Miami Hurricanes guard Dante Allen spoke with the media after the team’s first preseason practice. Check out everything he had to say down below:
On Jai Lucas’ success in Year 1: I'd say with him, I think he wanted to win quick. I know he came in, new team, he had to get new players, new staff and all that. But he didn't want to take that as an excuse to, like, have a rebuild year, as someone would say. He wanted to come in, win quick, make new the guys he wanted to have. He knew what was going to help him win, the coaching style. So I think that kind of helped us kind of get further. It was kind of attractive as a player. That's the kind of coach you want. Coaching style, I mean, I think he's a player's coach. Obviously he was a college player. He was a really good player, point guard at that. So he kind of knows the mind of a basketball player. He knows how one thinks. But he also knows how to get the best out of them. You know, if it's this time, it needs to get on somebody, he's not going to be jumping up, yelling, screaming. He knows how to talk to each one of his guys. He knows how to get the best out of everybody. So I think that is definitely good. I mean, how to talk to all your guys and know how to get the best out of them. I think when it's on the court, I think he trusts us. I think we can trust him as best as possible.
On what he worked on the most this off-season: Just being more of an on-ball player. I think last year, having Tre, I was able to kind of learn from him. Obviously he made a lot of the right reads most of the time. So I think coming into this year, I kind of know I'll be a bigger part of the offense, being on the ball, making reads, whether that's for myself, you know, getting to the basket, shooting, making reads for other guys, passing the ball, so overall being better on the ball, just kind of knowing that my number might be called a little bit more this year. So just knowing when that time comes, I'll be ready for it.
On the off-season bonding: Yeah, I think it started off the court pretty quick. I think we got some guys down here. I think off the court we did a lot of stuff together. I think one thing we kind of did different, I think we started bowling together as a team a little bit, just kind of getting a couple of guys going out, relaxing. I think we got everybody kind of down here quick, just kind of doing stuff. And I think on the court it was able to translate pretty fast. I think everybody got to trust each other pretty quick, even though a lot of guys didn't know each other, didn't know each other's play styles. But I think the fact that we were able to get that bond off the court really quickly and it was able to translate on the court, I think it gave us a step ahead of some other teams, who might have a lot of new guys who might not be accustomed to each other really quickly.
On who’s the best bowler: I give it to Nick [Dorn] right now. He probably goes bowling the most. So I think if I were to go as much as him, I don't know if I'd give him that much credit. But he's out there a little bit more than me, so I give it to him.
On knowing the standard entering Year 2: Definitely a lot. I think it's helped us at the start. I know I think last year we all kind of had to figure it out together. I think now we kind of got a coaching staff. We got guys like me, Shelton, who are kind of able to come back and kind of know what the standard is, kind of know what Coach Lucas expects out of everybody, and to be able to just kind of relay that from there, just kind of get the best out of everybody. And also I think it wasn't that hard. I mean, Coach Lucas, he obviously knows the guys he wants. He's not going to recruit anybody who knows a hassle to work with and needs to do X, Y, and Z. So I think it made it a little bit easier for us. But overall, just like kind of when we got started, just kind of knowing what we were about, what we wanted Miami basketball to be, I definitely think it made it a little bit easier kind of having that year.
On learning from Tre Donaldson: Yeah, I mean, I think for me college is a much different game. It’s faster, it's stronger. You got to do a lot of more things on the fly. So I think having a senior like Tre to kind of help me out, it was definitely great. Obviously there's things I'm kind of taking from him, you know, just watching him play, how calm he is, how he's able to control the game. But also on my side will come as well. I think he had a lot of confidence in me. He would tell me that pretty much daily. So I think the fact that I had that confidence, I was kind of being able to see him, I think it helped me a lot. I think it kind of helped me also kind of gave my confidence throughout the year, kind of thinking everything's going so fast, what do I do? Just kind of knowing when the time comes, whether I'm on the ball, off the ball, kind of whatever it is. I felt like in that moment I always knew what the right play was, and I think I can credit a lot of that to his confidence in me.
On off-season workouts: I mean, it's tough. I mean, it's tough, definitely. I mean, coming here, it's definitely not something we're just going to get a couple light practices in. But I think for mental toughness, it definitely helps us a lot, knowing that, you know, at times the real games are going to come down, and, things might not be going great, might be down on the road, stuff like that. So just knowing from the summer it might not be directly basketball, we might be running the bridge, doing the sand, stuff like that. But overall, just kind of knowing, when things get tough, you know, we're going to be able to push through that. We're going to be able to find a way. We know that we're not going to collapse. We're not going to start looking around, pouting, stuff like that. So I'd say I think it might not be directly basketball, but I think it's always going to come down to basketball at the end of the day, mentally and physically.
On Jai Lucas’ success in Year 1: I'd say with him, I think he wanted to win quick. I know he came in, new team, he had to get new players, new staff and all that. But he didn't want to take that as an excuse to, like, have a rebuild year, as someone would say. He wanted to come in, win quick, make new the guys he wanted to have. He knew what was going to help him win, the coaching style. So I think that kind of helped us kind of get further. It was kind of attractive as a player. That's the kind of coach you want. Coaching style, I mean, I think he's a player's coach. Obviously he was a college player. He was a really good player, point guard at that. So he kind of knows the mind of a basketball player. He knows how one thinks. But he also knows how to get the best out of them. You know, if it's this time, it needs to get on somebody, he's not going to be jumping up, yelling, screaming. He knows how to talk to each one of his guys. He knows how to get the best out of everybody. So I think that is definitely good. I mean, how to talk to all your guys and know how to get the best out of them. I think when it's on the court, I think he trusts us. I think we can trust him as best as possible.
On what he worked on the most this off-season: Just being more of an on-ball player. I think last year, having Tre, I was able to kind of learn from him. Obviously he made a lot of the right reads most of the time. So I think coming into this year, I kind of know I'll be a bigger part of the offense, being on the ball, making reads, whether that's for myself, you know, getting to the basket, shooting, making reads for other guys, passing the ball, so overall being better on the ball, just kind of knowing that my number might be called a little bit more this year. So just knowing when that time comes, I'll be ready for it.
On the off-season bonding: Yeah, I think it started off the court pretty quick. I think we got some guys down here. I think off the court we did a lot of stuff together. I think one thing we kind of did different, I think we started bowling together as a team a little bit, just kind of getting a couple of guys going out, relaxing. I think we got everybody kind of down here quick, just kind of doing stuff. And I think on the court it was able to translate pretty fast. I think everybody got to trust each other pretty quick, even though a lot of guys didn't know each other, didn't know each other's play styles. But I think the fact that we were able to get that bond off the court really quickly and it was able to translate on the court, I think it gave us a step ahead of some other teams, who might have a lot of new guys who might not be accustomed to each other really quickly.
On who’s the best bowler: I give it to Nick [Dorn] right now. He probably goes bowling the most. So I think if I were to go as much as him, I don't know if I'd give him that much credit. But he's out there a little bit more than me, so I give it to him.
On knowing the standard entering Year 2: Definitely a lot. I think it's helped us at the start. I know I think last year we all kind of had to figure it out together. I think now we kind of got a coaching staff. We got guys like me, Shelton, who are kind of able to come back and kind of know what the standard is, kind of know what Coach Lucas expects out of everybody, and to be able to just kind of relay that from there, just kind of get the best out of everybody. And also I think it wasn't that hard. I mean, Coach Lucas, he obviously knows the guys he wants. He's not going to recruit anybody who knows a hassle to work with and needs to do X, Y, and Z. So I think it made it a little bit easier for us. But overall, just like kind of when we got started, just kind of knowing what we were about, what we wanted Miami basketball to be, I definitely think it made it a little bit easier kind of having that year.
On learning from Tre Donaldson: Yeah, I mean, I think for me college is a much different game. It’s faster, it's stronger. You got to do a lot of more things on the fly. So I think having a senior like Tre to kind of help me out, it was definitely great. Obviously there's things I'm kind of taking from him, you know, just watching him play, how calm he is, how he's able to control the game. But also on my side will come as well. I think he had a lot of confidence in me. He would tell me that pretty much daily. So I think the fact that I had that confidence, I was kind of being able to see him, I think it helped me a lot. I think it kind of helped me also kind of gave my confidence throughout the year, kind of thinking everything's going so fast, what do I do? Just kind of knowing when the time comes, whether I'm on the ball, off the ball, kind of whatever it is. I felt like in that moment I always knew what the right play was, and I think I can credit a lot of that to his confidence in me.
On off-season workouts: I mean, it's tough. I mean, it's tough, definitely. I mean, coming here, it's definitely not something we're just going to get a couple light practices in. But I think for mental toughness, it definitely helps us a lot, knowing that, you know, at times the real games are going to come down, and, things might not be going great, might be down on the road, stuff like that. So just knowing from the summer it might not be directly basketball, we might be running the bridge, doing the sand, stuff like that. But overall, just kind of knowing, when things get tough, you know, we're going to be able to push through that. We're going to be able to find a way. We know that we're not going to collapse. We're not going to start looking around, pouting, stuff like that. So I'd say I think it might not be directly basketball, but I think it's always going to come down to basketball at the end of the day, mentally and physically.
