Q&A with Penn men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery, part two

Ivy Hoops Online: So neither Cam [Thrower] nor Alex [Massung] got a chance to play at all last season, Cam obviously had a cast on for the bulk of the season. What are some of the ways which you’ve seen Cam look different now versus maybe some of the tape you saw two years ago? And just for people who haven’t seen Alex in a game setting before, what does he bring to the table?

Fran McCaffery: Well, let’s start with Cam. Cam can shoot the ball. Cam can get to the rim. Cam has a keen understanding of what we want. He showed a level of maturity in that area. He plays defense, he sticks his nose on the glass and rebounds. I’ve been really impressed with him. Alex has a burst. He’s got athletic power. He is learning the point guard position. You know, he’s kind of a combo, but he gets downhill, he’s a physical guard, and both are just fantastic young people.

IHO: You mentioned TJ [Power] a little bit too, and there’s a couple questions I wanted to ask you about him. I know that he’s someone that you recruited really hard when you were at Iowa multiple times. What are some of the traits that he has that made him such a recruiting target for you? And what do you see as his ideal role in the offense?

FM: Well, very few guys that are 6’9” are as versatile as he is, but he can dribble, pass and shoot. He can post up. He’s a big-time rebounder. A lot of guys his size with skill don’t rebound. He does. He can play the point if he had to. He can get it off the glass and bring it himself, gives it up easy. He essentially has a complete game. And he’s got a maturity about him that’s been really, really important for this group.

IHO: Now, I know probably too much hasn’t changed [in the last few days], but how is he progressing with his elbow issue?

FM: Much, much better. He’s doing a lot of stuff now with his right arm, because it’s his right elbow. So he’s close.

IHO: In terms of Lucas [Lueth], he seems like someone who has a lot of length and athleticism. Good rebounder, can put the ball on the floor. What are realistic expectations for what he can contribute during that transition, moving from the juco level to the D1 level?

FM: He’s incredibly versatile. I mean, he can play three, four or five. He can shoot the three. He’s got great length, like you said. He’s got really good defensive instincts, terrific handle, so we can go off the bounce, but he could also get inside and post up, gives it up easy to his teammates, just a really good basketball player.

IHO: In terms of the front court and your options at the five, obviously there’s Mike [Oberti], I know he put some weight on in the offseason. Augie [Gerhart] obviously got a decent amount of run in that role last year. Bradyn Foster and William Kruse [are options]. Where do you see the rim protection coming from on this team?

FM: So far, Augie has looked really good, and so has Dalton Scantlebury, the freshman. We’ve seen a lot of good things from Michelangelo and William and Braden. They’re a little bit behind the other two guys. Johnnie [Walter]’s been hurt. But all of them have assimilated well into the uptempo style of play.

IHO: One thing I haven’t mentioned so far is Ethan Roberts. Obviously, there’s a lot of expectations around him, given his production last year. He has some length. He’s able to cut to the rim. He can shoot, create touches and convert catch-and-shoots. What are some of the different ways in which you think you can deploy him and what do you think his ceiling is this year?

FM: Well, I think Ethan is one of the best players in the league. Good size. He can play the point as well. He moves without the ball. He can shoot the floater. He’s got a pull-up game. He’s excellent from three. I love the fact that he can put it on the deck, go by his man and make a play for somebody else, and he’s willing to do so. That’s what the great ones do.

IHO: Now, the last couple questions I have are more philosophical in nature.

You came here from a major land-grant research institution where sports are an integral part of the campus culture. And, you know, Penn looks a lot different in a lot of ways, from when you graduated and from when I graduated. What steps do you think that you can take and the team can take to make basketball a more central part of how the school functions, and make it a part of the community that students get really invested in?

FM: Well, you’re right.

I mean, when I played here, we had Krzyzewskiville before Krzyzewskiville was a thing. Students slept out for tickets, the atmosphere was intimidating. Teams didn’t come in here and beat us. It was very definitely part of the fabric of the institution. Obviously, it was in no way a detriment to the academic profile in any way. If anything, it was just that we aspire to be great in all areas.

And that’s my intention, to keep that tradition going. I think our student body will get behind this team if we play the game the right way and win enough to make it interesting for them, and I’m looking forward to that happening.

IHO: I don’t want to get too into the weeds on some of the existential stuff college basketball is facing. But the Ivy League, obviously, in terms of the transfer portal, I think has done the best in terms of overall returning minutes. Obviously, there have been some people that have left, but you still see a lot of roster continuity year over year. To what extent do you kind of see the league and the team insulated from some of the changes we’ve seen in the college basketball landscape at large?

FM: Well, I think you’re right. I mean, people that come here, come here for the right reasons and are not necessarily looking to leave. Now that the rev-share era has come, you might have guys getting more financial packages being offered them.

This was not supposed to be a pay-for-play situation. But since the [House v. NCAA] settlement, it is, so you could get guys that are offered bags of money, and they take it. [Our players are] not necessarily looking for it. They want to get a degree from an Ivy League institution that will change their life, and the price tag on that is way higher than anything you’re going to be offered in the next 15 months.

IHO: I know you talked about this with Vince Curran a little bit when you first got hired, but how are you and the program thinking philosophically about NIL opportunities for the team, and what role that might play in terms of getting people in front of big brands, the alumni network, and using that as a tool for player retention?

FM: It’s kind of crazy, when you think about it, that we didn’t, or we weren’t allowed to connect our student-athletes with the corporate community for most of the years that I’ve been coaching. So we’re all in on that. You know, paid internships, mentoring programs, true NIL opportunities, because that’s not going away. The Supreme Court said, 9-0, that NIL is here to stay. So whenever you hear people saying “Oh, NIL is wrong, college athletics has got to change that rule,”  they’re not changing the rule, OK? Because the Supreme Court said so. Every athlete has an opportunity to profit from his name, image and likeness and he will do so. We have to connect our athletes with business owners, with Penn alums, or business owners in general.

But then, I think, more importantly, we’ve always been allowed to get jobs for our players. You know, we’ve got to find legitimate, paid opportunities that not only provide income, but more importantly, provide experience and mentorship that, as I said before, changes lives.

IHO: So one thing that’s made it difficult as a fan of a mid-major program where guys sometimes transfer up is that you see someone have a good game or have a really good season, and you end up afraid of them getting poached or lured to the transfer portal or getting tampered with. I know there’s not many things that you can probably speak to specifically on that issue. But to what extent do you feel like you may have to almost re-recruit guys in the offseason and in-season to prevent them from getting lured into the portal?

FM: I mean, you have to re-recruit every year. You know, it’s obviously worse now, but it’s no different than before. Kids would leave before. They just had to sit out a year. So if you didn’t treat them right, they would leave.

So what do you have to do? You have to build culture. You have to coach them up correctly. You have to be there for them. You have to help them, whether it be, you know, hopefully opportunities that make sense for them, but everybody’s got agents now. Agents are shopping the players constantly.

So the only thing we can do is, like I said, coach them up, provide an opportunity for them to get better and make sure that when they leave here, they’re in a better position to,  if they want to continue to play, to play professional basketball.

You see a lot of kids grab short-term money. They’re starting where they are. They’re averaging 17 or 18 points a game, and they transfer to be the ninth man and average four points a game, and they don’t make any money down the road.

So you know here, it’s a little bit different in that our guys are thinking, “OK, what are my long-term job aspirations?”

Now, every player in that locker room that I coach wants to play professional basketball legitimately. How many will? Some will, and we’ll help them get there.

But if you’re playing and things are going good, you might want to think long and hard about going somewhere else, because it’s not going to be the same.

IHO: Not to get too personal, but what does it mean for you to be close to your brother [longtime Delaware County Times sports columnist Jack McCaffery] again and to be able to be a part of his life on a day-to-day basis?

FM: It’s been so phenomenal for me. I’m gonna go see him tonight, and I’ve probably seen him 40-45 times since I’ve been back, and I had seen him three times in the previous 18-20 months.

He gets to come to the Palestra. He came to the red and blue game. We snuck him in for one of the closed scrimmages. He’s set in the corner just to get him out of the house, you know. Now that he’s in a wheelchair, we’ve got to create opportunities for him to get out and enjoy the things that he’s always enjoyed doing. So I’m very thankful for this opportunity to be able to be here because we have an unbelievable relationship. We’re as close as any two brothers could possibly be.