Wes Miller 2023-24 Media Day Press Conference
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00:00 So you're not blending in.
00:03 >> Yeah.
00:04 >> Chairman, you good?
00:06 >> Yeah, I'm holding up traffic, I apologize.
00:08 >> Okay, you guys good, everyone good?
00:10 >> I'm good, yeah.
00:11 >> Coach, you want an opening statement or you just want to start with questions?
00:14 >> No, let's go take questions today.
00:15 >> Okay.
00:16 >> You get it out of the way, any updates on the waiver appeals?
00:20 >> No updates, we've issued both appeals.
00:23 I can't remember if I've spoken publicly about that detail or not, but
00:27 both appeals have been submitted to the NCAA.
00:30 And obviously waiting to hear back and
00:33 time is of the essence with us taking the floor for the first time Monday.
00:36 >> Do you anticipate a big class action type thing?
00:41 It seems like a lot of teams with a lot of players at the same time.
00:46 >> I think my focus right now is on Aziz and Jamil's well-being.
00:52 I've said this many times, that's not a line.
00:58 This has been extremely difficult for them.
01:02 I'm confused.
01:03 So imagine how somebody at their stage in life, at their age feels.
01:09 They're confused.
01:10 So that's my first focus.
01:12 My second focus on this appeal process, I'm proud of the appeal that's been put forward.
01:19 I thought the original waivers met the criteria and
01:23 the standards that were laid out.
01:24 I think that we only enhance those things, the appeal only enhances those things.
01:33 So that's my focus right now, is going through this appeal process,
01:40 following the guidelines we were asked to follow, and
01:43 seeing, hopefully getting some news here soon so we can get these guys on the court.
01:48 >> I know it's early, Wes, but what do you like about your team right now?
01:51 >> I've liked their willingness to come in the gym and work at it every day.
01:56 They've had a good summer and a good fall in terms of approach.
02:01 They're, to this stage, been a very unselfish group.
02:06 Certainly, we got guys that wanna do well individually and
02:09 have high goals for themselves individually.
02:13 But you get a sense to this stage that everybody's willing to sacrifice a little
02:17 bit for our team to be successful.
02:19 Those two things, to this stage, have been good.
02:22 But it's early and we got a lot of work to do.
02:25 >> Your four days from tip off, are you confident or
02:30 do you feel good about where you're at at point guard with two new guys that
02:34 haven't done it yet?
02:35 >> I feel like we have the right guys at point guard.
02:39 I do.
02:41 I think that, and they've done the right things from the time they got here till
02:46 now to prepare for college basketball.
02:48 Are they where we want them to be in January when Big 12 play starts?
02:53 They're not, and that's okay.
02:54 We didn't expect them to be.
02:56 But they've done a nice job to get themselves a position to be ready to play
02:59 our first game in November.
03:01 And it's gonna be a process here over the next month or two to get them up to speed
03:06 in every capacity of playing that position at this level of basketball.
03:10 We're fine with that, but we have the right kids.
03:12 They're talented.
03:13 They're about the things that we're about.
03:16 I think our fans will instantly resonate with them when they watch them play.
03:20 But there'll be a process of getting them up to speed on some of the details and
03:24 some of the things that you have to do night in, night out at that position.
03:27 >> Assuming no news, and you'll play a ton of guys Monday,
03:32 but do you have a starting five and are you willing to do both?
03:36 >> I don't have a starting five yet, Scott.
03:38 And it's funny, I hadn't had that question yet.
03:40 Yet, it's always laugh and chuckle.
03:42 You guys think a lot more about that kind of stuff than I do.
03:45 I think the questions that we're trying to answer more importantly than who we
03:50 roll out in the starting lineups or who are the guys that are in the rotation.
03:55 I think that's number one.
03:56 What are the best combinations to put that rotation together?
04:00 And who the heck's finishing the game?
04:02 That's what I'll tell our players.
04:03 That's what I believe.
04:05 And very rarely do the group that you start early in the year,
04:10 the same group that you're starting later in the year.
04:12 So whoever we start on Monday, which I have not figured that out yet,
04:18 it'd be likely that that's not the group we're starting in January.
04:22 And that's just how it usually plays out.
04:24 So it'll be, especially with all these new faces,
04:26 it'll be a process to figure out not who deserves to start,
04:31 maybe a little bit of that, but also the best combination for our team
04:35 of who starts together and how that impacts substitutions and
04:38 patterns and all things like that.
04:40 I mean, gosh, a year ago, it's pretty hard to imagine David and
04:46 Julius not starting or Mike Adams and Woods not starting, right?
04:49 I mean, there's a couple guys that was just obvious cuz of what they'd done.
04:55 Landers and Ollie, it was pretty hard to imagine.
04:57 It's a little different with this group.
04:59 There's a lot of guys competing for roles on this team.
05:03 And lineups, like I said, I care a lot more about who finishes and who plays.
05:07 But starting lineups, we're not even close to having that figured out.
05:10 >> You've talked about how different the offense is gonna be losing some of those
05:14 guys that you just mentioned.
05:15 How are your guys this year adjusting to how different the plan's gonna look
05:18 offensively?
05:20 >> It's been an adjustment, right?
05:22 It's kinda why you have a preseason.
05:25 It's why you have practice.
05:26 There's a little bit of trial and error.
05:29 I think the big picture things we're trying to do offensively
05:33 that we started with, I think we've doubled down on that.
05:37 Because it appears that that's 100% the right way to play.
05:41 And our guys are improving in those areas.
05:43 And it accentuates our guys' strengths.
05:45 Some of the details or actions or
05:47 the things that we're focusing on, possession to possession.
05:52 We're adjusting as we go.
05:53 We've learned a lot about this team over the last month.
05:55 And by the way, again, when you have all these new faces,
05:59 that'll happen throughout the course of November as well.
06:02 We won't have it all figured out the first two weeks of games.
06:05 But that's part of going through those first couple weeks is learning your team
06:08 when you start to see different opponents and different coverage.
06:10 >> Do you kind of relish in that challenge and
06:12 have an ability to teach these guys as a young basketball coach?
06:16 >> I love teaching.
06:18 I love coaching.
06:19 It's one of my favorite parts of my job.
06:23 I love my job, and one of my favorite parts of it is teaching.
06:27 And if you come to our practices, I hope that's obvious.
06:30 But that's one of the things that gets me popping out of bed in the morning is
06:34 the chance to teach.
06:35 >> Big picture, Wes, what is the vision from you for
06:39 the next step of this program for you this year, for this team this year?
06:44 >> Yeah, I mean, big picture,
06:46 it's clear that we wanna compete for championships at Cincinnati.
06:51 I mean, that's what we're here to do.
06:54 We wanna compete for championships.
06:56 We wanna help our guys leave here to go on to professional careers, and
07:01 we wanna educate our guys.
07:02 That's the big picture goals here.
07:04 I think that's known, we all know that.
07:08 That's why we're here.
07:09 But day to day is just about getting better and stacking days and
07:13 making those daily deposits to grow, to learn.
07:15 And that is how we evaluate it day to day.
07:19 Did we get better today?
07:19 We better today than we were yesterday.
07:21 That's all it's about.
07:22 >> Have you guys had a chance to see their new home yet?
07:26 And your thoughts on the new locker room?
07:29 >> Gosh, we've not officially moved in there yet.
07:35 There's so much construction going on around us.
07:38 We're working around that construction.
07:42 I'm sure a couple guys have been able to peek through some open doors and
07:46 see what's going on.
07:47 But we have not officially walked in there.
07:51 As a group, they're not officially using it, but it's close.
07:53 Everybody knows how construction goes.
07:57 I thought we were gonna be in there a while ago,
07:59 then I thought we were gonna be in there yesterday.
08:02 But I do believe we'll be in there by tomorrow, which will be exciting.
08:05 And what I'll tell everybody, it is first class.
08:10 The people that donated money to help us with this project, we're so thankful.
08:19 It's as nice as any locker room and lounge and
08:22 recovery facility as I think there is in sports.
08:26 I mean, it's not even just a college basketball thing.
08:28 It is done first class.
08:30 It's gonna impact our guys every day,
08:32 not just because they have some awesome place to spend their time, but
08:37 that's where they're gonna get to know each other.
08:40 That's where they're gonna make their memories.
08:41 I mean, I think the facilities where the players interact are the most
08:47 important facilities on the campus,
08:49 starts with the facilities they interact on the court together.
08:52 This would be the second most important one to me.
08:54 And now we have one of the greatest arenas in college basketball.
08:58 I can't imagine anywhere better than that.
09:00 And now we have a kind of a locker room or basketball facility where they're,
09:05 when they're not in there on the court, that's where they're hanging out.
09:07 I think that does really matter over time.
09:09 >> So Tobes gets a passing grade?
09:12 >> Yeah, Zach Tobler, who oversaw the construction on this as a former player,
09:17 which also made it very special as well.
09:19 And it's been nice to have a former players.
09:22 I'm very impatient guys.
09:23 So I mean, I'm probably hovering around that project every day for
09:27 the last nine months, seeing if we're getting there.
09:31 And it's been nice to have a guy that I know wants it to get done,
09:35 not just as quickly as I do, that's overseeing it, but
09:38 to the same standard, cuz he played here.
09:40 And so it's been a thrill to have Zach around every day.
09:43 He's probably not gonna miss me bugging him when this thing gets completed, but
09:47 we're gonna miss having him around on a day to day basis.
09:50 >> Is there anybody on the roster that surprised you guys over the past few
09:53 weeks, over the summer, that's made you say, we might not have had a huge plan for
09:57 them to get on the court early, but
09:58 we feel like this is a guy that can help us out faster than we thought?
10:02 >> I think a number of guys, there's been aspects of their game that you go,
10:07 wow, I'm learning them as we go.
10:11 Or even returning guys, the improvement is notable.
10:17 And so I think that's always our job as a coach is, we say this all the time,
10:22 we don't put guys in boxes here.
10:25 We really believe in player development.
10:27 So when we come out for the spring and the summer and our fall preseason,
10:31 we don't sit there and say, you're only allowed to do this and
10:34 you're only allowed to do that.
10:35 Cuz players will surprise you.
10:37 They worked on their game, they developed.
10:39 If they're given an opportunity,
10:40 they'll show you some things that you didn't know they could do.
10:43 That's gonna happen in our program every single year.
10:45 And it'd be unfair to talk about one guy because there's numerous examples.
10:50 And then as you start to get now into the games, you do gotta start making sure guys
10:54 are playing to their strengths and within their roles.
10:56 But every year, that changes.
10:58 I think the thing that fans will be shocked about,
11:03 that's the obvious one, is the way Victor Locken's been shooting the basketball.
11:07 I mean, it's amazing.
11:08 And it's been two years in a work in progress.
11:11 We just didn't let him shoot them in games last year.
11:14 But he's been shooting it at an extremely high clip.
11:16 And that's an example of by not boxing somebody in,
11:19 you've allowed them to grow into a role.
11:21 And I'm proud of how we do that here.
11:23 >> Two more questions.
11:24 >> How much faster are you as a team?
11:26 And I assume you're gonna play fast since we play.
11:30 >> Yeah, when we got all the guys, like you throw with Aziz and
11:35 Jamil into that group, there's so much length and
11:40 athleticism and depth that you can really sustain
11:45 playing at an extremely high pace and that's fun.
11:50 That's what I've always believed in, the most fun way to play,
11:55 the way I prefer to play, and the best way to consistently put yourself
12:01 in a position to win every night is to get a deep team, a talented team out in
12:05 the open court and continue to put pressure on the defense.
12:08 We have the ability to do that with Aziz and Jamil for sure.
12:12 >> Thoughts on the passing of Bob Knight?
12:14 >> Wow, one of the titans of our game in college sports.
12:22 And certainly, if you're a coach, Bob Knight impacted you.
12:29 I mean, there's no way if you're a basketball coach that Bob Knight hasn't
12:32 impacted you.
12:33 My thoughts and prayers to his family.
12:36 I know his son Pat is a friend of mine.
12:41 So my thoughts and prayers with his family, specifically Pat.
12:44 And then I learned a lot about Coach Knight in two ways.
12:49 Coach Williams interacted with him quite a bit and
12:53 shared a lot of those stories with me about some of the things he learned going
12:57 to watch his practices years ago or playing golf with him and things of that nature.
13:01 And I've always kind of relished that and taken that to heart.
13:05 And then I had a guy that you guys know well, Mike Roberts,
13:08 that we were together for ten years, still one of my best friends.
13:11 And he was recruited by Bob Knight to Indiana,
13:17 played for him for a very short term before he left, poor Coach Knight left
13:21 Indiana, then went to work for him at Texas Tech, and they were extremely close.
13:25 And so I got a lot of stories and wisdom passed down through Coach Roberts.
13:32 So I can't say that I had a personal relationship with him, never met him.
13:36 But there's so many things that we do that in some form or
13:41 fashion are derived from the things that he did.
13:44 And so that's what happens when you're one of the greatest that's ever coached
13:48 in any sport.
13:49 So again, thoughts and prayers with his family.
13:52 >> All right, thanks, Coach.