Oliver Purnell Teleconference Audio

Nov. 12, 2003

Clemson Basketball Press Conference Media Player EventDownload the Free Real Player.Oliver Purnell(15:37)

Oliver Purnell Quotes On The 2004-05 Recruiting Class

“I am really pleased with our recruiting class and this group of young men. Last spring when we took the job, we had the opportunity to bring in two players, but with only one scholarship for the next year we felt like we would be mortgaging our future. It was our goal at that time to save those two scholarships so that we could have a very strong recruiting class with some of the top prospects in the country for the upcoming (2004-05) season. I think we have accomplished that with these young men and my hat goes off to all of them because they really have stepped out there and said they wanted to be a part of a building program. They want to be part of a dream to winning the ACC. A lot of people can talk about that but these guys really stepped out there and signed on the dotted line. All of these young men come from winning programs, which I think is very important as they understand what it takes to win. They understand team and they understand success. I think that is going to be very helpful to our program as well.”

On Cheyenne Moore “Cheyenne was the first of these young men to commit and my hat goes off to him. He certainly has stepped out there with a leap of faith not only in that we would do good things at Clemson, but also that we would sign some other good young players to go along with him. He is 6-6 and very athletic. He can do a lot of things on the floor with his length and size. Cheyenne has a chance to be a very, very fine player. We look at him primarily at two, but he has played some one also. With his size, he obviously could eventually play the three as well, as he is a very versatile player.”

On Sam Perry “Sam is a local player that our staff caught a glimpse of toward the end of the summer period and really liked what they saw. We started recruiting him with the idea of when I got back from the Olympics I would have an opportunity to see him. If we decided we liked him, he was a young man that we were going to offer because once again, he was that model player that we are looking for right now – long and athletic. He is about 6-6 and athletic. We are looking at Sam as a three-man. He would certainly be big and strong from that position and he did play some four this summer. Sam is a local player, and I certainly did not want to make a mistake (mising out) on a local player, because as I stated back in the spring, we want to recruit inside out. We want to look at the top prospects in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia and branch out from there. Sam fits the mold we are looking for and I think he has a chance to be a tremendous player.”

On James Mays “James is a running, hig post-type power forward. Once again, he is a very long athlete who can get up and down the floor and is very mobile. He has an opportunity to be an outstanding player because I think he will be a tough matchup. James will be quicker than most power forwards, and is longer and taller than a lot of quick forwards. He had a tremendous high school career and played very well in the spring of the year.”