We caught up with head coach Matt Matheny after the Phoenix Hoops Preview to get his take on the upcoming season, what fans should look forward to and playing UNC.
Q: You guys have a young team with only one senior and five juniors. How have you worked to mold these guys into a team and is the youth an advantage or a disadvantage?
A: The youth keeps it interesting, that's for sure. The trip (to Europe) in August was very good for us in terms of molding the team together not only in a basketball way with the practices and games but also as an opportunity to travel and be together for 10 days in foreign countries. It brought our guys as close as we've ever been since I've been here. The other thing would be leadership. Q: What do you look forward to this season as far as the team's record? Do you look to get to .500 or further?
A: We've never talked about records since I've been here. If we can (get better) on a daily basis, then we will be a dangerous, dangerous, talented team in March. That's where we want to be. If we're the best team in the Southern Conference in March, then we've got a chance to win the tournament and then the NCAA committee will take the automatic bid.
Q: Junior Josh Bonney and the freshmen guards looked pretty good at the hoops preview. Are you guys going to run more this year?
A: We want to run a little bit more. We feel like we're deeper. We feel like we've got more guys that are ready to play right away and because of that we feel like we can run more. There were times last year when we had to slow it down because our bench wasn't as deep. We want to run and we want to be able to do it the whole year. That's our plan.
Q: What should fans look forward to when they come to a game in Alumni Gym?
A: The buzz word right now is "excitement." That's the feeling our guys have, that our coaching staff has, that the community has. With a young team, there are going to be some really exciting times and there are going to be some really challenging times.
Q: How does scheduling those non-conference games go? Do you contact teams like UNC and say "Hey, we'd like to play you?"
A: Scheduling is a very difficult part of college basketball right now for everybody. Will Roberson, one of our assistant coaches, is in charge of scheduling and it's almost like what I envision a stock broker is like in terms of working the phones and trying to figure out who will play you. So yes, we call them. We're very proactive in our scheduling. Then we try to coordinate dates and how it works. So it's a major undertaking. We try to be proactive and we call almost everybody in the country.
Q: Do those teams pay you to come play in their gym?
A: Yes, they're called guarantee games. The future of our program will be that we can get the marquee games that Butler (University) is now getting, that George Mason (University) got, or Gonzaga (University) got after they make the NCAA tournament runs. But as of right now, we want to play the best teams we can play and most of them are not willing to come here. As a result, you end up getting into situations where they are called guarantee games, so there is a financial component.