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BU: Here’s what I’ll say about Tom: There’s unbelievable value in high character. And he’s at the top of that list. He is a self-made player—and I say self-made: There’s a lot of work by our coaches and Tom didn’t do it by himself. What Tom did was commit to work. He was a player that was lightly recruited out of high school. He was a player that averaged 4.4 points a game as a freshman. He transformed himself physically in the weight room and by doing that, gave himself versatility that allowed him to play defensively at different positions. Offensively, he was a 60.5% free-throw shooter as a freshman—just horrendous—and probably a worse three-point shooter.
He was basically a high school power forward/center. But his best skills were at the point. And he continued to hone his weaknesses and make them strengths. He continued to work on shooting the basketball. Here’s a guy who goes 19 for 20 in an NCAA tournament game against West Virginia. And that says a lot about the individual.
Is he a pro? Absolutely he’s a pro. I look at some of these guys who are in the NBA. Not only is he a talented guy because he’s a very deceptive athlete, but he’s also the highest IQ player I’ve ever coached. He is the best teammate that you could possibly ask for. He’s going to do nothing but continue to improve his game at the next level because of his work. He’s a young man who has improved since the season has been over because all he’s done is work out.
He played great in [the] Portsmouth [Invitational Tournament]. It was great for him to be in that scenario because he got to play more point guard than he did with us. I don’t have enough superlatives and adjectives to talk about Tom.
His efficiency was something well noted on our end. He’s 6’4”, 6’5” and he’s the school’s alltime leading rebounder. Probably the greatest thing I can say about Tom is—and it’s no coincidence that his teams won championships—all Tom’s teams in pickup games win. Tom is the winningest player in the history of Stephen F. Austin. He’s the winningest player in the history of the Southland conference. He’s a winner. And there are just some people that have it, and I don’t know how you describe it, but he has it. All he does is win, and he affects people around him, and he makes people better around him. Man, he’s a unique player from that capacity.
SI: He plays with just an unbelievable amount of confidence.
BU: And he’s earned that right to have that confidence because he’s worked so hard. He’s a unique guy in that he’s never afraid of the moment. He’s just a guy that has worked his way and taken coaching and developed all of that and put it into a package that’s made him great.
Some NBA team is going to be really lucky. I don’t know if it’ll be his rookie year. I don’t know when that’ll be. But they’re going to get a really good player. And they’re going to win championships, and he’s going to be a part of it.
The entire interview is linked here
