Transcript & Video: K-State media day
Thank you to K-State Athletics Communications for providing the following quotes from today's K-State basketball media day.
Videos provided by Grant Flanders and Matt Hall.
K-STATE HEAD COACH BRUCE WEBER
On how the team is doing…
“You know, I think if you talk to any coach in the country, they’ll probably say “we have really good days and we have some really bad days.” Ahead of time, one of my keys is that we have to have consistency and we’ve got to have dependability. We knew last year, the guys we had back and who was going to be there every day and that’s what you really talked about, consistency, efficiency, and dependability with those guys. And you’ve got experienced guys back that have played, five guys that played good minutes in the Elite Eight and a Big 12 Championship team. But now, as everyone knows, their roles are different and now, can they be consistent and can they be dependable and that’s the key, I think, for our season. They work very hard, I would say out of, this is 15 today, out of 15 there was probably one where you were really disappointed that they just didn’t have the energy but that’s expected, that’s everybody and it’s a long stretch and this middle part, until we get to that first exhibition, probably is the toughest stretch. The first 10 you’re excited, you’ve got to get going, then it’s kinda “the dog days” in the middle, and then obviously you get two exhibitions and a game right around the corner. So it helps you kind of get refreshed and ready for that. I’ve been pleased with the guys. I really believe that the older guys have set a great example, good leadership and help create a culture of effort and they’ve had those other guys playing their butts off which is really important for continuing to make progress and keep the culture that we’ve developed.”
On what he needs from Makol Mawien from a production standpoint…
“I think that efficiency is very important because you just kind of alluded to it with those stats (scoring was up, rebounds were up, turnovers were up, field goal percent was down, blocks were down from the previous season) and it’s something that we brought up with him. Obviously, with the turnovers, some of it was that he got double teamed because people knew him a little more and he didn’t deal with that very well. He wanted to do more himself, which now he put himself in some binds. For him, it’s that fine line of figuring out when to go and when not to go and he’s got to really work on getting open shots because he can shoot, his field goal percentage history is evident of that and if we can get him to figure out how to get open shots, he’ll make them. But the other part to me is just, you know, the best game was the last game last year, when he had to, he got a double-double and that rebounding has got to be there. He can make a name for himself if he goes and he blocks shots, rebounds, things that no one else likes to do, but if he can do those things, it’s going to help him and it’s going to help us.”
On the upside of DaJuan Gordon…
“He’s got to get stronger and he knows it. Barry Brown was very motivated when he got here and got after it every day. DaJuan’s got that same mold, he loves it and he texts me in the middle of the night, “What about this?” He’ll send me videos of plays from practice, “What should I have done?” But the strength, the physicality, he’s going to have to endure that. He’s going to really have to do a good job taking care of his body so that he can be productive not only here, but at the end of the season. He does some of those intangibles, you know, tip dunks, steals, all those little things he just does those instinctively and it’s something you can’t teach so if he’s going to do those things, he’s got to keep his body, he’s got to get stronger and he can’t get tired. He’s gone through that already, if you talk to him, I’m sure he’ll tell you that this is hard and he’s got to adjust to it and he’s got to keep making progress with that part of it.”
On what he has planned for the starting 4 and the 5 behind Mawien…
“I think probably the nicest surprise, and I think I believe I told you guys this summer, Levi (Stockard) had made really nice strides. Then he got hurt, he sat for about a month or so, then it took him a little while but this last stretch of practice, he’s done a lot of really nice things. We just looked at it, he’s our leading rebounder in the last two weeks, he’s our second leading scorer in practice in the last week so he’s done a lot of really nice things for us. So that gives you a little hope, a little more depth, whether you play two bigs at times with Mak and him, or that gives you a backup at the five if you start Mak at that five. The two young guys play their butts off, they’re not perfect by any means, I think they complement each other, each one of them has their own strength in Antonio (Gordon) and Montavious (Murphy) so they’re going to get some minutes, there’s no doubt, and we might have to grow a little bit and learn and have some setbacks because they are young. And then at other times we can go small ball. We’ve had a bunch of the NBA people come through and I was talking to the Clippers last week and asking about Rodney (McGruder) and when you look at their roster it’s very guard heavy and wing heavy and they just said we’re going small ball. We’re playing (Kawhi) Leonard and (Paul) George at the three and four. And then we’ve got the others, our one and twos. And then we’re gonna play one big. That’s the way basketball is now. Now, can our guys, can we do a good job with that and use that at times to give us a different weapon and a different strength.”
On whether David Sloan is in a position to start at point guard…
“I don’t know, I think he’s got the ability, he started to make some strides, he’s someone who sat out the whole summer. He’s had to catch up physically, conditioning-wise, defensively is his biggest setback but he’s a great passer which, you know, a lot of stats aren’t transferrable from high school to college or from junior college, but one thing that usually is is assists and rebounds. He’s lead the nation in assists, he passes the ball, a little forces it sometimes, we’ve had too many turnovers, but he’s probably one of our leading assist guys in this first stretch, got to get better on defense, but there’s a chance that he gets another look. He’s going to play, there’s no doubt, but you can play him and Cartier (Diarra), X (Sneed), he could come off the bench, just a lot of different looks and the thing that we like, and we talked about as a staff this morning, when we move the basketball, we can score. And we’ve got some guys that are willing passers so that’s been really positive in this early stretch of practice.”
On Cartier Diarra improving as a scorer…
“One of the NBA guys said yesterday “Who’s going to score for you?” and he’s got to. He’s capable, and to me it’s just consistent. He’s had his days, he doesn’t practice for four weeks, we put him in at Iowa State and what’d he get? He had 15 or 16 points in the Big 12 tournament. So he’s capable of it, now it’s, can he do it consistently and he’s going to have to, if we’re going to be successful it’s got to be 12 to 16 every day and then he can have his big games in that stretch. But he’s capable of scoring in a lot of ways, he’s just got to learn not to try to go every time and rely on his teammates. Sometimes he’s got to create, sometimes it’s got to be for others, sometimes it’s got to be for himself. I’ve been really happy with his progress the last, I would say seven or eight days. He was overdoing it early, trying to do too much and now I think he’s figured out, I’ve got other guys that I can pass it, I can create for them. It’s hard to stay in front of him and we can use that in a lot of different ways.”
On Xavier Sneed becoming a more vocal leader...
“He has, he really has. I think he’s starting to feel more comfortable with himself. He realized that he has to do it. It has not been an easy spring, summer, fall for him. There’s a lot of, and I think that I talked to you guys before this summer, the stress, the pressure that he went through going through all of the workouts, making that decision, you could see that he was mentally drained when he got here at the start of summer but even now, it’s hard for seniors, this is it and I keep emphasizing it to all of our guys, especially the older guys, worry about today. Worry about what you can control today, the process. You can’t worry about the future, you don’t know what’s going to happen and I want him to smile, I want him to be happy. If he’s happy, talking, enjoying it then, you know, I think he can be a very good player, one of the better players in the league.”
On the pressure on DaJuan Gordon…
“I hope he doesn’t have pressure. His pressure comes from within, he’s so driven. What I talked about before, this is a dude who’s sending me video as a freshman from workouts and practice. He wants to do well, he comes in the office, we’re trying to get him consistently after class to come eat because he’s not a great eater, he just never had that opportunity. He’s driven. I would say consistently giving us 20-22 minutes where he’s going to be a stat filler. He’s going to have steals, he’s going to have deflections, he’s going to have rebounds. Probably the thing he’s made the most strides in is his 3-point shooting. I think he might be our leading 3-point shooter in our practices percentage wise. Now, he isn’t shooting as many as some of the other guys but he’s been pretty good and consistent. So be a stat stuffer, do all of those things. Go three for four from the field, one of them’s a tip in dunk, one’s a layup, and then you make a three and if he can do all of those things it’s going to help us.”
On the change since he’s started in AAU and high school..
“Well it’s changed drastically in my 40 years and when I started, it’s hard for young guys to imagine, there was no AAU. And the young guys that grew up in it, played in it, now they’re recruiting to it, that’s all they know. I think that the NCAA this summer, the goal was to start making a little bit of change to go back with the academies, with the high school events in the summer. I was surprised, I was on a teleconference with a group of coaches, NABC, our coaches association did some teleconference just to get feedback from the summer. I was surprised how much the young guys liked the high school events because they were the ones that were fighting it and even my guys, they were like “why are we doing this coach?” And then “it’s pretty cool to see other high school teams and see their coaches and all that, it was a really good weekend coach.” So I think that was positive. Obviously, with AAU, the mass numbers, you can see a lot of people, see them against better players, I hope we can get a little mixture of both, I think that’s the goal of the NCAA. The academy, they got a lot of negative publicity because they didn’t get the top players and hopefully we can work with AAU, hopefully we can work with the shoe companies and Academies could be a very positive thing because we had college coaches, Tim Miles and Steve Lavin and Gary Waters and all these guys working as division two head coaches and that coaching, and the influence, the knowledge and wisdom that they can give these kids I think can be very helpful. Change is hard and it’s not just going to come over night. I know the NCAA is committed to a three or four year plan to see if these things can be more valuable and help us with recruiting and help the state of the game also, I think it’s really important and obviously the influence of certain elements of the game that cause predicaments in recruiting.”
XAVIER SNEED, SENIOR FORWARD
On what’s the feeling heading into this season without Kam (Stokes), Barry (Brown), and Dean (Wade)...
“We have a whole championship DNA. It’s self-replacement, so coming everybody self-replacing, everybody has to step up and take on that next mantle.”
On the biggest focus for him this offseason…
“Consistency. Being consistent on all parts of the court and being an all-around player.”
Thoughts on the newcomers…
“They’re learning the system well, they’re doing all a great job, great conditioning, getting up and down the court well right now. Still learning of course, but they’re doing a great job of coming in and getting ready to go.”
On who could have a breakout season…
“It’s a lot of guys on the court that could have a breakout season. You’ve got Mike, start with Mike McGuirl. A lot of people sleep on Cartier (Diarra) as well and he’s going to have the ball a lot more in his hand so you’ll see a lot more plays going on for him as well. Mak (Makol Mawien) as well. So there’s a lot of guys that could have a breakout year for us.”
MAKOL MAWIEN, SENIOR FORWARD
On what the coaches have stressed as the biggest area to improve…
“The first year I didn’t do too well rebounding, the next year we improved as a group but I’m still trying to improve in the rebounding area and just scoring the ball down low area. And through it all keep being a great defensive player on ball screens and on the post and wherever I may be.”
On if scoring comes secondary to defensive and rebounding…
“I would say that we’re just a defensive team and that’s what helps us win games and that I think the focus on defense and leading by example, which I try to do, is the best way to go about.”
PIERSON McATEE, SENIOR FORWARD
On what practices have been like…
“It’s been a great three weeks now of practices we’ve had. Like every start of the season you’re going to have your lumps, but I’d rather take them now then when we get into the season. I’m excited. We’ve got the young guys getting in there and getting involved. We’ve been helping them along with plays and different things. It’s easier for returners to pick back up on. I’m excited to keep growing and keep molding together so we can see where we’re at come the first couple games and throughout the year.”
On losing Barry (Brown), Dean (Wade) and Kam (Stokes)…
“Obviously those guys are very good players. I came in here with Barry, Dean and Kam, and loved having them here. This is what college basketball is about. It’s about turnover, it’s about what you can do next year. We’ve got pretty sure, at least five guys with solid returning minutes coming back. From an Elite 8 run two years ago to Big 12 championship run this last year, those guys may not have been front page face guys, but they were contributing solid minutes, solid on and off the court. To be able to learn from those guys and them be teaching the younger guys has been a huge step. I feel like a lot of guys have taken that.
CARTIER DIARRA, JUNIOR GUARD
On what kind of role he plays in an up-tempo style offense…
“I want to be off the ball more. I don’t want all the passing. I want to get some easy points and assist my teammates and stuff like that. If I can get off the ball, that’s my plan.”
On how much of a role David Sloan plays in getting Diarra off the ball…
“He plays a big role. If you check his last two years in JUCO he averaged 10 assists. In practice he’s good at finding open men. He’s good with the kickbacks. What I like to do is catch and shoot, so if he sets me up as a shoot, I’m going to give him an assist and get me some points and help the team win. He’s doing a really good job at being a good point guard too.”
On what position he feels like he’s natural in…
“I’m going to say a combo. I know I can score the ball really well, but I also like to pass the ball. That’s the best mix for me. I feel like I’m a really good shooter. I guess yes a combo, but of course the biggest thing always is just finding ways to make my teammates look good and feel good and get the tension off myself so everybody won’t be doubling and putting all the pressure on me, and understanding I have teammates just as good as me.”
LEVI STOCKARD III, JUNIOR FORWARD
On how often he expects to see the floor with Mak (Mawien)...
“I’ve seen it in practice a couple of times. It works pretty well. We play good together sometimes.”
On the new guys, particularly Montavious Murphy and Antonio Gordon…
“They are really talented. They have to pick up on the game a little bit more.”
On something in his game he’s tried to focus on during the off season…
“I’ve worked on being in better shape to be able to get up and down the court and work on the standing game longer.”
On faster tempo offense and how has preparation been…
“It’s constant. I constantly have to tell myself ‘you have to go, go go.’ We’ve had some practices where we just run.”
On the new uniforms…
“Their tough, man. At first, I didn’t think they’d look good, but I put them on and I like them.”
MIKE MCGUIRL, JUNIOR GUARD
On how big of a part of the team is having defensive stoppers…
“It’s been such a big part of who we’ve been in the past and Barry (Brown), as everybody knows, was a great individual defender, great stopper. Carrying that over and carrying that on and that’s what made us successful last year that’s why we won a Big 12 Championship because of defense and so sort of being able to bring that stuff this year with some people gone is going to be very important to our success.”
On how many positions can you play and worked at in practice…
“I mean at one point I’ve played 1-5 since I’ve been here honestly because against Kentucky, my freshman year I was at the end of the game I played the 5. But my freshman year I played the 1 when I first came in and then last year I played a lot of the 4, I’ve played the 2, I’ve played the 3 a lot too so I’ve seen all spots but that’s not who I am I’m just, wherever they need me I can play that spot. I’m not a 5 or really a 4 but, wherever I’m needed on the court I can play that spot.”
On what’s impressed him most about DaJuan Gordon since he got on campus…
“His competitiveness, his fire to get better. He’s in here working, trying to get better at all times he really cares about basketball more than almost anybody I’ve ever met and seeing his passion, it’s inspiring from a young player you don’t see it very much. People come in they’re in the gym for the first week and then they get tired and their body wears out and he’s fighting all of that, he’s giving this his everything and that’s what really impressive about him.”
DAVID SLOAN, JUNIOR GUARD
On how frustrating this summer was dealing with the injury…
“It was definitely very frustrating, I wanted to be out there. And now I feel like I’ve picked on a lot of stuff quicker than I thought I would so it kind of helped me a lot.”
On finally being at the Power 5 level…
“To me I look at it as people say ‘creating your own path. Write your own story’. I feel like I did that. Just going to the Juco level it motivated me a lot more and then just finally being here I feel like I accomplished something but I feel like I still got more in the tank.”
DAJUAN GORDON, FRESHMAN GUARD
On how he’s adjusting to this level of play…
“I feel like I’m getting more adjusted to speed. It’s way faster than high school. I feel like it’s getting adjusted to the speed, and being able to play with the team and trusting them.”
On being critical of self…
“I just ask what I did wrong and what I need to do to improve.”
On what he feels like he’s doing right…
“Playing hard. Trying to guard the best guy in practice every day. And picking the right shots. I feel like I turn the ball over a little too much, but other than that I feel like it’s good.”
On what does good enough look like to you…
“Just playing. It isn’t about starting or anything like that. I want to play, I want to be in it to make moments at the end of the game.”
On what position he’s most comfortable in on the court…
“Around the two, shooting guard. If he put me at a point guard I’d try. I haven’t played it since my sophomore year of high school, but I’d try. “
On the most interesting transition going from high school to college…
“The speed of the game and having more freedom. In high school you have to go to that class, or still miss class and be on the team. If you miss class, or don’t get off of work or you miss practice, you have to go home. So you just have to be there. If not somebody could take your spot. It’s not like high school where you’re the best player and could still play.”
ANTONIO GORDON, FRESHMAN FORWARD
On if the adjustment coming to K-State been harder or easier than expected…
“I expected it to be hard when I came here so I think the adjustment has been going pretty smooth but just been working hard, trying to work my way up onto the court, and just play my hardest everyday in practice.”
On what skill he most admires of Montavious Murphy...
“His best skill? Probably down in the low post doing a little pump fake and getting people up on their feet, finishing around the rim and then his defense is incredible.”
On an impressive play that has stuck out in practice...
“Dejuan, Dejuan (Gordon) dunked on Mike (McGuirl), it was crazy, my mind was blown. It was off a vert too, he’s going to get mad at me for saying it but it was crazy.”
MONTAVIOUS MURPHY, FRESHMAN FORWARD
On the environment at K-State…
“The environment here is amazing. People love one another. When you go out every day you can just tell people have a love for one another. It’s amazing.”
On what’s been the biggest adjustment so far to learning the system and who’s helped him the most…
“Definitely the veterans. I try to learn the best I can from them, because I know the things that they’ve done for this program. I’m looking forward to just build off of that. It’s amazing.”
On what his role has been so far…
“I work a lot on the four spot. I’m making sure I get that down because it’s a big thing. The biggest thing is making sure to get everything right.”
On if he feels like he’s in a position to potentially take the starting spot…
“Honestly, I really don’t know, but if the case comes, that’s a great opportunity. If it doesn’t just know I can do anything I can off the bench.”
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