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-As mentioned in the NW thread, Keaton "dislocated his hip a little bit or out of socket" on the fucking bus ride home from NW
-Brad has the same problem and knows the pain (is this a thing? Do y'all have your hips just pop in and out of socket?wtf)
-Keaton "was out on the way back" (wtf does this mean?) and "he's fine, he's fighting that"...he and Kylan played a great 2nd half against NW
-Next is Minnesota. Brad says Niko (their new coach) is doing a fabulous job
--Tyson kid (their top player) is good
--Minnesota is an old team...blended age well through the portal
--Minn gets fouled a lot, cuts, finds layups well, not big but a good undersized 5/stretch 4
--We'll need to be good to beat them
--Keaton was "sitting sideways" on the bus and that caused the problem
--Mirk back at practice today, but was drained with low energy...but no more flu and puking for him
--Kylan is invaluable to the team. Solves problems. Ability to guard multiple guys is special. He's "comforting for a coach". Kylan does the same thing in practice, how to manipulate situations in practice. Likened to Trent and Coleman that had "seen it all, understood things, and were able to manipulate actions"...that's who Kylan is now, and he's passing that knowledge on to the younger guys. Experience is king.
--Joey asks "does anybody else have the flu right now other than Mirk"....Underwood says "no, not right now, and how dare you ask that question...that gets you cutoff talking about that"...lol
--Hook and hold talk...talked about what "appealing" is...Brad finds the situation complicated, talked to the Commissioner of Officials about the hook and hold, said it was supposed to be for rebounding and under the basket, Brad thought their had to be a "pull down" component, but he was wrong apparently. Still finds it "clear as mud" and will still use appeals when necessary. Seemed equally frustrated with that as he's been the past two games...understandably.
--Minnesota shoots well, draws fouls, good in transition
--Tyson kid gets to the line a lot, they drive and cut a lot as a team...good offensive team, "kinda Princeton like but not exactly", lots of reads and cuts
--Minnesota plays mostly with 7 players, they've gotten good with role identification with guys
--We will play how we need to play...not gonna try to do anything special
--Minnesota will mix up defenses to a zone every once in a while to change the pace of the game.
--Two of minnesota's players played 45 minutes in their last game (that went to OT)
--Asked to compare Kylan to other guards that were so versatile...Brad compared him to Damonte in terms of strength to guard bigger guys...lower leg strength, Kylan quicker
--Change of tranfer portal window...Brad says "it's great"...maybe the league is starting to listen to coaches, Painter has been banging the drum for change to get the right length of time, took a while to get there. Change is going to make for a busy spring, but that's the right thing to do. (maybe somebody can respond to summarize the change? I'm not sure what was decided)
--Question on two home games and then Purdue...how important is this stretch. Brad says "I have no idea. It's Minnesota, that's what we're worried about."
--Asked about comments he made about Cooper Flagg last year where Brad said he'd fight to keep Cooper in college if he was his player...Brad says it's good for the game for kids like that to stay in college longer, but easy to say when it's not your player. You gotta go (to the NBA) when the business side is right and you're physically/mentally ready.
--Question: "when the team is so balanced and you'll have nights where other players are having their night, how have you cultivated players being ok with that when it's not their night"....brad says winning takes care of all of that. Says the top 10 scorers in the Big Ten are not on the top 5 teams. Balance is key to winning. If you go to the next level, you're going to be playing a role mostly. Gotta find a way to do that and enjoy that.