ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 25, 2023

Earl Grant

Quinten Post

Jaeden Zackery

Boston College Eagles

Men's Press Conference

Q. Coach, Boston College has had success in years past. It's been probably not as much as they've wanted to recently. It's been since 2009 since they've made the tournament. What do you yourself as well as the team and the program have to do to get back to that level, to get back to the tournament consistently?

EARL GRANT: Just do what we've been doing day-to-day. The big start is I've got these two guys sitting next to me. They've been here from day one. We've been together. We've been working hard to try to move the program forward. We've done that.

We're just excited about the next step. We're excited about working and trying to get this program back to a high, high level.

Q. Every head coach knows their progress. Every head coach knows which direction they're heading in. How do you know when you get there?

EARL GRANT: I mean, I'm just trusting my experiences. I've been in a lot of winning programs. I've been to the NCAA Tournament everywhere I've been. I've been day one with a lot of head coaches. I took over College of Charleston, a program that hadn't been to the NCAA Tournament in 25 years, and we got back.

A big part of all of that has been retaining your roster, developing your roster, adding more athleticism, and then a lot of it is just trust and belief. But it's hard to trust and believe if you've got a new team every year.

I think we're in position. We've got a lot of returners and a couple new guys that can help us really make that progress, and we're just excited about seeing it happen this season.

Q. Coach, we heard this morning from the commissioner that with the expansion and adding SMU as well as Cal and Stanford to 18, we could live in a world where the ACC Tournament doesn't have all schools competing. What are your thoughts?

EARL GRANT: Yeah, I think they're speculating to try to figure out what's the best thing to do. What I've heard was that it may be 16 teams out of the 18 playing in the ACC Tournament. There's a model where there will be all 18 teams playing.

I don't have a major thought on that yet. I have talked to my AD Blake James about it, but I think it's speculation right now. I think there will be more serious conversations about that at some point in the near future.

Q. As we explore your roster, Elijah Strong here in Charlotte at Myers Park comes in as a freshman. Tell us about your expectation for that young man.

EARL GRANT: My expectations for him, he's coming into an experienced team with a lot of returners, a lot of old guys. Just to be an everyday guy. Just to show up, bring good energy. That's something that he naturally does. He's an energy guy.

He's a hard worker. Does a great job of rebounding, attacking the offensive glass. He's a good athlete. He runs the floor hard. I think he's a good player, and I think he's going to really help us.

But I think for him as a freshman, just to do whatever his teammates and his coaches need him to do for us to be successful, and whatever that role may be -- could be a limited role, or he could have a chance to play a little bit more as the season goes along.

Q. In these couple seasons that you've been at Boston College, we've seen some improvement with a few more wins last season and the season before. How do you measure success beyond the win/loss column?

EARL GRANT: To be honest with you, success to me is our players growing as people, working towards getting a degree, making a positive impact on the campus and the community, being great teammates, giving good energy and good effort every day, eliminating distractions.

I think if you do all of those things, you're going to win. That's just my experience.

So we actually are tying to do all those things, and I think winning is a means to an end. I'm excited that we have graduated out players. Everybody who's gotten to their senior year in the last couple year has graduated. They won't know how important that is until they're 30. Quinten Post has graduated; Jaeden Zackery is on track.

So that's success, just improving, being an everyday guy, being great teammates. The winning will find us if we're doing the right things.

Q. You referenced growing as a team. How did the team grow in Italy and Spain during the 10 days over the summer?

EARL GRANT: Man, that was an unbelievable trip. I think the first thing I would say on a trip like that is 95 percent of what you do, you always do it together. You always are with every teammate.

I knew two years ago -- the trip was planned two years ago, and I did and I said it will be a great time to do it because we got a lot of returners, we have a few new guys.

I think just the togetherness piece was critical. I think having a chance to play games and practice and put in a system, implement an offensive system, work on our defense earlier kind of gave us a jump on the season. So I feel like we're a little bit ahead in some areas. Still got some things to clean up.

But I think from a togetherness piece, it was crucial.

Q. What was your favorite meal, your favorite food while you were gone?

EARL GRANT: Man, that's a hard question. Probably that Florentine steak I had. Only problem is they said you got to eat it medium rare, and I like my steak medium.

But they were right. I tried it, and it was really, really good. I thought Florence was a great experience, and that Florentine steak, I'll remember that.

Q. Last year Donald Hand, Jr. goes out with 37 seconds into the first half of the second game. Describe the emotion of when he went out but then conversely how excited are you to have him back?

EARL GRANT: Yeah, you know, there are certain things you can control and there's certain things that you can't. I try to live in a space of controlling what I can and find peace from that.

It was emotional. He had a lot of expectations. He was a highly touted freshman, and now he's going to have to be patient. He's got to get his timing back. He's got to find out how to make an impact. He's wired to score. But it's going to take him some time to be the player he wants to be.

Very excited that he's healthy and he's practicing every day, and I think it's going to be a process for him to get to where he can find out what his role is and how he can impact this team.

But definitely excited that he can come back and help us. He can shoot the ball. He's long. He's athletic. Hasn't seen a shot that he doesn't like.

But when he gets going, he can make them and he can help us. But we've got to be patient because he'll be better in December than he is in November and he's going to be a lot better in January than he is in December, so I think as the season goes along, he'll really try to impact and help us.

Q. If we look at your numbers, last year from the free-throw line, pretty impressive. 43 of 50. Not a lot of big men in college basketball have such a percentage from the stripe. What makes you so good from the line?

QUINTEN POST: I think just improvement. I think from my junior year to my senior year, I don't know exactly what my percentage was my first year, but just staying calm. It's like I think very high pressure shooting those free throws. But I don't really have a secret. Just try my hardest.

Q. Quinten, just what the experience was like to go to Italy and go to Spain and be able to be there with your teammates, to have the food, see the sights? Just bring us into that trip.

QUINTEN POST: It was awesome for me. I'm from Europe. I'm from the Netherlands, Amsterdam, so for me it was kind of going home a little bit, obviously. So my grandfather, he lives in Italy, so I'd been there a lot.

Just to take my teammates there. I actually saw my family over there, so for me it was like double amazing.

Like Coach said, it was just great bonding for us playing some games. Honestly, it wasn't really about the games. You practice a lot every day and then you go there. It's more so for the team bonding, the experience, yeah, getting those guys out of the country. I think it was amazing.

Then the games on top, seeing some other faces than just each other and playing in practice every day, I think it was just an amazing experience.

Q. Quinten, you're from the Netherlands; you mentioned that. Was it a little bit of a culture shock coming to America? I know you played at Mississippi State and then transferred to Boston College, and how passionate people treat college sports here compared to other parts of the world?

QUINTEN POST: I think that's why I'm here, right, because people care so much. The fact that this whole media day is here and people are asking me questions about me playing basketball, it's honestly so cool. That's what you do it for.

But yeah, the culture shock was big. Obviously Mississippi is a whole different world than even here or even Boston. But I loved it. I had two great years. Had to make a decision and decided to transfer. Super happy I did. Coach Grant took a chance on me, and now I'm here. It's been a great journey.

Q. What's your favorite food here in America?

QUINTEN POST: You know, I like burgers, a good burger. I don't know if the American kitchen has that much more to bring. But yeah, I like burgers.

Q. What do you like on your burgers?

EARL GRANT: I like everything on my burgers, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes. I like ketchup. I like a burger.

Q. When you think about the first 13 games that you missed during '22-'23 and the way you were able to rebound, you came back strong after that foot injury. What is it about your conditioning that allowed you to stay in that shape to where you could make an impact immediately?

QUINTEN POST: Well, I did come back a little overweight. I had never been that big. It was a little adjustment because I couldn't really move in the boot. But yeah, I feel like naturally I'm just decently in decent shape. I've always been like a good runner for long distance.

Besides that, I tried to stay active. I actually swam every day. That was the only thing I could do with my foot. That was kind of something I could put my energy in, which was really fun, and then visualizing.

I was at every game, saw the guys struggle, saw the guys win. I was just ready I felt like, but I did see progress towards the end of the ACC season, getting in better shape, losing some weight.

Luckily this year I don't have to go through that, so I feel like in great shape at this moment, and I don't feel like I have to get there.

Q. Jaeden, same question I asked your teammate. Just to go on that trip to Italy and Spain and that it was so much more than basketball, that team bonding, and maybe some of your favorite memories from there?

JAEDEN ZACKERY: I would say it was incredibly big for our team, just our first time going somewhere as a whole team besides practicing basketball. I feel like that's what built our team to be this close already. I've said it before, this is probably the closest team we've had in the three years I've been here.

So being able to go out, experience something new for not only me but all of us, was a great experience for us. I feel like one of the greatest times for was being able just to play against people that weren't ourselves, and then kind of just venture out into Italy and Spain and see new experiences.

Q. Jaeden, last year BC was 7-0 when you scored at least 15 points a game. Does the team go as you go?

JAEDEN ZACKERY: I wouldn't exactly say that. I just feel like that shows that I just need to be more aggressive coming into every single game because Grant has been on me about it, Quin has been on me about it, everybody has been on me about it, that pass I can't come in and have exactly that pass-first mentality. I got to be aggressive because it won't open it up for me, it will open up for Quinten and Claudell and Devin and any other single person on our team.

I feel like that itself shows I've got to be more aggressive this year.

Q. From the free-throw line, if you went to the line at least five times last year, BC was 9-3. Really anytime you get to the line five times or more, BC is 9-3 when you're there. What is it about you and the free-throw line that drives the team to success?

JAEDEN ZACKERY: I feel like me being a bigger, stronger, undersized guard, I'm able to get to the rim, get to places where I need to be, and a lot of times the person guarding me isn't as strong or isn't as big as me, so I'm getting fouled and that's just creating opportunities for us to get free, easy points.

Q. What do you like on your burgers?

JAEDEN ZACKERY: On my burgers? I prefer mine with just cheese. I'm a plain guy.