Q&A: Kelsey talks abrupt COVID adjustments, Wes Miller friendship, Winthrop hot start
The Winthrop men’s basketball team — after a season-opening road trip that yielded two wins, no losses and three schedule changes — is heading into its first Big South competition this weekend at USC Upstate.
In a phone interview Thursday with The Herald’s Alex Zietlow, Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey offered insight into the Eagles’ first road trip of the 2020-21 season: He talked about the 10 p.m. scheduling decisions; his relationship with successful mid-major coaching peer, Wes Miller (who’s at UNC-Greensboro); his love for suits; and what it was like to travel to Louisville but not smell “the bluegrass air.”
The interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
‘It’s crazy because that’s how it’s going to be for the whole year’
Zietlow: Talking to you now, I can’t help but think back to talking to you after your season-opening road trip last season. You were red-eyed, exhausted after defeating nationally ranked Saint Mary’s in California and then flying back to Rock Hill the next day. This year’s first road trip seemed wild, too, in different ways. Take me through it. How was the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic?
Kelsey: I think it starts with the fact that it was a world class event. I give a huge tip of the cap to the University of Louisville and its athletic department. The event that they put on was big-time. It was a true basketball setting, a basketball bubble where we’re in the state of Kentucky for one full week. And besides the time we got off the bus and got back on the bus, I never smelled the bluegrass air.
We were actually in an aquarium, you know what I mean? We were in a bubble. You went from your hotel room, to the meal room, to the gym, to the walk-through room, to the video room. It was all interconnected. We never stepped foot outside. And man, is the Yum! Center an unbelievable facility. I can’t imagine there are five better NBA facilities in the country. …
It was a whirlwind in terms of schedule, you know. Initially, (we) thought we were going there to play five games — and before we left Rock Hill, two of them were canceled because of a COVID shutdown, and games were kind of changing from date to date. And, you know, once we got up there, we had to push back the UNC-Greensboro game.
I mean, heck, (UNCG coach) Wes (Miller) and I were planning on playing the game when we got back to Rock Hill this week. They were potentially going to come down here, still going to play it at a neutral site, maybe at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center, and then everything was starting to clear up in terms of what the rest of the week looked like. We talked — it must’ve been 9:30-10 at night — and, I mean, we’re friends. I’ve known Wes for a long, long time. (I was) like, ‘Hey, let’s play tomorrow.’ And it’s crazy because that’s how it’s going to be for the rest of the year. ...
I mean, usually you do all your scheduling calls in the offseason and summer. And now we’re making scheduling calls for next week, you know? So that was crazy. Obviously, we played really good teams there. I mean, those two were some of the better mid-major teams in the country that we played, and Duquesne was going to be another one, who has high-major talent. NBA talent. And obviously, just like the Greensboro game was a “go” at 10 p.m. the night before — the Duquesne game was a “no” at 10 p.m. the night before. ...
That’s how 2020 is, and that’s the state of college basketball. I mean, you gotta be resilient. You have to be adaptable. You gotta be versatile. You gotta be ready to move quick, and we were up there. It was a really good thing for our team. Obviously it was sad that Russell (Jones Jr.) and Chase (Claxton) didn’t get to participate and didn’t get to play, but the silver lining is we got to find out a lot about some other guys who maybe wouldn’t have had the same opportunities if we were at full strength. And we still played really, really well.
You know, Russ and Chase are two of our better players. And for us to have that type of success without them I think speaks to one of the greatest assets that we have, and that’s our depth, you know?
Relationship with Wes Miller
Zietlow: I figured that you and Wes knew each other, but I didn’t know y’all were friends.
Kelsey: Yeah, we’re kind of wired the same way, you know what I mean? He was a better shooter; I was probably a better defender. But we’re the same size, just gritty and played hard. I’ve always told him — and he’s several years younger than me — but I’ve always said that I want a battle royal, one-on-one challenge with Steve Wojciechowski, Pat Kelsey and Wes Miller.
And it’ll be a like a battle to the death. It’ll be like three bloody bodies. (Laughs.) And I know Woj well too, and I coached against him when he was at Duke and I was at Wake. He was always so nice and gracious.
And Wes’s dad is really influential at Wake Forest, and when I was there, I met his dad. His dad is just a world class guy. Really, really successful businessman, but the most down-to-Earth, normal, everyday guy. You just want to chew the fat with him, drink a beer with him. Like that’s Kenny Miller. And he’s always been so good to me during my years at Wake Forest.
And Wes was at JMU as a player. And this is really early on in our Wake Forest deal. I was DBO (Director of Basketball Operations) and he went to JMU first and he decided to leave JMU and he had Division I gigs elsewhere, but we were trying to have him walk-on at Wake Forest. And I think Carolina was doing the same thing. And you know, he came over and visited and stuff like that, and we kind of hit it off that first day because like I said, we’re kind of kindred hearts in terms of our approach and all that, and he ended up going to Carolina, but I stayed in touch with him.
Zietlow: OK, so back to your road trip. Was there anything notable about your stay in Louisville beyond the last-second schedule changes and it being a “world class event” and all that?
Kelsey: One thing is: How often are you at an event like that for an entire week? I guess when you go on some of these holiday things or whatever, but everybody is right there in the same hotel. So your meeting room is next to their meeting room; and their meal room is right there, and yours is over here. And then this is the testing room. So you’re just constantly seeing those other teams all the team, which is weird. I mean, if you get beat the last thing you probably wanna do is see that team for three more days. (Laughs.) Part of the incentive to win is, ‘I don’t want to look at those guys for the next couple of days,’ you know what I mean?
It was at the Galt House, which is like a famous hotel in Louisville. You know, that was a very cool, very historical hotel. Like I said, you know, the way the University of Louisville treated us, treated everybody. How organized and buttoned up it all was was pretty cool.
Oh, and when we got there —
Zietlow: I think you’re about to bring up what I was about to ask you.
Kelsey: Yeah. So you know I’m a huge baseball fan. ...
And Louisville is right down the street from (my hometown) Cincinnati, but for whatever reason I didn’t spend a lot of time in Louisville growing up. I would say I was in Lexington more than Louisville. I don’t know. I was in (Louisville basketball coach) Chris Mack’s wedding, and his wife is from Louisville, so I remember I spent a couple days down there then, but I remember seeing the Louisville Bats (the triple-A affiliate for the Cincinnati Reds) stadium when we were driving in. I thought that was really cool. And then I get to my hotel room, and there’s a Louisville Slugger baseball bat with my name etched in it, and that was just a nice, classy touch.
And here I thought everybody got one, all the players and other coaches, and I guess only the head coaches did, so I was there, ‘Hey this is cool!’ bragging and I guess I was unintentionally rubbing it in. (Laughs.)
‘I like my suits’
Kelsey: And then the other thing is wearing polos to coach in. I don’t know if I’ve worn a polo to coach in Winthrop ever. I don’t think, at least, because we’ve never been in those holiday events or anything like that. But the new, not-wearing-suits thing was kind of weird.
I’m a suit guy. I mean, I don’t spend my money on golf, for instance. It’s because I’m terrible at golf, not because I have anything against it. But I like my nice suits. I usually buy one in the offseason and I bought one this year. And then all of a sudden word starts flying around that we weren’t going to wear suits. And I’m like, ‘Ah my gosh, I might never wear these things!’
Zietlow: Well, at least the cameras didn’t catch you wearing a navy blue suit jacket with black pants like I caught you doing a couple times last year.
Kelsey: I never did that.
Zietlow: Yes, you did.
Kelsey: I did not do that. (Zietlow laughs. Kelsey does not.) I never wore black pants and a navy jacket. I wore gray pants and a navy blazer. Dark gray pants, but never black. 100%.
Zietlow: Do we need to run the tape?
Kelsey: 100%. I have a black suit. You probably saw a dark gray pants, which is perfectly acceptable.
Looking ahead to USC Upstate this weekend
Zietlow: Conference play is coming up, starting this weekend. Are you excited?
Kelsey: Of course, man, heck yeah. In this unique year, (a) you’re playing a conference game early this year and (b) you’re playing a conference series where you’re playing a series back-to-back. It’s just another notch, another bullet point in this story of the unique college basketball season. I give our league a lot of credit for how they’ve adapted.
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
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