The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, Novmeber 21, 1993 - 3 A* 0 '00 A Hill Former Duke star reflects on his career The third player chosen in the 1994NBA Draft, Duke's Grant Hill is in his rookie season with the Detroit Pistons. Hill, who won two NCAA titles while at Duke, including one over the Fab Five in 1992, looks to lead the Pistons back to their championship form of the late 80s. Daily Sports Writer Tim Smith *oke to Hill recently about his tran- sition to the NBA, life at Duke, and past games against the Wolverines. Daily: Are you surprised by all of the attention that you have received so far? Hill: Yeah, I'm surprised. I didn't realize I'd get that much attention. I don't mind it though. I love playing for Detroit, so I'm just happy to be We. D: Has anything about the pro game caught you by surprise so far? H: I get tired a lot. The games are longer and the season's real long. I guess I just have to get used to that. Other than that, (the transition) has been OK. D: Did your father (former Dallas Cowboys running back Calvin Hill) ve you any special advice before eu got to the pros? H: He's given me a lot of advice. Just by watching him when I grew up, though, I knew what it would be like to be a pro. D: What kind of influence has he had on your life and your decision to play basketball? H: He influences me more as a person than as an athlete. Both he and 4 mother have been a tremendous influence on my life. He didn't pressure me into pursuing football and told me to play whatever made me happy. D: What do you think of the com- parisons with you and Michael Jor- dan? H: I don't like the comparisons. I'd like to go out and make my own impact on the game without worrying out comparisons to others. D: What are your goals for this season? H: I just want to go out there and help our team win. I want to win a lot of championships. D: Do you feel a lot of pressure to help the Pistons get back to their cham- pionship form of a couple of years ago? H: There are no expectations as h as those I have for myself. I want to be the best player I can be and won't be satisfied unless I can do that. D: Who is the best player you've encountered in the NBA so far? H: Charles Barkley by far. He is an unbelievably talented player. He was great and has tremendous skills. Everything everyone says about his game is true; he's phenomenal. D: What kind of relationship do uhave with Pistons captain Joe Dumars? H: Joe and I get along real well. He's a class guy. D: Have you developed any close relationships with any of the guys on the Pistons? H: Yeah, Johnny Dawkins went to Duke -Oliver Miller, Lindsey &nter -we all get along. The last nth we've gotten to know each other real well. D: Do any of your teammates treat you differently because of all the fan- fare and money that came with you? H: No, they treat me like one of the guys. It's cool. We all just get along real well. We're all on the same page-nobody's better than anybody else. " D: How tough was for you to lose to Arkansas in the NCAA Finals last year in your senior season? H: It was tough. Anytime you lose it's tough. I thought we played well and gave it our all, we just didn't pull it out. D: When you won the NCAA title in your freshman and sophomore years, did you think you would ever lose? H: Yeah. We were a good team. We had a lot of good players and we lost a lot of good players. I knew there was a possibility that we'd win all four years thatI was there. But we had to get real lucky. And each year's team is different. I kind of suspected that we might lose when I was there and we did. D: What was it like playing with Christian Laettner? H: It was a lot of fun. He came in and worked hard and wanted to win just like me. D: It's been said that playing with Laettner is not a fun experience. Did you have any problems with him? H: I didn't have a problem with Christian and he didn't have a prob- lem with me. We got along real well and he was a hard worker and a real good basketball player. I appreciated his effort and enjoyed playing with him. It was a lot of fun. D: You teamed up with him for perhaps one of the greatest plays in college basketball history when you threw a length-of-the-court pass which he converted for a game-winning shot against Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA East Regional Final. What were your thoughts before you passed it and when he caught it? H: I just wanted to make sure I could get the ball to him where he could catch it. And he made a great catch. That was an unbelievable game. D: In that same year when you played Michigan in the finals, did Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski have any special strategy to try and rattle the five freshmen? H: No. We went out there and played our game. D: Was there ever a point in the game where you thought you had them defeated mentally? H: No. I think when you get to the championship, even if we're beating them by 20 with a minute left, they're still going to compete because you never know when you're going to be back in that situation. So I think they had a lot of pride and they fought us to the end. D: Did you ever think that five freshmen could make it that far in the tournament? H: Yeah, I thought it could be possible. Anything is possible and they definitely proved that. D: Who do you think will win the NCAA title this year? H: Duke. D: Disregarding your obvious bi- ases, who else do you think has a good chance to win it? H: For me there's no one else out there. Idon't know thepersonnel of any other team like I know Duke. So from what I've seen this summer I'll know they'll be strong. They'll take some knocks early, but when it all boils down to the end I think Duke will win. I don't really know who else is good out there; I guess because I'm here I should pick Michigan. D: What do you think makes Duke play so well consistently when it comes to tournament time? H: We're all unified and we're really a team. We get along both on and off the court. We all had a com- mon goal and our goal was to win- win a championship. Fortunately we were able to do that twice while I was there. D: Do you think there is a special bond between Duke players? H: We all stay together and we all get along. A lot of that has to do with Coach K and the kind of guys he brings in (to Duke). We all just really get along. All the teams that I've been on, the players really stick together while we are there and when we leave. D: So what was it like for the team last year when former Duke guard and current Sacramento King Bobby Hurley was critically injured in a car accident? H: We were in Durham and we were practicing. Everybody was up- set but we found out that he was going to be OK That was the important thing. We were shocked-devastated. But once (the doctors) said that he may have the opportunity to come back and play, everybody who knew Bobby knew that he would be back. D: Do you think he will have suc- cess as a pro player? H: Yes, I think so. D: You have played in many games against Michigan in your college ca- reer, what are some of your bestmemo- ries? H: Winning. Having good games that go down to the end with both teams playing hard and being able to some- how, some way pull out the victory. D: What do you remember of your battle with Jalen Rose in last year's game? H: I don't really get caught up in individual matchups. You win as a team and you lose as a team. I don't really remember different situations in the game. I just remember that we were able to overcome a great perfor- mance by Michigan and pull out the victory. D: Do you think it will be tough playing this year in Detroit, where the crowd may not be as wild and sup- portive as they are in Cameron Indoor Stadium? H: When you play, regardless of the building, 20,000 people or no one there, you're going to go out there and play hard and play your game. You block out what's going on inthe crowd and go out there and do what you've done your whole life and that's play. D: What did you think of the Michigan student section as opposed to Duke's? H: It seemed like every place we played was loud. When we were at home, we had a loud crowd. When we were on the road, it seemed like ev- erybody hated us. Everybody was loud on the road. D: Do you think athletes at schools like Michigan and Duke, where the academics are a major focus, are at a disadvantage? H: Not really. Both schools are tough. I can't really speak for the situa- tion at Michigan, but at Duke, I know that the academics are definitely tough. But you can find ways to budget (time). It proves that if you go to tough schools GET CUT FROM THE PROIS. Go where the athletes go-- Baror hop& kat Shrpedt and have demands in both areas and still have time to do well in both areas, it is definitely possible. (Academic suc- cess) was something that happened. People graduated, people did well there, and people did well on the court too. D: Do you regret your decision not toleave ayear early for the NBA draft? H: No. I had the best time in college and I enjoyed it. I had a great time in school and playing basketball. I don't regret anything at all about staying in school. It was a great deci- sion on my part because I think it turned out really well. D: What do you think of today's trend where the top players leave af- ter their sophomore and sometimes even freshman seasons for the allure of the NBA? H: Idon't mind. People have to do what is best for them. It so happens that staying in school was the best thing for me. I enjoyed school and I had a great time playing for coach K. To each his own. Everyone has their own situation and everyone has to do what is best for them. D: The Dallas Mavericks had the second pick last year, but you showed no interest in playing for them. Why was that? ., H: I wasn't against them. I was just so excited about the possibility of playing in Detroit that I wanted to be in Detroit. The (Detroit) offense, the coaches, the players-everything was a perfect feel and a perfect fit for me. D: A lot of today's rookies hold out for the most lucrative contract, but you signed early for less than you probably could have gotten. Why were you so eager to sign? H: It's not all about money. It's all about being happy where you want to play and where you want to be. If De- troit had the ninth pick, I'd still want to play in Detroit. I wanted to go where I wanted to go and Detroit is where I wanted to go. D: What do you foresee yourself doing once your basketball career is over? H: I don't know. I guess I'm like most 22-year olds. I went to school and learned a profession. And like most 22- year olds. and most college graduates, I'm not really sure, so I guess in the meantime I'll just play basketball. RACHEL BACHMAN Bach's Score Smith's comments lead to press feeding frenzy Walter Smith did not want John Cooper fired. He may have said so a week ago, but he didn't mean it. Walter Smith wanted Michigan to win, period. To understand that fact, you must understand Smith. He is fiercely loyal, almost to a fault. Coach Gary Moeller called the senior co-captain one of the toughest to wear the maize and blue - this even before a knee injury sidelined him for what most thought would be the whole season. When Smith came back several weeks earlier than expected, to catch a two-yard pass in the waning minutes against Minnesota, he proved worthy of his coach's superlative. Smith has said, "I'm just an emotional guy, and when the emotion flows, I react to it." That's the kind of guy he is. So when his proclamation ended up on the cover of every newspaper in the area, I bristled. His words told readers: Walter Smith is intense. Walter Smith is unpredictable. But they also said he is vindictive and malicious. That is simply not true. To publish Smith's statement out of the context of his other comments at last week's press conference, and out of the context of who he is, would be irresponsible. But that's just what several papers and TV stations did. And as a result, Smith came off as a rabble-rousing thug. This situation is why many athletes loathe the media. Often, in our quest for the perfect sound bite, we forget the larger piece from which it was taken. In the Associated Press's newly-adopted Statement of Ethical Principles, there is a provision under the title "Fairness" called "Context." It says: "News should be presented in sufficient historical and factual context to assure that a fair and accurate picture is conveyed." Ideally, such ethics are uppermost in reporters' minds, especially when dealing with an unpaid, amateur athlete. True, Smith was at a press conference, and knew he was on the record. He shouldn't have said what he did. The point is that he truly regretted doing so, evidenced when a shaken Smith stopped coach Gary Moeller on his way into the conference to warn him about what he'd said. Smith didn't mean it. Just because he was caught on tape, does that mean he can't take it back? How many people would want everything they said set in stone? "Emotion comes from losing," Smith said. "Especially when we lost to Wisconsin last year, to watch our coaches feel the pain of losing to another team, that hurts me. It's just the embarrassment of losing and the embarrassment of watching other teams celebrate against Michigan. That right there brings the spirit and the emotion out of me." That is Walter Smith. .. So what exactly was said at that press conference? This was: "We want to get Cooper fired," Smith said. "That's what I want to do. We want to keep beating him and beating him until he's no longer there." "You want to get Cooper fired?" a reporter asked. "Yeah. Because if he stays there, that means we're not beating him," Smith said. "You really mean you want to get Cooper fired?" another asked. "Yeah," Smith said. "It's better than getting coach Mo fired." "... Getting back to that Cooper thing, is that just your opinion, or is that pretty much the ...", asked yet another reporter. "That's my opinion. That's my attitude toward any other team that we play. Me, I just care about Michigan. I don't care about another coach outside of Michigan or another team. "If all our players had that type of attitude, we'd be 11-0," Smith said. 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