Talkin' to Takayo: Breaking down the 2021-22 Seahawks

Siddle's first radio show focused on previewing the new-look roster

Nov 02, 2021

The preseason votes have been cast and all-conference teams chosen, just in time for them to all be proven wrong on the court.

We’re almost there, though, with the UNCW men taking the court for an exhibition game on Thursday night vs. Francis Marion.

With that in mind, fans joined Coach Takayo Siddle and play-by-play man Mike Vaccaro for their first lunchtime show of the season on Monday afternoon in Wilmington.

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With 10 (well, maybe 9 1/2) new faces on the roster, the second-year coach spent the majority of the hour discussing how the new roster fits together and who might emerge into the biggest roles.

Here are the highlights from Siddle’s conversation with Vaccaro:

On last season

It taught me to be patient … I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I knew that things were going to come up and I would have to be patient and make the best decisions for the program.
Throughout the whole year, we were able to evaluate the program … we were able to evaluate everything and going into the offseason, put things in place like we needed them to be and wanted them to be and I think we laid a really solid foundation and and going and you know, moving the program forward.

On his goals for recruiting this roster

I wanted to get high character, student-athletes and I think we hit the jackpot with our group, and I wanted to improve our skill level. I wanted to improve our size. I wanted to improve our athleticism and I think we did that with this eight-man class that we brought in to add on to he guys that we had returning.
So, I think the the roster is tailor-made for how we want play and and the things that we want to do out on the court and more than anything, Mike, they're really, really good people.

What does having more depth mean?

It's going to allow us to wear our opponents down. You know, guys in and out. I want go about nine or 10 deep if I can.
I'm still trying to build my trust up with some of the other guys but we have some time ... playing a fast-paced, up-tempo style is is what we want do and we need multiple bodies to be able to do that. Yeah, certainly have that.

Has that depth improved practice?

I want to make (practice) harder than the games and you know, I think they have been. They get after each other and it holds them accountable without me having to harp on certain things as much.
They know that if they don't do their job, then, it's going to be next-man-up. So, that helps me in terms of holding them accountable and them holding themselves accountable. So, our practices are really competitive — we get after it. Guys are are out there … competing and trying to win.

What was the importance of a full offseason?

That was the main thing — getting them in here together as soon as possible so they could start learning each other, learning how to coach each other and be around each other and and learn what makes a certain guy tick and they did that.
From June, from summer-school when we started, they started doing team stuff together and we did it as a staff with them, but they they took it amongst themselves to start building that team chemistry. That was important; then, implementing our style of play on both ends of the floor laid a very, very solid foundation with that in the offseason. Things were important for us to to get them in and do those things.
Now, aside from that, being able to help them grow as young men, we implemented a program we call ‘Beyond Basketball’ which we had three team meetings with different things every week throughout the summer, and I think that really helped us by helping them grow on and off the court. Getting them ready for the real world was something that we wanted to implement as well.

On the experienced players

Yeah, you know, they embraced it. We will bring in people and we taught them how to tie tie ties. We taught them how to write checks, taught them how to kind of manage heir salary and different things like that -- life skills, stuff that they'll need moving forward.
We implemented our core values which we have seven of them and just different things. Just trying to help them out as young men and I think they embraced it.

On adding players from winning programs

Bringing guys in that have won and know exactly what it takes to win was something that we talked about when we were trying to put this roster together and every guy that we brought in has won a championship of some sort, whether it's a state championship, a regular season title in college, making it to the NCAA Tournament.
Everybody on our roster has done that — especially with the guys that we brought in. So, that was important as we started to put the roster together.

On the four returning players

Yeah, those guys were so important, to have them come back. We wanted to make sure we kept those guys in the mix; they're so important to what we're trying to do.
Moving forward, they know exactly what I expect and the one thing about them is, when we put the roster together and everybody started to come in, they took it amongst themselves to start being leaders and forming these team events and start building the chemistry. So, it was important that we brought those guys back and they know exactly what I want.
Sometimes I don't even have to say anything when it comes to us coming out to practice, and they know to tell the guys, ‘Hey, tuck your jerseys in,’ and, ‘Everybody be on the same side.’ … just little things like that. They're so important and all of those guys want to win. They have gotten to the point where they're playing at the level that we need them to play at and so the other guys kind of just followed them. It was important to to have those guys come back.

On Mike Okauru

Mike will be a huge part of what we're doing. It's going to be good to be able to slide him off the basketball and play him a little bit at the three and two. I think he's more comfortable doing that, where he can score and get to the glass and do some other things, but I think his best in natural position is playing on the wing. I think we'll see some better basketball from him.
(He’s) really taking a step with his defense right now … so, Mike will be a huge part of what we're doing.

On Okauru’s international experience with Nigeria

I think the the thing he took away from it was and he came back and he started working on it himself. He saw how physical the pro game is, so, he brought that back with him. He saw how fast the pro game is and I think that's going to help him coming into the year.

On Jaylen Sims

A huge part of what we’re doing. Jaylen is a guy that was playing really good basketball before his injury — think about the tournament that we had to start off the season, and he was playing unbelievable. He was leading the country and scoring at one point and he's healthy now and we're challenging him to be a two-way player. He should be pushing to be an all-conference, player to year type guy.
We all know Jaylen, he's a workhorse; always in the gym, very coachable -- a guy that I'm going to lean on heavily.

On Shykeim Phillips

I’m expecting big things out of him. He's a key, key part to what we're doing — maybe an X-Factor; (he’s) a guy that we have to have out on the court and keeps everybody calm, can get us in our offense, anchors our defense, is talking a lot more and taking a on a leadership role this year. So, a guy that I'm going to lean on as well.

On Phillips’ health

Yeah, he had a a great offseason. He's back to 100 percent and maybe even a little bit better than what he was before he got hurt last season, but he’s back to 100 percent and we expect him to have a big year.

On Jamahri Harvey’s offseason improvement

I think a little bit of everything. You know, he's gotten a little bit stronger, still defending, and probably one of our better perimeter defenders. Getting to the offensive glass and defensive glass you know, at a high level right now and shooting the ball well. He’s improved; he had a really good offseason, so he’ll be a huge part of what we’re doing too.

What’s the toughest part of becoming a head coach?

I get that question a lot, and I guess going into my three years at N.C. State, I wanted to go into it as if I were the head coach. So, I was very active in practices. Coach leaned on me to help him make decisions … I did a lot of the scouts and you know, I was really active and I knew the next step for me was to try to get to a head-coaching role.
So, I tried to prepare myself as much as possible. Now, going from year one to year two, I think the thing that I learned the most is, like I told you earlier, to be more patient … and really think through the decisions that I have to make on a daily basis. I think that's probably the the biggest thing that I learned.

On the influence of Kurt Kanaskie

Kurt’s great; there’s nothing he hasn’t seen. You know, I probably call him and bug him way too much but he's been great to have beside me and help me transition over to this role.
With my other guys, I lean on my other guys heavily too. The one thing I always said when I was an assistant is I'm going to lean on my assistant coaches and I'm going to want them to give me suggestions and I'm going to bounce ideas off of' ‘em and I have a really good staff that I can lean on.

On the 10 newcomers

What I wanted to do is … I wanted to add some skills, some athleticism, some size, good people, and we did a good job with that. I wanted to mix in some some older guys with some younger guys. All of them are really talented; the majority of them will have an opportunity to carve out a role for themselves.
With the freshman class, it's hard because everything that they're going through is their first time going through it. So, it's a lot of teaching … it's a lot of showing and then, you know, making sure that they understand the attention to detail. Just those little things that they don't they don't get yet. With the older guys, it's more getting them used to how we want to play and how we do things, and they all are embracing it.
That's one good trait of this team, is they really do want to win and they embrace everything that we're throwing at ‘em. So, very excited about our group and our growth over the course of the year.

Will any of the freshmen contribute?

Yeah, Trazarien White; 6-6 ½ and can play multiple positions, can really score the basketball. Trying to get him tougher, trying to get him to value the defensive end, and trying to get him to play as hard as we need him to play, but he's a guy that that can really carve out a niche early.
Then, Jamarii Thomas is another guy that we'll need to play some minutes and help Shykeim run the team. He's tough, he’s competitive. Trying to get him to buy in defensively and effort-wise is as much as we need him to, but those two guys.
Khamari McGriff, his best basketball is ahead of him. He’s only been playing basketball for three years … he’s a sponge. He understands exactly where he is in his career right now, and he understands he needs to develop, but he’s working every day and somebody, you know, later in his career, we can see becoming a star.

Does McGriff’s background as a swimmer help him?

Yeah, he he can run for days … very active, very athletic. Really good talker (and) communicator, so we love him. He’s a ball of energy.

Do you see Trazarien as a different type of freshman since he played JUCO last season?

Yes and no. He still makes the same mistakes that I thought he would coming in. It's just different -- every level is different, no matter how old you are ... but he's a little further a ahead and those other guys are from a competitive standpoint, from a defensive standpoint, from an I.Q. standpoint; he's a little more advanced than those other two guys are … I really look for big things out of Tra.

Is speed the biggest adjustment?

The speed and the physicality of it, but he's adjusting well.
Our practices kind of prepare him for -- overprepare him -- for how the game is going to be. Nobody, I don't think in my opinion, is going to play as fast and as physical as we play in practice because I always tell ‘em, I'm probably the worst referee in the country. I don't see any fouls. So, I kind of let fouls go.
It's made them tougher, it's made them more physical.

On the importance of deflections

For me, that's a gauge on how hard we're playing. (Recently) in practice, one day, we had 54 deflections and I could feel it like I knew we were playing extremely hard.
If we don't get 40 or more after every practice, they have to run sprints. So, they know that that I gauge how hard we're playing from our deflections and they know that's important to me and the program. So, that that'll be something that we continue to monitor.

On whether he thinks Mike Okauru can improve his game even more and potentially be an All-CAA player

I do, because Mike is a guy that if he doesn't have to think and overthink, he's a lot better. He's just a guy that just goes out and makes makes plays and to take the ball out of his hands and just limit his decision making so much.
I think that I think that he'll have a really good year. He already plays extremely hard, he's a really good rebounder, can really shoot the ball and improving defender. I think he can be better than he was last year — I do.

Has Mike accepted that he might not be playing 40 minutes a game this season?

Yeah, he understands that and all the guys understand, you know, that our strength is our depth potentially and they understand that to value their minutes more than how long they're playing, if that makes sense.
Just as long as you're out there -- if you're out there for two, three minutes -- just do your job. You know, we talk about that a lot with our program. Just do your job and and whatever role you carve out for yourself and they all understand that they won't nobody's going to play 40 minutes on this on this team or even close to it. Other guys are going to have opportunities. So, I think we have an understanding of it.

On the fact that guys will need to take breaks if they’re playing to the standard within the system

You're going to need to. Giving a fist and I tell them, I make a deal with them. You play as hard as you can, give a fist and I take you out. Whenever you’re ready to go in, let me know and I'll put you back in. So, that's the deal that we had, we made with the guys and you know, they've been doing a good job with it.

On Alec Oglesby

Yeah, Alec’s a big-time, big-time kid … Everything that, you know, culture-wise that that we were -- more than what we were -- looking for and asking out of him. He’s unbelievable; very comparable to Jaylen Sims with his work ethic and how he carries himself, so that was important to bring him in and add him to the group.
Now, as a player, big-time shooter, one of the best I've seen in a long time; a pure-shooter that has deep range is improving his skill-set off the dribble. So he’ll be a very, very important piece of this roster and to us this season.

How does Oglesby compare to some of the players from previous championship teams?

He’s more along the lines of a Ambrose Mosley, Chris Flemmings mix. He’s 6-5 -- bigger than Ambrose Mosley -- but can really shoot it. I think Ambrose’s last year he made 78 threes -- that’s a lot of threes. He’ll have that type of range and a quick trigger. Chris Flemmings when I say he’s got ice in his veins; he’s just a big-shot maker. Excited to watch Alec grow throughout the season.

On the value of Oglesby coming from a winning team at Cleveland State

Absolutely, to add him, another winner … somebody that played a key role in helping Cleveland State make it to the NCAA Tournament. He played 17, 18 minutes a game; shot about 43 percent from three. A guy we needed to add to our roster. Somebody that is an every-day guy; punches the clock every single day. He does extra, he practices extremely hard, plays to win ... somebody that I’m excited about.

On Khadim Samb and Amari Kelly

They'll provide some depth for us on the interior. With Khadim, a really, really big-time athlete who can play both four and five -- probably play him at both positions and split his time there. Especially with James Baker … I want to be able to slide James at both positions as well, so Khadim will be one of those versatile forwards we like playing with -- can shoot the ball, can go off the bounce. Really good athlete.
Then with Amari Kelly, what a surprise. I didn't know exactly what I was going to be getting with him. I knew he was skilled, but I didn’t know he was as skilled as he’s shown up to this point. Lefty, really soft touch around the rim, can step out and make jump shots. Really skilled to make plays off the dribble from certain areas on the court. Really good offensive rebounder, so he’s been a pleasant surprise to me.
I knew we were getting a good player but I didn't know that he would be doing the things that he's doing right now.
So, excited about those two guys.

Who has been the biggest surprise so far?

I would say Amari Kelly and he was so important because we lost a couple guys at that position
he was so important because we lost a couple of different guys at that position.
Somebody we can throw the ball to on the block; he can step out and and do some different things. He was important to add him to our roster.
Then, Jaylen Fornes has been a surprise; I hadn’t seen him in about three years and his game has really grown and he's really matured as a person, too.
Those two guys are probably the most surprising to me.

On the return of Jaylen Fornes

So, with Jaylen, the recruitment was a little different because I recruited him here the first time when I was an assistant. So, the relationship was already there but the conversation was a little different.
I just explained to him exactly what we had and what we could offer him and how I wanted to help him make his professional profile a little bit better. In order for us to do that, we had to win and he understood that -- very mature young man.
I told him what exactly what I had to offer, and told him to call me back when he made his decision. A couple days later, he called me and told me, ‘Coach, I’m ready … I’m ready to come back,’ and it was that simple.
A guy that, like I said, he surprised me. His game has grown so much and he’s added so much more to his offensive game and he’s a better defender. He can really, really score the basketball. I’ll rely on him heavy in the leadership department, and from a scoring standpoint, I’m really going to be leaning on him for that. He’ll be huge in what we’re trying to do.

Given that you only have Fornes for one year, has that sped up his process?

Yeah, it has. It has, but you know, know, set that aside, his basketball I.Q. is probably one of his best attributes and that helps him get over the hump.
He’s not as athletic as he used to be, as some of us may remember him as, but you know, what he lacks in athleticism, he covers it up with his I.Q. and feel for the game and you know, he's a tremendous basketball player.

On James Baker Jr.

Yeah, he’s a winner, as well … came from a team where he was a starter -- a full-time starter -- and played 28 minutes a game on a championship team that made the NCAA Tournament.
I like to call him the X-Factor too because he was huge in bringing him in and having him become one of our leaders. He’s our best communicator; he's always talking and and helping those guys out on both ends of the floor.
He’s somebody that will play at the four position, at the five position -- can play inside out. Really good rebounder, tough, physical; my type of guy and a tremendous person, too. James was a very important addition to our roster this year.

On Logan Morrissey and Makoa Surigao

Logan and Makoa, great additions to the team as well. They can play; they’re good players. They compete really hard and they push our scholarship guys in practice every day, and we’re glad to have them on our team.

On scheduling

I’ll say this: scheduling is hard. It's hard to get people to come and play you -- especially at Trask, because they know it’s such a home-court advantage for us.
We wanted to get out and and play some of the best teams in the country and we wanted to put together a tough non-conference to prepare our guys for conference play and and you know, fortunately or unfortunately -- however you want to look at it -- we’re going to be on the road a lot and that’s going to put us in uncomfortable situations.
A coach told me a long time ago, you build toughness by winning on the road, and I think if we can start to develop that toughness over the course of the next month, I think it will help us going into conference play.

On Thursday night’s exhibition game

It's another opportunity for us to get better and grow as a team even more. A lot of kinks
that we need to iron out, so, playing against another opponent is going to help us more than playing against ourselves.
We're excited to get back in Trask in front of our fans and get up and down the court and make some shots and get some dunks and play some defense. That’ll be fun; we’re looking forward to it.

On playing in front of a real Trask Coliseum crowd

We’ve talked about it in recruiting and they don’t really understand until they actually experience it. Trask, I always tell people, it’s the best play to play in our league and one of the best places to play in the country. It’s truly a home-court advantage for us.