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5-HOUR ENERGY PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 1, 2011

Steve Hawkins

TIM SIMMONS: Coach Hawkins, good morning. I believe you're the first coach and the first team to make the rounds through all of our tournaments. Did I say that right?
COACH HAWKINS: The only one we're missing is Anaheim.
TIM SIMMONS: We have to get you there.
COACH HAWKINS: That's the plan. I was going to say that after the call.
TIM SIMMONS: You want to see Mickey.
COACH HAWKINS: We saw him in Orlando. Now we need to see him in Anaheim.
TIM SIMMONS: How are pre-season practices going for you?
COACH HAWKINS: Depends which day you ask. So far pretty good. I think we're like a lot of the other coaches at this point, that is we're anxious to play somebody else. We have quite a few veterans on our team. They're not just tired of playing against each other this year, they're tired of playing against each other for the last two and three and four years.
We have an exhibition game tomorrow night. We're kind of anxious to get to that.
TIM SIMMONS: Any players surprising you in the pre-season drills, new players standing out?
COACH HAWKINS: 00I would answer that by saying Nate Hutcheson. He's a small forward for us. He started every ballgame for us last year, but he really had an outstanding summer, really worked hard on his game, has taken it to a little bit higher level than where he was at last year.
He's probably been the most noticeable guy we have that has made an improvement.
TIM SIMMONS: You're kind of used to the tournament format with these games, two days playing, one day off, playing the last day. Obviously you like the format.
COACH HAWKINS: Yeah, absolutely love it. These tournaments, the ESPN tournaments, there's a reason that we keep coming back. For us, there just can't be a better situation. Number one, it's a neutral court for us. It's always in a nice place. The hospitality has been tremendous. Everywhere we go, the kids get a first-class experience out of it.
From a team standpoint, there's always outstanding competition, really good basketball teams, and you're going to be taxed. You're really going to have to play well to win games. But if you do, you know you've accomplished something.
So, yeah, we've really enjoyed being part of the ESPN tournaments no matter where they've been. It's really, really helped us with the exception of one year when we were in Charleston, we lost all three games. But other than that year, all the rest of them have really propelled us to pretty good seasons.
TIM SIMMONS: You had fun and it was a nice place, right?
COACH HAWKINS: It was a nice place (laughter).
TIM SIMMONS: You open up against Temple followed by a game against Purdue or Iona. Thoughts on the games?
COACH HAWKINS: I know a little bit about Temple but not a ton. I know it's tough. You get the pre-season publications, you take a look at some of the teams, where they're projected. I'm looking for the team in the tournament that we should be able to beat. It's that old line in poker: if you're looking for a sucker at the table and you can't find one, it might be you. We're looking around at who it is we're supposed to be able to beat and I don't see one, so that might be us.
Temple is very good. Fran obviously is a tremendous coach. They're picked to do well again. Then winner/loser of that game, obviously Iona is outstanding this year, a veteran team. Then Purdue is always good, one of the best defensive teams. I watch Purdue play every year. I say to myself, I don't know if we'd score a basket. Might be the first shot in college basketball history if we play them. We have our own hands full not only on our own side of the bracket but from the entire tournament.
TIM SIMMONS: A final thought on your team. You mentioned you have games coming up. You play on the road right before the tournament in South Dakota. Any other thoughts to add?
COACH HAWKINS: I'm really happy with our team right now. When we had talked about trying to get into one of the premiere tournaments this year, we were excited about it because we had a veteran team back. I don't know if that will translate to wins or not, but it is the kind of team that we felt like we could take to a tournament like this and be able to compete with.
We're real excited about the opportunity, very excited about getting over there and seeing a lot of good basketball and improving our team.
TIM SIMMONS: Coach, we thank you for being here. Safe travels. We'll see you in a couple weeks.
COACH HAWKINS: Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.
TIM SIMMONS: Thanks to everyone for participating.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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