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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYOctober 17, 2013Andy EnfieldJ.T. TerrellSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from Coach. COACH ENFIELD: It's great to be here, our first Pac‑12 Media Day. Certainly excited to join this league. A lot of great players. Excellent coaches. The league is very good, especially this year. It's just great to be in the West Coast. THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions. Q. For both Coach and J.T., I guess, Coach, you were quoted in the San Jose paper as kind of throwing down the gauntlet to UCLA, saying to your players: If you want to play slow, go to UCLA. Is that a little local trash talking or just having fun or what? Or did you say that? COACH ENFIELD: Well, I said something like that in practice last week. What I say in the locker room and on the practice court to my team is meant to be for my team only. So certainly did not mean that to get out in the national media. I have a very sarcastic personality.  I don't use a lot of profanity to motivate my players, but I do use sarcasm. I was very upset with my team that particular moment in a practice. I blew my whistle, yelled a little bit, and that's what came out of my mouth. It was meant to make a point of how we want to play and to use some sarcasm. It certainly was not to disrespect Steve or what he's doing. I said numerous times how much respect I have for him as an ex‑player, as a coach, and what he's going to do at UCLA. I understand the UCLA‑USC rivalry is great for college basketball, as well as all the other sports within the city, and we look forward to being part of that. But I certainly respect what they're doing. And what I said was meant to‑‑ for my team and for my team only. Q. And, J.T., can you talk about how you think UCLA will take that? J.T. TERRELL: I hope it adds more fire to the battle. So I'm hoping for a better game now. (Laughter). Q. You came from a program you really helped cultivate an identity, and now you're at a program that hasn't had much of a basketball identity. How do you plan to create more of a basketball culture and more of an exciting identity at USC? COACH ENFIELD: Well, I was an assistant coach at Florida State for five years, which is a football school in the south. USC is a premier football school in the United States. I love college football. Our basketball players go to all their games. And we're trying to use the general sport tradition at USC, especially the football program, to help us. We need to catch up to some of the other sports. And when you talk about all the national championships, over a hundred team national championships at USC, as well as the football program, we have a lot of catching up to do. Now USC basketball has had past success over the last 25, 30 years, some great players, great coaches, some great teams, but there's also been some down years. We're looking to build something special and certainly try to catch up to some of those other sports at USC. Q. A few years ago Colorado and Utah entered the conference in what many considered to be one of the worst high major conferences maybe ever that season. You come in in a year where the Pac‑12 is largely being celebrated as one of the toughest conferences in the country. How quick does your learning curve as a coach in this conference need to be this season? COACH ENFIELD: We have eight new players, whole new coaching staff, a new offensive philosophy, new defensive philosophy, so there are a lot of new variables that go into our season. Now the practice time has been moved up two and a half weeks, so it's a benefit for our team, because we're so new to each other. And I see our team growing as the season goes along. We hopefully will be ready by Pac‑12 play to be very competitive and we look forward to competing. We think we have enough talent on our roster to compete with any team in the Pac‑12. And I've been picked low or down in the conference before, and there's nothing better than to overachieve in the media's eyes or to win some games that you think‑‑ or people think you're not supposed to win. So we're looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity. Q. Two new coaches in L.A. Is there a sense that both you and Steve Alford need to have strong first years just to establish yourself in this city and kind of especially in comparison to one another? COACH ENFIELD: I don't see it like that at all. I have ‑‑ we don't focus on UCLA. We're in the Pac‑12. We have to beat 11 other teams to do what we're trying to do. And then on a national scale, so we play UCLA twice every year. And we have 29 other games. So in my eyes there's no hidden agenda or rivalry. We don't sit around and talk about UCLA. We respect them tremendously. They have great tradition, and Steve's a great coach. And I'm sure they're going to have a lot of success while he's there. And so that being said, we're focused on USC basketball. We're trying to build a program with sustainability. And the first year is part of that. So we think we can win a lot of games this year because we have some upperclassmen, including J.T. So we're excited for this season. But one season doesn't make or break part of a building of a program, which we're trying to do over the long term. Q. J.T., just curious if Dunk City is as fun as everyone thinks it is. J.T. TERRELL: It's new. And it has been very exciting in practice. There's been a lot of people getting dunked on, and we're just hoping we can transfer that to the court, to the game. Q. For both of you, do you guys understand the rivalry with UCLA and what in the city‑‑ what it means to the city? I know you want to focus on the entire conference, but when you're in L.A., it's USC, UCLA is always‑‑ can get pretty heated. COACH ENFIELD: Sure. Q. And will practice ever be open again? COACH ENFIELD: Only for you. (Laughter). If you do come to practice, what I say on the court: Please let it stay there. I'm happy to open all my practices a certain amount of time, but what I say to my team needs to stay on the court. But the UCLA‑USC rivalry is a special thing in college tradition. And not just basketball, in all sports. But specifically what we're trying to do‑‑ UCLA won the Pac‑12 last year, went to the NCAA Tournament and had a great season. Sure, if you're walking out in L.A. you're going to see UCLA flags and USC flags. You're going to go downtown to restaurants and you're going to see people talking about their school with a lot of pride. So both universities are top 25 academic institutions with great athletic traditions. And the fact that they're only 12, 14 miles apart, you're going to have a built‑in rivalry. We're just looking forward to it. We think those games will energize the city. And to play in front of packed houses, it will energize our players. But at the same time we understand that that's only two games out of the year. So, sure, we fully understand the value of a college rivalry within the same city, especially L.A. with such a great basketball market. And we're looking forward to it. J.T. TERRELL: I take it as bragging rights. I respect the rivalry. I'm glad to be a part of it. I got a lot of friends that play on UCLA basketball team. So after the game‑‑ during the game it's very intense, but after the game it's just usually a lot of group texts talking a little bit of junk about who won and whatnot. Q. Any concerns about playing such an up‑tempo style with such a young roster? COACH ENFIELD: This is just basketball. These guys are athletic. J.T.'s as athletic as it gets. We have some experience this year, we also have some freshmen. So basketball players in today's game are fast. They're long. They're athletic. They're physically very gifted and strong. So to me that's just a natural to play like that. You watch the NBA, that's how they play. They play fast. 24‑second shot clock. So we really try to focus on the 24‑second shot clock versus the 35. I didn't invent anything that I run. I took it all from other coaches. So we're just trying to do what‑‑ how I like to coach and how I think these guys like to play. And with that you have to learn how to play fast. You have to be very skilled to do that. Because if you're not skilled, you're turning the ball over. And if you have 20‑some turnovers a game, you're not going to win too many of them. My first year at Florida Gulf Coast, my point guard led the nation in turnovers. And last year he cut the turnovers down and was top 15 in the nation in assists. And you saw him in the NCAA Tournament where he had 24 assists in the first two games and also got MVP of our conference tournament where he played really well. So it is an adjustment period, but these guys are so darn athletic that that's how I want to play. Q. J.T., I believe you have had five head coaches in three colleges during your career. Can you talk about the challenges that that has presented but also how it's benefited you as you head into your senior year. J.T. TERRELL: Each coach has been very different. There's been a lot of relationship building. I would say you can kind of get frustrated at times, just not knowing what's going to happen next. But I can say that it helped make me a better person, taking knowledge in from each and every last head coach that I've ever had. I would say each of them showed me something different about myself. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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