Oct. 24, 2013

LOGAN, Utah - USU men's basketball head coach Stew Morrill's quotes previewing Friday's season-opening exhibition game against Central Methodist.

On this week of preparation:

"It's so weird with all the days off. It's good and it's bad I guess. You get three days off, you're trying to get back into your routine a little bit. I would say things are going OK. They need to get a little bit better in terms of their consistency. We're not very consistent right now. We're not very consistent in our execution or in our practice habits. We're not awful, don't get me wrong, we're just kind of average. Yesterday we had a really good practice. That was good, that was encouraging. Today we might not. We're throwing a lot at them. I told them there's two times a year that I call the dog days - that's when you're three or four weeks in and you're just beating on each other, and it's in February. We're battling that a little bit. That's what makes the most sense to me to describe where we're at. We're just inconsistent. We need to become more consistent in everything we're doing."

On Central Methodist:

"I don't have film of this year, I don't know their personnel, but I know their coach whose been there a long time. They've had a really good program and they'll run a lot of good stuff. The main thing to accomplish is to go out there and play someone else. We have to adjust to teams that are running things and try and guard them without seeing them everyday like we do our own stuff. We need to figure out who can do what in a game setting. Any time you go out and play, you'd like to win, but in exhibition games I like to believe that is secondary. You want to win, but you want to figure out where you're at in so many areas of the game."

On pushing the ball more/game plan for the year:

"We've always tried to run the break. We've never been a team that tries to run at all costs, no matter where the game's being played, that's not us. We've always tried to get easy baskets. We lay it up on turnovers, on missed shots, we want to go. For whatever reason, players talk about wanting to run, but when it gets down to it, you're constantly pushing them to get the easy offense on the fast break. Like all the other areas of the game, we want to get out and go, but we're a little hesitant, we're inconsistent. We're throwing a lot out at them, there are guys that are confused, normal stuff for this time of year. We've got a good group of guys. We don't have guys fighting us, we're just overloading them. That's what our system does. It overloads you, you drink from a firehose and you try to squirt it out."

On the starting lineup:

"That's always a big deal to people, especially this time of year. Who we start the first exhibition game may not be who we start the second, or who we start against USC. It's a little overrated who starts, especially early in the year. I do hope we have some depth. I think we have a chance to have some depth. That would be really positive to be able to play nine, 10, 11 guys, would be great."

On the possibility of redshirting players:

"If it's their first year, then you can. We're not looking at a lot of redshirt candidates right now. There's a chance we'd have one, an outside chance we'd have two. I'm pretty sure we'll have one."

On having Danny Berger back on the court:

"It's nothing but positive. It hasn't been much of an adjustment from our end because we'd had him out there a lot before. It just seems like it's the way it should be that he's back out there again. He put on some good strength during the summer as it happens. You lose a little weight when you're practicing every day or as often as we are. You continue to lift and try to maintain. You're not lifting at the same level as you were in the summer. Danny is a veteran. He's more comfortable out there than he used to be. He's playing two positions. Danny is so stable and solid as a person, that you always know where he's coming from and doing what you ask. It's great to have him back."

On the depth compared to last season:

"I think our potential depth is a result of having some new guys. We were in a make-shift situation and the value of their playing time was great, but we had some guys playing out of position. It was valuable for them to get some time and it should help them, but we've added guys who are helping give us some more depth."

On Mountain West games compared to past experience:

"When we get to those games there will be a lot of adjustments. Any time you play against that kind of talent, it causes adjustment. Every game is going to be a different challenge. If you're playing at home or on the road you're probably going to do different things. For me personally, it's exciting because it really tests you as a coach if you can put your team in a position where they're in games and have chances to be successful. As I've said many times, it reminds me of the old, old WAC when I was at Colorado State when you're going to Vegas and you're going to New Mexico and on and on and on. You're in great arenas with large crowds, can you deal with that? Then you've got those great teams coming to your place and can you deal with that? It will cause you to be at your best in terms of strategy and game prep and all that."

On the announced graduation success rate:

"That's why they're here. We tell them that when we're recruiting, we tell them that in meeting after meeting. Education is their future. We talk about how few guys play pro basketball. The numbers are astounding. For those who do, it's a very short career. We sell really hard on graduation rate, our success. It's a credit not just to our players and our coaches, but to our academic people in our department. I've always said that that's something everybody wants as long as you're winning too. It doesn't become as much of a factor if you're getting your rear end kicked. It kind of goes out the door and it really shouldn't. It's a high priority at Utah State. I'm real proud of what we've gotten done academically."