Quotes From Basketball Media Day
October 20, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Oct. 20, 2008
ECU Head Coach Mack McCarthy
"We're really excited about the second year of our program going forward. We've got a long ways to go, but we feel like we're on the right track. The support personnel, from sports medicine to the academic side of things, give us a lot of things in place that are solid. Because of that, we can now make some progress on the floor. We had a taste of success last year with some big wins. We finished strong with three wins in our last four regular season games. We didn't finish the tournament like we wanted to but we feel like we did make some positive steps. Now we'll try to grow on that."
"We have good senior leadership in Sam Hinnant and James Legan, two of the best shooters in Conference USA. Sophomores Brock Young, Jamar Abrams and Chad Wynn all played quite a bit as freshmen. Daquan Joyner and Jontae Sherrod didn't play quite as much but they have been through a year of college and that gives us a little better foundation than we probably would have had otherwise."
"We're more talented than we were, but we're awfully inexperienced. We have some continuity with the staff, returning John Moseley, Mike Perry, Larry Epperly and Darryl LaBarrie. I'm really, really pleased that these guys are back. For the first time since I've been here, it feels like we're starting to have a little bit of continuity in the program."
On The Schedule
"The schedule is really, really difficult. We have some old Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) ties with George Mason, UNC Wilmington and VCU. We also have Winthrop, a perennial power in the Big South, as well as three ACC teams, Clemson and N.C. State on the road and Wake Forest here at home on Dec. 22. Regional games with UNC Greensboro and Coastal Carolina are also on the slate. Needless to say, we've got a big challenge ahead of us. Conference USA as a whole is a lot better We've got to grow up and grow up quickly."
On Senior Leadership
"The big thing is that they know how to do everything. Last year we literally had guys who hadn't been to a road game. They didn't know when we were dressing, how we were going to the game or what the warm-ups consisted of, much less what they were going to face in the game. I think Legan and Hinnant do a good job of communicating. They're taking care of their own business and they're more leaders by example than vocal leaders. But now they're even trying to step up from a verbal standpoint and be out there telling the guys, `This is what we're going to do, this is how we're going to do it, and this is what your behavior should be.
"I'm really pleased with those two guys. That's going to be critical. If we're going to be good this year, they don't necessarily have to have great years statistically, but they've got to have great years as leaders of this basketball team."
On Brock Young's Progress
"Brock's career, so far, has gone exactly like we wanted it to go for him. On the floor he got to play between 15-20 minutes each game. When he played well, he played more. When he didn't play well, he didn't have the pressure to play well. It was an ideal year for Brock Young last year. Because of that, he's ready to take this team over. He has worked hard in the off season. He's not a spectacular athlete; he'll be the first one to tell you that. He doesn't jump up and dunk it. He's not unbelievably fast, he's pretty quick. But he's got great skills, he's been raised as a point guard, he's been taught as a point guard, he has been a point guard all his life, he knows how to play that position, mentally and physically, and he's ready to lead this basketball team from that position. He has gotten a whole lot stronger, that's going to help him. He shoots the ball deeper with more consistency. I'm really pleased with his leadership at that spot."
On This Difference Between This Year's Team and Last Year's
"I think the biggest difference, and I think the team will agree with me, is chemistry. These guys really seem to care about each other. You don't see one without another one or two or even three more. They go together wherever they go. I think they're a whole lot more together. That should pay dividends.
"When we start finding out who is playing more minutes, who is starting and who is getting the most shots, that will test that chemistry a little bit. But so far, I think they understand that. These guys really get along and they all understand the purpose for which they came here, to get a degree, to be good citizens and to help this basketball program move to the level we think East Carolina University and its fans deserve."
On The Coaching Staff
"This staff is really experienced. Darryl LaBarrie is kind of the young guy of the group, but he has been in a basketball coaching family for his whole life. He started his collegiate playing career at Florida A&M and then he played at Georgia Tech for Bobby Cremins and Paul Hewitt, two outstanding coaches. He was also at Campbell and now he has been here, for a little bit longer than the other guys.
"Coach Epperly has been a coach for over 20 years in the college ranks and has been at a lot of different schools around the country.
"Coach Perry has worked with three Hall of Fame guys in Dave Robbins, Dick Tarrant and Lefty Driesell. He was an outstanding coach in his own right at a Division I school in Georgia State.
"I couldn't be more pleased that they have all chosen to come back. They all had chances to do other things, but they've all bought in to what we're trying to do and the progress that we've made. They see a vision for the future and I appreciate very much that they have chosen to stay at East Carolina. Everybody at East Carolina University should be appreciative, too, because they're very, very talented."
On Style of Play
"It depends on what these guys do. We have used the NASCAR analogy before, where we set the car in neutral to start and we tweak it as the race goes on. We want to play man-to-man and be a good man-to-man team, but I don't know if we will or not. We can play zone and have been a good zone team in the past. We pressed a lot last year. Right now, the numbers don't indicate that we should be out there pressing and extending too much. But again, we'd like to be a pressing team.
"Surely we're going to play up-tempo on offense. We're going to run and we need to shoot the basketball when it's two-on-two, three-on-three, four-on-four or four-on-three. We play at a much higher percentage offensively, at a much more efficient rate, when we do that. We're not as good at five-on-five. Hopefully we will get better at five-on-five but we clearly want to push the ball on offense. We raised our scoring average almost 14 points a game last year and we'd like to keep that going in that direction."
On The Development of Chad Wynn
"Chad has been in the program for three year because he redshirted his freshman year, played some last year, but not quite as much as we anticipated. I think probably more than anyone else he has really benefited from the strength and conditioning program with Danny Wheel, Mike Golden and their staff. I think he is going to benefit a great deal from that. He's much better athletically, his footwork is a little bit better and his dexterity is a little bit better. I think you'll see him take that from the weight room and conditioning area to the court. We clearly notice that in the drills and we haven't done a lot of scrimmaging yet, but it looks like the conditioning is paying big dividends for him. I think he's poised to have a really nice season."
On The Newcomers
"The three freshmen are all outstanding in their own way. Chris Kupets was a big scorer in high school and basically went to prep school to try and learn the point guard position. He still brings both of those things. He got experience at Patterson School, one of the best prep schools in the country, playing against great players every single day. He also brings that scoring experience. It has been well documented about his family and their athletic history. He's got a chance, plays hard, gives really good effort all the time and is acclimating to the college game.
"Darrius played for one of the best high school and AAU programs in the state of Georgia. He won two out of three state championships. He has gone from 6-foot-8 about 275 pounds at times last year to about 250 pounds now. He's going to get bigger and stronger. He has great feet and hands. He's adjusting to the level of intensity that it takes, like all freshmen do. But he's going to have significant numbers and playing time this year.
"Chris Turner was a big-time scorer at a great prep school and played a national schedule. He's a little different form our other guys who can score in that he can in a variety of ways. He can beat you down the floor, take you off the dribble, finish at the rim as well as shoot the basketball. The biggest challenge for him will be to get stronger. The second big challenge will be to do what he does consistently well. You're going to see flashes of brilliance, but the more we can get him to be consistent, the more he'll contribute right away.
"The thing they've all got to do is learn how to be consistent. That's a mental as well as physical process. All three have a chance to play on this year's team, partly because of the lack of depth with only 10 scholarship players and partly because they're pretty darn talented."
Sophomore Brock Young
"I am expecting very good things this season. I think we will be an up-tempo style team that gives our opponents a lot of trouble. Even though I wasn't that experienced last season, I was able to play enough to at least learn some things. With the players we have this year, I think we have the talent to take our game to the next level."
Freshman Chris Turner
"I really feel that my game is at the level to which I can come in off the bench and contribute to this team right away. We are going to play a motion offense this season with a lot of guards so that really fits in with my style."
"We are going to be a lot better than in previous years. Everyone is learning how each other plays out there on the court and we are really bonding together as a team."
