CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel men's basketball coach
Duggar Baucom met with the media Tuesday to discuss the start of practice. Below are selected quotes, and the video is available by clicking the Play button on the photo (Coach Baucom's comments begin at 17:20).
On Practice"We've only had two so far. We were washed out Saturday and Sunday so we went twice yesterday, but so far, so good. Nobody is injured, and the energy has been great. The guys have bought in and are playing very hard. The focus of this week is getting them playing together, communicating, talking and being good teammates to one another."
On Evaluating The Roster In Year One"That started way back in the summer when we first inherited our team. We have a lot of new faces with five freshmen, two graduate transfers and three walk-ons. We only have five returners from last year, so we've been getting to know the guys, their personality, what makes them tick, what kind of teammates they are and if they care about their teammates. That's what we tried to build this summer, and that carries right on into our first practice."
On Challenges This Season"It's a pretty big one to start with. We way more focused on the process than results right now and building for the future and getting guys to buy into the culture we are trying to establish. For the most part, they have done that. They have tried to please us in everything we have asked. The ball isn't going through the hole as much as I want it to, and probably may never, but they are working hard as a unit. They worked really, really hard in conditioning. In my 13 years as a head coach, they are in the best shape of any team that I've ever had. That's kudos to them because they worked very hard in our conditioning program that we just finished last week."
On Challenges To Changing Pace Of Play"Conditioning is a huge part of it, and I think our guys have very well with that. We use the tagline 'Embrace The Pace'. I think we will play at the pace we want to play, but will that result in the number of points we want to score? I'm not sure. It takes guys making shots, and we haven't found guys who can do that consistently yet. There will be more possessions in a game for sure. I think we will dictate tempo more games than not, but does that correlate to a bunch of points scored? I don't know that yet, but we get excited when we are shooting a little bit better. Every practice we chart our successes making shots, and it has gotten better."
The Bulldogs open their season with an exhibition game against Erskine inside McAlister Field House on Nov. 7. The regular season begins Nov. 14 at Butler, and the home opener is Nov. 17 against Stetson. For tickets, visit
CitadelSports.com/Tickets or call The Citadel Athletics Ticket Office at 843-953-DOGS (3647).
For more information on The Citadel basketball, follow
@CitadelHoops or visit CitadelSports.com.