceptions to talk Xavier basketball.
BL: How about this turnout for the first show.
JS: We appreciate everyone coming out. (Lots of good things to say about the Dilly). Chris, you had an exciting summer. Can you retrace the steps?
CM: the biggest story is the move to the Big East. For so many years, people had talked about it. The dominoes began to fall because of football. This move was made for Basketball purposes. We’re really excited. Our kids are looking forward to the challenge. What an awesome thing we have in front of us. Addition of Rick Carter to the staff. Rick was instrumental in us recruiting Brad Redford. He coached Brad in AAU. He started at Michigan State, Fairfield, Western Michigan and University of Missouri. He is tenacious in recruiting. He’s a huge part of our program.

BL: You also have a new AD in Greg Christopher.
CM: Greg moves a mile a minute. Ever since he took the job, I hardly see him. We stay in communication all the time. He is a worker. He is constantly on the road. In meetings. He’s putting Xavier in a great position.

BL: You mention the move to the Big East. Where do you feel in the program the ramifications of the move from the A10 are.
CM: The marriage between the Big East and Fox sports 1 is one I don’t think people can appreciate. It will start with Friday at Musketeer Madness. Fox Sports 1 is severely invested in the conference’s success. We’re the only conference being featured. When you have Gus Johnson and Bill Rafferty are calling the shows. We’re talking about people who don’t know a lot about Xavier basketball yet. Will give us a national presence. That marriage is in its early stages. In every meeting, they are committed to making sure Xavier and the rest of the league is shown in a positive manner. They feel we’ll be the premier league.

BL: You mention recruiting. Have you seen the effects of it already?
CM: We’ve had some successes. I don’t know if it’s where it’s going to be. If you ask the average American who follows sports, I could bet that 80% couldn’t name who is in what league. Even though we know as people who are invested in Xavier, I don’t think the average kid knows the landscape of college athletics. That’s what Fox Sports 1 is for.

JS: You just had media day in NYC.
CM: It was great. They got the luxury treatment on a private plane. We flew to NY and went after class. We stayed 4 or 5 blocks from Times Square. Semaj had never been in NYC. They got to see the sites. Had a dinner with all the big east coaches and the new commissioner. Fox Sports Execs. We talked about the vision of our conference. Media day was the next day in front of 100 members of the media.

JS: We have a lot of season in front of us, but we’ll be back in NYC for the Big East tourney.
CM: Our players are juiced. Consider getting as many Xavier fans to MSG. I know it’s expensive, but it’s a great place to be. We have to do our part as fans to get as many in Xavier blue there.

[xuab]

JS: More Dilly commercials. We were talking about the Big East. We’ll do that more later. A lot of new cities, venues and coaches.
CM: We’re at the beginning stages. We try to do that over the summer before recruiting time. We broke up the conference between each of the coaches. Each coach took 2 or 3 of them. They studied personnel and how they play on offense and defense. Each coach gave a presentation to the others in a way as if we were players learning the first time. We didn’t assign Butler as we knew much about them. It was really good to know who is in our conference and how they play.

BL: You’ll be in new cities, but the same area from the A10. Will this change the recruiting area?
CM: The recruiting area is tied to the staff. We want to comb those areas, but you have to be connected. You don’t want to waste your time in recruiting. You go through a lot of recruiting wars. You lose more than you win. We come the big east cities and where the coaches are from.

JS: Do you like playing each team twice?
CM: I like it. It restores the tradition of leagues. With all the realignment talk, a lot of this is lost. The A10 had this as well. You only played a couple of teams twice. The conference tried to get more teams in the tourney and would keep the top teams playing each other for RPI.

JS: Acceleration training in the summer with the Bengals. How did that benefit the team?
CM: The name is ignition and they are located in Mason. They started in football training college athletes who were trying to make it to the NFL. They did training to get the guys ready. Those guys came to X 1 time per week to work with their players and brought Bengals players who were working on the own time. Peko, Pacman jones. Awesome to measure our athleticism and speed. To see how they were self motivated helped the team. They give you specific things to help you increase your skills

BL: What are other things the team did away from the court?
CM: We went through a program called The Program run by a couple of military guys. Their whole experience for teams is leadership through shared adversity. ON the first day they worked through the kids, they put our kids through basic training in a field at 100 degrees. The next morning, they had to be up at 4:00 in the morning to be in the pool with their hoodies on. I’ll tell you a lot of our guys don’t like to be in the pool. It was something our team needed. Brought our guys closer together.

[GoMuskies]

I’ll tell you a lot of our guys don’t like to be in the pool.

That's racist Coach!

[xuab]

Brian in the crowd: Wish Amy Waugh all the best. I think the women’s team will miss her spirit. Can you talk about the selection of team captains.
CM: When it comes to captains, no one knows their teammates like their peers. We define what we want in a captain. You need guys that young, old, anyone on the team can look at as role models on and off the floor. We let our players vote on it. I define the standards. We left it up to our players to vote on captains. Even if coaches had a vote, I don’t think it would change. The captains are Semaj, Stainbrook and Philmore.
Brian: Why not Dee Davis?
CM: One of the things we’ve been on Dee about is to be more of a vocal leader. Not that Dee isn’t a really good player. You have to be able to command the attention of the 4 guys on the floor. I hope that’s a bit of a motivator. That’s an excellent point. I hope his senior year, I hope he’s voted on.

BL: Did you decide the number of captains?
CM: I said, let’s vote on the top 3 players. All 3 were head and shoulders above the rest in the number of votes.

BL : I saw Isaiah in practice, I barely recognized him. He’s 220 pounds, beating everyone in sprints.
CM: He’s healthier than he’s ever been. Last year, he was dedicated to getting healthy. He’s been able to get in game condition and keep weight off. He dedicated himself to eating right. I don’t think there is that drastic of a difference, but I see him every day. He was an emotional leader in the last 10 games last year. We need him to be that the whole year.

Joe in the crowd: This year, the NCAA allowed you to start practicing earlier. Are there plusses and minuses to it.
CM: There are plusses and minuses. Three are different ways of doing it. Billy Donovan chose to declare the start on Oct 11. We decided to take the Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. They put in more off days but started earlier. For us, we went full steam ahead starting Sep 29/30. We went really hard. It’s a fine line. I don’t want it to be an unbelievably long season. It is fewer days recruiting.

Joe in crowd: You recently had the opportunity to recruit in Xavier, but it didn’t pan out. What did you learn?
CM: I’ll say it like this. That recruitment came to us. We weren’t necessarily combing the waters. Alex and his family initiated the recruitment. At the end of the day, it didn’t work out. We didn’t have our assistant coaches trying to find these guys. There are too many guys in America to send the coaches to look for a needle in a haystack.

JS: How did it affect strength training with Matt Jennings?
CM: The training got condensed by 2 ½ weeks. We tried to make sure it wasn’t from weight lifting, to practice to the track to run. We had to make some adjustments.

[xuab]

BL: Looking at the roster, I think I count 11 scholarship players. In the past, we had injuries and ineligible players. What will it be like this year?
CM: Well, the best thing is the fact that if you want to coast – I don’t think our guys have that attitude in practice. You can’t now. I’m talking about your effort – not results. When you have that many scholarship players, it makes for a more competitive environment. On game night, it’s a challenge as you have talented players. I have to make tough decisions. Many times it’s based on how hard the guys work. It beats having 6.5/7 guys.

JS: Talk about the new guys.
CM: Matt S is the best passer on the team. Has a big time IQ for the game. We need Matt to be solid on the defensive end. Need him to be better than he was at his last stop. Myles Davis did a great job academically. He’s a stretch the floor- he’ll play the 2 or 3 – even though he’s a bit undersized for the 3. He has big time energy and loves to talk on the floor and I don’t mean trash talk. Jalen Reynolds has a big love affair of this university. This is where he wants to be. He has a lot to learn. The speed of the game is what he has to learn. He will have his moments where X fans will leave him asking why he doesn’t do more. Other nights where they shake their head at what he does. Kamall Richards is the furthest behind in having a role on the team this year. The speed in college is much more than high school. He will adjust. Brandon Randolph- one of the most unique recruiting stories. His dad is in his mid-70s and it’s just Brandan and his dad. It took a special person to send Brandan 3000 miles away to get an education and play for an excellent program. He is immensely coachable. You need to lift him up after practice as he’s so hard on himself. He’s explosive. He’s physically ready for college basketball. I’m very excited for him.

[xuab]

BL: What about the 3 returning starters?
CM: 2 of the 3 were absent due to illness. Hope we get them back tomorrow. Semaj was busy jet setting around the country and invited to elite camps and exposed to talented players. Justin and Dee spent the first 6 weeks back home. They came back and did a great job in the 2nd summer session. They were in the gym a lot. They know we are counting on their effort. It’s nice when you are returning some starters.

JS: As a coach, you also look to the future and one of the future players is Remy Abel.
CM: He is an athlete. He can shoot the 3. He practices every day and is a blessing to have a guy like him in practice. He goes at Semaj and Dee.

JS: Anything surprise you about your team?
CM: Before you had to cram everything in a short time. We have to make sure the wheels aren’t off before day 1 with the extra days. The team is looking forward to the Big East.

[XUBob]

Just got back from the Mack show at Dilly's. In a nutshell it was fantastic. I've been going to these shows since Gillen days and by far Dilly's is the best host ever. All I can say it is nice to feel wanted. Great atmosphere, excellent food, good sight lines and plenty of parking. Every X fan should try to get to a show. Great job Dilly's and Dabott.

[boozehound]

XUAB is back!!! Thanks for the transcription.

[paulxu]

Welcome back xuab. Was out tonight so thanks for the wonderful job you do on these posts. Much appreciated.

[GreatWhiteNorth]

Thanks Xuab. You were brilliant, as usual. Can't do without you.

[waggy]

Much appreciated.


What he said.

[XUFan09]

Okay, I'll come out of retirement - at least for tonight.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezg4sr67OGA

[Nocalmuskie]

Anyone know where I can find th epodcast? Lame 55krc has an old show in where it says 10-21 show: http://www.55krc.com/media/podcast-the-chris-mack-show-xavierbasketball/chris-mack-102113-23868683/

[xudash]

Brian in the crowd: ....

Joe in crowd: You recently had the opportunity to recruit in Xavier, but it didn’t pan out. What did you learn?
CM: I’ll say it like this. That recruitment came to us. We weren’t necessarily combing the waters. Alex and his family initiated the recruitment. At the end of the day, it didn’t work out. We didn’t have our assistant coaches trying to find these guys. There are too many guys in America to send the coaches to look for a needle in a haystack.

...

What was this about?

BTW, thank you very much XUAB.

[GoMuskies]

What was this about?

BTW, thank you very much XUAB.

I think "recruit in Xavier" was actually "recruit in Europe". This is clearly about Vez.

[xuab]

I think "recruit in Xavier" was actually "recruit in Europe". This is clearly about Vez.

Yep. Sorry about that. Not easy to type what was already said while listening to something different.

[xudash]

I think "recruit in Xavier" was actually "recruit in Europe". This is clearly about Vez.

Thank you. That makes sense.

[waggy]

Vez used X.

[XUFan09]

Vez used X.

He was getting offers from a number of teams. He didn't need Xavier too much for leverage in contract negotiations.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[wkrq59]

AB, outstanding professional performance. Even for only one night it's a pleasure to have had you back. Simply, "Nobody does it better," to quote the song. Nobody.
:jawdrop2::encore::yahoo:

[X-man]

AB, outstanding professional performance. Even for only one night it's a pleasure to have had you back. Simply, "Nobody does it better," to quote the song. Nobody.
:jawdrop2::encore::yahoo:

I echo those sentiments. Thanks so much for your hard work distilling what happened, and leaving out "the ads".

[bobbiemcgee]

XUAB rocks! Reps!!!!!!

[Muskie]

BL: Looking at the roster, I think I count 11 scholarship players. In the past, we had injuries and ineligible players. What will it be like this year?
CM: Well, the best thing is the fact that if you want to coast – I don’t think our guys have that attitude in practice. You can’t now. I’m talking about your effort – not results. When you have that many scholarship players, it makes for a more competitive environment. On game night, it’s a challenge as you have talented players. I have to make tough decisions. Many times it’s based on how hard the guys work. It beats having 6.5/7 guys.
_____

Perhaps a shot at some of the players returning from last year? I read this as I better see effort or I have people to play instead of you this year.

[UnCaged]

I echo those sentiments. Thanks so much for your hard work distilling what happened, and leaving out "the ads".

Outstanding job for those of us out of towners...really appreciate the always top notch effort.

[bobbiemcgee]

on now