Just days before the start of the 2012-13 season, USAJaguars.com sat down with University of South Alabama men’s basketball head coach Ronnie Arrow to discuss his goals, the new Jaguars, his expectations for Augustine Rubit and the Sun Belt Conference. Part one is today, followed by part two tomorrow.

What are your goals for this season?
RA: The goal every year is to win the Sun Belt and go to the NCAA Tournament. It’s been four years since we won the Sun Belt and I think with the guys that we have back and the recruiting class that we brought in, with the head start we got from our trip to Canada—getting some early practices and three games—hopefully that will propel us to that goal. I was very happy with what we got out of the trip. That will put us ahead of where we would have been and hopefully we can sustain that and get better and better from there.

What’s the one thing that can keep you from achieving those goals?
RA: The biggest thing is us. You go on these trips to get the team closer and to understand one another’s game. I think the biggest thing is, the leadership on this team has to come from our older guys that have been in the program and know that we won seven of our last 10 games, were really coming on and the season was over. We need to start this year from where that season ended. Our leadership doesn’t have to come from our seniors; Aug needs to step it up even more. I know he has high hopes for himself and the team. He went to the Impact Camp this summer and he has to pick his game up, not only for himself, but the team. Javier can’t wait until the end of the season to get going; he has to start strong from the beginning. He wound up being the 16th best shot blocker in the country, and until his toe got hurt, he was eighth or ninth. The other seniors on the team, Wendell, Trey and Freddie have to bring to the table more consistency than what they had last year. Last year Freddie had some really good games for us and then there were some games where he no-showed. He needs to leave the no-shows behind. He’s always going to play hard, but he has to get a consistency on his shot and playmaking ability. But things like that are on us. We have to buy into it as a team—the defense we have to play as a team, the rebounding, better outside shooting. Everything that had to do with rebounding and shot blocking, we were at the top of the conference. Everything that had to do with turnovers and 3-point shooting, we were at the other end of the spectrum. We brought in new guards with Dre and Antoine and Barrington; they have been brought in to erase the bad stats our guards had. The guards that were in the program last year have to bring a better understanding and do away with the mistakes in those categories.

What newcomers do you expect to contribute right away?
RA: One of the national publications put Dre Conner as newcomer of the year and another one put Antoine Allen as newcomer of the year. Those guys have been brought in to play like that. Barrington, even though he’s a freshman, is a very good shooter. We brought him in to be a point guard and I think that’s taken away some from his shooting, but he has to be on speed dial to learn. All three of those kids bring toughness to the team. All of the categories we were down in last year—shooting, taking care of the ball and assists—all three of those guys should help in all three of those categories and get us out of where we were and propel us to the top.

Last year one of our strengths was our shot-blocking. How much better will we be with the work Javier did in the offseason and Viktor and Slim added to the roster?
RA: Javier has got bring his total game from the very beginning and go through the whole season with it. We also brought in Gregoryshon and Viktor. I think we have the most size since I’ve been in college coaching. Gregoryshon should be able to know about the physical part and Viktor is learning the physical part. Viktor has a lot of the 3-point line in him, which is good—he can really shoot the ball—but we’re trying to get him Americanized to the physicality and the roughness. One thing about both those guys is they have shown progress every day they’ve been working.

What are your expectations for Augustine Rubit this season?
RA: Aug is—ability-wise and from what he’s shown—one of the top two players in this conference. It’s to a point where it’s on him. He took the time to go to the Impact Camp in Las Vegas this summer. I think if he shows what he learned out there, he’ll show he’s one of the best players in the country and not just in the conference. He’s been mentioned in the same breath with Tony Mitchell, which is very good. It’s not just me saying it, other people that know basketball have said it. Now he has to go out and show that. There is no doubt in my mind that he has the ability—he took the time, effort and energy to work on that this summer—but he has to work on his leadership. He should be a leader on this team. He’s not an outspoken or loud, boisterous person, but he can lead in a silent way. We need that from him and Javier, because when your best players are the leaders on your team, it makes life a lot easier for coaches.

How do you see the Sun Belt Conference shaping up?
RA: The Sun Belt is going to be up this year. I think last year there were five to seven teams that had six to eight new players, us being one of them. This year, a majority of those schools have them back. All of those players are one year better. I think us, Middle Tennessee, North Texas and Western Kentucky every year are up there, but now some of the other teams are also going to have good teams and that can’t do anything but bolster the recognition the conference receives.

What are your thoughts on the realignment of the Sun Belt?
RA: Back when I was here the first time, one of the best things about the Sun Belt was there were teams that were basketball schools that were close by like UAB and South Florida. With Denver getting out, that was on the other side of the world. Now we get Texas schools, which helps us because we recruit Texas and there are some good basketball programs there. We also get Georgia State and there are a lot of good players in Georgia and it’s only about five hours from us. It can bolster some rivalries, especially with us having kids from Texas. It’s a very positive thing for the Sun Belt.

What are your thoughts on the schedule?
RA: It’s getting harder and harder to schedule. We open up at Florida State and play at UAB. With the schedule we put together, it will get us ready for our conference season. I wish conference games didn’t start so early, but it is what it is with a round-robin format playing 20 games. That hurt scheduling a little bit because I didn’t want to be in California on a Monday and have to come back and play a conference game on Thursday. So you had to watch your scheduling this year, especially in late November and early December when we’re playing conference games.

What non-conference game are you looking forward to the most?
RA: Florida State. If you’re a competitor, you always want to play the best competition that you can. We played them last year and our guys remember that game and will be up for them. It’s right out of the box and we have to be ready to play. They won the ACC Tournament last year and have a lot of their guys back so it’ll be a challenge right from the start. Hopefully the trip to Canada will have us more than ready for that first game.

What can our team improve upon the most from last year to this year?
RA: We brought in player to help us in 3-point shooting, taking care of the ball, assists and the biggest thing is, we had too many turnovers, both at the guard spot and the post spot. Hopefully this year we’ll be able to take care of that.

Will any of the newcomers change our style of play from last year?
RA: Hopefully with Gregoryshon and Viktor, if we take Javier out of the game, we’ll still have two shot blockers. Aug will get a couple of blocks per game but he’s been more of a rebounder. I think he’ll be more of a shot blocker now. I don’t think they will change it, I think it’ll help because of the physical kids we brought in. Whenever you know there are shot blockers behind you, you can put on more pressure up front, which will help our overall defense.

This is the first time you’ve had your coaching staff stay intact since 2008 – how will that continuity be beneficial to the team?
RA: Our coaches have been able to take other jobs that they feel are good for them. When you’re coaching and you have assistants that move on for jobs that they feel like are better, that’s a good thing. But when you have continuity in anything—with players or coaches—it’s always a positive. I have two guys that played for me and another one that has coached with me before. We won and won big when Jeff was here. The other two assistants, we won and won big when they played for me. They know, not only what I expect of myself but what I expect of the team and anyone else associated with the team, and that’s a big positive.

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