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The best of Phil Martelli and John Giannini at Atlantic 10 media day

10/20/2015, 4:45pm EDT
By Stephen Pianovich

La Salle's John Giannini speaks with reporters at Tuesday's Atlantic 10 Media Day. (Photo: Maddy Pryor, CoBL)

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich) &
Madeline Pryor (@maddyyypryor)
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BROOKLYN -- All 14 Atlantic 10 coaches met with the media on Tuesday at the Barclays Center. Among them, of course, were St. Joseph’s Phil Martelli and La Salle’s John Giannini.

The duo covered a wide array of topics during their respective chats with reporters, including their preseason all conference selections in the Hawks’ DeAndre Bembry and the Explorers’ Jordan Price. Here are a few of the best quotes from each coach:

Phil Martelli

On what rule he would create if he could make one...
“Well the way we shoot it, if you make it, I think you should get four points.”

“But that’s a really, really good question. But I think they eliminated closely guarded (rule), they did. That to me is a good step. I would ask them to pay closer attention to travels. I think that college players travel a lot and I think that they get away with it. The rule should be called the way it’s meant to be called.”

On Bembry’s defense…
“He fouled a lot last year at the start of the year and he was off at the beginning of the year. I think it was probably the pressures of looking at our team and saying ‘We don’t score easily, I’m the leading scorer, so I have to put more of an emphasis on that side of the ball.' But I would be more delighted for him to be the defensive player of the year in this league than player of the year in this league. Because I know where he is as player of the year. He was the best player in the year last year, but the league did the right thing. They honored (Tyler Kalinoski) from Davidson. That was the right thing to do.”

On the battle between Lamarr Kimble and Shevar Newkirk for the starting PG spot…
“It’s an absolute dead heat. And not because of negativity, it’s not a negative dead heat. It’s a positive dead heat. They’re both playing well, doing good things, running their teams. But there’s no leader today.”

Would you play both early in the season?
“They’re both playing in the rotation, yeah.”

Ever on the court at the same time?
“I don’t think so. It came up in our coaches meeting (Monday), they want me to try the two of them together in practice and then give DeAndre the ball on the other team. And I had to think about it. In the summer all plans are beautiful, and you’re mapping it out and you think this will really work, that wasn’t one of the ones we came up with.”

On liking some of the new rule changes…
“You have to be honest. This was not an easy game to watch. It was a game people watched for the rivalries, and that’s where you got excitement. But, if scoring is going to continue to go down, what are you going to do? (Call more fouls). I think you have to."

Won’t you guys complain about it though?
"Sure, why wouldn’t you? When you get your tattoo and it says ‘coach’ what’s the next thing you do? You bitch about the officiating. And here’s the thing, there’s a lot of bright coaches in this league, there’s not one coach that knows the rules. We don’t know the rules.”

On being picked seventh in the Atlantic 10…
“I haven’t used it as a rallying cry, I won’t use it as a rallying cry. I’ve explained it to them. I’m going to put more of an emphasis on isn’t this a great league because all the first-team all-conference guys are juniors. ...I sent (my ballot) in a while ago, I might have picked us seventh. But I’m not one of those that picks us high or low as a rallying point. We’ve been the top, we’ve been the bottom and now we’re in the middle.”

John Giannini

On forwards Tony Washington and Rohan Brown
“Tony Washington has been with us, this is his third year with us, this is the year he was recruited for. He was recruited to replace Jerrell (Wright) and Steve (Zack). Those guys are older, they’re stronger, they played against Jerell and Steve every day, they’ve been coached, they know what they’re doing. I think they’re ready to go. Can they match what Jerrell and Steve did in their senior years in their first year of significant time? That would be difficult. But I think they’re going to do well, and I think they’re going to help us win. But it’s all planning, we’re not bringing in a freshman who was playing against 16-year-old competition last year.”

On Price…
“The thing we’ve talked about with Jordan since he’s been here and what he’s been working at every day is not to be a great scorer but to be a great player. He has been known for scoring since his high school and AAU days. I think he was better in other areas outside of scoring last year. But now, he’s in the best shape of his life, he’s playing the best defense of his life, his assist to turnover every day in practice is the best it’s ever been. He’s learned about winning, too. ...He has a far more mature understanding of the game and what wins. I think he wants to win more than ever. He wants to be a professional player, and he knows that there’s more that goes into that than scoring.”

On being guard heavy…
“We’re always guard heavy. When I walk down the street, I don’t see 6-10, 6-11 guys. So we’ll have two or three of them and two will play a lot. But guards win in college basketball. Guards win. Big guys are a luxury. There’s lots of teams that win without great big guys, but there’s no one who wins without great guards.”

On going against Bembry…
“You respect all of your opponents, but occasionally there’s a guy who worries you more. You’re worried about his ability to take a game over, and Bembry is that kind of player. I’ve talked about the stuff that goes into winning and the reason he wins and is good is because he can do so much more than score. He can guard the best guy on the other team, he can get double-digit rebounds, he can find the open man, and he can make something out of nothing. He can hit a three from the sideline falling out of bounds. He can drive in the lane and dunk over your center. I think he’s a great NBA prospect.”


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