Talkin' to Takayo: Recruiting, Rotation and a Return?

Shykeim Phillips is scheduled to take another step this week

UNCW coach Takayo Siddle returned to his radio show this week to discuss the weekend series with Hofstra, his view of recruiting and points on a few of his players.

Here are the highlights from Siddle’s conversation with play-by-play man Mike Vaccaro along with a few questions he took from fans.

Check out the full video via Facebook Live, where the show airs every Monday at Noon.

On Shykein Phillips’ long-awaited return

Shykeim, he’ll start back practice Wednesday and hopefully, we’ll see how he is in practice to see if he’ll be available for the games this weekend. We’re hoping and praying that he will be so we can get some depth.

On building a foundation

As we continue to build a program up, I like to talk to my guys about, when you’re building a house, the foundation has to be rock-solid and that’s what we’re focusing on, and I think that we are putting together a really nice foundation — something that we can lean on and stand on. Our guys are fighting really hard. I have guys playing almost 40 minutes a game, my rotation is very short and they’re giving me everything that they have on each possession.

On expanding the rotation

I want our rotation to be a lot deeper and bigger than what it is right now, but in these games, they’re possession games and I have to be able to trust the guys I have out on the court, and to be honest, I’m just not at that point with some guys right now. We’ll see; we have a long week ahead of it with practice and we’re going to try to get those guys better and ready to produce for us, and hopefully, we can get a couple more guys in our rotation.’

On why AAU game frequency doesn’t translate to college

AAU basketball is pickup basketball, so the mental part of it is not as taxing as it is at this level, and valuing possessions and trying to do the right thing all the time. The pressure of AAU basketball is not the same. With these back-to-backs, with our limited numbers, our margin for error is very thin and we just have to continue to grow and clean up the little mistakes. we’re not making big mistakes; clean up the little mistakes and keep believing in what we’re doing so we can get over the hump.

On the conditioning of Mike Okauru and Joe Pridgen

They’re in really good shape, I think all of our guys are in pretty good shape because we practice with eight guys. Nobody gets any subs, any time off … we do it every day in practice, so those guys are in really good shape, they’re tough and they’re producing at a high level for us. Those are guys that we have to continue to build on with this program and I like what they’re doing right now.

On improved movement

It’s something we harp on, ball and player movement, because if you look around the country teams are used to playing in spots. Teams ball-watch a lot. Teams’ halfcourt man-to-man defense isn’t where it would be on a normal year, so we always talk about ball and player movement, especially against the zone.

On Jake Boggs’ Sunday performance

He was in more rhythm. The one thing I think about with Jake is he doesn’t understand how good he can be and how good he is right now, and I think sometimes when he goes out there, he’s still trying to figure out, ‘OK, do I belong? Am I good enough?’ As soon as he realize that … I think he was more relaxed in round two and he got a clean look in the same spot. … He knocked it down and he was playing with more energy and more passion on the defensive end, and I think that kind of created some offense for him.

On Mike Okauru

He’s a tough kid, he wants to win, he wants to be a good player, so I’m praying he has enough in the tank this week; we certainly need him to. He’s doing everything i need him to do and all I ask him to do is to play hard and play the right way. He doesn’t always do the right things, he makes some mistakes — but he’s playing 37 minutes a game and that’s a lot, handling the ball and being at the front of our press. That’s a lot on him. If we can clean up half of his mistakes, I think we’ll be a little bit better off, but he’s doing everything I’m asking him to do and I’m so proud of him.

On Hofstra’s Kvonn Cramer, an athletic 6-6, 205-pound forward

We have to find us a guy like that. He’s everything that I love; he’s tough, he’s athletic, he can play multiple positions, he can step out and do some things on the perimeter. He’s another-level player. In my opinion, he’s a high-major player and an elite-level, NBA-level athlete, without a doubt.

Guys should really take a look at him. You don’t need to run anything for him; he gets his points off effort and energy and he’s bought into that role and he’s putting together a really good year and probably will be the rookie of the year in this league.

On what UNCW needs in recruiting

A guy like (Delaware guard) Ryan Allen who can go get his own, I think we need a couple more guys like that; need to beef up on the inside, get tougher guys. We have a solid foundation that we can build on and I like some guys off this roster, for sure, we just need to beef up a little bit on the inside and go get some more guys that can go get it off the bounce and get their own.

Guys that I have recruited that maybe went to other places that maybe aren’t playing as much or playing at all at their universities right now that we’ll keep our eye on. Make sure that if they do come up n the transfer portal, we’ll be ready to re-recruit them and try to get them onboard. You just have to be creative and be ready to attack when the time comes.

On recruiting the Transfer Portal

Absolutely. I’m looking forward to it. We definitely have to get a little bit older, so the transfer portal can be good for us and we’re going to be really aggressive when it comes out.

On how the Seahawks have improved their turnover numbers

We’ve been watching a lot of film. The guys, to their credit, they’re getting better at making decisions and handling the ball, sharing the ball with their teammates, playing off two feet more. More than anything, just showing them on film, ‘When you drive, what’s available for you?’ They’ve been doing a really good job being patient and making good reads.