University of Georgia Athletics
A Quick Chat With ... Connor O'Neill
January 19, 2017 | Men's Basketball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Connor O'Neill is from Roswell, Ga., the Atlanta suburb, but in his heart and soul he's a New Englander. In 2014-15 Georgia basketball's 6-foot-6 sophomore forward went to prep school at the Tilton School in New Hampshire, and if given the chance O'Neill will talk both of your ears off about the Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox and perhaps especially the Patriots.
O'Neill sat down in early in the season for a quick chat, a conversation that took place while his beloved Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, was suspended four games for the "Deflategate" scandal. Yes, O'Neill had strong opinions then and surely still does, even though a well rested Brady has come back and torched opposing defenses.
We didn't just talk Boston sports during our chat, but Boston did come up quite a few times. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Who is somebody on the team, or any other Georgia athlete that you know, that you've come to really like and admire?
O'Neill: Greyson Sigg on the golf team. He's become a good buddy of mine; me and (Brandon Young) and Greyson are friends together, Brandon introduced me to him, and I'd say the three of us are kind of the same people. We all enjoy sports, watching sports and they're good at golf, while I get out there to play sometimes.
Frierson: If you could have played with or against anyone in history, who would it be?
O'Neill: I'd probably play with Larry Bird. I've always liked Larry Bird and he's the reason I chose the number (33) that I did. He's one of my favorite athletes, coming from the Boston area and everything.
Frierson: I grew up during the peak Bird years, when Lakers versus Celtics was as good as a rivalry can get and probably as good as basketball can get.
O'Neill: I wish I was alive for that.
Frierson: What's something from your childhood that you really miss?
O'Neill: My neighborhood was pretty close together and we'd all go out after school and do whatever was on our mind that day, like football, basketball, baseball. I lived on a golf course and we'd go out and chip and putt on the 16th green.
I'd say just that down time after school, just hanging out with your buddies; a few of them I'm still really good friends with today.
Frierson: What's one thing you could eat every single day for the rest of your life?
O'Neill: Definitely ice cream, I could eat ice cream every single day, for sure. Oreo ice cream.
Frierson: What's the most important thing that sports has taught you?
O'Neill: I would definitely say perseverance and drive, as well as time management. You're always going to have some tell you can or can't do something, but if you just put your nose to the grindstone there's really nothing you can't accomplish.
Sports taught me how to overcome difficult situations that I might not have been able to overcome without my experiences in sports.
Frierson: What's the most creative thing you do? Or what's something creative you wish you could do?
O'Neill: I can play the piano a little bit. I can't read music, but I go on YouTube and I watch how they play it, and then I try to figure it out myself. My favorite one is "Clocks" by Coldplay — I've gotten pretty good at it with a little bit of practice.
Frierson: I would imagine YouTube is great for something like that. Are you able to pick it up sonically, if that's the right word?
O'Neill: Not really sonically, I have to see the hands move, but once I see the hands move a couple of times I can kind of feel it out. There's a piano at (East Campus Village), at one of the dorms, so sometimes I'll go over there if I'm bored at night and just try to play.
Frierson: What else do you do during the quiet times, away from school and basketball?
O'Neill: I'm definitely the biggest Boston sports fan that you'll ever meet in your entire life. The Red Sox, the Bruins, the Patriots and the Celtics pretty much engulf my life outside of basketball and school. If you come to my room I've got a Free Brady poster, Free Brady t-shirts, I have Red Sox shirts, Red Sox hats, Celtics everything — anything you can imagine Boston related.
Frierson: What's it like being the passionate for Boston sports down here in Georgia where most of us don't really have that much of an opinion about Boston sports?
O'Neill: You'll definitely hear from people that you're a fair-weather fan, you're not even from there. Well, my whole family is from there. My mom went to grad school there, my dad was born and raised in Cape Cod, so basically at a young age I was taught that Boston is the way of life.
And especially with the success they've had in the last 10 to 15 years, it's just been all over the place, I can see why people try to give me a hard time for it. I just love it, love Boston — it's my favorite city.
Frierson: OK, now give me the summarized version of your thoughts on Deflategate. We don't have an hour, so keep it kind of tight.
O'Neill: I think it was a sting operation, that the league was out to get the Patriots. I think the legal limit of the footballs, the rules were followed, the procedures were followed all the way through. It was a cold, rainy day whenever they measured the footballs in the AFC championship game and obviously I'm no scientist, but when you have cold weather balls tend to get a little deflated.
I'm going to leave it there and not say too much about my man Roger Goodell (NFL commissioner). I'm not a big fan.
Frierson: So how much longer could you have kept talking?
O'Neill: You could get me going on Deflategate for a solid two hours and I probably wouldn't let up.
Frierson: Take me back to when you first arrived at Georgia. If you could give the newly-arrived you any advice, what would it be?
O'Neill: Just meet everybody. I like networking with everyone; I'm potentially going to be a business, finance major, so try to make connections wherever you go. There's no one you can't talk to, no one's hand you can't shake, and I'd also say that to be in the position I am I had to have a lot of help along the way, so I would go out of my way to try to help other kids that are trying to do the same thing.
Frierson: Do you have a guilty pleasure, be it music, food, bad movies or whatever?
O'Neill: I wouldn't say it's a guilty pleasure, but I'm definitely a big Justin Bieber guy. A lot of people don't like him but I can listen to Biebs all day.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
