Quotes and Quips From ACC Operation Basketball
Posted by Brad Jenkins (@bradjenk) on October 29th, 2015The ACC’s annual Media Day, otherwise known as “ACC Operation Basketball,” took place in Charlotte on Wednesday. There was plenty of the normal coachspeak and playerspeak in effect, as every player at every school has apparently been “working hard,” and every newcomer is “very talented” and “learning fast.” Aside from all of that, there were several parts of yesterday’s press conferences that were very entertaining, so here is a list of some of the more interesting quotes and quips of the day.
No Pitino, No Problem. ACC Media Day Must Go On! (WDRB.com)
Finding Sunshine on a Cloudy Day
We start with a few examples of putting a positive spin on a difficult situation… because what else can you do?
- When discussing how his broken foot will affect Wake Forest, Codi Miller-McIntyre said it would help his team because of the experience that the younger guards will gain in his absence. He also said that his goal is to be back for the Demon Deacons’ trip to Maui in late November.
- While talking about all of those close ACC losses suffered by Georgia Tech last season, Brian Gregory said, “We were able to compete. The next step is to be able to finish those games.”
- And even though he has one of least experienced rosters in the country, Boston College head coach Jim Christian pointed out that his team has great experience at the two most crucial positions of center and point guard in fifth-year seniors Dennis Clifford and Eli Carter.
Welcome to Weight Watchers Featuring BeeJay Anya
Clearly no player had more fun being in Charlotte yesterday than N.C. State center BeeJay Anya. The line of questioning regarding the big junior has typically been about his struggle with weight loss, but it appears that Anya may have finally turned the corner on that issue after losing 30 pounds this offseason. This topic gave us two of the funnier exchanges of the day.
- REPORTER: Are you where you want to be? Is there more to come off? Is there more weight redistribution?
- BEEJAY ANYA (said with straight face): I might want to lose two more pounds or something.
- REPORTER: Two?
- BEEJAY ANYA: Yeah. (begins to laugh)
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- REPORTER: Beejay Anya has lost weight. Last year he had some sensational bursts of play, the first Duke game comes to mind. Is it automatic that playing with less weight he’ll be more effective in more minutes? If that’s not automatic, what has to happen for him to be more effective longer periods of time?
- MARK GOTTFRIED: Well, I think with Beejay, if you take 40 or 50 pounds off your body, and I joke around with him, I said, you’ve been playing with a third grader on your back.
Tar Heels Having Fun
The North Carolina contingent was one of the most comfortable looking groups in Charlotte on Wednesday and it’s hard to blame them. With a talented and experienced roster that seems to enjoy playing with each other, the Tar Heels were picked as the ACC favorite by the media in attendance. The Heels also provided two enjoyable interview moments as well.
North Carolina’s Roy Williams enjoying 2015 ACC Operation Basketball (UNC Athletics)
- When asked if his coach sent him to face the ACC media as a way to challenge him, Justin Jackson at first replied “a little bit,” but then added with a smile: “I think part of it was Marcus [Paige] and Brice [Johnson] didn’t want to come.”
- And then there was this from Roy Williams, “Kennedy [Meeks], I’m scared to death what Kennedy said to you guys today. There’s no telling what’s going to come out of his mouth. But if you do see Kennedy, just call him 10, and then he will just turn every shade that you can because the fact of the matter is that they took 40 ccs of fluid out of my knee a couple of weeks ago. I did not miss one practice. They took 10 ccs out of Kennedy’s knee, he missed a week. So I just nicknamed him 10. Now, he’ll tell you it’s the other way around, but trust me, I’m telling you the truth.”
Trip Down Memory Lane
We conclude with a couple of impactful memories, one fairly new and one very old.
Malcolm Brogdon was chosen as Co-ACC Preseason Player of the Year. (Getty Images)
- The first belongs to Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon, who was selected as the ACC’s preseason Co-Player of the Year along with North Carolina’s Marcus Paige. When asked about his fondest memory at Virginia thus far, he gave a thoughtful and interesting answer in saying, “Honestly it might be playing in Madison Square Garden against Michigan State. Although we lost that game and it was hard, it was a tremendous experience. Playing in that arena, playing with those seniors — Joe and Akil that year — and for the first time in the program and since I had been in the program, we had done something that the program hadn’t seen in a while, make it to the Sweet Sixteen. You know, that’s an experience that really sticks with you, that really changes you and really allows you to understand what it takes going into the following year. So I think that’s the experience that will stick with me the most.”
- As for the old memory, what other kind could there be when Mike Krzyzewski and former Georgia Tech head coach Bobby Cremins are in the same room? Upon spotting Cremins in the audience of reporters, Krzyzewski recalled: “Those Duke-Georgia Tech games back then were some of the best games… but not in our first three years (both laughing very hard at that point).” Cremins and Krzyzewski both went 13-29 in their first three ACC seasons.
