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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S MEDIA DAYNovember 1, 2012Carrick FelixHerb SendekSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Arizona State. Start with an opening statement from Coach. COACH SENDEK: It's great to be together with everybody today. I think as we gather here at the Pac‑12 Networks it's easy to be extremely impressed. When you think about how fast this whole thing has come together and the quality of the entire enterprise, it is absolutely amazing. And I think it obviously reflects the vision of Commissioner Scott and the hard work of a lot of people, and it certainly projects very well into our future as a conference. I'm delighted to be joined today by Carrick Felix, our senior captain. Carrick has already graduated from Arizona State. He is working on his master's degree now. He represented us this summer in Indianapolis at the National Sports Consortium. And he really has put his arms around our basketball team since the end of last season, all the way through today as our leader. He's been extremely energetic, positive, and yet done a great job of holding his teammates accountable in every way. He's, I think, poised for his career best year. He's worked very hard. We're expecting a great year from Carrick. So I'm delighted that he's together with us this afternoon. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions. Q. Coach said a lot of nice things about you as a leader. What's that mean to you to be the leader of this team? CARRICK FELIX: It definitely means a lot. Just going into my fifth year in college and just being around this ASU for the past three years, it's definitely a good ‑‑ I'm in a good spot right now, just to have my teammates around me, have good guys around me. I think we're just ready to compete. And it's definitely a great compliment by Coach, and I thank you for that. I appreciate it. Q. You guys have brought in a couple of new assistant coaches with NBA experience. Talk about what it's like to play for those kind of guys. CARRICK FELIX: It's definitely good. The two coaches, I mean, they bring in a new flavor and a new vibe. And you can definitely tell. They know their X's and O's, and it's just great for us to have‑‑ we lost some coaches in the summer but gained some coaches where everybody's kind of‑‑ just everything's just flowing together I guess you can say. These coaches are really putting in a lot of time and hard work into getting everything set up for the season, so it's definitely good right now. Q. Coach, I realize that transfers are nothing new in college basketball, but I'm kind of wondering what you think of Trent Lockett's decision to leave, and do you think you have enough firepower to make up for his departure? COACH SENDEK: Well, obviously it was unfortunate that Trent had to leave. His mom was diagnosed with cancer back in the spring, and they made a family decision that for his final year he needed to be within driving distance of his home. So although we certainly would love to have had him for his senior year‑‑ he had a terrific first three years for us‑‑ circumstances obviously prevented that from happening. But like you do anytime you lose a player for any reason‑‑ graduation, injury, transfer‑‑ it's up to the rest of us who are still on the team to collectively make up for his absence. And, once again, deferring to Carrick here, I think he's done a great job of really stepping up, and I think he's put himself in position to play that spot exceptionally well for his senior year. Q. You guys said that you want to play at a faster tempo this year. Through the first few weeks of practice, how has that looked and just how is the team adjusting with that? COACH SENDEK: Yeah, like we always talk about, we evaluate, we assess who we have, and we try to put them in the best position to be successful. In particular opening the floor up in transition for Jahii is really important to our team. I still don't know that we have reached a point yet where we understand the mental and physical constitution that it takes to get out and run like that on a consistent basis. But having said that, especially when we get out into conference play, like you see around the nation, we're still going to have to execute and perform in the half court, because good teams get back on defense and they typically don't give you a lot of transition‑shot opportunities. So as a team we're still working in that area. Not surprisingly, two or three weeks into practice we're still working on just about everything. Q. How exciting is it for you to watch Jahii in practice? I can't wait to see him play. COACH SENDEK: Jahii is an electrifying player. He's blessed with amazing athletic talent. But for me, the joy in practice with Jahii is his eagerness to learn. And he has been a complete and total team guy. So that's the joy that I get from working with Jahii every day. He's very unselfish and he's very eager to learn. And that's an awesome combination to have in a young player. Q. You hired some very impressive assistants this off‑season. How did those hires come about? COACH SENDEK: Well, we set out to hire some coaches with NBA experience. I mean, that was our overarching goal. And we talked to a number of people in the league, had fantastic interest in our openings, and at the end of the day decided that Eric Musselman and Larry Greer were great fits for us. And the thing that stands out in my mind with both of those men is they are excellent teachers. And historically we have been blessed to have outstanding teachers on our staff. So I think when Carrick and his teammates are on the floor every afternoon, they're being taught by professionals who have a wealth of experience. They have been where a lot of our guys ultimately want to go. But more than anything our coaches respect the game, they're passionate about the game, and they're knowledgeable about the game. And those are fun people not just for our players to work with, but I think it gives our entire coaching staff a great dynamic. It's fun to be at work not only with Coach Muss and Coach Greer, but Coach Taylor who has been with us now the last six going on seven years and has a hand in every aspect of our program, and he's somebody that I rely on tremendously. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. COACH SENDEK: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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