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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S MEDIA DAYNovember 1, 2012Jio FontanKevin O'NeillSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with USC. Coach will make an opening statement. COACH O'NEILL: Thank you. We only have three guys back from last year's team, so we have a lot of new faces. I haven't had a group ever practice as hard as our group has practiced so far. We have legitimate size, we have depth. We have our captain returning, Jio Fontan, who was out all of last year, which we're excited about. So I'm really excited about our team. I think we have a chance, if we can figure each other out, which we're doing right now, to be a good basketball team. It's going to take us a little bit of time. We have a challenging schedule, but we're looking forward to those challenges on a daily basis. If our guys respond like they have to practice situations‑‑ we go anywhere from three to three and a half a day. If they respond to game situations like they have practice situations, we're going to have a chance to be a very competitive team. We're looking forward to getting in and playing some games. We have been beating each other up for quite some time now. But I think we're a team that's going to play with a chip on their shoulder, we're going to play hard, we're going to play together, we're going to do things that hopefully equate to winning basketball. I think the league's going to be outstanding. I think there's going to be five to six NCAA teams, three to four NIT teams. There's a ton of new talent. There's a lot of returning players. There's great coaches in this league. So it's going to be a great year for Pac‑12 basketball. I want to congratulate Larry and his group for just making this all happen with the TV contract. I think it's great. Want to welcome Ed Rush aboard, who is heading up our officials. He won't like any of us in about two or three weeks; that's the way it always goes. But I think what the conference has done is upgraded everything basketball‑wise from A to Z. And that's going to show in our play this year. It's going to show with our facilities, the way everything's set up. So we're excited to be part of that. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Coach and Jio. COACH O'NEILL: We actually had a productive coaches meeting for the first time in the history of college basketball also. Q. This question is for Jio. You've likened your coach, Coach O'Neill, to a scientist. What makes you describe him in that way? JIO FONTAN: I think the biggest thing is just his preparation when it comes to the games. His ability to lock in and kind of study the game tapes is deeper than I've ever seen any other coach do in my experiences. And the schemes we come up with, they're usually not your basic schemes as far as how you go against your opponents; it's more broken down to a real scientific structure like I like to call it, and he does a great job of it. Q. After tearing your ACL last year, are you going to play as hard as you're used to or are you going to start off more slowly? JIO FONTAN: I'm going to try to play a little harder than usual. I think that the work I put in with my trainers and my strength coach put me in a position where I'm a lot more comfortable, not only with my knee but with my body and how I take care of myself. So I don't want to hold back at all. I want to go out there and play as hard as I can. Q. You're implementing a lot of new guys, and some of them have been out for a little bit of time. What have you seen from them in practice so far, and is there anything holding any of them back as they get used to your system? COACH O'NEILL: The NCAA also let us practice for the first time over the summertime. So we used our individual work time as practice time. So we were going all summer long. We had guys in summer school. And it really helped us to start gelling as a group. We've got some veteran guys that understand winning is important. All we have talked about is the only stat that counts is W's and L's. And we're melding a bunch of guys together. But so far, from what I've seen in practices, they share the ball, play hard. They like playing with each other. They have good chemistry already. Those things are going to be really important as we go along, especially with the non‑conference schedule we're playing. I haven't seen any real challenges. I'm sure there will be some when guys don't play as much as they want or whatever, but that's basketball and that's something we all have to deal with. But overall I couldn't be more impressed with our group so far. We'll see what happens going forward, but I like what I have seen out of them in terms of maturity, and I like what I've seen out of them in terms of being a work team. And those are the things that are going to be important for us. Q. What is your reaction to Maurice Jones leaving, and who do you see filling his role? COACH O'NEILL: I loved Maurice Jones. It was unfortunate that he's not going to be with us. I wish him the best. I think he made a great choice going to Iowa State with Fred. We're going to miss Mo, but we have Jio returning, who will be our starting point guard. We have a walk‑on point guard who has some‑‑ I guess we could say he's shocked all of us. Chass Bryan is a walk‑on point guard with us who is on a Presidential Scholarship who is going to be one heck of a player. So in terms of filling the void, Chass Bryan will do that as backup to Jio. So I feel really good about our point spot. I feel like we have the best point guard in the league‑‑ I would say that anytime, anywhere‑‑ in Jio. And I feel very confident that Chass Bryan will back up and do a more than adequate job for our team. But I do want to point out that Mo Jones did a lot of good things for us for two years and I enjoyed having him around and I loved him as a person, and we wish him nothing but the best. Q. How's Aaron Fuller doing coming off his shoulder injury and just what do you expect from him this year? COACH O'NEILL: He had double shoulder labrum tears, is what he had. He had surgery on one; the other one just rehabbed. He appears to be a hundred percent. He's had great practices. He's continually our leading rebounder in practice every day, makes all the hustle plays. I think Aaron Fuller is going to be a major, major part of our team going forward. He plays hard. He's on the floor. He blocks. He does all the things you don't see in a stat sheet. And health‑wise appears to be a hundred percent and better. He's bigger. He's stronger. He appears more athletic. He's a fifth‑year senior, so he should be a guy that's going to give us some really valuable minutes and be a hard‑nosed part of our team. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, guys. COACH O'NEILL: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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