University of North Carolina Athletics
Will Johnson Quotes
October 16, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Junior Forward Will Johnson
On his summer:
"I went to New York and worked at Morgan Stanley, I wasn't in the World Trade Center, the office was in Midtown. I had a great time. I was in the investment banking division, capital markets. I worked a lot of hours and learned a lot while I was up there."
On working on his game:
"I played after work and I played on weekends. There's tons of good basketball in New York City. I was in a league up in Harlem, there were good players everywhere, former college players and current players too."
On his role with the team:
"It's difficult to say at this point. Hopefully with every year your role increases and you get more playing time and more of a leadership role on the team, so that's what I'm looking to do this year. At this point it's too early to tell where everybody fits in, but I'm excited about this year and hope that my role will increase."
On last season and how it ended:
"I think it teaches us that in the ACC you have to come to play every single game. Then again, this team is a lot different from last year's team--we lost a lot and it's a different group of guys. But we'll always remember that."
On making up for the lost scoring from last year:
"We have a lot of different guys who can score, we just have to step it up. Obviously Jason Capel and Kris Lang are going to play a big role, they're seniors that play a lot. I think this year's team could be one where a different guy comes in and scores 15-20 points each game. Hopefully we'll have several guys step up and do that. I think that this team is going to surprise some people."
On being written off:
"We read the papers too. You can't have much better motivation as an athlete than someone telling you that you can't do something."
On his game against UCLA last year:
"It was a great experience for me. It was a high-pressure environment, it was a good team we were playing That's what makes you a better player, getting out there and doing it, and coming into this year I'm looking to do that a lot more."
