Buzz Williams looks back on whirlwind week for program

Key notes from Buzz Williams interview

• I'm doing okay. I'm trying to process what's going on and understand what's coming as a father, a husband and a leader of our program. It's unique and something I've never seen in my lifetime. I'm not sure what ways I'm supposed to help as I keep learning more about what's going on, but I'll do whatever I can.
   
• The things I say to you would be the same things I say to our kids. We had practice and film on Tuesday. We do that and get all of our work before we leave campus. We left on Tuesday. I took them to a home cooking place in Nashville. On Wednesday, we had 45 minutes to shoot at Bridgestone Arena. There's always that question of do you want to have a full practice or not. I made the decision that we weren't going to have real practice on Wednesday. That was a delicate decision. We went to shootaround on Wednesday at 1:45. Thursday morning, we can't get into Bridgestone Arena because of games going on. Stuff related to the virus started trickling in on Wednesday evening. Dan Gavitt made the decision that the NCAA tournament wouldn't have fans. We had a "shootaround" at the ballroom at the hotel. We had all of our walk-through stuff without the ball. Our kids - because they're kids - thought that was cute. I told them that I didn't know if we were going to play. They did a great job going through everything like we were going to play. I never eat a pregame meal, so I told them if anything changed, I'd let them know. In the time I went up the elevator to my room, they canceled the tournament. I immediately texted our guys. After that, while we were on our way back, everything was canceled.
   
• When we got home, we had a meeting in the lobby of our office. I told them that I was grateful for everything that had happened in our program. I shared with them what Ross Bjork told us about spring break and classes and everything. I sent out a text message to their parents. Everything has changed so rapidly. I've talked to each of them every day since this has happened. Some went home, and some are still here.
   
• I don't know what the right thing to say is other than to be prayerful. I told them that before they're players and students at Texas A&M, they're sons. Those conversations are going on with my own children. I'm trying to handle this the best I can with the unique circumstances.
   
• Wendell and Nebo mirrored what happened with the team this year. Chuck spent most of November and December shooting in the 20s. Nebo was not dominant prior to Christmas. As their trajectory increased, so did other guys. As those two guys became leaders and found momentum, it translated to other guys. It mirrored how our team evolved for the better.
   
• I go back and study all of the numbers so that it is objective and not subjective. Without having studied that yet, I know that as both Chuck and Nebo changed, we changed.
   
• For all of the smart people and coaches that voted us to be 12th, I think we finished better than 12th. A lot of that has to do with those two kids.
   
• Recruiting is hard to keep score with. When we got here, there were five players on the team. We have tried to manage our roster as well as possible. It is human nature that when you get a guy in the spring, the size of the pool to recruit is not as big as the fall. I was overprotective or paranoid that we cannot sign guys that do not make us better three or four years from now. I made a decision or two in my first 100 days that were not great. But what we have done - and this is all of them - will make us better.
   
• Our staff has been very efficient and consistent with how fast the world moves. Consistent is not a word used in the world of recruitment. How we recruit is most important. Character is the most important factor for us. Are you a good person, and are you a consistent person? If you're not, it doesn't work for us just because of how we operate our program. Consistency takes a while to figure out.

Also included in the playlist are thoughts from TexAgs basketball analyst Logan Lee.