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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S MEDIA DAYNovember 1, 2012Aaron BrightJohnny DawkinsSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with Stanford. We'll start with an opening statement from Coach. COACH DAWKINS: Well, we're excited about this upcoming season for a lot of reasons. One, we're excited about our conference. We think our teams have definitely returned a number of really good players. I think our influx of talent in our conference is going to be terrific. We're excited about the Pac‑12 Network and what that can do to promote our conference and give our teams more visibility. We're looking forward to that. And for our team. I'm excited because we have a lot of players returning, and I think we're growing and we're moving in the right direction. I thought we gained a lot of momentum last year. Winning the NIT was great for this group. But winning our last eight out of ten games was terrific. I thought our kids played best at the end. And a number of those kids are returning, so I'm very excited about our potential this upcoming season. THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and take questions. Q. Will you start both Aaron and Chasson in a lot of games this year? Is that the plan? Or how will you work Anthony Brown in there too? COACH DAWKINS: Well, for us, what we would like to do is‑‑ we had great success last year. Aaron did a great job of coming off our bench. But what we want to do is we have the ability this year to play different lineups. What we have told our players, we have seven or eight kids that we need to all view themselves as starters, and in doing so we're able to play any of those young men on any given night to help us based on matchups and based on what we're trying to do out there on the floor. Q. Why do you guys think you played your best basketball at the end of the year? What clicked? And do you feel like the momentum carries over this year, or is it starting from scratch? AARON BRIGHT: Definitely I think the momentum will carry over this year. Towards the end of last year I think guys just offensively and defensively‑‑ we just knew our roles and we just wanted to play in the postseason. So offensively guys were making the right play and we didn't really care who scored. We were making the extra pass and guys were taking the shot. And then defensively we relied on our help, and with that came us getting a lot of stops. And I think it will definitely carry over to this next year. Q. Replacing Owens and Zimmermann, what guys on your team do you expect to fill the void left by those guys? COACH DAWKINS: Well, they left a big void in our team. Both of those kids were experienced. They played like men for us last year. And replacing them, we're looking at young men like Dwight Powell, who is healthy. We're excited about his ability to come in and contribute for us there. We're looking a Stefan Nastic who also is a low post player, capable low post scorer, so we're looking at him to contribute. Grant Verhoeven is another young player, as well as John Gage. We feel we have enough guys and enough depth at the position, we just need those kids to go out there and give us the type of production that Josh was able to give us. Q. Aaron, last year Anthony Brown and Dwight Powell were both bothered by injuries basically the whole season. Now apparently they're a hundred percent. What have you noticed about their play this year that ‑‑ how different is it this year for them? AARON BRIGHT: I think, first off, with Dwight, he's playing a lot more confident right now. I think he knows who he is as a player. He's starting to hit his midrange jump shot very consistently. And you can just see the confidence in him. And with Anthony, I think he's taking his shot without any hesitation right now. I think last year sometimes he would pass up his open shot or something that he can make consistently and try to do something else. But I think this year both are very confident and they're both healthy right now, and hopefully they can remain healthy for the rest of the year. But they're both playing very confident right now. Q. Coach, a track and field guy won your slam dunk contest a couple weeks back. Did you see that? Did you make any effort to try to get him on your team? COACH DAWKINS: Well, that was pretty exciting. We tried to get a volleyball player, too, but they were playing away. For us it was a lot of fun. The young man is terrific. Jones is an amazing athlete. An Olympian, of course. And so he was a ringer, actually, for us. So it was fun for our guys to actually compete against him. And, yes, I did ask him would he be interested in joining our team. Q. I think it could be a breakout year for Josh Huestis. What does he give you defensively? COACH DAWKINS: That's a great question. We're very excited about Josh. He's improved every year. We think he can be a tremendous rebounder. We think he's going to end up being one of the best defensive players in our conference and maybe in the country. He has that type of ability and that type of instinct. So we're excited about him, and he's really bought in that role where he wants to be the best defender and rebounder. So we are looking forward to seeing his continued development. Q. What kind of role do you see Rosco Allen playing for your team? COACH DAWKINS: Rosco Allen, I see him playing a versatile role for us. He's a young man that can go inside and also go outside. He can step out and shoot the 3, but he also can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket. And I know he's still growing. He's 6'10" right now. He still has to get a little stronger. But I'm really, really excited about his upside and his ability to play the basketball game. Q. Any chance that Ray Lewis could reappear this year? And how was that when you saw him in New York? AARON BRIGHT: That experience was crazy. I remember when he came into the locker room and we all thought he was a look‑alike. We didn't think he was the actual Ray Lewis. But we actually just sent a video out to him because you guys know he tore his triceps. We sent a team video out just thanking him again and wishing him the best recovery. But I don't know if coaches have another guest speaker that they're going to bring in this year, but we would love to have him back for another speech, man, because he got us hyped. COACH DAWKINS: Ray was an inspiration for our team. We were very fortunate to have him be there. I don't know, he didn't expect to speak, it kind of just was spontaneous. We had him come in and talk to our guys right before our game, the semi game in Madison Square Garden. But he was terrific and we really appreciate what he did. And in kind we tried to return the favor by sending him out a motivational video from our team and myself just trying to help him get through a challenging time for what he has to face this season. Q. Grant Verhoeven, freshman this year. I saw him play in high school. Is he ready to contribute this season in his freshman year? COACH DAWKINS: Well, I think Grant's done a terrific job this preseason. I think Grant's a young man that's going to find his way on to the floor. He's physical, he's rugged, he has a good understanding of the game, and I'm excited about his upside. So he could easily find himself on the floor, and he would give us a lot in the low post with his ability to defend and rebound. THE MODERATOR: All right. Gentlemen, thank you very much. COACH DAWKINS: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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