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PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 12, 2014Paul HewittTIM SIMMONS: Welcome back. You brought Georgia Tech here a couple years ago for the Puerto Rico Tip‑Off. Now you're bringing another team. How are things going into preseason for you? PAUL HEWITT: I think they're going pretty well. We open up our regular season on Friday night like most people, but we're looking forward to get being down to Puerto Rico. We know it's going to be a great tournament. It's a great trip for our players. Just excited about getting started. Q. What have been some of the observations, strengths of your team coming in, maybe some weaknesses, and maybe talk about some of your top players. PAUL HEWITT: You know, we lost two of our top scorers last year, and I think this year's team has more balance. It certainly has more size. We brought in a junior college center and also a transfer ironically from Georgia Tech, Shevon Thompson is a junior college player, and Julian Royal is the transfer from Georgia Tech to go along with Jalen Jenkins, who had a terrific freshman year for us last year, Erik Copes, who's going to be a senior 4 or 5, so we've got really good size. I think our backcourt is a work in progress. I like the talent level, but they're a little inexperienced. Marquise Moore is our starting point guard, and he had a very good year for us last year in the A‑10, and he's healthier this year than he was last year, and he looks like he's poised to have a very good season for us. TIM SIMMONS: Talk a little bit about your first‑round opponent. Obviously Bob Huggins was just on with us, and you've got the Mountaineers in the first round. PAUL HEWITT: Yeah, I haven't watched any tape on them, but obviously Coach Huggins' teams are going to be very physical, going to rebound the ball very well. It sounds like his group, just listening to the end of the conference call, he's got a pretty athletic group. I think I read someplace where Juwan Staten was the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, and that's a pretty good conference to be considered the best player in the league. We know we'll have our hands full with him and the rest of the Mountaineers. TIM SIMMONS: Second round you'll end up playing either Boston College or New Mexico. Any thoughts about those two teams? PAUL HEWITT: You know, I really haven't had a chance to look at them. We're just now focusing on Cornell, and we actually play Princeton on Sunday before we get down there. No, I've got one of my staff members looking at West Virginia, putting together a scouting report on them, and I'm just really focusing on this first game. Q. Obviously you're used to the format, play two days, off a day, and then play the placement championships game on Sunday. What do you think about the format? Does it help you? PAUL HEWITT: I think it's really good. It gives the kids a chance to kind of enjoy the island a little bit, enjoy the time. I thought playing three games back to back to back, especially this early in the season, I didn't like that idea. I don't like that format. I think this format you guys run, you've been doing it for a few years, I think is outstanding. Q. I just was wondering, obviously having had a chance to see you coach at Georgia Tech, curious what your style will be on the offensive and defensive end at George Mason? PAUL HEWITT: Well, we still want to be able to go in transition. I think this year's team because of our size will probably try to throw the ball inside a little bit more, and we've got an outside perimeter player in Patrick Holloway, who, we went to Spain this summer and he had a very, very good trip, and I think he has a chance to be a pretty good offensive weapon for us. Q. You mentioned Patrick. I know exhibitions are what they are, but I didn't see his name in the box score. Any reason why? PAUL HEWITT: Yeah, Patrick forgot to go to class one day, so I had to remind him. It's a one‑time thing, he missed a class, so we sat him out for that game. But he's a really good young man, made a mistake, and I told him I'd rather get his attention now before I have to do it during the regular season. Q. I'm doing a story for Basketball Times on sort of camaraderie in the smart phone and social media era, and I'm wondering if your players, if you've found they're not talking to each other as much as they used to, and instead are on their phones or have headphones on or what have you and if you're doing anything to sort of combat that? PAUL HEWITT: Back in 2010 going into the ACC Tournament I took their phones for the weekend and we ended up going to the ACC Finals and losing to Duke in a pretty good game. That the got a lot of attention. Over the years that I'm learning, it's individual based. You've got kids, I heard Coach Huggins talk about his team this year and how much tighter they are. I could say the same about our team. We took a trip to Spain, of course nobody wanted to pay the overage charges, so they had to talk to each other. They had no choice but to spend 11 days talking to each other over meals and walking around to different cities that we went to, and so this year's team seems to be a lot closer. I don't think it makes them better or worse kids than the ones that are on their phones, it's just what we have to deal with. Again, what I'm noticing is we've got a couple of freshmen. I hope that Eric Lockett, who's coming back from a knee injury, is healthy enough to play, but right away, he's established himself as a leader on this team. You see us in practice we'll huddle or call a play. He's the one that's talking in the locker room. He's the one that's talking at a meal, he's the one that's talking. Certain kids who are into winning, they're going to take‑‑ they're going to understand that there's a time to play with your phone, there's a time to put it down and concentrate on winning, and some kids who are indifferent about winning, they'll find ways not to be engaged. Again, I've done things like that where, like I said, for the ACC Tournament that weekend in 2010 I took their phones away, and everybody said that was the reason why you guys turned it around and went to the ACC Finals that year. I don't know, I think it's kids that are interested in winning are going to do the right thing. Q. Is your band coming? PAUL HEWITT: I've got to ask that question. I was talking to Doc Nicks, I know early in the fall the plan was they were going to try to come down. I don't know if that plan is coming together. But you're right, that's an important question. I need to get on that. TIM SIMMONS: Coach, how valuable was that foreign trip for your team obviously coming off your first year in the A‑10 and so forth, obviously going from the Colonial to the A‑10. Is it going to help you prepare for this year? PAUL HEWITT: I think it will, but I'll tell you what was most valuable is just the educational and cultural aspect of the trip. When we went over there, we only played games. We didn't have any shoot‑arounds, we didn't have any practices, so either we were playing games or we were visiting some really, really nice places and getting a chance to take part, just learning about the culture of different cities in Spain. We were in Barcelona, we went to Costa Brava, we went to Valencia, and it was a really, really good trip. Every one of our players called it either the best trip they've ever been on, or in the case of Corey Edwards, the senior point guard, said it's a life‑changing experience to finally get out of the country and see something different and understand it's a big world out here. I think kudos to the NCAA for allowing those trips. I think they should do them for people who can afford them every two years as opposed to maybe every four years, but it was a great trip for our guys. TIM SIMMONS: Talking about the transition to the A‑10, has it changed your coaching from those first two years when you were in the Colonial and going to the A‑10? How different was it? PAUL HEWITT: No, not much of a difference in terms of coaching. Obviously the A‑10, we've got some really good coaches in the league, but what it's allowed us to do is probably get involved with a higher level player in recruiting. TIM SIMMONS: And with Dayton being in the field, obviously we're going to be talking to Coach Miller, you figure you'll get some extra scouting in? PAUL HEWITT: Absolutely. Good point. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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