• last year
Arkansas Razorbacks coach Mike Neighbors with a final media briefing Thursday before they leave for a couple of weeks in Europe.
Transcript
00:00 >> One thing I could have asked them probably, I'll just ask you,
00:03 wouldn't you have loved to have those three have the luxury of players coming in
00:08 like you have this year?
00:09 And is it gonna help the newcomers to maybe not have so much expected of them first?
00:14 >> I think so.
00:15 I think when you talk to our freshmen, you can sense that already.
00:20 The overwhelming factor of being a freshman at this level,
00:28 anytime you can ease that in any shape, form, or fashion, it's a good thing.
00:32 And the three you had up here, along with Mac and Sam,
00:38 and three or four others you could have had,
00:39 they've been an invaluable resource to those kids.
00:45 When I check in with the newcomers on a daily basis,
00:50 their responses are way different than this year than we've had in the past.
00:55 There's still some moments of overwhelmingness, but not nearly.
01:00 And a lot of that, it's a willingness.
01:05 Sometimes every classmen like there to be a little bit of a suffrage period.
01:08 They like there to be some suffering for freshmen.
01:13 But I think this particular group,
01:16 that probably was a few days instead of a few weeks or months or whatever.
01:21 So it's a really good group.
01:24 And I give the kids that are coming in a lot of credit too,
01:26 because they've had a really good attitude about it.
01:29 They've accepted the freshman moments and
01:33 then responded appropriately when given the opportunity.
01:39 And then too, with Sasha, Sasha's got such a fresh outlook on things.
01:46 And it's just, when I think things are starting to get a little bit
01:53 hard, she'll say something or do something that puts you back into place.
01:57 And the reminder that, okay,
01:59 this maybe isn't as big a deal as I'm making it out to be.
02:03 She's been really good for me.
02:04 I hope I've been equally as good for her, but she has been a really good.
02:08 I just can't call her a newcomer.
02:12 We haven't returned her.
02:14 I don't know what the appropriate term would be for her.
02:20 >> Her and Saylor talked a lot about just the competition there every day in
02:24 practice, how difficult that's been on each of them.
02:27 But top to bottom,
02:28 it seems like there's been some really good in-practice competition.
02:31 Will you speak on kind of that and how a lot of players match up with each other?
02:35 >> Yeah, we're ten deep.
02:37 There is not, when we go one through ten and we go five on five,
02:43 in the past, I think the coaches and people who have been at practice could go,
02:47 that team's getting ready to beat that team.
02:49 You can't do that right now.
02:50 There's not a common denominator.
02:52 There's not a, you look at the team, you go, that's pretty evenly matched up.
02:55 And if it was Saylor and Sasha sitting here talking to each other about it,
02:59 they've been having to guard each other almost every day.
03:01 I'm not sure they've been on the same team yet.
03:03 Did they mention that?
03:04 Cuz they did.
03:06 Yeah, they may not have been.
03:09 And again, you're talking about two kids who have been, not in our practices, but
03:13 in the SEC, have been dominating defensively against certain opponents.
03:19 So to see them go head to head to head, it's fun as a coach.
03:23 Grant's been at our page.
03:25 It's been fun to watch, I think.
03:27 You have Keats, Talia, going against Sam and Mack someday.
03:32 So you have two kids who haven't played an SEC game yet against Mack,
03:36 who's won more SEC games than anybody in the history of the Razorbacks in our
03:41 uniform, and Sam, who's played every game since she's been here.
03:45 And some days, the younger ones get, depending on who else their teammates are,
03:49 they'll win the game.
03:51 We have not had that.
03:53 We'll find out in the next three days whether it's how good we are or aren't.
04:01 But we are close, the closeness between one and ten.
04:07 I know I could ask our staff, the people that have been there every day, and
04:13 I would imagine Grant's list has changed on a daily basis too.
04:17 I think the ten have probably been pretty consistent, but
04:19 who's in those different slots.
04:23 It's been somebody different every day.
04:24 >> Kind of now on the last stretch of these practices leading up to leaving,
04:30 just kind of what's been maybe the biggest development you've seen from day one to
04:33 now? >> They retained a lot of stuff.
04:35 We threw everything at them in seven days.
04:39 Not very deep, but really wide.
04:42 Inbounds plays, sidelines plays, offense, defense, how we're gonna guard things.
04:48 And I was really surprised how well they retained it.
04:50 And this is by far the closest to, I've never been really big on boot camps or
04:57 like start the year out things.
05:01 But this has been the closest we've had to that.
05:04 It's been straight through.
05:06 We've had something every day, even our off day on Sunday,
05:09 they were packing it home and doing stuff.
05:11 But it's the longest we've been on the floor.
05:14 It's the longest we've been together.
05:15 It's the most meals we've eaten together.
05:18 So I think when you wrap it all up, this is kind of a wrap up.
05:24 Now it's give them their legs back.
05:26 Even our kids who are probably in the best condition that we have,
05:31 their legs are starting to come back to them yesterday.
05:33 They'll get a little bit more of it today and certainly tomorrow.
05:36 I did not want us to board a ten hour flight grumpy.
05:40 [LAUGH] And sore and all that.
05:45 So we got after him pretty good and we've kind of been maybe more toward
05:48 the recovery and let's depart happy and ready to go.
05:53 And then the next 11 days we'll kind of go through the rigors of travel,
05:59 but also knowing that we're going to some pretty special places.
06:02 So we've started kind of peeling back and
06:05 a little bit more talking and a little less competition.
06:11 >> Coach. >> What do you know about the makeup of
06:13 these teams you're playing?
06:14 >> Only one of them.
06:15 I know a little bit about the university from Regina in Canada.
06:19 They're a Canadian team.
06:20 They're very good.
06:21 I'd like them in our terminology like a D2.
06:25 They're competitive.
06:27 They play division ones all the time.
06:30 They're going over there for the experience to play three D1s.
06:33 They'll play three of the,
06:34 there's I know of at least 20 other teams that are over there.
06:38 I don't know who all everybody is playing, but
06:41 they'll be the only ones I'll know anything about prior to tip off.
06:44 >> Coach, I like something that Saylor said and then Sasha kind of backed her up on,
06:50 or sorry, not Sasha, it was Jersey.
06:53 They backed her up on Saylor, Sasha, Jersey.
06:55 They kind of talked about when I asked them about what you said about being,
07:00 last year being so tough.
07:02 And Saylor kind of said there's like this renewed energy.
07:05 They go into the locker room, they're just excited to get out on the court.
07:07 It's not like, my gosh, we have to go to practice.
07:10 It's just a different kind of energy.
07:12 Can you talk a little bit about that and how you've seen that maybe over the summer?
07:16 >> It's all we talked about.
07:17 I just felt like our environment got so, I'm gonna stop short of using the word
07:23 toxic cuz it wasn't toxic, there wasn't anybody dying.
07:27 It was just, it was hard.
07:29 I beat myself up.
07:33 I beat everybody up a little bit on how we allowed it to get where it got.
07:39 And then I just found out from talking to other coaches this year at the Final Four,
07:44 every program in the country was kind of in the same boat.
07:46 I think just the newness of the NIL happening,
07:53 we didn't have major issues, but it was things.
07:55 And then transfer portal was so talked about.
08:00 We were still 18 to 21 months, depending on when everybody thinks COVID was over or
08:06 if it's over.
08:07 We were all in the same boat, so it did get tough.
08:10 And I think we've been very,
08:12 very intentional about how we've gone about doing things differently.
08:16 Just, it's nothing big.
08:18 Like I don't think it's anything anybody could really probably,
08:20 if you ask 20 people, you might get 20 different things.
08:23 But I do think there's a different approach to it.
08:26 And we're aware of our environment and we're correcting daily.
08:29 If something went wrong yesterday, we correct it that day.
08:31 I mean, if something goes wrong today, we correct it then and there.
08:35 We don't sleep on it.
08:37 We don't let it come back and fester.
08:39 We recorrect the course right when it happens.
08:42 And I think that when she talks about the refreshing way that is,
08:46 it's kind of the old papa neighbors, don't go to bed mad.
08:51 I don't think we're going to bed frustrated or having a question.
08:54 A lot of kids come up to me at practice, after practice.
08:58 I've made it a point, I have it on my practice schedule.
09:03 There's a place for me to mark three times a day.
09:06 I wanna talk to each one of these players about something non-basketball.
09:10 And I'm holding my account, myself accountable to that, three times per practice.
09:15 Hey, I know you're a late last minute packer, are you packed?
09:21 Hey, you've had a tendency to forget your ID when we're going to Auburn and Alabama.
09:27 They're not gonna let us on the plane in Greece,
09:31 come home if you don't have your passport.
09:33 So whatever I need to talk to them, non-basketball related, that's intentional.
09:38 It's just little things like that, I think,
09:40 that have added up to a better environment, a better feeling.
09:44 And we're gonna try to keep that going as long as we can.
09:49 I know there's tough times and hard things that a season brings up that
09:53 will become more challenging.
09:56 I mean, let's be honest too, if you can't look forward to going to Greece and
09:58 Croatia for 14 days,
10:01 then you probably need to check your own attitude a little bit.
10:05 >> I wanna know who forgets their ID,
10:06 that sounds like a good example right there, that's a real example.
10:10 >> Yeah, I'll never throw anybody under the bus when it comes to that.
10:13 Y'all probably could have your guesses and you'd probably be in the top three.
10:17 >> Those three players that we just had before talked about implementing
10:21 the press more into your system this year.
10:25 They said there's some growing pains there, but they're doing well with it.
10:28 Can you give us an update on how that's been going?
10:30 >> Yeah, I actually took Grant's advice.
10:32 I showed him a little clip, some clips from Coach Richardson's 40 Minutes of Hell.
10:35 And I don't know that we'll ever, right now we're going for seven minutes of hell.
10:40 We're trying to build it up, we're not anywhere near 40 minutes yet.
10:44 But I think, first of all, we have to change our habits,
10:49 because we've talked for three and a half, four years about sprinting back and
10:54 getting your defense set and not letting them score in transition to match up.
10:59 Real quick, and when your body's used to doing something for
11:02 five straight years in Mac's case, there's gonna be moments, we know that.
11:07 So there will be some moments it probably doesn't look so
11:10 good right now and that's fine.
11:11 But I think that little twist,
11:16 it's been fun to remind themselves to get up and
11:22 use your energy defensively, try to shrink the shot clock.
11:26 The part of it is specific for over there because the shot clock's 24 seconds, but
11:30 that'll carry over to our season.
11:32 And I'm gonna keep, I'm talking to Matt Zimmerman to see if he's got any old
11:36 practice film, because I figure if anybody's got it, it's them.
11:41 Is there any old practice film of the days of Coach Richardson rolling out and
11:47 them jumping in it?
11:48 I was at practice, we didn't have cell phone cameras or
11:51 I'm sure Coach Richardson probably wouldn't have allowed him, I'm just guessing.
11:54 I don't know whether you think he would have had cell phones allowed in his
11:57 practices or not, but we're gonna keep drawing on that, on those.
12:02 And then make it our own, I mean, we're not gonna be able to do what they did and
12:06 simulate it, cuz he was maybe the best ever at it.
12:09 But we'll make it our own throughout the year and
12:11 it'll keep being something we, as a work in progress.
12:16 I've had some coaching friends from our league already following us,
12:20 getting ready for the trip, saying, now you're gonna press,
12:22 now we gotta work on that too for y'all when we play you.
12:25 So it's been fun.
12:28 And with our added depth, I think it's something that can,
12:31 not just be fun, not just to be different.
12:33 I think it's something tactically that could be another thing for us that,
12:39 we don't have lack of size, we have some height.
12:42 But there are teams in our league that have size and height.
12:46 So this might be another little weapon for us when it comes game time.
12:50 >> I know you've spoken a lot about how it ate you alive,
12:54 just kinda doing the autopsy last season, how close you were in a lot of games.
12:57 I think the term Sailor used was gut-wrenching whenever she was looking
13:00 back, how much has that been a discussion of just detail to each possession?
13:07 >> It's gonna keep coming up, I think, until the start of the season, and
13:10 then we're gonna have to let it go.
13:11 But we've been, again, intentional.
13:15 I brought them, but we started the year right where we finished the year when we
13:18 found out we didn't go.
13:19 I've slipped some clips in there of some of those moments
13:25 that may have kept us out of the NCAA tournament in film sessions.
13:29 I'm gonna keep reminding them up till the beginning of the year, and
13:31 then I'll drop it.
13:35 But if the pain doesn't change you, it really wasn't worth going through.
13:39 And then I think, too, talking about just,
13:43 I pointed up at the banner the other day that we could have had four in a row.
13:46 You can't get that opportunity back, but we get a chance to start another stream.
13:51 And Mac always chimes in, well, I'll get a chance to go to four.
13:55 And we're like, yeah, Mac, not in a row, Mac.
13:58 We have to bring Mac back to this when she wants to.
14:03 But I think it's important you do kinda know where you've been to
14:07 tell you know where you wanna go, but I will drop it at the beginning.
14:11 Whenever we start practice for in October,
14:16 I'll probably, we call them amnesty days.
14:20 That'll be our amnesty day.
14:22 Last chance to talk about what happened in the past.
14:24 Now we gotta really focus on every single day.
14:27 But it did hurt.
14:28 It was gut-wrenching.
14:29 I still, I'll be on the road recruiting, and
14:32 I'll see a team that I know we had on the ropes.
14:34 And then I just look at them different.
14:39 I know I shouldn't, but I do.
14:41 We could have had them, and that win would have been the difference.
14:44 It doesn't help that Dorita,
14:46 y'all know Dorita's now in the chair of the NCAA committee.
14:50 So I talked to her a lot, and she was like, she will just be reminding me.
14:54 She goes, you remember how close y'all were, right?
14:56 I said, yeah, Dorita, I got it.
14:58 She goes, well, it was real close.
14:59 I said, yeah, Dorita, I got it.
15:01 We were really, really close.
15:02 And it does sting, and it does hit you in the gut.
15:07 And I think everybody will have a different term for it.
15:09 But I think it's healthy to remember that, how it did feel.
15:15 So you do your best to not feel that way again.
15:17 Regret something.
15:20 If you do your best and you don't, but I think we have some regrets.
15:22 I think we all could look back on the autopsy and
15:25 find a lot of things we could have done better.
15:29 So what we've said, and we're not gonna autopsy at the end of the year.
15:32 We're autopsying every day, every day, after weights.
15:37 So when we travel, hey, how did we travel?
15:40 How was that?
15:41 Were you nice to the stewardess?
15:43 Did you thank them when they brought you something?
15:45 Did you give up your seat so a family could sit together?
15:47 We're talking about travel behaviors.
15:52 We'll start talking about those today.
15:54 Cuz our kids haven't flown commercial.
15:56 I was trying to think the last time we flew commercial as a unit.
16:00 We're kind of in our own little bubble when we travel.
16:02 But so now we're gonna be courteous of other flyers,
16:05 courteous of flight attendants, pilots, other travelers, families.
16:10 How you act in a terminal.
16:13 TSA, I can't, that's another, I always tell our kids,
16:18 I can help you with almost everybody that's name isn't letters.
16:23 I can't help you with the FBI, the Fayetteville PD, the NCAA,
16:29 but I can't help you with TSA either.
16:30 Be nice to those and follow their rules so that you are able to get on that airplane.