"GT Sports Today" show....

...was on CSS tonight with Paul Hewitt and Wes Durham. Here is a recap:

Opened discussing the wins over St.John's and Marist. PH said that the team has hit a lull where they are not improving offensively (more on that later). PH said the crowd really made a difference in the St.John's game and Wes added that the results could have been different if it was in NY. Hewitt said he was worried about how inspired SJ would be after losing their HC. Said SJ was a good rebounding team, particularly offensively and rebounding is an emotional skill. PH said the crowds have been great all year.

Then they went to a profile of Luke S. Talked about the same stuff about him having a good freshman year, and losing PT last year, but to some very good players like Chris Bosh. Wes quoted some former coach who said that you really want to have a center when they are about 25-26 years old. Hewitt agreed. They talked again about the 790Zone incident where Hewitt called in to the radio show. PH again said that college kids should be off-limits. If they are hustling, doing their work, taking care of school and representing the institution, they should be off-limits. If Luke wasn't hustling that would be one thing, but that is not the case here. He gives us his all.

Talked about Luke's development over the summer. Said Malcolm Mackey deserves a lot of credit, as he worked out with Luke 4 days a week starting at 7:00am each morning. In July while Hewitt was on the road, Mackey would call him and update Luke's progress. PH said Luke is a model student-athlete and he is getting his chance this year to show what he can do.

Next they went to an actual interview with Luke. He commented on how many of these players have been together for about 4 years now and they really know each other. They know what each other will do on the court, anticipate and work together well. He has really worked on his ability to use both hands as he knows that it adds another dimension to his game. Makes him harder to defend. Also talked about how he worked on his strength this summer. Not focused on just adding weight, but really worked on strength. He ended by saying he really just wanted to do whatever he could to help the team. Wants to hold his own and contribute however he can. Said he has a lot of personal goals and has a long way to go towards achieving them (didn't elaborate on what they were). Nice interview.

Then they went back to PH/WD. PH talked about he really worked on ball movement with the team prior to the Marist game. He noticed that Will Bynum made a real difference in the last two games creating easy shots for players.

Talked about VCU having great guards, which is always a challenge (didn't comment on the injured VCU guard). Talked again about worrying about the "lull" in play from this team at times the last few games. PH said he felt the defensive effort has been there, but that we are not good enough offensively going into ACC play. Said he envisions this team scoring 85-90 points a game, but we have more work to do.

Lastly, talked about the full-court press. PH said he is fairly happy with it. Have had to work on rotations a little since Bynum got into the line-up but that is normal with a new player. Overall getting better.

Good show - did show some highlights from both St.John's and Marist.