Spring Break
Bruiser Flint: Fans should 'Take part in the history'
Brett Fischer
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: Sports
|
The Triangle: What is your biggest challenge you face this season?
Bruiser Flint: Last year we weren't ready. We got off to a good start. When it came down to it, we weren't prepared to step up to the competition. The worst thing happened to us because we got off to a good start, but we couldn't get those guys to realize we have a long way to go. Once we started going downhill, we never recaptured it. That's the toughest thing.
TT: How does your offensive philosophy change due to the loss of Frank Elegar?
BF: We spread it around a little bit. Looking back to last year, we looked at Frank a little too much. In a way, we should have because we had a lot of new faces. At times, I think it took away from the team. Going back, there weren't a lot of times he wasn't out there on the court. If you watch the tapes closely, at times we played better when he wasn't in the game. Just because guys have a little bit more freedom and didn't look to him on every single play. Sometimes that happens, especially when you have a guy like that. Now you just have to make sure guys aren't doing what they aren't supposed to do. It's been fine so far.
TT: What do the additions of Samme Givens and Kevin Phillip add to the team?
BF: Freshmen are freshmen. They are going to have their ups and downs. Kevin is a good athlete. He has great size for an athlete. Samme is a kid that has nice athleticism on the perimeter and has versatility. When teams go small, he can play the 4 [position] for us. He's a good basketball player and gives us size. They are freshmen though. You like all that freshmen stuff because you read about it on the Internet, but you never know what's going to happen. If a kid comes in and has a great freshman year, that can only help us. But if he comes in as a freshman and has a good sophomore year, that's really how the process goes.
TT: How difficult was it for you to see Chris Fouch go down with his season-ending knee injury?
BF: Once again, he's a freshman. What he brought to the table for us, we always thought we needed shooting and that's what he does for us. But that's not saying he's going to come in and shoot the lights out. We don't know that. But it gives us some more depth at the perimeter, which we don't have now. I think he's going to be a good player because he works hard. That's one of the things I saw in the short time that he has been here was that he has the work ethic to be a really good player. In that respect, you think he would have really helped the team, but you never know until come game time when you're a freshman. That's why you never hear me pump my freshman class up because you never know what's going to happen. Also, when a kid comes in with all these high expectations and doesn't do well, people get down on him. You read the Internet stuff and they read it too. But getting down on him hurts the kid sometimes. One thing we take pride in is that our kids get better as the years go on. But you'll never hear me tell you that I think someone is going to come in and knock some socks off because I've been around this thing long enough to know freshmen are freshmen.
Be the first to comment on this story