I talked to Dunleavy Monday night during breaks in his radio show.
Has a decision been made yet on whether Ray Ona Embo will be shelved for the year?
“I don’t see Ray coming back this year. At this point it really doesn’t make sense for it to happen.”
When can Buay Koka come back?
“I just heard today I think in three weeks from now probably would be the earliest he can come back. It just depends on his therapy goes and how he feels. The good news is he can run and do all of his conditioning, so that’s a positive for a guy being able to come back and play.”
How impressed have you been with Caleb Daniels’ development this year?
"Maybe not as impressed as you might think. I’m really high on his ability. The thing really for him is how he handles what we’re going through now. At times we’re taking him out of his comfort zone and asking him to do things that weren’t the things that weren’t normally the situations you’d put him in. His attitude’s been great. Of course he’s going to do everything he can do to help us win, and a part of that also helps him expand his game some, too. But Caleb’s a great kid. He’s got great tools to work with. From day 1 we felt like he had a chance to be a big-time scorer. He’s getting a lot of attention right now because some of our weapons aren’t available and teams can pay more attention to him. He’s doing a good job for us."
At times has he not been as efficient as maybe you or he would like while he adjusts to a new role?
“There’s that part of it and the other part of it eventually is he wants to win so badly. He puts a little bit more pressure on himself and thinks he’s got to do a little bit more at times. It’s not unusual. It’s the first time he’s the go-to guy, and he has to carry that load night in and night out for us."
He takes losses hard. How has it affected him?
“Yeah, he does. When he makes mistakes or we lose, it’s definitely not because of lack of effort.”
With Ona Embo out all year, how much has that affected Daniels’ role?
“Playmaking. I’m going to meet with him tomorrow morning at 8:15 to watch film and talk through some of the playmaking things. It’s really more understanding what you have to check off and what you need to be looking for for your decision making. Most people out there, football fans understand the quarterback at the line of scrimmage and checking off the defense, reading the defense, well, it’s the same thing when a guy is the point guard.”
You battled SMU until the final minutes but still came up short in the last four minutes. What was your takeaway?
“We came out strong and defended. It was the second time we played them and we played them pretty good the first time here. We know their stuff. We defended them well. We had a couple of lapses. Because of our numbers we tried to play zone and stay more full zone on a possession versus show zone and then match depending on clock and situations, which I prefer. We played three really good possessions and then we got baited in on a couple where normally we would have matched up and they got behind us and they got some scores. The biggest thing for us was the two times that we’ve played up there, they beat us almost on the same thing but a different way.
"The 5 spot, the first year we were playing a great game and then they isolated our 5 man, Ryan Smith from the top, and he didn’t have great mobility and we didn’t do a good job protecting him. Saturday night, we fouled (Ethan) Chargois out of the game and they went small and their power forward (Isiaha) Mike goes 5 for 5 from the 3-point line (he had been 20 of 64). He had been a 20-percent 3-point shooter (actually 31.3). He could have gone for 40 percent and it would have been a different story for us."
Has a decision been made yet on whether Ray Ona Embo will be shelved for the year?
“I don’t see Ray coming back this year. At this point it really doesn’t make sense for it to happen.”
When can Buay Koka come back?
“I just heard today I think in three weeks from now probably would be the earliest he can come back. It just depends on his therapy goes and how he feels. The good news is he can run and do all of his conditioning, so that’s a positive for a guy being able to come back and play.”
How impressed have you been with Caleb Daniels’ development this year?
"Maybe not as impressed as you might think. I’m really high on his ability. The thing really for him is how he handles what we’re going through now. At times we’re taking him out of his comfort zone and asking him to do things that weren’t the things that weren’t normally the situations you’d put him in. His attitude’s been great. Of course he’s going to do everything he can do to help us win, and a part of that also helps him expand his game some, too. But Caleb’s a great kid. He’s got great tools to work with. From day 1 we felt like he had a chance to be a big-time scorer. He’s getting a lot of attention right now because some of our weapons aren’t available and teams can pay more attention to him. He’s doing a good job for us."
At times has he not been as efficient as maybe you or he would like while he adjusts to a new role?
“There’s that part of it and the other part of it eventually is he wants to win so badly. He puts a little bit more pressure on himself and thinks he’s got to do a little bit more at times. It’s not unusual. It’s the first time he’s the go-to guy, and he has to carry that load night in and night out for us."
He takes losses hard. How has it affected him?
“Yeah, he does. When he makes mistakes or we lose, it’s definitely not because of lack of effort.”
With Ona Embo out all year, how much has that affected Daniels’ role?
“Playmaking. I’m going to meet with him tomorrow morning at 8:15 to watch film and talk through some of the playmaking things. It’s really more understanding what you have to check off and what you need to be looking for for your decision making. Most people out there, football fans understand the quarterback at the line of scrimmage and checking off the defense, reading the defense, well, it’s the same thing when a guy is the point guard.”
You battled SMU until the final minutes but still came up short in the last four minutes. What was your takeaway?
“We came out strong and defended. It was the second time we played them and we played them pretty good the first time here. We know their stuff. We defended them well. We had a couple of lapses. Because of our numbers we tried to play zone and stay more full zone on a possession versus show zone and then match depending on clock and situations, which I prefer. We played three really good possessions and then we got baited in on a couple where normally we would have matched up and they got behind us and they got some scores. The biggest thing for us was the two times that we’ve played up there, they beat us almost on the same thing but a different way.
"The 5 spot, the first year we were playing a great game and then they isolated our 5 man, Ryan Smith from the top, and he didn’t have great mobility and we didn’t do a good job protecting him. Saturday night, we fouled (Ethan) Chargois out of the game and they went small and their power forward (Isiaha) Mike goes 5 for 5 from the 3-point line (he had been 20 of 64). He had been a 20-percent 3-point shooter (actually 31.3). He could have gone for 40 percent and it would have been a different story for us."