Erik McKinney over at WeAreSC has a great interview with Coach Tim Floyd.
Here are some excerpts.
[...]I'll never forget. I was having my press conference, and there were probably about 15 people in the varsity lounge for the press conference when I left. And as I was leaving, probably 250 media people came rushing in. I thought, "That's strange, what's going on?" It was Matt Leinart making his announcement whether he was going to stay or leave. I walked outside and there were 3,000 students outside chanting his name. I heard this loud roar from outside and I thought, "Boy, there's some passion here. But we still have a long way to go."
On last season
[...]I think a real turning point for us, as a program, was in Las Vegas, a loss we experienced to Kansas State, in a tournament prior to Christmas. I've never been as down in my career because I just didn't feel like these guys were getting it. I think they expected us to have a late-night film session after a very emotional post-game talk and I know they certainly expected a very difficult practice the next morning prior to a game that night against Wichita State, who was ranked #8 in the country. And we did neither. We ignored our team until an hour and a half before game time. We benched several players. I talked about how great they were, but I was tired of being the only guy in the room who believed it. I was tired of guys not sacrificing, of guys not thinking about the other guy, only thinking about themselves. And for whatever reason, with the likes of Keith Wilkinson and some other guys who started that night, we made a tremendous turn and it carried over into our next game with Washington, which we won in double overtime.
On next season
We're losing more scoring than anybody in the Pac-10. That being said, I have great expectations. We have players returning that I think are capable. We have players that we've added that I hope live up to their expectations. It'll be a process as far as learning how to win at home, and learning how to win on the road in non-conference, and learning how to win in conference at home and away, because we're going to be relying on so many new players at key positions.
On OJ Mayo and his recruitment
[...]I think maybe he understood what was going on with me better than I understood what was going on with him because I've been in this business so long and I literally worked less for OJ coming here, who's the best player I've ever recruited, than with any other player I've recruited.
[...]So Gabe and Nick wanted to take him out on the town after the meal, but he asked them to take him back to campus. He meets up with Rob and goes up and shoots in the gym from midnight until 3:00 in the morning on his official visit. I love that stuff. I love it. I've never been around a guy like that. That's why he's got a chance to be great.
On Taj Gibson
[...]I believe Gibson has a chance to be as good as any player in the country at his position, with the added strength, given the year of experience that he had last year and some of the games that he had last year. I'm thrilled with his ability to rebound the ball, his coachability, his instincts, his knowledge of the game. He's unique for an inside guy in that he can face up and shoot it, he can face up and beat you off the dribble, but he can also play with his back to the basket and can rebound. He has to get stronger. He made the right decision to come back to school.
It's no secret that Floyd will have his work cut for him next season as he has a lot of scoring to replace. Obviously there are a lot of questions on this team will look next season and all the hype around O.J. Mayo will add to the pressure.
I'm not concerned though, Tim Floyd gladly accepts the challenge and will do his best to get the most pot of this team. You have to admit it is going to be fun to watch.
This article is great insightful read so check it out.
HT: TrojanNYC