Head coach Chris Beard met with the media, as did forward Kevin McCullar, yesterday. I’ve tried to summarize the Beard comments and the big money quote was about defending culture, which was really good and it is embedded at the end in the tweet if you don’t want to watch the entire press conference. I did catch that McCullar said that he entered the program at 185, is currently 205, and hopes to play at 210.

* Work in progress. Trying to get to know each other on the fly, but effort has been good and very competitive. Not a lack of effort on mistakes.

* [Asked about Kevin McCullar] Amazing the level he was playing last year, last time he had an offseason was sophomore and junior year of high school. Just becoming more consistent and stronger. He’s healthier and very talented player. Was our #1 priority in that class.

* [Asked about LSU] No idea, lot of respect for their program, right now we are concentrating on ourselves, not prepared to answer questions about LSU and have respect for SEC programs.

* [Asked about the schedule] Work in progress, would love to get it out to the fans and students, just a lot of moving parts right now, when games were cut, a lot of factors go into it and doing the best we can. We do know we play at LSU, two games pre-Christmas and can start the season on November 25th, hopefully with a home game.

* [Asked about Clarence Nadolny] Seen improvement, to play at this level is difficult to do and easy to see the transition and each player has to run his own race, with Clarence he had a great experience and very impressed with his offseason, he got better and is a much better player than when we left the Sprint Center. There is a role when he plays at his best. Has a bright future if he runs his own race.

* [About granting extra year of eligibility] I think it is a great decision and the right thing to do with the uncertainty of our season, if the season goes as well as it could, because of the uncertainty it was a no-brainer decision to give the players that extra year. It is a common sense thing for the players. If it is good for the players, it is good for me.

* [Asked about Jamarius Burton] I think it plays into it with Jamarius, I don’t want to speak for him. He’s mature and focused and knows what he’s willing to do to get what he wants. The new rule changes a lot of things for a lot of players.

* [Re. McCullar] It has really improved and had the experience being around those guys. It is all about getting Kevin healthy he would have been a deadlock for the all-freshman team. Next step is all-conference player and I agree with Kevin that after that it is to be a pro. Knowing the way we defend and defend the culture, he has that personality. With Kevin because of his personality he’s a vocal leader the way he approaches every day and works is an inspiration to those who want to be led.

* [Could not hear the question, but presume it was about Mac McClung] We will give you that answer as soon as we can and we are still waiting.

* I’m not against Weight Watchers, the popsicle it is not a diet popsicle, the fudge popsicle.

* When you get somewhere you have to build the culture and it takes buy-in and you don’t want to do that every year. You have to show up and defend it every day. It’s not about if we’re going to have an unentitled locker room or if we’re going to have a mentally tough team or respect academics, we’re defending it. It’s non-negotiable. Starting with our 7 players and our coaching staff, but the idea of defending the culture is what it is about for me.

Defend the culture? @CoachBeardTTU explains. pic.twitter.com/XPdDv6BRG7

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) October 21, 2020