We were able to talk with Darius McNeill, Juhwan Harris-Dyson, Justice Sueing, and Grant Anticevich after today's BAM (Basic Assessment Measurement) testing. I agree with Trace that Grant has really improved athletically from a year ago. Juhwan is getting back to form while both Darius and Justice looked really good. Below is the transcription.
Question: How do you feel like you did?
McNeill: “I feel I did real good. It was my first time. They said I have NBA numbers, so that’s pretty good.”
Q: Did you achieve any benchmarks you might have set before? What was your mindset going into this?
McNeill: “I had my mindset to trying to have a fastest sprint time and the defense one, I tried to have my fastest one, so I think I achieved that.”
Q: Was this your first time doing something like this before?
McNeill: “Yes, sir. It was my first time.”
Q: What were your overall thoughts and impressions of it?
McNeill: “It’s a good experience for us to do it early and we get to do it again, so I get to see myself improving more, so that’s pretty good.”
Q: Just generally it seems like you guys are looser and a little more talkative this year as compared to last. Why do you think that is?
McNeill: “The culture's changed now, so we’re just trying to win. We’re going to win a lot of games this year, so everybody’s going to have a lot of energy and just ready to win.”
Q: Overall this summer, how has the conditioning aspect of things been going?
McNeill: “It’s been pretty good. People are losing weight, gaining weight, I’m getting stronger, people are getting faster and we all look pretty good.”
Q: Can you talk about how things are going to be different for you playing off the ball with Paris Austin at the point guard position?
McNeill: “He’s going to get me a lot of open shots. It’s going to be a good backcourt. We’re both fast; it’s going to be an exciting backcourt. That’s all I can say.”
Q: He said he’s figured out where you like the ball the most in transition, getting out on the wing, how has that been figuring that out?
McNeill: “It’s not been an issue. When we played open gym, we always clicked, so we know which one likes to get the ball and where we don’t, so it’s going to be pretty good.”
Q: Was he guarding you a lot in practice last year?
McNeill: “Yeah, all the time.”
Q: How was it going from that to playing next to him?
McNeill: “We still going to be matched up in practice, so we’re going to be going head to head, we act like we don’t like each other, but when we’re on the same team it’s pretty cool. It’s good it’s good.”
Q: So who gets bragging rights from today?
McNeill: “Me.
Sueing: “I had the highest vertical out of all of them, I take pride in that.”
McNeill: “He’s supposed to. In the sprint and the other one, I did the best. Nah, G [Grant Anticevich] had the fastest time. For that one. That last one. I still won the most. I won two.”
Q: What have you seen from Grant? Getting faster, better jump, etc.
Sueing: “Grant’s constantly in the gym all the time. He’s always trying to be better and it shows. Obviously out there and it’s carrying onto the court as well. We’re really looking forward to him seeing more minutes and his body is a lot stronger than it was last year. Looking forward to him contributing to the team.”
Q: Is it kind of weird for you guys having a year under your belt and having more of that veteran perspective in contrast to the incoming freshmen?
McNeill: “Yeah, like sometimes they’ll ask us questions like why do we gotta do this and that, we just say we all had to do it our freshmen season, so we’re just telling them what not to do ahead of time so they don’t mess up like did and get in trouble, so it’s been pretty funny, but yeah. It’s cool.”
Q: This testing provides benchmarks for you obviously, but what else does this testing do? What does this give you the opportunity to do?
Sueing: “I think it just gives us an overall view of where we need to improve on as far as speed, as far as cutting and jumping, it’s something that Coach Jackson especially loves, I know he’s going to push us hard in the gym every day.”
Q: Did any of you guys prepare for this?
Harris-Dyson: “I did. I did a three-quarters court sprint. I worked on that with my track coach. Just trying to get my times down. I could see it when I went out there from where I started at the beginning.”
Q: Technique wise you feel you’ve gotten better, too?
Harris-Dyson: “Yeah, a lot better.”
Q: Grant, coach Wyking was talking about how you have changed your body since last year. How has that process been for you?
Anticevich: “It’s been good. Just the focus was for me to get in the weight room, just become faster, stronger and all that sort of stuff, because that was my final focus for the summer and the offseason, so I think it’s going well so far.”
Q: How did it feel kinda proving it out there?
Anticevich: “Yeah, it felt good. Yeah it felt pretty good.”
Q: Juhwan, can you talk about how you’re feeling and where you are in terms of getting back to full strength?
Harris-Dyson: “I mean, I feel like I’m 100% back. I feel completely better. I’m starting to gain my weight back. I’m almost at my weight that I was when I started the season and I’m putting more weight on through the summer, so I’m just looking forward to building that muscle, being able to go on the court, and show what I can do.”
Q: The non-conference schedule got released a couple of weeks ago. How are you guys feeling about going to China?
McNeill: “I don’t want to fly.”
Harris-Dyson: “I’m not feeling that 16 hour flight.”
Sueing: “Different country, different experience. I think it’ll be fun.”
Q: Just from a technical aspect, what areas of your game are you all working on?
McNeill: “Finishing at the rim more and my decision making off pick and rolls.”
Harris-Dyson: “Just catch and shoot and shooting off the dribble.”
Sueing: “Same with me. I’m really trying to have my jump shot be a lot more consistent and I’m also just trying to use my athleticism a lot more.”
Anticevich: “Just working on my defensive rebounding and finishing against bigger players is probably the biggest things for me.”
Q: You guys have two new assistants in Coach Wilson and Coach Grace. How are you guys feeling with those guys right now?
Sueing: “We love them. They’re all for the program. They’re really good guys and the time that we spend with them I feel like they really believe in us and want to put the time in and effort into. So, we’re really looking forward to it.”
Question: How do you feel like you did?
McNeill: “I feel I did real good. It was my first time. They said I have NBA numbers, so that’s pretty good.”
Q: Did you achieve any benchmarks you might have set before? What was your mindset going into this?
McNeill: “I had my mindset to trying to have a fastest sprint time and the defense one, I tried to have my fastest one, so I think I achieved that.”
Q: Was this your first time doing something like this before?
McNeill: “Yes, sir. It was my first time.”
Q: What were your overall thoughts and impressions of it?
McNeill: “It’s a good experience for us to do it early and we get to do it again, so I get to see myself improving more, so that’s pretty good.”
Q: Just generally it seems like you guys are looser and a little more talkative this year as compared to last. Why do you think that is?
McNeill: “The culture's changed now, so we’re just trying to win. We’re going to win a lot of games this year, so everybody’s going to have a lot of energy and just ready to win.”
Q: Overall this summer, how has the conditioning aspect of things been going?
McNeill: “It’s been pretty good. People are losing weight, gaining weight, I’m getting stronger, people are getting faster and we all look pretty good.”
Q: Can you talk about how things are going to be different for you playing off the ball with Paris Austin at the point guard position?
McNeill: “He’s going to get me a lot of open shots. It’s going to be a good backcourt. We’re both fast; it’s going to be an exciting backcourt. That’s all I can say.”
Q: He said he’s figured out where you like the ball the most in transition, getting out on the wing, how has that been figuring that out?
McNeill: “It’s not been an issue. When we played open gym, we always clicked, so we know which one likes to get the ball and where we don’t, so it’s going to be pretty good.”
Q: Was he guarding you a lot in practice last year?
McNeill: “Yeah, all the time.”
Q: How was it going from that to playing next to him?
McNeill: “We still going to be matched up in practice, so we’re going to be going head to head, we act like we don’t like each other, but when we’re on the same team it’s pretty cool. It’s good it’s good.”
Q: So who gets bragging rights from today?
McNeill: “Me.
Sueing: “I had the highest vertical out of all of them, I take pride in that.”
McNeill: “He’s supposed to. In the sprint and the other one, I did the best. Nah, G [Grant Anticevich] had the fastest time. For that one. That last one. I still won the most. I won two.”
Q: What have you seen from Grant? Getting faster, better jump, etc.
Sueing: “Grant’s constantly in the gym all the time. He’s always trying to be better and it shows. Obviously out there and it’s carrying onto the court as well. We’re really looking forward to him seeing more minutes and his body is a lot stronger than it was last year. Looking forward to him contributing to the team.”
Q: Is it kind of weird for you guys having a year under your belt and having more of that veteran perspective in contrast to the incoming freshmen?
McNeill: “Yeah, like sometimes they’ll ask us questions like why do we gotta do this and that, we just say we all had to do it our freshmen season, so we’re just telling them what not to do ahead of time so they don’t mess up like did and get in trouble, so it’s been pretty funny, but yeah. It’s cool.”
Q: This testing provides benchmarks for you obviously, but what else does this testing do? What does this give you the opportunity to do?
Sueing: “I think it just gives us an overall view of where we need to improve on as far as speed, as far as cutting and jumping, it’s something that Coach Jackson especially loves, I know he’s going to push us hard in the gym every day.”
Q: Did any of you guys prepare for this?
Harris-Dyson: “I did. I did a three-quarters court sprint. I worked on that with my track coach. Just trying to get my times down. I could see it when I went out there from where I started at the beginning.”
Q: Technique wise you feel you’ve gotten better, too?
Harris-Dyson: “Yeah, a lot better.”
Q: Grant, coach Wyking was talking about how you have changed your body since last year. How has that process been for you?
Anticevich: “It’s been good. Just the focus was for me to get in the weight room, just become faster, stronger and all that sort of stuff, because that was my final focus for the summer and the offseason, so I think it’s going well so far.”
Q: How did it feel kinda proving it out there?
Anticevich: “Yeah, it felt good. Yeah it felt pretty good.”
Q: Juhwan, can you talk about how you’re feeling and where you are in terms of getting back to full strength?
Harris-Dyson: “I mean, I feel like I’m 100% back. I feel completely better. I’m starting to gain my weight back. I’m almost at my weight that I was when I started the season and I’m putting more weight on through the summer, so I’m just looking forward to building that muscle, being able to go on the court, and show what I can do.”
Q: The non-conference schedule got released a couple of weeks ago. How are you guys feeling about going to China?
McNeill: “I don’t want to fly.”
Harris-Dyson: “I’m not feeling that 16 hour flight.”
Sueing: “Different country, different experience. I think it’ll be fun.”
Q: Just from a technical aspect, what areas of your game are you all working on?
McNeill: “Finishing at the rim more and my decision making off pick and rolls.”
Harris-Dyson: “Just catch and shoot and shooting off the dribble.”
Sueing: “Same with me. I’m really trying to have my jump shot be a lot more consistent and I’m also just trying to use my athleticism a lot more.”
Anticevich: “Just working on my defensive rebounding and finishing against bigger players is probably the biggest things for me.”
Q: You guys have two new assistants in Coach Wilson and Coach Grace. How are you guys feeling with those guys right now?
Sueing: “We love them. They’re all for the program. They’re really good guys and the time that we spend with them I feel like they really believe in us and want to put the time in and effort into. So, we’re really looking forward to it.”
