Vanderbilt Hustler: What have the players been doing in the offseason to prepare for this season?
Kevin Stallings: I think there are only so many things you can do. You can work on your shooting, you can work on your strength and conditioning, you can work on your ball-handling. A tremendous amount of work has gone in by the players. We’re not allowed to work with them during the summer months, yet that did not deter them from working extremely hard in the gym (and in) the weight room. They’ve conditioned their bodies, and they have done everything and more than what we could have expected as a coaching staff.
VH: How would you describe the perimeter game this season?
KS: We expect that certainly to be a strength of our team. Those guys are all experienced and have played a lot of important minutes for us. That needs to be a strength and needs to be an area of our team that we can count on night after night. Their consistency will be very important for our team.
VH: Do you change your game plan after losing Jermaine Beal and A.J. Ogilvy at the end of last season?
KS: I don’t think it’s so much of a mentality. There’s always turnover, so, when Shane Foster and Derek Byers left, we had to have other guys fill in and become those kinds of players. Jermaine (Beal) and A.J. (Ogilvy) kind of stepped into those roles. With them leaving, other guys will do it. It’s a natural process of guys maturing, getting better and assuming more responsibility. A lot has been made about those losses to our team, but I feel like our team is capable of handling the scoring loss, handling the leadership loss and handling the whole thing. I’d be surprised if anything less than that happened.
VH: How would you describe your defensive mentality on the court?
KS: I think that it is still evolving. If our guards play well defensively, I think we’ll have a very good defensive team. Our forwards are very good defensively, and our big men are good defensively. That responsibility of how good we are defensively will rest with our guards because if they play well, our team will play well.
VH: What does the presence of your big men under the basket bring to the team?
KS: I think Festus (Ezeli) and Steve (Tchiengang) have a physicality that is very significant. Their toughness and strength will be something that our team really needs. It’ll need to show up just like the perimeter offense night after night. We won’t win without them exerting their physical will and strength on people and creating some advantages for us because of that.
VH: How important is it for the team to make an effort to get to the foul line this season?
KS: It’s always important because it’s an easy way to score points. We were particularly good at it last year, and I’m not sure if we’ll be as good at it this year. We were the best in the league by a wide margin last year. That will be something that has to evolve and unfold. I think we’ll be good at getting to the line.
VH: What are your thoughts about the Commodores’ predicted 5th-place finish in the SEC East?
KS: The division is one of the toughest in college basketball. I was surprised after only having lost two guys and finishing second in the league a year ago that we were picked to finish fifth. I don’t think that’s where we will finish. I think we’re better than that. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I have extremely high hopes for this team. I think that this team can do very well. We’ll need some things to go right, but everybody does. If we can get lucky and stay away from some injuries, I think that we have a chance to have a great year.
