Nov. 19, 2009
In the fourth installment of "It's a Pleasure to Meet You..." GoFrogs.com sat down with TCU freshman Garlon Green to discuss the transition from high school to the collegiate game as well as his relationship with his brother.
Green came to the TCU men's basketball program from Hightower High School where he was ranked as one of the best players in the Houston area. In his collegiate debut, the TCU freshman scored eight points to go along with five rebounds and two blocked shots in 28 minutes of action.
GoFrogs.com
Let's start off things by talking about how things have been going since you first arrived on campus?
Green
"It's been pretty cool. It's a great school, but I have been kind of taking things slow, getting through classes and learning where everything is. It's what I expected, and that's why I came here."
GoFrogs.com
Are there any areas that caught you off guard where you didn't realize that you were going to be so structured in one area and given your own responsibility in another?
Green
"No, not really. I had a pretty good mindset about how everything was going to be, and people kind of told me how college was so it was pretty much what I expected."
GoFrogs.com
How about on the court... how do you think your development as a player has gone?
Green
"I'm learning a lot. I'm learning more basketball than I've ever learned in my whole life. It's pretty fun thought because I'm working hard and I can see myself getting better by putting the time in."
GoFrogs.com
The coaching staff has you watching a lot of film... is that something you learned in high school or was it something that they had to sit you down and show you what to look at and how to critique yourself?
Green
"Most of the film that I watch is optional. We all have to watch team film, but I watch a lot of film after because I want to get better and help the team. I'm trying to take myself to another level, and I can't do that if I don't know what I need to work on."
GoFrogs.com
When people talk about you... the first thing that they talk about is your freakish athletic ability. Did there come a moment when you kind of realized that you were a lot more athletically gifted than everyone else?
Green
"It's kind of funny because a long time against when I was in ninth grade - my brother, Gerald, was getting on the scene and he was dunking on everybody. That's when he kind of started getting his name because he was just dunking on everybody at any moment. I remember saying, "Man, I'm his little brother... I should have some of this." I was in ninth grade, and my muscles hadn't really developed yet so I went to this All-Star basketball camp for the best eighth and ninth graders in Texas."
"I made it to the All-Star Game, and during one of the games, my teammate told me to catch a pass and dunk it. I think he told me that because of who my brother was, and everybody knew Gerald could really jump. I couldn't really jump yet so I just kind of took it as a joke and played it off, but I decided to go with it. I decided to just try to imitate Gerald so I jumped really high, caught the ball and dunked right over two people. It was the first dunk of my life, and I loved that feeling."
GoFrogs.com
Let's talk about your brother... Gerald went straight from high school to the NBA and was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the first round. Obviously playing with him made you a better player, but was he more of a mentor to you or did you just watch him and try to imitate his moves?
Green
"Gerald and I have had a changing relationship throughout our whole lives. At one point in middle school, I was just a little brother trying to hang out with my older brother. As I got older, it became more of a thing where he was trying to teach me, and he started becoming more of a mentor to me. It is still that way today, but it's more of a partnership now. He helps me out, and I help him out. Now we both give each other advice, and our motivation is really each other. I try to motivate myself to get up and get some shots at ten o'clock when everybody else is hanging out. My brother and I made a promise to not let each other down, and even when he works out, his motivation is to not let me down."
GoFrogs.com
Talk about the whole recruiting process... You signed early in the fall. What made you realize that TCU was the place to be and a place where you wanted to play?
Green
"People always ask me why I went to TCU, and to be honest, I wanted to go somewhere where I could make an impact immediately. First of all, I love Coach Christian, and he's been a great coach for me. Coach Pri (Jean Prioleau) was the one that recruited me, and he really mentored me through the whole process, which means a lot to a young player. When I finally met with Coach Christian, he was awesome, and I felt completely comfortable around him."
"The more that I got to know the coaching staff, the more that I really liked all of them. The coaching staff was real with me, and I felt like TCU could be a dream for me. I felt that I could come here and change some things. I know that I'm a hard worker, and I wanted to be a part of something special, and this was it for me."
GoFrogs.com
What do you think has improved the most in your game the most over the last couple of months. One thing that we kept hearing was that you never touched a weight during high school then you get here and you start working with Coach Gephardt. How has working under Coach Gephardt improved your physically and mentally.
Green
"When I first got here, I couldn't believe some of the stuff that I had to do. I never lifted weights in my life, and I didn't know the technique. I didn't even know how to lift the bar or anything. I can try to look at what the others were doing, but when I first here, it was a tough first week. I just kept remembering the promise that my brother and I made, and I knew that I could do it. I just started doing it and trying to push it further and further."
GoFrogs.com
Let's talk about what you think has improved most in your game?
Green
"I think everything has improved to be honest, but the most I would say would probably be my jump shot. I've always been known as a dunker, but when I got here, Coach looked at my shot and worked on it and fixed it up a little bit. I took their words to heart and did what they told me, and next thing you know, I'm making more shots. I was a decent shooter, but I think that I've really improved in that area."
TCU Athletics Media Relations
