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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYOctober 17, 2013Lorenzo RomarC.J. WilcoxSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from Coach. COACH ROMAR: Stating the obvious, but it's that time of year again, we're excited, really been excited and pleased with the new rule that allows us to practice a little earlier. We're able to conduct practices in a way that it doesn't seem like we're cramming for an exam at the last minute. So it's been good. But we're looking forward to the season. THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions. Q. For C.J., can you talk a little bit about the talent and the kind of variety that the Pac‑12 has as it comes to guards this year on the floor. From you to Oregon State, California, Colorado, Arizona, it seems like it's a very guard heavy league this year. Can you talk about that a little bit. C.J. WILCOX: Definitely. I feel like every game we're going to go into there's going to be a key matchup between the guards.  Every team I can think of has a good guard on their team. Actually a couple good guards on their team. So I think it's going to be a lot of games where the matchups are going to be between the guards, and it all depends on how the guards play will kind of give one team or the other the upper hand. Q. How have you seen the Pac‑12 just evolve as a conference during your career, how it's gotten better from what it was two years ago to now? C.J. WILCOX: Every year I've been here the conference has gotten better, gotten stronger. Every game you go into there's a possibility that you will lose, no matter what the other team's record is, no matter what your record is. So I've always thought that you need to be ready to play on any night, no matter what the circumstances are. And I think that we just have a solid league and from top to bottom anybody can beat anybody in our league. COACH ROMAR: It's been interesting being here a little longer than C.J. to watch where I thought that at one point we had one of the more competitive and powerful conferences in America. Because the conference was so strong, we lost a lot to the NBA over a two‑, three‑year period. And I think that in the last few years we have been in the process of replenishing within our conference, and I think that time is here. I think that's why we're starting to see conference play pick up. And I think our conference is definitely headed in the upward trend to becoming a better conference. I think it's here. Q. We just got an update from the officiating coordinator on all the progress that he sees and the fact that they're going to grade every official's call, non call. Are you encouraged and what's your take on this? COACH ROMAR: I think accountability in anything that you do is very important. I think that accountability is definitely going to be there. I think with Mr.Dibler coming in as the new coordinator, obviously you come in and you assess everything, you take inventory of everything that was going on, and you make the necessary changes and adjustments that need to be made. And I think I speak on behalf of all the coaches in our conference, we have all the confidence in the world that they're going to do a good job. Q. Can you talk about the defensive rule changes and how you think that's going to affect the way teams have to play. COACH ROMAR: Well, it definitely affects you to a degree. I think it could potentially really affect the way we play. The hand checking is not going to be allowed. Anytime you definitely place two hands on the offensive player, it's going to be an automatic whistle. I think that we have to really be smart in how we pressure. I think the block charge call, the way it's adjusted, where you're on your upward motion before you leave the floor, I think that it lends itself to the offensive players being able to be more aggressive going to the basket. So I really like that. But defensively, for us, I think that we're definitely going to have to make adjustments in that regard. Q. Who do you think are some of the better new players that have come into the conference this year that will make it stronger? Aaron Gordon has been mentioned a lot. Is there anybody else? COACH ROMAR: Yeah, yeah, that one. (Laughter). Aaron is‑‑ he's a special player. He's one of the rare, rare young kids that come into college that is extremely talented, but yet has a motor and he has his goals, he wants to be the best, he wants to play at the highest level. But at the same time he's a very unselfish basketball player. I just don't know if that combination is out there that much these days. Very talented basketball player, but yet plays extremely hard, practices really hard. He's no doubt going to help the Arizona team this year. Q. Anybody else? COACH ROMAR: I think Jabari Bird over at California is also a very good wing player that has good size, that is very talented. There's no doubt I think he's going to help that team. There's a newcomer that's going to be playing at Oregon named Mike Moser that is somewhat of a newcomer, because he was here in our league before at UCLA. He took a leave of absence, so to speak. Now he's back, and I think that he's going to do a good job for them as well. Q. We know how fertile the L.A. recruiting ground is. With two new head coaches there, is there a feeling in the league that it's a little more up for grabs than in the past and is that something that you're paying a little more attention to? COACH ROMAR: Well, I would say I would have to agree that Arizona is the clear favorite, but after that, yeah, the ‑‑ I really am looking forward to the end of the year to see what it looks like. Because I just think it's too hard to predict this year. There's too many quality teams that can finish in the top half of the league or, due to an injury or a missed free throw here or there, a shooting slump over a week's period, could end up being in the lower half of the league when they were a much better team than that. So it will be interesting to follow. Q. How do you look to make up for the loss of Aziz in the paint especially on defense? COACH ROMAR: Unless you have someone that's a very good shot blocker like that, I don't think you make up for the loss in the way that he went about his business. He was definitely a force in there. He blocked shots but then changed and altered other shots. I just think that we're going to have to do a better job in terms of our rotations and keeping people in front of us this year, knowing that we're not going to be able to rely on that shot blocker in the back for our back line defense. Q. You talked about some of the newcomers across the league. Can you tell us about some of yours? COACH ROMAR: One that stands out for us right now, Nigel Williams‑Goss is highly touted, and a lot of people are aware of who he is. But a lot of people are not aware of Perris Blackwell who played at the University of San Francisco for three years, transferred, sat out last year, and now is a fifth‑year senior, will come in and play for us. He's 6'9", about 270 pounds and kind of gives us a low post presence that we haven't had in recent years. So that really helps us, it helps C.J. and our other wing players that are able to score because it loosens up the defense a little bit. He's probably a guy that's going to be in our starting lineup, and he'll be one of our top scorers. Q. C.J., it's been a pretty long road for you. You've been on some teams where you've really been the young guy, now you're the veteran, and now this is unequivocally your team. What do you foresee for your senior year? C.J. WILCOX: I want to make sure we're consistent this year. I know every year has up and downs, but I think we have a good group of guys that are willing to work hard and play together and do whatever it takes to win games. I like the group that we have. And for it to be my senior year, I just want to go out with a bang and do it the right way. Q. Between all of the head coaches in the Pac‑12, who wins the one‑on‑one tournament? COACH ROMAR: One‑on‑one back in the day or today? What are we talking here? Q. Today. COACH ROMAR: Because Larry Krystkowiak would back everyone down and you wouldn't be able to keep him from scoring in the paint. Not that he couldn't shoot. But that's what he would do. Then he definitely would foul you every time you had the ball. So he would be tough. I don't know if anyone can keep Johnny Dawkins in front of them today. You could not give Steve Alford a wide‑open shot. You just couldn't. And I don't even know ‑‑ when the ball is released, it's probably going to go in. So that would be an interesting tournament. You could spread that out over three or four days and let everybody recover each day and... (Laughter). It could be a lot of fun. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. COACH ROMAR: In other words, I don't know. (Laughter). Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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