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BOCA RATON – Michael Curry says he’s a changed coach.
Want proof? For years Curry has openly discussed his belief that winning 20 games with a .500 record in Conference USA play will lead to a berth in a postseason tournament – maybe not the NCAA tournament, but one of the smaller ones.
This week, his answer to whether those 20 wins are still a possibility for this season produced a different answer.
“Is it attainable?” Curry said. “I think Charlotte is attainable right now. That’s it.”
At almost any level in most every sport, a coach’s statement declaring that he’s only focused on the next game – in FAU’s case, the Owls host Charlotte on Thursday – is near the top of the cliché hierarchy.
For Curry, however, it’s actually newsworthy.
“I’ve always been a big picture guy,” Curry said.
In past seasons Curry would try gather as much video as he could from all Conference USA opponents as soon as possible – regardless of where that opponent appears on the schedule. He’d watch it all, taking notes on each team, figuring he’d be better prepared when his Owls eventually faced each opponent.
He’d also map paths that would lead to the Owls achieving those 20 wins – selecting the teams the Owls should be able to beat, looking for mismatches that could be exploited against teams with similar talent.
Those are habits he picked up as an assistant coach in the NBA, when his job was to help prepare his team not only for that night’s opponent but also opponents weeks away.
Curry’s already seeing the benefits of an approach the FAU football team termed “1-and-0 this week” – a mindset that proved mighty successful for the football Owls in 2017.
“Because of that you spend more time just on the next team,” Curry said. “You may even pick up a little bit more information to give the guys.”
Curry’s Owls started 6-3 on the season, with three wins coming against NAIA opponents, before losing six consecutive games. Between those fifth and sixth loses, Curry indefinitely suspended Je’Quan Perry and Tre’ Maloney. They are not expected back.
Perry, and to a much smaller extent Maloney, saw increased playing time when guard Peyton Hulsey missed three full games with an ankle injury. When Hulsey returned for the Owls’ 31-point loss to UAB, Curry noticed a dysfunction stemming from the two role players, who expected more playing time going forward.
He acted quickly, removing Perry and Maloney from the roster.
“I think because being able to focus just on the game, each game, I think I was able to identify something a lot earlier than I would have maybe caught in the past,” Curry said. “Once I saw, it was just like, Alright, that ain’t going to work. Before it becomes and issue, I will tell you this isn’t working and we’ll move forward from there.”
The following day FAU played C-USA front-runner Middle Tennessee tight before falling 61-57. The Owls then went on the road, winning games at UTEP and Texas-San Antonio.
FAU (8-9, 2-3) has never won more than 10 games in a season during Curry’s first three years as coach.
Should the Owls manage to sweep this week’s home games against Charlotte (5-11, 1-4) and ODU (12-4, 3-1) these Owls will achieve double-digit victories with more than half of the C-USA schedule remaining.
A large part of their success this year can be attributed to Curry finally subscribing to the cliché.
“I’m fresher than I probably was,” Curry said. “In the past I’ve probably been mentally and physically just worn out because of that.”
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