C
ChrisWellbaum
Guest
Frank Martin held his first press conference at the Final Four this afternoon. Here is a quick recap of his comments.
First, Martin addressed Sindarius Thornwell's absence from practice. Thornwell has "a bug" and is expected to be fine. "He had a little body temperature last night when we landed. And he was a little better this morning. But I kind of told our trainer, just feed him fluids, do what doctors do and let him rest rather than stress him right now. He's our most intelligent player. And I don't mean to say that demeaning the other guys. He understands basketball at a high, high level, he doesn't need to be on the practice court to understand what we're doing," Martin said.
Martin talked about trying to keep players focused, but he said pressure should not be an issue. "You know what pressure is? 35 students, 27 desks, 18 textbooks, 180 days. You've got to educate every single kid in that classroom for 180 days. That's pressure," Martin said. "I told our guys, after we practiced on the stadium -- I won't say a stadium court, I don't know what you call that. It's unbelievable. It's a monster out there. I'm just glad I had a stool. I was afraid I was going to fall off the court there. But I told our guys, I said, listen, man, never once have we ever spoken about, well, this opponent is this or that guy's really good. We speak about what we have to do to win. That's what we talk about every single day. I said don't be the guy that doesn't do their job to prevent us from having an opportunity of staying here until Monday night. Focus in on doing your job. And at the end of the day our job is not good enough, nothing to be ashamed of. But we're not playing the arena. We're not playing the tournament. We're not playing the Final Four. We're playing Gonzaga."
Shooting percentages are frequently low during Final Four games because the size of the stadiums throws off shooters used to playing in arenas. Martin acknowledged the Gamecocks were thrown off during practice. "The wall seems a whole lot further than it does at our gym, I'll tell you that. It was interesting, seeing the guys out there today shooting balls, listening to them. God, it looks different. But we'll have an opportunity to shoot some balls in here again tomorrow. And I don't know. I never got the opportunity to shoot in a place like this, so I wouldn't know any different. Heck, the way I shot, I was setting screens and taking charges, I wasn't worried about shooting the ball," Martin said. "But it will be fine. Kids are players, man. We go out to a park right now and play on 8-foot rims the first couple of seconds it takes a while and eventually everyone adapts and shoots the ball in the basket. I know this, Gonzaga and us, neither one of us has an advantage with that one. We're both going through it for the first time. So hopefully if it affects us, hopefully it affects them, too."
Martin said earlier in the week that on Monday he called Bob Huggins and Billy Donovan for advice. On Thursday, he elaborated on what they discussed. "We talked about all the stuff that kind of prevents you from focusing in on basketball, and how they managed it and the mistakes they made in their first time through and how they tried to adjust it every single time that they both have been fortunate to be a part of it," Martin said. "I can't do it the way Hugs does it. I can't do it the way Billy D did it. I've got to do things the way my mind and my personality and based on the way our team is, the way I've got to manage it for this team. But that's what happens when you have conversations with people you trust, is that it stimulates your mind. It makes you think. It makes you create the ideas.
"I had to take all their suggestions, which the funny part is the biggest distraction for both, and neither one knew that they had said this to me, was dealing with the tickets. That was the biggest distraction. Keep people away from your players -- family members, everybody, because of tickets. Deal with it early in the week. Put a deadline, and once the deadline's over it's over. You've got to move away from it. And I thought that was great advice, because that is, for kids, that is the biggest distraction. And then we've talked a lot. I tell kids all the time, the hardest thing in life is saying no to people you love."
First, Martin addressed Sindarius Thornwell's absence from practice. Thornwell has "a bug" and is expected to be fine. "He had a little body temperature last night when we landed. And he was a little better this morning. But I kind of told our trainer, just feed him fluids, do what doctors do and let him rest rather than stress him right now. He's our most intelligent player. And I don't mean to say that demeaning the other guys. He understands basketball at a high, high level, he doesn't need to be on the practice court to understand what we're doing," Martin said.
Martin talked about trying to keep players focused, but he said pressure should not be an issue. "You know what pressure is? 35 students, 27 desks, 18 textbooks, 180 days. You've got to educate every single kid in that classroom for 180 days. That's pressure," Martin said. "I told our guys, after we practiced on the stadium -- I won't say a stadium court, I don't know what you call that. It's unbelievable. It's a monster out there. I'm just glad I had a stool. I was afraid I was going to fall off the court there. But I told our guys, I said, listen, man, never once have we ever spoken about, well, this opponent is this or that guy's really good. We speak about what we have to do to win. That's what we talk about every single day. I said don't be the guy that doesn't do their job to prevent us from having an opportunity of staying here until Monday night. Focus in on doing your job. And at the end of the day our job is not good enough, nothing to be ashamed of. But we're not playing the arena. We're not playing the tournament. We're not playing the Final Four. We're playing Gonzaga."
Shooting percentages are frequently low during Final Four games because the size of the stadiums throws off shooters used to playing in arenas. Martin acknowledged the Gamecocks were thrown off during practice. "The wall seems a whole lot further than it does at our gym, I'll tell you that. It was interesting, seeing the guys out there today shooting balls, listening to them. God, it looks different. But we'll have an opportunity to shoot some balls in here again tomorrow. And I don't know. I never got the opportunity to shoot in a place like this, so I wouldn't know any different. Heck, the way I shot, I was setting screens and taking charges, I wasn't worried about shooting the ball," Martin said. "But it will be fine. Kids are players, man. We go out to a park right now and play on 8-foot rims the first couple of seconds it takes a while and eventually everyone adapts and shoots the ball in the basket. I know this, Gonzaga and us, neither one of us has an advantage with that one. We're both going through it for the first time. So hopefully if it affects us, hopefully it affects them, too."
Martin said earlier in the week that on Monday he called Bob Huggins and Billy Donovan for advice. On Thursday, he elaborated on what they discussed. "We talked about all the stuff that kind of prevents you from focusing in on basketball, and how they managed it and the mistakes they made in their first time through and how they tried to adjust it every single time that they both have been fortunate to be a part of it," Martin said. "I can't do it the way Hugs does it. I can't do it the way Billy D did it. I've got to do things the way my mind and my personality and based on the way our team is, the way I've got to manage it for this team. But that's what happens when you have conversations with people you trust, is that it stimulates your mind. It makes you think. It makes you create the ideas.
"I had to take all their suggestions, which the funny part is the biggest distraction for both, and neither one knew that they had said this to me, was dealing with the tickets. That was the biggest distraction. Keep people away from your players -- family members, everybody, because of tickets. Deal with it early in the week. Put a deadline, and once the deadline's over it's over. You've got to move away from it. And I thought that was great advice, because that is, for kids, that is the biggest distraction. And then we've talked a lot. I tell kids all the time, the hardest thing in life is saying no to people you love."
