UC Players Ody Oguama, John Newman III Media Day Interviews
UC Players Ody Oguama, John Newman III Media Day Interviews
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00:00 a couple of days away from the start of the season.
00:02 Had a few days like, what did you do?
00:07 Just a lot of preparation, man.
00:08 Getting mentally prepared, not just for this game,
00:10 but for the whole season, like everything it brings.
00:14 And just getting mentally prepared for that.
00:15 That's all it is to me.
00:16 You guys are both third-year players now in the program.
00:19 Right. How much of an impact
00:21 do you think that helped kind of exacerbate wins early on?
00:25 Did you guys get into a rhythm early on
00:26 and did you guys kind of bridge
00:28 with these younger guys and see what Coach Miller
00:30 and everything is all about in the season?
00:32 Yeah. I think that helps a lot.
00:35 Like you said, being here for three years,
00:37 definitely have some carryover of what we learned
00:40 with the coaches, Coach Miller,
00:42 the staff, what they instilled in us.
00:45 And it definitely helps being us,
00:47 that we're able to talk to the younger guys,
00:49 talk to the new guys,
00:50 and tell them what's to be expected.
00:55 What would have been your first impression
00:56 about Dede Collins and his father?
00:59 Hmm. Man.
01:01 Derek.
01:03 You want to say -- you want to talk about it?
01:05 I mean, bro, you tell them, man.
01:08 Nothing but great things. I'll say that.
01:10 Nothing but great things from both of them.
01:13 Dede, you know, he's a Carolina native.
01:17 Not necessarily like the true Carolinas,
01:19 but he's a Carolina native, so like --
01:20 What does that mean?
01:22 It means North Carolina. That's the true --
01:24 That's the real Carolina.
01:27 It's the real Carolina.
01:28 But, uh --
01:30 [Laughter]
01:31 But, uh, all jokes aside, though, man,
01:34 he's a dog, man. He's a dog.
01:36 He's a dude who's just incredible, bursts of speed,
01:40 able to get by almost anybody, I mean, as far as I've seen.
01:45 Also can shoot it in a great -- in traffic,
01:48 keeping his dribble alive, and, you know, just a dog,
01:52 but a guy who also picks you up, 94 feet,
01:55 a guy who you always want to have on your squad.
01:57 How does having sports like that help your team?
02:02 Man, I just think it just --
02:04 They just do everything that, like,
02:06 other people don't want to do, like, in every sense of it.
02:09 You know, sometimes people have that one guy,
02:12 but it's kind of like -- it's always better
02:14 when you have, like, multiple guys that are doing things --
02:16 that are willing to do things that everyone else
02:18 doesn't want to do, like the dirty work,
02:20 dive on loose balls, take charges.
02:21 Like, that's in their character.
02:22 You know, that's who they are.
02:24 So the more people like that, I think you can --
02:27 you got a better chance to win.
02:28 So I think that's important,
02:29 and I've been really impressed with that side.
02:32 They can obviously -- they can ball, man.
02:34 These guys, like, some of the most talented guys I've --
02:36 and I've played with a lot of talented guys.
02:38 And they work hard, man.
02:39 They just come to get better every day, you know,
02:41 so it's inspiring.
02:43 Tier three, if you guys decided to coach Weston
02:46 or elevate the talent level each year.
02:48 Definitely. Yeah.
02:49 Whether that's just -- whether it's, like, recruiting
02:53 or, like, the portal, like, transfers and stuff,
02:56 talent levels definitely increase a lot.
02:58 Cody, you got high marks this summer in the Boston Factory.
03:01 What was your mindset throughout the summer,
03:03 and how do you feel like your body's transformed
03:05 or changed to where you're taking a level 11?
03:10 Yeah.
03:12 I'm just a person who likes to work out.
03:14 Like, I like working out.
03:15 I love throwing away in the weight room,
03:17 and I had a mindset of trying to gain weight.
03:20 And like you said, trying to gain weight,
03:21 trying to get stronger, and trying to --
03:23 because, I mean, all that --
03:25 all that stuff helps in the game of basketball.
03:27 It helps around the basket.
03:28 Helps guarding, you know, bigger, strong guys.
03:32 Being that, we're also being -- moving into the Big 12,
03:35 one of the best conferences in the world.
03:36 You guys have played with some great guards.
03:38 Mm-hmm.
03:39 I hear Mike Conrad, Jr. is one of them.
03:41 Does he kind of compare to Day-Day Thomas a little bit?
03:46 Mm. They are very fast.
03:48 They're both --
03:49 Who do you think faster, though? Be real.
03:51 Okay, honestly, if I'm being real --
03:55 if I'm being real, I'm not going to lie.
03:59 They're both fast dudes.
04:00 They're both fast. Super fast.
04:03 Like, it's hard to stay in front of Day-Day.
04:08 Like, it's hard. It's hard to stay in front of him.
04:09 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:11 I don't know if you can feel it, y'all.
04:12 I'm sure everyone would agree with me, too.
04:13 Yeah.
04:15 I'd be interested to see, like, who would win a full race.
04:17 Who would win a full race.
04:19 Yeah, who would win a full race.
04:20 Like, I'd pay to see that.
04:21 Do you think you'd be in line?
04:22 Nah.
04:23 In line? Are you like that?
04:25 Nah, not really.
04:26 [Laughter]
04:27 I mean, if we did that, I mean --
04:29 What? What are you going to say?
04:32 What?
04:33 I think I would be second behind Day-Day.
04:34 Get out of here, bro.
04:36 I'd dust him. I'm not going to lie.
04:37 Actually, matter of fact, we do something like that
04:39 in our warm-up.
04:40 But Coach Rayfold, like, we do warm-ups and stuff,
04:42 like, before every practice.
04:44 We'll do, like, down and back.
04:45 And the other day, I dusted him.
04:47 Normally, like, you know, we warm up, like,
04:49 right next to each other and all that.
04:51 We'll do a sprint in the end, sprint down, sprint back.
04:53 I wasn't fully warmed. That's why I called a warm-up.
04:55 Nah.
04:56 You know what I mean? If I was fully warmed,
04:58 you know what I mean, it'd be different.
05:00 The result would have been different.
05:02 How excited are you?
05:04 Kind of sure you have a chip on your shoulder.
05:07 You're ready to come out and prove that you are a guy
05:09 that can make a big impact on the team after you got here.
05:12 Wes was giving you high marks all throughout the summer
05:14 last year in the beginning of the fortunate entry.
05:15 Yeah.
05:17 How much of a motivated player do you feel like,
05:18 ready player do you feel like going into a year
05:20 where you can really make an impact?
05:22 Yeah, man, I'm extremely motivated.
05:25 Extremely motivated, you know, to get back and play a game.
05:29 I haven't played a game in, since last --
05:31 not just, like, the last March, you know?
05:34 So it's been a long time, you know?
05:35 So I'm just looking forward to getting out there,
05:38 playing a full game, seeing what it feels like
05:39 to have a crowd with you again, getting my game timing back.
05:44 Yeah. And, you know, just getting my legs
05:45 back under me, I'm just looking forward to that the most.
05:47 So the new Jordan uniforms, they're obviously unveiled.
05:50 Do you guys have a favorite so far?
05:52 Ooh. It's my first time seeing the white ones.
05:54 I like those the best. I like the white ones, too,
05:56 but I think it's just, like, because they're new.
05:58 Because we ain't seen them. We ain't seen them yet.
06:00 Back, back, back, back, back. I like the black.
06:03 I like the black.
06:04 Are you guys going to miss the Cats jersey?
06:06 Oh, we're not getting the Cats? It was our fire.
06:08 We're not getting the Cats? I thought they're not making it?
06:10 Yeah. We're not going to have some version of them?
06:14 All right. So maybe they got the Nike version.
06:16 Yeah. I hope we get that. Yeah. Yeah.
06:17 I hope we get that. I hope we get that.
06:18 I would miss the Cats if it don't come back.
06:20 Yeah. We wanted to make that our mandatory jersey.
06:22 Right.
06:24 All right, guys. Appreciate it.