University of Massachusets Athletics
Steve Lappas' Weekly Conference Call
February 07, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2005
Question: What were your thoughts about the week you had this past week?
Lappas: We were off the whole week so that's pretty good. In terms of our game on Saturday with St. Bonaventure we did a lot of good things for 35 minutes, enough to finish the game and come up with a win. Now we're getting ready for a big week.
Question: What were you guys looking to accomplish during the week off prior to the St. Bonaventure game?
Lappas: With a week off like that you can take a couple of days to worry about the things you don't do so well and concentrate on fully on them. You don't have to get ready for a game and worry about what the opposition is doing. In that way it was good that we could do that. We spent the last couple of days working on St. Bonaventure and even that was easy since we played them just a week before. This week is a little different because we've got two games and we have to move forward and get ready for Rhode Island on Wednesday.
Question: What's the update on Jeff Viggiano's ankle?
Lappas: Yesterday was our off day. I did see him come in for treatment and it seemed to be bothering him. I am going to put him down right now as we speak as questionable, but that could change as early as this afternoon when I see him after a couple of treatments today.
Question: Jeff Salovski hasn't been doing as much numbers wise and minutes wise as a couple weeks ago. Has he hit a wall or is it just a development stage with match ups?
Lappas: I think it's both. I think it's a little bit of a wall involved when you get to this point as a freshman. This kid hasn't missed a practice this year, whereas others will miss a practice or two because of a nagging ache, but not this kid. He hasn't missed a practice, a walk through or a shoot around the entire year. You know, with the way he's built physically it may be catching up on him a little bit. And second is match ups, if you are going to play him and Rashaun, obviously one of them has to do a little more chasing. In this league the forwards you play are more athletic and quick than in other leagues where they have two bruisers. Obviously, it doesn't help us to have him or Rashaun out there chasing guys. So it's been a combination of things.
Question: How hard is it to make the transition from the prep level to the collegiate level of basketball?
Lappas: It's like night and day. Most high school kids aren't allowed to do anything until the day after Thanksgiving. We start school the day after Labor Day and we start from day one with conditioning, individual instruction, etc. It is completely different and you can't even compare the two. Like I tell people, playing in high school and playing in college is like having two different professions, like going from a doctor to a lawyer. It's that different.
Question: What's the biggest thing your team has learned going on the road?
Lappas: It's much harder to impose your will on someone else. There is a good chance that you aren't going to play as well offensively as you do at home, so you have to play that much harder and be that much better defensively and with your rebounding. I think those are the basic things.
Question: Going back to the St. Bonaventure game, what were your impressions of that game and who stood out for you?
Lappas: I thought as a team we played extremely well for most of the game both offensively and defensively. We had a lot of assists and we shot 52 percent for the game. I thought it was a great team win for us. A lot of guys played well. Anthony Anderson played well, Rashaun Freeman played well, and Maurice Maxwell as well. It's been our usual suspects. I think Artie Bowers came in off the bench and did a very good job.
Question: Can you talk about the way Maurice Maxwell has played the last couple of weeks? It seems like he has stepped up.
Lappas: Yes, he definitely has stepped it up. I think that in the second half of a player's sophomore season, they really come into their own on a more regular basis and I think that's what happened to him. He does a lot of things for us not only scoring but he is so versatile in what he does.
Question: What is your overview of the season to date?
Lappas: We have struggled to find consistency. We lost two in a row once all year and we've won three in a row once all year. We've been very consistently inconsistent . That's kind of the book on us, which I'm not surprised about, since six of our eight guys that we play a lot are freshmen and sophomores. Jeff Viggiano was hurt for eight games and that certainly didn't help us. He's still not really right and it's those things that make it tough for us because we don't really have another small forward and Jeff does so many things for us. We're looking forward to having a consistent stretch run for us and I feel we are capable of doing that. We have a lot of guys playing pretty well and our team is getting better all the time.
Question: How do you feel about Rhode Island?
Lappas: I think it's going to be very, very tough game. They'll play hard, they play tight defense, and they are going to go to the glass hard. It's going to be a tough, physical game.
