TRANSCRIPT: Dusty May weekly press conference 2/16

Opening Statement

We’re excited to be playing extremely meaningful games with conference championship ramifications every single week for the next three weeks. We’ll start with some questions.

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On the Yaxel Lendeborg video circulating on social media

Yeah, obviously, I saw the video. It’s been well circulated to this point. I have social media. I follow social media, so I don’t have to say someone showed it to me to act like I don’t have it. I spoke at length with Yaxel about it. The most disappointing part of it is that he feels really bad about how he’s perceived from children and those that look up to him.

He said, coach, I don’t even use that language in conversation. I don’t like the way it makes me look. I feel terrible about it. And then obviously how he’s perceived to our fan base and those that he cares about. Look, it’s a great lesson. It’s one of the reasons he’s here. He wanted to learn to be a better pro. And to be a better pro, you need to have the mindset that you’re probably always being recorded. And if there’s ever a moment that someone can use that information against you.

This is an old video. This was back, I think in May, right after he signed at Michigan. And obviously, the excitement of being here, of playing in these games. He’s at an establishment after hours, and they ask him a question about the number one team in the country. And he said the things he said he wishes he would not have. But moving forward, it’s a good learning lesson.

I can’t imagine that Loyer, TKR, Braden Smith, and those guys are sitting around motivated by what Yaxel Lendeborh said in an over-21 establishment four months ago. I think that they’re killers as is. And so, as far as bulletin board material, I’m not sure that that means much when it comes time to execute pick-and-roll defense or transition defense.

On whether he feels the need to address the video with the whole team or individually

I just met with one of the other guys. We talked about it. He’s talked to his team extensively. I’m sure it would be brought up, but no. We’re not going to cancel our travel plans and go the day of the game. I think that there’s a lot bigger things to be worried about. Obviously, everything’s good for us. He made a mistake. This is a learning lesson.

We can’t go back in time and change it. I think there are a lot of people in our profession saying things that if they were in a clear-headed state of mind, they probably wouldn’t say. And chalk this up to one of those. He’s a wonderful human being. He’ll be better because of this. On to the next.

On what makes Mackey Arena a difficult place to play

The thing that makes it really tough to play there are Purdue’s players. Because they’re in those uniforms. They’re old. They’re good. They’re physical. They have an identity that’s been around since I was a little kid. I think I’m 49. For the last 40 years, they have this very similar identity. They’ve done a really nice job of adapting to the modern game, to offenses and defenses.

They’re a creative staff. They’ve got a good mix of older guys, younger guys. A lot of them have that Purdue DNA there with them. They have a really strong culture and program that has been established. That’s the first thing that makes it tough.

With that, you have a fan base that show up. It’s part of their routine. When there’s a game, they go to the game. They don’t go to the game because they’re playing this opponent or because it’s on a Saturday at the right time. They’re there. They build their calendar around those games. That makes it unique.

Most importantly, outside the players, it’s the energy that the fans bring. They’re an educated fan base. They know the game. They appreciate the game. They know what winning looks like. Them being a part of it is certainly a factor. They’re contributing to Purdue’s success on a nightly basis. It’s an unbelievable challenge for us that I think our guys are up for. What another great college basketball night in that environment with the quality of players that are on the court, it’s going to be awesome.

On last year’s game at Mackey transformed the season

We learned from it. It was one of the moments that we learned from and stuck in our minds. To be honest, even now, I told the staff watching these games, watching Purdue play Nebraska or watching Michigan State play UCLA. Watching those games, I said, we need to really now take inventory of how difficult it is to play in these games. As we’re recruiting, really try to separate how good of a shooter he is and his dimensions and say, can we see him competing at this level and this environment? We want to be doing this every year.

These games, yes, it helped us tremendously last year. It obviously helped that they were a top-five team. We had immediate results from what we learned from that game. Part of it, too, is we weren’t what we didn’t do well last year. They capitalized on and it got away from us. As we show, we really improved in the two weeks before we came back home. The next couple weeks, we had a really strong performance against them in the Big Ten tournament as well.

On what it says being the No. 1 team in the country

It says that we have a really talented group of people, coaches, players, support staff, everyone involved that make each other better. I think if you take several of our guys away, then we’re not near as good. It’s what they bring to the table. It’s how we embrace each other and our strengths. As far as the number one ranking, here’s how important it is to me. Someone asked me if I’ve ever been on a staff, and I said, I think I was on a staff that got up to maybe number three in the country.

I don’t know what year. I think I remember the team. If that makes sense, it means absolutely nothing right now. I don’t know any staff that I’ve ever been on what we were ranked at the end of the year, to be honest. I don’t recall and don’t really care. It’s awesome for our fans. It’s cool for the energy and intensity that it brings to the games, and being able to do cool things like college game day and whatnot. As far as internally or me emotionally, it doesn’t mean anything.

On what the Duke game could do for the team in the middle of a Big Ten season

We took that into account when we scheduled the game. We anticipated being in the hunt. I talked to Brad Underwood about it, and they had a tough showing last year for a number of reasons. They had some injuries and illness and whatnot. I said, with that being said, would you still play it? He said, 100 times out of 100.

I’ve said this before, he’s one of the forward thinkers in our game. It’s good for the sport, these non-conference games. I remember being a young kid being glued to the TV to watch a cross-country matchup between two historic programs. It’s different. The ratings show that they’re well-received by the fans. Obviously, attendance and the people that are looking for tickets.

You tell them to go to the secondary market, and then you start looking at what the secondary market is. That shows that this game is going to be good for the game and for the sport. Also, with NIL and things like that, we’re constantly trying to generate revenue for our program. We’re going to treat it like an NCAA format, where this is a first-round opponent, or a Sweet 16 opponent, or hopefully a Final Four opponent. You have a couple days to learn someone that you’re typically unfamiliar with. Obviously, the magnitude of Duke is you’re never unfamiliar with Duke.

I’ve seen the Boozer’s play in South Florida since they were young. It’s an opportunity for us to take a recess mentality from Big Ten play. Maybe give us some things to work on, but also just learn something new and prepare like we would for an NCAA tournament meaningful game.

On having a documentary crew following the team

I wouldn’t use the word unique. It was very difficult at first, just getting used to not being guarded when you have the media in your locker room in a very sacred place. Once we’ve gotten to know the crew, they’re the best in the business. They’ve made us comfortable with every part of it. Our players have embraced it. Now that we have a relationship with the majority of those guys, it doesn’t feel like we have a camera crew around anymore. It was difficult at first. I think it’s important that we pull back the curtains and share how we do things. It’s not going to be the best way for everyone, but it’s a way that’s constantly evolving for us.

We’re always searching for that way for us to function on a daily basis. I do think it’s interesting because we have interesting people and curious people and a group that really cares about others. I think it’s on a number of levels. When you factor in the success that our guys have had this year that’s icing on the cake. That was my concern. What if this doesn’t turn out like we hope?

They’re like, no, there are going to be great stories regardless. That helped put me at ease. I consider myself pretty boring, so I was worried that I wasn’t going to live up to the expectations of what a head ball coach is supposed to be. It’s going well. Obviously, they’re going to be with us throughout, off and on. I think more than anything else, hopefully we live long enough to retire and have grandkids and look back. It would be a way to really document some awesome memories with great people.

On what Lendeborg has had to sacrifice in his game to be successful

He’s adapted very well. His humility is a big reason why we’ve been able to be a connected group. He’s never wanted to be treated like a superstar. Obviously, his salary is well documented. I think if other salaries were well documented, he would be looked at in a completely different light. Now we’re in an era where, for whatever reason, these players will tell the fans and student sections how much they make. It’s not like he’s making an exorbitant amount of money compared to the other superstars. He’s right on par with them. More than some, less than some.

None of that’s ever mattered because of who he is as a person. The market always dictates those things anyway. It’s been a good fit for him because what I think some schools or others could have expected him to be wasn’t who he is. He’s an unselfish player. He wants to play within the framework of a team. He doesn’t want to just shoot shots. He wants to be involved in rebounding, defending, passing. He’s going to make the right play, and I think if he had the pressure of having to put a team on his back, then he wouldn’t perform nearly as well or look like the player that he does for us.

On how much stock he thinks the players take in the national attention

It hasn’t changed them at all. I think they — I love how they share each other’s success on social media in real time. These guys show a lot of love to each other. They really do, and it’s sincere. It’s not fake love, and so that’s cool to see because we have a couple of guys on our roster that aren’t getting the attention that they deserve for obvious reasons. We’ll just stay away from this year’s team.

Last year’s team, Danny and Vlad weren’t the only good players we had on our team. We had some other guys that could play this game and were a big part of our success, and they didn’t get the attention and the posters and the social because it’s two seven-footers doing something that’s really, really special and unique. Not that it’s better than what they’re doing or different than what they’re doing.

It’s just unique, and it’s a great story, and I’m here for it. We have some cases like that on this team and the guys that aren’t getting that spotlight, they don’t care. They don’t care. Also, they don’t mind it because the guys who are getting it, they don’t act like they’re getting it, if that makes sense. They want to share it, and they don’t want it to be on them. They want it to be on us.

On what Oscar Cluff has added to Purdue’s roster

Yeah, Cluff, he’s a monster, man. He’s a little bit like a die where I feel like the longer the season goes, sometimes guys start looking fatigued. They look like they’re in better shape, and they’re more athletic, and they’re bouncier, and that’s how I feel about Cluff.

I think he goes to exhaustion, and so his conditioning is going to get better. He’s physical. When the shot goes up, it’s warfare. Every single possession, he’s not going to take one off. He’s going to challenge your fortitude. Him and TK are when a shot is released, when a ball leaves a shooter’s hands on either side of the court, they’re going to test your resolve every single possession. You don’t have to guess. You don’t have to assume. You don’t have to check.

They’re going with force every single possession. It’s going to be a matter of can we match their force? Can we play with the discipline where when they do beat us, we don’t panic foul? When they do beat us, can someone else come in and help their teammate out with a play that needs to be made? To me, those are the things that are going to be the difference in the game. Cluff, what a pickup for them.

On mixing up the looks to defend against Braden Smith

He’s dangerous. He has solutions to every problem. You just hope maybe our size, strength, speed, athleticism will maybe slow those decisions down a quarter of a second, but we’re not tricking Braden Smith.

We threw some junk at the wall last year that we hadn’t done. They’re like us. They’ve spent the offseason preparing for any contingency that they think might happen and it’s going to be hard to sneak up on those guys with anything.

On preparing for Trey Kaufman-Renn

If we’re trying to game plan for that physicality, then we failed in the recruiting process and we failed in the weight room this summer. Obviously, there’s DNA involved, but we have some guys that are physically capable of neutralizing other good players, and so it’s going to come down to who can concentrate the longest, who can do the things that winning requires. It always comes down to the execution versus those things.

On whether he’s changed the way he prepares for future seasons

I feel like you need to. We haven’t. We’ve been so focused on our season.

I do think that, and this might be naive, but I think we’re going to be a tough program to leave all things being fair and equal. If guys want to leave, like I said from the beginning, we’re going to be very, very supportive. Everyone wants something different. If a guy wants to play 38 minutes, history says you’re not going to do that here unless we change the way we play. That’s another thing, too. These guys can hold us accountable.

If we lie, if we’re full of it, it’s not difficult for them to pack up and leave or shut it down during. Honesty, transparency, their belief in us to help them get better and develop them and the trust is more important now than ever.

On handling development with those with NBA aspirations

That’s the curveball. That’s the part that’s going to be tough. Once again, if those guys go through the process and the information tells them to go, and we’re left being young and inexperienced, then we’re going to fight like crazy to put ourselves in contention to play meaningful games.Sure, like hell as those guys are getting drafted and playing in the NBA world. That’s a good problem to have. That’s a good problem to have. Help these guys achieve their goals and dreams, and not only that, but be prepared and ready for them as well.