Oct. 12, 2006
On the start of practice ...
"This is always a great time of year leading up to the first practice. We have an interesting team. We have seniors with a great deal of experience, and we have new people with a great deal of enthusiasm. What we'll try to do over the next three weeks is get those things together and make this a very good basketball team."
On his goals for the season ...
"The obvious answer is that we want to win every game we play, but that's very hard to do. We want to be good citizens here on campus. We're working hard in the classroom. As far as basketball is concerned, we want to play with a lot of emotion. That's important, and a lot of people don't realize that. We want to show how much we care about playing at Comcast Center and playing Maryland basketball."
On D.J. Strawberry ...
"D.J. is one of the best guards in the ACC and one of the best guards in the country. He had to play a lot of point this year, and I think he'll have a great senior year. He's going to be a leader for us. He really wants this to be a great year for his team."
On Ekene Ibekwe ...
"Ekene Ibekwe had a great summer. He was playing for the Nigerian National Team at the World Championships in Japan, and he had some great games over there, especially against the German team and Dirk Nowitzki. He looks a lot stronger and a lot quicker now, and I think he understands how important this year is."
On the focus of pre-season practice ...
"The big thing about practice starting is that we want to go as hard as we can for as long as we can every day. We can't afford to take days off. There is too much competition out there now. We have to work hard. We also have to be a better defensive team. We have the quickness and strength to improve defensively. Experience will help us on defense. We've never had trouble scoring, but if we're going to be good this year, it has to come from the defensive end."
On the ACC ...
"We can be very competitive. We're returning a lot of guys who beat some good teams in the ACC last year. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to get out there and play in our league. There are a lot of teams that are going to be very competitive this year. We're deep enough and strong enough physically to be one of those competitive teams this year."
On the schedule ...
"Our schedule is very strong early this year. We've got a couple home games and then if we win, we'll head up to New York and play some tough teams at Madison Square Garden. That will be really good for our team because after that we go to Illinois for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, and then play Notre Dame in the BB&T Classic. Then we go to Boston College on December 10. We have to be strong to do that, but we have the people to be consistent enough to play that schedule."
On the point guard position ...
"It wouldn't bother me to play a freshmen, but there are guys with experience in games that have played there too. It will be a good battle, and you are allowed to play more than one point guard at a time, so we'll see how it goes."
