Larry Jewell

3, 2, 1. We're talking to Dixie College head basketball coach Dave Rose. And coach, you've made the debut before. Real live people in the audience now. What's your reaction to your kids so far? Well, you know, I was really pleased with the way some of the guys played. You don't ever know what's going to happen. It's amazing. You work for long periods of time in practice and kids go hard and you kind of think you know what kids can do. And then you turn the lights on and put people in a gym and. And it just changes. You know, the guys want to slow down. They don't want to play as hard. I don't know if they're scared or if, you know, it's just a different deal from playing all summer long and going through practice sessions and then actually playing in a live game with officials and fans. And I for the most part was pleased. I wanted them to run up and down. I mean, fans probably thought it got a little bit wild at times and it did. But the main thing was I wanted to keep the speed up. I wanted him to get a good run in. And I thought a lot of kids did a really good job. This is kind of a building year for you. Not only do you have all new kids, but just trying to get them all used to the same program. Well, I really believe that it's going to take a little bit of time and hopefully the kids will experience some success and be able to build on that. That's really important, I think. And there's some good, talented players there. It's really important for them to. To play hard and play together and then get themselves in real competitive situations where they have to rely on each other. And then like I said, the very most important thing is to realize that success because they can build on that. I see you smiling a lot. This must be a fun group of kids to be around. Well, it really is. You know, there's a lot of things I think that are really new about this team that are exciting to me. The guys are. They really seem to be a much closer knit group. They're happy. It seems like they just enjoy a little bit more. Last year was a serious group and I really enjoyed that when we were playing because they got down and they took care of business, but they had their own personalities and it was a little bit different to deal with those guys. I think this team will be a little more fun to coach and the fun comes in the victories and so hopefully we can get some of those too. This is a coachable group then? Well, you know, last year's team was coachable too, but it was just a different style. You know, I really believe that there's some things that happened on last year's team that kind of caused us maybe at the end not to get better. And I just don't want that to happen again. And you know, as a fourth, fifth year coach, you know, you learn things from every team and hopefully I'm a little bit smarter and we can get these players to do some things and be ready to gel at the end and be peaking at the end instead of maybe leveling off this week. South Mountain and Scottsdale, what do you know about your competition as you begin the season? Well, there will be two very different style teams. South Mountain is a small, quick, run up and down, athletic type of team and Scottsdale is more of their bigger team and they pound the ball down a little bit more. Set a lot of picks. Art Becker, who was the basketball coach there for years, became the AD and now is back coaching and his son is their best player. Six, eight, kid who can really play. So it'll be a good road trip for our guys. We'll get out, get a chance to see two different styles, get a chance to play together a little bit and hopefully realize some success and get back here and open up the season. A lot of people are wondering, okay, you've had the debut in front of the fans. Who is the starting lineup? Who will comprise that starting lineup? Have you decided yet? Well, you know, you think you've decided and then every time you practice you change your mind. And I told the guys today not to get upset about the substitutions and, and you just get out there and play hard and eventually we'll get a rotation in there. I think that, you know, with Chancellor being hurt, the fans didn't get a chance to see him because of his knee injury and hopefully he'll play this weekend, but there's a good chance that maybe he won't. That'll change with our point guard situation with Kaweca, Nate Chappelle and Shane Mecham. And I think Chancellor, if he was healthy, would be our starting point guard. And Kevin Simpson. And you know, I think that you've got Jason Jackman and Mark Swaggart and Jason Stillson and Scotty Levitt and BJ in that group, we'll find five guys that can probably start this thing. This could be a deep team for you then. I hope so. I hope that it really has to be to be successful in the league because when you get out there on the road, there's so many different problems that you face. And you need a lot of players to come in and help you. And hopefully they'll be able to, you know, find a rotation and a pattern. We'll get eight, nine, 10 guys in that lineup. We've been talking about Dixie College head basketball coach Dave Rose on today's Rebel Report on ksgi. Thank you, coach. Appreciate it.