Quotes from Mark Turgeon
11/3/2011 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 3, 2011
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Quotes from Thursday's news conference in advance of Maryland's exhibition with Northwood Friday at 8 p.m.
Head Coach Mark Turgeon
On whether they'll appeal Alex Len's 10-game suspension:
"We haven't talked about it. I'm thrilled to death with the decision the NCAA made and I'm really proud of our administration and everybody that was involved... Alex and his mom, all the people involved to get where we are today. I think the NCAA did an unbelievable job of getting all the facts and piecing this thing together. I think it's more than fair of where they are. So as of right now I'd say no, but things could change."
On Len's status for Friday's exhibition against Northwood:
"He can [play] and he will. He practiced yesterday and it was a great scene. He found out about five minutes before practice and we let the players know. He came out on the floor and he teared up... It was a tough time for him and he hid it well. So he was really excited. He had a great practice yesterday, he's a little bit fresher than everybody else. But we're going to play him tomorrow night. He'll be a nervous wreck, but we'll put him in there."
On where Len's game is:
"I've said this before, I'll say it again: he is not the savior. He's not a hero. Are we better with Alex? Yes. We're deeper. It gives us eight scholarship players. So yeah we're automatically better but he's not this hero. The physicality of the game and the speed of the game - he has to get use to that and of course he's missed two or three weeks of practice. But by the time he's ready to play, not counting tomorrow night, whenever that game is in late December, hopefully he's caught up with the game.
"He has a lot of tools that you can't teach. One is [being] 7-foot-1 with a long wingspan, and he has good timing on blocking shots. He probably blocked four or five shots in practice yesterday and altered three or four more. So he has a presence down there. He has a nice touch, but physicality is where he struggles a bit."
On Terrell Stoglin's adjustment to playing point guard:
"He's trying. I mean, I'm all over him. It's no fun for him. He wasn't very good this weekend when we scrimmaged. He's worked hard on both ends of the floor. The guy it's hard on is Nick [Faust]. Nick is our backup point and he wasn't recruited to be a point.
"[Pe'Shon Howard's injury] really set us back. You're moving along, I was really starting to like the way we were doing things and now it's almost that you have to start over. You have to teach Nick a new position, then guys down the line, we were playing more small lineups and now we're playing more big lineups. Then I realized Sunday in our closed scrimmage that I can't play seven guys; I have to add a few walk-ons into our rotation. Whether they're ready or no,t they're going to be thrown in there. We have to do it that way right now until we get in better condition and better shape.
"Terrell's trying. My whole thing with this group so far is they'll give me a good five minutes and then take a couple minutes off, or they'll give me a good day and then take a day off. And every coach is saying the same thing - you just want them to be a little more consistent this time of year."
On turning Sean Mosley into a consistent scorer:
"He's practiced well. Today is our 20th practice and he's practiced well. I can't talk about our scrimmages but he put up good numbers this weekend and played well. We need him to score; he knows it. He's hunting his shot probably a lot more than he hunted it last year. It was probably a lot of `throw the ball inside.'
"He's playing two positions. I think he can create some mismatches at the 4 the way we spread our offense out. It didn't look like our offense when we scrimmaged, but hopefully it'll look a little more like it tomorrow night. It gives him a chance to score.
"It's just keeping Sean's confidence up. Even though he's a senior he's still a 22-year old kid. You just have to keep it up. It's like that with all these guys. When you're dealing with young men you're just keeping their confidence up and not letting one jumpshot effect the next. That's the whole key with Sean. But he's been good. He scored well in practice yesterday... really shooting the ball well. He's been a good leader for us."
