One would imagine that many of the questions at UW men's basketball head coach Bo Ryan's press conference Monday would be focused on the team's upcoming game at Penn State Wednesday, but in actuality Ryan found himself answering a wide variety of questions ranging from the team's increased national attention to Washington State coach Tony Bennett. And as usual, Ryan had an atypical answer for every single one.
When asked about sophomore forward Marcus Landry and his ability to defend such players as Ohio State diaper dandy Greg Oden, Ryan once again delivered.
""He's always been a post defensive player, because in high school, he was the post defender,"" Ryan said. ""The other thing is he uses his core from the knees to the chest really well and balance. He'd be a good person in jujitsu or judo or what, what is the difference between judo and jujitsu?""
And with that one question the weekly press conference became story time; as Ryan went on to tell the story of his judo-chopping uncle who was a Ranger in the Korean War.
But the entire press conference was not as informal, as Ryan did discuss his team and how they expect to take on Penn State this upcoming Wednesday.
""Well, it's another Big Ten game on the road. I don't know, they have two players that have been very, very productive in a lot of ways, rebounding, scoring. But they're very dangerous with their, you know, they've got some 3-point shooters that have been streaky. They've got two athletics guys that can attack the rim and score around the basket,"" Ryan said. ""And if you don't hit some shots against their zone, they've been playing zone all the time. If you don't get some shots, that sounds familiar. You've got to hit shots against anybody.""
However, it seemed coach Ryan was not the only head coach at the press conference, as an abundance of questions focused on former UW assistant coach and now head coach at Washington State Tony Bennett.
""Well, I think he's in a great situation with a lot of guys back from last year and guys that knew him and being in that system. And I think there's some teams that were in flux in the Pac-10, and you've got to get them. And the best win is when you score no points in 10 minutes and can still win, so you've got to be able to play defense,"" Ryan said. ""But I think all those things can help a person have that kind of success. I mean, he knows the game. He's been around the game. You just do what you naturally do.""
And while UW is currently ranked No. 4 in the nation, Coach Ryan doesn't believe that the added attention is hurting his players either on or off the court.
""Well, I don't think so because ... I just reminded them last week with Real Sports coming in, HBO is coming in, ABC is coming in for a couple weeks to do another thing like ‘The Season,'"" Ryan said. ""The last time ‘The Season' was in, they said that we spiked their ratings. Zach Morley getting a haircut, and what hurt the ratings, I think, was Clayton Hanson and Zach going bowling with their dates.""
As for Wednesday's road matchup against 1-7 in the conference Penn State team, Ryan again gave the usual, straightforward answer.
""It's just more travel, but the other teams have to travel, too,"" Ryan replied. ""I haven't seen a team yet that gets to play all their games at home. Some try.""
