Pac-10 Basketball Media Day Open Thread

Gets Roeland’s name right, that’s a good omen.

Says when he says he talks about being the head basketball coach at Oregon, the other person replies, “Oh, you’re the President’s Brother In-Law.”

Originally no questions for Ernie and he walks off the stage. Steve Physioc stops him with a question before he can leave though.

They plan on playing at Mat Court by the start of the Conference Season next year.

I better be able to hear Craig before I have to leave.

Johnny Dawkins up next.

Says, “Hi, I’m Ernie Kent.”

There are still 5,000 tickets left for Saturday’s game.

Sammie Stroughter will be presenting the game ball on Saturday.

Roeland wanted to transfer but Jimmy Anderson and Craig talked him into staying.

That Jared Cunningham plays great defense, is a great student, and can shoot the three.

Ken Bone up now.

I’ll be in and out of the thread for the next few minutes.

Right off the bat, in the promo-highlights, we saw Roeland Schaftenaar, and Seth Tarver dunking, plus Benny! The Gill Coliseum atmosphere gets some props.

Commissioner Larry Scott noted that in recent years, the Pac-10 produces more NBA talent than any other conference.

Scott also observed that this is the first time in 10 years that anyone, Cal in this case, besides UCLA or Arizona has been selected #1 in the preseason media poll.

There will be over 150 Pac-10 games broadcasted, including over 40 by Fox Sports.

University of Oregon Coach Ernie Kent shared a humorous observation that highlights the nations’ continuing problem differentiating the two Oregon schools, observing that he still meets people on airplanes, who say "Oh, yeah, you’re the president’s brother1"

Oregon State Coach Craig Robinson continued the fun, starting his remarks by saying "Hi, I’m Ernie Kent!"

More seriously, Robinson talked about being happy about how fast the progress has come in changing the attitude around the program, something Kent also noted, observing "Craig has changed the mentality up there."

Robinson also said the team is looking forward to "Continuing what they started at the end of last year." To do that, Robinson noted the Beavers will look to Schaftenaar "to be a leader, and do more things than he has before," and to S. Tarver.

Robinson also acknowledged an assist from former Beavers assistant and head coach Jimmy Anderson in talking Schaftenaar into staying at Oregon St. instead of transferring after Robinson was hired.

Robinson also gave props to freshman Jared Cunningham, referring to him as "A nice surprise. He can defend at the Pac-10 level right away. Plus, he has a nice outside shot."

“It meant a lot to have a season like last year, with the same group of players as the year before.”

Roe did note “It did take a while to get used to all the changes.”

Regarding 5:30 practices, “Coach likes early practices, so that’s when we practice. Ask Coach more about early mornings. But we do get our basketball work done before we go to class.”

Finally, “Last year, people didn’t have a very high regard for us, but we had, and have our own expectations.”

was surprised to see someone picked them to finish 12th.

I agree with Mike; that seems lower than possible, in a 10 team conference.

In the Media Poll.

http://img248.yfrog.com/img248/9261/sdftr.jpg