Brown’s Mike Martin Talks Bears, Final Four
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Wednesday GoLocalProv.com caught up with URI men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley to get his thoughts on his program and this weekend’s Final Four in Atlanta.
Today we caught up with Brown University men’s basketball coach Mike Martin who, like Hurley, has just completed his first season as a head coach here in the Ocean State. Martin is down in Atlanta for this weekend’s Final Four and here is what he had to say on a number of basketball-related topics:
On his first season as head coach at Brown:
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The leadership we got from our seniors and the overall attitude and effort put forth by the entire team was great. Obviously, the win loss record (13-15 overall, 7-7 Ivy League) is average and isn’t what we want moving forward. Beyond that, I thought we did a nice job of establishing an identity and our culture.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOn his thoughts about next year’s team:
“Obviously, improving our depth, ball skills and athleticism was very important when putting together our recruiting class. While I’m excited about the guys we have coming in, we’ll miss our seniors. But we do have a ton of experience back so that should help.”
On Harvard’s upset win over New Mexico in the NCAA Tournament:
“I think it’s great! I couldn’t be more happy for Tommy and his program. It was just another example for people to see that our league is getting better and better. We are becoming one of the more competitive mid-major conferences in college basketball. What Harvard did and Cornell’s run a few years ago are a good example of that.”
On Saturday’s match-ups at the Final Four in Atlanta:
“The two things that intrigue me the most are Louisville’s defense and Michigan’s offense. I am so intrigued by Louisville and how they put pressure on teams and constantly change things up. Mike Krzyzewski said it best when he said ‘they don’t allow you to run plays, they force you to make plays. And they don’t allow one guy to make decisions, everyone on your team is going to have to make the right decisions.’”
“With Michigan, their skill and shooters should give Syracuse some trouble. Having said that, Syracuse’s size and length has been tough on smaller guards.”
“It’s funny that I say that Louisville’s defense and Michigan’s offense are the two things that impress me because that’s not giving any credit to Syracuse and their 2-3 zone which has been the best defense in the tournament. I think Syracuse-Michigan is a fascinating match-up.”
“And don’t forget about Wichita State. They’re the latest mid-major to make a run to the Final Four and they’ve done it like a power conference team by playing fast and strong. They’re a well-coached team.”
