Houston Cougars coach James Dickey: "...a lot more competition..."

POSTED: May 25, 2011 -- 8:51 p.m. CDT

Today, a luncheon was held as part of "University of Houston Day with Kevin Sumlin" presented by Frenchy's Chicken. The event was sponsored by the Touchdown Club of Houston.

Coach Sumlin, the UH football coach, invited his UH basketball coaching colleagues to participate as well. As a result, James Dickey (men's coach) and Todd Buchanan (women's coach) spoke to the audience.

Coach Dickey spoke with the media before the event started.

Here are Coach Dickey's comments from the questions I asked him.

What style of play will the team play in 2011-2012?

"I think a lot of people thought that we played a little slow last year. That was not our intent at all. We're going to get up and down the floor this year. We want to put pressure. We want to attack. We're still going to take good shots; but, we want to getup and down the floor. But, we're going to have guys, I think, that can shoot the ball very well and have skills to create. So, when you do that, you want to give them more freedom."

How many scholarships will you have for the 2012-2013 class?

"We're probably going to have two. But, recruiting is something that, we believe, you have to do it everyday; so, it's ongoing process. Over the last year, we'll have added 12 guys. That's been a lot of recruiting for our coaches; so, just to have to go down to two, I think my assistants might like me a little bit more. (laughs)"

Coach Dickey also answered a few questions from the other media members

You've got year under your belt. Talk about how things are going.

"We were obviously disappointed with the way our team performed last year especially down the stretch; but, I couldn't be more excited about the future with a lot of things. One, the administration is committed to get this program to a high level. The most important thing is I really like our recruits. We're so pleased with our recruiting class. Our coaching staff has worked extremely hard in getting us some talented players."

"We had a very good spring; and, we're excited about the guys coming in."

"I think one thing that we're going to have that will be different than last year is there's going to be a lot more competition which makes for better practices. It helps everyday in practice. Last year, we had some guys that knew they were going to play just because we didn't have the numbers. We have a lot more numbers this year. Practice is always important. I think competition really helps the quality of the team."

Have you spoken with Joseph Young about not putting too much pressure on himself?

"We've talked with Joseph -- with the great success that his dad, Michael, had here with the teams that he played on -- to be his own person and creating his own identity. I've really liked that he hasn't put a big burden on himself. Just play within himself. Play like he's capable. Obviously, there different types of players. Mike still thinks he can shoot better than Joseph. Joseph thinks he can shoot better than Michael; so, it will be interesting.

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