Rashim, going into this season, are you looking forward to anything special this year compared to previous seasons? What will you take from a season like last year to help you this season?

This season, we have a great group of character guys who are focused on the right things, like being good teammates and doing their job in the classroom. Looking forward to coaching a team that leads one another, those are fun groups to coach. Hopefully, we will stay healthy and have all hands on deck.

You have a few strong sophomores on your roster that can help lead your team. Can you talk about how their experience can help this new roster?

We have sophomores who have a ton of experience. What's even better are the returners that have a year or two in our system and play style under their belt. Helps to be able to transition the new guys.

In practice, are there any surprises? Any one player fitting in better than you thought? Any freshmen that you think will have an impact?

There's always a transition period with freshmen when they go from high school to college, but our freshman group has impressed me thus far. They continue to show me every day that they can compete at this level and beyond.

It takes a while for a team to gel; coming together and playing like a team takes time. At the onset of the season you have several jamborees, what are you trying to get out of what could be called your pre-season?

Not only do we get to see what we need to improve on, but there are a lot of nuances and intricacies in the game of basketball, we want to see what our strengths are, what dynamics we have that can help us be successful, what lineups work well together.

With such a new team, are there any new players you might want to help introduce to us? Or maybe a sophomore is coming into the season with a positive edge you're excited to see on the court, one you maybe did not expect?

6'6 Gabriel Wright and 6'10 Wilfred Kamukama were both here last season, but unfortunately were injured. They have looked great in preseason and look forward to them being valuable assets to the team this year.

In watching your teams over the years, a spectator can see how you like a team to play—fast but measured. You also always build a new team year-in and year-out that fits your style of play. Do you keep your style of play more often than not, or do you try to adapt to the players that come into the program? And if so, how do adapt your vision for style of play based on the talent that evolves throughout practices?

I think it's a good balance of all things considered. Of course, there are consistent things that are staples in our system, but if you don't have particular skill sets or players to fit that, then it won't be as effective. I also adjust to what I have and try to put everyone in a position to be successful. In our best years here, we didn't win key games with our typical lineups, it was always adjustments we made in game or throughout the course of the season.

With your sophomore class, do you have any goals for them as a group or even a concrete goal for any one player? For example, "go lead the team in rebounds," or do you focus on just team goals, like "win the conference"?

They all have individual goals that can be met with team success. Once the focus is on our foundational standards, then everything else takes care of itself.

One goal that we talked about is getting an academic banner with this group. This shows the type of team we have to have that as a main focus or goal. I will definitely support all of our players who want to continue playing at the next level. It's a certain level of expectations that those players must uphold to reach that goal.

I know you set a wonderful example of leadership for the teams you coach, and sometimes a player takes on that role to help the roster along as the season progresses. Do you have such a player on your current roster? Has their leadership already emerged this early?

6'0 Ezra Brown has definitely shown some of the leadership qualities that are necessary for a point guard. He's vocal and not afraid to hold himself and teammates accountable. I know he and others will continue to grow in that fashion.