Bowling Green State University Athletics
Dakich Likes Summer Effort of Men's Basketball Team
August 15, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Aug. 15, 2006
Bowling Green, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball program recently completed summer school and its conditioning program and is preparing for the first day of classes on August 21.
Dan Dakich, who enters his 10th year of guiding the Falcons, talked about the strides his team has made since the end of the 2005-06 season.
Q and A With BGSU Men's Basketball Coach Dan Dakich
What progress has your team made since the end of last season?
"Since the end of the season this has been a process of getting guys that want to be here and want to work. The guys that are here have put in an extraordinary effort over the course of the summer. The effort in the weight room, on the track, in the gym, in the classroom has been truly outstanding. I am very, very pleased with the commitment that this team has made to this point."
"The three of them collectively have to raise the level of everyone else, both mentally and with the way they all play. Martin (Samarco) is a guy that leads by example with how hard he plays. He, Matt (Lefeld) and (John) Floyd have all done a good job of raising expectations of the rest of our team. Martin, Matt and John as a group have to make their teammates better once we start playing. If Martin is going to be considered a great player, that is something he is going to have to do."
"Senior leadership is something that every good team has to have period, and if you don't have it you struggle most times, and I don't think we really had it last year. I don't really think it's fair to Soler to single him out as the only senior, its just he was the only kid. He was here two years, if he had been here four I think it would have been different. When you have two kids like Floyd and Lefeld,who have been here four years and who are going to graduate easy, you should have good leadership, you should have the respect of your peers. Both of them have done a good job of setting a bar for our team, along with Martin of course, and our team has done a good job of following."
What about some of your younger guys who are entering their second season?
"What's been the most exciting for me is that when you talk to one of their parents, they see the growth or maturity that each of them have exhibited. That's a part of being a good basketball player. The academic work this summer has shown that maturity. Erik Marschall has put on 25 pounds since the end of the season. Brian Moten has developed into a very strong kid. Darryl Clements has gone up 20+ pounds, but more than that for Darryl, it has been his mental and personal toughness. It's exciting for me to see the three of them mature and develop. They have a long way to go, but again they are only sophomores. I like where they are and where they have put themselves."
How have the freshmen adjusted since coming in?
What I like about the newcomers is that they had to buy in because the older guys were working at such a clip that they had to do what everybody was doing. I like the fact that Ryan Sims came in and gained seven pounds in seven weeks, I like the fact that Otis Polk came in and lost 14 pounds and really improved in the area of conditioning, and I like that Marc Larson has gained 30 pounds since the end of his season to be ready as a freshman. I like the fact that Chris Knight has come in here and done very well academically in two challenging courses. I really thought, in all areas, including our newcomers, we had a very good summer. "
What do your redshirts, Lionel Sullivan and Nate Miller have to do to be ready to contribute?
"The first thing they (Sullivan and Miller) have to do is learn how to play in a motion offense. What they are going to bring is athleticism, versatility, toughness, and a strength to our team that I think we lacked at times last year. They can go get stuff done. At six-foot-six, 230 pounds Lionel has a toughness about him. Nate was as good of a football player as there was in the state of Ohio, he has a real toughness about him. And at the end of the day, that's what wins or loses for you."
What are keys as you head into the coming season with?
"Nobody was more disappointed in last year than we were. People also have to understand that when we have been healthy, which we've only had four out of the nine years that I have been here, we have won at least 18 games. That's something that we can't control, but what we can control is how hard we work at what we do and the kind of people that we are. We are looking to keep ourselves healthy, we are looking to put ourselves in a position to where we are tough enough to compete at the level that I want us to compete at. The key to our deal is continued leadership and the health of our ball club. If we have those two things, I think we have the chance to be the kind of team that I want us to be, which is a very difficult team to play on both sides of the ball."
The league has two major changes with all 12 teams going to Gund Arena and a 16-game conference schedule, what are your thoughts?
"Going to Cleveland and Quicken Loans Arena is a big deal. It's something that I think we needed to do as a league. All of the leagues that are considered the quote, unquote great leagues in the country do that. Attendance in the opening round games were not very good because of spring break, the fairness of playing on the road on Saturday and then playing again Monday. There is a spectacle about playing the MAC Tournament in Cleveland that everybody enjoys. The 16-game schedule is interesting. It has made scheduling more difficult, but the university presidents, athletic directors and coaches determined that getting a second bid to the NCAA tournament was our goal. The way we were doing it (an 18-game schedule) wasn't getting it done, so something had to be done about that. The 16-game schedule allows us to schedule more Division I non-conference games and allows for us not to beat up on ourselves."
