Warrior Insider

Here are some selected excerpts from University of Hawai’i head coach Eran Ganot on the “Call the Coach” radio show on ESPN 1420 AM on Tuesday night. The show was aired live from the La Salle Room at the Pagoda Floating Restaurant.

On achieving goals this season …

“We have a number of goals for each game and for the course of the season, defensively, on the boards, offensively. They have to understand what they mean. These are what we always call championship numbers. If you want to win a championship, you have to get to this point and you have to see where you were the year before.

“We empower our guys to get them involved in the process. Not, this is our goals and you guys are in. Here’s the history of our program, here’s what you need to do to get there. You guys set your goals and (the coaches are) going to leave the room. (The players) came up with these goals that were consistent with what we were talking about. Then it was about, now we’re leaving the room, how are you going to get there. Why don’t you guys come up with an approach?

“We put that on the white board in the locker room before every game. Defensively, it’s funny, we looked at where we were last year. I think we allowed 42 percent from the field and maybe 34 percent from 3. We talked to them about the goal (this season) was 40 percent from the field and 30 percent from 3. I’m looking at this and seeing the teams we allowed this year to shoot 40 percent on the dot and 30.3 from 3. That was defensively. Pretty impressive. Rebounding, we were a minus-1 last year . We talk all the time about no boards, no rings. We’re getting a ring. Our goal was plus 4. … we were plus 4.3.”

On the loss to Maryland in the NCAA Second Round …

“Reality is sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes you make shots, sometimes you don’t. At the end of the day, you have a lot of regret when you don’t give your best effort. That certainly was not even close to the case with our guys. Our guys gave everything they had.

“We did a great job against Cal. I think going into the Maryland game we knew one of their big things was they try to knock you out early. We wanted to weather the storm and maybe try to take it to them, and we were up 13-6. There’s going to be stretches, some lapses, you miss some shots at the rim and they take advantage. They’re a good team, it’s the cream of the crop, the NCAA Tournament. We do it as well. Cal had a lapse when we played them and we struck when we had it.

“Maryland had about a two-and-a-half, three-minute stretch of (our) missed shot at the rim, transition, I think the only thing we could have done better, we need to do better, is get back and slow it up in transition. If a couple of those shots go our way … they took advantage of it.

“It’s just that one stretch. We fought to the end, proud of our guys. Couldn’t be prouder. You’re in that locker room and they had nothing left. Nothing. They gave everything to this program and this state.”

On talking with the players about the future …

“One, we just had a long grind of a special journey, so you have to adjust toward where each guy is at. We always talk about our guys first and where’s their mentality and making sure they’re OK. The first thing was let’s get back home, which we hadn’t been in three weeks. Give these guys what we call a cooling off period, give them the respect that they deserve. We didn’t need to hit them on the head and get in their heads and talk and talk. They needed a break. We just spent a lot of time together. They’ve earned it. They needed to relax.

“Then it was about celebrating this group. Obviously, we capped it off at the Capitol yesterday. Nice day, long day, special day. It was about cooling off, giving this team their due celebration because this doesn’t happen very often, and you have to enjoy your life and these guys deserve it, and then its about simultaneously slowly starting the conversation process.”

On recruiting under the unknown circumstances …

“It’s a puzzle. Every year it’s a puzzle. You always have contingency plans. You have a plan A, plan B, if these top guys don’t work. Now we have a plan A, plan B and plan C because of the fluidity of our current situation. But that’s where we’re at. We acknowledge where we’re at and that’s how we’re going to attack it and find a way.”

On talking to the current juniors about their future …

“You have to find a balance because you have to think about the best interest of these student-athletes and you don’t want to pressure them at all. They don’t deserve to be pressured. You just have to have continuing conversations. I think to be honest, our juniors are very close to making some decisions. It’s not there yet, this is not easy for them, too. We’re getting all the information we can, providing for them and meeting with their families.”

On future schedules …

“You have to be careful. As we build and we start to get ahead on scheduling, as our program’s more stable and like I said get to a level playing field, now you want the combination of maybe another big game, and even the teams that are not the “North Carolinas” but there are some underrated good mid-major programs. You just want to have a great balance. That’s the bottom line.”

On the ongoing NCAA situation …

“Here’s what I will say. This group has sent a message. When we got the announcement on December 22 at the Diamond Head, one of the biggest things is you can’t control next year. What you can control is your actions and give it everything you got. This team could have easily laid down. They chose to come together … collectively, for this year. They came together when they could have laid down and not just had a good year, had one of the best years in school history. I’m really proud of them.”

On the unknown status for next season …

“Here’s what we have, here’s what we don’t have. Let’s focus on what we do have. We have a great situation – a phenomenal support system. Hawai’i, the arena, the Diamond Head Classic, the Rainbow Classic, we have an opportunity to defend the regular season championship, what a great fan base, there’s a lot to sell here, hosting North Carolina. There’s a lot of teams that won’t play in the post season. We’re hosting the Rainbow and the Diamond Head. We’re still waiting to find out what we have, but the reality is we have it pretty good, too.”