University of California Athletics

Ben Braun

Men's basketball coach talks about the state of the Bears.

Feb. 2, 1998

Will forward Michael Gill, who has miss the last three games with an abdominal injury, be able to play against Stanford?

If he can go, we'll see what he can do. The last time he came back, we had to limit his role. I don't want to see him get injured and hurt himself for the rest of the year. I think we'll have to monitor his time a little bit.

What can you do to prevent a low scoring output like Cal had vs. Arizona (57 points)?

When our players aren't getting open, we have to fight off screens and do other things on the floor. Those are the things that take time. We need to a better job with ball movement and movement without the ball. Those are things that I think are very important, and our players have to see the value of those things.

I think it's tough in general to really buy into the fundamentals because it's an area players don't put as much emphasis. It's something coaches harp on. But until you see it happen and it helps you win games or until you see that it keeps you from winning games, sometimes players aren't as aware. The possession is not over until you play fundamentally all the way through the possession.

Getting open is not a given. I think Geno (Carlisle) found that out. If you're a scorer, you've got to work just as hard to get open as you do to score. There is no scoring if you don't work hard to get open. You can't score without the ball in a scoring area.

Is Stanford a team you think you can run on?

We're going to try to do the same things we do against most teams. If we can play good defense and rebound, we like to get it out and go. It still comes down to defense. At this stage of the year, I think you have to know who you're playing and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Now, we have to work that much harder. There are no secrets.

How will you approach the Wednesday's Stanford game?

Our attention has to be totally on what we want to do, not on how Stanford is going to come in. We can't worry about that. They're going to come in prepared. So it still comes back to our team being ready. I don't think it will be a case of going after any one player. I just think we have to play extremely well as a team.

What would it mean to beat Stanford?

It would be a nice accomplishment. I think it would be significant to us because it would be a sign of improvement for us, that we've come a long way this year. I think a win would give us a nice lift from the standpoint of putting an effort in. Not to say that we haven't made progress. I don't want to say that only winning is a sign of progress. It's just more of a visible, concrete sign.

What do you need to do in the second half of the Pac-10 season?

We want to continue to work on fundamentals. We want our players to be fundamentally sound and not beat ourselves in any department. That's a goal. To continue to improve, that's another goal. I think if you do those things, it helps you to be competitive.

On junior center Francisco Elson:

He's coming around. I think Francisco's played some solid minutes. He gives our team a lift when he comes into games, whether its defense, rebounding, blocked shots or hustle points. As long as he's active, he's a very valuable player for us.

On freshman forward Sean Lampley:

Sean's a player who has been very active for us. Sean's made some mistakes, but he hasn't compounded his mistakes. That's a good quality. Young players are going to make some mistakes. But when he does, he recognizes those mistakes. He doesn't continue to make the same mistakes over and over. He doesn't seem to get discouraged.

I think Sean is a guy who can play well wherever he plays because he has an enthusiasm for the game. He's going to do whatever it takes for his team to be successful. He's been valuable to us whether he started or come off the bench.