Bo Ryan meets with media
December 27, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2010
Video of Ryan's press conference
MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin men's basketball head coach Bo Ryan met with local media Monday at the weekly Wisconsin coaches' news conference. Ryan addressed everything from facing Minnesota in Tuesday's Big Ten opener to individual progress of Jon Leuer and Rob Wilson.
QUESTION #1: Your last three games against Minnesota, you haven’t shot the ball particularly well. And there have been a preponderance of three-pointers against that zone. Can you just talk a little bit about how you have to better attack Minnesota’s zone?
Bo Ryan: “I think if you make shots, it looks like a better attack. It’s, just got to make shots. Northwestern has a t-shirt that says it all, ‘make shots’.”
QUESTION #2: Did you like last year’s game at Minnesota? Did you like most of the shots that you took, and the way they were ended? Did you touch the post enough?
RYAN: “Yeah, sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t. It depends on how a team plays it. So we’ll see.”
QUESTION #3: Bo, do you think you have a good shooting team or is it too early to tell right now?
RYAN: “Well, you always look at percentages. You always think your team going into a game is a good shooting team, because if you’re going in thinking you’re a bad shooting team, you’re in real trouble. So, you’re always going to be who you are for 40 minutes, and you can take a stat sheet at the end of a game and say, ‘oh, well, this is the reason or that’s the reason.’ That’s always easy to do.
But we prepare and we do things to put our guys in position to make shots. And that’s what we can do, so you control what you can do. Then when you get into a game, the players are playing it and they need to make shots. And they know the difference. Sometimes you feel good about the way you’re shooting the ball, other times it might be a struggle, but as long as they’re good shots and as long as they’re open shots and we’ve moved the ball, made the defense have to work, then shoot it.
We don’t agonize over it, because you can’t change it. Once it’s released, you know, you’re thinking it’s in. I like shooters that think that way, and I’ve always tried to teach our shooters to feel that way.”
QUESTION #4: Bo, when you look at the last few games, the amount of 3-pointers that have been shot, is there any concern that maybe your team is becoming too reliant on shooting a 3-pointer?
RYAN: “No, it’s the way teams have played us. And if teams have that in their philosophy, that’s fine. That’s all about the game. I learned that playing marbles and flipping baseball cards. When the other team has a strategy or the other guy does, I just try to find a way to beat him. That’s all you can do.
Racquetball, somebody kept trying to go to your backhand thinking that you have a weak backhand. And you know what you do? You get a good backhand. And you put him away with it.
In tennis, guys would try a lot of lobs when I play them. And, ‘okay, I’m going to lob it over his head.’ Well, you learn how to cover pretty fast, how to track them down. And then you’re always looking for their weakness.
So if a team is going to do something to you, that game ended, there’s the numbers, not too many teams are going to shoot the percentages we’ve shot from three and there are games where you’re not going to shoot it real well. So, then you have to maybe manufacture points from your defense, from offensive rebounding. There are a lot of different ways you can score.”
QUESTION #5: Minnesota has some good depth and versatility up front. What kind of challenge will those guys present for your bigs?
RYAN: “Well, they’ve been talked about as one of the top teams in the country from day one, from last summer on, or actually at the end of last year. Like ‘boy, Minnesota’s really going to be tough next year.’ Not a lot of conversation about Wisconsin. So a lot of people know a lot more about Minnesota than they do about Wisconsin, about their strengths. They have bigs, and (Ralph) Sampson isn’t the only one.
So I think as far as what’s out in the open informationally speaking, there’s a lot more about Minnesota out there and what they have. They’re very good defensively, and with (Al) Nolen healthy, in their one loss, he was probably a guy that could have made a, I’m not saying he would have, but he could have. Now he’s back, so they are where they are and have done what they’ve done, beaten West Virginia and North Carolina and all those teams because they’re good. They’re big, they’re quick. And I think the country knows about them.”
QUESTION #6: So far this year, how much have they used their full court pressure? Last year, when you faced them, they really didn’t use much of it. Are they any different this year in how they’re pressuring?
RYAN: “I think they’ll be able to use it when they need to use it, when they want to use it against teams maybe they feel it will be effective against. So you prepare for everything. I mean, no matter who we’re playing, sometime going to practice, we’ll go over something regarding pressure. So we don’t prepare for them any differently.
We prepared against pressure, we prepared against traps. I don’t know if they’ll use it. So you have to ask after the game. I’ll be able to tell you then.”
QUESTION #7: Backtracking a little bit, you were talking about taking what defenses are giving you. Is that particularly true with Jon Leuer this year? He’s taken a lot more three’s than he has in the past. Is that just, I know that he’s a lot more confident with the shot and his numbers are real good, but is he shooting more three’s just because they’re trying to limit as much as he can going inside?
RYAN: “Well, that’s part of it. And, something might be said for the people who are in charge of what you run, that maybe the coach might be smart enough to put Jon in position where he gets screened for for three’s. You know, what do you think?
So when he comes off a couple of those that look like staggards, look like screens, Jon Leuer is, so then if they cover him, then some other guys have been finding themselves open, cover/uncover. So if they cover him, somebody else is uncovered. Because in zones, you’re always trying to get four-versus-three offensively, three-versus-two or two-versus-one. So Jon Leuer is a weapon inside or out.”
QUESTION #8: How much of an impact have you seen from Trevor Mbakwe, the young man that’s now playing for Minnesota?
RYAN: “Well, he’s strong, he’s probably one of the strongest players we’ve seen in the Big Ten. And he’s got a nose for the ball. Just a great rebounder, tough, hardnosed player. And his numbers speak for themselves.”
QUESTION #9: Rob Wilson has quietly been doing a lot more positive things for you. Just talk about his progress and what he’s been doing.
RYAN: “Well, he’s starting to get into the kind of game-type condition, which you lose when you’re for two, three weeks hobbling around. And some other guys have been picking up for him. And that’s the good part.
You know, there was a guy for the Giants last night that hadn’t been starting because he was injured, and he came back, and the guy that was starting for him had the Giants running pretty well. And it was like, ‘okay, should O’Hara come in and play right away, or meanwhile the other guy’s doing a heck of a job.’ So Rob understands, if I want to get minutes, I’ve got to perform, because the coach is fair. If you deserve it, you get it.”
QUESTION #11: I think Badger fans are disappointed they only get to see the Gophers once this year. Would you agree?
RYAN: “I don’t know. At least in our sport, we play them. So I’m the wrong person to be talking to. I think you should talk to a sport that maybe doesn’t play them in the Big Ten. At least in basketball, we do play everybody one time. And we did go from 16 to 18 games because of some soapbox orations.”
QUESTION #12: With the Rose Bowl and winter break going on at the same time, probably not going to see too many students here tomorrow. Do you think that this place needs to get a little, needs to get creative to figure out a way to get people into sit where the students usually sit? Is there anything that can be done that way?
RYAN: “Well, you know, like Saturdays during the fall when the students aren’t elsewhere, they don’t fill in. So if people buy tickets, they’re free to do what they want with them, and when they want. You know, and sometimes by going to the two-package or the two separate packages, because more students wanted to attend games that weren’t able to attend games, but sometimes there might be tests, people actually study here, and they do have other options.
It’s kind of like watching a UCLA basketball game and seeing the stands, seeing the place half filled. Well, you know, in LA, there are other things to do. And in Madison, just because it’s colder doesn’t mean there aren’t other things to do. So people do what they can when they can, and you know, you look at some of these places over break, and there’s nobody there. I imagine there will be some people here for this game. Actually, our students have been pretty good. And we’re very thankful for it too.”
