During his press conference yesterday, Donovan gave some good insight on the sophomore point guard. I think it's fair to say Donovan spent a little more than a third of his presser discussing Hill.
"I think one of the things that he has got to get better at he's one of the nicest kids I've ever coached, one of the nicest kids I've ever been around. He's one of those kids that really wants to do well for all the right reasons. There's not a selfish bone in his body. He's all about the team. I would say inside of our team he's probably if not the most well-liked guy, one of the most well-liked guys. But where he's really struggled is decision making, reading defense, understanding when he gets in the lane how he needs to play in the lane. I still think he goes in there off one leg a lot of times and he kind of gives away what he's getting ready to do. I think sometimes he gets in there, he's easy to guard.
If you saw the Vanderbilt game at the end there he made a great play, he drove, played off two feet, he made a little runner, he needs to do more of that. And I think one of the things, we've struggled on the fast break in terms of converting on the break. And a lot of times that has a lot to do with your point guard and I think his biggest struggle, his biggest challenge has been reading defense and seeing things when he's playing. I try to help him with that and for me personally it's been really, really hard. There's just certain guys that have a very, very natural gift in terms of being able to read and see things as they're developing. For example, Jake Kurtz on our team is phenomenal at it. He's really, really good at it. He's got a great understanding, a great feel. That's one of the areas I think for Kasey, we've got to try to find a way as a staff to try and help him do some of those things because in the game as a point guard it's never going to be from Point A to Point B to Point C.
You say, okay do this every single time and it's going to work, you know. Defenses do different things, they coverage different things, they rotate different ways, they provide help from different areas, they switch certain things, so you know, it's no different from a quarterback being back there and having to go against zone, go against man, go against blitzes, go against all different coverages. When you're a point guard, you're going against constantly different coverages, and for me as a coach it's easy to see through my eyes and I played the position. I was able to see those things. That's something he really has had a hard time with and has really just struggled with. And there's times where he does get in there and it works out great and there's some other times where it doesn't work out great. I think that's the first thing.
I think the second thing he's got to get better at is he's got to become way, way more disciplined on defense. You know, he still is one of those guys where, you know I almost call it like, it's like you see in mini basketball sometimes. A kid makes a mistake and he runs back and tries to make up for his mistake instead of just doing the next best thing. You know, he's always a lot of time, sometimes compounds mistakes because when he does make a mistake, he's trying to get it back because he wants to do so well so bad. And I think if he can get more disciplined and understand that as a point guard you're going to make mistakes when the ball's in your hands, but there's still some things you can do when you make a mistake or a poor choice, and sometimes you've got to stop compounding them by being undisciplined. So those would be the two areas: his ability to read defense and his discipline.
I'm not really concerned about that with him because our season went so long last year. He obviously played a significant amount of minutes on our team and maybe he didn't have the kind of responsibility or pressure on him as he had this year because Scottie [Wilbekin] was back there to kind of absorb it and take some of that weight from him as a freshman. But I'm okay with him right now. You know, he's like anybody else. He's got some ailing injuries right now. He's got some tendonitis in his ankle that he has to deal with and maintenance every single day but that's no different than any other player in the country this time of year. There's nothing physically or mentally I feel like this guy's just worn down or beaten down at all. I just think that he's having to absorb a lot right now. He's having to absorb a lot and I think as a coach you never want your point guard to feel like he's going through it by himself. You want to try to help him through film and those kind of things.
And to his credit, like I said the one thing I would say about him is I question his commitment level during the course of the season. And I really addressed that with him and explained it to him and talked to him about that, so you know, in the Vanderbilt game he misses those two free throws late. Well I get done with media and I'm over at the arena and I come back up here and he's in the gym shooting free throws at 10:30 at night. You know, that's a commitment level by him that I think he's growing in that area where maybe in the past he would not have done it. So he's trying and he's working at it. But it's been a challenge for him. But I do think that he wants to get better.
I look at it this way. A lot of times when you're evaluating kids, you know certainly sometimes in AAU situations, some of the AAU situations are hard on the AAU coaches because you have kids from different parts of the state or even some kids from different states, trying to get guys together, trying to practice, trying to do those things. Sometimes it's very, very difficult. The biggest challenge I think for most kids when they come to college is can you play against coaching? Can you play against coaching? So from game to game, the coaching changes so to speak on how the teams want to play us, you know. We'll play a team on Saturday in Tennessee that's all zone. You know, we haven't played against a team that's been all zone. We'll play a team in Missouri that does a lot of different things with their coverages.
So you have to play against coaching. And a lot of times in high school as you mentioned when you're really gifted, talented and athletic, sometimes you're not going against it as much as you're going against it now. And there's got to be an ability to be able to read and make decisions, make choices, make plays being able to do that, and maybe earlier on in high school at the level he's at, you know, he's not had to do that. And I think the same thing can be said when you go from here to the next level up there, to an NBA level or an overseas level. There is an adjustment coaching wise that these guys have to go through, different kinds of coaching. And I think a lot of players that are really gifted, that's what happens is the coaching comes into the game by the opposing coach of how they're going to play and what they're going to do. Can you play against that? And that's been something I think he's had to really learn and adjust to quite a bit."
"I think one of the things that he has got to get better at he's one of the nicest kids I've ever coached, one of the nicest kids I've ever been around. He's one of those kids that really wants to do well for all the right reasons. There's not a selfish bone in his body. He's all about the team. I would say inside of our team he's probably if not the most well-liked guy, one of the most well-liked guys. But where he's really struggled is decision making, reading defense, understanding when he gets in the lane how he needs to play in the lane. I still think he goes in there off one leg a lot of times and he kind of gives away what he's getting ready to do. I think sometimes he gets in there, he's easy to guard.
If you saw the Vanderbilt game at the end there he made a great play, he drove, played off two feet, he made a little runner, he needs to do more of that. And I think one of the things, we've struggled on the fast break in terms of converting on the break. And a lot of times that has a lot to do with your point guard and I think his biggest struggle, his biggest challenge has been reading defense and seeing things when he's playing. I try to help him with that and for me personally it's been really, really hard. There's just certain guys that have a very, very natural gift in terms of being able to read and see things as they're developing. For example, Jake Kurtz on our team is phenomenal at it. He's really, really good at it. He's got a great understanding, a great feel. That's one of the areas I think for Kasey, we've got to try to find a way as a staff to try and help him do some of those things because in the game as a point guard it's never going to be from Point A to Point B to Point C.
You say, okay do this every single time and it's going to work, you know. Defenses do different things, they coverage different things, they rotate different ways, they provide help from different areas, they switch certain things, so you know, it's no different from a quarterback being back there and having to go against zone, go against man, go against blitzes, go against all different coverages. When you're a point guard, you're going against constantly different coverages, and for me as a coach it's easy to see through my eyes and I played the position. I was able to see those things. That's something he really has had a hard time with and has really just struggled with. And there's times where he does get in there and it works out great and there's some other times where it doesn't work out great. I think that's the first thing.
I think the second thing he's got to get better at is he's got to become way, way more disciplined on defense. You know, he still is one of those guys where, you know I almost call it like, it's like you see in mini basketball sometimes. A kid makes a mistake and he runs back and tries to make up for his mistake instead of just doing the next best thing. You know, he's always a lot of time, sometimes compounds mistakes because when he does make a mistake, he's trying to get it back because he wants to do so well so bad. And I think if he can get more disciplined and understand that as a point guard you're going to make mistakes when the ball's in your hands, but there's still some things you can do when you make a mistake or a poor choice, and sometimes you've got to stop compounding them by being undisciplined. So those would be the two areas: his ability to read defense and his discipline.
I'm not really concerned about that with him because our season went so long last year. He obviously played a significant amount of minutes on our team and maybe he didn't have the kind of responsibility or pressure on him as he had this year because Scottie [Wilbekin] was back there to kind of absorb it and take some of that weight from him as a freshman. But I'm okay with him right now. You know, he's like anybody else. He's got some ailing injuries right now. He's got some tendonitis in his ankle that he has to deal with and maintenance every single day but that's no different than any other player in the country this time of year. There's nothing physically or mentally I feel like this guy's just worn down or beaten down at all. I just think that he's having to absorb a lot right now. He's having to absorb a lot and I think as a coach you never want your point guard to feel like he's going through it by himself. You want to try to help him through film and those kind of things.
And to his credit, like I said the one thing I would say about him is I question his commitment level during the course of the season. And I really addressed that with him and explained it to him and talked to him about that, so you know, in the Vanderbilt game he misses those two free throws late. Well I get done with media and I'm over at the arena and I come back up here and he's in the gym shooting free throws at 10:30 at night. You know, that's a commitment level by him that I think he's growing in that area where maybe in the past he would not have done it. So he's trying and he's working at it. But it's been a challenge for him. But I do think that he wants to get better.
I look at it this way. A lot of times when you're evaluating kids, you know certainly sometimes in AAU situations, some of the AAU situations are hard on the AAU coaches because you have kids from different parts of the state or even some kids from different states, trying to get guys together, trying to practice, trying to do those things. Sometimes it's very, very difficult. The biggest challenge I think for most kids when they come to college is can you play against coaching? Can you play against coaching? So from game to game, the coaching changes so to speak on how the teams want to play us, you know. We'll play a team on Saturday in Tennessee that's all zone. You know, we haven't played against a team that's been all zone. We'll play a team in Missouri that does a lot of different things with their coverages.
So you have to play against coaching. And a lot of times in high school as you mentioned when you're really gifted, talented and athletic, sometimes you're not going against it as much as you're going against it now. And there's got to be an ability to be able to read and make decisions, make choices, make plays being able to do that, and maybe earlier on in high school at the level he's at, you know, he's not had to do that. And I think the same thing can be said when you go from here to the next level up there, to an NBA level or an overseas level. There is an adjustment coaching wise that these guys have to go through, different kinds of coaching. And I think a lot of players that are really gifted, that's what happens is the coaching comes into the game by the opposing coach of how they're going to play and what they're going to do. Can you play against that? And that's been something I think he's had to really learn and adjust to quite a bit."
