"Operation Basketball": Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams and Players Speak with Media

The ACC held its basketball media day, better known as "Operation Basketball", Wednesday. The media in attendance in Charlotte picked Virginia Tech to finish last in the conference. Hokies head coach Buzz Williams, junior guard Adam Smith and senior guard Will Johnston attended on behalf of Tech. The ACC made transcripts available and they're copied in full below.

Q. Obviously you did a lot of successful things at Marquette. When you look at this team of Virginia Tech, the team said that you've brought a lot of energy to them. What have you taken away from the team?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: They're as good a kids as I've been around in the long, long time, and they've been very receptive to how we want to go about things. They've been as coachable as any group that I've been around. They're aware of the workload that's ahead of them.

Having said that, they're really excited every day to go to work, and I think that there's something to be said for that. I'm thankful for the chance to be around them.

I would rather be with them today than doing this.

Q. The first thing that you did when you got there, the players said that you introduced your wife and your kids to them. Talk about what that meant to you to establish family first, and then the second part of it, why was this the right fit for you to leave Marquette and make the decision to come here?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: Well, I think that a lot of coaches, a lot of leaders in all walks of business say that this is a family. I think a lot of people believe that. It's just really important to me that I'm famous in my home, regardless of my success or whatever success is on or off the floor. I want to make sure that I'm the husband and father that I'm supposed to be, and so my kids are around our players a lot, and I did want them to meet my wife, and I did want them to meet our four children. And our players, whoever said that, is right; as soon as my family got to town, I immediately took them to meet our team.

I think that's what you're supposed to do. Instead of just saying it, you want to be about it. I think that's what all successful people do in any walk of life.

Q. Now that you've kind of gotten to have practices with the guys, I think we asked you a couple weeks ago, but now that you've had more practices, what traits or characteristics can you tell about this team right now?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: We've had 16 practices as of yesterday. We'll go again twice tomorrow. I would say the No. 1 characteristic that I would say about the team is they really care, and I think that's a great place to start. They're working incredibly hard. They want to work. Their expectation is to work with energy every day. They've been phenomenal in their ability to listen, to execute what we're trying to teach them.

They've been taught several things. Some of them have had three coaches during their tenure, and so their ability to listen and be able to absorb that and be able to execute it has been really, really good, but I think they're also aware of how critical every day is for us as a program to continue to improve.

I would say the first thing is that they really care.

Q. There's been a lot of changes aside from the coaching staff. I'm talking about players, people who have left, new guys coming in. How is this group looking, and do you think the potential is there to outperform the preseason rankings?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: Well, we got 155 votes and Duke got 935, so the potential to outperform what the expectations are, obviously we have multiple opportunities to do that because we were picked dead last. It's hard for me to say, to be able to answer your question in an honest way.

I'm familiar with some of those teams that we've competed against in the past, but I've been so consumed with trying to establish our culture and the things that are really important to us that I've probably been negligent to some extent on beginning to prepare for teams that we're going to play in January and February.

But we've just got so much work to do between now and then, it's hard for me to say. And it's hard for me to compete, like, where are we in comparison to other programs. Obviously I have a pulse on that because it's what we do, but I didn't watch any tape from last year because I didn't want to pre-judge our kids that are remaining, and like you said, we've probably had more player changes than we have coaching changes, if you want to count by numbers.

I can say that the kids that are still there all want to be there, and there's something to be said for that, and we're thankful that we are there, but how do we compare to these other teams and where they're at with their roster and their styles of play? We're behind in that, and we've got some work to make up in that regard.

Q. Now that the poll, I guess the preseason poll is out, I don't know how much you really take into that. I'm sure you don't take a ton, but is that something you use for motivation for your team, or is that a surprise, or do you just kind of throw that out altogether?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: Yeah, I hope that we're not motivated by external things. Having said that, I'll tell them and show them. I'll text that to them whenever you guys are through asking questions so that they know, but it's not necessarily to fire them up, it's just this is what they said, sorry I'm not there to tell you in person, but here's -- I just took a picture, and that's where we're at.

Q. Hearing that you're not influenced by some of the external, from the internal standpoint, how do you benchmark amongst your own crew?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: Good question. Are we better today than yesterday, and then can we be a little bit better Thursday than we were today, and then can those days turn into weeks, and can we string together a few weeks and turn it into a month, and are we distinctly better as 2015 starts than as 2014 comes to a close.

Q. How is Devin Wilson handling what you would like to do offensively?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: Really well. He's a good player. I think that he could be a really good player. I think the thing that he cares about most is he wants to win. You can tell he's a former football player. He's not scared of anything. He has great defensive instincts. He has improved dramatically as a leader in the six months that we've been there. His teammates trust him. His teammates rely on him.

But I think in some of the things that we're trying to do offensively, it's predicated on him being really good. I hope that we don't have to burn him out and play him 38 minutes a game. There will be nights that I'm assuming that we will. But we need to find somebody that can allow him to come get a drink of water here and there, and we're trying to figure that out. We don't have an answer to that yet. But he's been great.

Q. Going back to your progress and talking about day-to-day getting better, I know you haven't played a game yet, but from the time you got here and started working with the guys, how has that progress been?

BUZZ WILLIAMS: Yeah, good question. Better question than your first one. Really good. Really good, because those are things that we have evidence on. I'm not trying to be sarcastic to you, but I can better answer that question without giving you coach-speak because I know where we were and I know where we're at, and so I can answer the growth and the improvement.

I think David Jackson has done as good a job as he can possibly do in the weight room with our team. I think Ernest Eugene has been great in some of the injury prevention stuff we do in the training room. I think our staff has been great in what we do in pre-practice and post-practice, watching tape, things of that nature.

I think that more than maybe making a shot or a particular play, I think our guys better understand the work capacity that we want and the energy level we want during that work on a daily basis, and to be able to function as if every day is the same day.

I think it's an arduous process, all of this, and really what we want are beavers. Beavers get up and chop wood every day. They do the same thing wherever they are. And that's what we want to be. And I think our guys have bought into that. They understand that, and they're to the point now where they embrace that.

Who drew the #HokieBird better, @WJohnston_25 or @AdamIIILM ? pic.twitter.com/ERhpI1sdB7— VT Men's Basketball (@VT_MBBall) October 29, 2014

Q. What can you take from Buzz Williams being your new head coach and what has he meant so far?

ADAM SMITH: I mean, he just brings excitement, you know. Everyone is really excited about the start of the season. We've been excited since he got in, and just something he brings to the table is just you learn a lot from him, just kind of being around him. If you shadow him, you just learn a lot. He rarely sleeps. He's really big on work ethic and hard work. That's kind of his mentality, just working hard every day, getting better.

Q. Adam, Buzz Williams said a couple weeks ago that he still hadn't figured out you guys' identity, maybe how to play or anything. I know it's only been a couple weeks but are you getting closer to figuring out what this team will look like and what style of play you guys are going to be playing in going into the season?

ADAM SMITH: Yeah, I think we're getting closer. Three-hour practices every day, you've got to improve on something.

Yeah, I think we're getting there. Like I said, we're learning a lot every day trying different stuff, figuring stuff out. We'll be there soon.

Q. After finishing last in the conference last season and the year that you had last year, how eager are you guys to get out there and start anew?

ADAM SMITH: I think we're just looking like forward, you know what I'm saying? We're just kind of building. It's something new. Not really going off what we did last season, but we have new players, new staff. Like I said, we're just kind of focused on the present moment, kind of just preparing for the future, not really looking in the past.

Q. Last year Ben as a freshman was a captain and then you had some senior leaders leave. Who's stepping into the leadership role this season?

ADAM SMITH: I think our returners, like all of our returning players. With a new coaching staff and then having five freshmen coming in, it just has to be like some kind of camaraderie, and I feel like the returners really set the standards for that. Everybody just kind of meshed as soon as they came in, like we're a family now. I feel like all of our returners are leaders in one aspect or another.

Q. Do you have to prove anything this year to anybody?

ADAM SMITH: I don't think so. Because we're at the bottom of the conference, we have like a lot of doubters, and not too many supporters. But I think it's more about proving ourselves right than kind of proving everybody wrong.

Q. I think you probably you and Will look at it differently being seniors but I think a lot of outside people see this as a rebuilding year or don't expect a whole lot. Do you consider this a rebuilding year, and how do you see the outlook of the season with so much uncertainty right now?

ADAM SMITH: No, because we're seniors we don't want to look at it as a rebuilding year, because rebuilding, it takes a long time. It's a process. We're ready now. We're trying to make noise now as soon as possible.

Q. The last couple of years the season has started fairly strong. Is it important to get off to a fast start this year? Do you have to be 11-1 or 9-2 to get started?

ADAM SMITH: Yeah, I think that's very important if we want to be 11-1 starting off, why not. But the big thing is I think just taking one game at a time. 11-1, you focus on the next game and just keep it going. I feel like that's really important.

THE MODERATOR: We'll make the switch. Thank you, Adam. Will, talk a little bit about Adam and his importance to this program.

WILL JOHNSTON: Adam provides a lot of leadership for us. You know, he's a veteran guy. He's played the game a lot. Not only that, but he can really shoot the ball, and that's going to be really important for us this year because within our offense we're going to be shooting a lot more threes than Coach Buzz is probably used to. That will provide a lot of importance for us.

Q. Will, kind of going off the same thing, with Buzz Williams being new here and coming in an instituting what he wants from you, how would you define him as a coach and as a person?

WILL JOHNSTON: As a person, he's like a father to us almost. You know, the way I think about it, he is like our dad and like my teammates are like my brothers. As a coach, he brings a lot of energy, and he's very consistent. He's the same person one day as he is the next, and that's really important for us because what he does off the court, it doesn't really matter because once he gets on the court, he's going to be the same person every single day, and we count on him for that.

Q. Will, with so many new pieces and new coaches, you guys had only a couple guys returning from last year, is there anything you guys can build on from last year, or is it a completely new slate starting over, everything going into this year?

WILL JOHNSTON: I'd say it's a completely new slate for us, just because completely new coaching staff. Yeah, we have a couple returning players, and I think one person, Joey van Zegeren, he's the main person I would say can build off last year because he had a really good end to his season. So if he can pick up where he left off, that would be great for him.

But for the rest of us, we're kind of starting brand new, and just taking whatever Coach Buzz tells us and running with it.

Q. With everything new, new coaches, new players and everything, how has the transition been? How have you guys all been meshing so far?

WILL JOHNSTON: Really well. Right when Coach Buzz got here, the first thing he did, it wasn't about basketball or nothing like that. He introduced his wife and his four kids, and it was all about family, and for us, that's what we've built our base on. We're just a really tight-knit group, and like I said earlier, he's like our dad and my teammates are like my brothers.

Q. So if you're just proving to yourselves based on what your teammates said, if you think about the season, what is going to make this season successful, again, using the word new, with all the newness that's around?

WILL JOHNSTON: I guess just not judging off wins and losses. It's kind of just playing hard and playing within the system that Coach Buzz gives to us. He wants us to be predicated on toughness, mentally tough, physically conditioned, not Xs and Os and plays and stuff like that.

So if we can do that, I think we can consider our season a success.

Q. What do you think is going to be the biggest change as far as your style of play? I know you just said you're going to be shooting a lot of threes. Talk about what you guys are planning to do out there.

WILL JOHNSTON: We're going to be playing really fast-paced, and because we're undersized, we're going to have guards guarding other teams' 4 men. So we're going to have to play really fast-paced, and then, like you said, we're probably going to be shooting a lot more threes than we have in the past.

Q. Along those lines, has there been a lot of conditioning for that?

WILL JOHNSTON: Yeah. We had individual workouts where it was like hours and hours of work every single day, just to get through it. And then the hardest thing we did was boot camp, and that was about a week, two weeks where we didn't even touch a basketball. It was conditioning stations, basketball stations without using a basketball, and then just straight sprints. We just kept running and kept running until we got the sprint over with. With Coach Buzz, he holds us 100 percent accountable every day, so if we didn't get one sprint, we couldn't move on until the next one, so we just had to keep running and running, and now we're in the best shape of our lives.

Q. With so many unknowns this year, what's already going to be maybe the biggest challenge or some of the biggest challenges you feel like you guys will need to overcome going into the season?

WILL JOHNSTON: I would just say the biggest challenge with us this year is our depth and our size. Like I said, we don't really have a 4 man, and we just have two 5s. Being able to overcome our size challenge is going to be difficult, but at the same time, we're going to try to use it as a strength for us.

We're going to have to guard, like, other teams' big men, but at the same time they're going to have to guard us on the perimeter, so that's going to be tough for them.