University of North Carolina Athletics
Q & A With Kennedy Meeks
October 14, 2015 | Men's Basketball
How excited are you for the season?
“I think it's a big time deal for our team. We have matured. Everybody has come into the season with the right mindset. Practices have been intense.”
Do you feel prepared coming out of offseason?
“Yeah I think so, me being in better shape has allowed me to keep that focus on being in even better shape so I have been to the gym as much as I can. Kinda setback right now with the knee injury, but I will be fine.”
When you look down the roster do you get excited about the possibilities?
“Yes absolutely. Everybody is improving, everybody is doing a tremendous job of staying in shape, eating the right foods, being on time to things, and just working hard all together.”
What motivates you going into this season?
“Of course to win a national championship. That's the biggest motivation for our team. It's written on the board inside the locker room. So I think now its just about us improving each day, working hard in practice, taking the things coach says everyday to help us get ready.”
How do you look at your leadership role this year?
“I do think I have one of those leader roles. I am fine with not being a captain. I know some of the stuff coach wants out of this team and what his main focus is and how important it is for us to win it all this year.”
Expectations surrounding the team and program year in and year out?
“I think the biggest thing is the tradition and the will to win. Just being tough, We didn't show up last year as much as we should have because it could have got us a lot further if we showed that toughness, I mean coach has a board showing the times we lost a game that we could have won. Like up 18 at Louisville, up 10 at Duke with 3 minutes left. Those are the types of things that kinda tear us up as a team but I think it motivates us.”
How is the team different from this year to last year?
“I just think it is a different attitude. Last year we used to worry what was going to be on the practice plan and what we are going to do at the end. Now everybodys just going to practice and getting it done. You can definitely tell Coach is a lot calmer then he was last year, cus it's a veteran team, everybody pretty much knows the system and how we should go about things. I think the biggest thing for us right now is executing in practice as much as we can and getting ready for the first game.”
From losing weight did you think about losing strength?
“I don't think so. We are kept really strong even on some off days some of us will come in and get a lift in. I think we are always going to be strong. I feel myself getting a lot stronger so that always helps the weight loss.”
Experience from last season?
“I think it is great for us. Especially players like Justin and Theo because they know how it feels to lose in the tournament. So I think for us as a team we've got to go into the season first of all with the right mindset not wanting to lose any games, not wanting to give any games away off of stupid things. That's the first focus at the beginning of the season.”
The idea of going undefeated at home has affected off season preparation in what ways?
“I think we want to go undefeated all around. But I think right now our main focus is our team executing plays as much as we can, doing whatever coach wants us to do to get those wins. So I think that comes first.”
