Earl Watson Speaks!

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Dec. 1, 1999

"Our first game against Fairfield was pretty much how we've practiced all year. We were a little inconsistent due to the fact that it was the first time we've had everyone somewhat healthy. We only had a few days of practice as a full group leading up to the game so that kind of explains our inconsistency. But in our second game against Iona, things began to come together. We started to execute. We played together better and the chemistry was much better because of practicing together the whole week and that kind of carried over into the game. There are still a lot of things we need to work on. Right now we are just trying to execute our plays and keep the defense working at a full intensity level for 40 minutes of the game instead of playing in spurts. Great teams play for the full 40 minutes and that is something we are trying to be - a great team. At this point, we are so deep and we just need to maximize our potential and play as hard as we can because we know that every team we face is going to be good.

A lot of people make a big deal that we aren't facing the top teams early on, but I don't think it really matters that we are playing teams like Fairfield, Iona and Morgan State to start the season. Either way we're going to learn things we didn't know before. We're going to continue to get better and learn how to be mentally and physically prepared. To me, there is no difference between playing Fairfield or North Carolina early in the season. Actually, I like to see the top teams play at the latter part of the preseason because then you have the chance to have great matchups with highly ranked, undefeated teams. I think our tough schedule this year will prepare us for the tournament. We have two really tough non-conference road games at North Carolina and Syracuse. We have Purdue, DePaul and Gonzaga coming in and those are games that we are definitely looking forward to.

Last season we had a lot of different starting lineups and the reason is that our starting positions are established in practice. Whoever practices consistently, the hardest and puts out their full potential ends up starting the next game or the following week or whenever. As players, we determine the starting five. Coach Lavin leaves it up to us. By being consistent in games, at practice and off the court as well, it's essentially our decision who starts. As far as maturity is concerned, I think it will be a definite plus if a starting five is indeed established this season because that would show signs of maturity and taking care of business on and off the court, as well as being consistent throughout the year.

This season should be a great year for college basketball. Unfortunately with my schedule, with practice, study hall and weights in the evening, I don't get to watch too much college basketball. But I'm sure the Pac-10, from what I've seen from Stanford and Arizona, will definitely have a great conference again this year. Stanford has a great starting five and they even beat Auburn without Mark Madsen. They even won a preseason tournament without Mark Madsen and that is something I've taken notice to because he is a great part of that team and with him they are even better. Yet, without him they are still great. They are going to be a tough opponent for us, but I give credit to them because they lost a lot of seniors. As far as Arizona, they have a young backcourt. They are a different team this year and a young team, but they are still getting the job done and still winning games and winning tournaments. They've already beaten Kentucky and some other great teams. Whoever wins the conference this year is definitely going to be a frontrunner to win the national championship because the Pac-10 is so tough and so deep.

I have to admit that I don't really like being on the cover of these preseason college basketball magazines. I kind of feel like it takes away from our team focus by putting attention on just one player. If it was up to me, I wish our whole team could be on the cover of every magazine. That would bring together team unity. I'm never asked or told to be on the cover, it just happens. It's kind of a surprise when I see it. In the same respect, I am proud of the things I've done and things I've accomplished and I'm honored to be on the cover of some of these magazines representing a great school and a great tradition in UCLA. Everyone in the country looks forward to seeing UCLA play and that is a great honor.

It was great having a few days off for the Holiday last week. On Thanksgiving Day, JaRon (Rush) and myself just kind of hung out. We hung around my apartment a little, then went out to the beach and walked around a little. Kind of made it our day together with both of us being from Kansas City. Christmas will probably be the same, with me and JaRon just hanging out. Being from Kansas City, we won't have a chance to go home so we'll just stay out here. That's something I'm used to by now. My freshman year was probably my hardest year being away from home for Thanksgiving for the first time. It's just another day. I called my Mom and talked to my family. Just made sure everything was okay back home and really wished I was there with them. But I was here with JaRon and we had a great time hanging out together, just talking and having fun."