Stephen Domingo shares one example of a topic discussed in “Real Talk” sessions: “We talk about what it means to be a man. That’s just one that came to my mind. Everyone has a different definition of what it means to be a man, but we’re all growing up, we think we’re young men, we’re trying to become good men when we get out of here and everyone has a different opinion on that. None that are like outrageous or anything, but we all just try to build off that and see what other guys see what that takes to be a man. I think that helps us build as men and being able to have dialogue with other guys. You learn stuff about guys, you learn what their morals are and if you have a team that is full of the same morals, then you know that the guy next to you believes in the same things as you, it’s easy to go to war with them everyday. So, that makes it super easy.”
Sam Singer on biggest improvements since Australia: “ I think the biggest thing is defensively. Being able to rely on the guy next to you to help and know where to be at the right time and stuff. I think the communicating aspect has improved also and also offensively, I think we’re sharing the ball more, moving the ball more, which helped in Australia because we faced some really good teams and they tested us, and so now I think it’s helped a lot since then. Offensively and defensively.”
Stephen Domingo on what he sees his role being this season: “I see myself helping the team in whichever way Coach Martin wants me to help. He knows he can trust me on defense, that’s what I’ve tried to pride myself on, but obviously if you have defense, shot-making, that’s what I pride myself on, but I just pride myself on doing whatever the team needs me to do. I don’t know what type of lineups we’re going to play this year. Play big, play small, doesn’t matter, I just wanna be able to be that guy that Coach Martin can always put on the court and trust, so that’s what my goal is.”
Stephen Domingo on how much it meant to him for Cal to be interested in him: “It was great that Coach believed in me, I believed in myself and he knew that and a lot of people believed in me and there was no doubt about what I could still do on the court, and so I just had to come here and prove that and I have so far and I’m excited to keep doing that and I’m excited to help the team this year complete our goals that we want to complete.”
Sam Singer on handling big expectations for the team: “I don’t think we read too much into stuff on the outside. I think we obviously have very high expectations for ourselves. Individually, we are all very motivated. So we set high expectations for ourselves and also as a team. We know what we want to accomplish and we know how good we can be, and so it’s up to us to determine how we do with all the potential that we have. I think we’ve done a really great job of blocking out all the outside noise and all the hype around the program and just kind of focusing on ourselves and being the best team that we can be each and every day.”
Sam Singer on Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb: “Jaylen and Ivan specifically do a great job of not buying into their hype. They put their head down and they work extremely hard. They’re very humble. They’re some of the most humble athletes I’ve ever been around, especially for the popularity that they had coming out of high school. I think they’ve done a great job of handling it [the pressure] and putting it to the side and just kind of focusing on the team and not themselves.”
Sam Singer on the goals of the team: “Obviously, we want to win the conference, we want to win a national championship, we want to win championships, but I think right now we need to be focusing on one day at a time. Coach Martin really swears by it and means we really gotta keep working one day at a time and at some point we’ll get to where we want to be. We don’t want to look too far ahead, but obviously we want to win championships.”
Stephen Domingo on what the team’s biggest strength is and what they’ll do to beat people: “I think we can wear every team down. Some teams, they can go strong with their starting five, but when everyone gets tired and fatigued, which is going to set in with every team, we’re going to bring in more guys and just keep putting it on you. I think that’s what Coach Martin is trying to instill in us, that relentless approach to defense, offense. If you have a person you can attack, attack him. If the man picks up his dribble, attack him. That’s all we gotta do, we gotta stay in attack mode. Then we have the bodies and the talent to stay in attack mode for the full 40 minutes. I think that’s what our biggest strength is this year.”
Sam Singer on the national attention: “It’s something we take pride in. National attention is great. We obviously love that we get national attention, but like I said earlier, we’re not paying too much attention to it. We’re trying to block that out and just worry about ourselves, but I feel like any attention is good for us. Especially with the attention we’ve been getting with all the high expectations.”
Sam Singer on his role with the team: “I think it’s like Stephen’s. Helping the team as best I can. Handling the ball obviously, playing point guard, but I think it’s defensively knowing where to be, being somebody that Coach can trust. Offensively, it’s setting my teammates up, putting them in situations to be successful, because we have a whole bunch of guys who can do a whole bunch of things, so I think part of my job is taking the pressure off them and making sure that I put them in the right spots and put them in positions to do what they do.”
Stephen Domingo on how impressed he is with Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown on the court: “I think I’m as impressed with them as I am with a whole bunch of other guys on my team. I’m impressed with stuff Tyrone, Jordan, Jabari, and Sam do everyday. Just as I am with Jaylen and Ivan and Roman, as a matter of fact. All of them. I’m impressed with everything that my guys do. We go out there, we compete really hard. We all push each other to make plays that are very impressive, so yes I’m impressed with Jaylen and Ivan, but just as much as I am with my other guys. Jaylen’s a physical specimen, Ivan has touch out of this world, so they do stuff that you guys know that they can do, but I think we all do stuff that you guys know that we can do.”
Sam Singer on biggest improvements since Australia: “ I think the biggest thing is defensively. Being able to rely on the guy next to you to help and know where to be at the right time and stuff. I think the communicating aspect has improved also and also offensively, I think we’re sharing the ball more, moving the ball more, which helped in Australia because we faced some really good teams and they tested us, and so now I think it’s helped a lot since then. Offensively and defensively.”
Stephen Domingo on what he sees his role being this season: “I see myself helping the team in whichever way Coach Martin wants me to help. He knows he can trust me on defense, that’s what I’ve tried to pride myself on, but obviously if you have defense, shot-making, that’s what I pride myself on, but I just pride myself on doing whatever the team needs me to do. I don’t know what type of lineups we’re going to play this year. Play big, play small, doesn’t matter, I just wanna be able to be that guy that Coach Martin can always put on the court and trust, so that’s what my goal is.”
Stephen Domingo on how much it meant to him for Cal to be interested in him: “It was great that Coach believed in me, I believed in myself and he knew that and a lot of people believed in me and there was no doubt about what I could still do on the court, and so I just had to come here and prove that and I have so far and I’m excited to keep doing that and I’m excited to help the team this year complete our goals that we want to complete.”
Sam Singer on handling big expectations for the team: “I don’t think we read too much into stuff on the outside. I think we obviously have very high expectations for ourselves. Individually, we are all very motivated. So we set high expectations for ourselves and also as a team. We know what we want to accomplish and we know how good we can be, and so it’s up to us to determine how we do with all the potential that we have. I think we’ve done a really great job of blocking out all the outside noise and all the hype around the program and just kind of focusing on ourselves and being the best team that we can be each and every day.”
Sam Singer on Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb: “Jaylen and Ivan specifically do a great job of not buying into their hype. They put their head down and they work extremely hard. They’re very humble. They’re some of the most humble athletes I’ve ever been around, especially for the popularity that they had coming out of high school. I think they’ve done a great job of handling it [the pressure] and putting it to the side and just kind of focusing on the team and not themselves.”
Sam Singer on the goals of the team: “Obviously, we want to win the conference, we want to win a national championship, we want to win championships, but I think right now we need to be focusing on one day at a time. Coach Martin really swears by it and means we really gotta keep working one day at a time and at some point we’ll get to where we want to be. We don’t want to look too far ahead, but obviously we want to win championships.”
Stephen Domingo on what the team’s biggest strength is and what they’ll do to beat people: “I think we can wear every team down. Some teams, they can go strong with their starting five, but when everyone gets tired and fatigued, which is going to set in with every team, we’re going to bring in more guys and just keep putting it on you. I think that’s what Coach Martin is trying to instill in us, that relentless approach to defense, offense. If you have a person you can attack, attack him. If the man picks up his dribble, attack him. That’s all we gotta do, we gotta stay in attack mode. Then we have the bodies and the talent to stay in attack mode for the full 40 minutes. I think that’s what our biggest strength is this year.”
Sam Singer on the national attention: “It’s something we take pride in. National attention is great. We obviously love that we get national attention, but like I said earlier, we’re not paying too much attention to it. We’re trying to block that out and just worry about ourselves, but I feel like any attention is good for us. Especially with the attention we’ve been getting with all the high expectations.”
Sam Singer on his role with the team: “I think it’s like Stephen’s. Helping the team as best I can. Handling the ball obviously, playing point guard, but I think it’s defensively knowing where to be, being somebody that Coach can trust. Offensively, it’s setting my teammates up, putting them in situations to be successful, because we have a whole bunch of guys who can do a whole bunch of things, so I think part of my job is taking the pressure off them and making sure that I put them in the right spots and put them in positions to do what they do.”
Stephen Domingo on how impressed he is with Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown on the court: “I think I’m as impressed with them as I am with a whole bunch of other guys on my team. I’m impressed with stuff Tyrone, Jordan, Jabari, and Sam do everyday. Just as I am with Jaylen and Ivan and Roman, as a matter of fact. All of them. I’m impressed with everything that my guys do. We go out there, we compete really hard. We all push each other to make plays that are very impressive, so yes I’m impressed with Jaylen and Ivan, but just as much as I am with my other guys. Jaylen’s a physical specimen, Ivan has touch out of this world, so they do stuff that you guys know that they can do, but I think we all do stuff that you guys know that we can do.”
