On how the balance of the players that have been playing here for years and the younger, newer players:
“Well, the older guys have helped us because they know what culture we’ve created here. They know what are the pillars of our program, what’s important, and how things are done. Again, I think i’m being frank and honest when I tell you I think we probably had the best leadership with our upperclassmen that we’ve had in a couple years. The guys that you’ve talked about have been through some tough times, but yet they’ve had some good times. They’ve done a really, really fine job of showing these younger guys what it’s about in our program. They know we need the younger guys to grow up quick. Our schedule, I could talk to you about maybe are we over scheduled with this young group. I do believe, and we do as a staff, that the more that we can expose them to hard competition early, we think it will help us grow up quicker. We certainly hope so. We hope we can obviously win some of the games, you can’t win big games if you’re not willing to schedule them playing. But, our older guys have really done a terrific job, and I expect them to continue to do that. I think if you ask the younger guys what the older guys have meant to them, I think they would speak out.”
On if the situation of new faces and chemistry within the team is easier now with little COVID issues:
“Well, I think when you talk about chemistry, I think it starts with if there is a genuine love and likeness for each other. I think that’s where it starts. We all know that we all have individual goals that they want to reach, we have goals as a team. Certainly, when you’re a part of a team, you have to give up some of those. Yet, we want them to be somewhat selfish in the fact that we want them to go after their individual goals; the work ethic, the commitment, the time that goes into this knowing full well that they do that. It’s going to make them a better team. Yet, when you put all five guys together, now, what do they have to do to make their role as important as the next guy’s role? But with this group, again when you talk about chemistry, I do think it starts with a likeness with each other. Off the board, I think it turns the guys to want to hang around and be together, pull for each other, help each other, because they all have good days, and some bad days, some tough days. But, I do know this, this group likes each other. I know they like being together. They would tell you to the man that a year ago was really hard. We’ve done some team type of things whether it’s going to paintball or something like that. They would tell you how good that feels to them and how much they missed doing things as a team in the past year. That part of it has been fun.”
NEXT: Rick Barnes’ media availability continued