“I hope we’ve turned the corner”

COACH'S CORNER: Five minutes with Jimmy Collins

(as published in Whoosh! magazine Jan. 20, 2004)

Whoosh!: What’s your grade on this UIC Flames team so far?

Collins: “At the semester break, this team merits a B. I can’t give them an A yet, because some nights they come out and they do things we ask of them, some nights, they do the total opposite. Once this team starts clicking on the same cylinders, we’ll certainly rise to that A.”

Whoosh!: What do you think the team needs to improve on?

Collins: “Obviously, I think we need to block out a little better. We have trouble matching up, because most teams are larger than us. We have to work on ball fakes. I look at how many passes the other team gets their hands on, and we’re not a really tall team. Once we get Jovan [Stefanov] and Justin [Bowen], we’ll be able to handle that a little bit better. We’re not perfect in any area.”

Whoosh!: What are your expectations now?

Collins: “My expectations is to simply get better after each and every game, whether it be a win or a loss, we’ve got to get better. I don’t want to dwell on the negatives, because I, for one, believe in a positive approach. We’ve got to show them the things they do wrong, even when we win.”

Whoosh!: Who do you think the surprise of the Horizon League is?

Collins: “The surprise of the league is probably Green Bay. They’re playing awfully good basketball.”

Whoosh!: Do you think the team has turned the corner after the losing streak?

Collins: “I’m certainly hoping we did. The reason we lost those games, in a nutshell, is we got away from moving [the ball], we got away from team basketball. We started running a lot of 1-on-1. I think when losses come at the beginning of the year, when expectations are running high, they tend to help you a lot better.”