ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 12, 2022

Earl Grant

Makai Ashton-Langford

Quinten Post

Boston College Eagles

Press Conference

Q. Coach, your first trip through the league last year but not really your first trip through the league. How did it feel to be the head guy and moving around in a conference that you're familiar with?

EARL GRANT: Yeah, it felt great. I mean, I had some players that I enjoyed coaching. I was at a place that's got a rich tradition in basketball. It felt great waking up every day trying to rebuild a program that's very proud with great history.

But what made it good is I enjoyed my guys. I had fun coaching my guys. We had a great group. They connected. That probably was the best part about it, just the players I was able to coach, the type of people I had.

Q. Coach Grant, last year you finished 13-20, obviously not the record you want, but there was a lot of close games. Looking ahead to this season, how can you make those close losses turn into close wins?

EARL GRANT: Well, some of it is we've got more experience. Last year I hadn't coached them guys before. They hadn't played for them. So we were trying to get a good understanding of our system and what we were trying to do.

But now I've got guys back that play for me. I know what their strengths are. I know what their weaknesses are. They've got a good understanding of our system.

I think the maturity and experience will be the reason that we could do a better job in some of those type games.

Q. Makai, fifth year with the program. Every year getting just a little bit better it seems. What is it that's left in your tank? What's that next gear were are go to see this year?

MAKAI ASHTON-LANGFORD: I've got a lot left in my tank, but the next gear is definitely just to be better than last year. That's always the goal. I definitely am focusing more on trying to make my teammates better rather than focusing mainly on myself because once you do that, I feel like you start to forget about what the real goal is, and the goal is to win for sure.

Q. Quinten, I'm interested, some people regard you as an underrated big man. I say this with a bit of a wink and a smile. How do you go from being underrated to rated, somebody on somebody's radar screen? How do you do that?

QUINTEN POST: Honestly, I don't know if I'm a rated big, as you say right now. I came from Mississippi State where I played two years in the SEC, and I didn't really have a big role on the team.

Last year I was just blessed to get this opportunity from Coach Grant, and he put me in a system where I can really thrive, being like a versatile big man myself, playing inside out.

I don't know if I'm rated or underrated. I don't know, but I do know that this year I want to make an even bigger impact and make sure people know me after this year.

Q. Coach, just a moment ago you used the word rebuilding. It takes a while to rebuild certainly, but how do you think the progress is after season 1?

EARL GRANT: Yeah, I mean, I use the word "rebuild" just because in the recent years, the program didn't experience the success that they would like to, and so that's why I used the word "rebuild." For whatever reason, my whole career I've been in situations where that was the case, whether it be at Wichita State or College of Charleston. Even when I went to Clemson, we were trying to rebuild a program that had a lot of history.

It was fun because I had players that were willing to roll their sleeves up and work, and I think we did a great job of building a foundation.

Obviously this guy to my left got his degree. That was great. He made a decision to come back. So that was a win for me. He got his degree. He finished. He decided to come back, and we're fortunate for that. He's the heart and soul of our team.

Then having Quinten into his fourth year, we've got a chance to move the program forward and make progress. That's what we're trying to do. So we've got to build on what we did last year. We've got to continue to believe that we've got to defend the rebound and be successful, and then we've got to understand with all of the guys returning and even new guys that are capable, that we've got to have a shared responsibility on offense.

Those are things we're trying to get to right now. Practices have been good, and we've got to continue to build upon what we did last year.

Q. Coach Grant, a player you coached for his entire career was Brent Galloway. You coached him at College of Charleston, and then obviously at BC last year. Now he's at Clemson. What's his journey been like and what is he like as a person and as a player?

EARL GRANT: Yeah, I've known Brent since he was in seventh grade. I met him when I was at Clemson. He's a great person, good player. Had some ups and downs with me at the College of Charleston. I brought him to BC not because he was so much that level of player but he was a high-level person that understood me, so I brought him with me to BC that first year.

And then last year we had a lot of guys coming in, a lot of freshmen. Makai made the decision to come back, didn't know Brent had a year, and when he decided he had one more year, I thought it would be best for him to go into the transfer portal because we had so many guys coming back, and for the role he wanted, he needed to have a chance to get it somewhere else.

Never knew it would be in the league. Never knew it would be Clemson where we met, but he's from Clemson. His brother played football there. God works in mysterious ways. Me and Brent had nothing to do with it. That was all God.

Excited for him. I'll be pulling for him all year, except one game, and then hopefully he can have a good career there for one year.

Q. In what areas have you had your recruiting successes, and in what areas do you feel you could or would like to become better recruiting?

EARL GRANT: Yeah, I've had success personally in the southeast because a lot of my background was there, but when I went to Wichita State I had to get out of my comfort zone and had to recruit in Texas more.

But now that I'm up in New England there's a lot of players up there. There's a lot of talent up there. So I'm trying to make a major emphasis on developing relationships in New England.

But Boston College is a national place. If you think about our roster now and if you think about the history of the program, the players came from California, Colorado, Texas, Minnesota, Virginia. It's just a national place.

So it's the first time in my career I've had to stretch out wide and to cast a wide net, meaning we recruit everywhere, and because of Boston, the type of city it is, people are attracted from all over the world to come to Boston.

Q. Makai, you turned 24 last week. You're the old guy in the group now.

MAKAI ASHTON-LANGFORD: Yes, sir.

Q. What are you telling the young kids? What's your job now as the grandfather of the team?

MAKAI ASHTON-LANGFORD: Just to try to get guys to buy in early. I know it's hard when you're coming from -- when you're a freshman coming in it's kind of hard to figure out your role, so just getting them to buy in to just playing hard and not caring what the result is is definitely the thing I try to preach to them.

Then just trying to get them off to a good start school-wise, too. I feel like you get behind in school it's just -- it's very hard to keep your mental right on the court, as well. Those two things for sure.

Q. Quinten, you spent time in the Netherlands back in August. What did you learn this summer and how are you going to bring it forward to the season?

QUINTEN POST: For me it was just big time to have the honor to represent the Netherlands, which was a lifelong dream of mine. And then playing high-level professional basketball, it's definitely like a different -- it brings a different attitude to the game than college ball.

For me, it was just such a big experience, like also being put in a different spot where over there I was a rookie again, while over here I'm a senior and one of the older guys.

Just trying to learn a lot, asking a lot of questions to those guys, and also playing high-level teams. We played France, Slovenia, so it was just a big-time experience, and I hope I can take it into our success for this year.

Q. I love that idea that you were a rookie again. Did you know you were a rookie again before you went over or were you in the middle of it when you decided you were a rookie again?

QUINTEN POST: I kind of figured because I knew that I was going to be -- I was going to make my debut, and I know over there we have a tradition of giving the rookies dolls to carry around as like a joke, as like a rookie -- however you say that.

I kind of knew going in that it would be a different role for me, but yeah, it was fun.

Q. Coach, what do you like about your schedule this year? And as you get more and more engrained at Boston College, what's your scheduling philosophy?

EARL GRANT: What I like about my schedule, the biggest thing is we get to play. That's number one. I like the fact that we get to win a championship early with a tournament. Always when you can go into an early preseason tournament in November, you get a chance to win a championship.

I think we've got a schedule that is going to challenge us, as well. We're in the ACC-Big Ten challenge. We didn't do that last year, so that's awesome.

We've got a big-time game, neutral in New Jersey, the Wells Gulledge game. You know, Wells who fought what he had, that situation that happened in the World Trade Center. We got the Red Bandana game. That's in New Jersey against Villanova.

So there's a lot of things to be excited about our schedule, and I think it'll prepare us for the ACC.

Q. Moving forward, what's your scheduling philosophy?

EARL GRANT: My scheduling philosophy is I want to put guys in a position to get prepared for the ACC, at the same time schedule teams where we have a good opportunity to win some games early, but always be in a challenging non-conference tournament where we have a chance to win a championship early in the year.

Q. Coach, you mentioned God several times, and you've got three boys if I'm not mistaken. How is family and your belief system fit in with you being the coach at Boston College?

EARL GRANT: I mean, obviously it fits because I know -- I've been a husband for 18 years, so for me, a big part of my job is trying to help these guys understand that's going to be them one day, and that's a big part of what college sports teaches you, to sacrifice, to give up some of yourself for the betterment of others.

I think being a father and a husband helped with that.

Also, I know having these young men, I've got three boys in my house, and so I know they've got needs, so our players got needs. So that helps.

Also, I've got a set of brothers on my team, so sometimes you learn by having two sons close in age, they love each other but they don't always like each other.

So there's a lot of things that obviously I reference from being a father that's related to being a coach, and then like you mentioned God, that's where I get my strength. My faith is important to me.