So, we were thrilled to get a chance to speak with him recently. Here’s what we discussed:
Montlake Madness: I know you’re still a few weeks away, but first of all, how you feeling?
Justin Holiday: Good.
MM: Are you gonna release a Q-Walk video? The fans really want to see one. What do you think?
JH: I mean we might. We always make videos and stuff like that. We might.
MM: Obviously, Jrue’s (Justin’s brother, Jrue Holiday) year at UCLA turned out well for him, getting drafted in the first round. But, did he ever express that he maybe wished he came to UW and played for a year with you instead?
JH: I don’t know about being here for a year, but he would always love to play with me. Same with me. But, as far as going there and any regrets, there wasn’t nothing like that.
MM: Let’s talk about the Purdue game (in last year’s NCAA Tournament). All season you were playing double-digit minutes, and then you were close to your season low (five minutes) against Purdue. Did you ever talk to Coach about why that happened?
JH: I mean, at the time, me and Coach did talk about it. And what he said was the way Purdue was playing us — you know me, obviously, the way I was playing wasn’t too aggressive on offense — when they were on defense they weren’t really guarding me, so that’s what he said. I mean, maybe I should played different all year, but I mean, I did what I did to help the team.
MM: What about this year? Are you coming in more aggressive on the offensive end?
JH: I have to. I mean, if you’re going to play at the next level you have to show that you can play offense.
MM: And that’s the goal, to play at the next level?
JH: Oh, yeah.
MM: What’s a successful year stat-wise?
JH: That’s the thing, I never really looked at how much I averaged or anything like that, but maybe ten points, ten to twelve, things like that. That’s a good year. I mean, even just being looked at from a league perspective. But, I still have to keep my defensive game. I can’t lose that.
Thanks for coming!