Fan Meeting With Rick Majerus

First of all, it was a solid turnout. I expected it to be a bit smaller and was suprised when they held it on the Huntsman Center floor rather than in one of the smaller meeting rooms. They knew what they were doing though. Roughly 1,000 people showed up. They even gave us free sodas.

Now onto my notes...

Before Rick spoke, Schneider introduced the assistant coaches and had them speak.

I can see why Silvey is considered a good recruiter. He is articulate, well spoken, and is good in front of an audience. He told a couple of stories about his job interview which got a few laughs. I asked him if he had any primary responsibilities and he responded that his job description was a blank sheet of paper. He basically does whatever Rick tells him to do. I came away really liking the guy.

Eric Jackson didn't speak for as long as Silvey did. He basically gave his background, mentioned how excited he was to work with the Utah program and Majerus, and mentioned that he has learned that coaches do more work than players.

Here's my notes on what Rick said:

First and foremost, Rick's mom has, for now, defeated the cancer scourge. She's doing extremely well. Lots of applause for Rick's mom when he mentioned that.

Also, since Rick was wearing shorts, I could see the scar from his accident last year. Nasty scar. Easily 12" long on the inside of his left calf. That must've been pretty messy.

Rick had just come over from his swimming workout. He looked bigger than he did 3-4 years ago, but I think I've seen him bigger. I don't see him up close that much, so it's difficult for me to make a judgement. I'll save that for someone who seems him on a more regular basis.

Rick likened this to the Crimson Club luncheons that he does during the year. The one I went to last year was exactly like this. Rick said he doesn't like doing those luncheons during the season because it takes away from his preparation time (film and practice). He really liked having this one though. It was a good time for him and he went well over the 1 1/2 hours that it was scheduled for. It was supposed to end at 7:00, but we didn't get out of there until 8:00. He did say he was disappointed they didn't serve food though...

Here are some specific player comments that I jotted down. BTW, if I had to order what I think Rick thinks is important characteristics of a good basketball player, I would put them down like this:

Passion. You have to want to play.
Hands. You have to have soft hands.
Feel. You have to understand how people will react to the pass or move you are about to make. He talks a lot about the guys who make the pass which leads to the pass. This is how I quantify feel. You make a pass to a guy knowing that by doing so he'll be able to make a pass to the guy underneath.

He said there are a lot of runners and jumpers out there, and that these 3 characteristics is what separates the good from the rest.

So keep those in mind as I regurgitate what Rick said about the players:

Frost: He's a good shooter, good passer, has a good feel for the game. Someone compared him to Josh Grant, and Rick's comment was that Josh was more athletic, "which is frightening". The difference though was that Josh liked to hang around the outside shooting 3's, whereas Frost likes to mix it up inside. He's worked hard on his body in the last year and reduced his body fat. Rick expects him to start at the 4 this coming season.
Chris Jackson, aka: Big Red: He's the first player Rick has given a nickname to. There are too many Jacksons running around on the team: 2 players, 1 coach, and 2 managers. He yells "Hey Jackson!" and 5 guys stop what they're doing and look at him. The first thing he mentioned was how smart Chris is. Chris is taking classes with names he can't even understand (I know Chris is really working hard with his academics, and ranks up there with Drew and Larry Cain in the grades department). He brings that intelligence to the floor though. His only weakness is that at 7' Chris basically dominated at the HS level because there wasn't anyone as big as he was, so he is basically inexperienced and somewhat soft. He just needs to learn what it takes to dominate at this level. He seems to have the tools though. Rick really likes his hands and how well he runs the floor. Rick also said that Chris has been working hard in the weight room, reduced his body fat, and is a solid 240-245 now.
Bogut: Because the school year in Australia is different than ours, Bogut won't be joining the team until January. If Bogut can contribute, he'll play, otherwise he'll redshirt. I pretty much read that is "he'll redshirt." Rick commented that Bogut is 6-11, 225 pounds, and plays like a typical Euro. He's soft, but he's a good passer and has good hands.
Markson: He told the story about how Markson's parents had basically abandoned him, and you can't help but like the kid. He's very mature for his age because for all intents and purposes, he's been on his own for several years now. Rick says he has a good feel, has a scorer's mentality, and is an OK shooter. We already know that he's a great athelete. Rick mentioned that Markson's had 2 ACL's already and that his knee is a question mark. Some of our board members bumped into someone who is involved with this, and the word is that Markson's knee is in great shape.
Chaney: Rick says that Richard is a good shooter and scorer. He basically came here because he knew Drisdom would get him the ball.
Drisdom: Rick was quite high on this kid. He is a real point guard. None of this "2 guard who can pass" sort of thing. Rick says that there are 3 passes that a PG needs to be able to make: a pass in transition, the draw and kick, and the entry pass. Timothy can make all 3. I don't think we've had a guard who could make an entry pass since Andre. His only question mark was that Timothy didn't play in a real physical league and doesn't know for sure about his toughness and strength. He's not quick like Banks or Straight and so he'll have to find a way to penetrate in order to do the penetrate and kick. Rick said that Andre did it with toughness. A word I got though is that he's the real deal though. He's been working hard in the weight room and that if you get in his way, be prepared to be picking yourself up off of the floor with a nice bruise. Note for New York: One thing that brought Timothy to the U was the U's music department. He's really into writing and singing.
Mark Jackson: Rick was high on Jackson as well. He thinks Jackson has the quickness and strength to contain guys like Banks and Straight defensively. He mentioned that some players have come to Rick and said that Mark is working to learn to distribute the basketball. Remember, Mark came out of HS as a scorer. He dropped 50+ on a couple of occasions in high school.
Nick Jacobson: He thinks Butter is an underrated defender. He doesn't have the lateral quickness required for on the ball defense of some of the quicker players, but he makes up for it with understanding angles and anticipating movement. He alluded to Alex's ability to do that as well. He mentioned that Nick will probably have a better intermediate range game. He is working to learn how to put the ball on the floor and create some space for his shot. IMO, if Nick can learn to do that, he'll be very difficult for teams to stop.
Britton: Rick expects Britton to have a breakout year. Britton had to get some academics in order and did so. Rick says he's been working hard in the weight room. I had someone say they heard that his new wife has been a motivating factor in that she's been encouraging him to work out. Britton had a bad body last year and played too many minutes. Rick thinks he'll have a better body and play fewer minutes this year.

I noticed that he commented that Drisdom, Markson, and Chaney all played in leagues that weren't as competetive as he would've liked. I asked him about their AAU experience and asked him how he ranks that with who they play in high school. His reponse was that he doesn't put a whole lot of stock in the competetiveness of the AAU leagues. He prefers to look at who they played in high school.

Some other notes:
Rick mentioned that Nick is playing this weekend in a tournament in Vegas. I don't remember the details. Did someone else catch anything else about this?
He also mentioned that the Utes will be playing the Wooden Classic next year, as well as the pre-season NIT. He said he was disappointed that we had to play at two years ago and mentioned that to the NIT guys. He expects that we'll have 2 home games in that tournament next year. He also mentioned that we were "grandfathered in" to the Alaskan Shootout.

Rick also went off on his usual rants:
10:00 games: Someone mentioned that it was nice we had only 1 10:00 home game next year (against BYU). Rick talked about how these 10:00 games are hard on the academics of the kids. He knows it's about the money (ESPN contract) but it's a drum he has to beat.
The MWC dropping Prop 48's: You know how he feels about Prop 48's in general. You can only imagine what he thinks about not accepting them at all now. I think his opinion is spot on.
Scheduling: There were a couple of questions about the January non-conference schedule, and Rick replied that we need to schedule 4-5 home only games for the money, but no one is recruiting anyone here, so why should they come here? Additionally, Rick wants to get home-home games with teams but, again, there just isn't any incentive for them to come here. He thinks that with the Maui Classic, our SOS is going to be just fine.

Someone asked Rick about the players who left the program. Rick basically said that there are 3 reasons a kid leaves:
1. Academics. He pointed to Bradley as exhibit A.
2. Passion. You have to want to play basketball. If you come here and expect to party, you won't last. He pointed to "that kid from Colorado" as exhibit B.
3. You think you're better than you are. If you want to shoot the ball instead of giving to KVH, you better find somewhere else to play. He pointed to Jimmy Carrol as exhibit C.
Although he did mention that "I got rid of Osimani because he wasn't good enough". So, since "talent" wasn't listed as part of his 3 reasons, there are really 4. Rick laid the blame of signing Osimani squarely at his feet saying that he misjudged his talent level.

Someone also asked about the departure of the assistant coaches. Rick was very delicate on this one. He was obviously very happy for Daniels to go to Fullerton. He said that there are only a few head coaching jobs in the country and that it was a good fit for Daniels. He said that Husaker also needed a head job. He gave Rupp a lot of run saying that he may be inexperienced, but he's doing a great job.

On recruiting:
Rick says that the players are his best recruiters. Miller helped recruit Drisdom, who convinced Chaney to come along. Together, they convinced Markson. Now we're seeing Chaney and Free know each other. Plus, we have Andrea talking to players and parents about going to Utah. I can see why USC and UCLA won't play us. They have enough problems with the foothold Utah has in SoCal.

On team cohesion:
Rick said that at the end of last season he named Trace as captain for this year. Trace immediately kicked the coaching staff and the seniors out, got the rest of the players together, and laid down the law. We know how he's been instrumental in getting the players together on a regular basis. Trace is getting this team together IMO. Who's gonna look at his guns and tell him "no"? He also mentioned that he named Jacobson as the junior captain.

Rick also mentioned that we have *2* commitments for next year. We know about Zimmerman. You guys are slacking.

At the end, Rick reiterated that he really liked having this get together, and said he'd suggest having one every year. Although, he's disapponted there wasn't food involved for a dinnertime gathering. Amen.

Overall, Rick seemed very straightforward and energetic. He didn't seem to sugarcoat anything. Then again, I could be blind...

U-Ute

Fan Meeting With Rick Majerus

My extensive notes on the Majerus Q&A last night...

Other observations from the Majerus meeting, since I was actually in SLC to see it...

Majerus Meeting

Followup Majerus Meeting....

Reading your posts about the Majerus meeting have got me interested in basketball again.