Opening Statement:
It’s that time of the year again. It is nice to see some familiar faces, some new faces. Sounds a little opposite of our team, a lot of new faces but a lot of eager Huskies with us this year. Our guys’ attitudes have been phenomenal. There is a lot of appreciation among our team that they are here playing for the Washington Huskies, which is a really good thing for camaraderie and for our program in general. We will start this weekend, obviously, like we do every year we will go out to Evergreen and spend some time together and understand how we handle ourselves or how we are supposed to handle ourselves on the road a little bit, doing a little bonding while getting a whole lot of practicing in. Our guys are already familiar with each other because of the seven weeks they spent together in the summer and now the last couple of weeks here in September we’ve been together. We have a lot to learn but you can just tell our guys are starting to get antsy for us to really start practicing.
Before your start practicing, are there things you are certain this team will do better than last year’s team?
I think we have the ability to pressure the basketball more than we have in the last two or three years. I think we will do a better job with that. I think we have a group collectively that is better at making plays. Making plays for themselves’ or making plays for others. I think we will a more athletic team. That is for sure.
Do you anticipate picking up the tempo at all?
Yeah, because of the athleticism. We have more athleticism and because we will be able to pressure a little bit more. We have more guys that can make plays. That will allow us to do what we have done for the majority of our time here at the University of Washington and that is play up-tempo. It seems like we haven’t done it in a couple of years, so its like we’ve never done it before but that is how we play: up-tempo. We just haven’t been able to do it the last couple of years.
Have you decided on an offensive and a defensive set yet?
It is the same as the last 13 years. The same thing. We run our motion and sprinkle it in with a little high post. I say the 13 but the last couple of years we haven’t been able to pressure, as I’ve already said. We will go back to doing that. Same old attack type style. Depending on the personnel we will use more motion or more high post. Go back to 2009 and 2010. We ran the high post quite a bit. In 2013 and 2014 we ran it even more and then last year we ran more motion but ran high post as well. We will do pretty much the same that we have been doing for the majority of the time we’ve been here.
Over the past 13 years what has been the hardest thing for young teams to acclimate to, especially in the Pac-12?
In the past when we have had young teams? Learning how to pull things out in the end. Learning what it takes. There were many times that we played well enough to win the game but didn’t. When it came down to it we weren’t quite able to close the deal. We were just not quite sure how to do that, not quite sure how to do that on the road at times. So that is something we will spend quite a bit of time on in the preseason, trying to put our guys in those situations the best that we can so that they are comfortable when we are in those positions again, which we will be.
How much of a challenge do you think it will be to get these guys to play the kind of defense and dedication to get in the right spots considering how young the team is?
The effort will be there with our guys. That won’t be the issue. Learning how to be in sync, in unison, working together like everyone is on a string, that may take a little time to get it done. I believe, hopefully earlier than later, it happens because we have a very challenging schedule right off of the bat. I think we will pick it up. Guys are already taking ownership of trying to play the way that we’re asking them to do.
Do you still see the defense being the foundation of what you guys want to be?
Absolutely. There is no doubt about it. If we can’t be aggressive and be dictators on the defensive end, then we are just going to be mediocre. That is where it all starts.
What kind of adjustments does the staff have to make? You have so many young guys and you are used to having some upperclassmen that know how you want things done. It is almost like you have to start from scratch with these guys:
We kind of try to start from scratch every year but the difference is we have to stay there a little longer. In other years you start from scratch, you build your foundation but you systematically kind of go through it. Now, with these guys it is just going to take a little longer to get some things so that we are able to understand what we are doing.
You say you are going to play more up-tempo and you have these you, energetic guys. Do you anticipate your rotation to be deeper so that you can go longer, playing up-tempo with so many guys?
I don’t know. When guys were healthy in the past, even though we may not have had the most talented group, we still may have had a deep rotation. I can’t give you the numbers on what that is going to look like. I just know that we will be fresh when we are in there playing.
Do you have starting lineup?
Oh yeah, I’ll give you a starting lineup, tell you how many points everyone is going to score, average, I can do all that today. Yeah. Just wait on it.
Because there are so many new pieces, how did this summer’s self scout go for you? What would you take from last year going into this year?
I don’t know what we would take from last year. In years prior, I would compare this year with more like 2007 when we had four freshmen coming in and we had some new players that were going to play quality minutes. I would look back at that year. That would probably be more similar to what we are going through here and I think back then we weren’t able to have two hours a week with our guys in the summer. When we started out in October that was when we really first go to work with them, well September 15. The seven weeks makes it a little easier for us and gives us a better feel for what we had in the summer to learn our guys. So we see right now who picks things up just like that (with a snap). There are a few guys that are new that show up one time and they got it. We don’t have very many slow learners with this group. Guys pick things up fairly quickly so we have been able to assess that before our first practice.
Can you go through each of the newcomers with a thought or two on each one of them? How you think they may contribute?
All nine of them? We actually have ten. Joe Knight is a walk on so he is new. We’ll start with the guards.
David Crisp is stocky, aggressive, a really good athlete, strong, picks things up really well. He won a national championship last year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. He is excited about being a Husky.
Dejounte Murray also played at Rainier Beach and won a state championship. He is very versatile. He can shoot the ball, pass it, and dribble it. He is a guy that can make plays for himself and others. He has long, long arms. I think a reoccurring theme you will hear with our guys is that we have a lot of length. Even though we don’t have a bunch of seven footers, we have a lot of length. A lot of like size guys, common size guys, which will allow us to play that defense and to get out in the passing lanes and he is one of those guys.
Matisse Thybulle is a big time athlete. He ran a 4”55’ mile when we ran our mile. That is the best that anyone has ever done for us since we have been here. Matter of fact, as a head coach doing this about 20 years, we have never had anyone break five minutes and he broke it with 4”55’. He is long and picks things up very quickly. He is going to be a good defender. Surprisingly he will be a better offensive player than people may think he will be.
Noah Dickerson is arguably our best, low post scorer right now. He really understands where he is around the basket. He can also step out and knock the shot down from the perimeter. I would say, when you think of a Jamal Williams who played for us that was a really good low post scorer, Noah is somewhere along those lines. We got Jamal when he was a junior, Noah is a freshman but he has the capability to be able to do that.
Another guy who won two national championships, so is accustomed to winning is Marquese Chriss. He is an outstanding leaper and has an immense upside. He has a lot of talent. He is an exciting player to watch. He is fast, has good foot speed. He is going to be a good one for us. He’s a good shot blocker.
Speaking of good shot blockers, Malik Dime, is also a very good shot blocker. He runs the floor and is probably our most vocal player. He is very enthusiastic. His teammates love him. He played in a national championship game at Indian Hills a couple of years ago so again he is accustomed to winning.
Devenir Duruisseau is from California and is about a solid a player as you want to find out there. He doesn’t make very many mistakes and doesn’t mind doing the dirty work. He loves to bang, loves to hit people out there and is also a quick learner out there for us.
Dominic Green can really score the ball. He is fun to watch with the ball in his hand. He is one of those guys that for a lot of players might be a bad shot but for him its not because he knows exactly where he is on the floor and knows how to get to his shot. He knows how to get to spaces on the floor where he is very efficient. He can shoot the three and drive the ball, really good offensive player.
Matthew Atewe will sit out this year obviously, because of the transfer rules being a transfer from Auburn. He is very strong and fast but we won’t be able to have his services.
Joe Knight is our newest addition; he’s a walk on for us. He is about 6’7”, 6’8” and works really hard.
Do you have an idea of how you want to use Dejounte just yet?
That is the beauty of Dejounte. He is very versatile. Brandon Roy. What position was he? I don’t know. I don’t know what position Dejounte is. He is a guy that can bring the ball in transition to make plays. He can play the point, he can play on the wing, you can run him off screens, he can post up, he is just very versatile. So you don’t want to pigeon hole him in one little position over here because he is going to be all over the place.
How does Andrew mesh with these guys?
Oh yeah, they mesh with him. They know Andrew has far more experience than everybody else so they ask him a lot of questions and he is very accommodating to them in answering those questions. They are all meshing together just fine.
Coach you told me the most important thing is to establish a culture here, can you talk a little bit about that and the impact that Will Conroy has on establishing that culture?
Well there is another new member, the 11th member; Coach Conroy. I went from calling him Will as a player to Dubs C when wasn’t playing here anymore to Coach Conroy so he is Coach Conroy now. He obviously brings a lot of passion and fire. He brings fire wherever he is but he brings passion for this program. Many of you that were here remember his senior game when he kissed the ‘W’ when he left the floor. He has probably stayed in touch with me over the years as much as anyone who has ever played here. He is always pulling for us. One day, Will, Coach Conroy came to practice just to watch and I had to tell him about five minutes after he was there: ‘Will you’re not a coach here. What are you doing?’. He’s yelling at the guys to go harder and he was just there to watch practice but that’s just how he is. He can’t help himself. He wants to be a part of it. He has that passion. So, he is able to talk to our guys about ‘this is what coach wants out of you’, ‘we are working on these drills now and this is what it’s going to lead to’. He was here as a player. He understood also, what it was like to not win and then what it took to get on the winning track. He saw the whole thing develop as a player. He is able to impart words of wisdom to the group and let them know he’s been in their exact shoes and in this system how it works.
There are more Seattle guys back on the roster:
That is fantastic to be able to have the local guys, several of them on our team. This is an interesting group in that not only is it the guys from the state of Washington but the guys that are not from here are just really excited to be here and it is really refreshing to see.
You recruit guys for who they are and how they can be, is there somebody who you have seen so far that has been different than what you thought?
I don’t know if there has been anyone different than we thought. I think the question sometimes is are they worse or less than what you thought and there hasn’t been anyone like that. When we recruit someone we try to project what they are going to be able to do help us and I think so far from what we have seen they are all meeting those expectations but we haven’t had a real practice yet.
Do you think that because this team is so young you might have to go slower than you have in the past and may not be able to throw everything at them?
Yeah, I think so. We have a lot that we want to throw at them but again there are some things that we are going to have to take some time on because it is difficult enough if you are the lone new guy but when there are so many you don’t have a lot of examples to look to see how they are doing it. A lot of times you can walk into a new situation and look around and see how they are doing it and pick it up. We have only, I think, four guys KJ Garrett, Dan Kingma, Donaven Dorsey and Andrew Andrews; those are the only guys off of the top of my head that you can look to for that. We will have to take our time a little more but we can’t take too much time because our opener is pretty big.
In the past weeks have you been able to do anything with the new shot clock? Have you had a chance to gauge how that’s going to impact this team?
Offensively, the new shot clock should not affect us at all. We’re not a running down to the end of the shot clock type of team. But, defensively hopefully we can do some things that will make some teams uncomfortable with the new shot clock.
Have you been able to practice that at all yet?
No. Well, you talk about the way we’re putting in our defense and the foundation of it. We’re starting to do that. But whether the shot clock was changed or not, that’s what we were going to do anyway. But it all has some relevance as to how we want to play with the shot clock too.
Can you envision a scenario when you have five freshmen on the floor at the same time?
I think that can happen. When you got six or seven of them, at some point it could happen. But, you’re talking about Malik Dime, who’s going to play a lot. He’s not a freshman, nor is Andrew Andrews, Donaven Dorsey. I don’t know if that’ll happen a lot, where there’s five freshmen out on the floor with Andrew being such a big part of what we’re doing.
Tell us about the conversation with Dan Kingma when you gave him a scholarship.
We were just talking and we had to make sure it could work. There was a situation where we had an extra scholarship we felt at the end of the year. And sometimes you want to wait, maybe their senior year if you have a scholarship that could work out. But in his case we had one available now so when you watch him everyday and you watch him go about his business, he makes you pull for it. Because he is such a hard worker, so focused. I don’t know that there’s a selfish bone in his body. It’s all about team, it’s all about how I can make everyone better. He is a team favorite. Our guys respect him. You know, it’s interesting when you walk on sometimes, guys pull for you like you’re the underdog and you don’t really have the talent to really be good. If you do anything, you make a layup, they’re all proud. Dan’s different. I think our guys see him as someone that is going to take it to them everyday. They look at him when we’re doing any type of drills, conditioning, they look to him for leadership even though he’s young because he does such a good job. When you have someone like that who’s doing a phenomenal job in the classroom, if you have a chance to reward that, you reward it. And that’s what we were able to do.
What was his reaction?
He’s just kind of like that (signaling that he’s steady). And that’s how he was when we told him. I guess we’re both like that. I wasn’t saying “Guess what you got a scholarship!” And he didn’t say, “Yeah!” “This is what we’re going to do Dan.” “Thanks Coach I appreciate it.”
Who rebounds for you?
Malik Dime is a really good rebounder. Marquese Chriss can rebound, Noah Dickerson can rebound. I think this could be a really good rebounding team. The long wings we have with the length and athleticism is going to allow us to rebound well. Unless you have a Jon Brockman who is just everything he does just speaks to rebounding, I think it’s important that you have guards that can rebound. I think really good rebounding teams have guards, wings that can rebound and I think we have that. Along with all of our bigs I think can rebound the basketball.
How have you been able to get a good recruiting class without having success in the last couple years?
This particular year, last year, there were some local players, local talent that really wanted to come to the University of Washington, whereas in the last few years that hadn’t been the case. There were players that may have wanted to come, but weren’t quite at the level that we thought to help us win, but now we have that. So that really helps. And my staff just got after it. They did a phenomenal job of going out and identifying who really wants to be here. Marquese Chriss, who after he committed to us, if he would not have committed to us, would have had Duke and Kansas and all of them would have been after him. But we were able to identify who he was early, bring him in and help him see a vision. And he was able to come. The successes that we’ve had I think in past years with guys going on the next level I think has really helped. I think the guys these days they all want to play in the NBA, everyone does. But I think they’ve been able to see that you could definitely do that by coming to the University of Washington. And I think even though they haven’t seen it recently, I think they’re aware of the successes that we’ve had in the past. We were able to remind them that and show them that and it just started to snowball. But my assistants, man, they worked their butt off and did a great job of evaluating and identifying who was out there.
Do you have to prepare differently for Texas?
I would like to think that our preparation in the preseason would allow us to play against whatever we face. That’s what I would like to think. I would think that we would cover things so that like when we play in a tournament, when we go to the Bahamas, we don’t know who we’re going to play after the first game. We don’t have time to practice. We better have all that stuff covered by the time we get there. So I would think when we play Texas that we would have covered what would be necessary. But I don’t think we need to change a whole lot in what our approach is.
Was the idea of bringing winners into the program or was it a by-product of the process you go through when you recruit and they just happen to win a lot?
No, I think it’s important to identify but again I go back to the job that my staff did of knowing, this is what we want. And trust me, there’s some talented players out there that we had a really good chance to get but we didn’t. We didn’t go that way because we wanted a certain type of mindset that came along with a player. And one of that was guys that have been in winning cultures. Or if they hadn’t been in winning cultures, they had a winner’s mindset. So we really focused on that.
Did that also come into the equation when you hired Will?
We saw down the road I think, what Seattle has to offer in terms of talent. And Will knows a lot of these kids, their parents, whether he went to school with them or whatever the case may be. Down the road we saw that, that could really be helpful to us. But also as we are re-establishing our culture he was part of a, for a lack of a better way to put it, a pioneer group that established this culture in the first place. So to have him back with us, knowing how, as I mentioned before, he went through a worse situation than what we’ve been through. He went through a couple losing seasons. We haven’t had losing seasons the last few years, he went through some losing seasons, from there to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament so just that history with him and that background, knowing what it took, just thought that, that would be timely as well.
Talk about Donaven Dorsey - I think you said he lost 25 pounds?
He’s lost 22 pounds.
What prompted that?
I think in fairness to Donaven, it was tough last year because with his ankle injury he wasn’t able to do anything. And that’s when he put on a lot of weight and got heavy. And he just didn’t get to lose it. So he’s been able to work from last April until now. But he had to put the work in which he did, so you have to compliment Donaven for doing that. But yeah he’s down, he looks really good right now.
How’s that transformed him on the court?
He’s quicker. He can guard better. He can put the ball on the floor more than he did in the past. When we recruited Donaven, we recruited his versatility. He would play the point for his team, he was bringing it in transition, he was getting to the basket. He complimented that type of slashing game with a shot. You know last year, with him being a little heavier and slower, he became more of just a standstill shooter. Now we’re seeing the more of the quick twitch Donaven Dorsey that we were accustomed to seeing before. That’s what the loss of the weight has done for him.
What’s different about Andrew that would make him want to stay?
I don’t think Andrew is a quitter at all. I think Andrew saw that this was going to be his last go-round around here and Andrew is just stubborn enough to believe that he’s going to help get this done in his last year. And I think that’s how he saw it. He knew our system, he knew our program and in the back of Andrew’s mind it may have been, what does it look like my leaving here and didn’t really have a chance to leave any type of legacy myself. So he eventually you know came back but I think he also started to see the young people we were bringing in, the new players. And I think Andrew thought, you know what we may have something here. I’m going to stick this out.
Did you identify him as, if everyone else needs we at least need him - this fifth year senior, this point guard, this one guy who I know I can rely on?
Well, you definitely know you can rely on him and I think this what you’re saying and it’s true. With so many young players and new faces, the guy that will have the ball a lot in his hand is a fifth year senior who has won games for us, who has hit big shots for us, who has played in a lot of those type games. He’s at the forefront. So I think that is good for him. And it gives you a little bit of ease to know that that’s the guy that’ll have the ball in his hand a lot and that you’ll be counting on a lot. Because he’s been through the wars and he’s a tough guy.
How’s the health of your team?
Marquese Chriss in practice fractured his wrist but he’ll be fine. He’ll be ready for the first game. But other than that, just little nagging injuries. Our health is pretty good.
How are you feeling about playing Gonzaga?
We get to play them a year early and they’re a good team.
Any disappointment about spoiling the spectacle?
No, no, no. We were scheduled, when we began the series with Seattle U, we were supposed to play them, and I believe it was somebody that got snowed in, and somebody had to cancel the game and so we replaced the game at the last minute with Seattle U. And that was a year early, you know same thing happened then.
How’s your Mandarin coming along?
Okay, Ni Hao. That means hello, or what’s up, whatever way you want to say it.
When do you expect Marquese to be able to practice fully?
Don’t know exactly but it won’t be like the day before our first game he can practice for the first time. He’ll get some good reps in before we go out and play.
Do you feel any extra motivation to reach the NCAA Tournament seeing you haven’t been there for the past four years?
No. Every year you want to get to the tournament. Every year as a head coach or assistant there’s never been a year where I felt, “well if we don’t make it this year it’s okay.” Every year you want to do that. Because if you get in that tournament you got a chance. You don’t know what you can do, you know. So I’m looking forward to it, to try and get back there again.
Do you usually have a feeling though - this looks like a tournament team or not? Do you have any feeling from this team when you haven’t seen hardly any of them play college basketball?
We have some fun pieces in place to coach, I know that. And probably the most exciting thing to me is we now have the personnel to go back to playing the way we want to play. And then everything else takes care of itself. But we know we can go out on that floor and play Husky basketball the way we intended to play. And we’ve talked about all this, I guess, you put it all together the challenge is getting all the new players on the same page. And how quickly we can do that. But that is the most exciting thing to me going into this season. Having the personnel to go out and play Husky basketball the way it’s supposed to be played.
