Transcript: Pitino previews Clemson

Louisville coach Rick Pitino talked Clemson, ACC hoops, Chris Jones, Wayne Blackshear and a whole host of other topics in Tuesday's 20-minute press conference.

Here's the full transcript:

Opening statement: Clemson beat a pressing, trapping team at Arkansas. They have four starters back from last year's team. Since (head coach Brad Brownell) has been there, they've been first or second in the ACC in the fewest amount of points allowed in the conference. They're a very good defensive team. Their players know their offense very well. We had one day of prep. We had to take off Monday -- Sunday games screw up a team big time, because the following week we have three games and take a day off. It's our first ACC home game, and we're really looking forward to it.

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On Shaqquan Aaron: I thought he was very active in the last game. He went back door on a really, really smart play that was just a reaction. I think he's a really good basketball player who just has to get stronger ... I think his role is what you saw in the last game (at Wake Forest).

On Pitino's comments on the disconnect between the younger and older players: I just think that the older players really understand, because they've been through the wars, what it takes to be a great road team, what it takes to be a great basketball team. I think the young guys are just trying to get through a practice. They don't understand the big goals. It's not only foreign in terms of where they're from. It's foreign in terms of their thought process. Anas (Mahmoud) didn't play very well last game. It was his poorest performance of the season. He just doesn't understand what it takes, intensity-wise, to win on the road, from screening, cutting, playing defense. It's all foreign to him. There's not necessarily a disconnect, it's just that there's one group that has very lofty goals and one group that has short-sighted goals. They don't see the grand journey of it all because they haven't had that experience. It's normal.

On what he wants from his centers: A lot better than what we had the other night (at Wake Forest). I'll tell you this: They had a bad night, especially Anas, but that bad defensive night was 100 percent on me. I had them playing the wrong defense on (Wake big man Devin Thomas). That's my fault. I thought (Mahmoud) was physically OK to play that guy, and he wasn't. I have to take the heat on that one.

On what he would've done instead: I probably would've started Mangok (Mathiang) or (Chinanu Onuaku). I'm waiting for Nanu to practice hard, consistently play hard. He physically could've matched up, but he played seven minutes and fouled out. He's physically ready but not mentally ready. He's incapable of -- as soon as he gets a little tired, he shuts down. He doesn't fight through it. We've got to get him to that point before the season ends. We need his body.

Video:Pitino on the NCAA

On finding an identity and if U of L has found its identity: I don't think so. I think we're getting better. We're improving each day of practice. We've had three good days of practice in a row. We haven't had that in a while. We're taking baby steps and improving. We're going to have a lot of bumps in the road. I can tell you that right now. But we have a good record. We're going to have a lot of bumps, but that doesn't concern me. Bumps are part of every season. We need to, come March, become a very good basketball team. The good thing with this team is that it has a very high ceiling, and a really long way to go.

On Clemson coach Brad Brownell: This team has been -- they've been 1 or 2 in the league in points allowed. That's not only playing good defense, but that's a ball-control offense. This is a dangerous team.

On game planning vs. different styles: Back in the old days, the ACC was a transition league. It's really not anymore. You have teams like Florida State, Clemson. Virginia does play fast when they take it. It's just a mixture of different styles. Every night there's a different style like there was in the Big East ... You just have to be ready for this. You're not going to speed up teams that play like this. You have to be good in the halfcourt.

On Chris Jones: I'll say this: He was very well-coached in junior college ... Chris is right on one thing. He wants to be right all the time. My eyes are still very good at 62, and I know when a mistake's being made and I know when it's not. My job is easy. Your job is difficult going out there and having to perform under the influence of fatigue.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about ... He single-handedly won that (Wake Forest) game and took over the game for us. Montrezl (Harrell) and Terry Rozier played very well, but he was great in all phases of the game. What I've been trying to get him to do is, when he drives the lane, if he doesn't pivot to interior bounce pass or throw the lob, do not throw interior chest passes. He threw a left-handed pass to Montrezl on the baseline and Montrezl didn't catch it and it went out of bounds. I took (Jones) out and I said, 'What don't you understand about the two types of passes that I want? There's no Option C. It's either a bounce pass, a lob or you pivot.' He said, 'Well, I threw the one to the perimeter and that was fine.' I said, 'I didn't talk about the perimeter.'

See, he's always fighting to be right, rather just freaking listening to what the guy's saying. The problem is, in junior college, he always wanted to be right. He was very well-coached, he just didn't want to learn more. Now he does. That's the difference. He knows, if he doesn't want to learn more, he'll sit. In high school, he gets what -- you're the best player and you get what you want because the coach says he can't stand it anymore. In junior college, you get your way 50 percent of the time. At this level, you never get your way. That's what he's learning. He fought it long enough. I love him as a player. I love him off the court. He's great. But he's got to learn, 'I made a mistake, no big deal. Next time I'll throw a bounce pass.' In his mind, he's saying Montrezl should've caught the ball. Well, Montrezl is used to a bounce pass or a lob pass. He came down the lane and threw two great bounces passes, he threw a lob pass to Montrezl. He laid it up and put it in. He's learning.

Look, it's very easy for me to tell him to throw a bounce pass. Every coach in America knows to throw a bounce pass or lob. He's always fought that. He was very well-coached in junior college.

On Kobe Bryant's AAU comments: They're 100 percent on the money. There are very good AAU coaches who try to teach the game. There are others who try to recruit and win titles. The fundamentals of the game are so lacking. Guys don't know how to throw bounce passes. Guys don't know how to pivot. Guys don't know how to set screens. It's what AAU basketball is all about -- it's not the fundamentals of the game.

There are certain high school basketball players who are very fundamentally sound. They know how to play. I can speak about Donovan Mitchell. He's very sound in everything. His coach demands the fundamentals of the game, but that's an unusual situation in this game. Kobe is correct. AAU basketball is not about teaching reverse pivots. I've got guys who come in here and don't know how to take layups off their right foot. You think AAU guys who have them for a week and they're getting ready to Vegas and they'll teach a guy how to reverse pivot? No, they're trying to put in an offense and a defense. That should come in at the high school level. You don't expect AAU coaches to teach the fundamentals of the game.

Can that change? I don't think they have enough time to coach the fundamentals of the game (at the AAU level). The AAU guys are just trying to put together groups to win tournaments. They can't spend all that time. They don't have that type of time. If you go to a Trinity High practice, you're going to see fundamentals taught. Those kids are going to be taught how to do everything. I'm sure there are a lot of guys like that out there. That's where it all stems from. When (Raymond Spalding) comes in here, he's going to be a fundamentally sound ball player.

On NCAA, NBA investing into prep level: I think there are a lot of high school kids who don't even understand the rules of the NCAA. I don't think Shaqquan Aaron had any idea if what his family was doing was right or wrong. He had no clue. If there are ills in the NCAA, take it out. Let us go out 14 days in the summer and have NCAA camps where they teach the kids the rules and we go in and watch for four days. They bring in high school coaches to coach the kids. They do it on the West Coast, the Midwest, the East Coast. Teach the kids the rules. Educate them. It's all about education. It can't be that big of an expense. The NCAA has all that money. Why don't you spend it educating kids the right way? You could easily do it. Take it out of AAU basketball. We could go to NCAA-sponsored events. That's always been my suggestion to the ills of the AAU teams and shoe companies involved. Would the shoe companies pay all those AAU coaches if college coaches didn't come to watch?

The NCAA is to blame in all of this. They allow the ills of the game to go on. They could do something about it if they were proactive.

On free-throw shooting improvements: It's just keeping Mangok away from the line. (Laughs.) We've been working hard at it. We spend a lot of time on it. Probably more so than most. What I really like about this basketball team is, when they get in really close games, they really execute offensively.

On Wayne Blackshear: Wayne's having a good year but Wayne has not learned the last thing that Larry O'Bannon learned. Those two are the two most similar personalities that I've encountered at the University of Louisville. They are unbelievable young men. Great guys. Respectful. They all have this personality when they step on the court that's mild-mannered. I told Larry, 'Your personality is what's stopping you from being a good basketball player.' You have to be an intense competitor. Larry got it at the end of his junior year and had an unbelievable senior year.

Wayne just has to take that mild-mannered nature and, when he steps between those lines, he has to be a killer. That's all he needs. He's playing good basketball right now. That's why he's inconsistent. Some games he goes out there and dunks on people. You see that intensity. The other night, he was cutting slow, moving slow. I said, 'You have to think you're in a fight. Someone's going to knock you out if you're not ready.'

On how to foster that aggression: You just keep talking about the fire between the lines. I got very frustrated with Larry. Anas, I'm all over him about his attitude. He literally got out of the way from screening people. He's just physically weak. He doesn't like contact. He's not soft. He's weak.

Wayne and Larry aren't weak. They're strong people. It's just their mild-mannered nature that has to change when they enter the ring. That's what we've got to get him to do. We just have to get more consistent with it. I believe he'll get it. He's like Larry. They're two of the nicest people to put on the Louisville uniform.

I think maybe a dunk early in the game or something aggressive gets him fired up. I think he'll do it now more consistently in games. Sometimes, when there's nobody pushing you for minutes ... Shaqquan playing that last game will light that fire.