On depth of roster and competition
“We have had really good healthy competition from the beginning. We have gotten full numbers right now from where we started. From the addition of some guys, Zakai (Zeigler) coming in late and certainly with our 7-8 new players coming in and the older guys doing what we have asked them to do in terms of leadership. I think I have the best coaching staff in the country. They have bonded extremely well with the players. We obviously lost two from our staff a year ago, but the transition to the new staff has been great. I think it has helped with competition, where we spend the time that we spend with them daily as a coaching staff. It has been a really healthy competitive situation, and we are going to have to have that throughout the year. If we do what we like to do, we expect to go very deep into our bench. We can play at a pace that we have been working at and continue that pace. That will determine how much progress each player can make here on out.”
On team camaraderie/chemistry since COVID
“Just a totally different deal with our program, and we have always spent a lot of time together. Our locker room is a second home for all of us, and we do so much there together. Last year, we didn’t get any of that. I feel for the players last year who did not get a real feel of what it was about and what it should be, but this year has been a lot of fun. It made us really truly appreciate what we had before to be quite frank. This group is a group of guys that after practice, when we are in the locker room/lounge, you do not want to leave because you enjoy that camaraderie. Maybe some of it has to do with how we missed it a year ago, but it is a totally different feeling from what we had last year.”
NEXT: Rick Barnes’ media day continued