Montlake Madness Talks to 2010 Husky Freshman Forward, Desmond Simmons – Part II

In today’s portion, Desmond talks about his summer in AAU ball. Some of the media coverage about Desmond’s summer alluded to some unexpected struggles on the court, and we discuss that in the portion of the interview below.

Montlake Madness: What college team did you grow up rooting for?

Desmond Simmons: I never really had a team in college basketball. I just watched it. I had my select players that I loved to watch. I never had a particular college I was rooting for. Just favorite players I loved watching play.

MM: Give me an example of players you’ve enjoyed watching.

DS: I loved to watch Blake Griffin last year. Jerryd Bayless was fun to watch…

MM: Have you played with or against any of the current Huskies?

DS: I played against Clarence Trent his sophomore year, which was my freshman year, in a basketball tournament in San Diego.

MM: What was it that ultimately made you choose UW?

DS: I would say how down to earth Coach Romar was. That pretty much sealed my deal. I went up there and saw the campus and the campus is beautiful, and the school is nice itself. The Pac-10…

But, I think it was just talking to Coach Romar. Just how honest he was. And how down to earth. He wasn’t trying to sell me anything. He was real honest and straightforward with me about everything and he just told me he wasn’t promising me anything and that I had to come in and work. And, if I earned minutes, then I’d get minutes. As honest as he was with me, I respected that a whole lot. And, I heard a lot of good things about Romar prior to going up to visit, and people were telling me a ton of stuff about how great of a coach he is and just how good of a person he is. And, when I met him, he was everything that everybody told me. So, he wasn’t just giving me a bunch of hot air.

MM: Did you feel that there were others during the recruiting process that were maybe more “full of hot air”? Or, making promises they might not be able to keep?

DS: I mean, I felt that most of the coaches I was talking to were pretty sincere. I was talking to Oregon State for a while. And, Coach (Nate) Pomeday and Coach Robinson, they seemed real sincere about what they were talking about. I don’t think they were just blowing smoke up my butt. But, I think that I got a better vibe from Coach Romar than the other coaches I had met with.

MM: I’ve heard that this summer in AAU ball was a little bit of a mixed bag for you. There were times you played really well, and times you struggled a little too. Tell me a little about how you feel the summer went and how your game progressed.

DS: I played probably more on the wing than I ever have in my AAU career. So, there were ups and downs with that, because I’m still learning, still currently learning, how to become a wing player. So, you know, I mean I played a lot on the wing this year, so there were a lot of kinks I needed to work out. A lot of things I learned from myself sometimes the hard way that, y’know… Things like making plays from the wing, things like that. So, it was kind of an up-and-down… I had some ups and downs in some tournaments this year. And, probably just because of playing on the wing more than I ever have before, so it was something new.

MM: Are you going to play on the wing for your high school team this year?

DS: I’ll play on the wing, probably, all year.

MM: Is that a decision you make with your coach with an eye on your future?

DS: Me and my coach have discussed it. My freshman year, going into Salesian High School, we had discussed that eventually I was going to work my way to the wing. Last year, he intended to play me on the wing more, but I ended up playing in the post more than on the wing. Next year, we’re going to focus on me playing on the wing in practice, and during the season. It was also something about, since I was going to Washington next year, I would have to get used to playing on the wing, so it wouldn’t do me any good playing in the post my senior year and then heading to Washington to play on the wing.

Thanks for coming!