I asked you this at your introductory press conference and ended up not writing anything off it, but how much was the opportunity to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament at Tulane an attraction for you since you've spent your whole career at places that had to win their conference tournament to get in? Tulane has not been in position to earn an at-large bid since the 1990s, but if you get the program where you want it to be, it's an annual possibility. At Georgia State you won 26 games in 2014 and still knew you had zero shot at the NCAA tournament when Louisiana-Lafayette beat you in OT in the Sun Belt tourney championship game.
"It's almost an eerie feeling, especially when you're one of the top two teams in the league every year. Your summers are stressed because you can do all these things right and have a great year, but if you have five bad minutes (in your conference tournament) it can cost you. We had five bad minutes (against ULL in a game Georgia State never trailed until overtime) and it cost us an NCAA tournament run, but it did propel us to what we wanted to get the next year."
Your whole team played nervous in the tournament final against Georgia Southern the next year. I think you won 38-36.
"It was brutal. It was so brutal, I tore my Achilles. Man, that was brutal, so this job will keep me healthier."
Seriously, how much of an enticement was it to go somewhere that you do not have to deal with that type of one-game pressure?
"Honestly, there wasn't much more that we could have done at Georgia State. We took a program that was really, the crazy part of it is everybody talks about it being a tough job at Tulane. I had two really bad jobs. IUPUI and Georgia State are tough jobs that we made look easy, but they are really, really hard jobs. Great people. Building it was easy. Sustaining it was unbelievably hard. Now I've got this job right here, and I don't see that. I know the league is unbelievably good, but if you had to recruit and do the things that I've done since I've been a head coach. Troy (Dannen) doesn't know this but I could have worked here for free. I'm in heaven right now. This is great. The turnaround won't be difficult for us at all."
You mentioned at your presser that you were mystified how a team could only win four games.
"You know, it's like having a great year where everything has to go right. When you go 0-18, everything has to go wrong. You've got to have bad luck, you have to have injuries, which they did with (Ona Embo). He's a good player, and if he and (transfer) Jordan Walker had played, (Mike Dunleavy) might still be the coach here, so I'm kind of glad they didn't play. We've got too really good guards, and when you've got guards that can play, you've got a chance, so that's my first excitement about it."
So you expect Ona Embo to be back?
'Oh, no question. Ray will be starting practice. June 3rd is when we'll start our workouts, and I haven't had one workout yet because you have to change the mental before you change the physical and I wanted to see who's going to be here. Also, when you lose a lot, sometimes what happens is when things get tough, you quit. I want to weed out what I call the cancer, guys that mentally aren't tough enough to do what we've got to go through. We're about 75 percent there. My goal when I got here was out of the 15 guys that will be on our roster, if over half of them did not play in a game last year, I'd be happy. That means most of the guys didn't go through the losing, and that's about where we're at."
Is Kevin Zhang staying for sure?
"Oh yeah. He left yesterday and he's playing on the (Chinese) national team. The only bad part about it is I won't have him this summer, but he'll be back. That's the only negative I've had since I've been on the job because I really love his game. He would be perfect in our system, but he won't be here for the summer. He'll get better by playing who he's going to play against, but he'll miss out this summer, so we're going to have to give him a crash course when he gets back."
Any word on Caleb Daniels' decision?
"No. Caleb is going through what he needs to go through on that part, but one of the things that is important for me is you really want to be at Tulane. This is a great place. If you're just half in, you might want to go somewhere else. I want guys who want to be here. He's going through some workouts and some of those things and he's visiting some schools. I wish him the best in what happens, but we want guys who want to be here. He's a great kid. We really, really like him and think he can really help us in that regard, but he can only help us if he wants to be here. Caleb and I have talked. I wish him the best whatever happens to him. If he wants to come back here, then I would love to have him, but if he wants to move on, it won't change what we'll be next year and the next few years."
Samir Sehic tweeted he was leaving a while back but I've seen him working out at the Hertz practice facility. What is his status?
"He would like to (go pro), but he'll be back here. He'll be back here. He's down in the weight room working out. Samir will be back and will be a huge part of what we're trying to get done. There have been some guys that have been honestly pleasant surprises for me and some kids that it's probably a good thing they're not coming back."
Is Shakwon Barrett leaving?
"No, Shak will be back. He's doing a good job of improving. Really the only two guys right now that aren't part of the roster are Moses Wood and Conner Crabtree. Those are the only two for sure. We'll see what happens with (Daniels). The most surprising player that I've had is (Buay) Koka. He's been a pleasant surprise, especially in our matchup. I've got a rim protector. I've never had a rim protector. I go home every day smiling because I've always had a 6-3 guy playing center for me. I've got a 7-foot guy with the wing span of a guy 7-6, so I think he's going to be terrific for us. We are going to spend a lot of time with him this summer."
What is the status of the two guys who signed with Dunleavy--Nobal Days and Henri Langton?
"Nobal is going to be a good player. He's a 6-9 kid, can shoot the ball and is really skilled. He has a great family, so I'm excited about him."
And Langton?
"No, we've moved on. A lot of it is just sometimes fit and our style of play. And one of the things I want to do is get guys who've won before. That's important. Did you win a state championship? It's important to get those kind of guys."
Has Charlie Russell signed?
"Yes. Charlie has signed. And as I said, it was important for me and for us to get the best available player in the city and the state. I thought that was really important. I wanted to make a statement. If I can every year, the way our scholarships are, I would want to sign at least one Louisiana kid every year."
He put up good stats for a really good team. Why was he recruited lightly?
"That's what I was trying to figure out. I watched his play the first time (in an AAU tournament) and walked back and said, OK, there's something wrong. I went back the second time and he was better than the first time. I went back the third time and he was even better than that, so I was like, OK. For our system, pressing and the things we do, he's going to be perfect. People will look back two years from now and be like, how did you get this guy? But I've had a whole lot of those guys from George Hill ( a former IUPUI star who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks) to a lot of guys, and he fits right in there. If he gets stronger, he'll have a chance to play right away."
What do you like about R.J. McGee?
"I love him. I recruited him at Georgia State. You talk about a classic Ron Hunter guard--6-5, shoot it, athletic, a tough kid from the South Side of Chicago. Love this kid absolutely. We had a kid on our team, Malik Benlevi, that played on our team (at Georgia State, where he averaged 11.9 points and 5.8 rebounds as a senior) the last four years. That's R.J. McGee. We fell in love with him, and he was going to commit to Georgia State."
Where did he play last year?
"He went to a prep school in Florida (Pensacola). He's been on our radar for a while, and we knew a lot of Atlantic 10 schools started to come in, but we were able to get him to (sign). We're flipping the roster to get in the type of kids we want--more athletic and all of them can shoot and play three or four different positions."
Will Teshaun Hightower be ineligible this year?
"We'll see. We've got about three guys who will transfer and everybody who can get immediately eligible, we're going to try based on situations and those type of things. He's a great foundation because of athleticism and what he can do. He'll be a really good player in this league. I can't talk about the (potential) transfers, but if we get them, they'll be a lot of dancing between me and Bourbon Street."
"It's almost an eerie feeling, especially when you're one of the top two teams in the league every year. Your summers are stressed because you can do all these things right and have a great year, but if you have five bad minutes (in your conference tournament) it can cost you. We had five bad minutes (against ULL in a game Georgia State never trailed until overtime) and it cost us an NCAA tournament run, but it did propel us to what we wanted to get the next year."
Your whole team played nervous in the tournament final against Georgia Southern the next year. I think you won 38-36.
"It was brutal. It was so brutal, I tore my Achilles. Man, that was brutal, so this job will keep me healthier."
Seriously, how much of an enticement was it to go somewhere that you do not have to deal with that type of one-game pressure?
"Honestly, there wasn't much more that we could have done at Georgia State. We took a program that was really, the crazy part of it is everybody talks about it being a tough job at Tulane. I had two really bad jobs. IUPUI and Georgia State are tough jobs that we made look easy, but they are really, really hard jobs. Great people. Building it was easy. Sustaining it was unbelievably hard. Now I've got this job right here, and I don't see that. I know the league is unbelievably good, but if you had to recruit and do the things that I've done since I've been a head coach. Troy (Dannen) doesn't know this but I could have worked here for free. I'm in heaven right now. This is great. The turnaround won't be difficult for us at all."
You mentioned at your presser that you were mystified how a team could only win four games.
"You know, it's like having a great year where everything has to go right. When you go 0-18, everything has to go wrong. You've got to have bad luck, you have to have injuries, which they did with (Ona Embo). He's a good player, and if he and (transfer) Jordan Walker had played, (Mike Dunleavy) might still be the coach here, so I'm kind of glad they didn't play. We've got too really good guards, and when you've got guards that can play, you've got a chance, so that's my first excitement about it."
So you expect Ona Embo to be back?
'Oh, no question. Ray will be starting practice. June 3rd is when we'll start our workouts, and I haven't had one workout yet because you have to change the mental before you change the physical and I wanted to see who's going to be here. Also, when you lose a lot, sometimes what happens is when things get tough, you quit. I want to weed out what I call the cancer, guys that mentally aren't tough enough to do what we've got to go through. We're about 75 percent there. My goal when I got here was out of the 15 guys that will be on our roster, if over half of them did not play in a game last year, I'd be happy. That means most of the guys didn't go through the losing, and that's about where we're at."
Is Kevin Zhang staying for sure?
"Oh yeah. He left yesterday and he's playing on the (Chinese) national team. The only bad part about it is I won't have him this summer, but he'll be back. That's the only negative I've had since I've been on the job because I really love his game. He would be perfect in our system, but he won't be here for the summer. He'll get better by playing who he's going to play against, but he'll miss out this summer, so we're going to have to give him a crash course when he gets back."
Any word on Caleb Daniels' decision?
"No. Caleb is going through what he needs to go through on that part, but one of the things that is important for me is you really want to be at Tulane. This is a great place. If you're just half in, you might want to go somewhere else. I want guys who want to be here. He's going through some workouts and some of those things and he's visiting some schools. I wish him the best in what happens, but we want guys who want to be here. He's a great kid. We really, really like him and think he can really help us in that regard, but he can only help us if he wants to be here. Caleb and I have talked. I wish him the best whatever happens to him. If he wants to come back here, then I would love to have him, but if he wants to move on, it won't change what we'll be next year and the next few years."
Samir Sehic tweeted he was leaving a while back but I've seen him working out at the Hertz practice facility. What is his status?
"He would like to (go pro), but he'll be back here. He'll be back here. He's down in the weight room working out. Samir will be back and will be a huge part of what we're trying to get done. There have been some guys that have been honestly pleasant surprises for me and some kids that it's probably a good thing they're not coming back."
Is Shakwon Barrett leaving?
"No, Shak will be back. He's doing a good job of improving. Really the only two guys right now that aren't part of the roster are Moses Wood and Conner Crabtree. Those are the only two for sure. We'll see what happens with (Daniels). The most surprising player that I've had is (Buay) Koka. He's been a pleasant surprise, especially in our matchup. I've got a rim protector. I've never had a rim protector. I go home every day smiling because I've always had a 6-3 guy playing center for me. I've got a 7-foot guy with the wing span of a guy 7-6, so I think he's going to be terrific for us. We are going to spend a lot of time with him this summer."
What is the status of the two guys who signed with Dunleavy--Nobal Days and Henri Langton?
"Nobal is going to be a good player. He's a 6-9 kid, can shoot the ball and is really skilled. He has a great family, so I'm excited about him."
And Langton?
"No, we've moved on. A lot of it is just sometimes fit and our style of play. And one of the things I want to do is get guys who've won before. That's important. Did you win a state championship? It's important to get those kind of guys."
Has Charlie Russell signed?
"Yes. Charlie has signed. And as I said, it was important for me and for us to get the best available player in the city and the state. I thought that was really important. I wanted to make a statement. If I can every year, the way our scholarships are, I would want to sign at least one Louisiana kid every year."
He put up good stats for a really good team. Why was he recruited lightly?
"That's what I was trying to figure out. I watched his play the first time (in an AAU tournament) and walked back and said, OK, there's something wrong. I went back the second time and he was better than the first time. I went back the third time and he was even better than that, so I was like, OK. For our system, pressing and the things we do, he's going to be perfect. People will look back two years from now and be like, how did you get this guy? But I've had a whole lot of those guys from George Hill ( a former IUPUI star who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks) to a lot of guys, and he fits right in there. If he gets stronger, he'll have a chance to play right away."
What do you like about R.J. McGee?
"I love him. I recruited him at Georgia State. You talk about a classic Ron Hunter guard--6-5, shoot it, athletic, a tough kid from the South Side of Chicago. Love this kid absolutely. We had a kid on our team, Malik Benlevi, that played on our team (at Georgia State, where he averaged 11.9 points and 5.8 rebounds as a senior) the last four years. That's R.J. McGee. We fell in love with him, and he was going to commit to Georgia State."
Where did he play last year?
"He went to a prep school in Florida (Pensacola). He's been on our radar for a while, and we knew a lot of Atlantic 10 schools started to come in, but we were able to get him to (sign). We're flipping the roster to get in the type of kids we want--more athletic and all of them can shoot and play three or four different positions."
Will Teshaun Hightower be ineligible this year?
"We'll see. We've got about three guys who will transfer and everybody who can get immediately eligible, we're going to try based on situations and those type of things. He's a great foundation because of athleticism and what he can do. He'll be a really good player in this league. I can't talk about the (potential) transfers, but if we get them, they'll be a lot of dancing between me and Bourbon Street."
