"Yeah, he was a pioneer, not only to St. John's, but to the history of basketball. In 1951, he was the first African-American player to play for St. John's, and one of the great things about this program is it's got a tremendous history across the board. Within the men's basketball program, we've had historic figures as coaches and players, and it's always been about equality, diversity, going back to Joe Lapchick, Frank McGuire, Coach Carnesecca, so as we teach basketball and our student-athletes take their courses, there's an education to be had for the history of our program. Coach Carnesecca always stressed that with us, I do with my players. I was just at an event on Sunday -- Brooklyn USA -- with Coach Carnesecca, and it was a big tribute to Solly Walker. The Seton Hall game at the Garden, I think it was two years ago, there was tremendous support. His basketball career speaks for itself, but more importantly the way he conducted himself, handled adversity post-basketball career, he was a huge mentor to so many people in Brooklyn, so I have tremendous respect (for him). I guess he left his mark and his legacy on and off the court."
On the biggest question mark surrounding St. John's:
"Well, the focus is on improvement, and defensively, individual improvement -- take care of your own guy, take that individual challenge on -- we do that defensively. We've done really well in our team schemes and guys are picking us up. We've got to get a little better individually, we have to rebound better, and offensively, it's simple -- be unselfish. We're able to score the basketball, and when you have a bunch of talented guys who can do it, it's really better when they do it together. Those are the two things that we stress. I think we're doing a good job of it, and pretty soon, we're going to go out and find out who we are."
On Marvin Clark II and Justin Simon:
"I feel they're going to have a tremendous impact. We'll have to wait and see, but that's what my feeling is. As you mentioned, both Justin and Marvin come from tremendous college basketball programs with great coaches, and then having them here for a year, not including individual training but also working with our team concepts, really helps. And when you just look at them physically, you can just see the impact players like them have on our roster just from a physical stature. Add the fact that they've got college basketball experience, it's a huge plus for us."
On why St. John's has become attractive to transfers:
"When you look historically -- I know when I played, we always had a few transfers come in -- it's probably more prominent now. It's always been pretty prominent here in general. Some may leave New York and love it, some may leave and miss it. That's what the dynamic has kind of consisted of. In college basketball now, I don't think it's really isolated to St. John's, the Big East, or anything. I think it's pretty much nationwide."
On expectations for Shamorie Ponds:
"He had an historic season last year, he scored the most points ever for a freshman, and when you look at the list of players that have come through here, that's pretty significant. But I think he's stronger, quicker, he's got a better understanding of what it takes, and he's got another great season ahead of him."
On Jay Wright's assessment that St. John's is an NCAA Tournament team:
"I hope he's right."
On Ponds and Marcus LoVett, and what he has seen from them going into their sophomore seasons:
"There's no substitute for experience. I think both had great seasons last year, they had a lot of minutes on the floor. They got to learn what it takes to win in the Big East, what it takes to win on the road, and I've asked them this year to do a little bit more -- help us on the boards, become catch-and-shoot players on offense, stay aggressive on defense. In the first part of practice, they've been great."
On the new chapter of the Georgetown rivalry and Patrick Ewing as the Hoyas' head coach:
"It's a rivalry that's been around for a long time. Obviously, Patrick and I, our careers have mirrored each other in the same timeframe. I think we're going to renew some old stories, but it's about the players now."
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