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GMac Interview (10/25/2022)


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8 hours ago, Greenrex said:

Excellent interviewer and interviewee. Grant McCasland is first class.

 

I thought this was an excellent interview, too. The scheduling part was interesting. It’s what we all kind of thought, but he just said it. No one wants to come to Denton to get their ass kicked.   😂

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I understand coaches who are conditioned to provide as little information as possible when interviewed or in a press conference but it's certainly refreshing when a coach like GM comes across as candid and honest when discussing the team and program. Exciting to hear him speak of expanding the offense and explaining that the glacial pace and approach in recent years was intentional and strategic to match the strength of the roster/rotation. Sounds like his focus is tailoring the style of play to players rather than being rigid to a specific system.

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3 hours ago, southsideguy said:

Night and Day between Gmac and SL.  Gmac seems happy to be here while he is here.  I sure some big boys will be sniffing around for him.

SL is definitely a different person than he was Year 1.  6 years of wear and tear, doesn't like to deal with media, losing seasons, etc...

I don't think a GMac comparison is completely fair.  They strike me as different personality types.  GMac has had tons of positive momentum on his side, and seems to embrace the camera/social aspects of his job.

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4 hours ago, southsideguy said:

Night and Day between Gmac and SL.  Gmac seems happy to be here while he is here.  I sure some big boys will be sniffing around for him.

Other programs have come sniffing around (SMU included if you consider them “big boys”) and Mac has chosen to stay put.  I think he knows what some of us forget…this place has the potential to be special. 

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I was really intrigued by how much he was talking up Kai Huntsberry. I was fully expecting Martinez and Eady to be starters and key players on the team, but with Huntsberry was just hoping he could be a solid guard off the bench. He is much more of an unknown as a D2 guy compared to Martinez and Eady, who were both double digit scorers at D1 schools, but it sounds like he has a really impressive offensive skill set straight from Mccasland’s mouth.

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He's actually chatting about technical, schematic, and personnel strengths... with detail!    
This is something Littrell would N.E.V.E.R. do.   
It's almost as if McCasland understands that his opponents do their own scouting and aren't stupid, so he can just speak plainly about what we do well, and just challenge the other teams to stop his guys.  I love it, but it's so weird to hear.  I normally expect coaches to be way more guarded.

Great Interview!

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What I found most interesting about the scheduling issues is that not only do schools not wanna come to the Pit to play, but they also don’t wanna pay us to come to them either. 
 

also the little tidbit that only Kansas was okay with playing us in the first round last year was hilarious

Edited by MeanGreen22
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3 hours ago, BillySee58 said:

I was really intrigued by how much he was talking up Kai Huntsberry. I was fully expecting Martinez and Eady to be starters and key players on the team, but with Huntsberry was just hoping he could be a solid guard off the bench. He is much more of an unknown as a D2 guy compared to Martinez and Eady, who were both double digit scorers at D1 schools, but it sounds like he has a really impressive offensive skill set straight from Mccasland’s mouth.

Coach Mac compared Huntsberry to Javion but said he is a better outside shooter. Sign me up for that! Can't wait to see how this team develops as the year goes on. I think they will definitely have some growing pains early, as the new guys get used to the system, but I think we will be peaking about the time conference play starts. Go Mean Green!

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22 minutes ago, Shark 64 said:

Coach Mac compared Huntsberry to Javion but said he is a better outside shooter. Sign me up for that! Can't wait to see how this team develops as the year goes on. I think they will definitely have some growing pains early, as the new guys get used to the system, but I think we will be peaking about the time conference play starts. Go Mean Green!

Yeah it sounded like he said he’s faster than Javion in addition to saying he’s a better shooter. That would be a heck of a ball player. I’m still not expecting him to be CUSA player of the year like Javion, but I am expecting him to be legit offensive weapon. Also expecting it will take some time to get up to speed at the D1 level.

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On 10/26/2022 at 2:00 PM, emmitt01 said:

What I was most interested to hear was the fact that we can't schedule bigger name opponents at home because, though we've tried, teams don't want to face our program in our gym.   This is when you know you've built a quality program.  

 

I long for the days when the reason we can't get opponents to Apogee is because other schools fear a loss.  

Until we show we can be a perennial Quad 1 road opponent it's going to be hard to get anyone worthwhile to Denton. As a fan I wish we scheduled more known mid-majors to come to Denton, but I understand why Mac prefers early season tournaments instead. They're low risk, high reward. 

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Great interview. Mac is so engaging and makes you want to listen, unlike Littrell who actively drives away any sort of engaging conversation.

Will be interested to see the transition offense and overall uptick in tempo. Our slow pace seemed to pair well with a strong defense. Wonder if they'll fall a little bit defensively because of it. Still expect us to be top defensively among the conference, but maybe not as strong nationally.

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Yeah football coaches in general are very guarded -- hoops coaches are much more engaging on the whole. Compared to CUSA coaches, Littrell is even worse when it comes to conversation. The only worse were Doc Holliday, and Jay Hopson. They just loathed media interaction (at least at media days).



 

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