ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 12, 2021

Steve Forbes

Isaiah Mucius

Daivien Williamson

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Press Conference

Q. 2020 was an unusual year and given all that was going on was a heck of a time to have your first trip through the league. What did you learn?

STEVE FORBES: I learned that hopefully next year is coming. Not really a lot to learn from last year based on just the circumstances of the season. No fans, for me personally not meeting the team until I got the job April 30th and didn't meet the team until July 25th and we got COVID at Thanksgiving and missed 33 days.

Our gift coming back was at Georgia Tech, at Virginia, at Duke.

I don't think there's really -- I guess I would tell you that I look more at this year as year one than last year.

Q. Then we're meeting you for the first time. We didn't get a chance to do this last year. Who is Steve Forbes?

STEVE FORBES: I'm not afraid to make fun of myself. I don't take myself all that serious. I'm competitive. I'm from a small town in Iowa. Everybody knows that Iowa stands for Idiots Out Wandering Around.

You know, I love the game. I love my family. I didn't hit a single land on third base. I've had to work my way around the bases to get to where I'm at. Basically I went from a gravel road to Tobacco Road. I'm excited to be here and ready to get Wake Forest back in the conversation.

Q. You spoke about getting Wake Forest back into the conversation. Just what you can say about what you saw coming in last year and what's maybe changed in a year's time as far as culture-wise.

STEVE FORBES: Yeah, I think identity -- the thing -- culture is a great buzz word for everybody to use. I get it. But you have to have identity before you can have culture. You have to know who you are.

So that was probably -- to go back and answer the question, the one thing that we definitely learned from last year was what our identity is. Daivien obviously knew it because he came with me from East Tennessee State and Isaiah figured it out quick.

For me, it's more about who you -- do you know who you are every day, and we know that, and then it was recruiting. Go out and get an ACC roster. It was a very busy spring and summer. We only brought four guys back. We have nine new players.

I needed name tags when I got the job the first time, and I needed them again this past summer when we started out. We had a lot of new guys. When you see us walk out on the court we look like an ACC team. We're 7'1, 7'0, 6'10", 6'9", 6'8"; got a couple 6'8" wings. We have a great balance of older guys and younger guys.

We probably have the only -- well, next year we'll have a fourth-year freshman. You guys can explain to me how that works. We'll have a third year freshman, Tariq Ingraham, two-year freshman Carter Whitt; Jake LaRavia is a junior. We've got all this going on with our roster.

But we have a great balance of older guys and younger guys, and I think in this thing, this is the way I did it at East Tennessee State, is you've got to stay old and you've got to stay athletic, and we were neither last year and I believe that we are this year.

Q. I just wanted to say I appreciated the Lou Brock reference. Hit a single and land on third. Isaiah, given last summer and the COVID year was such a difficult time to build chemistry and get to know the coaching staff, how much better do you feel like you know Coach Forbes and the assistant coaches going into this season?

ISAIAH MUCIUS: Yeah, I feel like our relationship is just getting better and better. I didn't meet Coach Forbes and the coaching staff until July, and at that point we were doing a lot of individual stuff.

So there wasn't really a chance for me as a player to really get to know them, and now that things have been lifted a little bit restriction-wise we're able to have these conversations about my family, how I grew up, how things were when I got first to Wake, and basically getting them acclimated with Wake, as well.

I know a lot of stuff since I've been here for four years and they're getting to know a lot of stuff about the town and Wake Forest as a university.

So we're able to give each other some advice on both ends, and I think our relationship player to coach is getting better each and every day.

Q. Coach, you spoke about it a little bit there, but would you just elaborate on how difficult it is to rebuild a team when you're dealing with all the turnover you have to deal with in terms of building a roster?

STEVE FORBES: Yeah, honestly, that doesn't really intimidate me. I was an 11-year junior college coach and got a new team every year. I've recruited 12 guys before in a year. It's not ideal and it's not what you want to do, but I think moving forward, we're all going to face it at some point.

In the spring we're going to have some turnover. I told you we have one, two, three, four -- we've got seven freshman on paper. Will they all make it? Will they all be there at the end? I hope so, but I don't know that.

The hard part for me was just not being able to be out. We signed nine guys and never met them. You think about that. We never met them face to face and couldn't take a visit. That to me was the hard part, was trying to evaluate them as a player, as a person, not being able to go into their home and meet their parents.

I still haven't met Cameron Hildreth's parents. I haven't met Matthew Marsh's parents. I don't think that's right, but that was the situation we were in.

So for me it wasn't so hard to put the team together. It was more just making the right decisions based on the information that we had. Recruiting is like putting together a puzzle. You've got to put together a puzzle, you've got to have different pieces. You can't have all the same pieces.

I think we've done -- under the circumstances, I think we've done a really, really good job of that.

Q. For the players, I suppose mainly for Isaiah, I was thinking you're the longest tenured player on the team, so I'm curious how you view this team in comparison to past teams you've had at Wake Forest and what excites you about this group.

ISAIAH MUCIUS: Yeah, I mean, it's probably one of the most balanced in terms of young guys and older guys I've been on. A lot of the teams I've been on before had maybe one or two seniors and then most of us were sophomores and freshmen.

I think that balance allows the younger guys to kind of look up to us and then the older guys to lean on the younger guys for that energy when we need it in practice or in games.

That right there creates a really good formula for winning, and in practice when those times where as the older guy you get tired, you're like, man, I don't got a lot of juice left, the younger guys are kind of able to compete and bring us back up to that level.

That's just a great thing to be out there knowing that every single day, no matter how tired you are, somebody is always going to pick you up. That right there I think is what's going to help us have a season to win.

Q. Daivien, you're one of the few around Wake that knew Coach Forbes before when he was at ETSU and now that he's at Wake, have you seen anything change other than the school and the title that he has?

DAIVIEN WILLIAMSON: No, no, he's still the same person he was at east Tennessee State. He's extremely passionate. He demands the best out of you every single day, and he brought that passion to Wake Forest. I'm glad he did that. I really think he helps me become a better player and helped me become an ACC player at that. I think he's the same person he was at ETSU.

STEVE FORBES: You really want to start, don't you?

Q. What growth did go into making you an ACC player?

DAIVIEN WILLIAMSON: My competitive nature. Just bringing it every day in practice. Forbes really believes you practice how you play, so I tried to bring it every day in practice so I could carry it every day into the game. That's something I've been harping on since I came into the ACC and since we started practice in June, is make sure I bring it every day, make sure I'm locked in, make sure I'm focused, and make sure I'm being a good leader and being a good example for my team.

STEVE FORBES: When I signed Daivien at East Tennessee State he was steady with 149 pounds; today he weighs 183. He didn't say that but that's a remarkable body change. A lot of it was this past spring, and he's handled it well. He's playing really well. I'm proud of him for how hard he's worked off the court.

Q. Daivien and Isaiah, you heard Coach talk about identity and that you have to have that before you have culture. How would you define the identity of this team?

ISAIAH MUCIUS: He uses it gritty, grimey, tough and together is the one thing he harps on every single day in practice, and what's going to get us through and what we're going to go by every single day we step on the court. We're going to try to out tough you, play hard, play in the gaps defensively, and then offensively we're just going to make sure we play together and share the ball, and everybody is going to basically eat when it comes to playing the game of basketball.

We're all about togetherness. Nobody is going to ever accomplish anything individually, and I think when we all come together as one, we're unstoppable.

DAIVIEN WILLIAMSON: Like Isaiah said, gritty, grimey, and tough is the main thing. Move the ball, share the ball, catch the ball with two hands, things like that.

STEVE FORBES: What's the last one? Oh, my God, I'm so mad at you guys. How about do what you're supposed to do.

DAIVIEN WILLIAMSON: Do it when you're supposed to do it.

STEVE FORBES: On and off the court. Come on.

Q. Isaiah, last year you had some games in which your scoring hit some double digit numbers, but you also had some games where you only registered four points. Why the big swing, and how do you make that a little bit different this year?

ISAIAH MUCIUS: Just being consistent and knowing what I've got to do and simplifying the game. I think last year I was put in a little bit of a position to try to do too much, and I think this year having a lot of players that can make plays and a lot of talented guys on the team now, I've found I've matured and understood the game of basketball now, and just simplifying the game and doing what I know I can do best on the court.

Obviously working on the things that I need to, but when it comes time to go on the court and the lights are on, I'm going to do everything that I know I'm going to be strong with, and that's continuing to have confidence in myself and my teammates and making sure on the defensive end I can be one of the best defenders in the ACC.