Season wrap-up Q/A with Coach Doc Sadler

The following is excerpts of the postseason wrap-up press conference by coach Doc Sadler on March 24, 2009.

 

Did you have fun this year? <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

I had fun working with this group. It’s probably been the hardest physically on me because we just had no room for error. I mean, even the preseason games were difficult. You could never really know, and I couldn’t say there’s a game we went into that we said, ?Wow we’re going to win that basketball game no matter what happens.’ And a lot of that goes back to the number of teams we play that made it to postseason play. You look at the preseason schedule and (the media) because it’s your job, you look at it and say there’s not this team or that team. But there are a lot of good basketball teams there. And when you’re not in that top 15 or 20 (in the nation), every game is difficult. So that’s the way it was this year. But I still had fun. It was tiring, but I’m sure it is for (everyone).

 

Do you feel your freshmen big guys going into next year won’t really be freshmen because they’ve been through it, even if just on the sideline this year?

I think in some ways they’re not freshmen because it’s not like they don’t know what to expect. They had a chance to sit there and look at it (every game). Brian (Diaz) really understood and got a chance to see how much he really needs to work in the weight room. Not everything is going to be new for them. That’s a positive.

 

Will the big guys play together?

They could. I know (everyone) is not going to believe this, but I’m still going to say it. I think you could see me playing quite a bit of zone with (the 2009-10) team. Everyone wanted to know why I didn’t play more zone this year, but when that back line is only 6-3, 6-4, then (opponents) can really post up down there. We could be a really long basketball team that could be a good zone team. We’ll see.

 

How different will the 2009-10 squad be from this year’s team?

It will be a lot different. Defensively is where I think you’re really going to see us be different. Even though we’re going to be a lot taller, I think Christopher (Niemann) and Brian’s athleticism is good. Their athletic ability is good enough that maybe we’ll even press some more because we can have someone on that back end that people won’t attack at the basket as easily. So I think defensively even though we led the league two out of my three years in points allowed, I think next year’s team could be an even better defensive team.

 

Are you finding the right players to make the next step for the program and what do you do to get them here?

I think we know how to find them. Getting them is the next hurdle we have to take. Winning. You have to win some games and make it a place that people want to come. I’ve said this before, you look at the good teams at Nebraska and they’ve always had one or two players from the state. We have to make sure that we don’t miss anybody and get somebody from Nebraska who can help us. 

 

After a season like this, do you go back and you ask yourself, “What if?”

No question. No question. You go back to the number of possession games that we were right there. As coaches, sometimes we forget the what ifs that we won. There were some what ifs that we won that we could have also lost. But you sometimes forget that. You go back and think about the what ifs in the Oklahoma State game, the what ifs in the Texas A&M game, the Kansas game, the Oklahoma game. Really, besides the game at Missouri, and, well, even at Kansas late in the game with seven minutes to go you’re right there and have a chance to cut it to four, but Missouri, Kansas and at Iowa State we didn’t play well. Take those three games away, and the other 13 games we were right there in all of them and had a chance to win all of them and probably had a chance, besides 1-2 games, probably had a chance to lose too. Thirteen games were what-if games. We were 8-5 in those.

 

Is zone a four-letter word for you, figuratively speaking?

Not really. Not really, if you have a team that can play it. Good zones are always long and big and good rebounding teams. We had a hard enough time rebounding the way we were (this year). Even the New Mexico game where we went box and one, you saw we had a hard time on the blocks.

 

But being tall doesn’t automatically mean you’re good at rebounding, right?

You’re right. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be better at rebounding. I think your good rebounding teams a lot of the time is how good your guards rebound. Aleks Maric was an exception. He was a great rebounder for us. But our guards are always going to have to rebound.

 

Can you see that zone next year being more aggressive with such long guys?

No question. When I mean press, it’s not just in the full court. I think we can do a lot of different things. We can be big across the front too.

 

You’ve had some bad breaks off the court and had injuries, and setbacks with guys not getting here, but the way things have gone, do you ever feel like you’re the unluckiest coach?

 I don’t think I could ever consider myself unlucky. I’m here at Nebraska. Now once you get to Nebraska, you don’t want the luck to run out. You don’t want to use up all your luck getting here. It’s going to take luck and hard work and other things to get to the next level. But yeah. Some of (the media) were in this room in July (2008) and I was frustrated and I was disappointed. I am going to be here. The thing that you’re frustrated for is the seniors. If you put on this team some guys we thought would be here and some guys we thought would play, we may be sitting here today, but it may be for a different reason. We may still be playing and that’s who you’re disappointed for. I think as a coach, when you try to do something, you have lot of responsibility and you’re frustration and satisfaction is not just based on you. Your frustration and satisfaction is based on guys in that locker room. I knew last August that this year was going to be difficult. I think we far exceeded (expectations), and if you talk to my assistant coaches, I promise you this team far exceeded what I thought this team could do before we got started. Because during the season we can talk about our size not being a factor but, hey, it’s over now, and it was a huge factor.

 

You talked about the Big 12 being good this year and the media may not have believed it. With the way the teams have played in the postseason, do you feel that has validated what you’ve been saying?

I think what I’ve said is that I think the league from top to bottom was better but probably didn’t have a national champion (team). When the 10th-place team has a Craig Brackins on it, then that’s a pretty good team. You go there (to Ames) and they have chance to beat anybody. That’s what separates BCS level schools. The league to me depending on who comes back next year, and that’s the unknown, but the league next year could be unbelievably good. Colorado returns everyone, and they lost 11 games by five or fewer points. Iowa State has a guy who could come back and could be special. Texas Tech returns all but two players. The bottom teams 12 to 6 all could be really improved.