Oct. 29, 2009
QUOTES FROM PATRIOT LEAGUE MEDIA DAY
• ESPNZone • Baltimore, Md.
• Thursday, October 29, 2009
NAVY HEAD COACH Billy Lange INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
I am honored to be the coach of the Navy basketball team and honored to be part of this conference, which has great coaches and student-athletes at every school in the league. I get to coach some of the best guys that anyone gets to be around. It's not even about basketball. It's about what they are sacrificing on a day-to-day basis to be Midshipmen at the Academy. It's about what they are getting ready to do later in life.
Going on our sixth season as we get ready to tip it off, I feel truly blessed about two things. One is our continuity of my coaching staff. We have a few guys going on their sixth year with me and a couple going on their fourth and fifth years. That really helps with relationships with the players on the court. It helps get the message across that consistency is hard to do, and when you have a great staff like we have and have been together for awhile, it makes it that much easier. The other part of it is that we all get to coach great kids every day, but the leadership that I have watched evolve every day continues to impress me. Obviously, they are at a service academy and that is what it is about, but to watch them under all the circumstances they have as Midshipmen and players, has been just awesome.
I told our team captain Chris Harris last week that now that we are in our sixth year, I can't remember a player playing at the level that Chris has been playing at since we got together at reform in early August. He is truly playing at a very, very high level. It all comes back to the evolvement of him as a leader. That is how we replace guys like Kaleo Kina and Greg Sprink every year. When it comes time for people to have their opportunity, they step up and are ready to compete and I expect the same this year.
We are excited about our season as I am sure that everyone is at this time. With all that being said, you play 15 games to find out where you are, then you play 14 league games that are as competitive as any conference in the country. I think sometimes it gets lost with media members and ourselves as coaches, is that we have great student-athletes and great coaches. The quality of basketball that is played night in and night out in terms of competitiveness of games and the difference between winning and losing in our league comes down to very, very few possessions. There is not much difference in this league between 10-4 and 8-6 and 4-10 in this league. It literally comes down to very few possessions. I think that hopefully the recognition of what American has done the last couple of years and Bucknell and Holy Cross before that, is that this league can play pretty good basketball. We have some really good coaches and student-athletes, and it is really, really good basketball. We are excited to be at it again and we know we have our work cut out for us, but with guys like Chris (Harris) leading us, we feel we are in good shape.
NAVY HEAD COACH Billy Lange WITH BILL WAGNER OF THE ANNAPOLIS CAPITAL
Q: Are you surprised you are picked seventh in the preseason poll?
Lange: You know back in the day when you got all the preseason magazines, if you could realize back then how little preseason polls mean, you wish you could get your money back from what you spent on those magazines. I just want our guys to focus on where we are at at the end of the year. Is it a slight? I don't know. If they don't feel like our program, talent or coaching is worthy of being picked higher, then that is their philosophy. I am just going to focus on what we have to do to get better.
Q: Don't you feel like you have gotten to the point where you feel like you might have success no matter what you lose from the year before and that you have a good program now?
Lange: The one area that it does not reflect is that we know what we are doing 365 days a year. The culture that we have built and the commitment that the players and coaches have made to Navy basketball can't be measured. Being picked in seventh does not reflect where our program is now, because we know what we have done. If our guys get a certain sense of pride out of knowing how hard we have worked and that we shouldn't be picked seventh, so be it. But it is not something I am going to use to motivate our team.
Q: Are you a little more disappointed Harris did not get preseason All-League?
Lange: That's a little peculiar.
Q: I think he is one of the better players in the league.
Lange: I think that he is playing pretty well right now. I think people look at Chris and that people are surprised by what he has done the last couple of years. I think people think its a stretch to put him as an all-conference player. I am confident that his play will speak for himself and our play as a team will speak for itself.
Q: You lose some key players. Who is stepping up?
Lange: I would say that one, everyone needs to step up. Secondly, I am looking at guys with experience to take their games to another level. Mark Veazey, Romeo Garcia and Jordan Sugars, who played a little as a freshman, but needs to get ready to play earlier and more often, are going to be called on more. Juniors like Greg Brown and Jeremy Wilson need to step up. T.J. Topercer is a guy that can really help us if his head is consistent. The starting spots are wide open. I would say Chris Harris and O.J. Avworo are probably the only locks as starters. Everyone else is battling for minutes. It's a healthy competition, but I think looking at this team, we could play nine or 10. In terms of starting, we still need more from people.
Q: Any freshmen?
Lange: It's the same thing we discussed last year. Probably no one will give us statistically big production, just because its tough to come in here as freshmen and break into the lineup. That wasn't always the case with us, but I think this year, its going to be like that. Alex Newsome is capable of giving us minutes and doing some good things. Montez Blair from a shooting standpoint, is the best we have had as a freshman coming in. The kid is a phenomenal shooter and a great athlete. They are still just trying to figure it all out as freshmen and become more consistent.
Q: What concerns you? Kaleo led the team in rebounding last year and he is gone. Does that concern you some?
Lange: I actually think that is one of our strengths this year. You know, as a coach, everything concerns me. What I like so far is our teams' willingness to play together. I think as the season goes on, we want our transition game to be consistent for 40 minutes. Our ability to grab the defensive rebound and get the defensive stop and run the floor for 40 minutes is what I want to see us do. We have done it for 28-30 minutes, but I want to see us do it for 40. That is, I would say, our biggest concern coming into the year.
NAVY TEAM CAPTAIN Chris Harris WITH PETE MEDHURST
Q: Already some pressure from Coach Lange talking about what a great leader that you have been so far, and having been around for three years, do you feel a little pressure as the guy that will lead this team now?
Harris: Coach Lange and I have a great relationship, so I know what he expects out of me. I have set high expectations for myself, so there is no added pressure. These guys know exactly who I am and what this team is about and what we as a team need to do to be successful.
Q: Talk about this league and how night in and night out about how it is so competitive?
Harris: That is what makes this league so fun and its great to play in this league. Just like all the coaches said, it is so competitive and you have to come out and play every night.
Q: Every kid wants to play at the highest level. Entering your senior year at the D-I level, how has this process been?
Harris: I didn't know how it would turn out. I hoped it would be great coming in, but it has definitely exceeded my expectations. I never could have imagined being put in this situation. Getting an education from a great institution, getting a guaranteed job, serving my country and playing basketball has been a real blessing. I could have never imagined it being this good.
Q: Did you know you would become the student-athlete you have become because to be where you are now, you have to overcome a lot?
Harris: Coach Lange talks about his SAT scores, but you look at mine, they compare to very few people at this school. I am not done yet, so just hoping to make it through. It's a higher level than I expected to be at.
Q: Who are some of the guys you have been impressed with so far?
Harris: I have been really impressed with Jordan Sugars. He has stepped it up tremendously, and our communication on the floor is really strong. We can just read each other very well. I have been impressed with O.J. Avworo. His leadership and focus is just amazing. He is a great leader. Romeo Garcia being back has helped us a lot. Mark Veazey has really stepped up and gotten much better. Jeremy Wilson has improved significantly, and that is a tribute to Mark. They push each other every day and really want to make each other better.
Q: With O.J. being in his second year of game competititon, how much easier will it be for him this year?
Harris: It's going to be easier because he feels more comfortable. We have a great relationship on and off the court and that is something we have tried to really build in the offseason. It's something the whole team tried to build on and work on in the offseason. If you have a great relationship off the court, it really helps it on the court.
Q: How much would it mean to be a senior captain to get this team over the hump?
Harris: It would mean the world to me. That is what we work for. We have three simple goals. One is to be the best team we can be at the end of the year. Two is to win the Patriot League Championship. And three is to win the National Championship. It's of the utmost importance to us. I feel like we can do it and get over that hump. It will be a collective team effort to get there and we will succeed as a team.
# GO NAVY #
