Latest / Coaches Corner / Segment 5 - MBB Show w Luke Murray Dec 12

Transcript

Segment 5 - MBB Show w Luke Murray Dec 12 · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Welcome back to the Yukon Men's basketball coaches show up next for Dan Hurley's crew,
• 0:04
  late night clash on the West Coast in Seattle against gun Zaga and the
• 0:09
  Continenttle Tires Seattle tip Off pregame nine thirty, the tip off shortly after ten.
• 0:14
  Here along the Yukon Sports Network, the Varsity Network app, and the
• 0:18
  Varsity Network dot Com. Mike chris Pino joined by Luke Murray, you kind
• 0:22
  assistant and coach. First of all, the start the team has had this
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  year nine and one. When you got to you know, camp in the
• 0:30
  summer and you saw this freshman class and you saw Cam Spencer and you know,
• 0:35
  fitting in and all that stuff, did you anticipate you have this kind
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  of start? Because this team looks like last year's team. And that's pretty
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  tough to do because that was a kind of a difficult group to duplicate in
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  terms of what they accomplished. For sure. I mean, honestly, Mike,
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  we were hoping maybe ten and oh right now, you know, I
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  think that was probably the internal expectation, you know, when we saw the
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  improved that Alex had made in the off season, Tristan had made in the
• 1:03
  off season Donovan as well. You know, you mentioned Cam Spencer. It
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  was pretty clear to us right away that he was going to have a major
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  impact on the year. So, you know, again, as tough as
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  schedule as we've had, and we got one more really tough one coming up
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  on Friday, I think we felt like in the summertime that we had a
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  chance to be really good. Well, we talked to Dan about, you
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  know, the Kansas trip and the North Carolina game at the Garden, and
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  the Indiana and Texas games obviously at the Garden. This schedule may be the
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  most ambitious Yukon's taken on and quite some time. When that was put together,
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  What was the purpose were you saying, let's find out if we're any
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  good at all to start, and let's take our lumps if we're going to
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  and we'll be better in March or what was the thinking when that schedule was
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  put together? Yeah, I think, you know, we really wanted to
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  kind of re establish Yukon as a program that plays in the biggest games in
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  the country and the non conference. You know, I think the last couple
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  of years, you know, we had kind of been excluded from that a
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  little bit with the exception of the NCAA tournament run, and so for us
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  to be a factor in these non conference games, playing games at Madison Square
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  Garden is really important to us. We really pushed hard, you know,
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  to get the best Big twelve opponent, you know, which is obviously Kansas,
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  and playing out there on the road I think was great for our team.
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  The North Carolina game and the Gonzaga game coming up were ones that were
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  added to our schedule a little bit later in the offseason, but we felt
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  like it was a great opportunity to grow as a team and to test ourselves
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  against the best. Yeah, I'll tell you a mission accomplished. And for
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  the for Husky Nation too. I mean, you guys have really electrified this
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  crowd because obviously the run last year to a national championship was fabulous, but
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  now you're taking on these really marquee teams. Yukon is a marquee team,
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  and you're not afraid to do it. Let's go to Kansas, Let's go
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  to Gonzaga, Let's go to their place. It really to me showcases Yukon's
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  want to you know, we'll take on anybody anywhere, any time, absolutely,
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  you know, and as you mentioned, I think coach Hurley it's really
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  important to him in running the program that Yukon is viewed as a premier program
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  in the country, you know. And I think playing in games like these,
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  winning games like these, I think really helps to make that point.
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  And does that help on the recruiting trail, I wonder, because when you
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  talk to kids about Yukon basketball, you can point at all those players who
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  went to the NBA, you can point at those five banners, the other
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  hardware that's in those tremendous facilities you're in. But I think players like to
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  play in these kind of games absolutely, absolutely. I mean, really good
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  players want to play against the best. It's definitely something that we talk about
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  in the recruiting process, you know, even going into next year now playing
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  you know in the Marquee non conference events that we're going to be a part
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  of a couple of games that we're working on right now to schedule against top
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  tier opponents. So it's going to be something that we really look to do
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  every year. And as you mentioned, I think it really helps in the
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  recruiting process, just you know, growing the brand and making sure that people
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  realize where we're at. As a program right now. For those who don't
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  know, look Murray that well, he went to Fairfield University in Connecticut.
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  You grew up primarily in Westchester County. Am I right about that? Yeah?
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  I was in Westchester County and Rockland County. Yeah, so you knew
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  Fairfield and you went up there. What was that experience like for you?
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  Is that where you got the coaching bug? Yeah? Pretty much. I
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  mean I probably got the coaching bug a little bit earlier than that, but
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  yeah, I went to Fairfield. I went to high school in Connecticut,
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  and so for me, you know, I had some familiarity with Fairfield because
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  some of my classmates had gone there, and I had a great time there.
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  I really did. I love being at Fairfield. I was coaching high
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  school in aau basketball in the Bronx at the time when I was in college,
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  my freshman and sophomore year at college, and so you know, it
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  was good for me. It was really convenient to be able to get down
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  to the city and that's when I first started coaching and making a lot of
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  the different relationships that I have to this day. And you and Dan Hurley
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  and Dan just mentioned on the show that you've been in three places together.
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  He doesn't know why you keep coming back for the pain, he called it,
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  But being on his staff, maybe you can explain that. Yeah,
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  just a masochist, I would say. You know, I think that's pretty
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  much what it is for me. But you know, it's one of those
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  things where you know, he's he's been such a huge part of my life
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  and I really owe him a great deal, you know, in my professional
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  life and my personal life, and so the opportunity to work for him,
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  you know, he gave me my first chance as an assistant coach back at
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  Wagner and it's a real blessing for me to continue to be working with him
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  today. All right, Luke Murray with us. We'll be back. Final
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  segment on the Yukon Men's Basketball Coaches Show here Onlear Field