03-10-2006, 12:08 PM
|
#1 (permalink)
|
|
Skokie, IL 60076
Join Date: Oct 2003
Age: 26
Posts: 16,852
|
Phil Martelli Interview
Phil Martelli Interview
Quote:
BK: How good is the A-10 this year?
PM: This year’s A-10 is better than the best year that we have ever had and I have been in the league now for 21 years. What has happened is that because we don’t have two divisions, you don’t have a clear East and West winner. You don’t have a 14-2 East team and a 16-0 West team. But we have teams that don’t get enough credit. The bottom of the league has played up and every game has become a challenge. Maybe you could throw out a trip to Duquesne or a home game that you would expect to win. Everything else is just a war just trying to get a win in the league. I think of teams to be considered post-season teams and we have five or six of those teams that will be post-season teams. I think we have had an exceptional year in the Atlantic 10. We just haven’t won enough 50-50 games and that has to change. That will be on the coaches and the players next year.
BK: How have the dynamics in the conference changed with two new teams this year?
PM: Well, it was a new entity this year, we still don’t know. I think that one of the things we are going to have to talk about this year is who our recruits are. That is a way that your league gets a lot of hype. I really don’t know Saint Louis recruits. I am not really that familiar with Xavier or Dayton’s recruiting and Charlotte recruits in a different arena than we do. All of those things have to be a part of how we promote the Atlantic 10. I think we have to discuss with the coaches and the league how this dynamic fits together. It is funny that you are playing in the Atlantic 10 and you change time zones to play at St. Louis. That is awkward or maybe more accurately, it is unusual. I think for the first year we have had a national level team in GW and we have had remarkable competitions in almost every game.
BK: When you look at the teams in the Atlantic 10 it looks like you have some haves and have nots. For instance Dayton and Xavier play in front of over 10,000 fans each night and some teams play in front of 2000 fans on a good night. Am I right in observing big discrepancies between some of the teams in the A-10?
PM: Well certainly, just look at arenas we play in. How can you play in a more beautiful place than the Cintas Center and in Saint Joe’s you play in a gym.
BK: But you guys want to play there, right?
PM: Yeah, but I am just saying that is part of it. Offices are part of it. Team travel shouldn’t be an issue. People should be able to travel on an even plain. I just think if you don’t know what everyone else in the league is doing and you can’t live to those standards than you really have to examine it. I am talking about administrators, they have to examine it. They need to say, “What separates us from them,” and it’s not players, it’s not coaching. It is not arenas. It is surroundings. You surround your program like it is a member of a top five or six league in America and that’s the way it’s got to be. Put your jacket on! (he yells to Rob Ferguson as he leaves). Put you jacket on, now!
BK: You look around the A-10 as a veteran coach, what is the toughest arena to play in?
PM: Well it really depends on how good the team is at the moment. Like GW is a really difficult place, but the fact is that they are a really good team. I think Olean (St. Bonaventure) is a very, very difficult place to play. They get tremendous crowd support even though the team has been a little down. I think it is easier to say where there is not atmosphere rather that what the toughest atmosphere is.
|
__________________
You sig is too long
|
|
|
Phil Martelli Interview
Hard to have anything but respect and admiration for Phil.
Linear Mode
