Last Sunday Winthrop beat Campbell by 27 PTS in the Big South tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. It seems hard to believe but the Eagles have more conference tourney titles (2) than losses (1) since last March! Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with DJ Burns about playing against Zion Williamson and what it feels like to make the NCAA tourney.
In 2018 you were the #3 high school prospect in South Carolina: did you ever play with or against either of the 2 guys ranked ahead of you (Zion Williamson/Ja Morant)? I have never played with Ja but I played against Zion a few times. There was 1 game where we each scored 20+ PTS against each other. I played him right in the middle of the time when he was blowing up: our coach said that our scouting report for our game against him was simply “do your best”!
You began your career at Tennessee but decided to redshirt: what made you decide to transfer to Winthrop, and how would it feel if you end up facing the Vols next week? Things did not work out for me at Tennessee and it was not the right situation for me. If we end up playing them it would be the most fun game of my entire season. They are a good team and Rick Barnes is a phenomenal coach but we are not scared of anyone so it would be a good game.
You play for Coach Pat Kelsey: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He is 1 of the best all-around coaches/people I have ever met. He has an intense energy and has never had a bad day. He brings good vibes and teaches us things off the court as well because he is invested in us as both players and people.
Last year you were named conference ROY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It was truly a blessing from God. My coaches believed in me and allowed me to be comfortable by setting me up for success.
In your season-opener this year you scored 6 PTS in an 8-PT road win at UNC-Greensboro: what impressed you the most about the Spartans? Their energy. We do not find many opponents who can give us back the fire that we have but that is exactly what they were. We never underestimated them: Isaiah Miller is a great player/competitor and they have a lot of good pieces.
In late-January you scored 4 PTS in a 2-PT home loss to UNC-Asheville after blowing an 8-PT lead with under 5 minutes left: was it a meaningless loss (because it did not prevent you from winning a championship) or was it a devastating loss (because you were literally 3 PTS away from having an undefeated regular season)? I considered it a heat-check. We let our guard down for a second and got complacent, but it showed that we needed to kick it up a notch and we fixed it for the rest of the year.
Last Sunday you scored 22 PTS/11-12 FG and had 0 turnovers in a 27-PT win over Campbell to clinch the Big South tourney title: what did it mean to you to win a championship, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? The feeling was crazy: it took a while for it to set in. We have had to deal with so much this year: some teams could have felt that they were done but we just kept fighting. To reach that point and see that it paid off was a breath of fresh air.
What is it like to be a college basketball player during a pandemic? It is boring! There are a lot more distractions when your season does not depend on where you go and who you hang out with. I think I will carry myself the same after the pandemic is over: you have to be consistent/focused.
Your teammate Chandler Vaudrin was named conference POY/conference tourney MVP: what makes him such a great all-around player? So many things. He is a leader, fierce competitor, hard worker, and we know that we can count on him when times get tough and we need to respond. You cannot do too much to guard him: he can shoot over you or drive by you and is 1 of the best passers I have ever played with. He produces triple-doubles all the time.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? I feel like we deserve to be taken seriously but I know that will not happen because we are a smaller school. We do not get much respect but we will go out and earn that respect: they will not forget about this year’s team. I predict we will be a 12 seed.