Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Media Day
October 27, 2010 | Cowboy Basketball
Oct. 27, 2010
Oklahoma State held it's annual Basketball Media Day on Thursday as Coach Travis Ford and several players were subjected to interviews by the local media in regards to the upcoming. Here are quotes from today's interview session.
Oklahoma State
Cowboy Basketball
Media Day Quotes
Coach Travis Ford
On practice up to this point
"On the first day of practice, that Friday night October 15th, was one of the best first practices I've ever had. Then it kind of went downhill a little bit. Since that Saturday, Sunday and Monday, it's been great because we've seen improvement every day, which has been good. You don't always see that with an inexperienced team like we have. We had our first intra-squad game with referees Sunday night and then we brought the whole team in and watched film with individual guys. We learned so much from ourselves Sunday night that we looked much better on Monday. We're anxious to get back out there today to continue that improvement. I saw some cohesion as a team on Monday. Guys are starting to understand each other better as well as the system and that's a good combination. It's been a struggle because so many guys have been thinking rather than playing. But on Monday we saw much better improvement."
On athleticism countering the slow learning process
"It counters it when you start playing. When you're just doing drills or trying to run plays or things like that, guys' heads are spinning. But when guys who struggled in specific half-court drills start playing, they look 10 times better than they did in the actual drills. The drills are more fundamentals. It's isolated and your mistakes are more present and you can see them and we're stopping at every second. Once they understand the plays and we can go up and down, then I think we can be a pretty good team. But we're far from understanding our offenses and defenses at this point. We have a little ways to go in that area. The work ethic and the attitude is there. It's like the Homecoming and Hoops thing the other night. We hadn't been playing well in practice, but then we go out there and shoot the ball like that and actually run some offense. They just look much better playing up and down than they have in half-court."
On the team's ability to shoot
"I think the jury is still out on how good a shooting team we can be. We're losing two of the best three-point shooters from our team last year, not throwing Keiton (Page) in there. Obi (Muonelo) and James (Anderson) were our two best shooters. We haven't brought anybody in who is shooting the ball like those two did. On any given day in practice or individuals or Homecoming and Hoops, we shoot the ball really well. Then there's other days when it has not been a strength of our basketball team. We've spent so much time concentrating on our defense that I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to how many shots we're making or missing. It hasn't really been a priority up to this point."
On Keiton Page
"He has shown me a lot in the last six or seven months, things I have not seen from him before. He has been willing to do anything as far as his body and getting extra time in the gym this summer. He has always been willing to do what I ask him to do. But I thought he had lost that `gym rat' a little bit. It's a process for Keiton and he is progressing very well. His role is evolving. And if your role is evolving then your game better evolve. And if your game is evolving then your body better evolve. He's been able to play in the shadow of Byron (Eaton) and Terrel (Harris) and James (Anderson), and now he's considered our best returning player. He's definitely our most experienced player minute-wise. So he is no longer third our fourth on the scouting report for other teams. He is going to be more of a focal point so his game has got to evolve. He can't just be the same Keiton. He has taken on that responsibility and he has done a great job in developing his game and his body. He has become a better leader. I think our relationship has evolved as well. As you all know I've always been very tough on Keiton. I don't see myself having to do that anymore because he's such a veteran now. He's shown me a lot in the off-season."
Keiton Page, Junior Guard
On losing weight
"I played last season at around 170-172 pounds, and right now I am down to 156. So I have lost around 15 or 16 pounds. I have noticed my stamina is up there and I have more energy. I am not getting as tired late in practices. My quickness and my lateral movement side-to-side has improved as well."
On his dieting this summer
"I have just been eating right. I ate a lot of fast food last year and I just cut that out. This summer when I got to go home during the month of May I did two or three workouts a day, and I ran quite a bit. If I wasn't running, I was in the gym doing shooting drills. The gym at Pawnee doesn't have any air conditioning, so the pounds came off pretty quick."
On Coach Ford motivating him to lose some weight
"He was in the same situation he told me while he was at Kentucky. Going into his junior year, Coach (Rick) Pitino told him the same thing. He was around the same weight as I was and his coach had him get down to 150 pounds. He just challenged himself to do it and when he did it he just saw tremendous improvements."
On the team this year
"I think that this could be our most athletic team and our deepest team since I have been here. We have gotten up and down the court the last two years and I think people are going to be surprised that we will be able to do that even more now."
On the point guard position
"Ray (Penn) and Fred (Gulley) started out on the defensive end last year. We play the whole 94 feet and start pressuring them right away. You have to be in pretty good shape to play point in Coach Ford's system. I get to practice against Ray everyday and those guys are definitely not slow. Getting to practice against them is definitely helping."
Ray Penn, Sophomore Guard
On his injury from last season
"I'm doing great and I am at 100 percent. I am ready to go."
On how he felt about being injured last season
"If somebody would have told me that during my freshman year I would miss half the season, I probably would have laughed at them. But things happen."
On the team this season
"I feel like for the most part the new guys have gotten a good feel about how we do things. This summer and this preseason everyone gelled well and everything was cool. This is probably our most athletic team."
On what he worked on this summer
"I just worked on getting stronger and getting the mental part down. I worked on not thinking too much and just working on plays."
On his new strength
"When a season takes place, you don't lift as much as you would during preseason. So when I got hurt, my conditioning coach and I just started focusing on next year and I basically lived in the weight room and when I could get on the court, I did it."
On practicing against Keiton Page
"He is good. He is crafty vet. He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve."
Marshall Moses, Senior Forward
On Keiton Page
"He is a veteran. He is shooting the ball better than ever, getting in the lane, which are things I'm not really used to him doing, but he's creating shots and being a leader on and off the court, and he is crafty with the ball."
On Coach Ford's system
"I like that it requires you to take what the defense gives you. We ball screen a lot. Our system has accounted for everything. The big man has a lot to do with the offense, even without the ball in his hands. If you don't come ready to play and don't listen to what Coach Ford tells you to do, there is a big chance the offense won't work. There is a big part of offense more than just catching the ball at the post. And a lot of the time, the things that we do without the ball could be the reason we win games. Last year, we won a lot of games because it was our responsibility to get the number-one player in the Big 12 (James Anderson) open every game, and when we got him open, we would get open because our man would hop on him."
On the newcomers
"I think every one of our guys is extraordinary, and I'm not just saying that because they are my teammates. The athleticism is crazy for Markel (Brown). He is a great one-on-one player and mentally he has a lot of the same things that James (Anderson) had when he came in. Mike (Cobbins) is probably the most bouncy, leapy athlete. He can block shots and rebound the ball. He already understands the system and he's been here for two or three weeks. Brian's (Williams) athleticism is off the charts, and he's very coachable. J.P. (Jéan-Paul Olukemi) is just game ready. There is no other way to describe him. I'll say he's just as good as Byron (Eaton), and he gets to the free-throw line well. Darrell (Williams) can handle the ball in open court. He's like six-foot-seven, he's got a big body. He can bang down low and he can shoot the three. We've really got some good players."
Nick Sidorakis, Senior Guard
On Keiton Page's weight loss over the summer
"It shows that he's determined. As we all know it's not easy losing weight. It's easy to put it on, but losing it requires you to eat right. You have to work out extra, whether that's extra conditioning in the summer or whatever it is you have to do. Keiton did it, and it just shows how dedicated he is to the team."
On playing in Ford's system
"Once you have been around Coach Ford, his system and his coaching staff, and once you get his philosophy and what he's trying to do with the team, it becomes habit. Once that habit forms, it's just like second nature and you know what you're doing. You know where to go, you know who to pass to, and you know what to run in certain situations. So I think experience does have a big part in Coach Ford's system."
On giving up his scholarship
"Over the summer, Coach Ford and I met multiple times and I told him if push comes to shove, I would be willing to give up my scholarship if a certain player was going to make it. Once that happened, we figured out that one of our players was going to make it and one thing led to another. So I asked my parents if we were financially set to support me and they were all for it."
