Rob Jeter was pretty successful in his first
of head coaching experience at any level: 22 wins, a
Horizon League regular season title, a Conference title, and
a win over Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament. Can year two get any
better?
Shawn Siegel (CHN): What
should we expect to be the strengths and weaknesses of next
year’s team?
Rob
Jeter (RJ):
I really like the roster we have assembled
for this year. I think we have the potential to be very
disruptive on the defensive end of the floor and have a lot of
people contribute offensively. We should be very deep, so there
will be a lot of competition for playing time. We also will look
to wear people down. Certainly, we'll be counting on a lot of
players that do not have a great deal of college experience.
But, those players have all played in very high level situations
in high school, prep school, junior college and during the
summers, so I am confident they can make the adjustment.
CHN: How will
you begin to deal with the loss of so many graduating seniors?
RJ:
The seven
seniors that were a part of last year's team all made great
contributions and obviously will be hard to replace. They were
very committed
and very dedicated to being successful, and they were able to
use their
experience to win games in very difficult situations. But, I am
confident that
we have plenty of players on our roster who want to follow in
their footsteps.
We have players here that want to be here because of the success
we have
achieved in recent seasons.
CHN: Talk about
a player or two that stand out as being an unsung leader and
contributor?
RB:
You always look to your seniors to provide
leadership and I think Kevin Massiah and Nick Hansen are both
capable of taking on that role. There are probably a lot of
people that aren't expecting much out of either one of those
players, but players have a way of stepping up when they know it
is their final season and when they know they can make a
difference. Both players have worked hard to be ready for this
coming season, and we'll be looking forward to seeing them make
their marks in their final year.
CHN: Discuss the
incoming newcomers. Who do you think will make the biggest
impact?
RB:
We will certainly be
looking for a lot of the new faces to make contributions.
You always look to people who have experience to be able to make
the easiest transition, so I think (Northern Illinois transfer)
Paige Paulsen should be an
all-league-type performer. We also have guys like Kaylan
Anderson and Ricky Franklin that were on campus last year. But,
many of the other newcomers made a commitment to being here over
the summer and I think they are ready to try to
earn a spot this fall. We've seen everyone working hard, looking
to gain any edge they can. I think we will have a lot of
newcomers who will make contributions.
CHN: How does
this year's schedule compare to recent seasons in terms of its
difficulty?
RJ:
This year's schedule will be as difficult as any we have faced
in recent years. Last year, our non-league schedule ranked
21st in the nation, and I would suspect this year's will turn
out much the same way. With games at Wisconsin, Michigan,
Northern Iowa and Missouri State, we'll be playing four games
against teams that will be in the top 20 to 40 teams in the
country. It is also exciting to host teams like Washington
State, UAB and Wyoming. I think the schedule will really
challenge our team, and get them ready for the Horizon League
schedule.
CHN: Are you
pretty well settled with your starting lineup? If not, what
should we expect to be the biggest battles for a starting
position?
RJ: There will be
battles for every spot in our starting lineup. Like I said
earlier, Paige Paulsen, with his experience, is someone we will
really be counting on. But, after that, we really have a lot of
options. We could field a big lineup, or we could go with a
guard-heavy lineup. Veterans like Kevin Massiah and Nick Hansen
could force their way into the lineup in their senior years, or
the young guys could do things that make it very hard to keep
them on the bench. We should have a very good and competitive
preseason.
