COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Men's Basketball head coach Kim Anderson met with local reporters on Tuesday (June 14) to go into detail on how the first week of summer workouts progressed for his 2016-17 squad.
The Tigers welcome five newcomers to the strong returning unit of sophomores Terrence Phillips, Kevin Puryear, Cullen VanLeer and K.J. Walton, and senior Russell Woods. Additionally, Mizzou gains junior Jordan Barnett, who transferred to the University of Missouri midway through the 2015-16 season and will be eligible for competition at the completion of the first semester.
Read below for quotes from Anderson:
On schedule for the summer...
"Our guys are all back. Really excited to have them. We have had a week and a day of workouts. Our general time schedule has been lifting weights Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and doing cardio on Wednesday, then we do some type of "team challenge" on Friday that involves Coach Michael. Then we have been practicing three days a week, and we go Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday for forty minutes. We are limited to two hours a week with our team."
On attitude and conditioning...
"I have been very impressed with the work ethic from our guys. I've been very thankful for the leadership that some of our older guys have developed and demonstrated. Really like the competition I've seen in practice so far. The older guys, the guys who were all here a year ago, have all come back in good shape. If they haven't, they will be in good shape shortly, I can promise that. The sophomore class I think have come back and are in good condition."
On newcomers adapting to team atmosphere...
"The new guys have come in with a great deal of enthusiasm, again, I think they are a group of guys who are similar to last year's guys. They work together well as a team. The most impressive thing about the whole group is the time they have spent playing and working out on their own. I hope that continues."
On Reed Nikko's surgery and recovery process...
"Reed Nikko graduated from high school last Saturday and was here on Sunday, but he has come along nicely. He had a Femoroacetabular impingement, basically he had surgery on both hips to increase his flexibility. Timetable, he had the last surgery in April, he is considerably ahead of schedule, but I would not anticipate him playing until we return from Italy. He's starting to do things, but the doctors feel like a solid three months after the surgery is required, which would take you until the end of July. It's doubtful he will play, but he will be with us and probably practicing more and more as the summer goes on. Right now, he's limited to just shooting jump shots and he's been working in the weight room."
On the recruiting front...
"As for recruiting, we have two scholarships available and we are still actively recruiting. I think our biggest need is to find a big guy if we can, normally this time of the year there aren't many big guys left, but there are a couple out there we have been recruiting. We'll continue to recruit them. If the right situation presents itself, whether it be a guard or another big guy, we might use both of them."
On Mizzou's strength and conditioning program...
"We brought Nick Michael in as our strength and conditioning coach, former strength coach at Rice and he worked at VCU as a graduate assistant under Shaka Smart. He's done a great job in the weight room with our guys. We felt like we needed to be tougher and we need to be a little more intense and I think he has certainly brought that to the table. He's an ex-player. He has played the game and been very successful in this field. He's a young guy. I got a chance to talk to Coach Smart and some other coaches about him and I feel really good about it. I think he has brought some different things to our program and we are really excited about what he's been doing."
On the Tigers' upcoming foreign tour to Italy...
"Italy, we are very excited about going to Europe. We are going there August 5 and will get back August 15. Right now, I anticipate playing four games. We're excited about the educational opportunities for our guys, and the chance to be together as a team. From a personal standpoint, several years ago I played in Italy, so Melissa and I are both excited about going back and seeing where I played. I'm sure there will be a lot of changes. It will be a great experience for our guys. We get 10 practices before. We will start using those in mid-July, starting with one or two a week, then building up to four the last week before we leave. Our guys will be taking a class while they are there, so they will be doing some writing. We will have an instructor with us and he will be monitoring their class. I think it's a neat deal, they will get some college credit while over there."