Josh Eilert Press Conference 11.17
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00:00 Morning everyone, I will go ahead and get started with coach Eilert.
00:05 Reminder, if you need to ask a question, please use the raise hand feature and I'll turn it
00:10 over to coach and then we'll take questions.
00:12 Thanks coach.
00:13 Good morning everybody.
00:15 Just want to, you know, got a chance to take a deep breath the last couple of days.
00:20 Took a day off on Wednesday, required day off.
00:26 Finally we kind of went back to work and mindful of, you know, what we'd went through in terms
00:32 of our short bench and three games in nine days.
00:35 So I want to make sure I didn't want to get too much contact fatigue.
00:41 So I did a lot of work, shot work, offensive work, you know, individual offense.
00:47 We dissected a lot of film and groups, spent a lot of time in recovery and strength and
00:53 conditioning.
00:54 So I did a kind of non-typical work day yesterday, but we got a lot out of it without any contact.
01:01 So looking at turn the page today and starting to prepare for SMU and looking forward to,
01:09 you know, getting out of Morgantown.
01:11 And I think our guys have been putting a lot of, you know, dedication and a lot of work
01:15 into our program.
01:16 And the fact that we're going to go to the Sunshine State and compete in a different
01:21 court is going to be fun for everybody involved in the program.
01:25 If you have a question, please use the raised hand feature.
01:32 Go first to Justin.
01:39 Sorry about that.
01:42 I was on mute.
01:43 Can you hear me?
01:44 Yep.
01:45 Okay.
01:46 Hey coach.
01:47 First off, just from kind of what you were talking about there and you've kind of mentioned
01:51 film study in recent weeks and days as well.
01:56 It sounds like because of the situation you guys are in depth wise, are you leaning more
02:01 towards film study maybe?
02:04 And just like, what are the advantages of, you know, spending more time in the film,
02:10 breaking it down as opposed to getting out there on the court and physically doing it?
02:13 Yeah, it's certainly way more beneficial.
02:18 And some guys certainly it's, you know, it depends on the basketball IQ, you know, somebody,
02:24 you know, anybody this day and age has a shortened attention span and I'm one of those guys.
02:30 So you got to understand, you know, the nuances of the modern day athletes.
02:36 So you got to figure out how to keep their attention for an extended amount of time and
02:42 make sure you're getting something out of those film sessions.
02:45 And everybody learns differently.
02:46 Some guys learn on the floor, some kind of guys learn in the film room, some guys learn
02:50 by, you know, written, drawn plays up or whatever, but you got to figure out how each guy ticks.
02:59 And for the most part, you know, our top six, seven guys have a fairly high IQ and we can
03:05 kind of rely on the film study to get as much done there as we could on the floor.
03:11 So the fact that we had six days between games here is to our benefit, especially with the
03:18 long or the short bench.
03:20 So we're trying to be very conscious of not wearing these guys out.
03:25 And it certainly looks like if you're a practice that you got plenty of guys to work with,
03:30 but you got to understand which guys can actually go in a game.
03:34 And then in terms of teaching them through film, is it just strictly your guys's film?
03:40 Is it film of upcoming opponents?
03:43 I mean, are you throwing maybe plays and stuff from other games maybe?
03:49 Right now, yesterday we focused on, you know, we're still working on Jacksonville State.
03:56 So, you know, we've made a lot of progress and shored up some areas.
04:02 But as soon as you shore up one area, some area, you know, sheds some light on a different
04:08 area you need to put some more time into.
04:11 So for the most part, we executed the game plan, but we always want to go back and review,
04:18 say where can we get better?
04:20 What goals, expectations do we meet?
04:24 And what ones do we need to start to shore up?
04:28 We always do that process.
04:30 And especially with a six day turn between games, you can do more of that and get more
04:36 heavily involved in that.
04:39 So we certainly didn't want to turn the page too early to SMU, which we will today.
04:45 But yesterday was a high workload in the film room, high shot volume on the court, limited
04:53 to no contact on the floor with groups.
04:57 And I split everybody up.
04:59 I like to call it sort of like a pro day type of scenario to where we're really prioritizing
05:05 our recovery, prioritizing our skill, and also breaking it up into different groups
05:12 to where we're more personalized in the film room and spending that approach, that personalized
05:17 approach to learning.
05:19 Thank you, Coach.
05:21 Who has a question, please use the raise hand feature.
05:29 And we'll go to Greg Carey.
05:32 Josh, what do you know about SMU in terms of the potential second opponent in Florida?
05:41 How do you go about handling a scout on that when you're not really sure who it's going
05:45 to be?
05:46 Do you just, I guess, prepare a little bit for Virginia and Wisconsin?
05:50 Or how do you, I guess, try to look into the future beyond SMU a little bit?
05:54 Well, me personally, I don't get involved in the second opponent.
05:57 We give you up to scouts in terms of our assistance.
06:02 And so we have guys working on those scouts in the meantime.
06:07 But I don't want to look ahead past SMU at this point, me personally.
06:12 And I don't want our team looking past them in any way.
06:15 So we got to figure out what's ahead of us.
06:18 And that opportunity is taking on a really good SMU team.
06:22 So by no means do I ever look ahead.
06:26 We certainly have people in the program that do, but we keep our focus and attention on
06:32 a game ahead.
06:33 And right now, today, we're going to start doing that on the floor and in the film room
06:38 with SMU.
06:39 Let's go to John.
06:40 Hey, Josh, what can you tell us about Chuck Harris?
06:46 And what about that backcourt for SMU?
06:48 Yeah, those guys are, I mean, there's a lot of veteran talent on that team.
06:52 And they got good size.
06:54 They're good at, you know, very good athletes.
06:57 And they're really deep, really deep.
06:59 They're playing 10 guys, which the way they play, they kind of get up in you and they
07:05 don't, they might turn the pressure up a little more on us knowing that we're shorthanded,
07:11 but they are going to, you know, pick up full court and try to wreak some havoc on you and
07:16 wear you down.
07:17 So it's certainly a concern of mine that they have that depth.
07:20 And that's the type of style of play.
07:23 They, you know, throw at people.
07:25 So that'll present some challenges for us.
07:28 And we're going to try to figure out how we navigate those in the coming days.
07:33 So yeah, they get after you.
07:35 They played a deep rotation.
07:39 So we're going to have to figure out, you know, what our advantages are.
07:42 And I continue with like sitting in a coaching meeting today.
07:46 That's, that's one thing that we try to look at as well.
07:49 Not only do they have advantages on us.
07:52 What are our advantages and how do we exploit those advantages?
07:55 One of the thing here with Harris and Phillips, is there any concern what they can do with
08:00 what happened to you with Xander Rice a couple of weeks ago?
08:04 Is there any issue there?
08:05 Yeah, there, I mean, he's shooting.
08:07 I don't, you know, he's eight for eight, 18 from three, he's shooting it fairly well.
08:13 You know, Phelps has proven that he's as good a shooter, but you know, coach's son, Lanier,
08:18 you know, when I hear coach's son, that turns my ears up again after that Monmouth game.
08:24 So yeah, he's shooting it really well as well.
08:27 So they got some guys that can, that can fill it up.
08:30 And certainly I think it's not be no secret that we're gonna have to, you know, use some
08:36 other defensive tactics like we have in the past to try to save our legs.
08:40 So we're going to use the utilities we have at our disposal and try to take advantage
08:46 of everything that we can take advantage of.
08:49 You know, we certainly have some advantages that they do not.
08:52 So we'll try to exploit those as well.
08:57 Let's go to Hertz.
08:58 Bob, you're on mute.
08:59 I got you.
09:00 You mentioned a day or so, you mentioned a few minutes ago anyway, about today's athlete.
09:16 You've got coaches, assistant coaches who are a day ago or two days ago were, you know,
09:24 today's athletes.
09:26 How much in particular, you talked about Kobe's improvement.
09:29 How much has Jordan had to do with that?
09:32 Yeah, he's been a great asset to Kobe.
09:34 He's been a great asset to JV.
09:37 I mean, one of the big reasons Kerr signed on the dotted line, decided to be a Mountaineer
09:41 was because Jordan was, you know, in flux.
09:45 I remember, you know, the conversations that I put those two in touch with each other,
09:49 you know, when we were recruiting Kerr.
09:52 So those guys gravitate toward him and in a lot of ways.
09:55 And yeah, it's nice to have that nuance of balance of young coaches that even Jordan
10:02 just coming out of his playing days, those guys will listen to him and he has their respect
10:07 and he's very, very knowledgeable about the game.
10:11 So yeah, Kobe's been relying on his guidance, but Kobe in a lot of ways has been a little
10:19 bit of a, you know, I don't want to say secret weapon, but once he starts getting that confidence
10:27 and that aggression, he's a different player.
10:30 And that's something that we've been waiting for Kobe to kind of take that role and get
10:36 more aggressive and take that approach to the game that where, you know, he's got the
10:41 big athletic body that people have a hard time stopping him.
10:45 And so back to your question in terms of Jordan's influence with those point guards, I mean,
10:50 it's been, it's been huge.
10:52 It's nice to have that and they'll listen to him and they respect him and he's got a
10:56 high IQ for the game.
10:58 Thanks.
10:59 Let's go back to Justin.
11:01 Hey, coach.
11:02 I was actually going to ask a question about Jordan too, in the sense that he's kind of
11:08 in a very unique situation, like Bob said, he just was just a player, you know, a number
11:13 of months ago.
11:16 But what I wanted to ask about was, you know, you're a guy who definitely paid your dues
11:21 to get to where you are coming up through all the different steps.
11:26 Jordan is a guy who went from player straight to assistant coach.
11:29 So it's really two unique situations there, isn't it?
11:32 And I'm just wondering about something that you guys have talked about.
11:35 Oh, we've had lots of conversations about that.
11:38 And I remember being, you know, right into the business early years.
11:44 Everybody kind of kept you down.
11:45 It's like, you don't have the experience to be an assistant.
11:48 Well, how am I going to get experience?
11:50 Somebody's got to, you know, believe in me.
11:52 And so I always get that mantra, you don't have time on the road recruiting.
11:58 Well, I mean, until somebody gives you that opportunity, then and gives you that belief,
12:04 then you're not going to get that opportunity.
12:06 Yeah.
12:07 So what I do with Jordan, I always I believe in Jordan, and he's a high, high character
12:11 guy.
12:12 He's knowledgeable.
12:13 He's energetic.
12:15 He's got all the qualities to be an incredible assistant coach, not only on the floor each
12:20 and every day, you know, in the mentor role in the coaching role, but also on the road
12:25 recruiting because he's such a personal guy and great, great guy to get to know.
12:32 And he has a high IQ for the game.
12:34 So yeah, I mean, I looked at like, I wish I would have had the opportunity or somebody
12:39 gave me the opportunity to put me in a role when I was that age.
12:43 And he's got all the characteristics of a great assistant coach.
12:48 And I think he'll be a head coach, you know, in the coming years, you know, so he's got
12:52 all those characteristics and I have a high belief in him.
12:56 So I was I was more than happy to give him the opportunity.
13:01 Let's go to Mike.
13:02 Hey, Josh, how are you?
13:03 Good.
13:04 How are you?
13:05 Doing great.
13:06 Thank you.
13:07 I have two for you.
13:11 First on the just kind of the film things and supplementing physical practice.
13:15 You've mentioned before that you kind of like the analytics and you have Tyler there, not
13:19 just using that, but in your time in the program.
13:22 I'm just wondering if you had thrown analytical things that guys your first or second year
13:27 with the program and what the difference is in the reception now, I'd imagine they're
13:30 much more aware of it and maybe they actually speak the language a lot easier.
13:34 How much has that evolved in?
13:37 Just whether or not it's even a reasonable tool, you know, where maybe it wouldn't have
13:40 been before.
13:41 It's certainly a tool in terms of getting your point across to players.
13:44 I mean, they got to understand it.
13:46 And it's so prevalent in today's game.
13:49 You see it every day, you know, even on TV broadcasts, all the analytics.
13:53 So I use it probably, you know, way more than my predecessor did for a lot of different
14:00 reasons.
14:01 But, you know, it's a great tool.
14:04 It's a great tool to figure out where your advantages are, where your disadvantages are.
14:09 And over the years, that's the programs that have just become just, you know, the data
14:15 out there is so prevalent.
14:18 And we subscribe to three or four different analytical programs that we use on a daily
14:23 basis.
14:24 And the data is just, it's almost like you don't have enough time to digest it all.
14:31 So you have to pick and choose what analytics work for you and what advantage you can get
14:37 out of certain analytics, because you can really go down a deep, dark hole and really,
14:42 you know, spend all your time trying to figure out the, you know, the analytics and the data
14:46 and how it can help you.
14:49 So, you know, over analysis equals paralysis.
14:52 I've heard that over the years.
14:55 And sometimes that comes into play, but at the end of the day, you got to trust your
14:58 eyes.
14:59 But a lot of times when the data backs up and the analytics back up what you're thinking,
15:03 then I think you're on to something.
15:06 And then secondly, this is kind of like just getting to know you stuff as a coach, and
15:10 it's more curiosity than anything else.
15:11 But I just noticed that I think all three games, you've had a chance to call a time
15:14 out at the end of the first half, right, that use it or lose it.
15:17 It didn't and let guys play through it.
15:19 And that might just be part of the growing process you're trying to force upon them.
15:23 But also you've called a couple like right in the middle of the first half where sometimes
15:26 guys don't do that.
15:27 And they want to keep that time out for as long as they can.
15:29 I don't that's a style of yours, or that's just, you know, me being way too observant.
15:33 I'm sorry.
15:34 Sorry to interrupt.
15:35 I think it's more seeing the fatigue with our guys.
15:39 And I noticed that and tried to get to, you never know when the next dead ball is coming.
15:45 And I know that if that timeout is called, I'm going to a media and getting an extended
15:50 break.
15:51 And when I start reading our guys in the fatigue, and you can, a turnover can turn into a couple
15:57 quick buckets and you can't get a dead ball.
16:00 And so when I see that in our guys, I'm quick to call a term timeout midway through the
16:07 first half so we can make sure we're rested and don't start making bad decisions.
16:12 And then you don't have room for that user to lose it.
16:14 Yeah.
16:15 And I don't know, I probably need to go back to data analytics, see how that's worked out
16:20 for me in the past.
16:21 I haven't really digested too much of that with only, you know, three games under my
16:26 belt.
16:27 But a lot of times when you when you call a timeout late, most coaches are going to
16:31 throw a wrinkle at you and try to figure out how to blow up your action.
16:36 So it can work both ways for you.
16:38 I mean, if you draw something up real good and they don't change your defense and you
16:41 can get a good shot out of it, that means everybody's executing.
16:44 But you can also have the advantage going into that, you know, the last minute of the
16:50 game by by not, you know, having a given the other coach an opportunity to change things
16:55 up and you can if the momentum is going your way, why not keep it going your way?
17:01 Great, thanks.
17:04 Let's go to Kevin.
17:05 Coach, I know you personally aren't doesn't sound like you're diving at into Wisconsin
17:12 or Virginia at all, but I believe those two teams have a lot of shared history and they've
17:17 won games in the past in the 50s or even the 40s.
17:21 How do you feel like you you guys play in those grittier, lower scoring games when possessions
17:26 are key?
17:27 You know, I feel a little bit better about those games than I would a high intensity
17:32 game to where we're up and down.
17:35 You know, we're playing basically six guys, you know, Pat and Jeremiah are giving us some
17:41 spot minutes here and there, but we're for the most part playing six guys.
17:46 So any game that's, you know, slowed down at this point is probably, you know, going
17:50 to fall more into our hands than an up and down battle and full court pressure situation.
17:57 So I'm certainly glad the first one is SMU and they're the ones that are going to get
18:04 after us and hopefully we're well rested and ready and prepared to attack their pressure.
18:12 You know, if it was the other way around, you know, coming off a, you know, a grinded
18:17 out game with Virginia or Wisconsin and then playing an SMU, you know, two days later with
18:22 basically a six man rotation, six to eight, you know, however, however you want to look
18:27 at it would be certainly an even bigger challenge.
18:34 The time for a couple more, we'll go to John and then wrap it up with Justin.
18:37 Yeah, I just have a quick one here on Kobe, Josh.
18:41 Notice that you drew up a play for him close to the basket against Jacksonville state.
18:45 Was that just something you saw against them or are you trying to get Kobe involved in
18:49 the offense, getting confident in shooting the ball?
18:52 No, it was from a, it was both from a strategy standpoint and for to get Kobe going, get
18:58 him a touch, get him a look early, build that confidence.
19:02 And I've, I've grown up.
19:03 I think I don't know which play or which game it was one of the first two I drew up a play
19:08 for him to isolate him on the block as well.
19:11 We just couldn't make the entry pass.
19:14 So it's something I've done before and, and I really thought we had the advantage there
19:19 and dump it down low.
19:21 And if nothing else, we can bounce it out and go get a low ball screen with Jesse and
19:25 we never even got to the low ball screen.
19:27 So Kobe's got a big, strong frame and he's athletic and he's, he's good at the ball.
19:34 So if I put him in that post and that position, I think he can go get you a bucket, you know,
19:39 two out of three times.
19:40 So it's something we'll probably look at doing and other forms and capacities as well.
19:46 And we'll close with Justin.
19:47 Hey coach, I'm interested in your talk about analytics there.
19:51 And the reason being like Mike was saying, it's become more prevalent in sports and recent
19:57 years.
19:58 Whereas certainly like a sport like baseball, a guy's pitching a, you know, one hitter,
20:03 two hitter, and he's getting taken out in the fourth inning because of analytics.
20:07 I don't know if a lot of fans really agree with that kind of stuff or really understand
20:13 that kind of stuff.
20:14 Obviously basketball is a much different sport, but what, how much of analytics it will take
20:21 over basketball in your opinion?
20:23 And is there things there that the fans kind of need to know about what analytics mean
20:29 in basketball?
20:31 You know, I don't have a whole lot of variables.
20:35 So more so than not, my analytics have everything to do with lineup combinations.
20:42 And I'm going to hopefully add a few pieces here and, you know, the coming weeks, you
20:46 know, trying to get a little more depth here, but in terms of hopefully I can get Rayquan
20:52 and Curve suspension will be done after the nine games.
20:55 So I'll have a few more variables within the rotation to kind of, you know, dive into right
21:03 now that's pretty limited, but you can see which guys play really well together and which
21:08 guys don't.
21:10 And there's, there was a very telling step between two guys that did not play well together,
21:16 you know, in the five games, even going back to the Vanderbilt scrimmage for whatever reason.
21:23 And the combination of two guys, we've tried to avoid at all costs to try to make ourselves
21:29 more efficient.
21:30 So those are the type of things in terms of a lineup flow chart that I really dive into
21:35 to figure out, you know, who's playing the best together.
21:39 And it had a lot to do with, you know, the change in the starting lineup.
21:43 And I think that boded well for us in terms of that change, but none of this stuff is
21:49 set in stone, you know, trying to figure out how to win games each and every night out.
21:53 So we might see an advantage here or disadvantage there that we might shake it up even more
22:00 , you know, but right now we're just working with limited pieces.
22:03 Just kind of curious, are there things in analytics though, like, you know, something
22:08 simple like how a guy shoots against the zone as opposed to against man to man, stuff like
22:14 that?
22:15 I mean, Oh yeah.
22:16 I mean, that stuff's very, very prevalent.
22:18 And so it's pretty much all broken down and you can look at it in every way possible,
22:24 but, you know, my team might be, you know, very susceptible to pressure in the full court,
22:31 but, you know, obviously we're not going to pick up in full court pressure with six guys.
22:35 So you gotta, you gotta understand who you are when you start diving into analytics and
22:40 try not to, you know, like I said earlier, you know, over analysis equals paralysis.
22:46 You can get a little too deep with it and forget who you are and trying to do too much
22:52 and get too cute.
22:53 Thank you, coach.
22:54 That's it.
22:55 I appreciate your time today.
22:58 And thanks to all the meeting members for dialing in.
23:01 Very good.
23:02 Thank you all.
23:03 Have a great day.
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