LUKE MURRAY: I just want to start by acknowledging Kenny Klein. You know, coming down here for ACC Tip Off it's really made me think a lot about Kenny. I spent three years in the ACC at Louisville, and Kenny was with us for those three years. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge him and his passing and Donna and the family.
Best wishes to him, his family obviously, and much love.
As far as us and our program, you know, really excited to be here with these two guys, Money Williams and Jacob Furphy. We put together an entirely new group of Eagles this offseason with the exception of two guys that returned from last year's group, Jack Bailey and Will Eggemeier. 13 new faces, 11 transfers, 2 freshmen. A brand new start.
We've had an incredible summer and fall so far, working really, really hard, and excited to get out there and play against some other competition for the first time.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach.
Q. Say 20 years ago did you think your first head coach job in college basketball would be at Boston College and the ACC at age 41?
LUKE MURRAY: Well, Mike, I know you're an Eagle, so yes, absolutely. 20 years ago all I was thinking was that I was going to be the head coach at Boston College, and I'm so glad it came true.
Q. Welcome back to the ACC. Just looking at your experience with Dan Hurley and the work that he did at UConn, just what did you take away from that, the notables that can help you in the first-time head coaching opportunity?
LUKE MURRAY: The notables for me is just I've mentioned this before, but his competitive stamina. And my buddy Jacob Furphy can attest to that as being a Husky previously as well.
He just showed up with an incredible standard set every day, and his ability to do that from mid-May, late May when we would show up all the way through Final Fours and National Championships in April I thought was incredibly impressive.
It's something that I try my best to emulate every day. You know, it's just being able to really bring it and lead the charge day in and day out. I think that more than anything is really what I've derived from my time with him, and I'm hoping to bring with me to Boston College.
Q. Obviously knowing taking the job, Boston College has one of the longest droughts of making the NCAA Tournament. What goes into the building blocks of trying to change the narrative around Boston College basketball as it is right now?
LUKE MURRAY: Yeah, I think it's the longest. I think it's the longest in the Power 4. But, yeah, I think you mentioned it, the narrative. The narrative shift is something that has sort of been the primary focus for myself and for our staff and for our players since we all got together in late May.
Again, we're just trying to do our part every single day. The way that we show up, the way that we compete in practice, our preparation. Because ultimately it's going to be about showing proof of concept to our fans and to our alumni base and the supporters of our program that when they watch us play, it more exemplifies what they're looking for as a fan.
We earn the respect of our opponents and the teams that we match up with and when you see a Boston College team that it really stands for something. That's certainly sort of our focus moving into the year.
Q. Johnny Furphy up there followed you from UConn. Obviously you made an impression on him. Talk about you guys' relationship overall.
LUKE MURRAY: Jacob Furphy. Johnny plays for the Pacers. He went to Kansas.
Q. Excuse me, and no relation.
LUKE MURRAY: Jacob Furphy is a really important person to me. You know, Coach Hurley and I recruited him from Australia and spent a lot of time watching him play as an international player, as a youth coming up, and really felt like he was one of the better international players coming into college basketball last year.
Sort of got boxed in a little bit by some great players at UConn, Braylon Mullins, Solo Ball, Silas Demary, and so I'm excited for him to get a fresh start, a new opportunity at Boston College.
I believe in him great deal, and I know he's excited to get out there on the floor.
Q. You told us, hey, we're putting together practically an entirely new group of Eagles. You listed off 13 new faces, 11 transfers, what not. What's the secret to success, and how do you funnel that into victories this season?
LUKE MURRAY: Yeah, I think for us it's really about trying to build the connectivity of the group. You know, when you have all these are disparate backgrounds, you know, guys that have played for different coaches and this different programs and coming from all over the world and all over the country in some cases, you know, just trying to get them together as much as you can.
We've spent a lot of time this summer and fall. These guys eat every meal together every single day. They spend a ton of time together off the court to really try to build that connection, and the way that we play sort of requires that you have an unselfishness about you, so we're doing our best to try to build that off the court as well so we can try to bring these guys together that have had such different backgrounds and are getting used to one another on the basketball floor for the first time.
I think so far these guys are doing a great job of it.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. Jacob will get the microphone. Questions. Can you talk about how you've liked being in Boston the first couple of months coming from UConn?
JACOB FURPHY: It's obviously been a bit of a different environment for me. Obviously Storrs is kind of -- I hate to say it, but in the middle of nowhere, and Boston College is obviously 25 minutes away from the city.
So it's definitely been different in that aspect. I would say in terms of the basketball environment, it's been very similar. Obviously Coach Murray is trying to carry over a lot of things that Coach Hurley in terms of the way practice is ran and the drive that he has, so it's been pretty similar.
Q. Your relationship with Coach Murray to follow him from UConn to Boston College, just to go into that relationship, that trust, and why do you believe he was the right coach and this was the right place for you?
JACOB FURPHY: Yeah, obviously he recruited me as a freshman to go to UConn, and things didn't pan out the way that I had hoped for.
Yeah, I have great trust in Coach Murray and the system that he has around us that can put me in the best spot to be the best player I can be.
THE MODERATOR: You mentioned one time you wanted to grow your leadership. What kind of leader are you?
JACOB FURPHY: I would say I'm still working on that at the moment. I'm still trying to grow my leadership. I would say I'm very vocal. Off the court I obviously try to hang out with the boys as much as I can to build that connectivity that Coach was talking about, and I just kind of want to lead by example.
Obviously I know the expectation that we need for the environment that we're in. I just kind of want to share that by example and lead the boys forward, so...
THE MODERATOR: You said that one of your pregame routines is to call your family. I'm curious to know if you have ever called and they didn't answer?
JACOB FURPHY: Yeah, plenty of times. Obviously the time zone is a bit different. I think it's 15 hours in front now in Australia. There's definitely been times where I've tried to call them, and I haven't been able to get ahold of them, but most of the time they wake up to try to watch the game, so they're awake.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Jacob. You and Money can switch spots. Questions.
Q. You were Big Sky Tournament MVP. Can your game transfer to the ACC?
MONEY WILLIAMS: I definitely think it can. In the preseason we played a lot of big schools like Tennessee, Oregon, Texas A&M, I mean, you name it, and I performed at my highest ability and just being in the ACC every game is going to be a test, and I think I'm here for it.
Q. Just building on that, I think you performed really well. 15 points per game, 5.7 rebounds, 5 assists against Louisville, Texas A&M and Stanford. What did those games kind of prepare you for coming into this year with the role under a new coach and the new system?
MONEY WILLIAMS: Just my mentality overall. Just how I grew up from Oakland, California. One thing my dad used to tell me is everybody is human. You bleed. Just the competition overall. It doesn't affect me. Just having Luke Murray, he's a genius, especially offensively. I think my offensive skills under that are going to be great.
Q. Money, you just said that your coach is a genius. What is it about his game planning and scheming that makes you believe that?
MONEY WILLIAMS: Just his résumé. A lot of things he did at UConn. Like Furphy said, the offense. Just coming in from Montana, the difference of playing off ball. My usage rate in Montana was very big. Just coming back -- just coming to Boston College and just playing off the ball and things like that and still learning how to get my shot just showed you that he can do a lot of things.
Q. Money, you were from Oakland. You played at Montana. You are a West Coast guy. What is it about Boston College that brought you to the East Coast, and what are you most looking forward to in playing at power conference level?
MONEY WILLIAMS: I've been in Montana for three years. I did a lot of things that I never thought I'd do. Like I started hunting. I started going fishing. Started hiking and things like that. But being from Oakland, California, which is 15 minutes away from San Francisco, I visited Boston College. It gave me like the nostalgic feeling like home. For the next three years that's what I want to feel, so I feel like Boston College was the best place.
THE MODERATOR: You said one time that you like a good conversation. What makes for a good conversation, and what makes for a not so good conversation?
MONEY WILLIAMS: Good conversation, bad conversations, it doesn't matter. If you have a conversation, at the end of the day, that's all I care about.
THE MODERATOR: So what makes for a good conversation?
MONEY WILLIAMS: What makes what?
THE MODERATOR: What makes for a good conversation?
MONEY WILLIAMS: Oh, what makes for a good conversation? Great eye contact (laughing). Great eye contact, just engagement, different emotions like laughing. Yeah, just talking to somebody that you usually don't talk to or just getting to know somebody, I think that's a good conversation overall.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports