Before the season, Stanford men’s basketball shooting guard Oziyah Sellers spoke to members of the media about his decision to come to The Farm from USC and what he thinks he’ll bring to the program.
VIDEO: Stanford SG Oziyah Sellers is happy to be on The Farm
Sellers feels like life at Stanford has been going good for him. He feels like he’s finally settled in. He feels like he knows the campus a little bit now. It took him a while to find everything, but now he’s feeling settling in well. He’s enjoying his teammates, practice is going good, etc. It’s going well so far.
Sellers feels like he’s in a good routine right now. Practice is every morning. If he has class, he’ll go there. If not, he’ll go to treatment. So across the board, he’s feeling good about his day-to-day routine at Stanford.
As far as what he’ll bring to the program, Sellers said his shooting will be a major strength. But something he’s been really working on is his leadership and energy on defense. He feels like his energy on defense could have a huge impact on the success of the team this season.
On the key to improving defense, Sellers said energy is part of it as well as strength. He feels like getting stronger has improved his overall confidence on defense. And then also mentality. Just being determined that the guy in front of you is not going to score. Those are things he’s been working on.
On why he chose Stanford, Sellers said a lot went into it. The authenticity of the coaching staff and them being real with him from the start is something that stood out to him. He also knew head coach Kyle Smith since eighth grade. So there was a lot of familiarity there, too. He’s big on relationships and then he’s also from Hayward, so it was nice to be able to come back to play for a school close to home.
On "Nerd Ball", Sellers said it was definitely a change for him. At USC, they were analytical, too. But it’s a whole other level at Stanford with Kyle Smith. He feels like it helps you because of all the feedback that you are getting. It’s good to get that feedback and learn what areas of your game need the most focus.
Sellers feels like a lot of guys on the team are standing out right now. Maxime Raynaud has been a great leader and then everybody else, too. He’s been impressed with the freshmen and the way they are approaching things, etc.
Takeaways: Sellers is really happy with his decision to come to Stanford. He loves the coaching staff and feels like they’ve been really genuine with him. Relationships matter a lot to everybody and those relationships that he had with the Stanford staff prior to this season paid off for the Cardinal once he entered the portal.
I also found Sellers’ comments on “Nerd Ball” to be super informative. They’re taking things to another level analytically speaking, separating themselves from other programs in the country. Sellers and the guys have been receptive to it and are benefiting from the feedback.
Lastly, Sellers talking about his defense was encouraging. A lot of players like to focus more on their offense, so him taking his defense seriously and looking to improve in that end is always great to hear. A big thing Smith wants to instill in his team is defensive toughness and Sellers has done a great job of embracing that.
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