Nov. 13, 2008

DaytonFlyers.com sat down with men's basketball head coach Brian Gregory as the Flyers prepare to start the 2008-09 regualar season.

Gregory, who enters his sixth season at UD, guides a team that went 23-11 in 2007-08. Although the Flyers graduated All-Atlantic 10 guard Brian Roberts, UD returns their next three scorers and top three rebounders - forward Chris Wright (10.4, 5.7), guard Marcus Johnson (10.1, 5.1) and forward Charles Little (8.0, 4.6).

This year's slogan is "Your Team - Your Town." It speaks to the great support UD gets from the community. Talk about the relationship between the Flyers and the "Flyer Faithful."
BG: One of the great things about our program is the support that we get from the Flyer Faithful. Our guys really thrive off of that and are energized by that. I also think that our great fans enjoy the energy and the attitude that our guys play with. This is a town that is not afraid to roll up its sleeves. It's a town that is built on a sense of community in the sense of being unselfish and so forth and I think our guys and our team tries to emulate that as well.

You want guys that want to be at a place that basketball is important. There is no question that basketball is important here and there is no question that the excitement that the fans bring makes this place a unique and special situation for our players. The guys that see that and really want to be a part of that are the guys that we want on our team.

You graduated one of the top players in school history, and one of the top guards in the country in Brian Roberts. How do you replace a player like that in your program?
BG: I think first-off, we would make a big mistake if we tried to "replace" a player like Brian Roberts. Four years and the success he had, you can't replace that. When you lose such a valuable player, this question always comes up. Every team every year builds its own identity and this year's team has to build a new identity for itself. I think our guys have really embraced that and they are really excited about that. It is going to be different. It is going to be a more athletic, long, deep team and we are going to have to use that to our advantage. The biggest thing is that everybody works together as one...that is going to be our greatest strength and with that I think the sum of our parts is much greater than any individual quantity. I think as we build that identity it will be this year's team replacing last year's team as opposed to trying to replace one player.

Chris Wright played just about half a season last year. But he is already regarded as one of the top players in the Atlantic 10. How has his recovery from the fractured ankle been, and talk about the kind of player he is.
BG: Chris Wright played about half the season. Chris was able to play in the last two games of the NIT, so physically he was healthy then. Basketball-wise, you can't miss that many weeks and still be the same player as you were in terms of feel for the game and understanding of what's going on. But his recovery has been tremendous. He had a great spring a great summer and so far a great fall. My biggest concern with Chris Wright is he will face thing in game situations this year that we he would have already faced and been through last year. That will be his greatest challenge. He does not have a full freshman season to use as a learning curve. Particularly as a guy who would have played 30 minutes a game as a freshman. With that being said he is a student of the game and he used his time last year while sitting out with the injury to his learn what he could. He is a guy who has gotten better and I know he is really excited about having a tremendous sophomore year for us.

Your only senior this year is Charles Little. What are you looking from him this season?
BG: This is an important year for Charles. As the lone senior he has to do more than just perform athletically. He has to take a greater leadership role he has create an environment where day-in and day-out there is a consistency, a dependability, and a commitment that shows that he has been here for four years and understands what needs to be done. His greatest challenge is instead of playing in flashes, playing in a steady stream of success and doing the things that he is capable of doing. He has done a great job in the classroom and is on track to graduate and his consistency on the court is going to be very, very important for us in scoring, on the glass, and defensively. One of the things that we are really looking for him to do this season is to be really aggressive every time he touches the ball and to make plays. He is a playmaker and he needs to do this on a more consistent basis.

On paper, every member of your junior class is being counted on to fill a critical role in 2008-09. Talk about them as a group and individually.
BG: The junior class has logged a lot of minutes in their time here. It is a very important class for us and with Charles, this class is really going to take over the leadership role this year. The juniors have really been able to perform well as "supporting actors" but now they are in a lead role. That is always a challenge. But with the type of character and work ethic that all of them have I think they are ready for that.

Individually, Kurt Huelsman is the only player in our program to start every game over the last two years. He lost 20 pounds in the off-season, but has not lost one pound in terms of strength. He is moving better. He is much more aggressive and much more comfortable on the court. You can tell he really feels good about where he is at physically and that usually shows in greater confidence on the court.

At the end of last year, Marcus Johnson was playing as well as any guard in the league. He is really poised to have a great junior year. He shot the ball better but again I think the biggest thing that made him a better player last year was his improvement handling the basketball. I think him scoring in the open court and taking the ball to the basket only adds to other things he can do offensively.

London Warren, maybe more so than any player who's ever averaged 16 minutes a game, has impacted so many games and has been such a big part of so many of the wins we've had over the last two years. His challenge is he has to become a much more consistent factor in games and maybe less one-dimensional on the defensive end. I think he is more than capable of doing that.

We have two relative newcomers in the junior class: Mickey Perry and Rob Lowery. It's very difficult to sit out almost 2.5 years and then come back and play like Mickey did last year. I think there was still some rust in his game due to that when he became eligible at mid-season. Toward the end of the year, he was doing some things at a higher level than what thought he was capable of doing. Defending, handling the ball, taking the ball to the basket, offensive rebounding. He is a guy that we are going to need to make some shots for us, but I think the other aspects of the game are much better than we expected. He is becoming a much better all-around player. Lowery is a guy who has come in here and has added another jolt of energy to that class. He is a great vocal leader and is really starting to understand how we want to play. He brings a lot of intensity every day...day-in and day-out. He is a guy that really wants to learn and really get better. He is a great athlete with great quickness. In our system, guys have to be versatile and play all different spots. He has really been able to come and do a good job for us. This group has won 42 games since they got here. Adding Rob to it and Mickey growing up even more has only added to that. It's a group that brings it every single day and I think it's as competitive of any group that I have been around as well. As a collective whole they are pretty good. With our one senior in Charles Little ahead of them and a player like Chris Wright behind them, I think sometimes people overlook them. But they are vitally important to us in so many ways.

This year's freshman class not only has talent and depth, but also a lot of versatility. What do you expect from them?
BG: The freshman class brings a lot of different things to the table for us. It adds to our depth, it adds to our talent base it adds to our athletic ability and again it also brings guys that can play multiple positions. You have those guys as freshman, what you really want them to do is contribute to the team, to bring great energy every single day, to really want to learn and improve. They are finding their own role within the building of the team's new identity. It is a talented group. I expect all of those guys to have really good careers here.

Josh Benson is a long, athletic, versatile post player who can step out and shoot, but is also very good around the basket. Obviously, his greatest challenge will be his transition from high school to college in terms of strength and conditioning. His talent level does not equal his physical maturity right now, and that is always a challenge.

Luke Fabrizius, from day one, has come in shown that his ability to shoot from three-point-plus range. He has shown that he can do that and do it immediately for us. He is a unique player, and he gives us a different look from one of our big guys in terms of his ability to shoot the ball. I have been pleased with the other aspects of his game. I told him he wasn't going to come here just to be a three-point shooter and that's all. Our job is to improve his overall game. He has done a good job of rebounding, understanding our defense and again, he is another whose one biggest challenge will be catching up physically with the skill level of his overall game.

Chris Johnson is a guy that I really like. He was kind of an under-the-radar recruit, but someone who brings us great energy. His motor is always going. He has a knack for offensive rebounding, a knack to score the basket in a variety of ways and again is a very competitive kid.

Paul Williams is a guy who physically is ready to step right in and play at this level. He is a guy who can score in a variety of ways. He has really shot the ball well for us. The only negative with him is he has been struggling with a foot injury. That is always a difficult task, when you miss time as a freshman. But we are looking to get him back healthy and for him to have a great freshman year.

We've already mentioned Chris Wright, but what about your other sophomores?
BG: Two guys who have really made some great strides this spring and summer are Devin Searcy and Stephen Thomas. They were thrown in a difficult situation where in both of their positions had veterans in front of them who played a lot of minutes last year. They used that experience to springboard them into the spring. Devin has gotten stronger and is in great shape. He has really gotten comfortable in terms of the different things he can help us with. You can really see his game evolving every day. Stephen understands that we lost a lot on the perimeter and that as a sophomore he has a great opportunity to use the things that he learned as a freshman to really carve out a spot for us this year.

Talk about your walk-ons, and what they mean to the program.
BG: We have had Luke Hendrick and Dan Fox, and now Brad McEldowney is with us this year. Luke and Dan have been great for our program. And at the same time I think our program has helped them grow up and mature and understand. What they understand is that they are as important to the success to this team as anybody else. They may not get the headlines or the credit or the articles written about them, or any playing time at all, but they realize what they do every day helps the team be successful. In life not everybody gets the headlines. But if you look at your job as something that is really important I think it is a great lesson to learn. The one thing I know I can always do is point at those walk-ons -- who are paying to go to school here and sacrifice a lot to be part of this team -- and I can always ask our players...are you working as hard as them? Because those guys, they bring it every day. It is great to have them around. High quality kids, great families, great high school programs. I don't even look at them as walk-ons anymore. They are every bit as important to this team as our starters.

What does it mean to be the head coach at the University of Dayton to you?
BG: Each year it becomes more of an honor. You learn more about the program and more about the people that have been a part of it. I've spent more time with coach Donoher and you really start to appreciate the type of men that shaped this program. To be a part of that is humbling. In Dr. Curran, Ted Kissell and now Tim Wabler we have outstanding leadership. We have tremendous facilities, prestigious academics, and the most passionate fans and supporters that I have ever seen. We have a proud tradition and I believe every day we are building a bright future.

Every day I go into work in a facility named after our great coach - Don Donoher. I coach every day on the court named after our legendary coach - Tom Blackburn. I believe every day, we are building on our tradition, a tremendous tradition, but we are also keeping our eyes on what I believe is an exciting future. I can remember a situation, an evening that occurred a year after I was named head coach. I was on the road the whole day recruiting and I hurried back to get back to the Arena for our evening individual workouts. It was about eleven o'clock and workouts were over and I was the only one sitting in that Arena. There was no band playing, there were no cheerleaders cheering, there weren't 13,000 fans going bonkers-crazy rooting for their Flyers. And as I sat there, I could still feel the energy, I could still feel the electricity that runs thru that Arena. Why is that? There is a passion that surrounds this program. It doesn't matter if it's game night or if you're the only one in that Arena.

As I sat there all of a sudden I heard some balls being bounced down the tunnel. As I looked over two of our players were walking onto the court to get some extra shooting in. I have to admit they looked at me sitting in that Arena all by myself, just looking around, and they gave me a strange look. They said, `Coach what are you doing in here by yourself?' I just looked at them and said, `Isn't this place unbelievable?' Being just eighteen years old, they kind of laughed at me and went as far away as they could to the other end of the court. But you know what? They knew I was right. And I knew right then that Dayton Basketball, the fans, the players, the Arena, the atmosphere, the passion is what college basketball is all about. And we have that right here. And I'm proud to be a part of it and I'm proud to lead that.