On Wednesday afternoon, Rick Pitino met with the media to preview the upcoming game against Temple. As always, they discussed much more than just the opponent.
Click here to see the full press conference. Here are the main points from it.
*Wayne Blackshear will play against Temple.
*With Blackshear having a concussion, this last layoff between games wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
*They did have an intra-squad scrimmage this past Saturday.
*Television has been the reason for the scheduling that has the Cards with unusual longer breaks between games.
*The team may have to stay an extra day in Philadelphia, PA because of the snow storm in that area.
*We don’t have a lot of shot blocking, and with the new rules, you need that.
*He said “It’s going to be an exciting finish to the season. With Cincinnati losing, the race has tightened up.”
*This basketball team never looks past an opponent.
*Temple is explosive at the offensive end and they have good size.
*Chris Jones is 5’9 and 183 lbs, but needs to be at 173 lbs. If he gets the 8-10 lbs off of him, he will be “Russ Smith quick.”
*He said that UofL is not an elite team right now. “We don’t have shot blocking, and we don’t have great size. Now with that being said, we could be there with anybody at the end…It’s a matter of matchups.”
*Pitino emphasized that Stephan Van Treese has to be the guy he uses at the center spot. (Doesn’t sound like Mangok will get the majority of the minutes from this point on.)
*He then went on to answer a lot of questions about fans in college basketball these days and how they act and the things that they say. He said the things that students yell used to be funny, but not so much anymore. He tells his players to just tune it out and move on.
*Playing at Louisville is “a visiting team’s dream…They (opponent) come in and everybody claps and treats them great…I think it’s great, I really do. It’s a professional atmosphere. Our fans are not worried about the other coach or the starting lineup. They are worried about their next Maker’s Mark.”
*When Pitino’s son sat next to him at the Minnesota game, he asked if he was really going to sit there. When the son said he was and asked if there was a problem, Pitino said “Yes you are in a chicken suit.”
Photo courtesy of veooz.com
