More from The Q&A: Willie Warren

OK, so the Oklahoma point guard has nowhere near the basketball credentials of Magic and Chuck, but after talking to him this week for The Q&A, he sees some similarities. Check it out.

Jenni Carlson: I understand you’re a broadcast journalism major. Why the interest in that field?

Willie Warren: Just watching Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson, I have the same sense of humor they have and I feel like I know just as much about basketball as them. My dad played basketball. My mom was a high school and college All-American. I’ve been around the game a long time, and I feel like I know enough about the game where I can just be on TV.

JC: You’re not going to go all Craig Sager of us if you make it, are you?

WW: I dunno. We’re just gonna have to see.

JC: But he wears pink and purple and crazy stuff.

WW: Oh, no, no, no. Not pink and purple.

JC: So, what are you up to this off-season?

WW: Just working out. Trying to develop different aspects of my game. Making sure all our players are working hard. Making sure they know how important the off-season is individually because we don’t have a Blake Griffin, a Taylor Griffin, an Austin Johnson coming back to our team.

JC: Are you in more of a leadership role this summer?

WW: Blake was the captain last year. He was the best player. The best player has to be the leader. You can’t have the best player being the laziest guy on the team because other people are just going to follow, so I have to be a leader this year. I’m willing to take up that role.

JC: Take me back to last season. What did you learn most?

WW: I learned a lot. I might have played against every top point guard in the country. I played against Sherron Collins. I played against Stephen Curry. I played against E’Twaun Moore from Purdue. A.J. Abrams. Jonny Flynn. Ty Lawson. I played against every style of point guard, and everyone showed me a little something different. Ty Lawson showed me how to run a team. Jonny Flynn showed me how to split the double team and how to create shots for other players. Sherron Collins showed me how to score the ball in certain situations. A.J. Abrams showed me how to score down the stretch. Each one of them did what they had to do to try to help their team win. That’s what I’m going to have to do next year.

JC: Who was the toughest guy to play against?

WW: Stephen Curry. I have to say hands down, it’s Stephen Curry. He can do so much. He’s probably the best scorer in the country, so you couldn’t leave him alone. He can dribble. He can create for his team. He made his team better. Davidson was not a top 30 team in the country without Stephen Curry. He made them like that. That shows just how much of a great player he was.

JC: How do you look back on last season? Success? Disappointment?

WW: I would say last year was a satisfying year for me as a freshman. I have bigger goals next year as a sophomore. I have bigger goals in mind for this team next year. I feel like we can be a better team than we were last year. A lot of people look at losing the best player … but you could say that Blake slowed us down. I feel like we’re more of a run-and-gun team this coming up year because of our guard play. We have so many threats at the guard spot, I feel like we can wear a lot of teams out. I don’t see a lot of teams deep at the guard spot where they can just sub a new set of guards every time. We can have three guards in, and then we can sub in three more guards who can score just as well.

JC: Are you like college students into texting and Facebook and all that?

WW: I’m a Facebook and MySpace guy and a cell phone and text messaging guy.

JC: No Twitter?

WW: I don’t really like the Twitter. That’s more of a blog. I’m not a blog person.

JC: Not interested in everyone knowing what you’re doing?

WW: I don’t mind, but Facebook, I can see if my friends are online. I can IM them back and forth. I’m that type of guy, talking to my friends.

JC: Some people get competitive about how many friends they have on Facebook and MySpace. Are you?

WW: I’m not at all. I like to keep my circle small anyway. The less friends, the better.

JC: Good to know who your true friends are.

WW: I want to be able to count them on one hand.

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