BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS

October 19, 2005

Clent Stewart

Schyler Thomas

Jim Wooldridge

COACH JIM WOOLDRIDGE: It's good to be here, good to get started. Here we go.

COACH JIM WOOLDRIDGE: Now, what can I see that you can't?

COACH JIM WOOLDRIDGE: Well, I am with them every day. I have pointed out several things through the fall and perhaps the summer as we visit about this team that I like. We're more athletic. We have talked about that. You are going to see that, though. They are a receptive group. I think we have built some early season chemistry that's conducive to success. I just personally like this team. This team has a different feel to it than perhaps any team I have had at Kansas State, and so I guess if you jumble all that together we think we can be a better team. Obviously we have games and practices ahead of us an challenge that we don't know about that we'll have to reckon with. That will determine what we're. But right now I think we have got a group of guys that can win ball games.

COACH JIM WOOLDRIDGE: Well, I mentioned the chemistry. I think we have more camaraderie. I think we have more receptiveness. These guys even mentioned on the way down that. I think in a lot of ways maybe we were reliant on Jeremiah to make a play and bail you out and whatnot. I think these guys these guys see more balance and more ability outside of one spot on the floor that they can make plays.

COACH JIM WOOLDRIDGE: We're going to use our best players and whether that be we have got two freshmen, Clent is a sophomore. We do have quite a few -- David Hoskins is a sophomore. We have a heavy junior class. We're going to play our best guys, whoever those guys are, whether they be young or that, you know, kids in that junior class or seniors as Schyler is, we'll go with whoever.

CLENT STEWART: Last year I think we were more reliant on one person which is Jeremiah. This year in the practices you see really everybody, the talent level is a lot more talent on the team and everybody can go and make a play. It's more we're playing off of each other instead of playing off of one person which is really fun. We're looking forward to it?

SCHYLER THOMAS: I think it's kind of both me and Clent have stepped up a lot. Just trying to be leaders on the team and but it's pretty much a team effort like we have done a lot of things like Coach said for camaraderie and everybody is getting into it instead of just one person being the person we look to for leadership. It's kind of everybody. But me and Clent both being point guards, we kind of taken over that role.

CLENT STEWART: Like Scott said, like Schy said, myself and him really have kind of taken over that role, but this is a whole team effort and when one guy goes and makes a play in practice everybody is clapping him and telling him good job and stuff. So it is not just one guy that has to vocally lead the team. It's everybody that's stepping up and saying something and making sure everybody is on the same Page.

CLENT STEWART: We got several new guys in all of them bring something different to the table. David Hoskins, strong he can play inside and outside. Mario Taybron is a very good dribbler, he can shoot the ball and score. Akeem Wright, he's a great passer. Really -- great passer. Two freshmen Delivez and Darren, both of them are -- Darren is a four man, he can step out and shoot the ball a lot, and Delivez is awesome offensive rebounder. All of them bring a little something different. We're going to need all that come season time, something different to the table. All of them are looking really well.

SCHYLER THOMAS: I think all the new guys we added are all athletic and it's like the new shape of our team is athletic. We'll be able to do a lot more things than we have done in the past.

COACH JIM WOOLDRIDGE: Well, it's critical that they do exactly what you just described there. I think for any team you know, to play well and have a successful season, the returning players have got to show improvement. They have got to show progress. We saw it year ago with Lance Harris who really came on and played extremely well from one year to the next and Cartier, I think got better and better even through having to deal with some injuries that happened during the year, but I think he was a better player. We think the same thing is going to happen this year. Clent and Lance and Cartier played the most minutes on this returning on this team this year. We suspect and would expect that all three of them take a big step forward and improve their play and help blend what they have already gone through with new players that are going to go through it for the first time.

CLENT STEWART: Different feel is more athleticism. Everybody on the team can run, quickness is there, athleticism, everybody can guard and we're getting up and guarding a lot harder in practice this year. You can see it is a lot more competitive I'm on the perimeter. Everybody wants to play and everybody is going to get to go out there during practice and it's a lot more fun also having the opportunity to get out and push the ball a lot more and kick it up to the wink guys who can dribble who can handle and who can rebound and score. We're really looking forward to it.

SCHYLER THOMAS: We lost Jeremiah last year and we lost a couple of other guys, it's a different feel is we got some new guys in here and we got a new offense and just a new style overall. So I think a lot of the old guys are responding to it. The new guys are coming in and they're picking it up right away also. I think everybody is just excited for the season to see what we can do and we think that we can shake things up this year. I think that attributes to the new feel that we have here.