Howdy Ags: Solomon Washington
Texas A&M Athletics
Andrew Monaco sat down with sophomore forward Solomon Washington and the two dove deep into the team’s foreign tour to the Bahamas, Buzz’s Bunch weekend and revisit his experience as a freshman last season.
You do a ton of work over at Reed Arena, but I have to say I am so impressed what you did at Davis Diamond earlier this month. How much fun was that softball game?
“It was a lot of fun. Going into it, I really wasn't a fan. I'm like, ‘I'm an indoor sports guy, it’s hot outside. I don't want to really be outside’ and like when I got up there and I hit the home run, I'm like, ‘Now we got to do this some more, this feels good.’ It was fun.” Coach Buzz, he always tries to get us to do things to make us more of one, try to get us closer together and that was a great example of it.”
How much has being involved with Buzz's Bunch impacted you?
“It's amazing. Just getting to know the different kids, their different stories, and you compare (that) to yourself, it makes you feel grateful for what you have. And you know, also look at them as equals, what they go through and what they're so accomplished in…like I said, it's an amazing feeling for them to just support us and for them to know that we're supporting them, too.”
When you say chemistry, there's so much of it, and with so many guys coming back Solo, you're not going to lose it, right?
“Yeah, it is something Coach Buzz preaches a lot. Outside of practice, Coach Buzz doesn't try to mix the players with the coaches. He wants the coaches to be as far away as possible and us to just genuinely have a love for each other, care for each other and it's going to show on the court.”
Because I think he's someone who is absolutely special on that coaching staff, what’s your relationship like with coach Devin Johnson?
“He's the reason I came here. The relationship I have because of him is amazing. Me and him being from the same place…he's from New Orleans, I'm from New Orleans. It’s like we come hand-in-hand, our chemistry is like, it's hard to explain, but we just mesh well together.”
When you look back to last year, you say, okay, we just stacked all those good days. That was that was a key reason for the success, wasn't it?
“Last year, the theme was ‘Four-Sight.’ We never wanted to look too far in the future and we never wanted to look on the past. We just wanted to be in the moment where our feet are, and that's what helped us win the game. You know, we didn't start the way we wanted to, but after Christmas break, something just clicked with us and we turned that switch and we had an amazing run through conference to the conference tournament. But the way things ended, we're coming next year to let everybody know that that wasn't a fluke. That's real.”
Your first conference game was in Gainesville playing Florida. You were the first one out of the locker room. Was that by design?
"Oh, no. I was just ready, I was happy. I knew what we needed to do and what needed to be done that entire conference schedule. So, you know, that's just me being who I am, me bringing that energy, me being that hype man, that guy to hype my team up, get them ready. That's me every game. I always want to be the first guy out of the locker room. Just be ready to go, at all times…that's always kind of been me. I always like the negativity out of the crowd, I’ve always fed off it. The more they chirp at me, the better I'm playing defensively, the more rebounds I'm grabbing, or dunks I’ll get. That's just how I play.”
You knew you always had the talent to play on this level and beyond, but you're still not sure you belong until you get in there and succeed. Was there a moment or was it a buildup?
“I'll say the Auburn game, here. That was the game I realized I'm going to help this team win a lot of games if I just be who I am. We were down in that game and just my energy, what I bring to the team just woke everyone up and came up with the win.”
You have a special relationship with the 12th Man. I think that's the reason Reed Arena’s just a fantastic, fantastic atmosphere now.
"Yeah, I want to give a big shout out to the Barstool page, they kind of helped us a little bit. The 12th Man, it's amazing. You know, it's me getting the crowd pumped up every time I'm out there. Me trying to keep the crowd involved with the game. It helped us win a lot of games, as you said, and now Reed Arena is one of the craziest places to play out of all college basketball...Buzz says they're a friend of ours. They help us win games and we just want to let them know how much we see them, how much we acknowledge them, how much we appreciate them coming out to those games and helping us win. We're going to give them something to enjoy off and on the court.”
After spending the week in the Bahamas, how was that experience?
“It was great, man. I’m kind of at a loss for words how the trip went but it was amazing. We saw a lot of new things, ate lot of good food, and the scenery was beautiful. We got a little dressed up for a dinner, everybody tries to put on their best outfits, be the freshest and try to show off a little bit. It was great, you know, getting out with the guys, just being around each other. Got to really know each other more, like we didn’t even really talk about basketball when we were out there. We were just trying to get to know each other more, build their chemistry so it could help us during the season.”
You guys did have games. You had three games; you sweep those games. Tell me how they went?
“First game, it was easy. We won by 60 points, light game. The second game against the Lithuanian team, they were a tough opponent, they were a little more physical. We had to change our gameplan but we still came out with a win. The last game I say was our toughest. We had to be the toughest team mentally and physically because we're in a foreign land. We don't know the refs. They don't know us, so we're going against the referees and the players. So, we had to stay strong mentally and not let that bother us.”
How do we build on what we did down in The Bahamas and make the experience pay off?
“Coach Buzz after the last game, he came to us and was just basically just saying, ‘How are we going to build off of this trip?’ When we go back home, do we have enough reps in the bank that we can be ready when we go to Ohio State and play that big game and hopefully we come out with the win…Nobody can make fun of our non-conference schedule and I feel great with the team that we have, the coaches we have, that we're going to do very well with this non-conference schedule. We're not going to take anybody lightly, but we're going to look at everyone the same and we're going to continue to do what we do. Just hunt.”
For Solomon Washington, the young man, to do community service at a local middle school in the Bahamas, would you have thought about that a couple of years ago?
“I would have never thought me doing it somewhere overseas. That was kind of surreal, you know, and just those kids looking at me like I am someone. So, it made me reevaluate a lot of things, made me think differently. Kids from a different country are looking up to us, wanting to be in our position, wanting to be where we're at. It made me think about a lot of things differently…It’s more than just basketball, for sure. You're a role model now. Even if you wanted to be or not, you're a role model. Kids are looking up to you and you have to watch a lot of things you do and say, because they're wanting to be you, in a sense. So you have to set the right example at all times.”
