John Beilein met with the media today to wrap up Michigan’s 2011-12 campaign. In a roundtable discussion, Beilein addressed everything from transfers, recruiting, next year’s team and more. Here’s video of Beilein, followed by notes and quotes after the jump:
- On transfers and guys leaving for the NBA: “I think it’s more like the way the business is right now. Between the transfers or guys going pro and the flexibility of a changing roster, it’s probably here to stay.”
- On whether or not Beilein was surprised by Michigan’s transfers: “The word surprised, I don’t like to use it. We didn’t expect all those transfers, but it happened. But you move on so quickly, and we just move forward. It’s just like a guy getting his fourth or fifth foul. You put somebody else in the game.”
- On this year’s recruiting class: “We saw holes that we needed to plug either for this year or the years to come, and we were trying to address that. We were trying to address changes in what we were doing offensively or defensively, and I think we addressed them very well. I think we addressed the blind spots that we had in our offense or our defense the best that we could.”
- On what the incoming freshmen will be working on this summer: “We’re still in discussion on how much we feed them. I think it will be different for different groups. The freshmen will have probably the pretty basic things – footwork, teaching our drills to them, accountability drills. And then we’ll probably splash in some offense or defense, whether it’s basic or whether it’s team-oriented, we’ve got to figure that out.”
- On this coming year’s roster being capable of running an offense with two big men: “I think we could’ve moved that way had Jon Horford not gotten hurt this year, but we talked about being more flexible. Of course it was difficult to go both ways; the best thing was to play this way and adapt within the game itself. Now, I think that we can have game-to-game. Maybe two different lineups you can put out there to suit what’s best to win. We’re getting stronger in flexibility.”
- On Jon Horford: “I think that he’s almost cleared to go at 100%. Actually, he is cleared, but I don’t think he’s at 100%, but he’s cleared to go 100%.”
- On playing N.C. State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge next season: “North Carolina State is a former National Champion and had a tremendous year, went further than us [in the NCAA tournament], and they have a great recruiting class as well. I think there will be a packed house.”
- On the importance of this summer: “I think what’s really going to be important to us is that our coaches can be involved with them and do some things in July that we used to have to wait until September to do. Is it more important? No, but it will be important because we’ll find out about our team at an earlier stage. I mean, we’ll go into October, and we’re still figuring out if somebody can go to his right or left, or what their strengths are. We should know that by the end of the summer.”
- On building team chemistry: “Just by early sense for the younger guys coming in, I’ve watched some of them for three years and some of them for three months, I’ve seen they’re really good teammates and they will enhance team chemistry the minute they walk out here, because they really have a great spirit about them. You watch a guy like Mitch McGary when his team is up by 25 and the bench players are in, he’s up cheering the whole time. Those are things that I think will really help in this influx of new players.”
- On the importance of nationally televised games: “When we’re talking with recruits and we say hey, did you see us play much this year, the answer is always ‘yes Coach, I saw you all the time’. We felt really good about the exposure that we had. We were very blessed.”
- On recruiting in Ohio: “I think the footprint of where we’re recruiting is still the Big Ten. Neighboring states are always good.”
- On recruiting a point guard: “Our idea is that Trey Burke needed to get rest with how close games were and how difficult it was, and the amount of time that the game has changed where the point guard has the ball much more than he ever had it. Where Stu Douglass would be standing in the corner for 20 seconds resting, waiting for Trey to make something happen, Trey needed rest. We realized that’s not the best practice. I always thought that the players you want on the floor most, probably between 30 and 35 (minutes per game) is a good number. I think that would mean an eight or nine rotation, but who knows, maybe we could go ten.”
- On Spike Albrecht and Nik Stauskus: “Spike and Nik both have ball-type of skills. Obviously Spike does – that’s what he’s been playing since bitty ball. But Nik has the ability to dribble the ball that allows him to play – like the same dribble skills Stu had acquired here, Nik comes in with.”
- Beilein hopes this will be a very deep team.“It won’t be an equal opportunity situation where everybody’s playing 20 minutes, but we do want to go deeper in the bench, and I think that will be really important.”
- On the possibility of starting multiple freshmen: “We look at it all the time and say anything’s possible. My common thing when I talk with incoming players is that we never promise people that they’re going to start, we never do any of that, but we’ve started freshmen almost every year here. How many of them? Who knows.”
- Beilein will stick with his June 15th date for offering scholarships. “At the very earliest. I would think that they’ll be few and far between.”
- On Glenn Robinson III‘s role and whether or not it could be similar to that of Evan Smotrycz: “I think Evan was more of a four or a five. Glenn can play either forward position.”
- More on recruiting: “We’re looking for guys that can play, and whether they can play according to our rankings, that’s the most important thing. And then what do we need on this team the most? No matter where people rank him, what is our best chance to win games at a very high level? So while the rankings could be good, they could be bad, we have one way of looking at this that tries to make Michigan best.”
