University of South Alabama men's basketball head coach Matthew Graves sat down with USAJaguars.com before the season started and gave his thoughts on last season, replacing a four-time All-Sun Belt Conference performer, and the team's new style of play.
What stands out from last season?
MG: Certainly the disappointment that we did not compete for a conference championship. Expectations were high at the beginning of the year and as we got into the season, we really had a lot further to go than what I and the staff initially thought. We could do better in some areas but we were limited by mixing an older team with some young guys and we didn't mesh like I thought we could. We lost a lot of games in the second half, especially late in ball games, so we need to improve in that area.
What did you learn in your first year as a head coach?
MG: I learned a lot. I learned a lot about myself—I don't think I was really surprised by anything, but I think the biggest thing for me is learning to continually adapt your system and fit your system to your personnel. I didn't do a great job in that area last year and I think we're better equipped to do that this year, with our workouts and our focus. I think that was the biggest thing: adapting your personnel to fit your system. In your first year, you kind of go with the hand you're dealt and we are moving in a positive direction.
How will you approach this season differently than last?
MG: I think I'm more comfortable sitting in the head coaching chair. I feel like I have my feet under me and things are starting to slow down. Our attention to detail will be at an extremely high level this year. We were detail-oriented last year, but this year we're on such a higher level. We're a lot further along in our planning and organization in what we want to do and how we want to play, and knowing our conference after playing each team twice now. Just being more comfortable and relaxed has allowed me personally to think more clearly about the direction of this team moving forward.
What are your goals for this season?
MG: The first goal, and this is a goal every year, is you want to continue to get better and improve throughout the season. I think we achieved that last year; we won our last two games and you could say the last month of the season, we were playing better basketball than we were in December or January. Certainly we want to be a better team at the end of the year than we are at the beginning. Also, a big goal for this team is to make the conference tournament. When you make the conference tournament, whether you're first or eighth, crazy things happen in March, and you want to give yourself a chance to compete for a championship and go to the NCAA Tournament. Our No. 1 goal is to get better every day, and secondly, we want to make the conference tournament and play in New Orleans.
What are some of your concerns going into the season?
MG: Our youth—we're still a young team. We have one senior on our roster. That's an exciting thing for the future of this program because I think we have the right people on board and we're pushing in a positive direction, but we are young, and we lack depth. We have 10 scholarship players and one of those is coming off two surgeries this summer in Tafari Whittingham. We're going to have to have guys step up and play major minutes and be consistent in that. You have to stay healthy and be lucky, but that's one concern, the overall lack of depth.
What do you like about the team?
MG: I think these guys have shown a great ability to be together. This team is fun to be around, they care for each other and they're excited about what we're doing this year. They're working extremely hard in the weight room and in our individual workouts, showing some good improvement. The overall character of this team is really good.
What can our team improve upon the most from last year to this year?
MG: Consistency, and not just from game to game, but from first half to second half. You get some of that in a young team—they'll play well for a stretch and then you hit some adversity and fall apart, and maybe you get it back together but it's too late. When another team punches you in the mouth, how are you going to respond? I want to see this team respond a lot better than we did last year.
What were the most important items on your agenda during the offseason?
MG: Strength training and weight training to improve our overall strength as a team. We got better this summer and fall with our strength and conditioning—that was our primary focus—and secondly to continue to develop our individual skills. We wanted to focus on our fundamentals and technique and we've made some strides in that area as well.
What was your recruiting focus over the summer?
MG: We felt like we needed to add more size and we've done that. We're going to be bigger and longer and more athletic, and then to continue to add savvy and toughness to our roster. I'm really excited about how we've shaped our roster and moving into the future, where it's headed. We've addressed a lot of needs and now we're in a position where, in our recruiting efforts, we're looking two and three years ahead, and getting better evaluations on kids, instead of being reactive and recruiting two or three months ahead.
What was the focus of your workouts in the offseason?
MG: The basic old boring fundamentals that everybody talks about: dribbling, passing, shooting, catching and footwork. We really wanted to emphasize those and have overemphasized those. At first the guys struggled with some things but as we kept doing them and they saw their percentages and success rate increase, they were excited and understood where we were coming from and what we were trying to accomplish. We've shown them how it's going to carry over into what we're going to do offensively this season.
How would you best describe the style of play we'll see this year and is that a change from last year?
MG: We're going to try to play a little bit faster. With our personnel, I feel like our skill-sets are improving where we can play faster in transition. We need to do a better job of scoring out of those opportunities, but at the same time, not turning the ball over. I thought we did a good job of handling the ball and not turning it over, but looking back, played it a little too safe at times. This year, we're going to be more aggressive in transition offensively. Defensively, we have to play more physical and be a lot tougher. We just have to have a better mindset and toughness to do that, and that's why a big emphasis was placed on our strength and conditioning over the summer.
How differently will the offense work now that you don't have a stalwart in the post like Augustine Rubit?
MG: We will have more balance this year. I don't like to speculate who our leading scorer may or may not be, but I do think scoring could be an issue for us at time, but I think we have four or five guys that are capable of getting into double figures each and every night. So think we'll have great balance, and when you have great balance, you're harder to scout. I think we have a roster with our 10 scholarship guys that can play, where on any given night, we could have a different leading scorer, and I think that's a good thing for our team.
Who will be the team's go-to scorer this year?
MG: I think when you talk about a go-to scorer, that could be a couple of different guys. I think Ken Williams has had an excellent summer and fall. He started to score the ball more consistently for us at the end of the year. Barrington Stevens is a returning point guard and will have the ball in his hands, and has the ability to maybe not score but to make plays for others. I think you have a bunch of new guys that can do it but we're going to see how their roles come about here in the next month of practice and see who starts to separate themselves.
What are the challenges in having to replace your top three scorers from last year?
MG: It's a huge challenge. You talk about a guy in Augustine Rubit who is one of the top three or four players that has ever played here. Those guys are hard to replace and I don't think you replace a person like that with just one guys—it's more by committee. Different guys have to step up. With losing Antoine (Allen) and Mychal (Ammons), it's an exciting thing for your team because there is opportunity. Any time there's an opportunity, guys are putting in extra work. I think a few guys last year saw that with Aug and Mychal, they might not get a play no matter what they do. They might not prepare or work as hard as they needed to, and this year there's a new excitement and energy for those guys. They're excited because there's opportunity to play.
What improvement do you see from Barrington this year?
MG: He's had a great summer and fall, just like Ken has. With him, we're looking for continued leadership as he's more comfortable in the system and we want to keep that turnover number down even as we try to play a little faster, but his assist number should go up because we'll make more shots. This year, with our roster getting used to how we're playing and their roles, I look for his assist numbers to continue to climb.
How did Luka benefit from redshirting last year and not playing once he became eligible in January?
MG: It was a huge benefit. He has really worked hard to change his body; he's in a lot better condition and is stronger physically. His understanding of the offense is not like a typical freshman; he's very comfortable with what we're going to do. With him, it's about getting reps in game situations because he hasn't played in a game in a long time. For him to come out the first night and play unbelievably well, I would love that, but I do think it will take him some time to adjust.
Do you expect any carryover from the team's good finish to the season after struggling midway?
MG: I think the carryover is more with the returning players that were a part of that team. They understood more of the direction the program was heading and what we were trying to accomplish. Unfortunately it happened too late for us to do anything about making the conference tournament, which was frustrating for all of us, but we did make strides and there was some confidence that things were moving in the right direction. The guys that are returning can take some strength and confidence from how we were playing the last couple of weeks of the season.
Which of the newcomers do you expect to contribute right away?
MG: I think all of them have the opportunity to come in and bring valuable minutes, whether that's through scoring or rebounding or defensively. Luka is really a new guy, Tafari and John (Brown) are junior-college players, and Taishaun (Johnson) and Abdul (Lewis) are freshmen. Out of our 10 scholarship guys, there are five new guys and there are a lot of opportunities to play minutes and make plays, and whether that's on the court for five minutes or 30 minutes, all of those guys are going to contribute in their own way as they get more comfortable with what we're doing.
What are your thoughts on the schedule?
MG: I think it's a solid schedule. We have teams that are going to challenge us early in the season. Southern Miss is a rivalry game early on and we need to turn that into more of a rivalry and win a few of those games. Detroit will be picked in the top three or four in the Horizon League and Miami in an ACC opponent. We've got a good stretch there in November to help us. As we get into December, Middle Tennessee is a good game and they're a well-coached team. Making that cross-country trip for the Gotham Classic is going to challenge us in a lot of ways. We'll be going from the West Coast to the East Coast, up to the Midwest and back down to Mobile right before Christmas. I'm really looking forward to that trip because it'll be a time where we'll be together on the road for seven or eight days and will give us a great chance to bond even more before we get into conference play.
Is there one non-conference game are you looking forward to more than the others?
MG: I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited to play at IUPUI because it gives me a chance to go back to Indianapolis and be able to coach in front of a lot of family and friends. That one has a special asterisk to it, if you will, but all games are ones you get excited for and make you thankful for the opportunity to coach, but I'd say that one would be just a hair above some of the others.
How do you see the race for the Sun Belt Conference title shaking out?
MG: I think the league is really top-heavy this year. Georgia State, Arkansas-Little Rock and Louisiana-Lafayette on paper would appear to have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, but that's on paper. As we know, games are played on the court for 40 minutes and that's the beautiful thing about basketball. Any team can win on any given night. The one thing I learned last year is there's a lot of parity, and if you can hold serve at home and steal some games on the road, you're going to be there at the top when it's all said and done.
What do you know about the two new teams in the Sun Belt: Georgia Southern and Appalachian State?
MG: Not a whole lot at this point. I am friends with the new coach at Appalachian State. He came from Davidson and I know he'll do a really good job. He's going through some of the things I did in my first year, where he's got a new team and players transferring in and out and learning a new system. How quickly they'll learn is anybody's guess. Georgia Southern could surprise some people this year with their roster. I know (head coach) Mark (Byington) does a good job coaching them so I'm looking forward to getting a chance to compete.
A position-by-position breakdown:
Point guard
MG: Right now you've got two guys that are probably going to play the bulk of the minutes in Barrington Stevens and Taishaun Johnson. Barrington is very familiar with what we're wanting to do and is comfortable in our system. Taishaun, as a freshman, is doing a tremendous job learning and getting better every day. He has an added dimension of athleticism; he's our quickest player. Those two will also play together some this year so they complement each other very well.
Shooting guard
MG: Ken Williams has had an outstanding offseason. He's really improved in a lot of areas and I'm looking for big things from him scoring the basketball and becoming a more consistent basketball player. Luka is shooting the ball at a high level for us and his ability to stretch the floor and make shots is going to be an added benefit for us.
Small forward
MG: John Brown is a tremendous athlete and had some success scoring the ball in junior college, but this is a different level than what he played at last year. He's adapted well so far. The great things about Barrington, Taishaun, Ken, Luka and John at the top three spots is they're all interchangeable. You could see any combination of those five guys at those three spots throughout the season. We have a couple of walkons that we just added to the roster that may have an opportunity to get in that mix for a couple of minutes, but you're looking at those five guys playing those three spots, so there are a lot of minutes right there.
Post
MG: Our lone senior, Dionte Ferguson, has had an unbelievable summer. He's worked extremely hard to get in shape and improve his body. He was one of those guys that maybe didn't work as hard as he needed to last year when he was playing behind Augustine and Mychal. I think he realized that and he wants to make this senior year a very special year. To his credit, he's really stepped up his leadership and work ethic. I'm really proud of how he has come prepared into this season. Abdul Lewis is 6-foot-9 and 230 pounds and will give us another body with some size. He can move and play facing the basket some. I'm excited to see what he can do as he continues to develop. It's not uncommon that freshman bigs take a little longer to get used to the speed of the game and the physicality. I look for him to make huge strides as the season progresses. Georgi (Boyanov) and Austin (Karazsia) have had great summers and are going to be in the mix at that four spot, and at times slide over to the five because we want those guys to be very interchangeable. Tafari is coming off two surgeries this summer and it's going to take him some time to adjust and get his conditioning back. He's cleared to start practice in October and will be limited for a while. As we get his conditioning up, I think he can be a big piece for us with his athleticism and his ability to rebound the basketball.
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