Here’s video of John Beilein discussing Michigan’s upcoming game with 3rd-ranked Kansas on Sunday and a little bit on the loss at Wisconsin on Wednesday:
Notes and quotes are after the jump.
- “Wisconsin set a new standard of playing with efficiency, especially in the second half.” Thinks his team knows they’re on the right path but they still have things they need to shore up.
- Doesn’t see a problem with adjusting from Wisconsin’s slow, methodical style to Kansas, who is more athletic and fast-paced. “It is different, but we just have to adapt.”
- In the middle of a very tough stretch of the schedule, but thinks it’s important to “Bring a great team to Crisler when our students are here.”
- On why his team seems to play well for these big out-of-conference mid-season games at home (Duke in 2008-09, Connecticut last year): “I think we have a lot of pride number one in the Big Ten. It’s a bit of a conference battle. We have a lot of pride in the University … I’m sure there’s a lot of extra adrenaline we’re going to have to come down to get ready for this game.”
- On who Michigan plans on scheduling a home-and-home with next year: “We’re calling the usual suspects.” Going through the top-20 and picking whoever they think is a good match for Michigan. Slightly more daunting with the Maui field, but still have to do it. “I don’t want to think about the field.”
- Jeff Meyer was the scout for this game.
- On the tough 5-game stretch: “Our guys are just trying to find their classrooms today.” Doesn’t think they think about it that way. They go game-by-game.
- “You maybe haven’t seen it in games, but we’ve seen some things in practice, especially between the freshman that are playing right now: Jon, Jordan, Evan and Tim.”
- Being a low-major and mid-major coach, Beilein never really had the opportunity to play these kinds of teams at home, only on the road. It’s a good opportunity.
- Don’t feel any more pressure to win with it being a nationally-televised game, especially because the Big Ten Network reaches so many homes. Players are on TV so much that it’s not that big of a deal anymore.
- Kansas is physical, and they play kind of like a Big Ten team.
