Weekly Coach Menzies Interview :: 07/11/08 caught up with Aggie basketball head coach Marvin Menzies at the end of last week and Coach Menzies shared his thoughts on the rule change that has the three point line moving back a foot, gave a little insight into next season's schedule and talked about the one-and-done freshmen. One of the rules changes this year in college basketball is the moving of the three point line back to 20 feet 9 inches from 19 feet 9 inches. What impact will that have on the college game and what impact will it have on the Aggies?
Marvin Menzies: I don't think it'll affect us much because I like to get guys to step all the way to the line when they shoot but unfortunately we weren't always able to do that and I think several times we shot too far behind the line. But after having a full season behind me I was able to identify things that I want to do in terms of correlating how many threes we want to take in a game and who I want taking threes and just having a comfort level coming into this season. I think that foot that's been added onto the three point line isn't going to be significant where it's going affect us in any demonstrative way. As other guys handling and how teams are going to handle it I'm not sure, some guys might strategically shoot less because of that, some guys might feel like that's going to go to their strengths if they have more shooters. I think for us, we're going to be business as usual and hopefully we're going to shoot a higher percentage because of our team development and the new players we have but I don't think it'll have anything to do with the added distance. Do you have any insights you can give us on the schedule for next season?
MM: We still have a game we're trying to get here and we still have a couple contracts that need to be signed. But right now I'd say our schedule is conducive to the team that we have which is freshmen and sophomores, one junior, no seniors. We're not going to have the same RPI strength of schedule that we had for our non-conference schedule last year. We're going to come down off of that some but we still have some very competitive games and we've got a couple teams from very strong conferences which will aid in our overall RPI at the end of the year. I think it's going to be very critical that we perform well when we play those teams. We do have PAC 10 team scheduled. We had Duke, we had Louisville, we had Texas, we had West Virginia well that's great but if you don't get compete and a 'W' out of two of those games then it's just hype. I've experienced that and I want to experience more wins in the non-conference. We're hoping our schedule will lend itself that way. Do you foresee one of your teams going through a murderer's row type of schedule like that again?
MM: Oh yeah. I'm optimistic that we have the type of talent and program foundation and consistency that we can play that type of non-conference at least every other year or so. We're not there right now this year, we're not in that position this year but yeah, I'd love to be in that position and anticipate doing that in the next two years or so to be able to lace 'em up against four or five high majors in the non-conference. A lot has been made of the one-and-done freshmen and prior to the beginning of last year a lot of people thought that Herb Pope might have ended up being one of those type of players. What's your feeling on the NBA rule and how it affects recruiting overall?
MM: First off, I don't think the people ranking these kids and putting them in the position to have predictions of one-and-done, a lot of those guys aren't even qualified to do that. I think anybody who can type on a keyboard and get on the Internet can make predictions. I think what's more important is the realistic application on the floor and in your development of the total person as far as being able to go one-and-done. Those are very rare. It's overall effect, I think it's going to stay consistent. I think you'll have a lot of people talking about those kind of kids. I think there'll always be overpromotion of different kids. For example Herb, Herb is a big time player, I feel he's gonna play in the NBA. Obviously it's not going to take one year, but whether it takes two or three I don't think he cares at this point. I just know that he's focused on getting better and taking care of business on and off the court and that's where those kids' heads should be. I don't think it's going to affect us adversely or positively. I think it's just going to be another thing for guys to write about.