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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAY

October 28, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

DAVE HIRSCH: We have Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, and senior forward Darnell Gant.
COACH ROMAR: We're here. We're excited about it. We're excited to kickoff the Pac-12 season this year. We have a unique situation in that half of our team, our are upperclassmen, and the other half are brand-new.
So the seniors and the upperclassmen that are here so far are doing a really good job of trying to increase the learning curve for the young guys to help them get acclimated to what we're trying to do. The young guys are humble enough to listen, so that's been a good thing.
We've had several guys injured preseason. Scott Suggs will be out probably about six or seven more weeks with a stress fracture in his foot. He had surgery just a little while ago, and several of our other guys have not been able to practice last week.
But we're on our way back. One by one they're starting to be able to practice with us again. So we're looking forward to having everyone back, and starting our season.

Q. Lorenzo, what do you think of the new recruiting rules, being able to text more and call more? Is that a plus or minus?
COACH ROMAR: I'm in favor because nowadays, trust me, kids can look to see who's calling and just ignore it. I know for sure they can do that, but they just don't have to respond to your text. If they want to respond, they'll respond. I don't see that being a problem. I think that's a positive right now.

Q. As you watched conference expansion going on, being pushed so much by football, what did you feel about basketball almost being irrelevant watching a basketball conference like the Big East could maybe fall apart because of football?
COACH ROMAR: I'm not losing sleep over that, to tell you the truth. I understand in most places football is the top revenue sport. I want football to do well always, so I'm not losing a lot of sleep over that.

Q. With the way the season ended last year, and everything going on around the program, is everything in your mind all settled and it's worked itself out?
COACH ROMAR: We think so. Our group has been together and been really enthusiastic. I think our group is totally concerned about what's going on now and what's going on in the future. There aren't any cloudy issues surrounding us right now.

Q. Coach, you expressed a lot of confidence in your team that you could be just as good as last year. But losing all that talent, how do you plan to be that good? What do you see will be with this team that you have right now that will have you guys be as good as last year?
COACH ROMAR: Number one, we have to stay healthy. The younger guys have to pick things up. With a divided group in terms of personnel and age, there has to be some chemistry there. Our ability as a group to come together and be on the same page is going to be very, very important.

Q. 40% of student-athletes, incoming freshmen, are leaving by the end of their sophomore year, so with retention being a big problem, do you feel the reforming of all of this that has just taken place, the opportunity to bring parents on official visits and pay for them to come, the opportunity to evaluate athletes in a tryout situation on an official visit, and the opening of the texting, that access should be good in eliminating that number that's sitting out there right now. Do you agree with that?
COACH ROMAR: I would have to agree with that. As far as the parents being able to come and pay for that, I don't know why we've not done that before. I think that's a great rule. I think we made a step in the right direction in that regard for sure.

Q. The second one is for Darnell. I hate to put you on the spot, but are you going to do anymore acting? I know you were in mid summer night's dream, do you have anymore plays that you're going to be starring in?
DARNELL GANT: Not as of right now. But if an opportunity comes up, then I'll try to do one, because school's off my hands. I graduated last quarter. So if the opportunity comes up, then I'll take it, but as not as of right now. I'm just focused on basketball right now.

Q. Terrence Ross has gotten a lot of preseason publicity as a guy that will make a major step in this conference. What is it about him that makes you think he's ready to be more of an impact player for you guys?
COACH ROMAR: Terrence is immensely talented. He's a very good offensive player. He's a great athlete. He has a knack for putting the ball in the basket.
I think what's taken place from last year till now is he's become a better defensive player. He's committed to being a better defensive player and rebounder. The fact that he's paying a lot of attention to being more well-rounded, I think is going to help his cause.
I think he's embracing the fact that he's not a freshman anymore. He's one of the guys that we are going to be counting on to have an impact on our season. Subsequently he's picked it up quite a bit. So we're hopeful that he'll have a big year this year.

Q. Coach Romar, how important is it for not only your program but the Pac-12 conference for you to be playing schools like Duke or Marquette coming up in December?
COACH ROMAR: I think as we've seen over the last several years, our conference usually is evaluated based on our non-conference schedule in terms of a national perception. Sometimes an opinion is formed in the preseason, and then sometimes the nation doesn't look back to see what teams are doing.
We've had situations where there have been injuries to key personnel in the past and teams haven't performed as well as they were performing later on.
So, again, we're faced with it. There are a number of teams in our conference that have high profile, non-conference games. I think it's important that we do well in those games.

Q. Lorenzo, your first exhibition game coming up this Friday against this small school from Seattle.
COACH ROMAR: The mighty Seattle Pacific?

Q. Did you see their game last night?
COACH ROMAR: I did not. I missed it.

Q. Any thoughts of what happened last night at Arizona?
COACH ROMAR: My thoughts are that in an exhibition game, it's a time to experiment. It's a time to teach. It's a time to learn. I am very fortunate. We're fortunate that we didn't have an exhibition game last night, trust me.
The way I see it from a coach's perspective is I'm sure they got a lot out of it. Seattle Pacific went in there and obviously gave them a great ballgame and challenged them. That they have some new players as well. Some young players. That gives them a perspective of what level you have to be at at this level.
Some of their returners, maybe they're the guys that as Derrick Williams has left, MoMo Jones is gone. Sometimes guys think it's going to be easy. I'll just step in and do what Derrick did. It's not that easy.
So a game like that can do a lot more good for a team than if they were to play someone and blow them out by 50 or 60 and give them a false sense of who they were.

Q. Lots of hype about freshman point guard Tony Wroten. What are your thoughts about him through practice thus far?
COACH ROMAR: Tony Wroten, I can almost guarantee you, not a hundred percent, but I can -- I'm willing to say that people will be surprised at Tony Wroten, and I'm not talking about the level of player he is, he's an exceptional basketball player. But when they see how he will get on the floor and dive for a ball. How they can see that playing defense and things like that are really some of the intangible things that are important to him.
When people see that, I think people have a different impression of what they thought he was going to be like. I think he's been labeled somewhat of a show boat, show man, and that's all he cares about. I think if you're a Husky fan, people will be pleasantly surprised but that's not totally him.
He has fun. He enjoys the game. But at the same time, he's a really tough competitor. So he's done well.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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