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VIDEOS: Men's Basketball News Conferences
Men's Basketball  . 

VIDEOS: Men's Basketball News Conferences

Gamecocks Host Cleveland State on Friday at 7 p.m.

Coach Frank Martin, Jermaine Couisnard and Jair Bolden spoke with reporters Wednesday.

HEAD COACH TRANSCRIPT

Frank Martin

Frank Martin | 8th Season

– Just excited for another week, another game, obviously being at home for our team is a plus right now, and excited to see what we can become. I’m fortunate that this isn’t my first rodeo and I haven’t had a lot of teams that defensively have had their numbers that this team has had through three games if you include the exhibition. So what does that mean, I got no idea. But, you know, for this early in the year I think we’re a lot further ahead than I though we’d be, defensively that is.

– [Reporter] Frank, just looking at this next game, just what have you seen from Cleveland State on film, I think they had a game last night, but have they seen that potentially give you guys some problems?

– A lot like North Alabama, they try to spread you out and drive you. They play off the bounce from all fight spots. Their center is a long, athletic guy that plays from the elbows and the top of the key, and he tries to drive you from up in those places. So it’s, think about North Alabama and its more kind of that thought process than what we had against Wyoming. So defensively it’s good for us to have different styles in two different games ’cause it makes you learn, it makes you adapt. You can’t, my biggest fear with young guys is that they do things the same way too many times and then they get a little too comfortable and then when change comes, they freak out a little bit. But they’re in transition, and I don’t mean running up and down the court. I mean there was a coaching change here in the middle of summer. A lot of the returning players left. We got a lot of first year guys, the, I’m struggling with names right now. Number 24, who’s supposed to be their best player, hurt his knee before an exhibition game. He’s back in the lineup after not playing in the first two games. And so they’re trying to piece it together. He’s doing it with three or four returning guys and five or six brand new guys. Dennis is, he’s taken on a heck of a challenge there. Like last night, we all look at the final score and we think that ah, they’re not any good. No one ever, ’cause we as coaches don’t actually share a lot of the stuff that we go through to get to the game. But their flight got canceled, so they had to get on a bus. A bus from Cleveland to Missouri State in the weather that just hit the Midwest. And it’s hard to take that bus trip, get off a bus, sleep, wake up, go play a game. It’s not as easy as it sounds. And that’s what they went through. And then they had the bus home after the game. So those are some of the things that happens when people just look at the box score and pass judgements as to who’s good and who’s not good. Most of the times, folks are not aware of some of the challenges that we deal with to make the game happen. And that’s what they were faced with last night. But they played the second half, they battled. They got some athletes, they’re aggressive. Dennis was, as a player, Dennis Gates, I’m talking about their head coach, as a player, he was the rock of a very good Whitney Young team in Chicago in high school. They were like a bunch of high major players, he being one of them, and he’s the guy without saying a word that was the rock. And that’s the way he is. And that’s why he’s got a head coaching opportunity. That’s what he brought to Florida State. And what you can argue that winning his years in Florida State in his time there. I’m expecting them to play the best game they’ve played all year based on the way they played the second half yesterday.

– [Reporter] There’ve been a couple of upsets already in the league and across the country. A lot of teams go through that early in the year. What makes some of these early, non-conference games against teams that are maybe a little bit less, or what makes them so much of a challenge for schools? What are the biggest challenges in playing those games?

– Freshmen. It’s you going into the season at the high major level with freshmen and you’re playing the mid-major schools with juniors and seniors, you’re probably not going to have a lot of fun nights. I don’t want to speak about other team ’cause we all got our challenges, but I’m more than happy to speak about ours. And that’s why last year when we lost just to Manaya when we did, so it’s a problem for our team. Because not only were we undermanned on the guard spot, pretty much left Hassani and a bunch of first year guys playing guard force. I say this all the time, I say this jokily. Fans love freshmen, coaches love seniors. It’s just simple as that. Freshmen bring in that gleam of hope that’s reported as to what great players they are, which is awesome. We recruit them so we actually agree with people that they’re going to be really good players. But they have no clue. I’ll rewind real quick and remind you guys. I’d spent five years at Kansas State as the head coach. The worst year we had from a one law stand point was the year I had Michael Beasley and Bill Walker, two first round picks. Bill ended up being like early second round, but he’s a first round pick. Curtis needed the last workout so they didn’t draft him because of the knee injury in the first round. I had two first round picks! And it was the worst record we had at Kansas State. Why, ’cause we had nine freshmen. It’s, excuse me, eight freshmen and a JUCO transfer. You saw it with us last year. I’m happy that after one week, we’re not one of those teams where I got to sit here and answer why we got beat by a lesser known team, for lack of better words. It’s hard, man, it’s hard. The freshmen don’t understand the emotional rollercoaster the season brings. They just don’t. I don’t know how you cut the cake. And it’s easy to say well we got more talent, well the game’s not just about talent. The game is about mental preparation. It’s about being able to control your emotions. It’s about understanding how to do things in structure. It’s not just about showing up and hoop, that’s what the old Rucker Park was about. Great players, but it wasn’t about team structure. It was about one-on-one talent. So, I. It’s hard. When you depend on young kids, it’s hard. I looked at the box score, I didn’t see the game, but based on the way I saw the stats first half to second half, Tennessee. They’re down nine I believe at halftime yesterday. What happened in the second half? Lamonte Turner had a goose egg at halftime. Jordan Bowden had seven. You see their final numbers? One had 27, the other one had 17. What, the two senior guys on their team. That’s who took over that game. It wasn’t some highly touted freshman that scored 30, you know, it’s the two seniors that made the difference in the second half. It’s hard. As you can see, I’m real wordy right now. I’ve been looking at a computer for 24 hours. But that’s the biggest challenge, is when you’re relying on young guys, freshmen. They mean well, like our freshmen. They mean well! But they’re going to be great players for us. They have great spirit. But if I had to play those guys 40 minutes, I’d be answering why we couldn’t beat certain teams, you know, it’s just part of the deal.

– [Reporter] John took my question, so.

– You could ask it again, I’ll give you another 30 minute answer.

– [Reporter] I’ll have to pivot here. I think you covered all grounds. Let’s go with this one. Obviously your analyze aren’t in yet so you can’t talk specifically about these guys, but in a general sense, how do you feel, the roster management you have obviously. Where you’ve, with your young guys that are post players, that are coming up through the program, how do you feel like that position has been kind of restocked in, after, you know guys like Cotsar and Silva are leaving?

– Yeah, I’m really happy with it. I say it all the time. The hardest decisions we make as head coaches is who we offer the scholarships to. The day and age that we live in where it’s a rat race to see who offered. You offer the wrong guy, he don’t take it, it kills you with six other recruits. So when you offer and who you offer is very, very important. And it’s awesome, you read all this ah they offered, he’s got 37 offers, that’s awesome. But you know, if you’re one of those 37 schools, what you’re probably having to do, manage that other guy that you’re recruiting why you didn’t offer him. And chances are that you’re not getting. If you don’t get the guy that you were in such a rush to offer as a sophomore, you’re probably not getting that other sophomore who’s your plan B guy. So it’s who we offer and when we offer continues to be the most difficult decisions that head coaches have to make. It’s not what we run out of a time-out. ‘Cause they got to fit. They got to fit not just for next year, but they got to fit long term to sustain winning so we’re not sitting here depending on freshmen year after year after year after year. I think our roster’s in a place right now where it’s got stability. I’ve been able to have stability on our roster twice in my years here. And that was the roster going from the 17 win third year into the 25 win fourth year. And then we had that situation at the end of the year where I had some turnover. The good thing we had was the core where the guys that played were back. And that allowed us to have some roster stability for the year we went to the final four. Then after that year, we once again had to kind of scramble a little bit. And it’s unfortunate, but 900 transfers in the Transfer Portal. Can I put my name on the Transfer Portal? Just for the s and giggles, you know what I’m talking about?

– [Reporter] Sponsored?

– Why not? But with all these things that are out there we’re having to manage these things. Does that make sense, what I’m saying? And I feel last year, I’m not going to get in details, but we had two guys transfer in the spring that my conversations with them after the season did not include them transferring. But they did. And now I’ve got to go figure that one out. But I think our roster’s in a place right now where there’s stability and I’m happy with the class breakdown. I’m happy with the number of point guards and you know, the way we play, that’s another, the way we play. You got to have multiple players at the bigs and multiple players at the point guard. And you got to have interchangeable wings. I think we got that again. But like I tell you guys, now we got to get through the season and come springtime, I’m going to ask the magical question to every single guy. Like you staying or you leaving. And I hope that they all say that they’re staying ’cause I’m enjoying coaching these guys.

– [Reporter] Frank, early on you said that this team is farther along than you expected. Especially when you look at the young guys, how much of it is because of athletic ability or their basketball IQ?

– Yeah, defensively, we’re further ahead then I thought we’d be. Two parts to that, why I’m kind of in my head, what’s making me be at peace with it, is number one Cotsar doesn’t impress you with stats, but he’s a stabilizer defensively ’cause he can do so many different things defensively. So that’s number one. Number two, all our guards are young, but they all practiced last year. Other than TJ, who was out for the year, Jermaine practiced, and obviously AJ practiced, and Keyshawn practiced. There was a, Justin, he practiced the second half of last year, but obviously played a lot as a freshman. So there’s an element of experience at the guard spot. Our guards are long, so. I’ve always spoken about length on the perimeter being a heck of a lot more important than length at the rim. The thing that’s giving us a chance right now is Frank has taken a step forward, so he’s better defensively than I thought he’d be this early in the year. And then the two freshmen that are playing a lot, Wildens and Jaylen, are absolutely lost but they make up for it with the aggression that they play with. They can go block a shot, they can go get a rebound. They get beat on a cut, but they have the athleticism to recover. Jaylen has basketball instincts. Not saying Wildens does not, but Jaylen is a lot further ahead from like oh I’m getting beat, let me get back to this place. so that length on the perimeter allows us to stabilize things in front of us. And then Frank’s improvement, and the two freshmen, and Kay. Kay actually practiced, Kay is Micaiah. He actually practiced really well yesterday. He’s going to help us, he just has to get used to the speed that we play with. So I’m happy with what we got right now. Curious to see us continue, we’re not there, not even close to where we need to be, but for this early in the year for us to be so productive defensively is really, really encouraging to me.

– [Reporter] You talked after Sunday’s game about needing to get better and more transition opportunities. How do you go about doing that? Is that something that’s just going to come with chemistry, or I guess what are the coaching points to try and make sure that they’re getting better transition looks?

– Yeah. I’m not a big steals guy. I don’t believe in going for steals. I think that breaks your defense down. Now if you’re into trapping and all that stuff, I get it, it goes hand-in-hand. I’m not into all that stuff so I’m not a big steals guy. We have to do a better job, which we did the second half of North Alabama and I thought we did a pretty good job of this against Wyoming. Better job when we forced the other team to take a rushed shot to get in a clean defensive rebound so we can get out and go. We got to be better at converting those get out and go moments. I’ve been real concerned, but I haven’t been really pleased with getting that. We’ve seen flashes of it, but we got to find more consistency in it, in the ability to get out and go when we get some of these rebounds. And I think that’ll come with Jair and TJ running as much point as they do, just getting their feet wet with actual games and how we do things. AJ, when he’s at the point, is 100 miles per hour. So it’s, I think those are things that’ll come. But that’s the biggest thing right now is defensively don’t gamble. We’re not trying to steal the ball, we’re trying to disrupt your concepts and force you into contested, rushed shots. If we can do that, then we have to rebound the ball cleanly so we can get out and run.

– [Reporter] You spoke of Cotsar, but during the preseason he was telling us how he really worked on his mental health during the off season, saw a sports psychologist, was open with you guys. Have you seen a positive impact on the court from all those things he went through?

– Yeah, I just talked to him yesterday. I’m the one that’s going to go see a sports psychologist right now. I’m more confused than I’ve ever been on that one. But he had, I told you guys. I don’t say stuff, I would hope you guys know by now, I don’t just say stuff to make it sound right. When I say things is that I’m comfortable sharing it with you ’cause it’s not taking away from kids’ privacies. And it’s because it’s what I see and it’s what I believe in. He had an incredible preseason, like blew me away. You guys have been watching him play for three years. How many dunks have you seen that guy have in three years? He was dunking two, three balls per day in practice. I’ve never seen him dunk a ball! He was blocking shots over the rim. I was like holy cow, what’s gotten into this guy. And when you add that to the stability that he provides for us defensively, he was performing at a high clip. Well the weekend before the North Alabama game, he got a head cold. And he just, I don’t know, I’ve never seen somebody impacted by a head cold like him. And I’m not saying that being sarcastic, really, it impacted him. So I just spoke with him yesterday, like Mike, what are we doing here. And he said I don’t know why this cold bothered me as much. It’s just who he is. That’s why I like it when he gets off to good starts usually means he’s going to finish the game the right way. When I see him miss a free throw, or just miss a dink, or something that early in the game, after three years in my mind I’m like all right, I got to get him another shot right away because I don’t need him to just go AWOL on me. Good things happening to him are very important for his psyche. So he practiced pretty good yesterday. We need, for this team to be as good as it can be, we need Mike to be the guy we had the first five weeks at practice, and so. By the time this season’s over, I need to get that number from Mike and go spend some hours on a couch somewhere.

– [Reporter] You mentioned being vanilla offensively in the first couple games. Is that, I assume that’s typical for this time of year. Are there pieces with this roster that you can do things as they learn each other and as you learn them that you can do things with this team down the road that you couldn’t with past?

– I think the biggest mistake we as coaches make, the biggest mistake I make as a fan is thinking that more plays equals more production. And when you’re coaching, it’s the complete opposite. Simplicity equals more production. It’s not more complication. The more complicated you make things, the more guys get paralyzed because they got so much more in their head. The simpler things are, the more clearer they are, the more aggressive, the faster athletes play. So simplicity, anytime I feel like our team’s getting bogged down, I immediately go back to the basics of who we are in practice to get us back offensively and defensively to our fundamentals, to make sure we play through those. When you have an experienced team, what ends up happening is you start playing a game and team A starts defending some of the things you’re doing a certain way, so you just run counters. So instead of running this play and a ball reversal to the right, you come off this way, you tell them run the same play, just run it to the left. Or you invert the players that you’re running the action for because people want to have certain match-ups for certain players. That’s the kind of thing that, like we did something and we actually did it really good last game. The way that we’re defending some of our pindown screens, in a timeout I made an adjustment. I did it on purpose, the game had already been decided from a score standpoint, but I did it on purpose just to see are these guys going to listen so I can make adjustments during timeouts at critical moments. They executed it to the T. And everything, the execution was fast, it was crisp. We made the adjustment I talked about. We didn’t score, but we did it. And, uh. I think simplicity is what wins. Complication, when you complicate things, the only people that suffers is not the opponent, is your own team. Because then guys get paralyzed. And guys don’t execute with the ferocity that you need them to execute with. And you hear all, I don’t care what sport, what coach, you always hear I want our guys to play fast. Well the only way you do things fast in life is if you’re at peace with what you’re doing. When there’s confusion, you kind of take a step back and you try to gather your thoughts. Anytime you do that, you’re not going to play as fast. So simplicity’s very important to me, especially this early in the year.

– [Reporter] Frank, looking at Jermaine because it had been so long since he actually played in a game, were you worried about nerves with him about playing too fast the first time he got out on the court? And how do you think he’s handled it so far?

– Yeah, no, he’s on the contrary. I’m kind of mad at him ’cause he’s been too laid back. He just, there are some guys that are just cut a certain way, just who they are. That’s his stage and he’s comfortable being on that stage. He’s comfortable being in that moment. Some guys get worried about oh my god if I miss the shot. He don’t care, he’s just one of them guys who just. He’s got a field to play basketball. He’s got a mind to play basketball. He’s not scared of the opponent. Not scared, that’s not the good word. He’s not intimidated by an opponent or the moment. Now he’s got to get better. His shot’s a little, for a guy that can really shoot it, it’s a little inconsistent for me. But he’s probably our best passing guard. I mean, his understanding of where guys are at when we’re running our offense so he can go make a play, it’s pretty impressive. But he’s tough. I need him to be more aggressive than what he’s been. That’s the one place that if you were to ask me, and I’m not about games, for whatever reason he’s gone out there and been a little passive. But that, I don’t think that’s nerves. I just think that’s him trying to find his way ’cause he loves that stage, he loves the moment, he loves the competition. I think he’s going to have a heck, I mean let’s shush, I’m not saying it. Forgive me, not saying it. I hope he dresses every game this year, how about that.

– [Reporter] Frank, you kind of touched on it after Sunday’s game, but are you slowly starting to get a feel for roles on this team right now, starting lineup and kind of that offensive identity?

– Yeah. The hard thing with roles is when it includes freshmen. ‘Cause you just don’t know what you’re going to get day in and day out. It’s too early in the year to have that feel. But with them, I have to find the patience to make them understand like when you’re out there, this is what you’re doing so they can be at peace with everything. And then I have to find the patience to allow them to grow into the mindset that we need them to have. But I’m, I said this the other day, and the more I feel our team and study our team, TJ’s our most aggressive on-ball defender against point guards. He’s relentless up there. And he’s bought into that. Jermaine is our most aggressive defender at getting through screens. It’s really hard to screen Jermaine. So those two guys coming in off the bench provide, I like guys that come off the bench and provide energy, like come in and forget the points and all that stuff. That’s awesome. But the guys that come in off the bench, I think you’ve figured out by now I like my teams to play really, really hard. Well when guys come off the bench, I like for that energy to go up. And Jermaine and TJ they’ve done that so far this year, coming off the bench. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I’m completely committed to that right now, but that’s what my mind and my feelings are telling me. I’ve got an interesting dynamic that I’m going to have to figure out three or four weeks from now and that’s when we reintroduce Keyshawn to our team. I got to figure out how I’m going to manage that moment when in gets here. But that’s my job. It’s my job to make those decisions and handle that moment so the parts fit. But I’m kind of liking that dynamic right now. And Jaylen, and Wildens, and Micaiah, I’ve got to figure out a way. Micaiah yesterday scored in the low post a lot in practice. I’ve got to figure out a way to keep things in a place where we can take advantage of his low post scoring to benefit our team right now ’cause he provides that. Those other guys are not great low post scores. Alanzo’s comfortable playing in there. He’s still trying to learn how to score over bigger players. But Kay’s comfortable in their scoring. I’ve got to help him with some other things, and that’s my job. I’ve got to help him, but I’m kind of liking the vibe that we’re get right now with how we’re trying to play. I’ll share with you something I’ve told the team. We’ve got a group of guys that, I don’t know if we’ve got a 35 minute a game guy on our team, but we’ve got a bunch of guys that if we can figure out a way to manage it where we’ve got a bunch of guys playing between 15, 16, and 26, 27 minutes, I think our team can be really, really, really good.

– [Reporter] What kind of interaction have you had with President Caslen, and with his military background, and what he might demand from his background with the coaches coaching programs that he now runs. What kind of feeling is there in the athletic department about his expectations and what he expects, what he wants from his athletic programs?

– I’ve spent two 15 minute segments with him. We’ve got mutual friends. When he was in charge of Fort Leavenworth, the general in charge of Fort Riley, who I still have a relationship with, has an unbelievable amount of respect for President Caslen. Any man that can lead men into the place he lead men into, men and women, excuse me, and the whole thought process was be a team, don’t hold anything back because if you’re not a team, you don’t lose a game, you lose a life. And then at the end of the day, no man or woman left behind. Any person that that’s what they’ve done in their life, I have the ultimate respect for as a leader. When you take into consideration that he was the president at West Point, which you can argue is the highest academic place in the country, it’s got to be pretty impressive that he understands how to be an ex-athlete who’s a general. Generals don’t, I don’t want to speak for him and I don’t want to speak for military generals. Generals listen to the opinions of their lieutenant colonels and their whatever, and then they stand up and they make decisions. I think he’s willing to do those things. Here’s the other thing. You don’t get to where he got to in life by cheating or taking shortcuts. So the one thing that’s obvious that he has articulated to us as coaches, don’t cheat. Don’t cheat. So it’s, I don’t need anyone to tell me that. I live my life a certain way, this business kind of puts you in a place sometimes that kind of makes you think about well should I. But then I go to bed and I wake up the next day, I’m like heck no, not sacrificing who my family is for no freaking kid to get a win, and I’m not doing that. But I’ve got a lot of respect for his walk of life and what he’s about. I’m excited about building a bigger relationship with him. I think he’s the right person at the right time for what we need around here. My opinion.

– [Reporter] Frank, you mentioned Key. What’s the timetable for when he can get off the crutches or cast or whatever and actually start doing some work?

– Yeah, he’s off the crutches already. He was doing some body weight squats yesterday. That’s why the timeframe with Alanzo Frink last year was six weeks, and I think he got on the court right around that six week timetable. That’s the conservative timeline, but everyone’s different. And Key’s one of those guys that he’ll roll his ankle, and you’re like ah lord. He just doesn’t stop. Beasley was that way, Beasley used to turn his ankle ’cause he refused to tape his ankles, he didn’t like it. And my deal was real simple. You’re not taped, that ankle rolls, you going to keep practicing. So he’d roll his ankle, he wouldn’t ever miss, it’s just ridiculous the way he’d keep practicing. Key’s kind of that way where Ralph Elder, I told you guys that. He had a surgery, he had a pin put in his foot. Everyone else misses eight weeks. He was back in a little less than six. Everyone’s a little different. I’m still not in a place to tell you how close we are, but I know he’s doing stuff already. And he’s walking around like, you’d see him walk, and you’d have no idea that he had knee surgery whatever it was, a week, seven, eight days ago. No, that’s 10 days ago, a little more.