re: UA Basketball Recruiting

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just setting yourselves up for more Alabama basketball related PTSD.

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Pretty shitty tape job on that 4 pt line

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Opening statement: “I thought it was a good first day. We’re just trying to get our guys to play hard, play with some pace. I thought they were giving a good effort. It was a little sloppy for the first day, but it’s expected. It’s more important that we get effort out of them and I think we’re getting pretty good effort. It’s long. We did a skills workout yesterday. But this was the first time that we could actually use the full, allotted time, but I thought we did a pretty good job with our effort, really from the freshmen up to the juniors. We’ve only got the one senior, [guard James “Beetle” Bolden] and he got his shoulder cleaned up a little bit over the summer. He’s not cleared yet. He’ll cleared in a couple of weeks. But he’s the only senior on the roster, so to have the juniors we got -- I think our freshmen are giving us good minutes [and] our underclassmen looked pretty good today.”

On team running sprints during and after practice: “We do practice a little bit differently. We try to make it really competitive. They lose -- we play a bunch of short, quick games to keep it competitive -- if they lose the game, they got to run a sprint. We don’t actually run sprints to get in shape, but we do all the drills really high-paced. Then you got to run if you lose. So we’ll get the guys in shape by the time the season, the first game comes around. They’re not there yet but that’s kind of part of the whole process.”

On junior forward Galin Smith’s injury: “Galin was good. But then he rolled his ankle, tweaked it a little bit early, before you guys got to practice. They were a lot more fresh before you guys got in here, but I think you got the end when they were a little tired. But Galin, he rolled his ankle today. He’s day-to-day. He may be back tomorrow from what [athletic trainer] Clarke [Holter] said.”

On obtaining a waiver to allow Villanova transfer Jahvon Quinerly to play this season: “Everything is submitted. We’re just waiting on the NCAA. Hopefully we hear something sooner rather than later. But no, no update as of now.”

On junior guard Herbert Jones’ injury: “So Herb practiced yesterday in our skills workout but he bruised his shoulder. Kind of a nagging injury he’s got. So Clarke held him out today just to give him a day recovery. He’s day-to-day and I anticipate he’ll be back tomorrow. If not tomorrow, he’ll be back the following day.”

On assistant coaches doing push-ups with the team: “That’s not anything I make them do. That’s them wanting to get a little quick workout in during practice. So the way we do practice, if you win the game -- we play games to eight [points], or two stops, however it is -- if you win, you go to the free throw line and shoot a free throw. If you make the free throw, it goes on the board for a win for the day. If you miss the free throw, you got to do 10 push-ups. If you lose the game, you sprint down and back. So the coaches, if the kid misses the free throw, do 10 with the team. If the kid hits the free throw, they’ve been doing five. We try to keep practice fast-paced. I got to tell them they got to get the push-ups done faster. We got to get on to the next drill. That’s all them. I’m not making anybody do pushups.”

On whether he adopted push-ups from Buffalo: “Yeah, we did that in Buffalo. I used to do them [too]. But I got to get on to the next drill faster, now. Maybe once everybody’s got it down a little faster, I’ll jump back in with them.”

On how freshmen are adjusting: “I think their effort has been great. We’ve got four of them. Jaden [Shackelford] and Jaylen [Forbes], the two guards. Jaylen seems like just the whole basic college, he’s a little sluggish. I’ve talked to him about getting better rest, getting better treatment from Clarke. But their attitudes are great. But with Shack, Shack’s been really good. His body was ready for college. His stamina was ready. We did a VO2 max testing with [strength and conditioning] coach [Mike] Snowden and he was at the top. He’s in great shape and goes really hard. His deal is he’s used to being by far and away the best player on his team. So now he’s just going to learn to play with four other really good players who sometimes, in high school [in Hesperia, Calif.], him shooting a bad shot was the best shot his team was gonna get in high school. That’s not the case here. But his attitudes has been great. He’s learning how to make the reads and stuff. Forbes will get there, too. He took a big charge in a defensive drill earlier. I love both of their attitudes. [Forward] Juwan [Gary] is playing really hard. I think you guys were in here, he had a couple blocks in transition. He’s just so athletic and his physicality gives him something. [Forward/center Raymond Hawkins] has got big upside. He’s behind Galin, behind Javian [Davis]. We could even play [Alex] Reese some at the five. So he’s kind of behind all those guys, but he’s got upside. He makes plays here and there that shows you how good he could be when he puts it all together.”

On how injured transfer James Rojas will be replaced: “Reese was already gonna be there. I don’t know if ... Rojas never got -- when he got to us he was banged up already. He had some ankle issues. He never really went through a full workout with us. So I had never got to see him healthy with our guys. So I don’t know if he would’ve started or not. That would’ve had to have been determined. But Reese is already kind of our perfect four because he can shoot it and space the floor. He’s playing really well. So Reese is gonna play minutes there. We played smaller in Buffalo where we bumped out. If you looked at the teams we started the last two years there, we either started two point guards and a combo guard, or a point guard and two combo guards. Then we played a 6-foot-7 two-guard in Jeremy Harris kind of at the four. Well, Herb Jones can play the four. [John] Petty’s got size and can bump down. Those guys can bump down when we play small. But we can also go big and put Javian a little bit at the four. Because Rojas was really gonna play, like, the four for us because we really wanted to play more skill. Javian’s gonna be a skilled player on the perimeter a little bit. But I would anticipate us playing a little bit smaller because we’ve got more depth at the guard spot. You’ve got Beetle cleared, you’ve got Shackelford, Forbes, Kira [Lewis]. If Quinerly gets cleared. So if then if you bump down and play Herb, J.P. [Petty] down, then we’re playing a little smaller, which is the way I like to play, anyways. With more athleticism and speed and perimeter play on the floor. I would anticipate that kind of being the case, the way we play.”

On team cohesion so far: “I think that stuff has been great. I think getting everybody here in the summer. Rojas was the only one who missed and now he’s not able to play. So we’ve gone through a whole summer together. We kind of did that team retreat, boot camp, whatever you want to call it. Thought that gave us a huge jump start on the fall. I think guys are learning -- they’re getting in the gym. I mean, look, a lot of guys are staying after practice and shooting. You’re going to see a lot of guys come back in. They’ve got different groups that they come in with. I think it’s been pretty good. You’ll have to ask them. They’re the ones who have to hang out with each other. They can give you a lot more honest answer. I think it’s pretty good. It’s still got some work to go. But we’re getting there. Great question to ask the guys, though.”

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I think I underestimated Shackleford a little coming in. He's going to be better than I expected. Looks like a very competitive kid.

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