Tweet
From Jim Meehan's blog on the Spokesman-Review:
Meehan also includes some comments from Matt Bouldin:
—Head coach Mark Few was a bit testy with a particular line of questioning.
Asked if the loss to USF was a needed wake-up call, Few said, “No, not at all. I don’t think they need a wake-up call. First of all, they’re not the juggernaut that again everybody wants to paint them out to be. I think I’ve been consistent with that statement and that fact. We’re pretty even with most teams in this league and if we don’t play with a ton of energy and ton of toughness then, as you can see, most of our games have come down to last couple minutes. We’ve been really poised and really good at winning games at the end, but we just made a couple errors at the end of the game that allowed San Francisco to tie it up.”
Few said the players have worked hard in practice and have been resilient.
“They’re young, though,” he added. “You go through phases in seasons where sometimes you’re playing really good and sometimes you’re not playing so good. Just look across the landscape of college basketball. Unless I’m missing something I don’t think anybody has played great in every game. Some of the teams are built better to survive those than the rest of us.”
Few was asked about Portland, which visits Thursday. “We better play really good. They’re playing better than we are. They’ve been on the road and handled guys fairly easily. They’re a veteran crew, a very physical crew, worked us over inside last time, but we were playing really good basketball at that time and we were able to keep them at arm’s length that whole game.”
That led to a question about what has been the difference the last couple games, compared to how the team was playing in the first go-around with Portland. Said Few: “I think people expect us to blow everybody out. I guess sometimes you guys are like my team, you’re not hearing what I’m saying. We’re not just so overly talented that we’re just going to blow people out. Pretty much all of our games, maybe with the exception of Eastern Washington, have been tough, hard-nosed games and pretty evenly matched. So those are going to come down to the last couple plays and we’ve been incredibly poised and done a nice job to win those games. I expect the rest of the league games to go like that. That’s just the way it is.
“You go through phases. You go through phases with your golf game, with pretty much everything. We were making a lot of shots then, getting great contributions from everybody off the bench. Now we’re hit or miss there. It’s just another week in league play. Maybe next week we’ll be writing songs about everybody, who knows? That’s why I’m not big on big, sweeping generalizations.”
Asked if the loss to USF was a needed wake-up call, Few said, “No, not at all. I don’t think they need a wake-up call. First of all, they’re not the juggernaut that again everybody wants to paint them out to be. I think I’ve been consistent with that statement and that fact. We’re pretty even with most teams in this league and if we don’t play with a ton of energy and ton of toughness then, as you can see, most of our games have come down to last couple minutes. We’ve been really poised and really good at winning games at the end, but we just made a couple errors at the end of the game that allowed San Francisco to tie it up.”
Few said the players have worked hard in practice and have been resilient.
“They’re young, though,” he added. “You go through phases in seasons where sometimes you’re playing really good and sometimes you’re not playing so good. Just look across the landscape of college basketball. Unless I’m missing something I don’t think anybody has played great in every game. Some of the teams are built better to survive those than the rest of us.”
Few was asked about Portland, which visits Thursday. “We better play really good. They’re playing better than we are. They’ve been on the road and handled guys fairly easily. They’re a veteran crew, a very physical crew, worked us over inside last time, but we were playing really good basketball at that time and we were able to keep them at arm’s length that whole game.”
That led to a question about what has been the difference the last couple games, compared to how the team was playing in the first go-around with Portland. Said Few: “I think people expect us to blow everybody out. I guess sometimes you guys are like my team, you’re not hearing what I’m saying. We’re not just so overly talented that we’re just going to blow people out. Pretty much all of our games, maybe with the exception of Eastern Washington, have been tough, hard-nosed games and pretty evenly matched. So those are going to come down to the last couple plays and we’ve been incredibly poised and done a nice job to win those games. I expect the rest of the league games to go like that. That’s just the way it is.
“You go through phases. You go through phases with your golf game, with pretty much everything. We were making a lot of shots then, getting great contributions from everybody off the bench. Now we’re hit or miss there. It’s just another week in league play. Maybe next week we’ll be writing songs about everybody, who knows? That’s why I’m not big on big, sweeping generalizations.”
—Following Saturday’s game, Matt Bouldin sat on a stool in front of his locker and looked completely spent. For good reason, he’d played 41 minutes after logging 40 against Santa Clara two nights earlier. The Broncos bumped and crowded Bouldin on seemingly every play. Throw in the fact that Bouldin wasn’t feeling well Saturday and it made for a long couple of days.
“Just a rough day in general,” he said. “When you give it your all on the floor and want to win so badly … it was a combination of being mad and being disappointed.”
Bouldin is still dealing with lingering discomfort in his right (shooting) hand, stemming from a tumble against San Diego a couple weeks ago.
“I don’t think it’s getting much better, but it’s definitely tolerable,” he said. “I’m fine.”
“Just a rough day in general,” he said. “When you give it your all on the floor and want to win so badly … it was a combination of being mad and being disappointed.”
Bouldin is still dealing with lingering discomfort in his right (shooting) hand, stemming from a tumble against San Diego a couple weeks ago.
“I don’t think it’s getting much better, but it’s definitely tolerable,” he said. “I’m fine.”
]
Comment