Men's Basketball Southern Conference

Chattanooga Coaches' Quotes

UTC Coach Henry Dickerson preseason quotes:
(on being picked third in the SoCon South Division by the coaches and media)
"College of Charleston is College of Charleston, and Georgia Southern has everyone back. The people that made the selections are likely looking at who we recruited, and they have never seen them play before."

(his expectations of the season)
"It will be hard for us to replace Oliver Morton and Idris Harper, but we are definitely a much better team now than we were at this point last year. With our returnees and newcomers, we will be in the mix to challenge for the top of the division."

(on senior guards Toot Young and Clyde McCully)
"Toot and Clyde have been through our system for a year. They really came on at the end of the season. There is a bug burden on both of them to be leaders. Toot didn't start for us for awhile and didn't play as well as he did in the middle of the year. We could see in practice all the time how good he could be. Down the stretch, he took over for us. "Clyde was a first-year captain, and that speaks for itself. He stood out early then hit the wall. At the end of the season, he showed what he can do. He should carry that over to this season. They can both be better for us this year."

(on forward Dusty Pullian)
"Dusty is one of those guys that goes unnoticed in a scouting report. Teams probably didn't have a gameplan against him last year. he is just a blue-collar worker. Nothing is ever run for him on offense. Everything he gets is through determination and hard work. We can't hide him anymore. Everyone knows what he can do. Everybody has a role on our team, and he played his better than anyone else last year."

(on the transition for the newcomers)
"It should be a smooter transition for them because of the number of kids we have coming back. It's not like there is any pressure for them to come in an start right away. They might, but at least we have some experience coming back. With five seniors, we bring in four new kids who can learn the system and are very talented. They will push the older guys for playing time."

(on the schedule)
"The schedule is tough. It's not an overbearing schedule. We are playing teams that are competitive and that we can compete against. We don't have a schedule where we can dog it and win the game. We have to play well every night."