Q&A with Tom Crean: Part 1

With basketball season right around the corner, UGASports sat down with head coach Tom Crean for an exclusive 1-on-1 interview to discuss the upcoming season, along with a variety of other topics regarding his Bulldog program.

In Part 1 of a two-part Q&A, we asked Crean about his current team, along with his philosophy on recruiting and why he’s counting on Georgia fans to play a huge role in the program’s ultimate success.

Part 2 of our conversation will delve into his offense and style of play, which we can already say will be much different than what fans have been accustomed to seeing.

Crean: “I spoke at five different places (Monday), three sororities, and got to speak at the Athens Touchdown Club.

“I learn a lot, first and foremost. There’s no question you want to promote your program, but more importantly you want to connect with people. It’s a learning experience.

“You’re going to learn things you’re going to learn, especially if you ask questions. You learn from conversations you have and people get a chance to share things. It’s important to me to make sure people know they matter. It really is. That sounds corny, but it’s true.

“It’s absolutely true, because we can’t take any of that for granted here. We’re not taking sellouts for granted or packed houses for granted. We’re not doing that. We’re on the verge of potentially, before tickets go on sale to the general public, having three sellouts by the end of the week.

“That’s awesome, right?

“I like the connection. I get energy from it. I think as you go down the line, and you go down through the years, you try to do things differently. You don’t give the same talk twice, but you say, okay, maybe we’ll do this there, that sort of thing; you try to keep it fresh. For me, it’s the first time and I enjoy it.”

Crean: “It's been great. It’s important because I’m trying to give them an idea of how we think and what we do. But also, when you get into the season with your games and things like that, you’re not going to be out there as much. They’re going to see you, they’re going to see you at the games and things of that nature, and they’re going to read stories. But you’re not out there as much. It starts coming quick.

“But I think when you have that kind of time, I know what happens when you get people behind you on a consistent basis, what it does for your program, what it does for your advantage at home, and what it can mean to the opponent. It’s all part of it. If we’re going to recruit this program to be at the highest level it can be, to build our program to be at the highest level it can be, we’ve got to have people in the seats. “There’s got to be an energy and there’s got to be an excitement. I think there’s a lot of people who are excited.

“What I’m trying to get across is, just don’t come and we struggle and all of a sudden you’re not there. Don’t just come when it’s a big night and there’s a number next to the team when you see the ticker, when you see the ranking.

“We need you there if we’re really going to build this up the way it can be, and I have no reason to believe that it can’t be. People have been fantastic."

Crean: “Way too many unforced turnovers (20), especially in the first half (13). Lack of aggressiveness in the first half on the glass, both ends. Far too tentative offensively, not attacking. It was definitely a different game in the second half.

“There was a comfort level, more getting to the glass. We turned it over at half the rate. We increased our hustle game big-time. The ball movement was better. I think putting E’Torrion (Wilridge) to start the second half was tremendous because he set the tone defensively on Bryant, who is a very good guard.

“He was getting by us far too easily. Our team defense wasn’t where it needed to be. We had a lot of room for improvement. We had a lot of mistakes, but we built through some of those mistakes, and we played harder and tougher as the game went on.

“To be able to be down five and win the game by two, really four, was huge.”

Crean: (On Ignas Sarguinas) “Ignas, we’ve got to make sure he doesn’t play tentatively. Get out there and play. He wasn’t here this summer, and we’ve got to make sure he plays a quick, fast game, an aggressive game. Some of his passes were careless. It was like we were doing five on zero, rather than going against live, body defenders. I’ve used that as an example of why we need to be more competitive in our practices, even when we’re going against each other. But he also needs to be ready to shoot the ball.”

(On JoJo Toppin): “Attack, cut, move without the ball and don’t ever let there be a wasted opportunity on the glass. Be ready to shoot it. His shooting is becoming so much better, but he’s got to become not only a key on-the-ball defender but also a key off-the-ball defender.”

(On Amanze Ngumezi): “I think he’s got really big upside. If I’ve got one regret, I didn’t play him enough in that game. We went a little more veteran up front late. I think he’s capable. I think he’s trying to do the right thing. He’s got to keep getting himself in shape. He is getting in shape, but he needs to get in more continuous shape. He’s getting better shooting the ball. I think there is a real upside to him being able to do more as he gets more comfortable.”

(On Tye Fagan: “He sees a lot of things. He’s really trying to develop a leadership mindset inside of our practices. He’s very honest with himself when he doesn’t do well, and he wants to come back. He’s got tremendous individual determination, because he’s got a lot of team pride. That’s really important. Individual determination that leads to you wanting to be better is really important, and I think he’s got that. That upside is there. He’s got to shoot the ball with consistency, and we’ve got to get him quicker downhill. The No. 1 issue we have as a team right now is we’re not very good getting downhill in the sense of really attacking and creating help situations, so our cutting, our movement, spacing, our next pass, how quick that is, making two play one--we’ve got to keep building that. You look at the other night, our best downhill offensive player was Nic Claxton. But that’s where we’re at on the freshmen.”

Crean: “Skill set more than positions. We want to get to a team, you want to continue to build for your future where the style of play will be. The style of play this year—we’re working to get it to where we want it, because we have to be able to compete in games. But as we move forward, I’ve always been very comfortable with having numerous guys in that 6-4, 6-8, 6-9 range who can do multiple things. Along the way, get your bigger players, your 6-9, 6-10, 6-11 and get them to be able to expand it and stretch their skills, be comfortable away from the basket, then have guards who are multi-dimensional.

"So it's size, really. You can’t have too many smaller guys. You can have a lot of guys in that 6-4, 6-5, 6-6 range if they're multi-dimensional, and that means able to guard different people. We’re trying to play as we move forward, as "position-less" as we can be. But to be position-less on one end, you’ve got to be able to guard numerous positions on the other. So we’re trying to build that and get better at that. But if I had to put some prerequisites down, shooting is going to be absolutely paramount.

“Outside of athleticism, can they pass? If you can shoot, you can pass, and you’ve got pretty good instincts. You may not move well without the ball yet, because a lot of kids coming in out of high school are so used to having the ball, and having the ball coming to them—then going to get the ball rather than having to move without it, or get somebody else open. So, when you’ve got that level of instincts, that helps with that.

“Defensively, we like length. We like short space quickness. And is there an upside to your physicality, will your rebounds uphold that, will you give your body up? Will you be aggressive? All that comes into how well do you switch, and can you do numerous things?”

Crean: “I never pay attention to that. We’re not going to recruit like we’ve only got two more scholarships. I never have. I take that back, I haven’t for a long time, there’s too many changes, you’ve got to be prepared, and those things usually work themselves out. We’re not looking to just sign.

“We’ve been very picky, because we’re trying not to be a team that’s consistently picked to finish last or next to last in the league. We’re wanting to go up from that as quickly as we can.

“So develop the players we have, continue to recruit to the style of play we want, and then you’re looking for fit and the character of play that comes into it, you’re looking for the want-to-be-here. You’re not looking for people who are looking at this university or program as just as a stop-gap on their way to the next thing; you want someone that really wants to be playing FOR Georgia, going to school and getting an education at Georgia. So we’re trying to build forward on that look.”