Q: I think you get 10 days of practice and I'm just wondering what that's been like and has anything stood out, anything you like about this group, anything you think is going to need some work? I know it's early, but-
A: A lot of things that we need work, but I like the roster. They've tried hard and we're fairly athletic and we got some guys that can score the ball, but I think perimeter shooting will certainly be a question mark going into Puerto Rico and going into the school year. I think we're pretty inconsistent in that area.
Q: What do you think about Colorado joining the 12?
A: Well from a Big 12 selfish standpoint, I like it because I think Colorado brings others. I think that if we're going to get to 16, I think what has transpired certainly puts us in position to be the third most powerful league in the country. I think that can actually occur, and I think Colorado was a big piece to allow that to occur. Now whether or not we go get three more from the PAC 12 or two more and one from the Big East, I mean I don't know what we're going to do, but I do think that Colorado puts us in certainly a better position with the PAC 12 than we were before.
Q: Will all these teams make it difficult to schedule now non-conference if you guys keep adding teams?
A: Meaning we can't play them or they're...
Q: I mean if you're playing everybody in the league and some of them twice, it'll cut down on the opportunities.
A: Yeah, yeah. Well, it'll cut down on the opportunities of four teams or whatever that you wouldn't schedule non-conference in America. So that's not a big deal, I don't think Gary. And the number of conference games ain't going to change, at least I think we're going to stay at 18. But if you look at it now, champions, classic, exempt tournament is three games. The Big East challenge. We lost the SEC challenge, the Big East Challenge. Then you have one marquee home, one marquee away, you're at seven right there. And the rest of the games are probably going to be buy games anyway. So, I don't think it's going to help us. I shouldn't say buy games, guarantee games.
Q: What's the style of play been like this year so far?
A: Well, we try to play fast. We haven't really talked much about defense at all, hardly. We're just trying to get a semblance of how we want to play and what we run behind, what we run. People say, well you do this. And I'm like, okay, you do that and then what happens if there's a loose ball and the play's over? What happens if you get an offensive rebound? What do you go to after that? And that's basically what we've been working on is what do we run behind what we run and which is from a philosophical standpoint of a four out constant movement and trying to figure out a way to utilize Hunter and that kind of stuff. But I like our roster. I think we got a good roster.
Q: Who's maybe not surprised you but impressed you so far over these last couple of the weeks?
A: Of the newcomers I don't think there's been any really surprises. I mean Hunter is what we thought he was. Arterio, Nicolas, Elmarko. I don't think those guys... Parker. I don't think anybody has really been a lot different than I thought. The most improved player without question we have is Kevin McCullar. He's by far the most improved player that I've seen, that we've seen so far and certainly been the best player I think on our team so far. But obviously it could be somebody a different day, but he's been the most consistent so far.
Q: You talked previously about Hunter having to adjust in some ways to the ways you guys do things in your system. How have you seen that adjustment go so far?
A: I don't know that he's had to make any major adjustments. I think we play a little faster and we want him to probably move a little more and be more active offensively and defensively. At least that's what we promised him when we recruited him. We were going to make you guard the way NBA folks guard ball screens and things like that, so to help him. So that may have been a little bit of adjustment, but he's done great so far.
Q: Bill, with Kevin, what are you thinking of in saying he's had that kind of breakthrough? What is it?
A: I think it's the exact same thing that Ochai and J-Will did. I think they tested the waters. They went and did all the NBA stuff. They saw, they have a better feel for what it takes to play at a really high level. And they realized that in order to do that, some certain things have to change. And with Kevin it was confidence and aggressiveness With Ochai, it was confidence and aggressiveness with J-Will, it was confidence and aggressiveness. He's just kind of in that same mode of those guys. He just looks like to me, he's a different guy from an aggressive standpoint and he's always been aggressive defensively, but he's different right now than he has been.
Q: Is it that it lit a fire or it clarified what he needs to do or some combination?
A: I think we all fall into a situation, especially college basketball, because you can be effective and so good in your small pond, the big 12, your own team, that you get a false sense of where you are worldwide and you realize that there's players that you've never heard of that are just as talented and you realize that you go to a combine and you hope like heck, you shoot it well in the drills during a combine one day when people have seen you play for four years. But on this one day it means more than everything else and hopefully you get to the point where you don't need that one day.
And that's where I think Kev is, I need to play well enough here. Well, I don't need to have that one experience define who I am as a player. And there's so many guys out there, like, of the guys that entered the draft early, there were at least 60 to 75 that 100% thought they were a first-round draft pick and there's only 30 first round draft picks. There's guys that thought they were first round draft picks that didn't even get drafted. And so, when you take that path, it's a much more difficult path than you do as CB Osh did that you get drafted and you're guaranteed a roster spot. You're guaranteed years rather than have to earn it. Can I be a two-way? Can I ever get called up? If I turn my ankle and they take me off two-way, there's no money guaranteed. It is just a different world. So, I think Kevin says I have an opportunity to maybe put myself in the category of not having to do all that.
Q: Bill, playing these games in Puerto Rico, the talent you're going to see just what does that do for your team at this point? What do you want to see out of that?
A: It's a little bit... We don't have enough in to play DeAndre (Ayton) and Buddy (Hield), Eric Gordon and Klay Thompson and Kai Jones. I mean we could have our whole arsenal in and we wouldn't have enough in to beat those guys at least on paper. But it'll be a great experience for us. We think about Kevin being able to guard or guard a guy that is a lot better than he used to be and he is good enough to give us 46 in this building and he's 10 times better than he used to be. So that'll be a great challenge for him. We actually defended him very well and held him to 46 because he coulda had 60. So, it's going to be an eye-opening experience for these kids to go against 27-year-old men that actually know what they're doing. But it'll be fun. It'll be fun. But I think we'll go and compete and have fun and it should be a fun trip regardless.
Q: Coach, given the way things ended last year, is there an extra bounce in your step coming into this year?
A: The answer's yes, but the way things ended, I mean, I don't know if I really... I didn't have any control over how things ended for me personally or for the team. Maybe that gives me a little bit extra step. But the bottom line is I was really proud of our team last year. I mean, we were really good. We were not as talented as we've been in some years past and those kids hung in there and won the league and was a one seat and all that stuff. So, I don't look at... If it was Bucknell, I would say, oh God, I can't wait. But I don't look at last year's being motivation for this year because I actually thought the kids did great last year.
Q: How many of the 10 practices have you had that you're allowed?
A: Well, let's see here to today. I think today is seven. I think tomorrow's eight. Sunday's nine and Monday's 10.
Q: Are they more important than the games?
A: I don't know yet. I would say, I thought going into it, the 10 practices combined are more important than three games. But once we get over there, we've got to try to play well and all that stuff. Is training camp for the Chiefs, the practice is more important than the exhibition games? I don't know. I don't know. But certainly, neither one is going to have anything to do with us winning games in January or February.
Q: What's the injury report going to Puerto Rico?
A: So far so good. Yeah, I don't think anybody's going to be out. We've had some guys get nicked up, but everybody's participating. All 10 of them. Jank won't be able to play. Justin Cross will not be able to play, Charlie McCarthy is out indefinitely. So, I'm trying to think of who else. So, we got a couple of guys that won't be able to play, but they're walk-ons
A: A lot of things that we need work, but I like the roster. They've tried hard and we're fairly athletic and we got some guys that can score the ball, but I think perimeter shooting will certainly be a question mark going into Puerto Rico and going into the school year. I think we're pretty inconsistent in that area.
Q: What do you think about Colorado joining the 12?
A: Well from a Big 12 selfish standpoint, I like it because I think Colorado brings others. I think that if we're going to get to 16, I think what has transpired certainly puts us in position to be the third most powerful league in the country. I think that can actually occur, and I think Colorado was a big piece to allow that to occur. Now whether or not we go get three more from the PAC 12 or two more and one from the Big East, I mean I don't know what we're going to do, but I do think that Colorado puts us in certainly a better position with the PAC 12 than we were before.
Q: Will all these teams make it difficult to schedule now non-conference if you guys keep adding teams?
A: Meaning we can't play them or they're...
Q: I mean if you're playing everybody in the league and some of them twice, it'll cut down on the opportunities.
A: Yeah, yeah. Well, it'll cut down on the opportunities of four teams or whatever that you wouldn't schedule non-conference in America. So that's not a big deal, I don't think Gary. And the number of conference games ain't going to change, at least I think we're going to stay at 18. But if you look at it now, champions, classic, exempt tournament is three games. The Big East challenge. We lost the SEC challenge, the Big East Challenge. Then you have one marquee home, one marquee away, you're at seven right there. And the rest of the games are probably going to be buy games anyway. So, I don't think it's going to help us. I shouldn't say buy games, guarantee games.
Q: What's the style of play been like this year so far?
A: Well, we try to play fast. We haven't really talked much about defense at all, hardly. We're just trying to get a semblance of how we want to play and what we run behind, what we run. People say, well you do this. And I'm like, okay, you do that and then what happens if there's a loose ball and the play's over? What happens if you get an offensive rebound? What do you go to after that? And that's basically what we've been working on is what do we run behind what we run and which is from a philosophical standpoint of a four out constant movement and trying to figure out a way to utilize Hunter and that kind of stuff. But I like our roster. I think we got a good roster.
Q: Who's maybe not surprised you but impressed you so far over these last couple of the weeks?
A: Of the newcomers I don't think there's been any really surprises. I mean Hunter is what we thought he was. Arterio, Nicolas, Elmarko. I don't think those guys... Parker. I don't think anybody has really been a lot different than I thought. The most improved player without question we have is Kevin McCullar. He's by far the most improved player that I've seen, that we've seen so far and certainly been the best player I think on our team so far. But obviously it could be somebody a different day, but he's been the most consistent so far.
Q: You talked previously about Hunter having to adjust in some ways to the ways you guys do things in your system. How have you seen that adjustment go so far?
A: I don't know that he's had to make any major adjustments. I think we play a little faster and we want him to probably move a little more and be more active offensively and defensively. At least that's what we promised him when we recruited him. We were going to make you guard the way NBA folks guard ball screens and things like that, so to help him. So that may have been a little bit of adjustment, but he's done great so far.
Q: Bill, with Kevin, what are you thinking of in saying he's had that kind of breakthrough? What is it?
A: I think it's the exact same thing that Ochai and J-Will did. I think they tested the waters. They went and did all the NBA stuff. They saw, they have a better feel for what it takes to play at a really high level. And they realized that in order to do that, some certain things have to change. And with Kevin it was confidence and aggressiveness With Ochai, it was confidence and aggressiveness with J-Will, it was confidence and aggressiveness. He's just kind of in that same mode of those guys. He just looks like to me, he's a different guy from an aggressive standpoint and he's always been aggressive defensively, but he's different right now than he has been.
Q: Is it that it lit a fire or it clarified what he needs to do or some combination?
A: I think we all fall into a situation, especially college basketball, because you can be effective and so good in your small pond, the big 12, your own team, that you get a false sense of where you are worldwide and you realize that there's players that you've never heard of that are just as talented and you realize that you go to a combine and you hope like heck, you shoot it well in the drills during a combine one day when people have seen you play for four years. But on this one day it means more than everything else and hopefully you get to the point where you don't need that one day.
And that's where I think Kev is, I need to play well enough here. Well, I don't need to have that one experience define who I am as a player. And there's so many guys out there, like, of the guys that entered the draft early, there were at least 60 to 75 that 100% thought they were a first-round draft pick and there's only 30 first round draft picks. There's guys that thought they were first round draft picks that didn't even get drafted. And so, when you take that path, it's a much more difficult path than you do as CB Osh did that you get drafted and you're guaranteed a roster spot. You're guaranteed years rather than have to earn it. Can I be a two-way? Can I ever get called up? If I turn my ankle and they take me off two-way, there's no money guaranteed. It is just a different world. So, I think Kevin says I have an opportunity to maybe put myself in the category of not having to do all that.
Q: Bill, playing these games in Puerto Rico, the talent you're going to see just what does that do for your team at this point? What do you want to see out of that?
A: It's a little bit... We don't have enough in to play DeAndre (Ayton) and Buddy (Hield), Eric Gordon and Klay Thompson and Kai Jones. I mean we could have our whole arsenal in and we wouldn't have enough in to beat those guys at least on paper. But it'll be a great experience for us. We think about Kevin being able to guard or guard a guy that is a lot better than he used to be and he is good enough to give us 46 in this building and he's 10 times better than he used to be. So that'll be a great challenge for him. We actually defended him very well and held him to 46 because he coulda had 60. So, it's going to be an eye-opening experience for these kids to go against 27-year-old men that actually know what they're doing. But it'll be fun. It'll be fun. But I think we'll go and compete and have fun and it should be a fun trip regardless.
Q: Coach, given the way things ended last year, is there an extra bounce in your step coming into this year?
A: The answer's yes, but the way things ended, I mean, I don't know if I really... I didn't have any control over how things ended for me personally or for the team. Maybe that gives me a little bit extra step. But the bottom line is I was really proud of our team last year. I mean, we were really good. We were not as talented as we've been in some years past and those kids hung in there and won the league and was a one seat and all that stuff. So, I don't look at... If it was Bucknell, I would say, oh God, I can't wait. But I don't look at last year's being motivation for this year because I actually thought the kids did great last year.
Q: How many of the 10 practices have you had that you're allowed?
A: Well, let's see here to today. I think today is seven. I think tomorrow's eight. Sunday's nine and Monday's 10.
Q: Are they more important than the games?
A: I don't know yet. I would say, I thought going into it, the 10 practices combined are more important than three games. But once we get over there, we've got to try to play well and all that stuff. Is training camp for the Chiefs, the practice is more important than the exhibition games? I don't know. I don't know. But certainly, neither one is going to have anything to do with us winning games in January or February.
Q: What's the injury report going to Puerto Rico?
A: So far so good. Yeah, I don't think anybody's going to be out. We've had some guys get nicked up, but everybody's participating. All 10 of them. Jank won't be able to play. Justin Cross will not be able to play, Charlie McCarthy is out indefinitely. So, I'm trying to think of who else. So, we got a couple of guys that won't be able to play, but they're walk-ons
