Joe Scott hasn't had a chance to rest. Since he took the head coaching position at Princeton last Wednesday, Scott has traveled three-quarters of the way across the country, addressed the media once, begun the process of selling one house and buying another and has held individual workouts with members of the team. What does all this mean? He still has to make time for the press.
Yesterday afternoon I sat down with Scott in the empty bleachers of Jadwin Gym to talk about the state of Princeton basketball. Here are snippets of our conversation.
Me: Let's start with something simple. How does it feel to be back on campus?
Joe Scott: It's nice. A lot has gone on in the four years I've been gone. If you can believe it, [the campus] looks even prettier than it did four years ago.
Me: Where did you grow up?
JS: I grew up on the beach in New Jersey. Seaside Park area.
Me: What was your favorite basketball team growing up?
JS: When I was a young kid it was Notre Dame.
Me: When did you first consider coming to Princeton to play basketball?
JS: It was my senior year. I was being recruited by a bunch of other schools. I wasn't being recruited by any Ivy League schools. Coach Carmody came and watched me play a game in December, and then Coach Carril came and watched me play a game a couple of weeks later. That was it.
Me: Did they have to do a lot of convincing?
JS: Not really. I knew I was going to go to a good school. In the end I was lucky in that I picked the best basketball school and the best school. It was pretty easy.
Me: What is your most vivid memory from your four years as an undergraduate?
JS: It probably isn't one thing. It's four years of playing basketball – Coach Carril on the brain. There are a million stories about him I could tell and all those rolled into one is the most vivid memory.
Me: How did you guys celebrate big wins back when you were playing?
JS: If it was a Saturday night, we probably went down to The Street. [chuckle].
Me: Where did the guys go to party?
JS: Back then most of the guys were independent. But, there used to be a club called Dial Lodge. That's where we would go. Then a lot of the guys after me joined Cap and Gown. I don't know what goes on today.
Me: You're going to want to find out Coach. That's where all your players go.
JS: There's a lot of things you don't want to know.
Me: What's the most valuable lesson you learned form Coach Carril?
JS: A lot of coaches and teams when they go and play a big time team you see them go in and say 'We got a chance.' Then they go out there and play in a manner where they don't have a chance to win and they know that. What I learned here is that if we did the things we were taught, played the way we play, and did it as well as we could do it, we did know that we could win.
Me: Lets jump to the present. Were you silently rooting for Coach Thompson to take the Georgetown job?
JS: No I wasn't silently rooting for anything. I'm good friends with John. I knew it was a tough situation for him.
Me: What were some of the factors you were considering after you get the call from Gary telling you they want you?
JS: The only con was leaving Air Force. I was thinking about how good could we have been there? Like Princeton, there are certain obstacles that exist from a basketball standpoint out there. I don't view them as obstacles, but most programs in the country would. Here they have to go to class, they got to study, kids have to pay to go to school. The pros were that I knew this program, this place, and these players.
Me: Was [the decision] a financial decision at all?
JS: No, not really.
Me: From what you've seen so far, what is the biggest strength on this team?
JS: I think that we have good size. I think we're pretty good at every position. Sometimes you're better at guard or better at forward. There is good balance on this team across the board. That being said, everybody has to get a little bit better. If they do that, we can go a solid nine to ten deep.
Me: Any weaknesses you have observed?
JS: We're going to have a demanding schedule. A couple of big games, a couple of TV games.
Me: Can you tell me who these teams are?
JS: Not on the record.
(Me to reader: For those interested in such information, tickets to baseball games are the quickest way to my heart.)
JS: I'm not putting those games on the schedule so we can be on TV. They're on the schedule so that we win those games. I think that this team has the ability to win those games. We have to start to think that way and then we need to start preparing that way. Every workout, every day you're playing in the summer, you're preparing your body and mind mentally and physically so you win that game. That's the challenge facing this group. The focus has to be on winning every game. That doesn't start on Oct. 15. That starts now.
Me: What have you seen with Judson so far in individual workouts?
JS: My thing with Judson is he obviously has to shoot the ball better from the outside. We have to continue to work with him to be more of a scorer in the low post. At the same time he needs to be more of a passer. Our center position is unique in that the more he passes the ball, the more points he's going to score. He has to improve that way. We need to get him to control the games a little bit more.
Me: How about Venable?
JS: Will has to do the same things that made him successful this year and expand on them. This means leadership, work ethic and being the leader in practice. Leadership means everyday being out there working harder than everyone else.
Me: How has the "Princeton" offense evolved over time?
JS: It's so different from when I played. There is so much more to it. It is constantly evolving and changing. The one thing that people, a.k.a. the media, miss is that the system is more than offense. To me, a big part of us being better next year is the defense. We have to control the other team with our defense and be more aggressive. Defense is an integral part of the system. A lot of times that gets overlooked.
Me: Was the Princeton system more effective in the Mountain West Conference because you were the only team running it?
JS: I know other teams in this league try to run it, but our goal is to make sure we do it the best. We are constantly changing it. It's going to be something next year that the guys in this league haven't seen.
Me: Any news about the coaching staff and specifically Rob Burke?
JS: I don't know. All I can say is that he hasn't been here. I'm going under the assumption that he's at Georgetown if he's not here.
Me: Can you throw out any names for possible assistants?
JS: I obviously want Mike Brennen '94 to stay. He would be my top assistant. Howie [Levy] '85 is going to stay. I have asked Mike to see if he can make this decision by the end of this week. I have some other former Princeton guys in mind to see if they want to coach.
Me: Can you give me some names?
JS: Not on the record.
Me: What are your expectations going into next year?
JS: The number one expectation here is winning the [Ivy League] title. It was imperative that we won the title this year. It was imperative that we won that last game against Penn. It's imperative next year that we take the next step. We need to beat some of those bigger conference teams. One win can make a team go to a different level. That was my experience this year at Air Force. We went out to California and beat Cal at Cal to win their tournament. You just saw the guys blossom.
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