Q: Julian, you had one of the best YouTube videos I have ever seen. Talk a little bit about that and how you came up with that.
Julian: It was just something we wanted to do. A kid I know, he’s a sophomore at the school I went to, we just decided to put it together. It’s just a fun little thing we did.
Q: Raymond you are from Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College, beautiful place in the coast, but by way of San Juan, Puerto Rico. So talk a little bit about your journey from San Juan to Murfreesboro.
Raymond: It’s quite different, I’m not going to lie. It’s way different from back home. I just made my dreams come true, and I’m doing what I’ve got to do.
Q: You’ve had a lot of experience in international play as well as junior college. There’s one good story out there about some success you had against a player a lot of folks know about. Do you mind telling that?
Raymond: I’ve been around the world, basically. I’ve been to New Zealand, played for the world championship, Argentina, France, and I’ve played against all the guys - John Wall, a lot of guys playing D-I right now, playing at big time schools. It’s a good experience. You play against a lot of guys with big talent, and he helped me with my game, too.
Q: Jason has played only one year for the Blue Raiders but it seems like you’ve been here forever. Talk a little bit about the new faces on this team.
Jason: We got ahead with each other by experience on the Canada trip and go to see what everyone can do like Ray, Julian, Bruce and Marcos. They are all good guys and come from good places. They love being in the gym and the game of basketball.
Q: Shawn, you’re from Miami and had a pretty good freshman year. You and JT Sulton have probably done more with your bodies in the offseason. How much work did you put in in the offseason all summer long?
Shawn: As you said, we did put in a lot of work lifting weights, running and getting out. We got our body fat down and our weight up so we won’t get moved around in the post. All for Coach Davis because he says is it will make us better players.
Q: Is there anybody on this team who can do an impression of any of the coaches?
Jason: The funniest one that everyone imitates is Coach Towe because he’s always talking. He’s never looking in my eyes. He’s always looking down at the floor or somewhere, but he’s never looking in our eyes.
Q: What did you learn about just messing around with the guys in your freshman year, Shawn? Do you guys become like brothers?
Shawn: You could say that because when I first got here, we all had distances, but we all got closer on road trips and stuff. You could say we now look at each other as brothers.
Q: How much fun are you guys looking towards having?
Jason: We’re looking to have a lot of fun this year. Like I said, everybody loves the game of basketball and you don’t even have to make guys come to the gym. Some players and teams, if it wasn’t for the coaches sending text messages out, no one would come to the gym. But all of us got together in July and throughout the summer and we put in as many opportunities to get better as possible to prepare for this season in the gym.
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