When a season goes awry, fans always cry for more playing time for the freshmen while coaches continue to try to win.
But Ron Hunter gave freshman R.J. McGee an opportunity against Wichita State. Although he did not play particularly well, the future is bright for the first player Hunter signed when he took the job. With little else to write about, I talked to McGee today about his development and got Hunter's and Christion Thompson's thoughts on him as well.
HUNTER
R.J. McGee got his first start against Wichita State. What did you think of his potential?
"I really do (like his potential). I even told him after the game I purposely threw him in that situation at Wichita State, the hardest place in the league to play, a team that's fighting to get into the NCAA tournament. I wanted to see how he would handle this, and I told him by the time you leave here, that's going to be us, and I want to get a taste of it. As we're building a foundation, I just wanted him to be able to learn from it. When you do little things like that, what happens in the offseason is you now know you have something you have to work at to achieve, I've got to make myself ready for that."
He had 10 points against Southern early in the season but has not come close to duplicating that. What does he need to do to help this team before the year is over?
"It's learning how to play at this level. Even in the last game, he was on the floor three or four times. You can't play basketball on the floor. He plays hard and he's got a great skill set. You can't learn by sitting. One of the things I'm doing now as we get down to this last part of the season is giving him an opportunity to do that. He's going to be a part of our core. He's really talented. As we finish the season up, I put Kevin (Zhang) back in the starting lineup and he's playing a lot better. Not to take anything away from the three seniors we've got, but I want to make sure that he has something he can take and say here's how I have to get better."
What attracted you to him out of the prep school in Florida (McGee graduated from high school in Chicago, then spent a year in Florida)?
"If you know anything about me, I love guys 6-4 to 6-6 and he fits right into that. If I had a whole team of Christion Thompsons, that's what I'd do. That's what we're striving to. We want to play a lot of guys that size. He's athletic. Now what he has to is get confidence in playing at this level. He's been playing about 13 to 14 minutes a game now. I really like what he's doing. Offensively, that's the last thing to come, but defensively I like what he's doing."
What position do you see him playing down the road?
"I'll be honest with you. I told him to watch what Christion does. I want him to do what Christion does. Think about what Christion did his freshman year up until what he's doing now, if we can get R.J. on that same trajectory and maybe get that for two or three years, that's what we're hoping. He can play the 1, 2, 3 and maybe sometimes the 4."
CHRISTION THOMPSON
What's your impression of R.J. McGee?
"R.J. has a lot of potential. He has a lot of upside, and I told him when you came into college you had what most freshman try to get, and that's a body. R.J. came in kind of muscular already and has put in a lot of work in the weight room already and you can see improvements on his body. He has a bigger body and he also has good touch on the ball, a good shot. I just tell him to stay in the gym. There's always ways to improve. As a freshman he always used to tell me that's not in my game. I'd tell him you can always put something in your game."
Where do you see him developing?
"He wants to be better. He listens and he actually works. Whenever I talk to him, he texts me or asks me what is it that I think he could have done better. It's good."
MCGEE
How do you feel you can build off of your first start?
"It was a rocky start for me, but it was a learning experience. I definitely learned a lot, like how to play in that atmosphere. I'm going to take that into the next game and into next season."
How can you help the team the most?
"I'm more of a 3 and D guy. I think this is what this team needs. I'm going to play as hard as I can on defense and hit open shots in the corner and then the top of the key when they pass the ball to me."
You actually have more rebounds per minute than anyone who plays in the rotation. Is that a strength?
"I definitely can do that and feel like I can do a little bit more, get some more assists and more steals. It's a learning process for me and I'm going to keep working."
How much better do you feel like you'll be next year?
"A lot better. This is a learning experience for me. I'm going to take everything I learn from this season, watch a whole bunch of film during the summer and just play way better my sophomore year."
How much did going to the prep school in Florida help you?
"That helped me out a lot, like off the court with my maturity. My coach down at the prep school helped me get a lot more physical, a lot smarter about the game and make better plays on the offensive and defensive game."
Why did you go to prep school?
"I didn't have other options. Coming out of high school, I only had one D3 offer (St. Benedictine), and my parents were like, we're not going to pay $15,000 for you to play college basketball. Coach Taylor (at the prep school) hit me up, and that's what happened there."
What schools recruited you besides Tulane?
"St. Bonaventure, Louisiana Monroe and Florida A&M."
Why Tulane?
"Coach Hunter and coach Ray (McCallum) had the right personalities. They told me exactly what I wanted to hear. They said they would help me develop my game and help me get to the next level, and that's all I want to hear from a coach. They said they'd give me al the opportunity I need to excel at this level."
What do you envision yourself doing as a full-time starter down the road?
"Just a guy that makes plays like Christion and Teshaun do, a guy that makes his teammates better and is just a vocal leader on the offensive end and the defensive end."
When did you develop your muscles?
"I kind of always had it. I never really lifted weights before I got here at Tulane. This summer really helped me out with (the strength and conditioning program). They had me in the weight room pretty much every day working on my shoulders, working on my core, working on my legs a lot. It really made a big difference coming into this first season."
Why did you not get more attention in high school?
"Because Chicago is so competitive. It's so political. During high school I averaged 18 points and six rebounds and my team went all the way to the Elite 8. We had a good year, but colleges had a whole bunch of knocks on me. Coming out of that grade, I had Talen Horton Tucker (who spent one year at Iowa State before getting drafted in the NBA), Xavier Castaneda (at USF), just a whole bunch of guys who already had D1 attention. For me to get to that level, it was already too late."
What were the knocks?
"They said they didn't like my motor and my defense. They said I didn't play hard enough on my defensive end, so going into my prep school that's what I focused on. I always had the offense. I just had to work on my defense, which is crazy because I came to Tulane and now I'm a defensive stopper."
But Ron Hunter gave freshman R.J. McGee an opportunity against Wichita State. Although he did not play particularly well, the future is bright for the first player Hunter signed when he took the job. With little else to write about, I talked to McGee today about his development and got Hunter's and Christion Thompson's thoughts on him as well.
HUNTER
R.J. McGee got his first start against Wichita State. What did you think of his potential?
"I really do (like his potential). I even told him after the game I purposely threw him in that situation at Wichita State, the hardest place in the league to play, a team that's fighting to get into the NCAA tournament. I wanted to see how he would handle this, and I told him by the time you leave here, that's going to be us, and I want to get a taste of it. As we're building a foundation, I just wanted him to be able to learn from it. When you do little things like that, what happens in the offseason is you now know you have something you have to work at to achieve, I've got to make myself ready for that."
He had 10 points against Southern early in the season but has not come close to duplicating that. What does he need to do to help this team before the year is over?
"It's learning how to play at this level. Even in the last game, he was on the floor three or four times. You can't play basketball on the floor. He plays hard and he's got a great skill set. You can't learn by sitting. One of the things I'm doing now as we get down to this last part of the season is giving him an opportunity to do that. He's going to be a part of our core. He's really talented. As we finish the season up, I put Kevin (Zhang) back in the starting lineup and he's playing a lot better. Not to take anything away from the three seniors we've got, but I want to make sure that he has something he can take and say here's how I have to get better."
What attracted you to him out of the prep school in Florida (McGee graduated from high school in Chicago, then spent a year in Florida)?
"If you know anything about me, I love guys 6-4 to 6-6 and he fits right into that. If I had a whole team of Christion Thompsons, that's what I'd do. That's what we're striving to. We want to play a lot of guys that size. He's athletic. Now what he has to is get confidence in playing at this level. He's been playing about 13 to 14 minutes a game now. I really like what he's doing. Offensively, that's the last thing to come, but defensively I like what he's doing."
What position do you see him playing down the road?
"I'll be honest with you. I told him to watch what Christion does. I want him to do what Christion does. Think about what Christion did his freshman year up until what he's doing now, if we can get R.J. on that same trajectory and maybe get that for two or three years, that's what we're hoping. He can play the 1, 2, 3 and maybe sometimes the 4."
CHRISTION THOMPSON
What's your impression of R.J. McGee?
"R.J. has a lot of potential. He has a lot of upside, and I told him when you came into college you had what most freshman try to get, and that's a body. R.J. came in kind of muscular already and has put in a lot of work in the weight room already and you can see improvements on his body. He has a bigger body and he also has good touch on the ball, a good shot. I just tell him to stay in the gym. There's always ways to improve. As a freshman he always used to tell me that's not in my game. I'd tell him you can always put something in your game."
Where do you see him developing?
"He wants to be better. He listens and he actually works. Whenever I talk to him, he texts me or asks me what is it that I think he could have done better. It's good."
MCGEE
How do you feel you can build off of your first start?
"It was a rocky start for me, but it was a learning experience. I definitely learned a lot, like how to play in that atmosphere. I'm going to take that into the next game and into next season."
How can you help the team the most?
"I'm more of a 3 and D guy. I think this is what this team needs. I'm going to play as hard as I can on defense and hit open shots in the corner and then the top of the key when they pass the ball to me."
You actually have more rebounds per minute than anyone who plays in the rotation. Is that a strength?
"I definitely can do that and feel like I can do a little bit more, get some more assists and more steals. It's a learning process for me and I'm going to keep working."
How much better do you feel like you'll be next year?
"A lot better. This is a learning experience for me. I'm going to take everything I learn from this season, watch a whole bunch of film during the summer and just play way better my sophomore year."
How much did going to the prep school in Florida help you?
"That helped me out a lot, like off the court with my maturity. My coach down at the prep school helped me get a lot more physical, a lot smarter about the game and make better plays on the offensive and defensive game."
Why did you go to prep school?
"I didn't have other options. Coming out of high school, I only had one D3 offer (St. Benedictine), and my parents were like, we're not going to pay $15,000 for you to play college basketball. Coach Taylor (at the prep school) hit me up, and that's what happened there."
What schools recruited you besides Tulane?
"St. Bonaventure, Louisiana Monroe and Florida A&M."
Why Tulane?
"Coach Hunter and coach Ray (McCallum) had the right personalities. They told me exactly what I wanted to hear. They said they would help me develop my game and help me get to the next level, and that's all I want to hear from a coach. They said they'd give me al the opportunity I need to excel at this level."
What do you envision yourself doing as a full-time starter down the road?
"Just a guy that makes plays like Christion and Teshaun do, a guy that makes his teammates better and is just a vocal leader on the offensive end and the defensive end."
When did you develop your muscles?
"I kind of always had it. I never really lifted weights before I got here at Tulane. This summer really helped me out with (the strength and conditioning program). They had me in the weight room pretty much every day working on my shoulders, working on my core, working on my legs a lot. It really made a big difference coming into this first season."
Why did you not get more attention in high school?
"Because Chicago is so competitive. It's so political. During high school I averaged 18 points and six rebounds and my team went all the way to the Elite 8. We had a good year, but colleges had a whole bunch of knocks on me. Coming out of that grade, I had Talen Horton Tucker (who spent one year at Iowa State before getting drafted in the NBA), Xavier Castaneda (at USF), just a whole bunch of guys who already had D1 attention. For me to get to that level, it was already too late."
What were the knocks?
"They said they didn't like my motor and my defense. They said I didn't play hard enough on my defensive end, so going into my prep school that's what I focused on. I always had the offense. I just had to work on my defense, which is crazy because I came to Tulane and now I'm a defensive stopper."