10/18 John Groce interview

On grading the players in the Orange & Blue Scrimmage-

"We'll chart everything. There's two parts to it- One is statistics and the other part is just the coaches' feel or insticts of how tough are ya, how together are ya, body language. Those types of things that don't show up on a stats sheet.

"We'll grade out the film especially on the defensive end. And we'll grad our transition defense and post defense, and ability to keep the ball in front. Our positioning on defense. We'll grade out all those things and evaluate where we're at and try to get better from there."

Any expectations on how they'll grade out Monday?

"No, it's still early. We're in that learning curve where everything's new, offense is new, defense is new. It's like having 14 freshmen, other than the fact that we've got some older guys that are experienced in terms of playing college basketball. But the system itself -- offense and defense -- is new and they've done a great job of picking it up so far.

"Biggest thing that I expect on Monday is that we compete our tails off. That, and that we play together."

Who are you going to matchup against one another?

"We're going to toy around with it. We'll have 3-4 eight minute scrimmages. We'll change the lineups in all of those. That way we've got guys playing in different lineups, playing with different people. I think it's important that we get a feel for what groups play well together and who plays well with one another. The only way you do that is by adjusting the lineup, and we'll do that throughout the 3-4 scrimmages."

How nice is it to be in season finally?

"It's great. This is a great time of year.

"I love the first two weeks. This is as important a time as any in the entire basketball season. You start to develop your identity. You start to -- in this case with a new team -- you're teaching offense and defense. From a system standpoint it's as if you're coaching 14 freshmen. This is all new to them, in terms of our style of play. That part's exciting."