TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

As a head coach, how much are you anticipating the season opener at 6 pm this Friday against Canisius at Alumni Arena?
Coming off of last year's 18-11 season with four starters returning, the level of excitement is extremely high. I think the expectations are high, we've just got to take it day-to-day and take care of the little things prior to the opener.

How different are the practices now - just prior to the season - as compared to when you began official practices in mid-October?
When we first kicked things off, there was a ton of fundamental work - for a good week and a half we did a lot of that. As we get closer to the opener, we begin to zero in more and more on specific things for that game. We try to give the players more of a feel of real game situations at this point.

Your team played the NWBL's Northeast squad in an exhibition on November 5th. Is that the only opposing team you have faced in the preseason and what types of things can be taken out of a game like that?
We also had a closed scrimmage against Edinboro last Saturday. As far as the exhibition game, offensively, I didn't feel we did that poor of a job. On the defensive end though, I was not real happy. None of my teams during my tenure here have given up 90 points in a game. So from that perspective, we definitely have to do a better job of picking up the ball in transition, slowing things down and then playing better half court man-to-man defense.

How difficult is it to face a team in a season opener from a scouting perspective having not seen them play previously in any actual games?
Well, I think it's difficult for everybody. You try and do the best you can to prepare your team fundamentally for any of the different types of things that they may face in the game. Obviously as a coach, you have to be quick on your feet during the game to make the adjustments that have to be made.

What is the benefit of having games on your schedule against teams from the big conferences like Auburn, Colorado and St. John's?
I think it's absolutely a must to have those types of games. We're going into the homes of kids where it's coming down to us or a Big Ten school for example, and I think it's important for them to see that we play these types of teams. It's also beneficial in that it prepares us for Mid-American Conference play. All three of those games will give us a great preparation base for when we step out on the floor against Miami in our first MAC game.

What are the added benefits to having a number of returning players on your squad?
Practices become a bit easier as far as teaching drills, because we have nine returning players who know all those drills. As far as the philosophy of the program, we not only have a coaching staff, but also those nine players to instill that in the newcomers. As a coach, you feel a little more comfortable entering the season with a base of returning players.

How significant was it for your team to advance to the MAC Tournament quarterfinals last season in Cleveland?
There are a couple of reasons why that was important. First of all, you always want to reach that goal. Now that this team has already gotten there, it's about getting there again, but getting further into the tournament. It was critical for this program to turn around from a 9-19 season to go 18-11 last year. These kids know they can win, it's just being able to compete every day and be ready for each tip-off.

It was also important for our team to see the atmosphere at Gund Arena in Cleveland. We were possibly a little star-struck last year, but now we have nine returning players that know what to look for. The expectations for us every year are to win a MAC Championship, get to Cleveland and get further into the tournament and hopefully get to the NCAA Tournament. That's what everybody's goals are, especially because consistently only one team has been going from this conference each year.

This season, you've added a pair of junior college transfers to your team - Amy Kucheran and Tahcahrah Owens. What goes into the decision process to bring in a junior college transfer as opposed to a freshman out of high school?
Well, usually you will typically see me recruiting only post players out of junior college. A lot of that has to do with the fact that everybody in the country needs post players, and generally that's a position that's not a dime a dozen. If you don't get the kid you feel that you need during the early signing period, then you need to go out and find them in the late signing period - because most junior college kids do not sign early.

The other thing with junior college kids is that you know they have two years of college experience. For us, we felt we needed someone to come in immediately and help us rather than bringing in a freshman to develop. I think you will definitely see that in Amy Kucheran this year. Amy is a kid that is very physical and works extremely hard. We have very high expectations for her to come in and help Jessica (Kochendorfer) and Kim (Kilpela) in the post. Tahcahrah will also provide us with depth off the bench.

What do you set as an offensive philosophy for your team?
First and foremost, we want to try and have our defense create our offense for us. So if we can get some tips and deflections, we want to get up and down the floor and score some points in transition. If we don't have lay-ups in transition, we need to make sure that we are disciplined enough to pull the ball back out.

In our motion offense, we really want to look for lay-ups, first and foremost. None of my teams have ever been teams that have relied on the three-point shot - we're not a program that's going to shoot 30 threes per game, because we are going to look for high-percentage shots. That philosophy has worked really well for us, especially because we have two tremendous post players in Jessica Kochendorfer and Kim Kilpela.

Defensively, what does your team focus on?
We want to cause some turnovers by getting in passing lanes and pressuring the basketball. We also run zone defenses because we like to switch things up a bit and throw the opposing team off. Another goal we have defensively is to hold teams under 55 points. We feel that if our defense can show up every single night - regardless of whether our offense is there or not - we're going to be able to compete in every game.

-The "10 Questions with…" feature is compiled by Geoff Nason.