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Wes Long enters his second season as Queens men's basketball coach. At 28, the Providence Day graduate is one of the youngest coaches in college basketball.
Q. What do you hope your team learned from last season's 7-21 season?
We grew up a lot and had a lot of tough lessons. The biggest one is that you can't take any possession off. We competed well in a lot of stretches in games, but we have to compete on every possession.
Q. What do you like the best so far about the team you have this season?
They're working their butts off. Our pre-season conditioning is incredible. They ran 13 extra suicide sprints today, at their request. They wanted to see who could finish the most. I think they're going to be tough.
Q. What aspect of your team still needs the most work?
Just consistent offensive execution. We're still a young team - we'll have six freshmen and six sophomores on a 15-player roster. We make good decisions, then we have lapses.
Q. Senior guard Andre Lockhart returns after missing last season with an injury. How important will he be to your team?
You can't teach the experience that he brings to our team. He's played 60 games for two NCAA tournament teams here. He plays with confidence and a physical defensive style that we will need. If we had had him last year we would have won 14 or 15 games.
Q. What were you looking for during the recruiting season?
We needed increased athleticism and we needed to add length all over the floor. We wanted players who can defend multiple positions. And if they can play multiple positions on offense, that's the icing on the cake.
Q. Who among the new players will make an immediate impact?
Nate Blackburn is a 6-foot-5 guard who transferred from Georgia Southern and he's one of the two or three best shooters I've been around. Brandon Nichols is a 6-1 guard from Fayetteville who has a 7-foot wingspan - his arms go on for days and he can run, jump and shoot. Antonio Stabler is a 6-7 freshman from Raleigh and he's the quickest-adjusting freshman I've ever seen.
Q. Where do you see your team in the Conference Carolinas standings?
We were picked seventh (out of 11 teams) and if I had voted on us, I don't know if I'd have picked much differently. We're taking steps quickly to get back to the top of the league. We're not there yet, but this is a team that could overachieve.
Q. You face your former boss, Brian Good, when you open the season with Wingate today. How's that going to be?
It's been awkward for about the past month, because we're one of each other's best friends. If we weren't playing against him, I'd be talking basketball with him every day right now. I'm looking forward to that changing back on Saturday.
Q. You have experience as a player and a team manager at Clemson. What have you found to be the biggest differences between Division I and Division II basketball?
From my standpoint as coach, it's resources. A Division I coach may have three or four full-time assistants, a couple of secretaries, a video coordinator and a director of basketball operations for support. At this level, I wear almost all those hats. My assistants and I spent an hour-and-a-half today putting up signs in the dorms to promote this weekend's games. From a playing standpoint it's size. My small forward here is 6-2. In the ACC, that player is 6-6.
Q. Do you ever think about the fact that you aren't 30 yet, but you're the head coach of a college basketball team?
Other people will often remind me that it's pretty cool that I'm doing this. It is fun to be my age and to have a job you've dreamed of having since you were five or six. Some people never get to that point.
Keith Cannon
