Ross Hodge press conference summary 11-3
West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge addressed the media Monday ahead of the opener against Mount St. Mary’s and here is a summary of what was said.
–Hodge congratulated Rich Rodriguez and his football team as well as the other athletic teams that have had success recently. It’s a good time to be part of West Virginia athletics and he certainly hopes they can keep it going. They passed last year’s mark in season tickets and the home court advantage is real and they need theirs to be as good as it’s been. The students set the tone for the home court.
–You find little different pockets of leadership from different people in different time periods once the games start to begin. It’s cool to see whether it’s the 13th man or a walk on having their voice emerge. You get put in some different situations and try to prepare as much as you can for the little wrinkles you aren’t prepared for and how quickly can you adjust to those. Everybody finding their voice and settling in and growing is one of the fun aspects.
–Last year Mount St. Mary’s went to the NCAA Tournament and set a school record for wins. Really good job by their coaching staff and they have a plan and execute their plan. They have experienced guards and they have some versatility at their forward positions. A lot of it starts with their point guard and getting the ball in the right spot with multiple guys that can shoot the ball well.
—Jayden Forsythe can really shoot the ball but his biggest strides has been on the defensive end of the floor and what he’s comfortable with there. When he shoots it, he thinks it’s going in because he’s seen him do it a lot in practice. Positioning and understanding defensively will improve his minutes.
–Understanding defensive spacing and angles is critical. But it’s about putting it together playing hard and smart to have success on that end of the floor. It’s merging all of it playing hard, physical and executing while slowing the game down in your mind and processing things faster.
–Hodge said they don’t want to give up catch and shoot threes in general outside certain scouting situations. A lot of times if you make too much of an over emphasis on not making threes you tend to get spread out defensively. You have to keep the ball in front of you and keep your shell intact to make it harder to give up catch and shoot threes.
–He was thankful for the Wheeling Exhibition because that was the first time he has gone through all the pre-game stuff and how to go about preparing for a game here. He is usually nervous before every game regardless of the situation. That’s a good feeling and it’s something you embrace. If you ever lose that feeling it’s probably time to do something else. When the ball goes up that subsides and any other sort of external factors take themselves away and you’re just trying to do everything you can to put your players in the best situations to have success. It’s a lot easier to coach in games than be a fan because you have control in the first situation.
–Sometimes when they finish up practice or start practice he looks around and sees the history and tradition and appreciates what has come before him.
–There’s not necessarily anything to this being his first game at West Virginia outside of trying to win it. If you go into a game as an individual player or part of the program making it about you then you usually don’t play well. He doesn’t make it about himself and doesn’t want his team to do it either. His thoughts are around trying to execute and putting his guys in position to have success.
–Hodge said that you might have to go deep in the rotation to start the season with the injuries. It’s based on what you’ve got because it’s hard to play 9 or 10 guys in a college game because you don’t have that many possessions. Comfortably eight nine but if you have to go more he can.
–All of Jackson Fields restrictions are removed and he hasn’t participated in five on five activity but he has participated in practice. He probably won’t dress because he won’t go into the game. His biggest challenge will be conditioning from a starting, stopping, change of direction and all the things he’ll need to do. They’ll be smart about that and they want to be comfortable with that, too.
–You’re going to have your core foundational non-negotiables that most good defenses will have. They’ll get back, keep the ball out of the paint and contest as many shots as you can. The identity of what you have on defense will be different with each team but the core pillars will be the same. They want to keep the ball out of the paint and play with effort and intensity while making the opposition work.
–Hodge said that in recruiting having a quality staff helps. They’re all uniquely talented in their own ways and they cover for each other’s weaknesses and magnify their strengths. From a game planning and game breakdown separate coaches are assigned to different aspects in the scouts. They felt it was better to get everybody involved in the scout because they want to be collaborative. He doesn’t just depend on his own knowledge. The assistants will be talking as the game goes on.
–They practice hard and the stretch of several early games is a great way to prepare them for what they’ve got ahead on the schedule. You have to figure out a way to win each game.
–Hodge tries to pour everything he could in each moment and if you can win everybody gets the opportunities they want. He doesn’t want to win more now that he’s a head coach more than when he was an assistant.
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