The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Rick Barnes: Preseason media day transcript [Part 1 of 3]
10.13.2006 | Men's Basketball
The University of Texas men's basketball begins official team practice on Friday, Oct. 13. In anticipation of the start of practice, Texas Basketball held its annual preseason media availability with Coach Rick Barnes and the 2006-07 Longhorns on Wednesday, Oct. 11. The following is the first of a three-part transcript from the media's session with Coach Rick Barnes.
It's kind of a brave new world for you, coaching a ball club like this with so much inexperience. It's different than the past couple years, when you lose your entire team. But it is what it is. I think every year you go into it like it's your first year on the job. You take what you have, and your goal is to make it the best team you can make -- regardless of experience, or in this case, inexperience. You don't worry about that. I just know that this group has worked hard since they've been here. The guys coming back have done a good job helping the younger guys along the way. Everyone is excited about getting started.
If you're going to compete at the highest level, rebuilding every two or three years is a fact of life, isn't it? I think if you are going to recruit certain players, obviously you know you could lose them. I think we are recruiting guys that are going to be here for the long haul, but yet we're going to, like anybody else that plays at this level, try to recruit the very best players. You know that if you get certain players, there is a real possibility they could leave early. Then there are the unknowns. You take a look at P.J. Tucker who was a player that nobody thought about. He ended up leaving early and getting a guaranteed contract. He came. He worked hard. He took advantage of the situation. So you really don't know. A year ago this time, we had signed seven guys knowing that we were going to probably lose three guys - which we did. I think the best situation probably occurs when guys come in without a timetable and let things just take care of themselves.
You'd rather be at this level than not? Absolutely. If we don't recruit the best players in the country, then you're going to play against them. I don't fault any player for leaving early. If the opportunity is right for them and they have a chance to go and pursue their dream and it's the right decision, I have no problem at all with it.
Is it a different building process then? I think you knew with T.J. Ford, he could get to a Final Four maybe in two years. Now you have a situation with Kevin (Durant) where it could be one year. Do you have to build the team differently? No. Our job is to take this team and make this team the best it could be. I'm not worried about next year's team or last year's team. It's this team right now. The fact is we have seven new players. The oldest guy in the program is Connor Atchley, so we're going to concentrate on this team. Then we'll deal with what happens in May, June and July when it gets here.
What's your reasonable time, expectation wise, for a team this young to gel? I don't know that. I just know that we're going to play a schedule that is going to put us out there early. I don't know that there is anybody out there in the country that is going to play a more difficult non-league schedule than we will. We could have backed it off. We could have had a different philosophy as far as what kind of preseason we wanted to put these guys in, but we chose not to do that. When we recruited these guys, we told them what our goals are with this program and where we want to be. We built the program to a point where we are offered these opportunities and we're not going to back away from them, because again we think this group of guys will find a way to step up and try to meet these challenges.
Is this the best group of freshmen you've ever had? I don't know. I think we'll be able to tell that at the end of this year or maybe at the end of two years or three years. The one thing I can say about this group is that as a core group, they work extremely hard as freshmen. They have bought in to the work ethic part of it. They are talented. I think people are going to have fun watching these guys grow. I've watched them grow. It's amazing. You know, Dexter (Pittman) has lost a half a person since he's been here. Kevin Durant has put on weight. D.J. (Augustin) has lost some pretty good weight. It's been fun watching them. I think what's going to be neat now is to watch them develop as a team over the next couple months.
Do you envision seeing four freshmen out there at a time? I think there will be a time when that can very well happen. How much? I don't know yet. I will tell you I'm impressed with the improvement of Connor (Atchley) and A.J. (Abrams) and Craig (Winder) and J.D. (Lewis). Those guys have done what we asked them to do. I would imagine there will times this year where we could have four freshmen on the court, maybe five at a time.
Can you go through each of the freshmen and tell us a little bit about their game since we haven't seen them yet? D.J. (Augustin) is a point guard that thinks pass first. He shoots it only when has to. I think he has great pace to his game. I think he has gotten himself into the best shape he's ever been in. When he got here he was a little bit overweight, but he took care of that this summer. He's got great vision. Other players will tell you that they love playing with him because they know if they get where they are supposed to be, he's going to put the ball where it is supposed to be. He's competitive.
Justin Mason is a player that is very tough and hard-nosed. I will be surprised if he's not a guy that's on the floor in late-game situations because of his ability to defend and his toughness. He's very versatile. He can play any number of spots on the floor. I like the fact that he is a strong and confident player.
Harrison (Smith) has really improved since he's been here. He has a knack for being around the ball. It allows him to make some really simple plays because he has a real nose for being around the ball. He's working really hard to improve everything like all of them.
I've mentioned Dexter (Pittman), and he's probably the most improved guy. When you come in here and do what he's done to change his body, he really has put himself into a position that we're starting to think he might be able to help us this year. He still needs to drop a little bit more, but I think that's natural. It`s going to happen once we get going and do more. But Dexter's got great hands. He catches anything that is close to him. He's really more skilled than people might think.
Damion (James) is maybe as durable a freshman as we've ever had. He's a guy that just goes and is an excellent rebounder. He's really working hard to improve his perimeter game. He's a guy I think that will possibly improve more than any other player from once we start til the end. He's a worker and a defender. I love the way he rebounds and really love the way he plays. I love his enthusiasm towards the game.
Kevin Durant - There's not a spot on the floor he can't play and I think we'll play him all over the floor. I think because of the versatility of a guy like Damion (James) and Connor (Atchley) and Justin (Mason) and those guys - it's going to allow us to move Kevin to a lot of different places and do a lot of different things with him. There's not a place on the floor he can't score from. He's got to be a better defender, which he has worked hard on becoming. As I've said, all of them need to continue to work on that. Offensively, he's comfortable wherever you put him. He'll be a guy that will be very versatile for us in terms of the way we use him.
Matt Hill is one of those glue guys that plays really, really hard. He's a great communicator on the court. He's worked hard at doing the little things. Again, one of those guys that just finds the way to be effective. Once you see us get going, he'll be one of those guys that will figure it out quickly on his own. He does a good job around the basket of taking a hit and finishing plays. He understands his position in terms of rebounding. Defensively, he's a guy we're going to count on heavily inside to help us with our post defense.
