Rick Barnes Transcript

On where the team needs to improve and what to look for moving forward:
"You're really starting over again. Roles will change. You expect to see guys in your program improve individually. You expect to see that inter-competition within your team and everything open back up where there's no given. A guy has got to go out and earn what he's going to get. I think that's how you improve every year. You look at our team, and I would look at consistency, which is a word I've used a lot this year. I think individual guys have to be more consistent. You always talk about how you can improve your skill, whether it's shooting, passing, or catching. We'll get back a lot of fundamental work there. Conditioning is a big part for a number of these guys. When I talk about conditioning, I'm not just talking about their endurance. I'm talking about like John Fulkerson needs a great offseason to get stronger. Each guy, as we continue to evaluate them, has different needs that need to be met, and that's we'll do."

On the challenges of motivating a team coming off of a successful season:
"I think it varies. I think it gets down to individuals. I think that it's up to you as coaches to realize and help them realize there's always a way to get better. So much of it too is chemistry. This year was the first time I've ever had a guy get hurt in the NCAA tournament in Kyle Alexander. You want it to not affect you when those things happen as much as it did affect us. Bottom line is when you look at your team, you want it to be the best it can be every year, and the motivation you hope comes from within. You hope each guy looks at himself and wants to be the best he can be. Then it's up to us again. Roles will change. We're hoping to see guys get better. We want to see the competition in practice. I think that's really where you start to forge it every day when you can get that kind of competition and you carry it over into your games."

On Loyola-Chicago's run and if he's pulling for them in the Final Four:
"First of all, they're a really good basketball team. We knew that going in. You look at most all of these games and a couple possessions here and there, and I think they have as good of a chance as anybody to win the national championship. When you watch them play every game, they are a really high efficient offensive team and a very good defensive team. They've got as good of a chance as anybody. I haven't seen Michigan. Last night, the first game I've really watched since we've been back was the Texas Tech and Villanova game. Playing Villanova, knowing what I know about Kansas, it's a pretty good Final Four. Any of those teams could win it, Loyola being one of those teams."

On what he's told the team regarding the end of their season since they've been back:
"Not much, because they were devastated. I think you guys that were there saw that. There's not much you can say, other than you'd like to just sit back and watch their reaction and how they do it. Some guys get right back to the gym. Starting today, they are all back in there. NCAA rules say at the end of the season, they've got seven days where we can't do anything with them. With that said, there were guys like Ives Pons who have been in the gym every day. There are some other guys who have been through. They are all wanting to get back in and excited about getting going back. It was all new to them, how fun it is, but how quickly it can end. That's what you hope they take from it. I'm not good at celebrating wins a long way because I'm always looking down the road at what's next. There's a time we'll look back at this group because they did some special things. They really did. What I like best of all is they're not satisfied. They want to do more. It'll be harder. We won't be picked 13^th in the SEC next year. But that's where we want to be. We want to be a team that every year people are counting on us and saying that's team that has a chance. That's one thing these guys have been able to do with this program this year."

On the importance of graduate transfer James Daniel III this season:
"He was important. He played a big role. With what he did defensively, he helped us earlier in the year to help us establish what we wanted to do, especially in the backcourt. He did a good job with that, totally having to adjust his game, being a volume shooter and a guy that was called on to go get buckets and then us asking him to be a guy to run a team and play defense. So he made that adjustment well. I thought it was really good the pressure that he put on Jordan Bone and Lamonté Turner. I thought that having those three guys there, they had to compete every day for it, and I think they knew as the season unfolded, we were going to go with the hot hand, whoever was getting it done, that's who we were going to play with. And it goes back to consistency. We want a guy that can really be consistent at that spot. But James certainly had an impact, and we'll miss what he gave us. He helped us win some basketball games this year."

On meeting individually with all the players and the potential of transfers:
"We will, we started those meetings today. And there's always a possibility somebody can leave. They're going to look at the guys coming back that they're going to compete with and they know we mean what we say when we say that we're going to open it up. But every year there's a possibility of somebody leaving. That could happen. I don't know whether it will or not, but it could."

On the improvement that Admiral Schofield and Kyle Alexander made as juniors:
"I think that's where you want to see the jump. You do expect a jump between your freshman and sophomore years, but the real jump gets down to one word I think – passion. At that point, they know what they're up against and they really want to get in the gym on their own. One of the things that we have to do when they first get here is teach them what a work ethic is. They all think they're gym rats when they first get here, and then they realize they're not really as much of a gym rat as they think they are. Their idea of working individually is not what it really is about. So those first couple years is about developing their work ethic and changing their bodies. And it's a harder step to take from that sophomore to junior year and then junior to senior year. But it gets down to the individual's passion and commitment to it. I go back three years ago to when we first got here, Kevin Punter was really the first guy to buy into what we were about, because that spring of all the guys that were returning, he was in the gym all day every day long. And when Admiral Schofield and Kyle Alexander got here, they were the next to follow. And those guys have really been the ones that have laid what we call the foundation of where we are today. Admiral, Kyle and Lamonté along with what Kevin Punter did laid that foundation. If you ask anybody in our program who puts the most time in in the gym, the first toe names they're going to call out are Admiral and Lamonté. And Kyle is in there, but I do think there's another level for him. I don't know time wise how much more time Admiral and Lamonté could put in, it's just a matter of quality of work continuing to get better and better. But in terms of time they can't do any more than they're doing."

On what feeling the team gets seeing how far Loyola-Chicago has advanced:
"We know how close we were. There's no doubt about it. I've said this before, last year when we got knocked out of the NCAA Tournament, there was a week there where you're angry and you're mad because you always feel like you could do more. And then the question is how long does it take you to get the first to want to get back at it. This year, it took me about a week to get over it. But a couple of days ago, I told my wife, 'I know I'm ready because I'm already thinking about how we can get better.' But I don't think in terms of Loyola beating us or whoever, I don't think about it like that. It could be any team in the tournament that beats you and it's not about pulling for them or not, it's about your own team. You look at your own team and ask what we can do, how can we do it to get better, and that's what it's about. And I think if I ever lose that feeling, if it didn't bother me and I bounced right back a day later, I'd know it would be time to quit. And after four or five days of just going AWOL if I didn't think about how we could get better, it would be time to quit too. But the fact is, I'm excited about talking to these guys and getting them to understand that I want to see them all get better and start preparing for their future and what they want to do. It's a game that sometimes we make it more complex than it needs to be, it's just about getting better one day at a time. And that sounds boring, but it's the truth. The older you get, the higher you go up the ladder, it gets harder and guys get weeded out. They find out they really don't love it as much as they thought they did. So what I hope we can do is continue to stoke that passion and get guys to realize that there's just so much more to be had individually and as a team and as a program. We need to chase it, we know that when we get in the arena, good things can happen and tough things can happen. I've always said that you can't have big wins if you don't schedule big games, well you can't have that feeling of accomplishment unless you're willing to get in the ring and the arena knowing that you can get beat and you can end up short. That's what makes sports what it is."

On what Grant Williams needs to do to improve next season:
"I think conditioning. I think that's a major part of what he needs to do. He obviously needs to continue to work on his skill and consistency, but I don't think there's any question, he needs to get himself in high level conditioning. He needs that more than anything. If he does that, that will help him in a lot of areas. It will help him guard the ball better on the perimeter, allow him to play longer and harder and allow him to rebound more consistently. Conditioning is a part of everybody's game, but he needs to get himself into a very high level."

On if Kyle Alexander realizes his own value after missing the Loyola-Chicago game:
Yeah I think he does. Right before that game, our coaches were showing our guys highlights of defense, and when we walked out of the room, the first thing I said was 'we probably shouldn't have shown that because Kyle was involved in all of those highlights. And I think sometimes we thought that we could get by without him out there – and sometimes we could – but overall he's the anchor, he's the fix-it guy. And I do think that he will improve. I know it devastated him that he couldn't play. He tried, and he was very emotional before the game when he was warming up and couldn't do anything. But yeah, I do think he realizes that. I hope he does. AT times we even accuse him of not knowing how valuable he is to the team. But hopefully he now realizes how important he is to us going forward. He'll work, he'll get stronger, and he'll come back better."

On receiving the Athletes in Action Wooden "Keys to Life" Award:
"First of all, there's a lot of guys more deserving than me, I can tell you that. But it's an honor because of Athletes in Action and what they do. Their mission is much bigger than coach of the year, athlete of the year, any of that. Their mission is to spread the gospel to young people on campus. And so from that point of view, it's meaningful, it really is. Like I said, Lord knows there's so many more people out there that deserve it more than I do, there really is. I've known some of the people with Athletes in Action for a long time, and personally I got to sit in John Wooden's home, I got to have some meals with him together at some of his favorite places. Actually today I went through some pictures that were taken of me at his house to send out to them as part of the banquet. I got to know Coach Wooden through Kevin Durant and TJ Ford and Wooden Award winners and spending time with him that way as well. One of my former players, Bill Johnson, that I coached at George Mason was like a surrogate son to Coach Wooden. My son lived out there for a while, and when I would go visit him, we would go out there and visit with Coach Wooden and go to his house. This is all when he was probably 95, 96, 97 years old. I remember one night we were going to dinner and he told me 'coach my daughter Ann is going to dinner with us and I don't want you to get any ideas. She's 77, but she's a sweet lady.' We had a wonderful time at dinner, he had a great sense of humor about him. We know that he had an impact on this sport long after he stopped coaching. We know what he did as a coach, but his legacy still lives on today. But Athletes in Action he would say is bigger than any championship he won, it's about sharing the gospel with people, and that's what makes it really special."

On year that junior guard Chris Darrington had:
"He was. I said all along, he was the best player we had going forward. Everybody starts out at a certain level, and each day, it keeps going up in terms of the competition and the commitment that it takes, and he wasn't able to raise his level of competition the way he needed to and the passion that it takes everyday. Is he a good enough player? He's a good enough player. But it takes more than talent. It takes an everyday commitment. If you sit down with our players and you said to them, 'let's number the players 1-16 in terms of who puts the most time in, who works, who's competitive,' they wouldn't miss. The bottom line is the guys that end up playing are the guys that earn those minutes. I was telling the guys again, the guys that play will be the guys that go out and earn it every single day. Then what happens is when things aren't going well from an individual standpoint, are you able to fight through it and find a way to find a niche for it. Just like Lamonte Turner, there's no doubt in my mind that Lamonte Turner would like to be a starter, but he found out that it wasn't going to happen that way, so he embraced the fact that 'you know what, I'm going to be the best guy in the country coming off the bench.' It gets down to each player like that. They've got to find that role that they want to play. It's never too late to find that, so going forward would be that answer. If he's willing to embrace that and compete every day at the level that he's going to have to play at this level and to play in this program. So that will determine his future."

On expectations for freshman forwards Yves Pons and Jalen Johnson:
"High expectations for both of them, because again, both of them fought injuries that they had to fight through all year long. Jalen's really worked hard his redshirt year. It was a serious surgery having the rod placed in his shin, but he fought back and he continued to get better and better. But again it goes back, he still doesn't have his full mobility back, and that's why this offseason is going to be very important to him. Yves fought ankles injuries all year and he worked through it. So I think conditioning and getting their bodies back where they can have a great offseason, that's what they both need. We expect both of those guys to be a big part of what we want to do going forward. They give us the length that we're talking about on the wing, that gives us a chance to get much longer, bigger. Yves showed that defensively, he's capable of guarding anybody on the court. Jalen will do that with another offseason, when he's able to get a little bit stronger, and he will get stronger."

On what area he thinks the team needs to improve at the most:
"Probably a feel for the game. Understanding that, how important possessions are at certain times. Just like in football, you need a quarterback that has a total feel for the game. I told y'all watching one game yesterday, the only game I watched in the tournament, (Villanova guard) Jalen Brunson controlled that game yesterday. He knew what they had to do, when they had to do it. He knew when to go with it, he knew when to stop with it, he knew when he needed to get busy, he knew when he needed to get someone else busy. So I think that's the biggest thing you're always looking for and where we can improve. We knew coming in with our point guard play, Jordan Bone and Lamonté and those guys, that it would be a growing process and they've gotten better, and that's where we need to get better. But it's not just them, it goes to your front line guys, it goes to them understanding good shots, when to shoot it and when not to shoot it. So all around, I think it's totally understanding a feel for the game. I think we can be a better offensive team when guys truly understand how to be efficient on the offensive end, and knowing what's the difference between a good shot and a great shot, and continuing to get better playing together on the offensive end. Defensively, I'd like to see us be a little more versatile, obviously. We decided we were going to get after it man to man, and it where we went this year was all based on our defense. There's no doubt in my mind our defense carried us all year, and when it was good, we were really good. But we can get better there, our ball screen defense got better as the year went on, and that's something that we were terrible at for two years. We have a zone but we didn't put enough time into it because we wanted to be what we could be from a man team. We did make some adjustments with our man at times, but I'd like to see us add a little more versatility to our defensive game plan, too."

On how the "buzz" of a good year helps with scheduling home and homes:
"Whether we're a buzz or not, we're always going to try to schedule great home games here. We want to do that. It's not as easy as you think because of people's conference schedules and all that. In terms of the tournament, I don't know how it all ended up. I know we're disappointed. You go back, I know the two teams that were left were the two teams that were picked to win the league (Texas A&M and Kentucky). They were the last two SEC teams in there. People I think now understand that the SEC is much, much better than it was two years ago. Going back the past two years obviously we had a great showing in the tournament a year ago, had a Final Four team. Right now, there's not an ACC team in the Final Four, and they had more teams there than anybody. If you don't go deep into it, you're not happy. I guarantee you, the SEC and ACC would like to have a team in the Final Four. The SEC would, we all would. That's something you guys can pick apart and write about. I go back to the commissioner and what he's done with his staff, they held the coaches (accountable), they said, 'hey, it's up to you guys to go out and recruit and win basketball games and make this league highly competitive.' I think it's here to stay and I think it's only going to continue to get better."

On seeing his assistant coaches being considered for head coaching positions at other programs:
"I've said it many times, I think I have the best staff in the country. If I were anybody that wanted someone that's going to build the program the right way, I would hire any of my coaches. They would be selective, they're older, they're not just going to jump to jump for anything. I will tell you that they've had some opportunities. It goes back to when they think of their families, when they think of what's best for them, and they realize too they've got a great opportunity here at Tennessee. You like for them to have those opportunities, you like for them to have a chance to get in front of people. Like I said, there's not a job in the country that these guys couldn't do, including this job. Any one of them are capable of doing it. When you do have success and those opportunities come, and one is right for him, you hope it happens and it goes well for him."

On expectations for freshman forward Zach Kent:
"He has improved. He will continue to mature, that will be a big part of his development. Emotional maturity on the court, how he handles the good, the bad and the ugly, how he can handle it all. He's talented enough, he's good enough, he can shoot the ball, he's competitive. He's very hard on himself to a fault. He's going to have to work through that. That goes back to the emotional part of it. He's another guy that's going to give us length on the front line. Skill, he's going to help us there, he can put the ball in the basket. He's going to have to get much better defensively. He knows that. That just comes with an attitude, and he has to develop to do that."

On if he will look for a graduate transfer after James Daniel's performance this year:
"I wouldn't just put it on a graduate transfer. Our number one priority would be to sign a guard, a point guard. That's what we'd do, a high school player would probably be our preference first. That position is someone we want to come in here and make an immediate impact. The development of our guys in the program, they need that kind of competition coming at them too. There's no doubt we're looking for a guard first, whether (he is a) transfer, high school, whatever it may be, that's what we want to field."

On if sophomore forward Grant Williams played through injuries this year:
"Grant did play through some hurts this year. He had a hip situation he had to deal with a lot. I go back to (director of sports medicine) Chad (Newman) and (strength and conditioning coach) Garrett Medenwald, they did a great job along with all the medical staff. They did everything they could do. Most guys do deal with some different things throughout the year. That's just part of it."

On if returning a team with chemistry means it will automatically have chemistry next year:
"No, it doesn't. I think that's why everyday is important. I think that's a mistake that people make. It goes back to the old saying, if you're not getting better, you're getting worse, because I think people around you are going to get better. So, you better be able to look within yourself and say, how can we get better? Can we have better chemistry? We can always be better. Can we play better defense? Yes. Can we take care of the ball better. Yes. Can we shoot it better? Yes. Chemistry is the same thing. A work ethic. You can always do more than you really think you can. Chemistry is a big part of it. I thought the chemistry on this team was good. We got a great group of guys here, and if I were an outside guy, I'd want to be a part of it, because it's easier to come in when guys are pulling in the same direction. We do have that, and I really appreciate these guys for that because what we ask them to do is not easy, but to get where they want to go as individuals and as a team, it's really what's required. That's why as the season goes on, as the competition goes on, some guys end up playing more than others, because they simply want it more. I don't think you take any of it for granted. Everyday you gotta get up and look around and make sure everybody's doing their job everyday."

On game against Memphis next year:
"It's something we've been working on with Tubby Smith since we've gotten here. I think the way the contract sets up, I think we go there first, they come here, then I think we have a meeting in Nashville. Even though we like the home and home, we'd like to make it a big day of basketball in Nashville. Not just us, but bring in other teams within the state and just make it a day to really promote basketball. That's the reason we're going there that third year. If it goes the way we want it to, it won't just be us playing that day when we go to Nashville. Again, I'd like to have some kind of jamboree or extravaganza, something that will really promote basketball in the state of Tennessee."

Vol Hoops Media Monday: Season Recap

Rick Barnes Transcript

Players Mentioned

Kyle Alexander

Jordan Bone

James Daniel III

Chris Darrington

John Fulkerson

Jalen Johnson

Zach Kent

Yves Pons

Admiral Schofield

Lamonte Turner

Grant Williams

University of Tennessee Athletics

Vol Hoops Media Monday: Season Recap

Rick Barnes Transcript

Related News

Players Mentioned

Kyle Alexander

Jordan Bone

James Daniel III

Chris Darrington

John Fulkerson

Jalen Johnson

Zach Kent

Yves Pons

Admiral Schofield

Lamonte Turner

Grant Williams

Related Videos