Exclusive: 1 on 1 with Rick Pitino

Jeff Greer
Louisville Courier Journal
Puerto Rico coach Rick Pitino in a men's basketball preliminary round game against Venezuela during the 2015 Pan Am Games at Ryerson Athletic Centre.

TORONTO -- Rick Pitino covered a wide range of topics in an hourlong interview with The Courier-Journal on Wednesday, including his thoughts on coaching Puerto Rico and on his 2015-16 U of L team.

We'll post the transcript from the Q&A in two parts. The first post covered Pitino's time with the Puerto Rican national team, which is currently playing in the Pan Am Games here in Toronto. Read that here.

And you can read the story on Pitino's Pan Am Games and Puerto Rico experience here.

This second post will cover Pitino's thoughts on his Louisville team, their Puerto Rico trip, Terry Rozier, Russ Smith, Ralph Willard and much, much more ...

How do (assistant coaches Ralph Willard and Kenny Johnson and director of basketball operations David Padgett) communicate with you?

We have conference calls every day.

Do they just run through notes? Is there visualization?
No, I give them what to do in every individual instruction and we talk about what the players are doing. We talk about strength and conditioning with Ray (Ganong). Recruiting-wise, they're all on the road. I sent (assistant coach Mike Balado) ... Get on the road and recruit. I sent him out of here.

I know Mike has been widely respected as a good recruiter. I was wondering if that bothered him being (at the Pan Am Games vs. recruiting) ...
No, he wanted to be here. It was his choice. It was his idea. He pushed me into this a little bit. He thought there would be some young Puerto Rican players for us to recruit, and right now, there's maybe one or two for us to look at, but that's not something we're really interested in. We're at the highest level, recruiting-wise. I just sent him on the road to Las Vegas to help those guys recruit.

One of the reasons why (coaching Puerto Rico) worked is we don't need a whole lot (in the 2016 class). We won't lose very many players this year. We're going to have basically our whole team back. We may only take two players this year and a transfer, or we may take three. We don't need a whole lot. We need some parts, but we don't need a whole lot.

Believe it or not, we're concentrating on 2017. About 60 percent of our recruiting effort is on '17, not '16.

What do you tell kids about Puerto Rico?
It's no different than Coach K and what he's doing. We all go out and see the players like Coach K did. They concentrate on the Olympic thing.

How do you keep in touch with (recruits)?
I text them mostly.

That's a newer trend in the past decade or so.
Yeah, the texting part is interesting.

Is it harder to build a relationship with a kid now than it used to be?
The relationship starts -- the rules are such that you don't have a relationship with a recruit like you did in the old days. In other words, there are very few home visits anymore. The visits are to your campus, so we get to know their people, but the relationship really starts sincerely when they head to school that summer.

That's obviously very different than football, where home visits are a big part of the process.
It's different in basketball. It's really become a business. The parents are much more involved than they were back in the older days. I would like to say it's for the better in some instances, but it's for the worse in others.

What's the process this summer then? I know you know (freshmen Deng Adel, Donovan Mitchell, Ryan McMahon and Ray Spalding) well, but with you being away, do you think it's made that harder?
Those guys I know very well. I've spent a lot of time with them already. But I almost think that it's actually a good thing to be away. Let them physically and mentally develop a little bit. Ralph (Willard) is good in this area. That's why it was necessary, like I told the players last week in a meeting, it was necessary to bring in a white-haired guy for you guys. They laughed. I said it's really, really important. Ralph has been great with (Chinanu Onuaku), just telling him his Oklahoma City Thunder (experience), 'Guys don't act like that. This is how they act.' And he's been great for Nanu in that regard. He's been very good with some of the big guys. He's very good with the big guys.

What do you think you've learned so far about your 2015-16 team?
You still don't know where the points are going to come from yet. That's why Puerto Rico is going to be crucial. We will know, coming out of Puerto Rico, what we have. Everything else is -- when you do individual instruction, you're basically doing drills without defense. You're working on footwork. You know who has good footwork. You know who can shoot. You know their work ethic. You don't know defense. You don't know schemes. You will know that -- this Monday we're going to practice double sessions.

On Monday, we're going two sessions, double sessions. Off Tuesday. Double sessions, double sessions, off. Double sessions, double sessions ... We've got 20 practices in 10 days. What we'll do with these practices is, one practice will focus on offensive execution and fundamentals, and the other thing will be defensive fundamentals and execution.

I remember last year you were very frustrated, especially early on, with some of the younger guys catching up on defensive schemes.
Last year was one of the most difficult encounters of my time at Louisville because we want to be organized. We hate distractions. We started out with so many distractions, distractions from Jaylen Johnson (trying to qualify for college), distractions from (Shaqquan Aaron). They were distractions we didn't know about. That started it off. There was no unity, no chemistry early on because of all those distractions. There were sort of two teams. It was the older guys and the younger guys, and the older guys had such little respect for the younger guys, because they didn't have a strong work ethic, they didn't understand time management ... And so, it's almost like the NBA and the hazing of rookies. There's none of that now, because everybody's young, and Mangok (Mathiang) and Trey (Lewis) have such a good way about them. They look at the younger guys like younger brothers they must help mature. That wasn't the case (last season). It was almost like, 'Go get the coffee and doughnuts.'

Those older guys are guys you really like and admire. Was that hard to watch them try to deal with the younger guys?
It's funny, because I don't think they understand what they were like when they were young. They had Gorgui (Dieng) and Peyton (Siva) nurturing them like Trey and Mangok are nurturing them. Our older guys -- Jaylen Johnson was always late, sleeping. They had no tolerance for that. 'We're trying to win a national championship. We're trying to become pros. This is a business for us.' Or Nanu not being in shape. They had no time for that. They're running on the agenda of trying to win a national championship, trying to be pros. 'We don't have time, in that sense, for you guys growing up.'

How much does having Ralph around this summer help?
Ralph is a stickler for fundamentals. Always has been. It's all about the fundamentals for him. Ralph learned an awful lot from the Oklahoma (City) Thunder experience, because his job with the Thunder was to go around and watch college practices. Every single day he's watching another college practice or another college game, so he's seeing the good and the bad of all these situations. What I told him was, 'Just get these guys fundamentally ready from a footwork, passing, catching, blocking out standpoint.' If we're doing a 40-minute individual instruction, 10 minutes a day is spent on a defensive fundamental. So, when next Monday comes, they're going to be understanding what this is all about. But I've never heard such glowing remarks about them as people. I just got off the phone with (trainer Fred Hina). He said, 'Coach, I want to tell you how I've never seen anything close to this in the years I've been here.' In terms of helping each other, in terms of attitude, this team is going to be a fan favorite. You know how they love Peyton and Russ? They're going to fall in love with 10 of these guys. Damion, Mangok, Trey -- they're cheerleaders. You know when you see someone fall to the floor and you see two people come running. I think you'll see 10 or 12 guys running. That's the feeling these guys have.

We may have dysfunctional and there were a lot of distractions last year, but we were a layup away from the Final Four. We're a team that made the top four in the ACC and got a double bye. It does take talent to win, and that's what remains to be seen. Do we have the talent to win?

Do you think this roster is a product of that desire more recently to find guys who fit that mold?

What I try to do is, we all felt that this was the year we would have to rebuild. What I tried to do is go from rebuild to reload, and the only way to do that this time was with fifth-year seniors.

That's new for you.
We could've rebuilt in one year and been back to where we were, but I looked at the schedule and I said, 'This is going to be a disaster.' It could turn into playing all young guys at Michigan State, at Kentucky, at Duke, at Virginia, at Miami. They're going to get discouraged, and that hurts your program. You take two steps back. Sometimes that's not real good. The only way to do it is to really do your homework, bring in two fifth-year guys. The greatest thing about them is they've never made an NCAA tournament, so they are so hungry to play in an NCAA tournament that they're going to step up and do the right things.

You mentioned the schedule ... What were you hoping to accomplish with this one?
We didn't expect ... What I was hoping for was to go to Minnesota. I thought that'd be good for TV. Instead, we're going to Michigan State. If you asked me right now to poll coaches for the top five hardest places to play ... Richard (Pitino) tells me Michigan State is the hardest place to play in the Big Ten. In our league, coaches would say Duke. I saw Virginia last year, and I'd put them in my top five. So I would go with Virginia, Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, Michigan State ... North Carolina State I understand is very difficult. Miami's got their whole team back. Pittsburgh's got most of their guys back.

We've been one of the premier road teams in college basketball. For the past five or six years, we've been a great road team. It's almost got to be the opposite right there. We have to have one of the strongest homecourt advantages in college basketball. We've got to sweep the board at home. We've got to pitch a no-hitter. If we have a blip, it has to be just one game because the road is going to be very difficult. The road will make us a better basketball team, but we've got to win at home, and we can't have many messups.

It seems like this could be the type of team where you lose eight, nine or 10 games, but you feel good about where you are when March comes.
I think that very much so. Our RPI is going to be terrific. Our competition is going to be great. We're going to get better and better and better every week of the season because we're very young. I'm not concerned about having eight or nine losses, because I think, at the end of the year, this team will be tested, battle tested, ready for the NCAA tournament.

You've mentioned youth quite a bit this summer. Does it help having (assistant) Kenny Johnson around?
Right now, if you said to me, who's relating to the guys the best, I'd say it's Ralph Willard. It's the pro experience. He tells the guys, 'This is the way the pros would act.' He has a great relationship with the guys. Kenny's a great recruiter, not because he relates well, but because he's relentless in the pursuit of a kid. It's the relentless pursuit. Kenny does a great job of figuring out what I want in a player and as a person. He automatically knows that Damion Lee, Trey Lewis, Donovan Mitchell, Deng Adel, Ray Spalding ... He knows that they're my kind of people. He knows what I want and he's seen the problems I've had. We don't want those problems anymore.

When you get back, after being away from them for a while, what do you expect?
In the old days, the summer was their time. It wasn't our time. You really don't want to burn them out. I think absence makes the heart grow fonder in this situation. I think the fact that I'm not around is a good thing for them. They're going to have enough of me. When we get through 10 days of double sessions, they're probably going to wish they had their white-haired guy back. It's working out much better than I anticipated. I'm anxious to get back because of the raves of Fred, Ray and Ralph. They just keep saying, 'You're going to love coaching these guys.'

People keep saying these more recent groups, this past season notwithstanding, have given you more energy as a coach.
Any time you win at the level we're winning at, you realize why you're winning. It's not only good basketball players, but they have really bought into what we stand for at the University of Louisville. We make such a big deal of it -- it's not just rhetoric of being a 'Louisville Man.' I can't tell you how many times I bring guys into the office and say, 'Louisville men don't act that way.' It's something we really (hammer) -- what a 'Louisville Man' stands for. And then, when they screw up, we point it out and say, 'A Louisville Man doesn't do those things.' Terry (Rozier) and I have probably had more meetings and discussions about business, life ...

I'd call him in and say, 'OK, I'm a general manager. Here's what they're going to ask you: They're going to ask you trick questions. They're going to ask you sincere questions. Let me see how you'll respond to these.' We were doing mock interviews.

I think Terry Rozier exemplifies what I'm after more than any other recruit. What I mean is this: I didn't have to wine and dine Terry. Terry, for whatever reason, that documentary on Sebastian Telfair, he knew, like Donovan Mitchell, he knew, like the young man I can't mention his name (V.J. King) ... They know what they want. They want the University of Louisville. They want the basketball. They want the experience. Terry wanted that. Terry went from a ... He wasn't a top-50 player, but he was what we were looking for. We knew he was a top-50 player in our minds. We didn't care what the rankings were. We evaluated him a certain way. We knew Gorgui Dieng was a top-50 player.

We didn't know Russ Smith. He was just Ralph convincing me to take him. I really thought Ralph lost it. What I said to him, 'Rutgers is not recruiting him. St. John's is not recruiting him. Seton Hall's not recruiting him. He's been to my camp. Everybody around New York City thinks he's out of his mind.' And he said, 'You'll love coaching him and he's worth the gamble.' After his freshman year, I can't tell you how many phone calls I wanted to make to Ralph to kill Ralph. Then his sophomore year went, junior year went, senior year went ... He becomes a first-team consensus All-American. I had a great time with him. Now his silliness -- that's what I call it, playfulness -- made it fun, but a lot of coaches probably don't want to have that fun in that regard. But he was fun to be around.

Terry epitomizes what we're really after, a kid who really wants to be at Louisville, has an ego, but it's a good ego. It's the right type of ego. He's driven to show he's the best to help the team win. I always call ego "edging greatness out." Like, 'Hey, Louisville fans. Follow me on Twitter. I want to get more people. Look at me.' That's not the type of guys we want. We don't want the look-at-me type guys.

From everything we've read in Boston, it sounds like the Celtics felt that way about Terry, too.
There's a very difficult shooting drill. It's 55 shots on the move. You're exhausted when you get done. I think the most shots made were 43. They went out and did it. There were four guys there doing it. It's very exhausting. My guys, they can get through it. The (other guys) can't even breathe at the end of it.

So now Terry said he didn't like his score. 'I want to do it again.' OK, so he does it again. The other guys jumped into it and said, 'We'll do it again.' When it was over the second time, Terry still wasn't happy with his score. The other guys were done. Terry did it two more times. Danny (Ainge) has never seen that before. So, I think that hunger and drive epitomizes what we want in a Louisville man. Somebody who just does not give up, who will not relent or fatigue. And that's Terry.

Last few things and I'll let you get back to your day job here ...
Which one? (Laughs.) You know what's funny about this scenario? I'm organizing my minutes to where I could possibly get a workout. Today, we've got shoot-around, then we've got film, then I'll run home (to the hotel) before we have a meeting and try to squeeze in a workout. It's usually very easy to do.

Let's run through your guys on your Louisville roster. I think a lot of people are most intrigued right now by Chinanu Onuaku and Mangok Mathiang, and how much progress, if any, they've made after their international experiences ...
You know, I didn't see Mangok. Any time I see you win -- like last night (Puerto Rico lost by 33 points to Brazil), for instance, you know I don't have a very good team because the other team blows you away. Mangok blew a couple teams away. I don't know how much that experience helped him.

I know it helped Nanu because I watched the games. It started very rocky for him and ended great. In the beginning, it was very tough with the coaching with him. They were having problems with him. In the end, he helped them win a gold medal. He was a direct factor in that game for them winning a gold medal. They could've lost the gold medal if it wasn't for Nanu. It helped him mature because, in the beginning, he wasn't doing things the right way. At the end, he did things the right way and was rewarded with a gold medal for doing things the right way. I think it really helped him. It also helped him see other coaches and their demands. Like I always tell our guys, if you go to Villanova, you're going to see the same practice as ours. If you go to North Carolina, you're going to see the same practice. Xavier, same practice. Everybody's going to go hard. The only thing different is their defensive system.

When you look at that group -- I remember you, for example, saying Matz Stockman did well in individuals but it's hard to tell --
Matz's biggest problem is he's got to overcome some ... Matz has some tremendous shortcomings, culturally, in the game of basketball. Norway has no culture for basketball. He is an observer rather than a participant. He won't push people. He's got to be pulled. Matz is a big project.

Do you view Anas Mahmoud the same way?
No. No. Anas has a different culture all together, because he came over here and played.

How's he doing, health-wise?
He's working out already. He's healed. We thought that was a good thing. He's put on five pounds.

Have you had time to evaluate Damion Lee yet?
Damion is a sponge like Trey. Regardless of what level you're at in Division I basketball, if you're the fourth-leading scorer in the country, you know you can play. The coaching is very good in that league and he got it done. we know he's going to be a very good scorer at our level as well.

Can you remember a time in your coaching career where you've had an intriguing week on the calendar like the Puerto Rico trip? A trip where you're going to find out so much about a team that you might not know all that much compared to teams you've had in the past?
I think the unique thing is going to be me coaching a team and I'll be trying to beat my team. I expect the games to be very competitive. I'm going to be coaching a team trying to beat my own team. Deep down, I'm hoping that my team beats me. It's something that, if we lose, I know we have a lot of work. If they start beating the Puerto Rican team, we've got something pretty good here.

Have you thought about your approach for when you get back from Puerto Rico? How you can compile all the information you've gathered from the trip and figure out what's next?
We'll know where we stand when we get back from this trip. We'll know what we need to work on to get better, but we'll also know what we have. Very few teams on foreign trips will have that. It's a unique trip from that standpoint, because when you go to Italy and all those places, from a scouting standpoint, I'll know how to scout their team, and they'll know how to scout mine.

I think it'll be a very close game. The team you're seeing now is not that good (at the Pan Am Games), but you're going to have a 7-foot-2, gigantic person in the middle, 300 pounds. Peter John Ramos. He's a second-round pick from the Wizards, playing overseas now, but he's gigantic. Then you'll have Ricky Sanchez. He's a 6-11 power forward who can really shoot. Then you'll have John Holland who is right now in Louisville working on his knee, preparing for this. He is a terrific basketball player. Then you'll have Barea. You'll have Rivera and Vassallo, who are both very good players. There won't be one guy on that team that won't give the University of Louisville problems.

That'll help your (Louisville) bigs against those guys.
You know what it's going to be like? It'll be like that guy from Irvine (7-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye). This guy (Ramos) is massive. It's going to be great for us. I'm really looking forward to it. (The Pan Am Games) have been a really good experience in terms of seeing what other teams do, but I really want to get to work on the real team I'm going to be coaching (for Puerto Rico) and also getting ready to work out our guys next week.