8/11/2020 | Men's Basketball

TOLEDO, Ohio - Toledo Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk and the Rockets' men's basketball program finished three weeks of workouts last week. We sat down with Coach Kowalczyk to see what he learned about his team as he looks forward to the 2020-21 season.

Q: Can you talk about what you have learned about your team during this summer's workouts for the upcoming 2020-21 season?

COACH KOWALCZYK: I think having nine workouts this summer gave us a really good gauge of what our strengths and weaknesses are. We were able to see what we have in the program and what our recruiting needs are for the future. I think it was very clear to us that we are going to have a good team. We addressed our needs from last year, and now we're longer, more athletic, more skilled and certainly deeper. I think quite a few of our new guys have a chance to really affect our program and make an impact right away.

Q: What was it like to be able to come together after being apart for such a long time due to the pandemic?

COACH KOWALCZYK: That was a big thing for us. When the NCAA came out with the July 20 date to bring players back on campus for workouts, my first reaction was don't bring them back. We had a Zoom call with our team and they disagreed with me. They wanted to be back on campus. They were bored at home and needed to be around their teammates.

Q: How does it feel to have two veteran guards like Marreon Jackson and Spencer Littleson leading what is expected to be a very deep backcourt?

COACH KOWALCZYK: It gives us a good comfort level having Marreon and Spencer back to lead us. Our biggest weakness last year was our backcourt depth and those two were the only guards we could depend on every game. I'd like to think this year's team will have a lot more options with the return of Keshaun Saunders and the addition of freshmen Jamere Hill and Ryan Rollins. Jamere and Ryan are both really talented players and are well prepared to play on the defensive end.

Q: Can you update us on the status of sophomore AJ Edu and redshirt freshman Mattia Acunzo after they both sat out last season due to injury?

COACH KOWALCZYK: AJ and Mattia are both healthy and ready to go. AJ really expanded his game over the last year. (Associate head coach) Jeff Massey did a great job of working with him on his skill level and (strength & conditioning coach) Brandon Hannum did a remarkable job on his body. He's so much bigger and stronger in his upper body, in particular. Our fans will see a noticeable difference in AJ. I hadn't seen Mattia play in quite a while prior to this summer's workouts, and I told him I kind of forgot how good he really is. He's a good basketball player and understands the game. He's one of the better passers I've been around.

Q: How have junior college transfers Charles Jones, Jonathan Komagum and Seth Millner transitioned into the program?

COACH KOWALCZYK: I think each is doing well and eager to contribute. Jonathan gives us more depth in the frontcourt along with sophomore Luke Maranka. He has a 7-2 wingspan and can impact a game defensively. He still has some room for improvement on the offensive end but understands his role and knows how to play defense and rebound. Seth is an unbelievably competitive worker and can play multiple positions. He knows how to play the game and will provide us with a lot of toughness. Charles is long and athletic and can shoot it and is learning how we want to play defense from a team standpoint.

Q: How has recruiting been affected by the pandemic?

COACH KOWALCZYK: Having nine summer workouts really helped us. We wanted to see what our needs really are and now it is clear what we need. I'm impressed with the recruiting board we have. We are involved with some really good players. Now we just need to have them commit to us. We were able to watch their AAU games this summer, which helped some, but we knew who we were interested in after seeing them play in high school and AAU over the last year.