Coach Miles Radio Hour - Feb 10

[throwback]

Ready to go from Rings N Wings again tonight at 7 pm

[throwback]

Greg Sharpe asking questions: Big crowd here tonight after you get one road win? Just think how big it'll be after two?

 

• I haven't shaved, may let it roll till we lose

 

Gutsy plays late to win last week

 

• You're asking about the NW game right?
• I was in Ann Arbor, but didn't leave hotel room, not sure what happened there
• Without Sobelewski, they flipped their identity
• Became strong defensive team with long athletic guys
• We had trouble getting to rim early, shots rattled in and out just 16 pts at half time
• We didn't let them get away from us & played well in 2nd half

 

"Ps" played very well

 

• Petteway was great
• But Parker & Pitchford won that game for us
• Parker was great in creating transition, that makes us a different type of team
• Need more of that from him, more consistently
• With assists and steals figured in, I think he accounted for 9 pts in transition for us

 

Built 8 pt 44-36 lead behind that

 

• We relaxed a bit and lost our edge
• Gallegos didn't go thru a screen hard
• Ran our offense looser and let them get back in it
• We need to learn to stay tough minded like we were to get the lead, and put the game away
• We're not quite there

 

Team you have in Nov isn't same team you have in Feb?

 

• NW is great example of that
• Coach Collins wanted to run like Duke and pressure like Duke
• I've always said losing is my mentor, and after NW started losing, didn't take Collins long to figure out how to come up with a way to win

 

After they tie it, talk about plays you made down the stretch

 

• Starting 2nd half we were more aggressive to the rim
• Shields made a couple shots, Walt made a couple shots
• We were just better offensively
• Didn't want to burn a timeout when they made 8-0 run because we only had 2 left, wanted to save them, really feel like you need to have at least 2 timeouts late
• Under 4 min timeout, Pitchford gets fouled on defensive reb
• He makes them both
• We force a miss, then Pitchford hits a 3 and we felt like we had breathing room up 5 pts
• With 23 seconds left we're up 3 and Petteway who shoots 47%? in the last 5 sec of the shot clock, and Pitchford shoots 45% the last 5 sec of the shot clock ..... (sorry I missed the number for Petteway, may have been 37%)
• So others will be letting them do their thing

 

Saving possessions with timeouts? ...... (I think he's referring to one Tai took in the 2nd half when he fell down in the lane)

 

• At the time we were making a run, so I didn't mind that timeout to save the possession
• I think we ended up scoring out of it
• Between both teams and media timeouts, there could be 20+ timeouts in game
• There's only so much talking you can do
• But I do like to save a couple, so I'll tell the guys not to always burn one to save a possession, look to throw it off someone's leg or make a pivot move

 

• I like the 2 for 1s at the end of the half, the math proves 2 bad shots are better than 1 good shot, the more attempts you get, the better off you are
• We were playing the Div 2 Elite 8 at SW Minn St, playing Ky Wesleyan defending national runner-up
• Good game, we're down 3 or 5 our ball to end half
• Assistant wanted me to use a timeout to run a particular play
• We draw up the play
• Ky Wes threw out a 1-3-1 half court trap out of the timeout, something we had never seen them do, they had tinkered with it before the Elite 8
• We go out there and inbound it, throw it away, and they dunk it and we're down 7 at halftime
• I look at my assistant and ask him if he thinks we're Duke
• After half we go on 9-0 run, then they switched back to 1-3-1 zone and we couldn't score
• I was mad at my assistant
• If we don't call that timeout, they never go 1-3-1 and we maybe win that game and win national championship as Ky Wes won it
• So if I don't call timeouts before halftime, that's why, still have nightmares

 

NBA likes 2 for 1s more?

 

• We only get 2 stoppages in play vs 4 in NBA
• There's no doubt, if it's around 1:05 left, we'll try something quick to get a 2 for 1

[nuled2dance]

I love this coach his show is the best we have had ever. Could listen to miles all night

[throwback]

• Benny had no turnovers
• I gave him a hard time, he made 2 shots vs Minny then 0 vs Ind
• I don't want to see that trend continue after making 2 shots at NW, keep making shots
• Doesn't turn ball over
• Very good in straight line to the rim in transition
• He has improved in a lot of areas
• Need to have him keep improving his outside shot

 

Rivers played well?

 

• Big blocked shot - it was absolutely a block
• I asked him if it came off the glass first, i won't tell you what he told me

 

Crowd question: How many assistant coaches?

 

• When you have more suits on the bench than players, you're in trouble
• Basically it's me and 3 assistants
• Only we 4 can do player development
• We can recruit too, for example I'll be out 3 times in the next 8 days for recruiting
• We are contacting guys daily
• We 4 handle the guys, handle the recruiting
• Then we have a director of operations, Olson, who oversees academics, scheduling games, scheduling facilities for practice, scheduling our travel logistics, a lot to do there, nothing that's fun
• We have a video coordinator, Eaton, he puts together clips of whatever we want to see, and he does it immediately,
• He shared some drills with Wyoming and they sent us some, he also works closely with Hudl so our guys can get a series of clips on their own playback device
• And then we have Owens, who handles all of our outreach, such as reading in a school or life skills things, fundraising, public appearances for me, Owens coordinates all of it, he'll make up a PowerPoint for me to use for speaking, and then he travels with me and runs it, 
• Owens also handled our coaches vs cancer auction, "day with the Huskers", four different groups that he handles all day, he'll work with Husker Vision to make sure that all charity work/outreach is coordinated in the arena
• I am a bit of a control freak, so I want things done the right way, so I like having Owens available
• Shamus works hard for us in SID
• Husker Vision works hard for us
• Strength and conditioning coaches, trainers individualize workouts
• We try to be as state of the art as we can with that kind of stuff, did it at CSU, we do it better here at NU

 

Andy from the phone: Social media, you have a good connection with players and bridging age gap, have you ever discussed some of your Twitter successes with Coach Pelini?

 

• I just act like I'm 16, I'm 47, that's how I say connected
• Never talked to Bo about Twitter
• I do know Bo is a heck of a football coach
• We live in the same neighborhood
• I asked Bo, I have no idea how to get in or out of our neighborhood
• He told me to go downhill, and it worked, i got to work on time
• No I just do my deal on Twitter, sometimes I'll work with Shamus on ideas, Owens will help me with some ideas, Kelly Moser (sp), director of Huskers.com does have some good ideas for us, I'm sure football team does some with them too
• Great Tweets with Bo walking onto the plane with the cat carrier
• I did a commercial at CSU  trying to get a cat out of a tree & I tweeted that last week

 

Superstition behind coat coming off? Certain time?

 

• Yeah I'm hot, I sweat, I'm the hardest working man in the baksetball business, the James Brown of basketball
• Immediately I just start sweating

 

You come out on the court with a certain time on the clock before the game

 

• Yeah I try to leave the locker room at 3:27 each time
• First time I ever won a game as a coach I came out at 3:27, 7 is my lucky number and 32 was my uniform number, so I keep doing it
• Izzo gave me hell about waiting so long, wanted to know if I thought i was Coach Knight
• So Sunday I'm just hanging around him the whole pregame, maybe I'll pit out on him

[throwback]

Practiced today, how did it go?

 

• Solid practice
• Started slow but then got going
• We've tried to shorten practices
• Have to change the stimulus from time to time
• We have a running clock as to when practice will end, if they work hard up to the end of the clock, practice is over, if they don't work hard enough, practice is over, but we then spend time running after the clock is out
• We're at a point in time where we work on things we can sharpen up
• MSU-Wisky played Sunday, Izzo had two brilliant out of bounds plays
• So hard to get those plays when everybody knows you need a 3 and they got very good looks
• That doesn't happen by accident, you have to practice those things
• Sometimes have to practice fouling, when you have fouls to give, or you're trying to foul late when up 3
• We're trying to address those types of issues

 

Long breaks in schedule

 

• Glad they're over
• I hate them gaps in B1G schedule
• Like to just keep playing

 

Can you address that with league

 

• We talk about it all the time at league meetings
• They say it's all set up randomly 
• But it never happens to Ohio St 

 

Mark on the phone: Offensive type of question, guys like Pitchford & Webster, seems like they need to be more well-rounded players, can they get to that point? How urgent is that for next season?

 

• Excellent question
• I think there's no doubt Tai has had the biggest acclimation to American basketball
• He'll have a much better season next year
• You'll see great improvement
• Ball handling is fine
• creating for others is getting better, scoring needs work
• We have a lot of guys who need shots, and Tai can be the passer for us
• We talked about it, he agreed that his assist numbers can go up, we are working on making him into more of a playmaker, setting up others for shots, we'll worry about the scoring later
• Walt has been a perimeter guy his whole life, so it's hard to switch that
• I think what he needs to improve on is driving and playing off two feet, moreso than having a post up game
• Ubel did that well, drive, jump stop, flip ball up on the rim
• Walt has a nice face up jumper, but he doesn't get fouled because he doesn't drive into a post move
• Those are what we'd like to see him develop, then he can get fouled more
• We'd like to do those improvements in season, but it's very hard to do, those changes are more easily done in offseason
• Right now we're really working on making better decisions
• For example Terran sometimes makes mistakes when he jumps off one foot, we're working on making him jump stop and either shoot or make pass, more creative footwork with pivoting works better for him, we work on those types of things in practice
• Now they're seeing how those things we work on in practice actually pay off in rhythm shots and passes
• Ubel learned those things quickly, but wasn't a great 3 pt shooter
• Walt makes more 3s, but I think he'll improve in the drive in future

[throwback]

Illinois Wednesday - first matchup

 

• One month ago they were 2-0 in B1G and #23 ranked
• All of a sudden you start losing and before you know it, you've lost 8 in a row
• They changed things up vs PSU, started 2 frosh, and looked more like #23 team
• We have a good game plan
• Coach Smith has a great scout ready
• Coach Hunter did a nice scout vs NW
• And Coach Harriman has guaranteed his scout will give us a win vs MSU, so that's good

 

Rice?

 

• He's really good, he belongs in the B1G
• he's like Petteway, can go out and score 30 without blinking

[throwback]

That's it - Coach has so many stories that they have a hard time fitting in all of the commercial breaks. 

[HB]

Thanks, Throwback.  Your best effort yet.  I had to miss the show, and reading your posts had to be just like being there. 

[boomer1]

Went to wings and rings for the show, my second one of the season.  He was on his top game tonight, I think he could have sat there and told stories and jokes all night long.  It was literally like being at a comedy show, but at the same time was very informative about the team and upcoming games.  

[royalfan]

Thanks a bunch Throwback. 

[tcp]

ditto HB. thanks for this.

[atskooc]

Awesome, dude!

[Norm Peterson]

Great job, Throwback.  I remember a couple of quick quips from Miles that should be added.

 

One was when they asked him about Rivers' block.  Greg Sharpe says Collins was really upset about the call and immediately Miles jumps in and says, "He'll get over it!  He'll learn sometimes bad things happen to good people."

 

It probably loses something being typewritten but Miles' timing jumping in there with that retort was hilarious. Had me rolling on the floor.

[twinswingohuskers]

thanks again throwback.  If I ever need someone to take notes your the person!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jurgey]

 

Illinois Wednesday - first matchup

 

• One month ago they were 2-0 in B1G and #23 ranked
• All of a sudden you start losing and before you know it, you've lost 8 in a row
• They changed things up vs PSU, started 2 frosh, and looked more like #23 team
• We have a good game plan
• Coach Smith has a great scout ready
• Coach Hunter did a nice scout vs NW
• And Coach Harriman has guaranteed his scout will give us a win vs MSU, so that's good

 

Rice?

 

• He's really good, he belongs in the B1G
• he's like Petteway, can go out and score 30 without blinking

 

Give Coach Harriman and his SCOUT a raise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!