June 26, 2017
“We’re excited about our group. First time since I’ve been at Auburn that we have a large portion of our team returning, about 70 percent. We’ve had to rebuild a roster every year except this year. I’m excited about the progress we’ve made. I’m excited about the lessons we’ve learned. I like the ways the guys are training. We know the league continues to get better and better, and I think we are a part of that.”
What makes this foreign trip to Italy important to your program?
“I think the whole concept of the foreign trip is one of the great rules the NCAA has. Since 1982 when Stanford University played in the Kirin World Games in Japan and was able to take that trip pretty much every four years, I’ve gone some place with my basketball team. The experiences those young men have are life changing. They get a passport to go to another part of the world to see somebody else’s history, and it has great impact on you. Some of these guys are going to play overseas. It does make that jump a little easier because they’ve lived there and they understand some of the similarities between our country and theirs. The educational component, from hospitals to museums, to concentration camps. In China when they were going from communism to capitalism, seeing some of the manufacturing and some of the changes. Just life changing experiences.
“From a basketball standpoint, the fact that we get 10 days to workout prior to our trip and then play these games, it gives us an opportunity to get together a little sooner. You get to teach a little sooner, get some things exposed, try some new things, learn more about this team and have this team come closer together with a shared experience. I’ve always, from 1982, had real tangible results on the basketball court the following year after a foreign trip. It just gives you an advantage.”
Do you feel like with the new pieces you have from freshmen or incoming transfers you’ll have a better inclination come fall practices of what to do with these guys?
“Certainly for the new players, just as much as returning players because new roles, new positions and to get a jump on allowing those guys to compete and establish those roles. I wouldn’t say it’s more of an advantage for the new kids than it is for everybody.”
How far Austin Wiley has come after only playing a half year?
“Austin was the most physical player at the U19 trials and the fact that his motor always runs were two things that jumped out at Coach (John) Calipari and that coaching staff. I think the adjustments Austin would have made from last year to this year, he’s much quicker, and he’s much more explosive. He’s always been fast, but now he’s utilizing that speed to his advantage. I think the other thing to keep in mind is when Austin was at the trials, he was going against other U19s. He is going to physically stand out. When Austin was 17 and he’s going against guys who were 20, 21, 22, you can tell it was there but he wasn’t going to dominate in the SEC against some of our older players like he was able to go dominate against players his own age. It’s a combination, it’s a double edged sword. He’s doing great, and this is a family tradition for the Orr’s and the Wiley’s. Vickie Orr was an Olympian. His mom was an All-American here at Auburn and now this is the second time Austin has had an opportunity to wear that USA jersey. He was on the U17s in Spain and now the U19s in Cairo. It means an awful lot to him. It is a great, great thing for Auburn basketball. We’re trying to establish more history and tradition of guys playing in the Olympics situation like Chuck Person did and Charles Barkley did.”
Thoughts on Mike Krzyzewski’s comments about the NBA switching to baseball rules and how it would affect college basketball.
“There’s no perfect system. I like the baseball model in the sense that I believe that you should be allowed to have that opportunity to go out of high school if you’re good enough. But I think right now as you look at the one-and-done, you’ve got three components. One, how’s it working in the NBA, two, how’s it working in the college game, and three, how’s it working for the student athlete? I think it’s working great for the NBA. I think they’re getting the best out of this because nobody knew Lonzo Ball from Chino Hills, Calif. They all know him from UCLA. Cal’s had 17 lotteries, you could take any one of them, nobody knew who De’Aaron Fox was from Texas or Bam Adebayo from South Carolina, until one year of Kentucky, and boom they’ve got a brand. The basketball training is way better than anyone wants to give it credit for, the social training is more than that. There is a legitimate educational component in two factors. These dudes are able to come back to the university they played to finish their degrees. Watching De’Aaron Fox and Bam Adebayo in tears after they didn’t get to the Final Four will tell you those kids are Wildcats for life. Tobias Harris would not trade his one year with me at Tennessee, he is a Vol for life, and the impact that had on him. Right now, the way to get to the NBA is through college. If we do anything to lose that, then we’re going to jeopardize this component. Last year, the graduation rate in men’s basketball for African-American student-athletes was the highest it’s ever been. It has increasingly gotten better and better and better for lots of reasons. The APR, the support that we receive. But college is still the way to get to the NBA, so seventh and eighth grade, parents are going into schools making sure their kids are taking Algebra 1, as a freshman and they’re making sure they’re getting qualified. In many ways we’ve helped improve the education process through this process. If you now allow the G-league to be the way to get to the NBA, which is being discussed as being part of the way to do away with one-and-done. That is going to maybe, really do damage to the culture we’ve created and that is you got to get your books to get your basketball. I’ve got some concern about that. I’m more concerned about the G-league and their ability to take kids and get them to the NBA, more than I am about the baseball rule. I think the baseball rule is good, three years, terrific. But to go right to the G-league is a real concern to me, because in baseball they give those kids million dollar contracts so if they don’t make it they’re okay to come back and pay for an education. In the G-league they give them $75,000 to $100,000. That isn’t going to last very long, we’re going to lose that education component. I don’t think the one-and-dones are as broke as people think they are.”