you want to start okay well coaches I mean your thoughts of what you've seen not just today in practice but throughout the summer what you've seen out of this group yeah the biggest thing like um when you have a a whole group of new guys it's a it's U you have it takes some time to figure each other out both as coaches and players um you know as coaches you're trying to figure out how to best utilize each guy's individual strengths and put them in the best position and vice versa uh the players are trying to figure out what you want from them so I felt like over the the six seven weeks we've made some strides uh the the biggest thing is just you got to learn how as a group uh how to win win together and and U that's the part that takes probably the longest time uh that's why I'm glad we get Summer workouts to work through some of that stuff so what do you hope to get out of this tour um and you know how beneficial is it have you done one before and and how beneficial are they yeah I've been on several um tours they're a great opportunity mostly from just uh um a chance to to Ay go see the world uh you know that's a something a lot of a lot of these guys you know myself included may not ever get the chance to do uh to go see places uh you know like Italy and um but more importantly just the chance to to to get to spend some some time outside of basketball in a different type of perspective for with one another and um that's what I love about the timing of this trip for us got a whole new group whole new staff so get to go spend uh 10 11 days on a trip um is certainly good timing for us to to get to know one each other on a on a a more personal level outside of basketball used to get a lot of value out of these but it seems like now the way the practic is arranged and set up it's not really the case anymore because everybody's practicing anyway right yeah it's it used to be like this was a huge deal every four years you get those 10 extra practices because you didn't get access or you only had two hours a week now with four hours a week you get those 10 extra practices but you can go a little long longer like like a day like today where we you know this is our Italy practice so to speak so now you can extend it a little longer do a few more things um but uh it's not quite as valuable but still still some benefit uh allowed us to put in maybe some things do a little extra film work that type of stuff uh in the middle of the summer coach as you're trying to bring all of this together what in your opinion what are some of the biggest obstacles you're going through with trying to get all of these guys to jail together yeah just as uh mentioned early it's it's it's just making um you know or not making helping us create our identity what do we want that to be every single day and and what does that look like and you know like I've told them a day like today or you know even when we just have you know a fan or a supporter come by and watch us they should be able to leave and know what our our identity is and if if they can't then we're not there yet and uh so we're still working on that um you know with with what that looks like but we want people to leave our gym and talk about how hard we play talk about how um much energy and enthusiasm we play with um how connected we are and those are the type of things that take time um you know right now in the summertime you you have a lot of thinking taking place so sometimes it's hard to play fast and free when you're having to process you know stuff in your mind because it's you get um you bogg down you know trying to learn new plays new new terminology when you only have you know ENT one guy uh which was Tucker that knows any of the stuff that we ran before uh everybody's learning new stuff even some of the a good portion of the staff is learning you know new terminology new ways that um that that we're trying to do things so again it's a process that that takes some time um that's why I'm glad we don't play till November the the the energy that you're you talk about trying to trying to bring with the team how much of that also kind of goes into look we got to get these guys to play harder because you know it looks like you guys are going to be smaller compared to most you know Big 12 teams yeah and you got to make up for that some somehow yeah uh you know SI size is you love to have size and and sometimes you you don't have it so how do you offset it and like you said it's a there's still a physicality that can can can uh you know make that a more even Benchmark for us and um that's the piece that you know we're growing into and and learning to understand is like if if we're going to be under siiz you you got got to do certain things to make sure that we can still survive on the glass uh to make sure we can survive uh guarding the ball whatever whatever those things may be but um and there AR there aren't any shortcuts uh to it and um you know even in a scrimmage like today where you see one team you know get up by 17 18 um they're making shots the other team wasn't but it's more about how do you stay in those games when you're not making shots and that's why you have to rely on your defense you have to rely on rebounding because you're not going to shoot it well every night so you need to be able to stay in those games and find a different way to win and that's the the best formula is to is to guard better and rebound better anything about the scrimmage cat your eye or surprised by the score at all or um I mean uh not really I mean it's um I think it's it's it's great for us you get it on film it's great teaching moments to why is one score look this way why is the other score look the other way and and and then you grow from that and that's um that's why these are fun fun to do in the summertime because they don't get talked about quite as much in the paper the next day so um watching your drills and seeing how they fold into you know obviously three on three and then on to five on five is there a place where you start to know hey they're starting to get up because they're really sharp at the drills and you see it carrying over and obviously you know one point you emphasized hey we're not bringing that over to this 5 on five session yeah yeah and part of it and it's it's nobody's fault you know in summertime we don't do a ton of conditioning um so they're not in great shape and you can see that um you know we go through the drill work we try to do it at fairly up Temple pace and speed uh and when we get to that five on five you know portion of it um we're not quite there to compete at the highest level we need to yet um some of that's conditioning and then the rest of it's that's the hardest part of basketball is taking it from the half court taking it from drill work and now making that car over into your five on five play and um that's the piece that takes the longest is to get to that part are you starting to see them learn some of the things you're emphasizing from the drills though you know at least in spots and carrying those over yeah even though you know maybe today you're like woo um you should have seen it on June 8th um we we have we have made strides so it it it's coming um you know I like the way they work I like the way they they approach it uh uh and that's all we ask is just be coachable continue to give us great effort great attitude and and um you know the progress will come you know sometimes as coaches you want it to happen today and and that's just not that's not realistic it it takes time you talk about identity how does that how does that get created I mean did they create their own identity what's your role in that and what is your I what what is your perfect identity that you love that you yeah I think your identity is is a what do you talk about what do you what do you watch on film and then what do you practice every single day you can't say your identity is one thing and then you it's not what you reinforce every single day so again I always put this on us as coaches of um our our identity should shine through you know when when somebody comes and watches us practice um um because if it doesn't then we're not doing the right things to get them there and that's U that's our job to make sure that when you come watch us play um we play incredibly hard we play incredibly unselfish um they have a lot of enthusias ASM with the game and those are the things that you know we want to um you know be about on an every everyday basis and it doesn't mean every day is going to go perfectly but uh you just need to do those things uh consistently enough and then you know the winds will follow have you had to coach effort I think you I think you have to always talk about effort and Co and Coach effort because it again if that's your identity is effort U I think everybody plays fairly hard it's just when you talk about trying to make an NCA tournament or trying to play for a big 12 Championship you're trying to be in that top 10% um you know of of everybody in the country so what separates you from what everybody else is doing um you know when everybody has their their meetings in the the summer fall whenever they have it who wants to win a big 12 Championship my guess is every single team raises their hand it's it's what are you going to do to try to get yourself and separate yourself from everybody else and so that's the piece of of like when you're talking about effort it's it's everybody's giving effort how can you give just a little bit more than everybody else time frame for Joseph yes is anything different than what you thought uh so far he's he's right on schedule uh we'll we'll continue to um you know hopefully make progress there I I think he feels good about where he's at I think when we come back from the Italy trip uh we'll start to you know our plan is to start to work them into some half court stuff some drill work and then kind of take it from there so um you about to start of school starting to get him back on the floor again you mixing match lineups in Italy mix and match your lineups yeah in Italy it'll be um I mean we're yeah we'll just throw different lineups there just to get a look at different things some guys will play more or less we'll try to play the younger guys a little more just to get them some some post High School experience I guess um you know and you never know what you're going to get over there sometimes you get a great game and and really Challenge and sometimes sometimes you don't so um I just want to I just want us to you know yeah play together and play play um the way we want them to play every night and I don't expect it to be great you know you travel and do all that stuff we're not doing a shoot around no walk through no just just go play it's the way they like it you know no Scouting Report you even do that how you know who yeah they're they're going to have five we're going to have five and toss her up so we'll figure out who can shoot it by halftime kind of on that note I mean how do you weigh I guess the the final score result while you're over there versus just seeing progression which of those I guess is more important to you I think it's the progression again I I don't want I don't try to put a lot into it I um you know I've been on several of these now and and you know some had coaches you know they sit in the stands and watch uh during these games and um you know I always felt like it's it's good for you know especially with a new group like I I need to be out there and Coach them but um I think for the most part it's it's try to get them just a little bit of a um a little bit of a rhythm together you know an identity of you know how we want to play but you also you take into account all the travel and all the stuff that goes with it I I don't I'm not I don't have unrealistic expectations of what it's going to look like um I'd love for it to be a great game I know last year we actually took our team to Spain when I was at Drake and we got beat in our first game and we were I think we were up 15 with like 10 minutes ago and we played the young guys it was the greatest thing ever because they had to finish out a game um um and whether we won or lost wasn't the point the point is they were in a situation that they're going to see and and we got an opportunity to to watch how they responded and I'm hoping we get something like that again on this trip with pal and tener it looks like you have a couple freshmen there who at the very least aren't afraid to compete I'm just kind of wonder what have you seen in them and as freshman uh have they surprised you yeah really liked what what they've uh done uh this summer they' both they've both been you know pleasantly surprising as you said a lot of times that adjustment can take longer you know some some are faster but um I think they've done a great job of of making that transition and it's it takes a little bit of time but you can see it each week each one of them makes um um some progress in some areas that maybe the week before they were struggling with and um I like both of them I think they got great upside I I anticipate them you know helping us throughout the year as far as ball handlers it looks like that's probably where you have the most depth maybe and then is that I mean how much of a plus is that to have you know maybe on the floor two three ball handers at one time sometimes I think it's it's um it's important to have ball handlers um it's important to know when you're not a ball handler too you know um uh the biggest thing in this league in every league is is you got to be able to take care of the basketball and whether that's making plays yourself or or being able to um you know recognize some of your limitations to not get yourself in trouble and um I I like this group and and um for the most part they take pretty good care of the basketball and make good decisions and that's come a long ways from our first couple weeks in June so um it's um I think there's some some really good upside there with with with those pieces and that depth could you have like two or three different guys run the point in in the game or do you like to have that one guy I don't know I like have multiple ball handlers multiple decision makers you know outside of your set plays a lot of what we do is is um uh you're you're having a lot of different guys touch and handle the ball and um I think that helps with their development because they're asked to do it every single day in practice and then uh you get into the games and and and that's something that they've done for for an extended period of time you're still going to have you know one or two guys that you like to have the ball the most and and you know we'll play through them whether it be through set plays or maybe down the stretch of and now you're putting guys in in the spots they can be most successful Tucker shoulder was he slowed all this summer because the rehab yeah he got he didn't get cleared until last week um it was the first time he got to play with full contact uh so it's been it was almost four months uh that he had wasn't allowed to do a whole lot of anything that um had contact in it and we're still being somewhat careful with it and and picking and choosing some spots and some rebounding and drills and things like that but uh last uh I believe it was last Tuesday he got full clearance for contact you cringe when you see him he took a shot or two on the shoulder today you cringe at all when you see that I pretend not to I think uh that's just I mean as as a coach and when a player is coming back from an injury you know broken foot a knee whatever it might be anytime they they take a fall you probably are always really really really happy when they get back up and don't grab something so I think that's just part of and it if I feel that way you know how the player feels you know as they're coming back too like being able to take a fall and get back up and know it's okay it's a again that's a part of the recovery process too it's not just hey you're you're better it's also mentally knowing like oh I can take this hit and and feel fine Tucker's an obvious leader because he knows your system who are those other guys that need to emerge and be leaders for you yeah I think it's a it's pretty open uh you know from from my standpoint of like this is this is middle of July there's nothing set you know we we got a group that you know we worked with today tomorrow will be a different group uh that you know you're earning your minutes throughout the summer it's because you have a blue jersey on or a white jersey on doesn't really mean a whole lot to me right now it's when we watch the film which guys are are doing the things they're supposed to be doing and and then hopefully by November we got a good idea of you know what a starting five looks like what the bench looks like and and have some some roles established uh but even with that those roles aren't permanent either you know you get satisfied and complacent uh you know you change them you know our goal as a coaching staff is to make sure we got the best lineups out there um you know to help us win games it seems like a a guy like a Connie uh obviously you know don't really know a lot about him but it it seems like uh he could be a versatile kind of player for you and it seems like he's got maybe a little bit more muscle than than maybe uh you would have originally thought do you see him as a guy who can kind of be like an X Factor kind of player or yeah I would love for Toby to merge of to be that guy that uh all right he's you you got him and and we can feel good about his his ability to um shut somebody down and that's as you mentioned with his his length um now and his versatility and his athleticism he can guard multiple positions so it's not just hey can only guard a three he can guard a one two three four switch onto a five um you know have great length there so uh I I I like what that could look like um as because he certainly has the tools to be that of the college guys that you brought in that had college experience anyone saying out to you that maybe he's a little bit better now that you see seeing them in person versus what you saw on tape I feel like uh Eduardo has made tremendous strides in the last six weeks uh you I thought um his last two weeks you can really see him doing some some good things and that's been critical as as we've talked about we are a little undersized but he's the one guy that does have that length that you need and gives us some Rim protection but uh I I like the production he's been giving us these last couple weeks he he's certainly finding his way a little bit on both ends of the floor and and and and getting more comfortable regards Eduardo how comfortable was he he looked like he was fine kind of handling the ball away from the basket throwing some of those back door pass is how comfortable is he doing that and how important is that in your offense yeah we've told both of our bigs here in practice um I I want you to take some chances um on game night let's be a little more careful but um right now let's I want I want them to see that they can throw it and complete it so they're going to have to throw a couple away uh for us to get better at that because such a big part of what we do is is is getting five guys and getting that paint lifted uh getting some backdoor opportunities creating some driving lanes and the more that they can you know put pressure on people to have protect back cuts and stuff it's going to open up Shooters and things like that so um for right now that's a that's a big piece of of our offense is those two being confident and comfortable making those type of plays and passes because we do a lot through them um we like to go through them with with um some of our pressure release stuff which in this league you know it it eliminates some of the traps and things cuz now they have a live dribble uh so you can eliminate some of the double teams and things maybe a ball screen offense would bring uh so the the more um comfortable they can get there the better offense will be I'm kind of curious looking at Offrey obviously you can tell he's kind of put on some muscle put on some weight from last year uh where is your philosophy ride and strength training some coaches will be end all be all get them as big and strong as possible other coaches might look for something else where are you with you know weightlifting and strength training yeah I'm more in like aun functional movement strength training so I I don't I don't need linebackers you know I want them to to be strong but I also want them to be you know able to move be quick be agile um uh you know strength is important but uh the fight's probably more important you know so uh but uh I think overall just making sure that when they you know when we get into game day that they feel good and confident and um in how their body feels and and able to go out and perform in that way go to the football team they got some good ones over there too any chance addition before in the month before the semester starts yeah we're still uh very much actively recruiting uh there's um some some multiple players that we're still you know trying to to recruit and and get them here by the start of school anything else for Coach coach thank you yep thank you everyone