April 13, 2006

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Head Men's Basketball Coach Larry Eustachy met with members of the media Thursday afternoon to discuss the spring signings of Demar Dotson (Southeastern Illinois College), David Howard (Wayne County HS, Miss.), Saiquon Stone (Laurinburg Prep, N.C.) and Maros Zuffa (Our Lady of Mt. Carmel HS, Md.) for the 2006-2007 season.

Opening Statements:

"We've signed seven guys, though I anticipate signing one more, and I'm excited about this class. This is a long term project, but i'm excited about what we have coming in here for the upcoming season. I'm probably as excited, if not more, than I've ever been as a head coach about this class. We worked hard for this class, and Steve Barnes was terrific with obtaining these players. We have a good base already here to build on, with our main goal for next year being to have a winning season with some very young players."

On how he grades his class:

"This class is definitely an `A'. It's a strong, deep class, and it's what we need here. You usually can't grade a class until four years later, but I can put a check next to most of these guys names that will be here ready to play now. This class has a tremendous talent level, and it's a monster class in my opinion."

On his recruiting strategy:

"You start by putting a pin in Hattiesburg, and drawing a 300-mile radius. We started in Mississippi and got a guy in Andre Stephens, who I've recruited since I got here. However, once you deplete those 300 miles, then you have to be creative in who you get. With that said, getting players from the state of Mississippi is critical to us."

On Demar Dotson:

"Demar has stayed loyal to us since we started recruiting him out of high school. He's closer to 6'9 then 6'8, and closer to 260 pounds then 250 pounds, and has high character. He could have landed at one of the three or four upper echelon conferences in the country, and instead chose to stay loyal to us."

On Saiqon Stone:

"I'm excited about Saiqon. We talked to Rick Pitino (Louisville) about him, and he told us that he thinks that he's the best guy for his position in the country right now."