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Quotes: Duke vs Virginia Union
10/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening statements about the game:
“I am certainly pleased with our effort. I thought we played hard defensively the whole game. We obviously are the taller, more talented team and should win, but I thought our guys played every play hard, and that's what we're looking for. Because of their height, they're very unconventional because they have like five guards out there, but that made our guys move their feet and we got a lot of playing time for a lot of guys in good situations and good rotations. Our guys got a chance to play with different people. I was pleased when you get that kind of effort, and that's been the way our guys have been practicing. The crowd was great and we get a little break now until Monday morning so that's good.”
On what he thought about the play of freshman Miles Plumlee:
“Miles is a good player. He's a very good athlete. Good hands, good feet, a shot blocker, runs and it's just a matter of him getting experience. He complements very well the three key guys for us in Kyle [Singler], G [Gerald Henderson], and Jon [Scheyer]. It's a really good fit with him. He'll get better, and he played well today. He's got a great feel for the game. He's a very good athlete.”
On the fluidity of Duke' starting lineup:
“I don't like to say what a starting lineup is because I want everyone who plays to think of themselves as starters. One of the key things I learned in working with the Olympics is for us to speak our own language and not the language of everyone else. So if you want to say who is a starter and who is not, that's cool for us, but I'd rather have everyone on our team to have the ego of a starter. I'm not dancing around it, I'm just telling you that if Lance [Thomas] comes in and didn't start, I want Lance to think he's good enough to be a starter because he is. When Greg [Paulus] comes off the bench, he's good enough to be a starter, because he is.”
On increased size of the team:
“I think we're a big team because of the group that started out the game, Nolan [Smith] is the smallest guy at 6-3. The wings are 6-5, Kyle [Singler] is a little over 6-8 and Miles [Plumlee] is just under 6-10 and then there's Lance [Thomas], Elliot [Williams], Brian [Zoubek]. I see them, but for people who haven't seen them, they've grown up. They're more men than they are boys now, and that makes them bigger too.”
On the accomplishments of Virginia Union at the Division II level:
“It's one of the reasons we wanted to play them. It's a sign of respect for the tradition that Virginia Union has had. They've produced a lot of pros, they've won championships. For us, it's a sign in scheduling them to give them respect for what they've accomplished at their school.”
On the potential of Jon Scheyer running the offense
“Jon will run it sometimes. We've been working on that in practice, and he might do that even with Greg [Paulus] or Nolan [Smith] in. He doesn't necessarily have to be in for those guys, so we can use people in different spots. Then we'll be more prepared for people running the team.”
On Elliot Williams running the offense
“No, we won't see that. The reason was I just wanted to get guys in, but also Elliot can do that. In the future he can do that. Primarily I wanted him to guard the ball. I think he could be one of our better on-ball defenders. He's really wide and athletic and he has a good ego about it. He believes he's good, and he is, and that's why we used him there.”
Junior Jon Scheyer
On the game:
“Overall, I thought we played pretty well today. We can obviously do a lot of things better. You see in the first half, some guys had some nerves. It was our first game out there, we were a little anxious and I think we made some turnovers that we usually wouldn't make. Today, for us, it was good to get some learning experiences and get our first game under our belt.”
On the depth of team:
“We have a lot of guys that bring different things to the table. Today, we played a team that had mostly all guards, and you saw how some our big guys, Kyle [Singler] and Lance [Thomas] could get out there and guard those guys just as well as the [guards] could. I think that's really a big strength for us, our versatility.”
On the team's bigs:
“People are going to have to honor that. That is something we really stressed, getting the ball down to Miles [Plumlee] and Brian [Zoubek], and the guys inside. One thing our big guys can do a lot better than other bigs is that they can beat them running the floor. Teams have to honor that, because if they don't it will be there, and if they do, it will open up the game for the rest of us.”
Sophomore Kyle Singler
The team vs. last year's team:
“Last year's team, only losing one person, you would think that we are the same team, but really are not. We have some new guys coming in. The biggest difference is that we played with each other for a year and we know each other better. For me, having a year experience, I know what to expect. We just have to stay hungry.”
Junior Gerald Henderson
Playing another team, instead of among themselves:
“It's a good feeling. We have been going pretty hard in preseason going against the same guys everyday. It's good to finally see some new faces in front of us on defense, not having guys know our plays. It's good to come out against some different competition.”
On the depth of the team:
“We have a lot of guys who can play, and a lot of guys who are going to play. Today showed it how a lot of guys can score and a lot of guys can defend. I think people saw what Miles [Plumlee] can do. He did a great job today. We are really excited about all the areas on our team.”
Sophomore Nolan Smith
On starting:
“For right now, the starting five that started today is our starting five. But anything can change. We have many players in this locker room that can start. My goal right now is to keep it up, keep running the team, and keep playing defense. Come the first game, whoever is starting, it doesn't really matter to me, and it doesn't matter to Greg [Paulus]. We are going to continue to come in and play together like we did today, and be maybe the best two point guards in the ACC.”
On his feelings about his first start:
“Just being in the starting lineup and hearing your name called in Cameron for the first time is exciting. I was getting chills before they called my name. It felt great, but after that you just have to look forward and play your game.”
On the game:
"It was a great opportunity for our university to get the chance to play Duke, and I'm pretty sure that the guys now see how hard you have to work to compete on this level. They're a great team and we have a long way to go. We did have some positives today and we just appreciate the opportunity to play.”
On the difficulty of playing Duke as his first game as a coach:
“I spoke with former coach Dave Robbins and he said that his first game as the coach of
On Duke's defense:
“That was one of the top defensive teams that we'll ever see.”
Sophomore Branden McDonald:
“Just penetrating and kicking mostly, because their help defense is pretty good.”
Senior Gregg Thondique
On what surprised him the most in the game:
“We played
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