SPORTS

Pitino: UVA toughest to scout, freshmen learning

Jeff Greer
@jeffgreer_cj
U of L head coach Rick Pitino tosses a basketball into play during a March 27 practice before the Cardinals’ Sweet 16 game against Kentucky.

Louisville hoops coach Rick Pitino met with the media on Wednesday night before making an appearance at U of L's "Opening Weekend Kickoff Party" at Captain's Quarters along the Ohio River.

Among the more interesting things that came up, Pitino said Virginia presents the most difficult scouting challenge for him and his staff because the Cavaliers play a style unlike any other opponents Louisville's had.

He also said freshman big man Chinanu Onuaku has transformed his body since arriving at Louisville and his fellow big men, Matz Stockman and Anas Mahmoud, face an uphill battle if they want to get much playing time this season.

Here's the full transcript:

Q: It must be a relief to finally have (freshman forward) Jaylen Johnson cleared and enrolled.

Pitino: It's something we anticipated, but we are glad.

Q: There has to be some excitement with the release of the schedule today and now knowing when you're playing everyone.

Pitino: I don't know if "excitement" is the word. It is an extremely tough schedule for a team that lost a lot. I mean that, generally, you like to build into it. We're going to play a Minnesota team that has every player back but one from winning an NIT championship. We're gonna play Ohio State. We're gonna play at (WKU). Of course Kentucky, Ohio State, Indiana ...

So it's quite challenging. That's not to mention the ACC. We've been in this situation before, from when we joined the Big East, but this is a little different because we don't know the waters we're about to swim in. We're gonna have to learn.

Q: How's Chris (Jones) right now? (After suffering a stress fracture in his shin.)

Pitino: He's fine. Those little injuries that you have this time of year, you don't concern yourself with. It's the DeVante Parker-type injury that really worries you because it's during the season and you're gonna miss games.

Q: How about Akoy (Agau)? (After sports hernia surgery.)

Pitino: Yeah. One of the strengths of our basketball team is that we have a very strong starting five. One of the question marks is how strong can our bench become? Because in the last few years, we've lost four dynamic players in Luke, Russ, Peyton and Gorgui. Who's going to step up in a primary role? Especially the guys who played secondary roles, like Montrezl, Chris and Terry, are all stepping into primary roles, so who's stepping into their roles? That's the big question mark we have to fill.

Q: There was a lot of buzz about Terry Rozier this summer. How did he progress?

Pitino: With our guys, you see tremendous improvement from freshman to sophomore year. I certainly see that with Chris Jones, who's not a sophomore but he's in his second year, with Terry and Wayne's playing terrific. Like I said, our starting five is a very talented group. It's the other guys. What you don't want to do with the bench is have a big drop-off. I'm not saying there is, though, because I haven't seen us practice. We've just had individual instruction.

Q: (inaudible question about freshmen 7-footers Matz Stockman and Anas Mahmoud)

Pitino: They remind me a bit of Nazr Mohammed, who wasn't 7 feet, but he couldn't get through one practice as a freshman. It's different. These two guys are 7 feet. They don't have what I call the basketball metabolism to play in this physical environment. It's a big adjustment for them. Both will be very, very good basketball players. They're both different, but they won't see a lot of time this year.

Q: Are they redshirt candidates?

Pitino: I don't know. Sometimes redshirting is good. I think they're both candidates. You have to really careful with redshirting. If everything goes according to Hoyle with this year's recruiting class, we may not have a scholarship for two years. Something always pops up. You can count on maybe one popping up. You have to be careful with redshirting.

Q: It wasn't ideal with Mangok Mathiang, obviously, but did that redshirt year help him?

Pitino: Oh, tremendously, especially with bigs. Now, Mangok was much more advanced than the two 7-footers because he's 6-9 1/2 or 6-10, just like Jaylen Johnson's much more advanced than the two 7-footers. Seven-footers need time, development, footwork. They're both different. Anas is a very skilled 7-footer who is 200 pounds. Matz needs to get a lot of strength.

Q: How far is Jaylen Johnson behind after not getting in right away?

Pitino: He's really not that far behind. I'm really surprised by that. He stayed in good shape. He's a very good competitor. He's someone physically ready to play. The biggest thing that you guys will be shocked with -- our assistant coaches said when I got back off the road I would not believe the conditioning of Chinanu (Onuaku). What you saw in the Derby Classic to what you see now, you will be blown away. You'll think it's a totally different person.

Q: You had said in July that you guys were still familiarizing yourselves with your future ACC opponents. Where does that process stand?

Pitino: For us, the toughest thing is gonna be Virginia because they're a unique style. They're a grind-em style of play, and for a program like ours, that'll be the biggest adjustment. It won't be a big adjustment playing against North Carolina or Duke. But Florida State and Virginia, those are the two programs that play a little different than what we saw in the Big East.

Q: Are they like Marquette at all -- Virginia?

Pitino: They don't play as fast as Marquette.

Q: Thoughts on Montrezl Harrell shattering backboards this summer?

Pitino: You know, when I hear of backboards being broken, that means someone's hanging on the rim. The least most impressive I hear in my life is when someone breaks a backboard. I don't like to see it. I know someone's gonna slip on the glass and get hurt, so that's not impressive. The way he's playing now, and the fact that this'll be our second first-team college All-American going into a season, is much more impressive than breaking a backboard.

Q: Does this remind you of the first year going into the Big East?

Pitino: It does. I hope we have better results, but we have a little more talent than that year. The similarities are there with the Big East, but the nonconference schedule is what concerns us. Those two Red-White games that we have are going to be really, really important for us. It'll be the first time I coach one of those games and coach it for real and try to win. It's going to really, really important that we're ready.

You guys are thinking I'm using a little levity when I say this because it's getting ready for Minnesota. Forget that it's Minnesota. We're playing a team that could beat us if we're not clicking on all cylinders. We have to be ready. We have to use those two Red-White games as a way of getting us ready. Bellarmine, which is a unique style of play, they don't have, like Minnesota, two 7-footers. They'll be good for us with the way they play and trying to defend them, but it's different, like Barry, so those two games are pivotal for us to get ready.

Follow U of L beat writer Jeff Greer on Twitter @jeffgreer_cj