Q&A with HOOPSWORLD's Yannis Koutroupis

Mark Travis: If every team in the country is healthy, who has the best roster in terms of talent? Who has the best shot at winning the National Championship? Who is the sleeper?

Yannis Koutroupis: I’d have to go with North Carolina when they are completely healthy, because they’re arguably the most talented team now and they’re without Marcus Ginyard and they’ve been without Tyler Zeller for most of the year.

They’re the team that has the best shot in my eyes because they have so much experience and this is those seniors best and final shot. My sleeper team is Wake Forest. They’re undergoing a bit of a free-fall right now, but their talent is absolutely overwhelming and I really think come tournament time they’re going to get it back together.

MT: This weekend we saw Oklahoma, North Carolina and UCLA get upset by teams a lot lower on the food chain than theme selves. Does that affect any of the school’s tournament status? What impact does it have on the programs big picture?

YK: In the short term those losses hurt those schools you mentioned, but they have ample time to make up for it because of the conferences they play in. More so than anything those losses drop them down in the Top 25 rankings, those losses really hurt the bubble teams more than the premier teams.

When you’re one of the top teams in the country you get every team’s best shot because you have a target on your back. Upsets happen, but when you come out on the top of some of the toughest conferences in the country it’s viewed as nothing more than an off night.

MT: Who is the best guard in the nation when it comes to their game in a college system, Jodie Meeks, Stephan Curry or James Harden? Or is it someone else? Who is the best guard when you translate their skill sets to the NBA?

YK: Stephen Curry, but mainly because the system revolves around him. I really think James Harden is going to be the most successful guard in this upcoming rookie class because he’s so polished and efficient.ext here.

MT: Who is the best big man in the nation when it comes to their game in a college system, Hasheem Thabeet, Blake Griffin, Tyler Hansbrough, or DeJuan Blair ? Or is it someone else? Who is the best big man when you translate their skill sets to the NBA?

YK: Blake Griffin is not only the best big man in college basketball, he’s the best prospect hands down. He’s got one flaw: he struggles from the free throw line. Just about every other big man in the country has several knocks on them when projecting how well they will fare in the league.

MT: In your Best/Worst Case article regarding the prospects in college basketball right now, you said that the best case for Blake Griffin is a more athletic Carlos Boozer. Griffin is 6′10″-251lbs, which is similar to Amar’e Stoudemire who is 6′10″-249lbs. Do you think there is anyway that Griffin can be an athletic big man like Amar’e only, you know, without the detached retina?

YK: The reason I went with Carlos Boozer instead of Amar’e is because Blake utilizes his skills more than Amar’e. Since getting microfracture surgery, Amar’e hasn’t relied on his athleticism as much, but he’s still a guy that would prefer dunk before anything.

You tell Blake Griffin don’t dunk the basketball and he’s not going to slow down one single bit. He’ll kill you with his wide variety of post moves, footwork, and touch. Sure he can dunk with the best of them, but that’s never been what his game is about.

MT: Right now, Tyler Hansbrough is playing very good basketball as a big man at the college level. But when you look at him, it seems like he needs a little more muscle to put up with big men in the NBA. Do you agree?

YK: Hansbrough is solely a low post player. Hansbrough needs more strength and better post moves more than anything. The better NBA comparison for him is Nick Collison from Oklahoma City. He’s gonna be a solid role player off the bench, but not much more.

MT: A real quick NBA question for you. Can the Spurs beat the Hornets, Lakers, Celtics, Magic, or Cavaliers in a 7-game series if all of these teams are 100% healthy?

YK: I got my big break from writing about the NBA, that will always be my strength. The Spurs can beat every team you listed in a seven games series when healthy. They have the best bench they’ve had in years, and they have an incredible amount of experience.

They’re definitely one of the favorites, only Los Angeles is better in my opinion. A case can be made for Boston, but I really think even that one is a toss-up.

Yannis Koutroupis is a radio co-host/producer for ESPN Corpus Christi and covers the San Antonio Spurs and NCAA basketball for HOOPSWORLD.

MT: How does your life as a writer compare to your life as a radio host? Do you have to change how you view the sports you talk about when you go from writing to talking on air? Do you ever get nervous on air?

YK: There’s a big difference, that’s for sure. Both have a surprising amount of politics involved, but then again so does everything now. My views don’t change from on the air to print. From time to time I still get nervous on the air when I go on other radio shows in different states, but in terms of the show that I do daily on ESPN 1230 KSIX I’ve pretty much found my comfort zone.

MT: Covering the San Antonio Spurs for HOOPSWORLD, do you get any insider information? If so, how do you go about getting it and do you keep it secret or give it out?

YK: Inside information and the San Antonio Spurs do not belong in the same sentence. There isn’t a more tight lipped organization in sports. NOTHING gets out, and in the rare case that something does it leads to the leak’s termination.

Now some of my colleagues at HOOPSWORLD are in pretty well with the teams they cover. The general rule we use is that you have to have at least two concrete sources and they have to be from different sides.

Organizations often throw out bogus information in a technique called a “smoke screen” and unless you check it from the opposite angle you’re likely to get burned by this.

MT: Does your position at HOOPSWORLD allow you speak with any players? If so, who has been the funnest to talk to?

YK: Everytime that I go to cover a Spurs game in San Antonio I have access to both the home and visitor’s locker room. Some of the best guys to talk to are the guys who aren’t big time stars.

Guys like LeBron and Kobe, who are great interviews don’t get me wrong, get so much media coverage that the process becomes tiring for them and you don’t get the insight that you would get from talking to some of the lesser known guys on the team.

Malik Rose was one of my first interviews and he remains one of the best. P.J. Brown was also really good, and although his accent is on the strong side Jose Calderon was great as well.

MT: If you had a chance to ask any current NBA player one question, who would it be and what would you ask him?

YK: It would be Tracy McGrady and I would ask him whether or not his legacy is important to him at all.