On adjusting to the Villanova program:
“Yeah, it’s been great. Obviously, I feel like we have a great roster this year, a little bit more talented, a little bit deeper and a little bit tougher, so it’s been great.”
On playing Notre Dame in Rome:
“Yeah, I think it’s going to be an unbelievable experience for not only our players, our coaches…I think we have close to 6,000 alumni and fans going over for the game. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’ve really gotta thank Fox and Jordan Bazant for all they did in making this happen, because it’s not easy. It’s one of those things that when you have an opportunity to provide your players an unbelievable experience, I think you have to do it.”
On Tyler Perkins’ development:
“Yeah, I think to see Tyler evolve, the biggest thing I’ve seen is he’s gotten so much more confident in his game. I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve noticed, is I think he understands he’s a really good player. He doesn’t have to go out and try to prove it, he could just go out and play basketball. And he’s been invaluable because his work ethic, there’s no one better. Every morning, he’s in there at 7 a.m., he’s in there Friday nights at 8 p.m. His work ethic has been great in really helping keep Villanova culture the way it is.”
On a trickle-down effect with the New York Knicks helping Villanova’s culture:
“It’s probably the best thing about being the Villanova head coach. The former players have so much pride in this program, and it’s not just Jay’s guys…it’s Lap’s guys all the way back to Rollie’s guys. They don’t have to do anything specific besides what they’ve done. Their run and winning a championship for the Knicks — you know I’m a lifelong Knicks fan — that alone is just unbelievable, especially during the portal time. But all our former players love this program so much and give so much back to it. You’re in the portal for like, two days with these guys, but teaching them the history of Villanova basketball is very important. The great thing about what’s going on now is everyone kind of understands what Jalen and those guys are doing with the Knicks, but it’s really important for me, for our current players to understand, the total greatness of this program.”
On a specific dollar amount for NIL needed to make the NCAA Tournament, and what Seton Hall can do to bridge the gap:
“Well, I mean, they have Sha. I think Sha’s as good a basketball coach as there is in the country, so right there, I think they have an advantage. Is there a number? Just because you spend a ton doesn’t mean you spend right. It’s just like anything else, you have to make great decisions, you have to make the right decisions, and I know from being at Seton Hall — and I know Sha — that they’re going to provide him with what he needs.”
On Luigi Suigo and his adaptability:
“It’s a good question, I think it’s a little bit of both. The good thing about Gigi is playing overseas, you play against older guys your whole career, so he has that great feel for the game. He is, right now, he does have to get used to American basketball, the speed of American basketball, the speed of American guards. He reminds me a lot of Derik Queen, they both have really, really good passing, great hands, both shoot the basketball. Having so much success with Derik, we’ll probably have the same game plan with Gigi.”
On recruiting high school prospects:
“Well, we’re not recruiting a high school kid this year, so that’s probably a big change just because of the fifth-year rule. We have six guys right now that can come back for a fifth year, so I’d much rather have one of my players come back than bring a high school kid. I think moving forward, this kind of reminds me of what happened with COVID, a lot of high school kids and a lot of high school players got penalized and it wasn’t their fault, so I think after a year or two, this system will flush out and I think coaches will go back to recruiting high school players.”
On high school player skill sets changing:
“No, I think high school coaching has gotten better and better every year. I think if you look at what’s going on with high school basketball, there’s a lot of academies coming up that really, really good coaches are at, they’re playing more games, which I think is good for high school players to play in more games. I think back when I played in high school, you played maybe 24 games, now these kids are playing 45-50 games, so I think high school players are better and more talented. I just think the fact that you can get a junior who’s played two years of college, no matter what, you’re going to be better off than bringing a freshman in unless he’s an elite, elite freshman.”
On NCAA Tournament expansion and the Big East in the tournament:
“There was a lot of talk last year about only getting three teams in, and I think the way the NIL spending was in the other conferences kind of caught this conference by surprise. This conference has done a great job — the ADs, the presidents — in recognizing what you need to spend to be competitive in college basketball, so I applaud everyone in this league because everybody went out and spent, I think, the money to be a competitive conference. Last year, I think there was a little bit of the fact that I think people just got blown away with the amount of money people were spending. This year, I think the league did a good job of adapting to it. I think top to bottom, looking at rosters, we have really, really good players top to bottom, so I feel the league is going to be really strong, and I also think we scheduled really well. Looking at all the teams’ schedules, 76 teams gives you a chance to be really aggressive scheduling, and looking at most of the teams, I thought they did a great job of scheduling aggressively.”
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