Tubby: Team ‘is in great shape’
Memphis coach Tubby Smith appeared on Sports56 WHBQ on Thursday morning with Dave Woloshin, the voice of the Tigers, and conducted his first interview since the departures of his three leading scorers (Brothers Dedric and K.J. Lawson as well as junior Markel Crawford) and his first recruit at Memphis (freshman guard Keon Clergeot).
Smith was upbeat, expressing optimism about three incoming freshmen and two junior-college transfers he and his staff have recruited for next year. He noted two more prospects are scheduled to visit campus this weekend, although the team probably will not fill all 13 scholarships this year. Smith did admit to being concerned about how his interior players will perform.
But even if Memphis doesn’t sign anyone else, he insisted losing six transfers this offseason doesn’t mean the Tigers won’t be a factor next year.
“I’d put this team on the court right now if all those guys were on campus,” Smith said. “If we had to play in a summer league or something like that, I think we’d be competitive with just about anybody in the country.”
Here are some other highlights from Smith’s 20minute conversation on the radio:
What have last two or three weeks been like? “I think people kind of misconstrued what’s going on. We lost three starters this year, and I’ve been in that situation before. Not that they transferred, but graduation or whatever. So the three starters and the three seniors that were in the program, and that’s what has happened. So we’re trying to replace those.
“Everybody knows no one wants to see a player leave. We don’t run players off. We never have. Never will. Yeah, we’re disappointed when you win 19 games, picked to finish fifth in the league and we finished fifth. We were 9-9 in the league. It was a tough time at the end of the season. I felt we really fell on some tough times at the end of the season, some tough losses to some pretty good teams. I think four of those losses in our last eight games came to teams that went to postseason play . ...
“We’re basically trying to recruit. What we’ve got to do is keep our nose to the grindstone, keep our eyes on the target and the players we’re trying to recruit.”
On the Lawsons: “This is a unique place as John Calipari and Josh Pastner and Larry Finch, everybody that I knew. I’ve known all those guys. Tic Price. I’ve been friends with all those people, all those coaches, so we have a pretty good idea of what we needed to achieve and what we need to do. It just takes time.
“I thought we were well on our way, and I appreciated for getting with Keelon Lawson, who was willing to stay here for this year and he did a heckuva job and that’s what I appreciate. He and I have talked about the situation, and obviously I didn’t recruit K.J. and Dedric, so that’s always a challenge. For young people, for families and players, you’ve got to go in and convince them what you’re doing is in their best interests, it’s in the best interests of the program, so just be patient. And I appreciate what they did. Without these guys, we wouldn’t have won 19 games. Can you imagine not having those guys when I got here? If they had left last year, we wouldn’t have won 10 games.”
On the transfer culture in college basketball: “It’s not just Tubby Smith running people off or they don’t like Memphis, or something about Memphis. That’s not the case at all. Virginia lost four guys. People are losing players left and right. That’s the way it happens. It’s sad. It’s what’s happening in college basketball.
“I had four guys leave me when I got to Texas Tech. I tried to tell them, ‘Fellas, hang in there. We’re going to be a program that’s going.’ Sure enough, they leave. Two years later, we’re in the NCAA tournament. It’s a process. Just like it didn’t get there overnight. It’s not going to be turned around overnight.”
On expectations for next year: “I never predict what we’re going to do. I don’t. All my years of coaching, because it’s hard to predict. Unless I got a couple McDonald’s All-Americans walking through the door, I can make some predictions. Some surefire firstround picks, yeah, I can make some predictions then.
On Keon Clergeot’s transfer: “I’m disappointed that a guy like Keon Clergeot leaves, but he had some issues at home that he was dealing with and the pressure of his dad was sick throughout the season. Had a brain tumor, so I know he was concerned about it because his dad pretty much raised him.”
On recruiting the Memphis area: “It’s critical. I mean there’s a lot of talented players in this city. It’s always important to recruit local. … We want to get the best players. We’re going to sign the best players possible, whether they’re down the street at one of the high schools, or whether they’re in Knoxville, Tennessee, or Jackson, Tennessee. We want the best players in the state, and I think that’s critical for any program.
“Now, we’ve got a lot of competition surrounding us, and it’s always competitive at every level. You’ve got Mississippi on one end, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, you’ve got all the other great programs around that you’ve got to compete with as well. Having said that, yeah, it’s important. I think Josh and his staff did an unbelievable job recruiting local players.”
On if coaching in Memphis is tougher than other places he’s been: “Toughness is what you allow it to do to you. It’s tough recruiting. You got to beat Mississippi for a player. You’ve got to beat Mississippi State for a player. You’ve got to beat Vanderbilt. That’s tough. You’ve got to beat all these other schools that are recruiting, so you’ve got to have something that you can sell, and we do. We’ve got a great market here. That’s what kind of puts us up with other schools, is just the sheer support from our fans, from our boosters. That’s where we really have an advantage. Memphis is a great city. We play in an excellent facility in FedExForum. We’ve got a new practice facility coming on line.”
On graduate transfers Chad Rykhoek and Christian Kessee: “We’re very cautious and very careful. There were a bunch of players we could have gotten last year, but we decided to go with Christian Kessee, a fifth-year player, and Chad Rykhoek. That was a decision I made. We took a chance and had them come in here as a fifth-year player and I appreciate what they did. … We tried it that way, and it paid off for the most part.”
On the state of the program: “The program is in great shape. The gloom and doom that you hear, trust me, we’re going to get it done. I said in Minnesota. I said that to Tulsa. I said it at Texas Tech, and my record speaks for itself. You’ve got to get to a point where you can compete. People want to get to postseason play. It puts your program, it puts your university, they’re talked about for two or three weeks at that end of the season. That makes a big difference in a lot of areas, so I’m excited. I’m more excited than ever because I know we’ve got some outstanding young people coming in.”