Wooldridge, Massey at the Big 12 Basketball Media Day
Oct 28, 2004 | Men's Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas State head basketball coach Jim Wooldridge and senior forward Jeremiah Massey met with reporters Thursday at the annual Big 12 Conference Basketball Media Days at the Embassy Suites Hotel.
Below is a transcript of that media conference.
MODERATOR: We are going to have Kansas State up, last one this afternoon. If you will introduce your player and make a few opening comments, we will take some questions.
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: Jeremiah Massey, I think we know who Jeremiah is. I don't need to say anything. You will ask what we need to answer.
I'm looking forward to the year. We have had already kind of a mini season with 10 additional practices and four additional games in
MODERATOR: Okay, Coach, thank you.
Q. This is for both of you. Let me ask you first, Jim, talk about Jeremiah not getting any votes for the Big 12 All Conference team, the preseason team.
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: That was from the coaches. Yeah. You know, Howard, I was personally surprised because, you know, I have always been, I think, very honest about our players and their capabilities and their production. I think Jeremiah Massey is one of the best players in the league. That's my opinion. I think his numbers back it up.
I think the progress he made a year ago backs that statement up as well. But I hope Jeremiah looks at it, Howard, as not necessarily a personal challenge to go out and prove everybody wrong by "Look at my game."
I think if I read Jeremiah correctly, I think he really is a team guy. He wants his team to do well. That's where we make our identity up ‑‑ maybe not identity, that's not the word -- our perception. I think that's where Jeremiah is going with his season. I think he wants his team to succeed.
If his team is successful, then the perception of all of us, with him being one of the leading players on our team, will improve. But I was really surprised. I was really, really surprised at that.
Q. What's your thought on that, Jeremiah?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: Personally, I didn't even know I didn't get any votes, actually I didn't pay any attention. Actually, I don't care. I am just looking forward to playing this season. I really don't need any accolades or any awards or anything like that. I just want to go out and win some games.
Q. Now that you have had a chance to digest it, though, obviously, newcomer of the year and kind of like, well, okay, he is back, it's not any more significant than that. That doesn't ruffle your feathers at all?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: I know what I am capable of and what my team is capable of, and I want to just go out and win games.
Q. Jeremiah, talk a little bit about transforming from a new player last year, new to the program, to now probably the leader of the team. How have you changed as a player and how do you feel your game will change this year?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: I worked really hard in the off‑season. I got a lot stronger, worked on my jump shot. I am looking forward to the challenge. Can't weight to prove people wrong by placing me at the bottom of the Big 12.
Q. As far as your leadership, you came in as a new player last year. Do you feel like you are more of the leader and the guy this year?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: I am capable of being the leader, but I will probably be one of the leaders on the team.
Q. Jim, a lot of teams, not much separating them from last year, and you were one of them. Do you have some experience coming back? Is this the year that you all are able to leapfrog some of those and move up?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: I think there are five or six teams that might be in the same category we are in, you know. If we catch a break, if we show the right ‑‑ if we have the right leadership, the right mental toughness, if those things all come together for us, you know, yes, I think we can move forward and move up in this league.
I think we have talked about it a lot with our team, we think it's somewhat of a transitional year in the Big 12. A lot of great players have gone through graduation. We have more kids back at our program than we have ever had back from one year to the next.
So we have what we think is an all‑league player coming back in Jeremiah Massey. It's a season of opportunity. We talked about it yesterday in our team meeting, that I wrote our team a letter, and wrote it during the summer and put it in their team notebook as they reported to school in mid‑August. I think the title of it was “season of opportunity.” I classify this year as that.
It's a season of opportunity to show improvement. I don't think it's an unrealistic thing to think we can't move up. I think we can move up, but I know there is a lot of work that goes into that. We have been going through that and going through the process. Then we have to earn it. We have to realize it.
Q. Is that paying back a young back court?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: We do have a young back court. I said to some of the guys that cover us, that this perhaps could be our best back court. We are gaining real confidence in these kids. These four games we have had in
So a lot of it does depend on the back court, but I mean, our season, maybe everybody's season, there are a lot of factors that go into it. We have a young back court. We have some young kids coming back. Cartier Martin, Tyler Hughes, Lance Harris, they are going to be projected playing more in important roles. So those are X factors. We think they can do it, they are going to be cast into those positions, and yet they haven't had the year to go through it yet.
So who knows? We think they can do it. We have confidence in them. We have a lot of confidence early on right now in this back court.
Q. In particular who?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: Clent Stewart and Fred Peete.
Q. Coach, same with that back court, specifically with Lance Harris, kind of what's the expectation with him? Where is his growth?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: Well, Lance Harris has grown leaps and bounds from a year ago. I didn't throw his name out in the Cartier and Martin and Tyler Hughes, but he, too, is another young player, only being a sophomore, that didn't play a lot of minutes a year ago, that is going to be cast into a much more important role.
I think he is seeing the game better, I think he is seeing the game more as an overall player instead of perhaps maybe coming out of high school, "I am a shooter, I am a shooter, I am a shooter." I just think he is going to be a better basketball player. "Look, he is an important guy."
Jeremiah, I am sure, would tell you the same thing. Right now we are bringing him off the bench, but if he keeps coming on, you could find a place in the starting rotation.
Q. Jim, how is the transition, you are kind of tweaking your offense this year, you talked about doing some different things. How has that gone so far early in practice?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: Well, my personal belief, and thinking is that it has gone very well. I think we are seeing that we are going to have perhaps earlier opportunities to get the ball up. We are trying to develop different things out of offense that get the ball to our best players. I don't want to overextend Jeremiah's importance, but I know he is important to us. We want to get him the ball in the right places and use his game effectively, as well as our other players. I think our kids enjoy it. I think they like it. I think they see where it fits.
I think they see where it makes sense to them and that we can be good at it. I think they are building confidence in it.
Q. How does Fred fit? Do you want to give him some one‑on‑one opportunities?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: We don't play a lot of one‑on‑one, but we want to get him shoots. He has the ability to make shots and create shots and create shots for other players, which is what good players do. They impact other players on the floor offensively. I think Fred and Jeremiah both have the ability to do that.
Q. Jim, there were times last year where you questioned Jeremiah's shot selection, what's a good shot, what's a bad shot. How did you progress with that last year?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: Well, I think he would be the first one to tell you that coming out of the first few games of the Big 12 conference in early January that we had to make some adjustments. He had to make some adjustments.
The best thing about Jeremiah or any good player is that they want to be coached and they want to get better. They want their team to win. In that respect, Jeremiah Massey fits that profile. So shot selection, that's part of the process. You would assume from one year to the next he is going to shoot better shots. He will know what that is.
If you look at the leading shot‑takers on our team, or maybe any team, those players should understand, I think Jeremiah does understand, I don't have to take a bad shot. I am going to get shots. I think that's something perhaps that he has learned through this process.
Q. Jeremiah, how long did it take you to learn that last year?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: That didn't take me too long. I found out I was doing the wrong thing because Coach talked to me. After that, I made some adjustments.
Q. Talked to you or yelled at you?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: Yelled at me pretty much.
Q. Do you remember, Jeremiah, when it clicked in for you, the game or practice?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: It was after we lost to
Q. Is it different types of shots or just different situations or looking?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: Just different situations and different types of shots. I was moving too fast. Just after I slowed everything down, everything came after.
Q. Coach, how is Marques Hayden doing and do you expect him to have a big break‑out year?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: Well, Marques has done better. You know, Marques has completed both a freshman and sophomore year. We were asked earlier where is he right now in his development. I think it's a big year for Marques. Marques is a player that can help this team, can impact this team. I think everybody on our team knows that.
He is in now a year where you have to deem him as an experienced player, so if he is an experienced player, he needs to play more consistently. We need him to because he brings our team some versatility on the front line and can do a lot of different things.
So I think Marques wants to come back into his junior year, to answer your question. He sees this as a big year for himself and his team to prove that he can play consistently, to prove that he can impact this team and to prove that he can help his team win. I think that's where he is in his mind right now. He has told me that he was disappointed in a year ago.
We haven't certainly given up on Marques. We think Marques can produce more and we are certainly going to give him opportunities to do that.
Q. You talk about increased responsibility or leaning on players. You mentioned Cartier. Can you talk about specifically what you want him to improve on or is it a natural progression?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: Yes, it's a natural progression, but like Jeremiah, he is like Jeremiah in a way in my mind. Perhaps other players that, you know, come from high school or come from junior college and find themselves playing in perhaps the best league in the country, and when you play in this type of league, you are playing against great players.
How you view the game is almost a starting point. If you view the point, well, I played a good game because I made several shots, or I played a good game because I played an overall game, I was a good defender, I was a good passer, I made good decisions, I shot high percentage shots,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, that's where he has got to go, is viewing the game as an overall ‑‑ in every aspect of the game.
He has to ‑‑ I use this word all the time with our players, he has to impact games for
So it's an evolution. It's a process. That's what he is going through as a young player. And it's a shame from a year ago that it was a start, stop, start, stop type year because of the injuries. We are hoping he can stay injury‑free and, if so, play out to his fullest abilities this year.
Q. You had talked a little bit about the off‑season work you did. Can you go into that in a little more detail as far as the weight lifting? You have never really done that at all before you got to KC?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: When I was in junior college, we lifted every now and then, but we usually got around to lifting ‑‑ the whole team, not just me, was in the weight room at least four times a week. We were going at it every day. That should help us out a lot.
Q. What was it like for you? How brand new is that for you in particular?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: It was pretty new to me because I didn't know lifting weights would be so hard. I figured it would be something guys would do to get through it. After I found out how sore you get and how much it hurts ‑‑ I mean, it helps in the end, but it hurts to get it done.
Q. What was it like the first day after you lifted hard?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: After the first day you couldn't feel anything. After the first two, three days you start feeling it. Your body starts feeling beat up. After it starts adjusting to it, you do okay.
Q. Is that going to make a big difference for you this year?
JEREMIAH MASSEY: I think it will make a big deal for me. I will have strength behind it, and it should help me out a lot.
Q. How much did you find out you needed the strength?
COACH WOOLDRIDGE: With Jeff Graves I got pushed around for two halves in a row. It made me feel bad when I went home at night. I just had to do something about it.
MODERATOR: Any more questions for Coach or Jeremiah? All right, gentlemen, we will let you go to the back and do one‑on‑ones.
