ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE OPERATION BASKETBALL

October 16, 2013

James Johnson

THE MODERATOR:  My pleasure to introduce a veteran coach in the league, Virginia Tech\'s James Johnson.

You\'ve been asked this all day.  What is it like welcoming three new teams into a conference?

COACH JOHNSON:  It just made my job a little tougher.  I\'ve known those guys throughout the business.  Very good programs.  National power programs.  We\'re looking forward to it.  More excitement.  Definitely makes the league stronger.

THE MODERATOR:  Let\'s take questions.

Q.  You were a rookie this time last year.  You have a season under your belt.  What did you learn season one that\'s going to help you?

COACH JOHNSON:  I don\'t know if it will help me, but I learned this is a tough league.  A lot of good players, a lot of good coaches.

I think with my team, we had a tale of two seasons.  We started out really good, then we kind of struggled during ACC play.

I think maintaining a positive attitude, maintaining the same work ethic coming in with my young men, those guys look at me, they see what type of mood I\'m in, where I\'m at, they kind of feed off me.

Q.  Has it been real difficult finding how you\'re going to replace Erick Green?

COACH JOHNSON:  Obviously Erick Green was big for us.  He did a lot of different things for us.  Leading the nation in scoring, ACC Player of the Year.  We\'re not really trying to replace him.  I don\'t know if we have a guy that\'s going to lead the nation in scoring.  I don\'t know if anybody in this league will.  We didn\'t know that sitting here last year either.

But we do have some guys that I think could help fill the scoring board and put the basketball in the hole.  I think we\'ll be a much more balanced team this year.  One of the things we\'re trying to do is we\'re trying to be a better defensive team.  Hopefully that will lead to a better offense.

Q.  You have two seniors on the team this year.  How are they stepping up and taking over as far as leadership goes?

COACH JOHNSON:  I think with those two seniors, with me being a first‑year coach last year, them playing under me for the first time, they were like newer guys last year also.

They\'re leading by example.  They know what I like, how I am.  They\'re kind of leading by example.  We\'ve had some younger guys step up and take more of a leadership role, which is something that is pleasant to see as a head coach.  That\'s a good thing to have.  I think our team becomes stronger that way.

Q.  You think pretty highly of Ben Emelogu to bring him here.  Named him one of the leaders on the team.  What has he done that\'s impressed you so much?  Were you surprised he was able to come in and be as successful as he has been?

COACH JOHNSON:  He\'s just done everything right.  He\'s a natural leader.  Coming in, I didn\'t have to put anything on him.  He came in, natural leadership qualities, leadership abilities.  He earned the respect of the guys right away from day one with his play, with his talking.

He plays both ends of the floor.  He does everything right on and off the floor.  Just a pleasant surprise to have.

His coach in the recruiting process spoke very highly of him, his leadership abilities.  When you come in as a freshman, you have a couple seniors, juniors that have been in the program, college atmosphere, it takes a special individual to step right in and kind of have the team be his, and Ben has done that.

Q.  You finished up the bottom of the ACC last season with the nation\'s leading scorer.  Where have you set the goals for your team this season?

COACH JOHNSON:  Well, I think we talk about it every day.  We just want to get better every day.  We want to take a step forward every day.

You\'re either getting better or getting worse, you\'re never staying the same.  I don\'t know if that\'s a goal or not, but that\'s something that we talk to the guys about every day.  How good we can be, we\'re not sure yet.  We have some uncertainties, who is going to step up and do what.  But we do want to get better every single day in practice, every day in film session, every day in the weight room.  We just want to get better.  Hopefully as the season goes on, we\'ll become a much better team.

THE MODERATOR:  When you talk about a guy like Erick Green, the other four guys on the court will watch him make plays.  When you return seven of your nine leading scorers, does it give you an opportunity to grow your offense?

COACH JOHNSON:  I don\'t know if it gives us a chance to grow it, but it gives us a lot of balance.  There are certain nights out there, Erick Green did what he was able to do, then we had guys, like you said, standing around watching where I wanted them to get involved in the game.

I think we\'ve got some guys that will get themselves involved in the game, whether it\'s on the offensive glass, making plays for themselves.  That will be hopefully something that we don\'t have to worry about.

THE MODERATOR:  The commissioner was standing here talking about the length of the ACC tournament.  When you look at the season as a whole, do you break it down to the non‑conference portion and then look ahead to the deeper parts of the schedule?  How do you dedicate all your energies to prepping those games but keeping your eye on the long season ahead?

COACH JOHNSON:  We take it one game at a time.  We take each game as a separate entity.  We want to treat upstate like we do Duke or any other team.  Our team preparation is the same in practice.  We don\'t look ahead too much.  That\'s one of the things that we were able to get off to a good start last season.  We didn\'t look too far ahead.  We took one game at a time.

I think we want to continue to do that, one day at a time, even in practice.

THE MODERATOR:  Do the student‑athletes do that?  How do you tell the guys not to look ahead, but focus on some of the non‑conference teams?  Do they really do that?

COACH JOHNSON:  I think with a freshmen group, they don\'t know any better.  They\'re out there with stars in their eyes trying to do exactly what they\'re told to do when they\'re told to do it.  A lot of times they\'re late doing that.

The upperclassmen, they know the grind of the season.  They know how you have take it, day to day, step by step.  They\'ve been through it.  I don\'t think they\'re looking forward too much.  We\'re concentrating on our first game.

Q.  Bringing in a team like Syracuse, Jim Boeheim, what can you say about what you know about coach, going up against him this season?

COACH JOHNSON:  Well, I mean, his career speaks for itself.  We just brought in one of the best coaches in the history of college basketball into the league.  We\'re fortunate to have them in our league, fortunate to be coaching in the ACC, have a chance to coach against him.  We\'re looking forward to them coming into Blacksburg this year.

All the new teams in the league, well‑respected coaches, great programs.  They\'re going to be trying to do the same thing that we\'re going to try to do.  They\'re working hard getting ready for the season.  They\'re going to try to beat us when we play them and we\'re going to try to work hard and beat them.

THE MODERATOR:  Going into your second season, what is the one thing you take away?

COACH JOHNSON:  With hard work, that\'s something I\'ve done all of my career.  I think if we keep our nose to the grind, keep working hard, I think things will fall in place.

THE MODERATOR:  Coach, thank you so much.  Best of luck to you this season.

COACH JOHNSON:  Thank you.

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