Bruce Pearl and players are previewing the SEC Tournament this morning...
WALKER KESSLER
** Decision to come to Auburn went extremely well. Didn't have any expectations. Was just going to do the best I could,. Super thankful for how it went.
** Extremely cool to come to a school like Auburn and win Defensive Player of the Year for the first time.
** On shoulder: "I feel good, been feeling good."
** Jabari is a great player but even more a great teammate. Makes everyone better. Playing against each other in high school, we knew we could be one of the best frontcourts in the nation.
** We want to win SEC Tournament, regardless if it helps us or not in NCAA seeding.
** On playing at USF earlier (same arena): We've played there before now. It's not a new experience.
** Would be historic to win SEC regular season and tournament championship in same season. We're ready to go down there and compete.
JABARI SMITH
** I feel like the game is slowing down for me game by game. The award means a lot to me and doing it while winning is a big deal.
** Real motivated going to Tampa. Know the joy you get from winning a championship and how hard it is. Ready to compete with the best league in the country.
** Walker covers up a lot of my mistakes and team's mistakes. He's a great teammate and unselfish. He just wants to win. He's always hard on himself when he doesn't play to his standard.
** Need to play hard in Tampa, don't take possessions off and keep defending like we've been. We know our offense is going to come.
** Real nice arena in Tampa. Didn't play well against USF so looking forward to getting back down there and playing again.
BRUCE PEARL
** Very happy for Jabari and Walker getting recognized by SEC. When the season started, you knew these awards were in Jabari's reach, but sometimes it can be hard to live up to those expectations. That's hard to do. He did it. His impact on this season and program has been historic.
** Walker should be a finalist to be national defensive player of the year. One of the concerns about Walker coming to AU was do we play too fast, are we a guard team? It's easier to have great guards because there's more of them out there. There aren't as many good big men.
** Both Jabari and Walker are hard workers, disciplined and easy to coach.
** Pearl thanked other coaches in league for his Coach of Year award.
** There's not an 8-9 game in college basketball that comes close to Florida-Texas A&M. Both are playing to get into NCAA so they'll be playing with their hair on fire. Will be a challenging matchup against either team.
** There are 6 locks and potential for 7 or 8 SEC teams to get in NCAA Tournament.
** On Jabari playing his best ball now: Shows the player development and that the cream rises to the top at the end of the year. It just does. Jabari wins his matchup every night. The rest of the team doesn't but they do it enough for us to be 15-3.
** Had a good practice yesterday. Will have a contact practice today. it's spring break so players can concentrate on basketball and getting their bodies healed up.
** We have three teams of scouts. Bruce is working on TAMU and UF. There's a group working on Arkansas and LSU. Probably won't look at the other side of bracket until Friday afternoon if we advance.
** We better play better than we did at USF, I'll tell you that.
** Marquise Daniels is an advisor. The fact that he's been there and done that at Auburn and the NBA is a great resource for guy's to tap into. He's a religious man, great father, great husband.
** Nothing but pros having all the early games if they advance. Worked hard to have that advantage. We're getting used to practicing in that time slot today.
** Things are doing everything they can to take Jabari away. You don't force it to Jabari. You have to take what teams will give you. We're best when everybody contributes.
*****THAT'S ALL*****
WALKER KESSLER
** Decision to come to Auburn went extremely well. Didn't have any expectations. Was just going to do the best I could,. Super thankful for how it went.
** Extremely cool to come to a school like Auburn and win Defensive Player of the Year for the first time.
** On shoulder: "I feel good, been feeling good."
** Jabari is a great player but even more a great teammate. Makes everyone better. Playing against each other in high school, we knew we could be one of the best frontcourts in the nation.
** We want to win SEC Tournament, regardless if it helps us or not in NCAA seeding.
** On playing at USF earlier (same arena): We've played there before now. It's not a new experience.
** Would be historic to win SEC regular season and tournament championship in same season. We're ready to go down there and compete.
JABARI SMITH
** I feel like the game is slowing down for me game by game. The award means a lot to me and doing it while winning is a big deal.
** Real motivated going to Tampa. Know the joy you get from winning a championship and how hard it is. Ready to compete with the best league in the country.
** Walker covers up a lot of my mistakes and team's mistakes. He's a great teammate and unselfish. He just wants to win. He's always hard on himself when he doesn't play to his standard.
** Need to play hard in Tampa, don't take possessions off and keep defending like we've been. We know our offense is going to come.
** Real nice arena in Tampa. Didn't play well against USF so looking forward to getting back down there and playing again.
BRUCE PEARL
** Very happy for Jabari and Walker getting recognized by SEC. When the season started, you knew these awards were in Jabari's reach, but sometimes it can be hard to live up to those expectations. That's hard to do. He did it. His impact on this season and program has been historic.
** Walker should be a finalist to be national defensive player of the year. One of the concerns about Walker coming to AU was do we play too fast, are we a guard team? It's easier to have great guards because there's more of them out there. There aren't as many good big men.
** Both Jabari and Walker are hard workers, disciplined and easy to coach.
** Pearl thanked other coaches in league for his Coach of Year award.
** There's not an 8-9 game in college basketball that comes close to Florida-Texas A&M. Both are playing to get into NCAA so they'll be playing with their hair on fire. Will be a challenging matchup against either team.
** There are 6 locks and potential for 7 or 8 SEC teams to get in NCAA Tournament.
** On Jabari playing his best ball now: Shows the player development and that the cream rises to the top at the end of the year. It just does. Jabari wins his matchup every night. The rest of the team doesn't but they do it enough for us to be 15-3.
** Had a good practice yesterday. Will have a contact practice today. it's spring break so players can concentrate on basketball and getting their bodies healed up.
** We have three teams of scouts. Bruce is working on TAMU and UF. There's a group working on Arkansas and LSU. Probably won't look at the other side of bracket until Friday afternoon if we advance.
** We better play better than we did at USF, I'll tell you that.
** Marquise Daniels is an advisor. The fact that he's been there and done that at Auburn and the NBA is a great resource for guy's to tap into. He's a religious man, great father, great husband.
** Nothing but pros having all the early games if they advance. Worked hard to have that advantage. We're getting used to practicing in that time slot today.
** Things are doing everything they can to take Jabari away. You don't force it to Jabari. You have to take what teams will give you. We're best when everybody contributes.
*****THAT'S ALL*****
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