Coming off Michigan's first loss of the season, associate head coach Phil Martelli met with the media and discussed everything from what Michigan can learn from the loss to what freshman Caleb Houstan can become to the team's confidence in DeVante' Jones. For everything Martelli said, read on:

On whether the first loss can be a good learning tool

Forever in my career I've often wondered about that, like a loss is a good thing. I'm not sure I thought that at 3 in the morning Tuesday into Wednesday or that Juwan thought it; he said he was up until 6 AM. The players when they came in Wednesday, didn't look like they thought that.

I don't think that every loss is a losing experience and I don't think every win is a winning experience, and certainly there were a lot of lessons for us. At the end of the day, for that 40 minutes, and it's hard to acknowledge but we lost to a better team. They were just better than us, whether it was the nine second-half offensive rebounds; whether it was, and you'd have to help me with the number, (but) I think we had nine turnovers in the second half--we had three at the half, then we had nine; whether it was the foul shot differential, and that's not about the referees; our pace in the second half. So, we have to learn from it, certainly.

I thought the crowd was spectacular, but we did have some looks that were like 'Hey, I didn't hear that call.' Ok, well, that's something that we can grow from. But look, it was almost--not that I've ever been a sprinter in my life, I don't even walk fast--but they walked us down. You hear that term, that 'they walked us down.' I remember on the bench when they took their first lead in the second half, I thought 'This is their first lead in 25 or 26 minutes.' But they just kept coming and got spectacular bench production.

So yeah, we have to learn, but this team is learning every day, whether it's terminology, whether it's Juwan's approach to a shootaround, a film session, and it's not an excuse. This team is a lot of new guys who are filling very significant roles on a very good team.

On whether opponent offensive rebounding is a concern

Absolutely positively. Don't tell anybody I told you, alright? Since this is a small group I can tell you. When we went a secret scrimmage where you're not allowed to put out a lot of information, right, DePaul had 17 offensive rebounds. Buffalo had 17 offensive rebounds. Seton Hall had nine in the second half. It is an issue and it is addressed and it is talked about and ironically one of our best sessions of blocking out and competing on the glass probably took place on Monday in practice. We did a really nice job.

We have to continue, and one of the--when you come out of a game and your point guard leads you in rebounding, that's a salute to DJ but also our frontcourt guys--and I'm not just pointing a finger--our frontcourt guys, our wings, everybody has to start rebounding outside their area after they block out. We have to make contact and we will get better in that area. We very much acknowledge it.

On what the staff has been doing to get Brandon Johns' confidence back

Great point, great observation. Any number of things. The Brandon that was in the NCAA Tournament last year, the Brandon that took Isaiah Livers' spot, the Brandon that had 20 points in Madison Square Garden two years ago, that's the guy that we need and he very much wants to be that guy and I do think that there's moments where it's a lack of confidence.

So what we're going to do is we're going to keep encouraging him. We're going to show him, make sure that he sees, that he becomes a visual learner and that we expect him to take that shot. There was a beautiful moment yesterday in our practice before we left town and Coach showed them a clip and he pointed that out in front of the whole group; 'You take that shot.' There was a shot where he came down on a trail and we ended up with him turning and trying to back down from the 3-point line. Our court in that area is Hunter's world, so Brandon has got to take those open shots. I thought he did a good job, not a great job but a good job. He got on the offensive glass and he's going to have to be like a great offensive rebounder because so much attention is based on Hunter being so close to the basket.

We'll get that guy back. We'll get Brandon back. We'll get him because it's not lack of want-to. Right now it's a lack of that confidence that you spoke about.

On identifying why Hunter Dickinson didn't get many shots in the final 13 minutes against Seton Hall and whether that was something they did or whether Michigan just didn't get him the ball

It was a stretch--if you look at the running game, that's a stretch where we kind of came out. We didn't play with enough pace, to be honest with you. We weren't getting the ball down the floor. We weren't flowing, and you guys all know when you see this team it's beautiful basketball when it's a flow. When it gets to be in the mud, so to speak, then people can surround Hunter, and again, we made three 3s. We didn't make a 3 until there were 11 minutes left in the game, so the court was very compacted, and certainly that was an issue.

The calls were the same. The execution maybe was a bit off. We have to improve in that area; we have to become a better screening team, but certainly the calls--we are well aware where our bread needs to be buttered, and basically what was that, 28, 29, 30 minutes, he was a stone-cold All-American in that game. But we need it for 40, and we need to be talking about it after a win. Could he get more touches or does he become a better sharer of the ball, which hasn't been an issue this year. He's doing a really nice job with that.

On the work Terrance Williams II put in during the offseason the value he brings in being able to play multiple positions

Well, I think that when we were fortunate enough to recruit Terrance and people would say 'What position is he going to play? I think he's too small for this and maybe he doesn't have enough ball skills for that' and I just kept thinking yeah but all this kid has ever done is win. He's a winning basketball player, so the versatility with the mind that Juwan brings to the offensive end of the floor and the defensive end of the floor with Saddi Washington, we would figure that out.

And what you've seen in Terrance is that confidence. I've often said that to be great you have to be willing to go alone at times. So I'm going to assume you're close to a 4.0 student. At least that's what you told your parents the last time they asked? Did you?

I've been out for a couple years

You told them you were a 4.0 student, did you not?

No, but--

You know what I'm saying.

I know what you're saying

In order to be a 4.0 student, go to the library alone. Do your research alone. And to be a good basketball player, do not fear the empty gym, and Terrance did that all spring and he did it all summer, and now you're seeing the fruits of that labor. And he's not a one-way player. It's not like, oh, his three-point shooting has improved or his drives to the basket have improved. What he can do is he can guard multiple positions and he clearly, clearly impacts winning. He is a--I actually had a conversation with him today that he is a captain-in-waiting in this program, and he is going to have a major impact the rest of this year. He's going to have a major impact tomorrow night, he's going to have a major impact the rest of this year, and the results are going to be a lot of wins because Terrance Williams is on your team.

On whether toughness and grit can be identified in recruiting and how one goes about that

That's another great question. It is a trait that you can see. And if you take it a step beyond, like what we're watching the in the springs and the summers for recruiting, I'd take it even a step further to say the toughness to do things that other players wouldn't do, but also the grittiness to do it because it'll help your team win. That's really what--you can identify that. There's a lot of dudes that are out there playing and they're very gifted, but they're out there playing. You have to cross a barrier to be out there playing to win.

That's Terrance. That's always been Terrance. I was fortunate enough to see him when he was in the ninth grade. Extraordinarily well coached at Gonzaga by Steve Turner, who was at the Prairie View game. I bumped into him in the hallway after the game; it was delightful to see him. And then obviously playing at the highest level in summer basketball with Team Takeover.

So that's, I think, if you're watching a game--and I'm not saying this is scientific or anything--but all of a sudden a guy sets a great screen. Well, that's not a normal activity in the summer or the spring. Or the guy hits a blockout or he talks on defense. Those are all the toughness factors that you can measure as long as you're there not just walking out and saying, 'Man, that kid had 13' or 'He had 23.' Did his team win and did he impact winning? And that's the toughness and the grit that Terrance has.

On what he has seen from Caleb Houstan and how he compares to other freshmen he's coached in the past

Caleb obviously has this stroke that is just beautiful and he has range and just on the shooting side of it, I pulled him aside yesterday and--not that this was genius, this wasn't John Wooden-like or anything like that--I said, 'You were 1-for-9, so do you know what that means?' He looked at me and his feelings were hurt, obviously. I said, 'There's a game where you're gonna be 8-of-9. Somebody pays. When you're as gifted as you are and you work at your craft the way that you do, somewhere along the line someone will pay, so before you even think about it we all expect you to take that first shot against UNLV. Whenever it presents itself you are to shoot the ball and if it goes in, that's really not that important. It's the next shot that becomes important.'

He has a terrific, terrific work ethic, as do all the freshmen. I know Juwan has talked about that. They're always in there getting extra shots up, and some of it is really unusual times. They'll get up at 6, 6:30 in the morning to get their extra shots up, so one, it's a work ethic that he has. Two is he has a basketball IQ that is very, very high level. Now, playing on the international scene and also playing at Mount Verde have kind of brought him to the right place. He's now trying to get that Masters degree in basketball. And being with Saddi for his position work and being with Howard Eisley for his offensive work.

Where can he go and how does he measure up? I remember having a conversation with somebody in the summer and I said 'Somebody go back and look at Franz's (Wagner) numbers as a freshman. If we can get those numbers from Caleb, then he's going to be the Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten and you're going to be again surrounded by an extraordinary young talent.' I don't see any reason that he can't get to those numbers. And at the same point Franz, not great off a ball screen but a spectacular passer, and I think that's what we've got with Caleb. I just think that stroke should be canned and admired for a very long time because it is a beautiful, beautiful release.

On confidence in DeVante' Jones going forward

Extraordinarily confident. I think--now, we are going back and looking. One of hte little wrinkles I saw somewhere where maybe in his 80 games at Coastal 40+ he had more than three fouls so we have to find out what is that all about without getting him mental. Like I don't want him out there thinking he's got to be overly cautious. I think his rebounding is extraordinary. We have to stay on and stay with him in terms of pace, but yeah, we're in great shape at that position with DeVante' Jones.

On whether he has seen any of Franz's NBA highlights

You know what, I haven't but you know what, I hope he's watching this but I just got a call from my daughter who is a fanatical fan and I have a granddaughter who is absolutely positively enamored with Franz and my daughter just called me an hour ago and she said, 'Franz is going to be in Philadelphia in two weeks. Do you think that you can get him to say hello?' I said, 'Well that's easy. Him saying "Hello"? Like that kid is pure gold as a human being, so saying hello is nothing.' I did go on, probably 20 minutes ago I was looking at stats and going, 13.9 and 4.8 and 1.9 assists. He has two wins in the Garden. Pretty big deal, right? Beating the Knicks. Special, special, special guy. Just special guy. Just a special guy.

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