Wayne Blackshear Refuses To Stop Drinking Milk And Other Pitino Press Conference Notes

Video available from the C-J.

--Seton Hall has an explosive 3-point attack, they're great at getting steals and they have a lot of senior leadership in Theodore and Pope. They're going to have their largest crowd of the season and it's going to be a very difficult environment to come out of with a win.

--Seton Hall switches from man to zone a lot. Notre Dame handled that very well. They also sagged on defense and the Pirates had an off shooting night.

--Not surprised at all by the success Kevin Willard has had at Seton Hall.

--"Kevin's like a son to me."

--It's not difficult to not focus on the opposing coach, because during the game you're so focused on what's happening on the court.

--Outside of Gorgui, it really doesn't matter who we start. Russ Smith starting against Villanova was a situational thing, it will vary game-by-game.

--Herb Pope is very good on the perimeter off the bounce, which makes him very difficult to guard.

--Our fouls against Villanova were not good ones. We were trying to get Chane out of the game before he got his 4th foul, so he should have known better. Gorgui is getting better at not fouling and is working hard on that.

--Chris Smith has been steady all year long. "Chris is Chris. He is what he is; a Steady performer who gives you everything he has every night out."

--Russ Smith is very funny. We've had fun all year as a team, except when we've lost.

--The players wouldn't have had a team meeting after the Providence game if Richard hadn't told them they needed to.

--Apparently Russ does a a very good impression of Pitino. "Francisco used to mimic me too. I have no problem laughing at myself."

--Aaron Cosby is a good spot-up shooter. About 75% of his shots are threes.

--Peyton hitting jump shots doesn't help the offense, but it helps him. When guys make shots they feel better about themselves and start playing better defense and more confident on offense.

--Peyton shoots the ball great in practice.

--The only guy whose game doesn't change when he's not making shots is Russ. Kyle had a bad shooting night against Villanova, and as a result he didn't rebound and he wasn't running the floor.

--Kyle was just a little off on Wednesday night. "We've talked about, and there were reasons why he was a little off, but we've corrected those problems."

--Doesn't think the players read the Internet. People don't believe him, but he himself doesn't even know how to read stuff on the Internet. He reads the New York Post on the Internet to keep up with the area basketball teams but that's it. He doesn't read blogs, he doesn't watch local news and he hasn't read a local newspaper in years.

--If Stephan Van Treese comes back at all this season, it will be in March.

--Wayne keeps getting stomach viruses, mostly from drinking milk. They keep telling him to stop and he keeps drinking it and getting sick. We've put a "missing in action" picture of Wayne to show the players because he's been away so much.

--"Wayne is an accident waiting to happen."

--Angel and Zach are both improving dramatically. Zach's getting very close to putting himself in a position where I'm not afraid to play him. I'm still afraid to play Angel because of passing and defense, but Angel probably has the most potential of all four freshmen. His shot his there, but he just has to gain strength and learn how to pass and play defense.

--We're recruiting some guys right now who will definitely be ready to play right away as freshmen.