SPORTS

3 questions with U of L guard Terry Rozier

Jeff Greer
@jeffgreer_cj
Louisville sophmore Terry Rozier answers questions from reporters during the team's Media Day, Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014,  in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Louisville guard Terry Rozier starts the 2014-15 season with a critical role with the Cardinals.

Without star guard Russ Smith and wing Luke Hancock to do much of the offense's heavy lifting, Louisville's hoping that the 6-foot-1 Rozier and backcourt mate Chris Jones can team up with Wayne Blackshear and sixth man Anton Gill to provide the offensive punch.

Surely we'll have more in-depth conversations with Rozier later this season, but we continued our "three questions with" series with the Ohio native during Sunday's media day:

Rick Pitino was talking last week about what the difference on offense would be without Russ Smith, and he said, "We'll actually run an offense last year." How do things change with you and Chris (Jones) running things this year?

Terry Rozier: A lot of people can say different things, but I don't want to say it's a lot different. It's not as easy. You can't really look at a guy and say, 'OK, the offense is not going well, go get a bucket.' He and Luke (Hancock) were the two of the toughest players to guard in college basketball last year. It's not like that -- we don't have either one of them this year.

We just all want to see who can do what, who can shoot where. We're still finding out about each other. Me and Chris, we're really cool off the court, so that helps us on the court. We get along a lot.

Is there added pressure on you and Chris?

Rozier: There's a little pressure, but that's what you want. That's something that we're looking forward to. A little pressure is better anyway.

This summer, you became a popular name on the summer circuit. You've moved into a lot of people's first rounds of their NBA mock drafts. Why do you think you did?

Rozier: Talking. Working hard. Showing people I can rebound from the guard spot. Just doing things that -- being tough, whether it's defense, getting in there and grinding with the big guys -- just doing things that a lot of guards wouldn't usually do. I think that's what they like most about me.