LUKE LOUCKS: First of all, good to see you guys, some of you again, and good to meet some of you. It's an honor for me to stand up here with the Florida State Seminole patch on my chest again.
I had a question in the other room talking about how special it is play in the ACC tournament, and I said the last time I was part of an ACC tournament, we won the championship in 2012. Obviously, that was really special.
I'm looking forward to representing Florida State as the head coach. I'm excited for you guys to get to know our team. We got two of our guys, Kobe MaGee and Chauncey Wiggins. Obviously, Chauncey, you guys have some familiarity with, and Kobe you'll get to know.
The tough part about this is I can only bring two players. I wanted to bring about seven or eight of them because I feel like we got a pretty good team. And shoot, every coach in college basketball right now feels like they got a good team. No one has lost a game.
I am excited about the group we've put together very quickly on the job, but more importantly, I'm excited to be a head coach in this conference, right? This conference historically has been the best basketball conference in the country.
Last year they took a step back, and the SEC did a great job. I think we have a lot of motivated individuals from the conference level down to the presidents, down to our athletic directors that we want to regain that title of being the best basketball conference in the world.
From there, the last thing before we get to the questions, I just want to compliment and give Leonard Hamilton his flowers; he had such an incredible career. 50-plus years of coaching basketball, of developing young men, myself being one of them. He's had such an impact on not just his teams, but his players on a personal level, their families.
He's the type of guy that if you are ever in a pinch, you call him, he's going to answer. Then he's probably going to talk to you for about 45 minutes. You guys know that from covering him, but he's had such a big impact on my life and what a great opportunity for me to replace an absolute legend on and off the court.
From there, we can open it up for questions.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach.
Q. I understand Coach Hamilton saw you at practice yesterday. Talk about his influence on the program, because obviously he coached you. You go off and do your thing, and now you're in the college game. How much help has he been for you?
LUKE LOUCKS: Yeah, Coach Hamilton, in a respectful way, he's kept his distance, but I talk to him multiple times a week. Some about basketball; some about life. He's always been a great sounding board for me as I obviously played for him and then and went and played professionally and coached professionally. Most of what I've dealt with, he has seen at some level in the past four or five decades.
As a mentor of mine, he's been unbelievable. I sometimes have to beg him to come around our guys, because he's filled with wisdom. I invited him to our scrimmage yesterday. He sat on the side with his hat kind of crooked on the side and took in our practice.
I went and talked to him after practice, and he gave me what he liked and what he didn't, which is Coach Hamilton. He's going to give it to you straight. I asked, I said, would you mind just saying exactly what you just said to me to the team? They get to hear my voice nonstop, and these guys will probably tell you they're already tired of me, and we haven't played a game.
He huddled the team up and got his coaching hat on and talked to the team for five to ten minutes. The message coming from him that's seen it all was spot-on. It's the exact same thing I would have said, but just a little bit different, right?
So to have him around has been truly valuable for myself, but also for our guys that, you know, they don't know him, they didn't play for him, but to grow that relationship has been really helpful for me.
Q. A lot of new players, but one specific player that I was looking at who is making a big jump, Alex from D2. I got a chance to see him play a couple of times. Just wanted to know what you saw in him and what you expect for him to contribute this season.
LUKE LOUCKS: Yeah, Alex Steen, the double-double machine. Our guys love Alex. He has an infectious personality. Not talking anything about basketball. I call him a hunter and a gatherer, because every time we have a day off he's going to fish, he's doing something outdoors, he's doing something.
I'm, like, Steen, just don't get hurt, please, while you go fish and spear hunting and whatever else you're doing.
Steen, he's a connector, right? He, without a doubt -- and these guys will back me up on this -- almost every day he's the hardest working guy in the gym. Kobe may say he works harder, Chauncey, but may say, but Steen every day brings it.
His skill level is still developing, but I can count on one thing. When Steen is on the court, something is going to happen. Sometimes good and sometimes bad, but there's going to be some chaos.
And then offensively he doesn't need the ball. He's a connector. He's okay with swinging it to the right guy. He's okay dribble hand offing, and he's okay doing the dirty work. As long as he keeps playing exactly how he's been playing, he's going to find minutes for us. That jump that a lot of people worry about from the D2 to the D1 level, to me he's handling great.
Q. I know you spoke about Leonard Hamilton and a lot of kind words. Being in the NBA and having the experience there with the Golden State Warriors winning two titles as well as with the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings, what can you say to mentorship and other people that have rubbed off on you and have helped you along beyond Leonard Hamilton?
LUKE LOUCKS: Yeah, I think Coach Hamilton has had a huge impact. I would name a few other people, but I want to focus on one. Mike Brown. Mike Brown and I came together into Golden State in very different circumstances. I was an intern making minimum wage. My first time coaching at any level. I just finished playing professionally. Mike Brown was coming off his third go-around as a head coach in the NBA.
We liked each other from day one, because number one, we both like football. Mike is a big football fan. So we would sit and watch football together. Number two, we just have a dedication for the preparation.
He to me is the most detailed coach I've ever met in my life. A lot of it was because of his mentorship from Gregg Popovich.
Mike took me under his wing and taught me the ins and outs of what coaching is, how to teach, how to prepare, how to watch film, how to break things down. Ultimately, how to build relationships. You can be the best coach in the world. If you can't relate to your players, you're going to have a problem, right?
At the NBA level that's even more apparent, but coming down to college that's something I really enjoy. I enjoy getting to know these guys on a personal level. I enjoy coaching them, and I enjoy ultimately holding them accountable to what our standard is.
If we can do that together, we're going to have a lot of fun, we're going to win a lot of games together. But Mike Brown's mentorship, I wouldn't be here without him to put me in this spot and prepare me for what I'm about to do as a first-time head coach is, again, truly valuable.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Questions for Kobe.
Q. Coach just noted, he said, hey, you can be the best coach in the entire world, but if you can't relate to your players, it's not going to be a very conducive situation. How do you guys relate to each other on and off the court? What's that chemistry like heading into another season?
KOBE MAGEE: Honestly, I treat Coach like he's one of my teammates. If I see him at a football game, we chat it up, and I talk a little trash here and there. It's funny.
But yeah, no, I treat him like he's one of my teammates. I think we bond really well. Not just only him, but our entire staff. Especially Coach Moran. He's probably one of my favorite coaches on the staff, and G as well.
Q. You were a one-time wide receiver and running back in middle school. How is it that basketball won out over football?
KOBE MAGEE: So, growing up I was always taller than a lot of people, and then at one point in time I just stopped growing and people started gaining weight more than I was, so I couldn't take a hit. Seeing that basketball court, seeing the rim, and I just couldn't miss, yeah.
Q. Would you say you're the comedian of this particular group?
KOBE MAGEE: I would say one of three. One of three. Martin is definitely number one, for sure. You have to throw J Crowe in there. That's my guy right there. Then I would say me three.
Q. With having a head coach that's done so much with player development in the National Basketball Association, just what does that mean to you not only at Florida State, but going to that next level having somebody that knows what it takes and has developed some of the best players that are out there?
KOBE MAGEE: For sure. I think his experience with the NBA just shows not only me, but our team that it's achievable, especially him coming down to the college level.
The player development, the people that he brung in, coaching staff, they all have the same mindset and they all have the same goal. With that energy that they bring in every day, I think it's definitely something that's motivating.
Chauncey I think can back me up on this. It's very motivating to all of us. I think we're all on the right track to go where we want to go.
THE MODERATOR: Kobe, thank you. Questions for Chauncey.
Q. You have 58 games played in the ACC, and not that your head coach doesn't know the ACC, but what is it that you think you can teach him about what you've experienced over the last couple of years?
CHAUNCEY WIGGINS: I think I can teach him that basically everybody has a different scheme, and it's pretty weird, because being in the ACC, I mean, you have teams that just always play the same way for three or four straight years.
I feel like with the experience that I have, I mean, whether that's offense or defense, I feel like I have some knowledge on what teams do. I feel like that's some way I can help.
Q. What would you say is the one player on the team that we have not heard about that we will hear about in the next couple of weeks?
CHAUNCEY WIGGINS: I'll give you two. Honestly, I'll give you three. Cam Miles, Martin, and Thomas. You will hear about them three coming up this season. And Lajae and Shah, and everybody (laughing).
THE MODERATOR: So if you are keeping count, that's really six.
Q. Just going off of that, the fact that you have something to say about all your teammates, we live in a current college basketball climate where there's a lot of individualism. Why is it totally opposite at Florida State, and how does that start with Coach and his staff?
CHAUNCEY WIGGINS: Just because we all love each other, and we want to play for each other. We don't really care about what we do within ourselves. We just care about team success. Team success is always the first thing I feel like is at Florida State.
Whether that's me getting Kobe an open three or Kobe getting me an open three or making a winning play, getting on the floor, we just love each. So we want team success to come first before ourselves.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports