Coach Arnold observes Louisville practices; other randomness
If you’re going to learn something, why not learn from the best?
That’s a big reason why University of Hawai’i basketball coach Gib Arnold took a two-day trip to Louisville, Kentucky, last week.
Arnold visited the University of Louisville and its head coach Rick Pitino to observe practices and take notes on defensive press schemes. Pitino led the Cardinals to the NCAA national championship last season.
“I picked (Pitino) because I think he’s the best at that currently,” Arnold said. “If I wanted to learn more about zones, I probably would have given (Syracuse’s) Jim Boeheim a call. But (Pitino’s) team is known for their pressing and their transition out of the press.”
Arnold said the new NCAA rule allowing teams to conduct practices earlier in the year allowed him the time to make such a visit to Louisville. The new rule lets teams start practicing 42 days before the opening game, but only 30 practices can be held within those 42 days.
“We have 12 days there where we can do one of three things – go to the beach, go recruiting or we can go out and observe other practices, which you normally don’t get to do,” Arnold said.
Arnold said he would like to implement some of the Louisville schemes into his game plans, but may have to make some adjustments to fit his player personnel.
“We’ve got some good quickness this year, so I think we can press,” Arnold said. “(Louisville) has five guys who can put their teeth on the rim and are great shot blockers, so a lot of the stuff they do, they funnel into the shot blockers. We aren’t blessed with as many guys as they got who can block shots, so we’re going to have to change some things and gear toward our players.”
Arnold said he was also impressed with the Louisville facilities, which include a practice gym exclusively for the basketball team.
“They have a practice facility that they have 24/7 with eight baskets,” he said. “It’s a business over there and they treat it as such.”
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Below are two other random videos. The first is Arnold’s introduction of the players prior to the Green & Black Scrimmage. The second is a “volleyball dunk” featuring Isaac Fotu, Dyrbe Enos and Michael Harper (they chose not to do it at the slam-dunk contest).
Coach Gib great trip. Wealth of information from an NCAA D1 championship coach 2 times! Glad that your trip went well. Possibly install some of that pressure D with your team would be awesome. Louisville facilities, man oh man, maybe one day, down the line, UH could have better than average practice gyms and training center. Basketball of the Pacific out of UH Manoa!
Thanks Dayton great video piece. Exciting times ahead for UH MBB !
Uhfanzonly1.
Thank you Dayton for interview with Gib on trip to Louisville and visit with coach Pitino!
Great, trip, and hopefully UH team can use that help to win BWC crown!
Very soon, about 2 1/2 weeks or less till opening tipoff!
Go Rainbow Warriors!
Nice writeup and interview Dayton. Those facilities at Louisville , fantastic. That is what Ben Jay, the vision is for all sports, at UH, to at least be competitive with schools such as San Diego St. University, who have excellent facilities too.
Can’t wait for season to start. Way to go Gib, learn from good coaches, and help UH MBB get to next level. Be the best they can be.!
UH team get ready to rock that SSC !
Hopefully Gib’s trip to Louisville will translate to a more diverse style of play. It’s taken four recruiting classes, but GIb has finally got the pieces he needs to run the style of play he wants.
It’s taken a year longer than I was hoping but, Gib had a clear vision of the players he needed and was targeting. His vast recruiting connections and efforts are paying off for the program.
Now it’s just a matter of how fast Shamburger gets up to speed after a year off and see who the 5th starter is. I think there are 3 or 4 guys that could be the starting next to Fotu, Standhardinger, Shamburger and Spearman depending if UH goes 3 guards or 2 guards.
The VB dunk was great!
Mahalo, Dayton
Certainly a Finer Point or three was exchanged between the intelligences of Gib and Pitino — Just the Fact that Two of our Greatest All-Time Recruiting Head Coaches Now Have Open Lines of Communication and Strategy (and Riley-Jackson Are Still Helping as well of course) Opens Up Possibilities And The Blue-Grass REGION (Bigger than the State) — IF there is a Four-Star Recruit with His Heart Set on going away to school — God Knows we have athletes in Hawai’i like that (Missionary Influence) — WHY NOT refer him off to Hawai’i where he won’t cost you a Conference Win or Championship?
GREAT That BOTH AV and MT are Rising Fast (as ʻHopedʻ AND Expected) — Gary Digman passed along that he mentioned something similar to Rozitis & Standhardinger (that he didnʻt see as much out of AV/MT as he hoped) and they were ʻguffawedʻ, astounded, as the seniors also think AV/MT are doing great and Will Help This Year —
i thought MT showed flashes of Big-Time Player (and i heard people around me screaming as they also recognized those flashes)…weʻll see “soon”…
THAT plus Q solidifying his Legitimacy @ The Point, should provide True (Winning, Not Zombie) Two-Depth for either Big or Small UH Line-ups… i think AV-MT & Dressler/Jovanovic + Next Big-Big will provide a Solid 3-4 year Front-Line, to go with a Q-Sham-Fleming/Porter backcourt…
Eagle: Once again, love your analysis! Gib, that master recruiter, i.e. O’Neil, Halm,Pitino, Wallace, Wheeler and now coach Arnold, younger, getting it done. Establish base, contacts all over the world and country. I agree with you, looking through that visit , without question Gib and staff probably made contacts, inquiries of MBB athletes in that Basketball Hotbed, Kentucky, Louisville area! There could be one of two, who knows, that athetic, 4/5 PF, sky walking, erase mistake shotblocker, as well as a SF who is another NWC clone. Gib, you are a recruiting coach, and now X and O, upping your game. Also, stabilizing the MBB program . Great News. Have a great season UH guys!
Eagle, that is the word, by all media, and “man and woman on the street”, that have seen practices as well as how We all saw last Saturday. AV and MT, are showing coach and staff, that they want to contribute this year, anyway they can. Remember the 3 spot or hybrid 3/4 was question mark? Well with contiuned development ALREADY, of AV and MT. along with grea PF’s and the backcourt upgrade, we long, long time die hard fans of UH MBB, can see fruition. Hope they have a good season, and maybe make a dent in a POST SEASON tournament!
Go Bows!
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MBB 24/7 practice gym? Exclusively? Dat’s why Louisville so good!
crazy to hear another coaching talking about a team with 5 players that can put their teeth on the rim….rebounds and shot blocking at its greatest….that just shows how athletic these teams are and I bet they can do everything else as well
hfan: True. Great athletes at Louisville and Kentucky, etc. Like Gib says, it is their “business”, like a Basketball , very high level, school.
I think Gib is at the stage for his program, get great young student athletes, who fit Hawaii, they love it here, are good citizens and academically solid, retain, and graduate them. Would be ideal to have the best of both worlds.
Heck a lot of us on this forum, would take, good athletes, maybe not the top elite in USA or world, who are one Ohana, and win BWC or maybe in future PAC 16 conference titles and go NIT , NCAA year after year.
hfan, one high flyer,and shot blocker, unreal hops that UH had, remember Erin Galloway! Incredible vertical, maybe 48″ standing jump. He blocked Eric Chenowith , Kansas 6’11” center in championship game of Rainbow Classic, back in the AC , and Alika days. I guess, Louisville has 5 or MORE of those type of athletes on their team! I think Aaron and Mike T. if they don’t play timid, just agressive, maybe not get teeth on rim, however, could help guard the basket!
Nice observation by Gib, he realizes, he has to work with the great bunch of young guys he currently has, this solid seventeen, or imcomparable 17 as n2joy calls them!
Very soon, about 2 weeks, first game UH MBB against Tenn. St. , should be exciting game!
Go Bows!
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Here is a thought, and pretty much I believe what Gib wants….UH , make them the best, Defensive, Rebounding and Scoring team in the BWC. They will win a lot of games, and challenge in RBC , DHC and good shot at tourney crown for BWC. Play solid defense and shoot well, could win on road against a tough, tough Mizzou team, and Northern Arizona on the road too. Should be fun.!! If they swept those two road games,pre Diamond Head Classic, UH MBB has something real special! Love, if UH MBB team plays outstanding defense. Creates offense off turnovers, blocked shots, altered shots, loose ball, 50/50 ball, with UH having several guys who can score from perimeter to the rim, should , and could be good season! Hey….I wish it were Nov 8 2013 already, start of season. However, reality check: see how UH does against BYU-Hawaii in exhibition at SSC on Oct 31, next week(!) 2013 at 700 pm, free admission with canned good donation to Hawaii Food Bank! That game good measurment gauge on team progress. I know guys are working very hard!
Go Rainbow Warriors!
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As Coach Jackson pointed out, IF UHMBB can escape RClassic 3-0 they will already be Far Ahead of previous seasons (All three opponents # 56 to 113 RPI VS UH 203/224; All Three would be @ Top of BWest);
While iʻd Thrill to WIN One or Both Road Challenges, OUR Track Record (and sooner or later we Got To Do Better) is that early season, first one or two road trips, our guards play in Slow Motion and maybe we catch up or make a game of it in the second half OR at any time in season, we Can Get Blown by Anybody… ʻmaybeʻ this Team will be the One to Grow into Road Warriors by the time The BW comes around — so that would be my ʻminimumʻ pre-season road goal: Learn to Play 40 and maybe Win better than .500 on the Road… and “ALL” @ Home…
Eagle: You are correct. The basics of winning season and challenging for leauge and tournament title. MBB team would have goal of winning out at home, and split, or better on the road,…that would equate to a 20 plus winning season, and possible 1 or 2 finish regular season BWC.
If JW, is saying good things about UH MBB, whew, that is good, JW is a warrior fan or Rainbow fan at heart. Great to hear Eagle!
All the media guys, and gals, as well as 2 other sites, the feedback is pretty positive, if team gets better, and better, UH MBB and WBB can have great seasons, HOPEFULLY!
Reality check: UH still has to play first game of the season, and by end of Dec 2013, we pretty much will see how MBB for UH will fare going into BWC play. If the guys just keep working together, ONE OHANA, and win together, whether, cheering from bench, helping on scout team, playing 3 min, or 33 min, just work together as ONE, UH will do well!
Go Bows!
😀
Great for Gib and the team, learn and grow, this is going to be the year we take the Big West Title! Warrior time!!
I’m a senior at UofL. This is so random. I wish I could have seen Gib while he was here.