While the first slate of college football games is set to begin next week, Alabama men’s basketball tips off their second season under Avery Johnson in approximately 10 weeks with an exhibition contest against Faulkner University.

Coach Avery Johnson stepped Inside the Locker Room to provide a progress report on the program since the end of the 2015-2016 season.

Johnson reflected on his inaugural season as head coach.

“This year is really our first year. Last year was basically survival and we were able to play significantly above our talent level and we won some games coming into the season we were just hoping and praying we could score some points to be competitive.” Johnson said.

Alabama’s head coach also outlined how the loss of Retin Obasohan could change the identity of the team.

“This year coming in we don’t have any superstars. We’re different from our football team. We have a bunch of guys that are quality players. We got a lot more depth and we hope that have strength in numbers. We had three of four guys that we could count on last year. We’re hoping that this year we have about nine or ten guys that we can count on.” Johnson said.

Johnson highlighted a handful of the new faces that will appear on Alabama’s 2016-2017 roster. He also clarified that Southern Illinois forward Bola Olaniyon is still not officially a part of the Crimson Tide roster.

Alabama’s second year coach also discussed the type of player he is looking to recruit.

“There are kids in our footprint that are really terrific kids that are multi-skilled players. We are not looking for necessarily one-dimensional players. If you look at a lot of the kids we are involved with, whether it’s wings or bigs, they’re multiple position players.” Johnson said.

Johnson emphasized the ability to attract recruits with quality character, good academic skills and that can provide versatility on the hardwood.

“We want kids that can come into our university and matriculate and survive academically with high character. We want high character kids. Kids that can do well academically but kids that are multi-positional, versatile kids on the court with mental and physical toughness because we think we’ll be hard to scout, and that’ll give us a lot more versatility on the floor.” Johnson said.

Coach Johnson updated his contributions and the overall status of the relief efforts in Louisiana.

Catch Inside the Locker Room every weekday from 7-9 AM on Tide 102.9 and the radioPup app.

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