[Rosiak's Blog] Tim Maymon interview

[ToddRosiakSays]

Tim Maymon interview

Written by: Todd Rosiak


Here's what Tim Maymon had to say about his son Jeronne's commitment to MU earlier today:

Did Tom Crean express interest in Jeronne when he was still coaching MU? And how quickly did you hear from Buzz Williams after he was hired as Crean's replacement? We heard, ‘Hey, we're interested.' Then two months went by and we heard nothing. Then we heard so much buzz around Marquis Mason and the kid up North (Evan Anderson), then we heard about Jamil (Wilson) and Johnny (Lacy), and then Jeronne. ‘We're interested, we sent letters,' and that was it. No more phone calls, no more nothing, no assistant coaches. The guy that was recruiting this area, Tim Buckley, he didn't really contact us. I called him and said, ‘Hey, what's going on? You guys really interested?' And he said, ‘Yeah, we're looking at him, but right now we're still working on 2008.' That gave me an indication you're really not (interested) because you're telling me you're working on 2008 and I'm telling you Jeronne's interested and you're supposed to be interested, and you're acting like you're not now.  So we basically put them on the back burner.

Jeronne said it best: when Coach Buzz took over, his first priority as head coach was to let all the players know he was their coach, and then he proceeded to hire Tony Benford, who proceeded to call me about Jeronne and Devonte and tell us how much he wanted our family to be a part of theirs. They came down when they said they were, they lived up to every word they said. We brought Jeronne down for a visit, they walked around with Jeronne and they had a good conversation. Jeronne felt comfortable with the coach. The coach told him everything he didn't want to hear, which was a key factor. Everybody else told him what he wanted to hear, ‘Jeronne, you're the man, we're going to give you the world.' Jeronne didn't want to hear that, because Jeronne wants to be pushed. He can get patronized by me and his mama. He wanted somebody who was going to push him, motivate him to be better than he can ever be. Because if he's going to get a coach that says, ‘Oh Jeronne, don't worry about them 20 turnovers, it's OK,' that's not a coach. That's trying to be a friend. Jeronne wants somebody to say, ‘Dang, you had two turnovers! You're better than that. Pick it up!'

"And that's the kind of person Jeronne is; he wants to be pushed. He's not the kind of kid that wants to skate through or whatever. Jeronne wants to get better; he wants to get greater, and he's just looking for someone who's going to work with him and push him to the limit. He saw that in Buzz Williams. I was definitely elated that he picked somewhere close that wouldn't stress the family out. We're his support and we're always going to be his backbone, and be there for him. We just want to make sure my son will have the best college career he can have, and we want to do everything possible to be pleasing in his eyes as well as God's.

There were reports that Kansas made a late push. What happened there? Kansas came in, and Jeronne really considered them. He really thought about it. Them being a national title team, that was a plus. But the disadvantage was it was a long way from home. Every kid wants to be independent, but to a degree. Jeronne has always had our family's support and I think we're his strength. We help him grow. Jeronne will ask us anything. There's nothing we won't discuss. He don't want to hear what other kids want to hear; he wants to hear what he knows he should be hearing. That's good. That's showing that he's maturing. I just thank God for the way he answered the questions and the deliberations because he went to sleep with a sound mind and woke up with his mind made up.

Did Kansas offer a scholarship? They called and said we're very interested and we want to get in the mix. Upon saying that, they had to offer because the rule was - and I put it out there 2-3 weeks ago -- that if you don't make an offer, don't call thinking that we're going to consider you. They called last week, maybe Wednesday, and said, ‘Hey, we're interested, we want to get in the race. ‘ To get in the race there has to be an official offer. It's been all over the internet, it's been all in the papers and on TV, and they quoted me: no offer, no consideration. For them to call, I think it was Coach Townsend who said, ‘We're very interested, we want to get in the race.' I told them you know that requires an offer, so if you're not offering you're not going to be considered. And he said, ‘Well, we want to be considered.' So I took that as an offer. I took it as they were going to make an official offer so that they could be considered. The same happened with Coach Floyd from USC. He called and said, ‘Hey, we're interested, we want to get involved with Jeronne. We've wanted to get  in on his recruitment. We know he's a great player - he beat the player we went to see, so we want to get involved.' We checked the internet and sure enough, they had made an offer. I didn't get a chance to check on Kansas because I've been answering phone calls and text messages. I'm just glad that I don't have to have 100 coaches calling me anymore. He's set, he can concentrate on academics, his workouts, getting stronger and better and winning a state title.

You've been very outspoken over the past few weeks, saying, among other things, that wherever Jeronne goes he expects to play major minutes right away -- if not start. Did you make all that known to Williams? Yep. And Jeronne told him too that playing time was key. Buzz had expressed to Jeronne that if he came there -- because he's losing three starters, not one - that Jeronne's playing time is enormous. ‘You, coming in with your talent level, you're going to play. That's just the bottom line. You're going to start and you're pretty much from 25 to 30 minutes a game.' And Jeronne was very excited about that. He had an offer to go to Baylor to start and get as much playing time as he wanted. I just think that Baylor's location pretty much hurt their chances.  They were the top school when they offered last year, but I think Jeronne's glad he waited and looked around. He got a chance to go on the national scene and play so everybody else could see that he was this caliber of player.

Considering how much Jeronne rose with his recent performances on the AAU circuit, was there any thought of waiting even longer in order to perhaps attract even bigger schools? No, I think he's got the best opportunity. Because regardless of the name of the school, the ranking of the school, wherever Jeronne goes he's pretty much going to make a name for himself. He's done it countless times playing Texas teams, California teams. He's went through the AAU circuit in the last four weeks and pretty much went from No. 191 to No. 12 on Rivals. As a power forward, that's tremendous. That's great. I think that hit the scene the right way, he took the opportunity that was presented. And I don't think it was really early. To me, it was a key factor that he went on and finished out his junior year on a good note. Now he can go ahead and concentrate on nothing but academics and winning a state title for next year. This is not early. Early is signing as a sophomore. Early is committing as a freshman. A junior? You've got one year left, and that's pretty much the year you want to commit because I think Keaton (Nankivil) committed going in his senior year, and I think Wesley committed at the end of his junior year. So Jeronne's just following the trait of Spartans that's been doing a wonderful job, and he'll be one of the next Spartans to go on and do great things. I think that Memorial has been getting a bad rap according to schools, and everybody's going to see that they've put out three great players in Wesley Matthews, Keaton Nankivil and Jeronne Maymon. They have put out a legacy, and that legacy is going to stand in Wisconsin for a long time.

Where is Williams projecting Jeronne position-wise once he arrives at MU? He sees him as a 2-3-4. He said Jeronne will play pretty much the two, three, four, and Jeronne loves the three. He'll play some two and some four depending on the teams. We're going to create a lot of matchups. Jeronne is going to be a hard matchup for any team we face, and depending on who their best player is, whether he's at the two, the three or the four, Jeronne will be pretty much guarding him and they'll pretty much have to guard Jeronne. We're not going to give leeway to teams because, ‘Oh, Jeronne's playing the two so we're going to move you to the three so Jeronne can't guard you.' No, Jeronne will be able to move to the two, three, four. We're going to definitely have Jeronne playing great, great basketball. I see Buzz doing a wonderful job with him. The key thing is that he's a new coach. He ain't set in his ways. He's actually told Jeronne they're going to help set plays, they're going to develop a style of play that's unique to the frame of team they're going to have. They're not going to run the Tom Crean offense, they're not going to run the old Marquette offense. They're going to establish themselves among the elite teams as a new offense, and they're going to make a lot of noise.  A lot of noise.

What kind of relationship do Jeronne and Wesley have? They've got a great relationship. They're pretty much buddy-buddy. Him and my two sons talk all the time. Jeronne and Devonte both talk to Wesley. Corey Vernon, Keaton. All the ex-players, they all pretty much communicate. Lewis Monroe. Actually Jeronne and Devonte have worked out against Wesley and Lewis. They do a lot of 1-on-1 techniques at Memorial, a lot of players come back and they do a lot of scrimmaging. They just help each other out, and I thank Wesley and Keaton and all them guys for being an influence and role models for Jeronne and Devonte, I really do.

Is Jeronne excited about breaking Wesley's scoring record and Keaton's rebounding record at Memorial? Yeah, we discussed that last night. He looked at me and said, ‘Dad, I'm going to break both of these records before the middle of the school year.' I said, ‘Yeah, you're right son - you'll break Wesley's scoring record, and you're definitely going to break Keaton's rebounding record, and you're going to be up there for a long time.' It's going to be amazing to see who tries to break his records in the next 10-15 years.

What is Jeronne's academic situation right now, and what do you see it being when next school year rolls around? His grades are decent. He has Bs and Cs. He has one D in chemistry that he's brought up already. He took a test and I think he brought it up to a C+, but he still has the final to go. His grades are decent. The only thing we're worried about is the core GPA, which we've got to bring up over a 2.1. We will have that done with summer school because he's going to re-take chemistry - even though he might get a good grade - to boost it all the way up, and we're going to get his English a little bit higher. Jeronne, I project him a 2.3, 2.4 GPA by the time his senior year is over. We're definitely glad we're committed because now we have the structure in place to get Jeronne to the right grade level.

Is Jeronne's GPA currently a 2.0? Yeah. We've just got to get it a little higher because the higher you get it, the lower you need on your ACT.

So with that in mind, as well as the fact he's committed, does that mean Jeronne won't be playing much on the AAU circuit this summer? He might get one or two, but that's Jeronne's decision. He said he thinks he might not do more than another one, if that. But he wants to get really focused on academics, and he really wants to just get his mind wrapped around his grades and his workouts. He's going individual workouts with (AAU coach) Hennssy Auriantal, who's teaching him NBA-style workouts. He's getting him stronger and we're strength training, and he's working out with a few of the guys at Memorial for the summer so their whole team will be better and they can win the state title. So I think he really wants to focus on finishing out this year with a state title, and he wants to leave a mark here in Wisconsin that it's not going to be Milwaukee winning all the state titles. They're not going to win a bunch in a row because Jeronne's going to start a tradition, and then he's going to turn around and leave it for Vander (Blue).

Jeronne's got some impressive measurables. How's his strength? I don't exactly know what he's benching, but he's benching strong right now. He loves the weights. That's all he was asking the colleges, ‘You have a great strength and conditioning program, right?' That's what he's on. Jeronne's looking to get much stronger. He idolizes Kobe Bryant and Michael Beasley. He wants to develop his game into a very, very aggressive, athletic game like Kobe and he wants to be as strong as Michael Beasley down low.



http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2008/05/27/tim-maymon-interview.aspx

[ChicosBailBonds]

Tim Maymon interview

Written by: Todd Rosiak


Did Kansas offer a scholarship? They called and said we're very interested and we want to get in the mix. Upon saying that, they had to offer because the rule was - and I put it out there 2-3 weeks ago -- that if you don't make an offer, don't call thinking that we're going to consider you. They called last week, maybe Wednesday, and said, ‘Hey, we're interested, we want to get in the race. ‘ To get in the race there has to be an official offer. It's been all over the internet, it's been all in the papers and on TV, and they quoted me: no offer, no consideration. For them to call, I think it was Coach Townsend who said, ‘We're very interested, we want to get in the race.' I told them you know that requires an offer, so if you're not offering you're not going to be considered. And he said, ‘Well, we want to be considered.' So I took that as an offer. I took it as they were going to make an official offer so that they could be considered. The same happened with Coach Floyd from USC. He called and said, ‘Hey, we're interested, we want to get involved with Jeronne. We've wanted to get  in on his recruitment. We know he's a great player - he beat the player we went to see, so we want to get involved.' We checked the internet and sure enough, they had made an offer. I didn't get a chance to check on Kansas because I've been answering phone calls and text messages. I'm just glad that I don't have to have 100 coaches calling me anymore. He's set, he can concentrate on academics, his workouts, getting stronger and better and winning a state title.

Can someone explain that to me?  Is he saying he needed to check the internet to see if his son was offered by USC....???  Wouldn't USC just offer him directly on the phone.   

[jce]

Can someone explain that to me?  Is he saying he needed to check the internet to see if his son was offered by USC....???  Wouldn't USC just offer him directly on the phone.   

When I first read it, I thought it was sarcasm...  But after reading the entire thing, I'm not too sure.  He certainly is a character.

[nola03]

How about the 25-30 minutes comment? Yikes.

I'm sure Erik Williams is under the same impression. And, I'd like to think that Lazar Hayward would expect 30 minutes his senior season. And, if Trevor Mbakwe progresses the way we expect, he'd be looking at 30 minutes. By that point, we'd hope Otule is developed into a 20-25 minute player.

And people believe Butler will be a strong performer at 2 guard his second season. Not yet to mention minutes at the 3/4 for Fulce and Hazel.

With crap like this out in the public sphere you can't really sell 30 minutes and a starting spot to Jamil Wilson. At this point, with the 2,3,4,5 spots seemingly all locked down by players looking at 30 minutes it seems to me finding a top 10 PG should be no issue -- as they have major talent all around them and no competition.

[Ready2Fly]

Sounds like Tony Bendford was a great hire by Buzz.  I like how we were the only school that didn't completely blow smoke up his a$$ (aside from the guaranteed starting spot and mpg, but if he's that good he's that good). 

In one of Rosiak's articles it says Maymon is 6' 7" with a 7' 6" wingspan - that's a Louisville-type player.  More Louisville '07-'08 type players and less 'Nova '04-'05 type players is what I like to see.  Every single one of Buzz's recruits has a great wingspan, an interesting trend.  Is there a highly-rated, tall '09 pg out there with long arms?  If there is, I bet Buzz is all over him right now.

[Tigidal]

What's the deal with his brother, Devonte?  Sounds like Dad wants to push his name out there a lot too...

"he wanted our family to be a part of theirs"

[bma725]

What's the deal with his brother, Devonte?  Sounds like Dad wants to push his name out there a lot too...

"he wanted our family to be a part of theirs"

It's nothing new.  A year or so ago Tim Maymon was supposedly telling coaches that if they wanted Jeronne they had to offer Devonte a scholarship as well.

He's not entirely untalented, but I don't think he's a D1 player, though supposedly Benford was recruiting him while at Nebraska.  He's going to a Prep School in Houston next year.

[Tigidal]

It's nothing new.  A year or so ago Tim Maymon was supposedly telling coaches that if they wanted Jeronne they had to offer Devonte a scholarship as well.

He's not entirely untalented, but I don't think he's a D1 player, though supposedly Benford was recruiting him while at Nebraska.  He's going to a Prep School in Houston next year.

Good stuff... Thanks.

[77ncaachamps]

When I first read it, I thought it was sarcasm...  But after reading the entire thing, I'm not too sure.  He certainly is a character.

I think you mean that in a good way.

After all, he may be reading this post as well!

[MarquetteDano]

Oh man, I am going to get lambasted for this, but is anyone worried about telling recruits they are going to get 25 minutes a game their freshman year!!   

I'm sorry, maybe this is what really goes on in recruiting, but not good.  You've got Erik Williams, Cubillan, Hayward, Fulce, Mbakwe, Butler, and Maymon all playing the 2-4 spots at times.  It just seems like over-selling to guarantee those kinds of minutes for his first year. I am not saying that he can't get those types of minutes, but I don't think I would even guarantee him starting let alone 25-30 minutes a game.

I guess that is why I am not a recruiter. 

[Markusquette]

Oh man, I am going to get lambasted for this, but is anyone worried about telling recruits they are going to get 25 minutes a game their freshman year!!   

I'm sorry, maybe this is what really goes on in recruiting, but not good.  You've got Erik Williams, Cubillan, Hayward, Fulce, Mbakwe, Butler, and Maymon all playing the 2-4 spots at times.  It just seems like over-selling to guarantee those kinds of minutes for his first year. I am not saying that he can't get those types of minutes, but I don't think I would even guarantee him starting let alone 25-30 minutes a game.

I guess that is why I am not a recruiter. 

I am inclined to believe Buzz thought he had to say things like this to persuade the top ranked players to come.  I think Maymon may have the talents to play that much his first year, but it's hard to say he can get all that time with a lot of veterans on our team playing the same spots (minus cubillian). 

[jce]

I think you mean that in a good way.

After all, he may be reading this post as well!

I do mean it in a good way.  As I mentioned in another thread, he coached a team against my son's a couple of weeks ago, and he was incredibly nice afterwards.

[bilsu]

In the one article Maymon stated that he was promised a starting job, but it was up to him to not lose it. I taking this to mean that Buzz told him that spots are open and that he is the most talented player for the position. So from day one he is the starter until someone else beats him out. Basically, telling the kid you come in and do what you are suppose to do you will start. If you come in and do not play upto your talent you will not start.

[Henry Sugar]

In the one article Maymon stated that he was promised a starting job, but it was up to him to not lose it. I taking this to mean that Buzz told him that spots are open and that he is the most talented player for the position. So from day one he is the starter until someone else beats him out. Basically, telling the kid you come in and do what you are suppose to do you will start. If you come in and do not play upto your talent you will not start.

what he said.