October 27, 2004
Texas A&M head men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie, junior Antoine Wright and sophomore Acie Law IV met with the press Wednesday morning at the annual Big 12 Basketball Media Days in Kansas City. A transcript of the press conference is posted below...
Head Coach Billy Gillispie
"We are all happy to be here. We have Acie Law from Dallas and Antoine Wright from California. Just a couple things about us: We are excited about being here today as well as about what we are about to embark on with our program. Everything is going in a positive direction. We are working extremely hard, excited about the season, excited about being part of the Big 12 and getting to the point where we can make some noise in there, taking baby steps right now, working extremely hard. I am extremely pleased with where we are right now."
Billy, at this stage can you tell anything really about what kind of a team you are going to be able to put on the floor, what the characteristics are going to be, that sort of thing?
"The things that I know that we are going to be able to do right now, Mike, is we are going to be able to...I think we are going to play extremely hard. I think we are going to play extremely well together, and we are learning how to play smart. Those are the things that we always wanted to do, play hard, play smart and play together. Like I stated before, I am excited about the direction we are going. We have very little experience, and so everybody is new to it, basically. We have one walk?on guy that was with us at UTEP and he can't play. We have one trainer that is with us. Everybody is new to everybody, players, coaches, everybody.
"These guys have really done a good job in accepting the work ethic that we want to get across to them. Their attitudes have been fantastic. I think that's going to carry us a long way."
Billy, you talk about baby steps. In this conference how hard is it to make substantial improvement, at least moving up in the rankings, when things are so tough at the top?
"I think it's very difficult. I have been through it before at a different school, but I think because of what we were able to do at the previous school, I think that everybody expects us to do things that quickly. It can happen that quickly in a school as good as the Big 12. The coaches are great, the players are great, the traditions are great, and the program is great. You have to take baby steps, but we are not void of talent. We have some players.
"Our roster will be better hopefully in time, and it's not exactly where it's going to be a year from now or two years from now or three years down the road. We have some players here that are very, very capable players, and so I think that what we have always been able to do is get our guys to buy into those three things: Play hard, play smart and play together.
"You take your chance on how many games you are going to win. Sometimes, if you stick with it from start to finish, we are going to play hard every single game from start to finish, but it's more important to play hard from the start of the season to the end of the season. I think you would be surprised what you can do when you do those kinds of things. Not everybody always does that. It's going to be very difficult to get to where we want to be in the Big 12. It's going to take time and effort, and it's going to take a lot of effort in a lot of different areas."
Billy, what attracted you to A&M? With all due respect, since Shelby [Metcalf], it has been a graveyard for coaches.
"I don't know if it has been a graveyard or not. Every situation is difficult. Every situation has its own set of challenges, and A&M is no different than any other school.
"Challenges at Duke may be quite a bit different than they are at A&M or Kansas or whatever, but every school has challenges, especially in the landscape of college basketball today. Our game has really changed with all the ascension to the NBA at such an early stage, much more so than ten years ago. There is no reason that a great place like Texas A&M, with the enrollment they have, with the tradition they have, with the facilities they have, they have everything in place.
"They just had a hard time winning in basketball. As far as what got me excited about it, I think that...I don't know about the commitment that was there or was not there in the past. I have heard that the commitment is at its greatest high right now for basketball. I just don't see why you can't do great things when the commitment is right, and it's definitely right."
Is lack of tradition overrated when you go out and recruit?
"I think it is something you have to address. I think you want to try to sell it as not being that important, but when you have been at places where it is important, then you definitely sell it as a positive. But what you try to do is sell playing time and opportunity and that's what most people want these days, is opportunity. Every school can, especially the schools with the magnitude of Big 12 schools, there are so many great selling points about each. You have to find the right guys to recruit and find the right guys to listen to what you have to sell at your particular school."
Billy, everyone knows you have a very good recruiter. Who were your influences as a bench coach?
"Well, definitely Coach Self. I have learned more from him than anybody. A guy named Bob Darybare [ph], who is a great coach in the state of Texas, he won over 500 games, he is from my hometown so he is important to me.
"Harry Miller and the Big 12, when we first went in there, Celester McCollie [ph], that was my first chance to have a job at the Division I level.
"Everybody I have been around, Larry Brown gave me my first chance in college, and high school coaches I have been with, and studied with, and those kinds of things. It has been a lifetime of learning for me. We just started learning. I don't know anything yet, but we are going to continue to learn and those kind of things. Definitely if you had to name one guy, you would have to name Coach Self.
"He has been a great teacher to me, not only in basketball, but in life. We are about best friends, and we probably won't be very good friends January 5th, but other than that, we talk all the time. He has been a great influence on me. He gave me great opportunities. Without him, I wouldn't have a chance to be sitting up here today."
Billy, you bring up Self and low and behold your debut in the conference is at his place. Easier places to start, aren't there?
"I have never been over there. I heard they had a good home court advantage over there. No, when we were at Baylor, we never played ?? I left to go to Tulsa before we ever played over there. I am looking forward to it. I think that our guys will embrace challenges. That's one of the things we have talked about is embracing hard work and challenges and those kind of things. Every time you go on the road in any conference, but especially the Big 12, it is a difficult task to try to win. We are going to embrace it, enjoy it.
"Basketball is a game. We are going to enjoy every aspect, the work, the fun, the play, and you just swing for the fences and see what happens. If you have good enough players, and work hard enough and well enough together, you are going to have a chance. When you get the absolute best players, you will be playing games that mean a whole lot. Hopefully, that's going to happen soon for us."
Billy, you talked about Joseph Jones and what his state of readiness to be a major contributor might be?
"Unfortunately, with only one senior on our team, and three guys that played any minutes, basically, at all, and we have two of them here today, so we brought 66 percent of our minutes, basically, that's a good math deal ?? I was pretty good in math. But Joseph is going to be like all the other ones. You would like to have a time for guys to have a little chance to breathe or whatever. He hasn't had any chance to breathe.
"I think he is really progressing well, but he is a freshman and a freshman Big 12, even though there has been a lot of guys that make major impacts early, he will definitely have to be a big impact for our team, but I think we are asking way too much when we are asking for freshmen to be a major contributor to escalate to the places that we want to go in the conference. But I am really excited about him. I think he is going to be a really good player in the future. I think we have some other guys as well that are young guys, but they are all in the same experience boat.
"So it's going to take them a little time to adjust to not only college basketball, but college life. They are doing a great job right now, but it is fast and furious. They are spinning around really quickly right now."
What's the best part of his game right now?
"Joseph? He has an unbelievable demeanor and spirit about him and those kinds of things. That has a lot more to do with the game than people want to give credit for. He never has a bad day, no matter how hard you are on him in practice, no matter what happens the night before, day at school, he brings a smile and unbelievable spirit, which is very undervalued in my opinion in forming teams.
"He is a strong guy right now. He can run, catch and those kinds of things. He probably shoots the basketball from the perimeter better than any guy from a small school that I have seen. That's his size. He can really shoot it, even behind the three?point arc. The biggest thing, to me, about Joseph is that he will do so much for our program, our school and our basketball particular team this year because of the spirit that he has on the daily basis."
Junior Antoine Wright
Antoine, can you talk about the differences in the new approaches, et cetera, that reenergized you in a sense?
ANTOINE WRIGHT: "Like Coach said, everyone is new to everything he does. We are pretty much all just trying to come together and be together for our teammates because we don't really know what to expect. So for the young guys, I try to encourage them to come into practice focused and ready to go. Practice is moving a lot faster than in the past."Antoine, can you talk about how you feel about your game, how it has progressed in these past few months?
"I feel great. I added a little weight in the offseason. I am a lot stronger than I was last year. I feel good. I feel like me and Acie are coming together more. We understand each other's game a lot better, and I feel like I have a better chemistry with some of my teammates, with more of my teammates than I had last year."
Antoine, you talked about chemistry with more of your teammates. Who are your teammates? We don't know of them. Are there one or two that stand out in terms of playing style?
"We have a senior point guard playing with us, Bobby Leach. He is back. Obviously, Acie is back. We have Marlon Pompey. He is a returner. Luis Clements, he is a returner. With that group we have there, we are closer and tighter than we were before just because we have to be. Like you say, you don't know any of the players that we have coming in, so it was important for us to show the new guys that we are here to bind to what Coach's philosophy is, and we are just here to learn like they are. It was important for us to all get on that same page so we can have a better year."
Antoine, you just said you had to be closer. Can you explain what you mean by that, why the five of you had to come together?
"Well, first of all, I think preseason was really hard for us. We had this thing called boot camp, I don't know if any of you know what it's about, but it's the hardest work?out I have ever been in. It's about coming together to overcome having to wake up every morning at 6:00 and then going through your day with weights and schoolwork and stuff like that, and still coming to another boot camp session at 3:00.
"With our college schedule, it's really tough waking up every morning that early and still getting through all of the things that you have to do. So I think it just pulled all of us together. We had to see each other more, talk more, be together more, and all be on the same page."
Sophomore Acie Law IV
From your perspective as a guard, how are things different this year from an Xs and Os perspective?
"It's a lot faster. It is not so much Xs and Os. Coach stresses get the ball up and down the court. We want to play much faster than we have in the past."
Acie, how much of this is about attitude? When you see your football team turn it around like they do so quickly, can a turn?around be similar in basketball?
"Most definitely. We are going to shock a lot of people this year. As hard as we are working...like football did, it's a perfect example of hard work. You can turn it right around. I think we are going to be the same way."