Q&A: Steve Alford on UCLA’s hopes, expectations for season

When coach Steve Alford steps onto the Nell and John Wooden Court tonight as his team takes on Drexel, it will mark the official start of his tenure at the helm of the UCLA men’s basketball team. Alford is just the 13th head coach in UCLA men’s basketball history.

In anticipation of tonight’s game and the upcoming season, the Daily Bruin’s Andrew Erickson sat down with Alford to discuss his adjustment to Los Angeles, his hopes for the season and how he plans to use some of his roster’s most athletic pieces this year.

Daily Bruin: What is it like for you being back in Los Angeles and how has the adjustment been for you just a few months into your tenure at UCLA?

Steve Alford: It’s been great. The people have been unbelievable; this university is great. The administration, the support staff (are great). It’s not just me, it’s our entire staff. Other than (Director of Operations) Tyus (Edney) and (Director of Basketball Administration) Doug (Erickson), our staff is new, so having them as assistants as we make this transition and get all of our families moved, I couldn’t ask any more from the university. It’s been really good.

DB: Just walking on campus and in the Hall of Fame, what has been your impression of UCLA’s tradition thus far?

SA: The tradition, there is no other place like it. We’ve said this before, but from NBA first-round picks to world championships to NBA All-Stars. … You think of UCLA as most national titles and almost three times more Pac-12 championships than any other team in the league. You think about that because those are college numbers. But then you look at the NBA and it’s the same. The most NBA All-Stars are Bruins. The most guys holding World Championship rings are Bruins. It’s not just the collegiate brand, it’s the national brand and that tradition and those four letters are as powerful of a brand as I’ve ever been associated with.

DB: This year’s a little bit different in that you don’t just have Kory playing for you, you have Bryce as well. What’s that like for you to be able to coach two of your sons at the same time?

SA: Well, we’re just getting started with it, but it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve had Kory for the last two years and we won two league titles and two tournament titles, so part of an awful lot of success and fun and he was a part of that. The neat thing from taking the coaching hat off and just being a dad is the job that you’re doing … whatever that is that’s in preparation for practice and preparation for games, your sons are a part of that. Our family has always been a part of basketball and whatever I’ve been doing in basketball, but it’s pretty cool when both sons have uniforms on and they’re practicing and part of the scouting report and part of film sessions. They’re a part of road trips and all that. It’s a lot of fun.

DB: Walking around campus, it’s hard not to notice the John Wooden Center or the John Wooden statue. Just being your own person, how do you embrace that while at the same time trying to instill your own philosophy?

SA: We’ll be our own personality, that’s for sure. I don’t think you can be somebody that you’re not. We’ll take on our own identity and we’re still searching for that. We’ll find out what our identity is. Sometimes year to year that identity changes. We were always up-tempo and first or second in the league in scoring at New Mexico and then last year we couldn’t throw the thing in the ocean and we became a really good defensive team and still won 29 games and a (Mountain West) championship. The identity changed from year to year, but the unselfishness … (and) the ability to work hard, I hope those things are there every year. I hope those are the mainstays of our foundation. But I had embraced coach Wooden long before I ever landed in Westwood. I have an enormous amount of respect for him and his family, not just in the basketball area, but who he was as a person and how he treated me, the respect that I have for him is enormous. He’s always taken time for me and he didn’t have to do that just because I’m from Indiana. He knew my dad was a coach and I think he respected that fact. … It was not just about what he did in basketball, but his fingerprint goes way beyond just (10) national championships. That’s what makes him such a special man.

DB: What’s been your impression of the Pac-12 as a whole and how its identity differs from that of the Mountain West?

SA: The Pac-12 Network has really helped. We’re one of only two conferences now that has our own TV contract. That’s a compliment to the league office and (Pac-12 commissioner) Larry (Scott) and the job that he and his staff have done in the league office, because it’s kind of turned the tide in the Pac-12, at least from a basketball standpoint. Because I think three to five years ago that the Mountain West was ahead of Pac-12 basketball if you look at NCAA bids, movement in the NCAA, record head-to-head. … I think the tide’s turning, for whatever reason. I can’t say I understand the reasoning of it, but I think the Pac-12 Network and the aggressiveness of the league office to put more emphasis there is just helping brand our league and basketball to a higher level. It’s my first year so I don’t have a lot to compare to, but just as an outsider coming in from the Mountain West, to me, this is the best season potentially that the Pac-12 has had in over a decade when you look at the depth of your league. … I think we’re trending up as a league and I think that’s going to continue.

DB: Have you ever had a point guard quite like Kyle Anderson?

SA: No, I think we’ve had Darington Hobson (at New Mexico), who has Los Angeles ties. We had Darington for just one year because he left after his junior year. We didn’t use him as much at the point position as we’ll end up using Kyle, but he did play some of that for us. Kyle’s bigger, longer, but very similar to Darington. Great skills, great passing skills, great basketball instincts and a great rebounding guard. That’s what Kyle brings to us. He’s going to be so versatile. It’s unique that you get somebody that can play probably four different positions on the court and play them very, very well. I hope that as the year goes on and we get a little bit healthier, that that’ll make for some tough matchups. When you’re preparing for us, you have to prepare for a (6-foot-9) point guard and that point guard can play the forward spot in our lineup. We’ve gotten a good headstart on that, and hopefully that makes us a tough matchup.

DB: When you look at this team that you have, on the whole, how does it compare to some of the teams you had at New Mexico? Where do you see this team talent-wise?

SA: Well, very similar because, for however many years in a row, we haven’t been very deep up front. I don’t know why it keeps shaking out that way, but that’s why hopefully Wanaah (Bail) gets back, I know Travis (Wear) is going to get back here in a few weeks – two or three weeks. Just trying to keep those bigs healthy because we’re not that deep there. We’ve got more depth in the guards than we do right now up front. This team kind of mirrors those teams, but these guys are more athletic and have deeper talent. If you look at the three guys up front now – the Wear twins and Tony (Parker) – those are three talented big guys. Then you’ve got those guards like Norman (Powell) and Jordan (Adams) and Kyle, those are high-level, elite guards that have had experience. They’re young but they’ve won championships already in their careers. I like the level of talent that they have, and then you bring in guys like Zach (LaVine) and Bryce (Alford) that had great high school careers, Parade All-Americans. The potential is there to be the next elite in line. Seeing how that’s all going to develop, it’s a very talented team. We could go nine or 10 deep, and that’s what’s got us pretty excited.

DB: What do you feel like this team needs to do throughout the year to put itself in that position of success?

SA: We have to develop an identity defensively, and part of that is being a good rebounding team. The team last year was not a good defensive rebounding team. We’re seeing that same kind of Achilles’ heel now early through 21 practices. That’s gotta change. We’ve got to be able to play aggressive and play up-tempo, but we have to find out what that pace is going to be to where we’re going to handle the ball effectively. We can’t be a team that has 20 assists and 16 turnovers. We have to be able to play up-tempo and attack defensively, but we have to be more like 20 assists and 10 turnovers. We’ve got to find out where that’s going to be and then we’ve got to do a good job on the backboard.

DB: Obviously it’s tough to put a number on it, but what are some of your expectations for this team win-wise, in term of championships, et. cetera?

SA: Well, I’ve never done that. I’ve never promised or talked to the team about number of wins. I think at UCLA, you tip it up on opening night against Drexel, and the goal and the ambition is the same every year, and that’s to win a national title. We’ve won 32 Pac-12 championships and there’s not a banner anywhere in Pauley Pavilion about it. A lot of places hang league championships, and (UCLA) hangs national championships. When you win 11 national championships, there’s only room for one type of banner and that’s for a national championship. It doesn’t mean we’re going to do that every year, but that does mean that’s what we’re aspiring to. That’s our challenge, that’s our goal. If you ask me that three years from now, it’s the same thing. That’s UCLA and that’s what we’re aspiring to do.