November 16, 2000
(Going into 2nd Exhibition Game)
"We feel better. We saw improvement going into the 2nd exhibition game. You know it's hard to please us coaches, as I still see the areas we need to improve in and going on the road and playing a good G.W. team is going to be a big challenge for us. But it's one I hope we're up for."
(On opening up against such a good team and what Watkins is looking for by doing so)
"I think what we're looking for is to see where we matchup against teams on the national scene in different conferences. This will be a good test to do that for us and as always, it gives us a chance to work on things and get us ready for conference play."
(On Keith Bean)
"In terms of his ability to put the ball in the basket, I think Keith is probably a little ahead of what I thought initially. Defensively, we have some more things there that we need to do with him. He's been a blessing from above in terms of being able to come in and step right up after a sitting out a year. When you think about it, he hasn't played in a couple of years and then to come in on the D-I level, and at least through exhibition, he's been able to score points and rebound for us."
(On Bean and injuries to inside players)
"That has forced a little bit more on him than we probably would have liked at this point, but he's handled it well and the way I look at it, he's going to be good for us later on down the road. Yes, we do need to get some those other guys back in there to go along with him and then of course, that changes the way we approach the game, too, because then we could do a few more different things. But until it happens, Keith's minutes are probably going to be higher than we'd like them to be at this juncture of the season."
(On injuries and workouts in practices)
"It changes your practices and changes your rotation in the way you go to sub and not to take anything away from our young kids who are coming off the bench, but at times [last night] we had Carlton Brown as well as Larry Scott out of position. That's something they haven't practiced a lot. I asked them if they could do it for this game and they said 'Let's try it.' So, it does get your rotation off a bit. But hopefully, we'll be able to get Aaron [Jack] back in there, and Tomas a little bit further down the road as well as Andy [Slocum]."
(On Aaron Jack possibly coming back this weekend)
"It's a big boost just to have him there as another practice player and a player that has been through the wars and for his leadership. It'd be good to have him back and I think actually, he's going to try to go today in practice and we just don't know to what degree and how much he can give us yet."
(On Andy Slocum possibly being out longer)
"It appears now he's going to get scoped and then after that they can be a little bit more definitive in terms of when he can come back. Right now, it's all kind of guess work until they go in there and see what's wrong."
(On Watkins being a little more relaxed this year)
"Coming into the year, I was feeling that way, especially after our first few practices when we had everybody out there. I guess the type of things from these last two years that were frustrating, is to not be able to do the things game-wise and practice-wise that I wanted to. So, yes, there was a comfort zone there coming into this year. I'll be honest, it's kind of dwindled a little bit since we've had these injuries. Hopefully, we'll be able to get these guys back. And yes, you'll see a little bit more relaxed coach."
(On Jamaal Gilchrist getting two fouls in 4.5 minutes)
"Again, it changes our team, but Andy [Leatherman] has come in and given us some quality minutes so, we ended up going to him. Surely, we've talked to Jamaal about getting those early fouls. We don't want any of our guards picking up early fouls because we still look thin there. But Andy has played two years now, and to his credit, gives us his best effort. And Jamaal is still not 100 percent, so we didn't want to push him to hard."
(On Jamaal being iced down towards the end of the game)
"He was in a little pain towards the end but the game was in our control so we just didn't put him back in."
(On Nick Anderson's improvement from exhibition game 1 to exhibition game 2)
"I see that steady progress. A large part of what Nick is doing or not doing has to do with his confidence. He gained a little bit more the 2nd time around and he may have some problems going into G.W. as that will be our first game and its on the road. Surely, I told our staff that we are going to live and die with Nick making some early mistakes because we can see down the road and the potential he has and type of player that this young man can become."
(On Nick Anderson looking like he's still learning the offense)
"He's learning the offense, he's learning his way to his room and he's learning his way to class. He' s just a pup. Defensively, I think he's struggling a little bit more right now, but he's getting better each and everyday. Offensively, he has passed on some things because he says he doesn't want to make a mistake. We told him that we didn't want him to make a mistake either, but that we'd like for him to be a little more aggressive and he tried to come out and do that last night."
(On recruiting Daryl Mason and generally speaking in Texas)
"We thought it would be a little faster process, but what's happening now, is that kids here in the state are seeing the talent level that we are bringing in. And good players want to play with other good players. It was obvious to Daryl that we have pretty good talent. And he's falling in love with Bernard and the kids around here and saying ?'You know what, I don't need to go anywhere else. I can stay right here and play big time basketball.' That is the kind of message that we are trying to get out there and it's slowly happening."
"Getting Daryl is a win for us because he was getting recruited and he had some serious options. We had originally thought that he wanted to go away. The more we got in there and helped him to realize that his family could see him play and that some good things are going to happen here, the more he thought that he'd like to be a part of that."
(On George Washington)
"G.W. is a good team and is probably a little bit better team than people know because they have players back and because of their style of play. It's hard to simulate what they do in practice. They're so fast. Last year, they didn't pressure as much because they didn't have the personnel in place. This year, they feel like they have the depth. They'll full court trap you and we haven't worked on that a lot. It'll be a challenge to play on the road against a team that plays such a different style than what we're used to. They had the leading scorer in the country who's back and hasn't seen a shot that he doesn't like. They do a good job at attacking the offensive glass. We've got to make sure we put bodies on their players and keep them from doing that. If we can limit them to one shot attempt per possession, then we like our chances."
(On Tommy Penders)
"We haven't spoken recently. I know him from a few trips we've been put on together. He does a great job with the style that he likes to play. He's incorporated that at G.W. and that's a team that's going to start making some noise on the national scene."