2012-13 Chattanooga Men's Basketball Preseason Quotes

Head Coach John Shulman
Opening Statement:
"It's an exciting time of the year. We're getting ready to start Friday. We're excited to get after it and get last year's taste out of our mouth. Our kids have been working extremely hard. It's time to get on the court and get a consistent effort every day so we can start learning and heading in the right direction."

On if there is a different energy:
"It's night and day. All of our freshman have no idea what happened last year and they couldn't care less about what happened. They're excited about this year. They've gotten so much better through the summer and through the fall. I'm really looking forward to having them on the court. They've been working hard. We've gone through weights and conditioning. We've gone through a boot camp which was awesome. So it's a completely different air."

On if he hopes the freshmen's lack of experience will impact the guys coming back:
"I'm not sure how much the guys coming back were involved in our season. Drazen Zlovaric had a great year. Z Mason was having a great year and then went out with a knee and missed seven or eight games. Rico White had a great year. Dontay Hampton had a great year and then had a bad summer when he tore his ACL. I think we have a completely fresh basketball team. Completely opposite of last year. I'm not saying anything bad about our team last year, we just couldn't finish games. I'm saying we have a completely different team and a completely different attitude."

On how many freshman are expected to contribute:
"It wouldn't shock me if we started two freshmen. Four of them for sure are going to contribute. You worry about putting freshman on the court because they have no experience. I wouldn't want to play against Casey Jones and Gee McGee right now. They'll fight you. They're competitive guys. Casey Jones came in weighing 175 lbs and weighs 194 lbs now. He's a 6-foot-5 194-pound 3-man in our league. He look like a legitimate 3-man. He's become a man. Gee McGee is a 6'4 205 lb. 2-man that will compete like I've never seen a freshman compete. We've got talented, young kids. We play five games in nine days to open the season. There was a rhyme and a reason for that. They're going to get five games of experience to start the season. We're hoping that by the Dr. Pepper Classic that we've basically got sophomores out there instead of freshmen. They're not going to be watching, they'll be playing."

On Gee McGhee:
"Gee McGhee, that's one tough guy. He doesn't care. He's nasty. This summer he became our vocal leader. You don't expect a freshman to be a vocal leader, but he was our vocal leader. He's a unique blend. He's got a big smile off the court but he'll kill you on it. That's what you want."

On if playing five games in nine days to start the season was planned:
"We knew that we were going to play those. I just didn't know Dontay was going to tear his ACL. We're very limited at the point. Farad Cobb is top 40 point guard in the country, but I don't know if he expected to play 40 minutes right off the bat. But he's going to play and it's going to be great for him. I think if people will come out and watch our team, from the first second on, they are going to see a completely different basketball team. Last year we had a bad year, but those were the same kids that won the North division two years ago. We're going to get back to where we were our first year. We're going to defend. We're going to rebound. We're going to be hard-nosed and athletic. And we're going to be tough."

On if he tries to forget last year or use last year for motivation:
"All the freshmen who will be playing, they don't know. They couldn't care less. But I use it as motivation. I have a tough time forgetting. I have a tough time remembering the good times, and I can't forget the bad times."