Ernie Kent signing day press conference...
- Wazzu War Room
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(Opening statement..) "There's a particular style of basketball that we play that requires a certain skill level and what I mean by skill, the ability to pass, dribble, shoot the basketball at a fast paced in a fast paced system. We feel like with the four young men that committed to us, all of them fit our style of play. They all have scored the basketball, they all have a really high basketball IQ on the floor, in particular in quick thinking situations where they have to make quick decisions in transition or in the half court. So their skill set is very good and we're very comfortable with the group we picked up.
"Robert Franks is a skill four-man that is strong, he can score inside, outside, a very good passer, has a tremendous feel for the game. It would be a tough matchup for people to have to guard because of his ability to put it on the floor almost with point guard skills with that kind of size and his ability to score inside and outside.
"Derrien King is a terrific shooter from deep range, he has excellent midrange game, very athletic, will need to put some weight on and is very similar to Dexter when, where maybe when Dex came into the door, a little bit taller, more athletic, a little bit more offensive firepower but a very high basketball IQ.
"Jeff Pollard, you would recognize that name. He's from a basketball family and he has great size. He will be attending a prep school for a year and we continue to monitor that because we certainly think he could come into our program now, that was a recommendation they asked. His brother did the same thing that's now at Rice where he played high school basketball and then went to prep school the next year.
"I want to mention that Derrien King has three years of eligibility, which makes him a really good get for us to get a junior college player that you can have for three years."
"And then Renard Suggs, we felt like the biggest thing we needed to do was replace DaVonte Lacy and his ability to score the ball. Renard Suggs can do that. He's a prolific shooter, shoots it deep, a really good understanding of the game, plays in a system that is even faster than what we play right now at Washington State, although, we certainly hope to get there. But he has an excellent skill set on him as well. His ability to see the game, see plays, make plays.
"All four of these young men are high character people. They did a tremendous job when they were on our campus, being in the summer for camp, being in for their official visits. We've had an opportunity to visit with parents and we feel really good about the group we have coming in the door, giving ourselves an opportunity now to recruit a player from California, one from Washington, one from Santa Monica, and Wyoming, certainly not being their hometown, but when you're talking about players being able to spread out like that, I think again, all of them came here and the really, really enjoyed the campus. There's really a college community in the community of Pullman."
(It appears you added a lot of length in this class ) "It was definitely intentional. We need to be, for where we want to get to, we needed more length and size on this team because, again, our sights are set on the best teams in this conference. That's the Arizona's and eventually you want to get your program to that ability. You look at their size, their length, you look at your better teams in the country, it was length and it was skillset, which is what we were looking for also. The ability to score, because, again, in this system, when you have the green light to shoot the basketball, as a coach, when it leaves your hand, I should know as well that it's going in as well as you should know it's going in."
(Where do you see King playing?) "Derrien and Renard Suggs both have the ability to play the one, the two, the three, and Derrien can play the four with his size. Again, their skillset gives them the opportunity to play multiple positions, as well as Franks, he can play multiple positions. Franks can actually play the three with that kind of size. When you have guys that aren't limited to just one position and they have a willingness to play multiple positions because multiple positions play more minutes, more versatile, the more you can score the more problems you cause defensively against you. So that was a focal point, as well as scoring the ball at that length and skillset, that ability to play multiple positions. So, in Derrien's case, it depends on the matchups, he could be the guy bringing the ball down the floor or it could be Suggs or it could be Ike. It just depends on who you're playing, how you're playing or who rebounds the ball."
(Will King be a back to the basket guy?) "He's definitely a face-up guy. He doesn't have the body to be a back-to-the-basket, unless he has an undersized defender guarding him. Even in our offense now, we've got opportunities to post up wing players and that's kind of what I've done in the past with those bigger wings, you can shuffle in there to the post and they become your post up guys when you have scoring 6-10 guys like a Josh Hawkinson. You can put him on the perimeter and post up a Derrien King and have a mismatch inside and there's your post game against a guard and everything else. So, it just depends, it gives you an opportunity to play in different ways."
(Is there a chance you add players to this class in the next signing day?) "You never, ever stop recruiting in this day in age. Again, when you look at the numbers of three years ago, 400 transfers in Division-I, two years ago there was 500, last year we had 600. That's like 1.8 per program, this year, that will transfer out or leave early. You never know who's going to develop in this program, there's a body or two in this program that, if they have a monster season, they could look at going out or people could pull them out. So, you have to continue to recruit and you do that to protect your program. You have to have your irons in the fire, you have to keep doors open, you have to keep contact with people because you never, ever know what's going to happen particularly in this day in age."
(Does Jeff have to sign again in a year due to him delaying enrollment?) "No, he doesn't. No, and again, understanding that he's a young man that may come in next year just depending on our goals and our progress as a team here and with his season, as well."
(What do you see Pollard's role being?) "I see him being a skilled big guy that can score with his back to the basket but he has a nice face-up game, too. He has tremendous leadership skills. He's a 4.0 student and he would be the most vocal guy in our program coming in the doors today as a freshman in terms of being able to talk defensively and being able to shout commands on the floor because he has that kind of understanding of the game coming from such a strong basketball background."
(Is Pollard a guy that could use a redshirt season to develop at that point?) "His family did that with his brother - a seven-footer that's at Rice - and it benefitted him. He's going to go to the Impact Academy in Las Vegas and it's really a basketball environment as well as an academic environment. Here's a 4.0 student that really doesn't need the academic side of it, but they feel like, well, wait a minute, it's kind of like an extra year to play the game to build up and develop next year. I think his game is rapidly improving and I'm not going to count out the fact that he could come in the door next year but as of right now, we'll let him play out his high school basketball and then go a year to prep school and then come in the door."
(On Renard Suggs ) "He is a complete, all-around basketball player. What I mean by that is, you take away his three-point shot, he has the ability to put the ball on the floor and get by you and then he has an understanding of the game as to when to attack - he's very athletic - when to attack and explode up and dunk and finish or he has an excellent midrange game. So, again, Derrien and Renard both have those complete games where they're very difficult to guard because they can shoot, they can put it down and handle it, they can pull up and shoot the midrange game and they have, what I call, a very good feel for the game, as well."
(Is this a class where you benefitted from a lot of prior relationships?) "It's a class that, if I look at where they came from, the conversations that I had with coaches, AAU coaches, parents, here's what I heard: number one, between Greg Graham, Silvey Dominguez and Curtis Allen, they have tremendous contacts out there to open the door up to all of these players. The second thing we heard was, we know who Coach Kent is and how he ran his program at Oregon, that style of play, we saw those players, we know, we've done our homework, he graduates his kids - that was the second piece. The third piece was that getting them to campus, all of them said the same thing: 'We didn't realize Washington State had so much.' It was an education process of utilizing Graham's contacts, Coach Dominguez' contacts, Coach Allen's contacts to open up doors, open up avenues and then it was an opportunity to step in and have those people re-educated on what we accomplished at Oregon, that style of play, that system, putting guys in the NBA, and then that third piece is educating them on now let's introduce you to Washington State. When they saw the facilities, when they saw the players, when they saw the football stadium, the football facility, when they got to see Bill Moos, when they got a chance to meet Dr. Floyd there was an impressive package we put together here that, to a parent, that same comment came out: 'We never realized Washington State had all this up there.' That's the beauty, again, what I call this community, it's a matter of educating the rest of this country in terms of how these basketball prospects know who we are. They know the conference, come understand Washington State, how we're going to play and what we do academically here."
"Robert Franks is a skill four-man that is strong, he can score inside, outside, a very good passer, has a tremendous feel for the game. It would be a tough matchup for people to have to guard because of his ability to put it on the floor almost with point guard skills with that kind of size and his ability to score inside and outside.
"Derrien King is a terrific shooter from deep range, he has excellent midrange game, very athletic, will need to put some weight on and is very similar to Dexter when, where maybe when Dex came into the door, a little bit taller, more athletic, a little bit more offensive firepower but a very high basketball IQ.
"Jeff Pollard, you would recognize that name. He's from a basketball family and he has great size. He will be attending a prep school for a year and we continue to monitor that because we certainly think he could come into our program now, that was a recommendation they asked. His brother did the same thing that's now at Rice where he played high school basketball and then went to prep school the next year.
"I want to mention that Derrien King has three years of eligibility, which makes him a really good get for us to get a junior college player that you can have for three years."
"And then Renard Suggs, we felt like the biggest thing we needed to do was replace DaVonte Lacy and his ability to score the ball. Renard Suggs can do that. He's a prolific shooter, shoots it deep, a really good understanding of the game, plays in a system that is even faster than what we play right now at Washington State, although, we certainly hope to get there. But he has an excellent skill set on him as well. His ability to see the game, see plays, make plays.
"All four of these young men are high character people. They did a tremendous job when they were on our campus, being in the summer for camp, being in for their official visits. We've had an opportunity to visit with parents and we feel really good about the group we have coming in the door, giving ourselves an opportunity now to recruit a player from California, one from Washington, one from Santa Monica, and Wyoming, certainly not being their hometown, but when you're talking about players being able to spread out like that, I think again, all of them came here and the really, really enjoyed the campus. There's really a college community in the community of Pullman."
(It appears you added a lot of length in this class ) "It was definitely intentional. We need to be, for where we want to get to, we needed more length and size on this team because, again, our sights are set on the best teams in this conference. That's the Arizona's and eventually you want to get your program to that ability. You look at their size, their length, you look at your better teams in the country, it was length and it was skillset, which is what we were looking for also. The ability to score, because, again, in this system, when you have the green light to shoot the basketball, as a coach, when it leaves your hand, I should know as well that it's going in as well as you should know it's going in."
(Where do you see King playing?) "Derrien and Renard Suggs both have the ability to play the one, the two, the three, and Derrien can play the four with his size. Again, their skillset gives them the opportunity to play multiple positions, as well as Franks, he can play multiple positions. Franks can actually play the three with that kind of size. When you have guys that aren't limited to just one position and they have a willingness to play multiple positions because multiple positions play more minutes, more versatile, the more you can score the more problems you cause defensively against you. So that was a focal point, as well as scoring the ball at that length and skillset, that ability to play multiple positions. So, in Derrien's case, it depends on the matchups, he could be the guy bringing the ball down the floor or it could be Suggs or it could be Ike. It just depends on who you're playing, how you're playing or who rebounds the ball."
(Will King be a back to the basket guy?) "He's definitely a face-up guy. He doesn't have the body to be a back-to-the-basket, unless he has an undersized defender guarding him. Even in our offense now, we've got opportunities to post up wing players and that's kind of what I've done in the past with those bigger wings, you can shuffle in there to the post and they become your post up guys when you have scoring 6-10 guys like a Josh Hawkinson. You can put him on the perimeter and post up a Derrien King and have a mismatch inside and there's your post game against a guard and everything else. So, it just depends, it gives you an opportunity to play in different ways."
(Is there a chance you add players to this class in the next signing day?) "You never, ever stop recruiting in this day in age. Again, when you look at the numbers of three years ago, 400 transfers in Division-I, two years ago there was 500, last year we had 600. That's like 1.8 per program, this year, that will transfer out or leave early. You never know who's going to develop in this program, there's a body or two in this program that, if they have a monster season, they could look at going out or people could pull them out. So, you have to continue to recruit and you do that to protect your program. You have to have your irons in the fire, you have to keep doors open, you have to keep contact with people because you never, ever know what's going to happen particularly in this day in age."
(Does Jeff have to sign again in a year due to him delaying enrollment?) "No, he doesn't. No, and again, understanding that he's a young man that may come in next year just depending on our goals and our progress as a team here and with his season, as well."
(What do you see Pollard's role being?) "I see him being a skilled big guy that can score with his back to the basket but he has a nice face-up game, too. He has tremendous leadership skills. He's a 4.0 student and he would be the most vocal guy in our program coming in the doors today as a freshman in terms of being able to talk defensively and being able to shout commands on the floor because he has that kind of understanding of the game coming from such a strong basketball background."
(Is Pollard a guy that could use a redshirt season to develop at that point?) "His family did that with his brother - a seven-footer that's at Rice - and it benefitted him. He's going to go to the Impact Academy in Las Vegas and it's really a basketball environment as well as an academic environment. Here's a 4.0 student that really doesn't need the academic side of it, but they feel like, well, wait a minute, it's kind of like an extra year to play the game to build up and develop next year. I think his game is rapidly improving and I'm not going to count out the fact that he could come in the door next year but as of right now, we'll let him play out his high school basketball and then go a year to prep school and then come in the door."
(On Renard Suggs ) "He is a complete, all-around basketball player. What I mean by that is, you take away his three-point shot, he has the ability to put the ball on the floor and get by you and then he has an understanding of the game as to when to attack - he's very athletic - when to attack and explode up and dunk and finish or he has an excellent midrange game. So, again, Derrien and Renard both have those complete games where they're very difficult to guard because they can shoot, they can put it down and handle it, they can pull up and shoot the midrange game and they have, what I call, a very good feel for the game, as well."
(Is this a class where you benefitted from a lot of prior relationships?) "It's a class that, if I look at where they came from, the conversations that I had with coaches, AAU coaches, parents, here's what I heard: number one, between Greg Graham, Silvey Dominguez and Curtis Allen, they have tremendous contacts out there to open the door up to all of these players. The second thing we heard was, we know who Coach Kent is and how he ran his program at Oregon, that style of play, we saw those players, we know, we've done our homework, he graduates his kids - that was the second piece. The third piece was that getting them to campus, all of them said the same thing: 'We didn't realize Washington State had so much.' It was an education process of utilizing Graham's contacts, Coach Dominguez' contacts, Coach Allen's contacts to open up doors, open up avenues and then it was an opportunity to step in and have those people re-educated on what we accomplished at Oregon, that style of play, that system, putting guys in the NBA, and then that third piece is educating them on now let's introduce you to Washington State. When they saw the facilities, when they saw the players, when they saw the football stadium, the football facility, when they got to see Bill Moos, when they got a chance to meet Dr. Floyd there was an impressive package we put together here that, to a parent, that same comment came out: 'We never realized Washington State had all this up there.' That's the beauty, again, what I call this community, it's a matter of educating the rest of this country in terms of how these basketball prospects know who we are. They know the conference, come understand Washington State, how we're going to play and what we do academically here."
