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00:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:02 >> Okay, let's begin our Zoom conference with West Virginia Head Basketball Coach
00:07 Josh Eilert.
00:08 Coach, we'll start with an opening comment from you.
00:11 >> Yeah, good morning, everybody.
00:14 Just wanted to recap.
00:16 It's been a great week to get our legs under us and work on us as a team.
00:23 And it's nice to have this week off and
00:25 then the Big 12 scheduling to be able to do those things.
00:30 So this week, Sunday, Monday, we're off, took two straight days off.
00:36 And hopefully that's good for recovery in our legs.
00:40 And it certainly showed when we came in on Tuesday and
00:44 had a full practice and really got after it.
00:47 And we had a little bit more pep in our step and
00:52 seemed like we were really rejuvenated and locked in.
00:56 And yesterday was kind of a three quarter practice.
00:58 Today will be a full practice again.
01:00 And tomorrow we'll go lighter before we travel out and play early on Saturday.
01:06 So looking forward to taking on Longhorns again.
01:11 And I know it's gonna be a challenge and they'll be ready for us for sure.
01:17 So looking forward to it.
01:19 >> Thank you, coach.
01:21 Our first question today comes from Greg Hunter.
01:25 >> So Jeff, start with a couple of them.
01:26 First of all, any update on a cook?
01:28 >> He's been full go ever since Saturday.
01:35 So starting on Tuesday, we had no issues.
01:38 So he was with us in practice.
01:42 And so we're in a good spot with him right now.
01:45 >> Okay, then secondly, two game road trip, obviously first as a head coach,
01:50 but you've been a part of many of these positives and
01:54 negatives of one trip for two games.
01:57 Going out and playing obviously quick turnaround for
02:01 you guys between Saturday and Monday.
02:03 >> Yeah, I think it's critical for us as a program to knock out some of these.
02:11 If you get to two game trips a year and you can eliminate some of the back and
02:16 forth, and especially if it's Saturday, Monday, sometimes on a Saturday,
02:21 Tuesday, the time can drag on being in a hotel all that time.
02:26 So you gotta look for other opportunities to get out of the hotel and
02:30 do some other things.
02:31 And we'll certainly even do that on the short trip this weekend.
02:36 So yeah, it's beneficial for especially us being an outlier in the league,
02:42 in terms of geographically to knock out two trips.
02:46 And certainly go four hours down the road or three and
02:49 a half hours down the road to your next destination.
02:53 Get settled in and practice at the home arena on Sunday and play on Monday.
03:00 So it kind of takes out some of the jet lag in the process.
03:05 And I think certainly on the road in these situations,
03:09 you have a heck of a lot better chance when you're settled in.
03:13 And you're not rushing to travel out somewhere and turn around and
03:17 play real quick.
03:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]
03:20 >> Justin Jackson.
03:21 >> Hey, coach, good morning, how are you?
03:24 >> Good, how are you, Justin?
03:25 >> Good, hey, I'm just kind of wondering,
03:29 you guys are 20 some games into the season now.
03:33 And for you, I mean, you've been around coaching at different levels for
03:38 most of your life, pretty much.
03:40 But to be this first time head coach now, what will you take with you?
03:47 What have you learned?
03:48 What has surprised you?
03:50 Being the head coach, has it been everything you thought it would be at
03:55 this point, this is your first time going through it?
03:59 >> Well, every day for me, it becomes more rewarding and
04:03 it slows down a little bit.
04:05 This time of year, yeah, we're in the middle of conference play, but
04:11 everything's, the waves, the huge waves have started to settle.
04:16 Early in the process, I mean,
04:18 it felt like you're getting hit with the huge wave after huge wave.
04:22 And we're all new to this, I was new to being a head coach.
04:26 I had four guys are basically new to being assistant coaches.
04:30 So we were building that chemistry between our staff and
04:34 meanwhile trying to navigate all the challenges that we're navigating.
04:41 So yeah, the waves have started to calm a bit and
04:44 now we're settling into the position.
04:46 And it's just so happened that all these things happen so fast and
04:52 we're all trying to manage this high stress situation early in our careers.
04:58 One, me being a head coach for the first time,
05:00 then being an assistant coaches for the first time.
05:03 So I'd say more than anything, it's starting to calm a bit.
05:08 We're starting to settle into our positions and I think certainly,
05:13 we wish it would have played out a little differently from the jump and
05:18 had our whole roster, but it wasn't the case.
05:22 So we've made the most of it and now we're trying to make the most of the last
05:27 nine, ten games of where we're at with the season.
05:31 And really make some waves from our standpoint moving forward.
05:36 >> Because of all the things that you guys have had to navigate the roster
05:41 management and injuries and this guy's eligible, this guy's not,
05:46 that sort of thing.
05:47 Have you been able to grow your, well, let me ask you this way.
05:52 Have you been able to focus on your coaching as much as,
05:57 say a coach that hasn't had to navigate that kind of stuff?
06:03 >> Well, I've had to, many times I've had to train or
06:06 change my train of thought in terms of my coaching approach based on our situation.
06:12 So we didn't certainly get into a groove like every other team that
06:18 probably had their roster set in May, took their team on a foreign tour and
06:24 everything else and they kind of settled into a groove early.
06:29 We didn't have that opportunity by any means.
06:31 So now we're trying to, at the end of the season,
06:35 settle into our groove and get our thing to a point where it's a well-oiled machine.
06:42 And we're competing night in, night out in the hardest conference in the country.
06:46 So it certainly has been a challenge.
06:48 I'm not saying that whatsoever.
06:51 But I tell you what, it's been a great growth opportunity for each and
06:55 every one of us in this program.
06:56 >> And then just knowing, kind of looking for your opinion on this,
07:00 I kind of think I know what it is.
07:02 But knowing what you know now, if you could go back to July,
07:07 would you have still taken this position?
07:12 >> Absolutely.
07:13 >> Yeah. >> Absolutely.
07:14 I mean, I remember telling Joe Mazzullo,
07:18 telling me how difficult the situation is.
07:21 And he said, but understand you're playing with house money.
07:24 I mean, you get an opportunity to be a head coach.
07:28 So that's the way you gotta look at it.
07:32 It's gonna be a complete challenge in every sense of the word.
07:35 But that's where people and individuals come out with more growth.
07:42 I didn't take over a program with a set roster ten games in the season
07:47 with the top ten in the country.
07:50 We were piecing things together late in the summer and doing everything we could
07:55 to make sure we put ourselves in a position to be competitive.
08:00 >> Thank you, coach, appreciate it.
08:03 >> Great, Kerry.
08:06 >> Yeah, Josh, the first time you played Texas, you held your own on the glass.
08:11 Obviously, you didn't have Jesse in that game.
08:14 So how do you duplicate that?
08:15 And is there anything else from that first meeting that you try to take away and
08:19 build off of before the second matchup?
08:21 >> Well, we certainly have to be way better offensively.
08:23 I look back to the game, watched it two or three times since.
08:28 And one of the big things that stands out to me is how poor we were offensively.
08:34 We changed some things defensively going into that game.
08:38 And our game plan was pretty solid.
08:40 And we executed that fairly well, and we rebounded the ball well.
08:44 But our offense was very stagnant.
08:47 We took bad shots.
08:48 I think we almost had nine turnovers in the first 11 minutes of that game.
08:52 So there's a lot to be said with how we play offensively against Texas.
08:57 And that's something we certainly have to shore up going into the game to
09:01 put ourselves in a position to win on Saturday.
09:05 So there's different things we're doing defensively,
09:08 especially with Jesse in the lineup.
09:10 And hopefully that certainly helps us in the rebounding end of things.
09:14 But I think back, Noah Farrakhan, I think he had seven rebounds.
09:19 I need that type of effort from all of our guards and
09:22 everybody on the floor, regardless of whether Jesse's on the floor or not.
09:26 I mean, they can't look at Jesse as being the end all be all on the rebounding
09:31 end of things.
09:31 So yeah, there's certainly things we can take away from that game.
09:36 But they are playing a little differently.
09:38 We're playing a little differently.
09:40 The one standout that I see that they've changed since we've played him
09:45 has been Kendall Weaver.
09:47 He's been playing at such a high level and he just makes so
09:52 many plays with his tenacity and his will to compete each and every possession.
09:58 So they've inserted him in the starting lineup and
10:01 he's really making them go right now.
10:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
10:06 >> Our next question goes to Bob Hertzel.
10:10 >> Yeah, Josh, I don't know if you saw last night that Kelvin Sampson got
10:14 ejected with his team up 20 points and went off about the referees.
10:19 And on the air, Fran Fichella made a couple of statements.
10:24 And the main thing he said was that the last two weeks,
10:28 the conference has gotten way too physical that the officials have let them get
10:31 away with it.
10:32 And uncalled illegal screens, boxed out tackles, and
10:36 undercutting log catches will get someone hurt soon.
10:39 He says it's a bit pervasive and legal wise.
10:45 Do you see that?
10:46 Do you see the problem there that they're letting the play get a little too rough?
10:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]
10:51 >> Well, I mean, the Big 12 has been a physical league.
10:56 Certainly I've argued over the course of my tenure here that I've argued
11:02 a lot of freedom of movement, and especially the way we play.
11:07 But they get a hard job.
11:09 The referees really do have a hard job with how competitive this league is and
11:12 how physical this league is.
11:14 So I respect what they do night in, night out.
11:18 They're human.
11:19 They're not gonna be perfect by any means.
11:22 But I'm certainly not gonna get into a position where I'm backed in the corner
11:28 making a comment about officiating when I got, I don't need a $25,000 fine when I
11:33 got three kids to put through college yet.
11:37 So, but I respect what they do.
11:39 It's a very hard job and certainly,
11:42 especially in this league with how competitive and how physical it is.
11:46 So sometimes emotions can get the best of us when we're trying to compete like that.
11:52 >> Is there a sweet spot there of physicality for a league?
11:55 I mean, that should be allowed and shouldn't be allowed.
12:00 >> Yeah, I mean, I thought a lot about this in terms of the physicality of the league
12:04 and even going back to the big East days when that was as physical league as any
12:09 country or any conference in the country at that point.
12:12 And sometimes when you're allowed to play that physical night in, night out.
12:17 And then when you get to the NCAA tournament and
12:19 you see different crews and different officiating,
12:23 sometimes it can be to your league's detriment.
12:27 Because they do start calling it differently.
12:30 When you hit the NCAA tournament, you see a bunch of different crews out there.
12:33 So yeah, I mean, I don't know how you fix that other than having,
12:39 not having differences and officiating from conference to conference.
12:45 And probably having one leadership that oversees everything NCAA wide.
12:51 >> Thanks.
12:52 >> We'll go back to Greg Hunter.
12:56 >> Josh, a couple things again.
12:57 Let's start with, you've now had your complete roster for
13:01 a couple weeks in practice and obviously a few games now.
13:03 So have you seen some improvement in the cohesiveness, the chemistry?
13:08 How has that manifested itself?
13:10 >> Yeah, some days it looks really good, other days you kind of digress a bit.
13:14 So it's two steps forward, one step back.
13:19 And I talked to these guys about the 11 game season.
13:24 Jesse's after that Oklahoma State game, which he was touching go during that game.
13:28 But he certainly, before the Cincinnati, we knew he was full go and
13:34 we looked at the season as an 11 game season.
13:36 So here we are one on one.
13:39 But understanding full well that we have a lot of potential still within us and
13:46 we gotta maximize that potential on the way out.
13:48 And certainly not where we wanna be record wise by any means.
13:53 But we're gonna give everything we got every single day,
13:56 try to improve every single day.
13:59 And that's gotta be the mindset.
14:00 And I continue to tell them every day, this is a lifelong journey.
14:05 This is a small microcosm in your life, but
14:08 you gotta take every opportunity and make the most of it.
14:11 And there's no different in this scenario to where we're trying to strive for
14:16 growth each and every day to get better as a team and
14:20 improve as a team and really make the most of where we're at right now.
14:26 >> Second part of that then is sort of different tack though,
14:29 two game swing again.
14:31 So how do you handle the scout with that?
14:33 Do you feed any information on TCU to the players?
14:36 Coaches just keep that internally until you get to Sunday.
14:40 How do you handle the two game scout?
14:43 >> Yeah, you gotta look at it one game at a time.
14:45 TCU is not looking forward to us.
14:47 They're focused on Iowa State this Saturday and AIMS.
14:52 So they're in the same boat as we are.
14:54 We gotta focus on Texas.
14:56 And once that game's over, we'll have all day Sunday to kind of turn the page.
15:02 And you can do a lot this time of year just based on film breakdown and
15:08 teaching in the film room.
15:10 So that Sunday, you're not looking at doing much by any means.
15:14 On the floor, after playing a competitive Big 12 game on Saturday,
15:19 turnaround playing on Monday.
15:20 So there's not a whole lot you can do in that turnaround.
15:24 But you can spend a lot of time in film and
15:26 going over your game plan in the film room.
15:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]
15:31 >> Justin Jackson.
15:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]
15:35 >> Coach, kind of a two part thing here.
15:38 Going on the road again, what is it, anything that you've been able to
15:43 single out that has kept you guys from playing as well on the road,
15:48 as you guys have at home?
15:50 >> I don't know that I've found anything to single out by any means.
15:55 It certainly gets a lot harder.
15:58 I mean, this league is the hardest anywhere in the country to win on the road.
16:02 And I think it's especially hard this year if you look at statistics.
16:07 So it's not just us.
16:09 I mean, I think people struggle on the road in this conference in general.
16:13 But if you can control your travel and do a good job with that and
16:18 be efficient with that, you certainly have an advantage.
16:22 But otherwise, I mean, you try to pinpoint certain things that you can improve and
16:28 make sure your team's ready to play.
16:30 We certainly, going and looking back at the Houston game,
16:34 which we were talking about as a staff today, we weren't ready to play.
16:38 We ran into a buzzsaw with our defense and
16:42 we had no pep in our step whatsoever, and that's an early tip.
16:48 So we look at different ways to do our schedule and
16:51 make sure we're ready to compete.
16:54 So, but it is, it's a difficult challenge in this league to try to figure out how to
17:00 get a win on the road.
17:02 And I think we're the one team that in our conference that hasn't left our arena and
17:07 got a road win or a neutral win.
17:09 So all of our wins have come at home and we gotta figure that out.
17:14 And then the other part is, and people from the outside looking in and say, well,
17:19 maybe you should try this or try something different or superstitious angles or
17:24 whatever.
17:25 There's really not, I mean, from a coaching standpoint,
17:29 I mean, there's really not much you can do differently, right?
17:33 I mean, you're in the hotel, you do the walkthrough and you play the game.
17:37 And that doesn't really change no matter what road venue you go to, right?
17:42 I mean- >> I mean,
17:43 each situation is different.
17:45 My idea was to travel out to these arenas and before, and
17:49 practice there in the evening prior to whether you have a shoot around or
17:55 not, have a shoot around the next day, depending on the game time.
18:00 So each situation is different.
18:02 In this situation that the arena is being used the night before, so
18:06 we can't get in there to practice tomorrow night.
18:09 So we will practice here before we leave.
18:12 And it is an early tip, so we're trying to figure out whether we take
18:17 our allotted time, early time for shoot around or not.
18:22 So we go back and forth and probably have a lot to do with how we practice
18:27 the next couple of days in terms of whether we do that shoot around or not.
18:32 But there's a lot of different trains of thought and nothing's worked thus far.
18:38 So we'll keep on trying to manipulate that to figure out what's the sweet spot.
18:43 >> Thank you, coach.
18:45 >> We'll go back to Greg Hunter.
18:49 >> All right, Josh, completely off topic now.
18:53 Do you schedule time for the team to get together and watch the Super Bowl?
18:56 How do you guys handle Sunday?
18:58 You said you get away to do a few things.
19:00 Do you practice in the evening?
19:03 You get to watch the Super Bowl?
19:04 What do you do? >> Well, I mean, like I said,
19:05 I mean, you don't get a lot of options on the road.
19:08 You kinda take what you're given.
19:10 So I believe on Sunday, the practice is gonna be, or
19:16 our time in the arena in Fort Worth is gonna be in late morning.
19:22 So we gotta take advantage of that time.
19:25 It's earlier than I would prefer it to be, but it is what it is.
19:29 So you take what they give you.
19:31 And but yeah, we'll get together and we got some ideas to get the team together in
19:36 the afternoon and spend some time together and do some things so
19:40 we can get them out of the hotel.
19:41 Not just sitting around and laying in a hotel bed,
19:45 which can be counterproductive in a lot of ways.
19:48 So yeah, we're planning some things to get together and
19:52 enjoy each other's company for sure.
19:54 >> Kansas guy, are you a Kansas City fan?
19:57 Did you grow up that way?
19:58 Which way do you lean?
20:00 >> Yeah, I've been a Kansas City Chiefs fan my whole life.
20:02 So it's nice.
20:04 I didn't think this year would be the year they made the Super Bowl by any means and
20:08 they weren't playing their best football.
20:10 But my son and I, it's one of our bonding experiences sitting down and
20:16 watching the Chiefs.
20:17 So it's gonna be nice to sit down and enjoy that with my family,
20:23 which looks like they're gonna go with us.
20:24 So it's exciting to have the Chiefs back in and
20:29 I think we're sitting in the middle of a dynasty.
20:34 [BLANK_AUDIO]
20:36 >> Any other further questions for Coach Eilert?
20:39 Please use the raise hand feature.
20:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]
20:45 Okay, Coach, I think that's all we'll have for today.
20:48 Thank you for your time.
20:49 >> Very good, thank you all.
20:50 [BLANK_AUDIO]