No. 14 Florida comes to town... and does anybody notice?
I ask about team's confidence?
You know I think the guys understood that it was a great win and they understood that there’s reasons why you win. And we surely made mistakes, but we had fewer of them and we were better in the last four minutes in terms of shot selection, decisions making and I thought for the most part we guarded really well for the course of the game against a veteran team. An old, veteran team at home that had been playing together with 98 percent of their scoring back. So they felt good. And the other thing I like is they understood that they had a day off Sunday and we came back yesterday and it’s, put that in the bank and now all the focus is on Florida.
You learn from it whether you win or lose, you move on and you start chasing the next one. And I thought we had a chase to us yesterday instead of just sitting back and feeling great that we won. Which I liked how they handled that.
I ask relationship with Lon Kruger before you took the job, and how has it changed since April?
I got to know Lon, obviously you know about him in the profession. And then his Coaches vs. Cancer golf outings. I took some of my college teammates from Creighton, we’ve been getting a group for the past few years and going out to Vegas and playing in that. Just, he’s amazing with that.
And you just get to know him and he’s just such a good person first and foremost, an outstanding Hall of Fame coach. So I think it’s apropos that it’s the Florida game. A place where he coached both places at a high level
And so getting the job, I talked to him before and then obviously many times after. He’s been to practice and just someone that you can’t imagine, cannot imagine a coach’s transition with the former head coach being as gracious as Lon Kruger has been to me.
Talking NCAA tournament resume in December?
It’s fun to talk about when you win it with the Quad I. But for us? We have to get better. I’m so process-oriented about the process of getting better, getting better. The fact of the matter the way the Net ratings are and the Quad I, II, III, IV makes everything different now. Those resume builders are the same at the beginning of the year as the end of the year. It goes on there. I do think Central Florida is a high, quality team. They’re old, veteran and will continue to do well. It’s not something I talk about a lot. We won, talked about it, put it in the bank, then we’re back to our process of we have to get better. If you lose one of those games, it’s not gonna make or break you. You have to think about getting better. That’s the thing, especially being at Oklahoma than my previous stops, we’re going to have many opportunities for resume builders with our schedule. Look at that game and the next several right now. Look at the SEC Challenge, at Auburn. Eighteen Big 12 games. Our schedule is packed with games that can build your resume. It was something that we had a lot respect for Central Florida as I said on the radio. The guys realize it. I think the guys realize understand it more nowadays that really good wins are resume builders.
Respect level for Joe Castiglione and how he handled everything?
He's different. What he does and how he does it, for me it was just about ... I just got a feel with him. He makes you feel comfortable. He's really good at sharing his vision and the way he wants the culture here. And he's genuine about it. You don't think he's a salesman. He's a really smart, really good leader. That's what I felt. He's a very smart, caring leader. And he was very confidential and private about it. I'm not going to be surprised if what we read is actually what is happening. He's very, very confidential about it.
How secretive was he during process? He said 'stealthy' on Monday about football?
Stealthy is a good word. I couldn't come here. He wouldn't let me come here because he wanted to stay so far under the radar. He felt that if I was here, the cat would get out of the bag. It was all sight unseen with the feeling with him. For me, I wasn't talking to anybody during the NCAA Tournament. We were in that bubble going to the Sweet 16 for 15 days. As we talked about before, there were many jobs open at that time and I was getting hit from all ends and I wouldn't talk to anybody. When we finally lost, then it just happened rapidly.
I ask about team's confidence?
You know I think the guys understood that it was a great win and they understood that there’s reasons why you win. And we surely made mistakes, but we had fewer of them and we were better in the last four minutes in terms of shot selection, decisions making and I thought for the most part we guarded really well for the course of the game against a veteran team. An old, veteran team at home that had been playing together with 98 percent of their scoring back. So they felt good. And the other thing I like is they understood that they had a day off Sunday and we came back yesterday and it’s, put that in the bank and now all the focus is on Florida.
You learn from it whether you win or lose, you move on and you start chasing the next one. And I thought we had a chase to us yesterday instead of just sitting back and feeling great that we won. Which I liked how they handled that.
I ask relationship with Lon Kruger before you took the job, and how has it changed since April?
I got to know Lon, obviously you know about him in the profession. And then his Coaches vs. Cancer golf outings. I took some of my college teammates from Creighton, we’ve been getting a group for the past few years and going out to Vegas and playing in that. Just, he’s amazing with that.
And you just get to know him and he’s just such a good person first and foremost, an outstanding Hall of Fame coach. So I think it’s apropos that it’s the Florida game. A place where he coached both places at a high level
And so getting the job, I talked to him before and then obviously many times after. He’s been to practice and just someone that you can’t imagine, cannot imagine a coach’s transition with the former head coach being as gracious as Lon Kruger has been to me.
Talking NCAA tournament resume in December?
It’s fun to talk about when you win it with the Quad I. But for us? We have to get better. I’m so process-oriented about the process of getting better, getting better. The fact of the matter the way the Net ratings are and the Quad I, II, III, IV makes everything different now. Those resume builders are the same at the beginning of the year as the end of the year. It goes on there. I do think Central Florida is a high, quality team. They’re old, veteran and will continue to do well. It’s not something I talk about a lot. We won, talked about it, put it in the bank, then we’re back to our process of we have to get better. If you lose one of those games, it’s not gonna make or break you. You have to think about getting better. That’s the thing, especially being at Oklahoma than my previous stops, we’re going to have many opportunities for resume builders with our schedule. Look at that game and the next several right now. Look at the SEC Challenge, at Auburn. Eighteen Big 12 games. Our schedule is packed with games that can build your resume. It was something that we had a lot respect for Central Florida as I said on the radio. The guys realize it. I think the guys realize understand it more nowadays that really good wins are resume builders.
Respect level for Joe Castiglione and how he handled everything?
He's different. What he does and how he does it, for me it was just about ... I just got a feel with him. He makes you feel comfortable. He's really good at sharing his vision and the way he wants the culture here. And he's genuine about it. You don't think he's a salesman. He's a really smart, really good leader. That's what I felt. He's a very smart, caring leader. And he was very confidential and private about it. I'm not going to be surprised if what we read is actually what is happening. He's very, very confidential about it.
How secretive was he during process? He said 'stealthy' on Monday about football?
Stealthy is a good word. I couldn't come here. He wouldn't let me come here because he wanted to stay so far under the radar. He felt that if I was here, the cat would get out of the bag. It was all sight unseen with the feeling with him. For me, I wasn't talking to anybody during the NCAA Tournament. We were in that bubble going to the Sweet 16 for 15 days. As we talked about before, there were many jobs open at that time and I was getting hit from all ends and I wouldn't talk to anybody. When we finally lost, then it just happened rapidly.
