On having eight newcomers on the team
“When I look at the eight newcomers, I don’t think they totally understand everything. I think the perimeter guys understand a little more than the post players. I think we have some perimeter guys who have been through it. The competition has been great, with them going after it every day. There’s a lot of play today where I don’t know if a lot of guys have ever even heard the term post defense. We have to get better with our post players. They do a really good job of understanding the coverage and ball-screen packages that we throw out there, but in terms of the rim protection that we are looking for and think they can give us as well as the interior defense, we have to get better there. Some of the younger guys struggle away from the ball. Most guys comprehend pretty quickly what you have to do guarding the basketball, but it’s the off-ball actions that they have probably never been exposed to as much as the competition level that we play against. Overall, the attitude has been good. Coach Mike Schwartz does a great job, along with our other coaches, of holding players accountable daily on the defensive end. To be the team that we have to be defensively, we need to improve our rebounding from a year ago. We have to be better there. Those are the details that younger guys have probably heard but never really understood that’s the difference between winning and losing basketball games.”
On how big of an impact NIL has had in recruiting
“It’s interesting. Some prospects have asked about it early, right off the bat. Others never mention it. What I do know is that as a coaching staff and as a University, we believe in it and we’re behind it. I think there have been some great opportunities here for our players that they’ve taken advantage of. I think that with our University, our community, our fanbase and the people here that it’s there for those guys that want to pursue it. What really has impressed me are the ones that talk to me about the big picture because that’s not the first thing we’re going to throw out there: name, image and likeness. It’s something that we talk about and as I said, some prospects more than others are interested in that possibly than what we look at as the big picture. I like to thing, and I’ve said this, that after their time with us here—we want it to be some of the best years of their life—but we see the big picture that when we leave here we want it to be bigger and better than they can ever imagine. I really respect our guys here because we’ve talked to them about it and every one of them has said to me they don’t want to do anything that would get in the way of them progressing with their development to get to where their goal is. Some of our guys have done well. They’ve been able to do it and it has not in any way, shape or form interfered with them continuing to do the things that we ask of them in our program. We deal with it. In recruiting, we’ll go and there are certain things that come up in recruiting when people throw out numbers and figures. We’re not going to do anything that we shouldn’t do in the recruiting process. If some of the things that I’ve heard in recruiting are true, I’ve told people I think the transfer portal is going to be bigger than ever. I think the transfer portal is big because I don’t think coaches are always truthful in recruiting. They promise minutes and promise things that they truly hope people forget about and I think the same thing is going to happen with this in some situations. People are going to throw out numbers that say, ‘You’re capable of doing this.’ People are going to come up short and that will be another reason that kids will look to leave places. We’re not going to promise anything but just know that we’re going to do everything like every university in the country does. I have had some talks with Danny (White) about it. We’re not being left behind and we’re not losing recruits because of the NIL. We’re not. Like I said, when we go out in recruiting, we’ve got certain things that we’re looking for. Early in the recruiting process, we kind of get a feel for what things are and what’s important. We can make our decisions from there.”
NEXT: Rick Barnes’ media day continued