Sam Singer and Stephen Domingo were first up to be interviewed on Wednesday. Here is Part 1 of what they said. Part 2 to follow.
Sam Singer on the emphasis of practice: “The emphasis of practice has definitely been on defense. Coach is putting a premium on being able to defend. One-on-one defense, not needing help, but definitely the focus of the past four practices has been on the defensive side of the ball.”
Sam Singer on where the team is at: “I think he [Coach Martin] is always going to want us to improve, but I think the ten practices before Australia really helped us and so now at this point in the season, I think we are ahead of where we were last year, so I think he’s pretty pleased, but we also have a long ways to go to being as good of a defensive team as we can be.”
Stephen Domingo on being able to play this season after redshirting last season: “I guess it doesn’t really change the intensity with which I practice and the team practices, but it’s just nice to know that all the work I’m going to do, it’s gonna pay off and that it’s going towards something really big on the court. I loved helping my guys last year and I think they helped me get a lot better and I did with them also, but just being eligible now, it’s a nice feeling. I like to move forward with my guys.”
Stephen Domingo on what brought him to Cal: “Home is always going to be home and so the opportunity to come to Cal was nice because it was closer to home, but it was really Coach Martin that brought me back. That was the guy I committed to and I’m glad I made that decision.”
Stephen Domingo on Cal recruiting him out of high school: “I was close with Coach Montgomery and the staff, I just decided that Cal wasn’t the place for me out of high school, but I was very familiar with Berkeley so I didn’t really need to be sold on the university or the facilities and all that stuff. It was pretty much Coach Martin [that got me to come to Cal]. I had taken probably 10-15 plus visits here out of high school. I’m from San Francisco, so I used to come over here a lot. I’d go to games, elite camps, all that.”
Stephen Domingo on the freshman and how everybody is meshing: “Well, it’s great. I mean, I think Sam would say also, these are some of the most mature freshmen I’ve ever met. They’re just like us, they live with us, and so we live right next door to them, so we see them all the time and they’re just super mature, they know how to carry conversations past basketball, they know how to do all that type of stuff, so I think it’s a great group of guys that Coach Martin brought in. I’m excited to see what we can do on and off the court with them this year.”
Stephen Domingo on “Real Talk” sessions: “On the weekends, we have this thing called “Real Talk”, where we talk about issues outside of basketball and it brings the team closer. Jaylen, Ivan, and Roman, they’re wise beyond their years so they can talk about any issue, any controversial issue, I don’t want to say any, but we just talk about things it’s nice to just know that they’re well rounded young men. It’s a team-building thing that we do. Talk and sort of building team camaraderie. You gotta have dialogue to be a good team. Coach Marco Harris brought that in with him from Tennessee, I think they did it at Tennessee, but they brought it here now. We meet in the locker room. Coach Marco comes. We get 100 percent participation from the team. It’s usually once a week. There’s no start time that’s set, but however long the discussion takes it how long it goes. We’ve been doing it since last year.
Sam Singer on “Real Talk” sessions: “I’ve gained a lot from them. I would say that the freshman class is more mature than my class coming in as you can see we were a bunch of goof balls, they’re definitely more mature than us, but you know this is stuff to be able to come together as a group and not worry about basketball and talk about life issues, issues that we’re gonna face in college, things that we come across in college, things that we’re gonna come across when we graduate and get out in the real world, and it’s good to hear each other’s opinions on certain issues, you know? There’s going to be arguments about certain things, we’re not going to see eye to eye, but for us to be able to communicate through those disagreements and come to a solid conclusion is something that’ll help on the court as well, so they’ve been very productive. Coach Marco [Harris] will leave it to us. He’ll add his two cents, but it’s mostly for us to talk. Coach [Marco] Harris decides the topics. We talk about a wide variety of things. It’s just really interesting.”
Sam Singer on the emphasis of practice: “The emphasis of practice has definitely been on defense. Coach is putting a premium on being able to defend. One-on-one defense, not needing help, but definitely the focus of the past four practices has been on the defensive side of the ball.”
Sam Singer on where the team is at: “I think he [Coach Martin] is always going to want us to improve, but I think the ten practices before Australia really helped us and so now at this point in the season, I think we are ahead of where we were last year, so I think he’s pretty pleased, but we also have a long ways to go to being as good of a defensive team as we can be.”
Stephen Domingo on being able to play this season after redshirting last season: “I guess it doesn’t really change the intensity with which I practice and the team practices, but it’s just nice to know that all the work I’m going to do, it’s gonna pay off and that it’s going towards something really big on the court. I loved helping my guys last year and I think they helped me get a lot better and I did with them also, but just being eligible now, it’s a nice feeling. I like to move forward with my guys.”
Stephen Domingo on what brought him to Cal: “Home is always going to be home and so the opportunity to come to Cal was nice because it was closer to home, but it was really Coach Martin that brought me back. That was the guy I committed to and I’m glad I made that decision.”
Stephen Domingo on Cal recruiting him out of high school: “I was close with Coach Montgomery and the staff, I just decided that Cal wasn’t the place for me out of high school, but I was very familiar with Berkeley so I didn’t really need to be sold on the university or the facilities and all that stuff. It was pretty much Coach Martin [that got me to come to Cal]. I had taken probably 10-15 plus visits here out of high school. I’m from San Francisco, so I used to come over here a lot. I’d go to games, elite camps, all that.”
Stephen Domingo on the freshman and how everybody is meshing: “Well, it’s great. I mean, I think Sam would say also, these are some of the most mature freshmen I’ve ever met. They’re just like us, they live with us, and so we live right next door to them, so we see them all the time and they’re just super mature, they know how to carry conversations past basketball, they know how to do all that type of stuff, so I think it’s a great group of guys that Coach Martin brought in. I’m excited to see what we can do on and off the court with them this year.”
Stephen Domingo on “Real Talk” sessions: “On the weekends, we have this thing called “Real Talk”, where we talk about issues outside of basketball and it brings the team closer. Jaylen, Ivan, and Roman, they’re wise beyond their years so they can talk about any issue, any controversial issue, I don’t want to say any, but we just talk about things it’s nice to just know that they’re well rounded young men. It’s a team-building thing that we do. Talk and sort of building team camaraderie. You gotta have dialogue to be a good team. Coach Marco Harris brought that in with him from Tennessee, I think they did it at Tennessee, but they brought it here now. We meet in the locker room. Coach Marco comes. We get 100 percent participation from the team. It’s usually once a week. There’s no start time that’s set, but however long the discussion takes it how long it goes. We’ve been doing it since last year.
Sam Singer on “Real Talk” sessions: “I’ve gained a lot from them. I would say that the freshman class is more mature than my class coming in as you can see we were a bunch of goof balls, they’re definitely more mature than us, but you know this is stuff to be able to come together as a group and not worry about basketball and talk about life issues, issues that we’re gonna face in college, things that we come across in college, things that we’re gonna come across when we graduate and get out in the real world, and it’s good to hear each other’s opinions on certain issues, you know? There’s going to be arguments about certain things, we’re not going to see eye to eye, but for us to be able to communicate through those disagreements and come to a solid conclusion is something that’ll help on the court as well, so they’ve been very productive. Coach Marco [Harris] will leave it to us. He’ll add his two cents, but it’s mostly for us to talk. Coach [Marco] Harris decides the topics. We talk about a wide variety of things. It’s just really interesting.”
