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Pretty interesting Q&A with Coach Henson:
You challenged Desmar (Jackson) early in the week. Is he just a guy that you constantly have to ride on a daily basis to get the most out of?
Let's address this right now because I did something I haven't done in 32 years. I not only challenged Desmar privately but I challenged him publicly. I think people need to understand that I love my players. I love them. But sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures, and we were there. I love Desmar Jackson, and we would like Desmar Jackson to be a part of this program. But we don't want him to be a part of this program until he realizes that it's a privilege to be here, not a right. That not only goes for Desmar; that goes for every player in our program. Sometimes, we coddle who we perceive to be our best players, and that's absolutely the worst thing we can do. I've always had this saying: 'When it's more important to me than it is to the player, it's time for us to move on.' I think that's where we had gotten to. We need Desmar, but I think Desmar needs us more than we need him. Every player needs to figure that out. I hope our fans understand that I want the best for him. For me to call a kid out in public, it hurt me. It bothered me. I just felt like at this time I needed to do that in order to catch his attention. Don't think for one moment, not one moment, that this is a mind game. It has nothing to do with mind games, I'm telling you. You can ask Luke (Scheidecker), we were buying a bus ticket, which, by the way, is an NCAA violation. That's how upset I was. We would have made sure that Desmar bought his own bus ticket, so we wouldn't have had a violation. But I wasn't playing a mind game. I was being truthful the entire time.
Has it improved your relationship with him?
It has for the last 72 hours. We have another 48 hours to go before I make my decision. It's not anybody else's decision. This isn't something that is staff. This is something that I just came in and told my staff, 'This is what I'm going to do. I'm worn out. I'm tired of it. I've come to the point that this is what we're going to do, and we're going to make a decision.' I don't care if Desmar scores 28 points. It doesn't have anything to do with points. It has everything to do with effort and attitude and respect and punctuality and doing the little things right. We want to make sure that our guys understand, regardless of what happens on the floor with the scoreboard, that we're still going to do the right things. I think you just have to put your foot down and say, 'It hurts, but it's still the right thing to do.' My dad made me go to a willow tree a lot. I had to pick my switch. I hated it. My mom and dad didn't like that. But I learned my lesson. This is one of these moments. I'm not sending Desmar to the willow tree; I'm sending him to the bus stop, I guess.
Have you added any football players?
We've worked out Calvin (Belts). We've worked him out and we've got him eligible. And just to show you the state of Saluki basketball, we get Calvin on the squad because we need someone to help us practice. We get him eligible, and then he has an accident and takes six stitches to his shooting hand. It just never fails. It's just amazing. I don't think anyone wants to be around me right now heading to Vegas, I promise you that. He's helping us a little bit in practice. I don't anticipate that he'll play in the games very much, but he'll certainly help us in practice.
You challenged Desmar (Jackson) early in the week. Is he just a guy that you constantly have to ride on a daily basis to get the most out of?
Let's address this right now because I did something I haven't done in 32 years. I not only challenged Desmar privately but I challenged him publicly. I think people need to understand that I love my players. I love them. But sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures, and we were there. I love Desmar Jackson, and we would like Desmar Jackson to be a part of this program. But we don't want him to be a part of this program until he realizes that it's a privilege to be here, not a right. That not only goes for Desmar; that goes for every player in our program. Sometimes, we coddle who we perceive to be our best players, and that's absolutely the worst thing we can do. I've always had this saying: 'When it's more important to me than it is to the player, it's time for us to move on.' I think that's where we had gotten to. We need Desmar, but I think Desmar needs us more than we need him. Every player needs to figure that out. I hope our fans understand that I want the best for him. For me to call a kid out in public, it hurt me. It bothered me. I just felt like at this time I needed to do that in order to catch his attention. Don't think for one moment, not one moment, that this is a mind game. It has nothing to do with mind games, I'm telling you. You can ask Luke (Scheidecker), we were buying a bus ticket, which, by the way, is an NCAA violation. That's how upset I was. We would have made sure that Desmar bought his own bus ticket, so we wouldn't have had a violation. But I wasn't playing a mind game. I was being truthful the entire time.
Has it improved your relationship with him?
It has for the last 72 hours. We have another 48 hours to go before I make my decision. It's not anybody else's decision. This isn't something that is staff. This is something that I just came in and told my staff, 'This is what I'm going to do. I'm worn out. I'm tired of it. I've come to the point that this is what we're going to do, and we're going to make a decision.' I don't care if Desmar scores 28 points. It doesn't have anything to do with points. It has everything to do with effort and attitude and respect and punctuality and doing the little things right. We want to make sure that our guys understand, regardless of what happens on the floor with the scoreboard, that we're still going to do the right things. I think you just have to put your foot down and say, 'It hurts, but it's still the right thing to do.' My dad made me go to a willow tree a lot. I had to pick my switch. I hated it. My mom and dad didn't like that. But I learned my lesson. This is one of these moments. I'm not sending Desmar to the willow tree; I'm sending him to the bus stop, I guess.
Have you added any football players?
We've worked out Calvin (Belts). We've worked him out and we've got him eligible. And just to show you the state of Saluki basketball, we get Calvin on the squad because we need someone to help us practice. We get him eligible, and then he has an accident and takes six stitches to his shooting hand. It just never fails. It's just amazing. I don't think anyone wants to be around me right now heading to Vegas, I promise you that. He's helping us a little bit in practice. I don't anticipate that he'll play in the games very much, but he'll certainly help us in practice.
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