NEW ORLEANS – University of South Alabama men's basketball head coach Matthew Graves spoke with reporters today on the Sun Belt Conference Media Teleconference. Below is a transcript of his comments.

Opening statement
"Last year, we accomplished one of our goals we set, and that was to make the conference tournament. Throughout the course of league play, I thought there was great balance and parity. It came down to the last week and we were fortunate to get a couple of wins to get us in the conference tournament. Having the opportunity to win a game in New Orleans was a real uplifting thing for our team and our program. It really helped propel us into our spring and summer workouts. The players are really excited about the season; we've had great practices early and we look forward to another outstanding conference season. I think it'll be very competitive and well-balanced."

On the progression of Ken Williams last season
"I think early in the season, Ken was really pressing. We had graduated the year before, Augustine Rubit, who is going to go down as one of the best players in Sun Belt history, and we lost shooting guard Antoine Allen and forward Mychal Ammons, three key guys from that team. Ken came into his sophomore year, feeling extra pressure to perform and carried too much weight. He just had to find his rhythm and relax. We ended up bringing him off the bench for a couple of games right around Christmas, and he finally got back into his rhythm. You would be fair to say throughout the conference season, he was one of the best five or six players in the whole league, especially the last month of the season. We're looking for big things from him as we head into the year. He's worked really hard in the offseason to put his body in a position where he's going to be very durable; he's picked up five to seven pounds in the weight room and his conditioning is much improved. We're really excited about what is on the horizon for Ken."

On who will be doing the rebounding this year
"That remains to be the question. I think that's going to be the difference between us being middle-to-back of the conference, or middle-to-top-half of the league. How well are we going to rebound the basketball? It just doesn't go on our '4s' and '5s.' Our guards have to do a better job of rebounding. I think our strength is in our backcourt. Our guard play should be pretty good this year. We do have to limit our turnovers; we didn't do a good job of that last year. I think with another year together, we've improved in that area, but I think the key to our season is how well our frontcourt plays. I like our options; we're going to have four or five options to rotate in, and through the non-conference part of our schedule, it's going to be by-committee. Hopefully as we get into the conference season after Christmas, we'll start to see some separation in that area."

On his reaction to Louisiana-Lafayette's Shawn Long returning for his senior season
"I think it's great that Shawn is coming back to the league. Obviously Coach (Bob) Marlin was ecstatic that he gets an instant double-double guy back in the lineup, but I just think overall for the league, I think it's really good. When you talk about Elfrid Peyton a few years ago or R.J. Hunter last year, now you have Shawn Long who is another guy that has an opportunity to be picked in the NBA Draft. It really shows what kind of talent that is in the Sun Belt. I think we need to continue to do a great job of putting that out there so that people know how many talented players there are in the Sun Belt. Certainly that's why (UL Lafayette) is the preseason favorite with him coming back."

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