Jeff Capel talked about the start of the season, facilities upgrades and more on Monday. Here's the full rundown of what he said.

How confident and comfortable are you with where this group is nine days out?
Capel: Well I feel good about where we are right now. Obviously we have a long way to go. Our guys have had great attitudes and worked really hard. We’ve been, knock on wood, relatively healthy which is a big thing. We’re anxious to play someone else, so we’ll have a chance to do that on Wednesday against Slippery Rock, and then really start to turn our attention to getting prepared for Florida State.

How is Justin Champagnie doing?
Capel: He’s doing good, he’s doing well. It’s a mental hurdle right now and then getting back in shape. He had about three weeks where he really didn’t do anything where we were waiting to find out the prognosis of his injury. So three weeks of not doing anything, you’re set back especially as a freshman. He’s getting there, we need him, and he’s starting to get back in shape. We’re doing a lot of extra stuff with him and we need him out there?

Is he going to be able to play against Florida State?
Capel: He should be. I don’t see any reason - he’s doing everything and practicing full-speed now and he’s been doing that for probably a couple of weeks now.

Are you guys going to hold him back on Wednesday?
Capel: No. He’ll play

What was the final prognosis of that injury?
Capel: I think the final was like a knee-sprain, but initially we thought it was a torn ACL. When it happened, the day that it happened, I actually happened to be there and I thought for sure that’s what it was. I don’t remember the exact date, but it was the date of the Coaches vs. Cancer event over at Heinz Field. I thought for sure that’s what it was. After getting some information from some doctors that night we thought ‘OK maybe there’s a chance that it’s not, maybe it’s a partial’ and then that’s what they wanted to do protocol like they normally do for a torn ACL. You wait three weeks, you wait for the swelling to go down, and then you reexamine it. But you do something they said - it’s called kind of ‘pre-hab’ before the surgery and we did all of that and then it wasn’t. We found out that it wasn’t and he was able to go, so again when I say mentally for him you think your season is over with and then three and a half weeks later you’re told, ‘OK you’re good, go back out there and play and go full speed.’ And so it’s just a mental hurdle that he’s having to get over right now.

Now that he is healthy and available, what do you think he adds to this team?
Capel: He played really well over in Italy. He gives us a different type of athlete. He gives us a bigger guy that’s a little bit more versatile. He can make a shot which is something that’s important. He’s competitive. He can do some different things defensively because of his length and his athleticism and his size and of course rebounding. Rebounding is a major area for us and it's somebody that can assist us there.

What did you learn about your team from seeing them out there against Maryland?
Capel: First and foremost, they’re really good. I mean really, really good. But we wanted that. We wanted to schedule and to do a scrimmage that way because our first opponent is really good. It’s Florida State, as you guys know that cover us and cover this league, it’s a different type of athlete when you play them. They’re long, they’re big and so we wanted to play someone in the scrimmage that we thought was similar as far as the length and athleticism. I certainly hope Florida State is not as good as Maryland, but we did some good things. But one or the major areas is rebounding that’s what we have to and I thought we were a little bit nervous early in the game against Maryland. But I thought once we settled-in, I thought we did some really good stuff. I thought we scored the ball better than maybe I thought we would be able to. But we have to defend better and mainly we have to defensive rebound better.

From a rebounding standpoint, how similar will it be to last season when we talked about ‘gang-rebounding or do you like with maybe a guy like Eric (Hamilton) in here now that you have more of a proven guy?
Capel: I still don’t think we have that, I’d love to be proven wrong, but as of right now it’s going to be gang-rebounding. At times we can be a little bit bigger this year than we were last year, but at times it will look similar, we’ll go with four guards and a bigger guy, I’m not saying a big guy, but a bigger guy and so it’s going to be really important for us. Our guards have to get down there, we have to blockout and we have to do the dirty work, but Eric, Terrell (Brown), Karim (Coulibaly) and hopefully we’ll be able to get Kene (Chukwuka) back at some point this year, but anyone that’s out there is doing to have to rebound for us.

On that front, does it help having guys like Gerald (Drumgoole) and Justin come in that are guard-wing players, but they are bigger guys that have physical tools?
Capel: Well they have to, absolutely. Those guys have done a good job for us, and Gerald actually led us in rebounding against Maryland. I don’t know if that’s a good thing (laughs), but it’s good for him. We need to have multiple guys kind of where he was, so certainly having Gerald and Justin, those guys being able with ‘Diese being a year older, but Trey and Xavier down there and they have to do that stuff. Then our bigger guys - that’s where we need them to be a presence. We don’t need necessarily need them to be a presence scoring, we need them to be a presence with protecting our basket and rebounding the basketball. If they do that, they’ll score just off of the penetration and things from the perimeter guys, but we really need them to do that at a high level.

Do you change anything with your preparation starting the season with a conference opponent?
Capel: We do change. Normally the first game is not against an opponent usually with that type of size and athleticism, sometimes talent. And so it will certainly change and our preparation for it will change, some of the things will do, especially because it’s a conference game. So some of the things you have in at this time, it's also part of the reason we scheduled the Italy trip - all of it was in preparation to have a little bit more advanced with two conference games before Christmas.

How are you going to mix and match the lineup and use that depth this year?
Capel: We’ll see, guys have to earn it. We certainly have more quality depth this year. We have four guys back - five if Kene is able to get back that played significant minutes so they know us and they know me and they know my staff and they know what to expect, and so in pieces we have it where some of those guys can teach the younger guys where last year nobody could do that. So that certainly helps, and again we’ll see what different lineups we can put out there. We can be a lot bigger than we were at different times last year and that’s maybe something that we do, and maybe that’s something we do a lot. We’re still in the midge of trying to figure that out right now.

Over the last 7-8 months, how has Xavier Johnson evolved as a leader?
Capel: Well one of the things is that he talks more. Last year Xavier did not talk, so he’s a lot more vocal now then he was last year. I think he knows us and he knows what we as a coaching staff want and so he’s able to articulate that sometimes at practice with his teammates. He’s a lot more vocal in huddles, which is really, really good. That’s growth and something that you want from those guys. Trey, the same way. Both of those guys really matured in that way.

Is that something particularly important to have in a point guard?
Capel: Yea, it’s vital. If you look at all the really good point guards that’s the one thing they have in common. They can be very different in terms of size and athleticism and style of play, normally the really good ones they talk. It’s not just talk you command and so that’s the next part of his growth is to do that. Now in order to do that, you have to be on all the time, you can’t do it if you’re not doing it. So you can’t talk and say these things. It’s a different type of responsibility, but it’s one a really good player should want. If you want to be a really good player, you should understand responsibility that comes with it.

Xavier said he went to a couple leadership conferences, is that part of a player’s development as well?
Capel: We’re always trying to do that with all of our guys. He was afforded some opportunities because he’s good. He got invited to some things and he took advantage of it, not only did he take advantage of going, but being present while he was there and really trying to learn and take something from these opportunies, that’s what you want all these kids to do is try to learn from every situation and I think he’s done that. I think he’s a guy that still with us as a coaching staff, he doesn’t talk much with us and so at times he can be hard to read, but you know he’s always watching and paying attention. He’s absorbing he’s just not articulating it with us. I’ll hear him in the huddle and he's saying some of the things we're talking about so that’s how I know he’s getting it and he understands it.

What, if anything, becomes easier for you and your staff in year two?
Capel: I don’t know if anything is easier. I think maybe there’s a comfort level that’s different from this time last year because it’s not as new. We have a better feel of our team, because we actually coached some of these guys. The new guys are guys that we have a relationship with and we had a relationship with during the recruiting process, and some for a year. So I think it’s a little bit more comfortable, but certainly not easy. I don’t think any of these jobs are easy. I don’t care if you have a whole team coming back from a final four team, none of it is easy. I like the direction that we’re heading in and I like this group that we have right now. I’ve loved their spirit, I loved how they worked and attacked to get better each and everyday and hopefully we can continue to do that. We know there’s going to be some adverse times. I understand that and I think we understand that, but we have to stick together and keep and understand we’re continuing to take the necessary steps and we just have to make sure those steps are forward.

Does the comfort level allow you to take the instruction up a notch?
Capel: Well I think we always do that, I don’t need comfort level to be able to do that. So we’re always trying to correct and it’s constructive criticism. I’m a believer, if you really care about someone, then you tell them the truth all the time. One of things we talk to these guys about and recruits about, our sports different because we don’t have the lulls. In football there’s 40 seconds between each play and you can go back in the huddle and talk briefly and in baseball I don’t know how much time you can talk between the pitch, but ours you are constantly moving. You have to be able to absorb the truth in real time and so if I’m telling someone, ‘hey you’re really good that guy can’t guard you and you’re playing great’, they love to hear that. But if you’re like, ‘hey man you stink right now, like you got to get your head out of your butt’ that’s the truth in that moment, it’s not personal - it’s never personal. It’s us as a coaching staff trying to get you out of it, but you have to trust I’m telling you the truth in that moment, you are playing like crap right now and you need to know that. I’ve never had an issue with that, when I played I never had an issue and I picked the place that I went because I grew up with a father like that and so I don’t need comfort to be comfortable to do that.

Have you tried for any kind of a waiver for Ithiel Horton?
Capel: No.

Was there any temptation to?
Capel: No, there wasn’t.

What have been some of the reactions maybe by the team and on the recruiting trail to the changes to the Petersen Events Center?
Capel: What they’ve done in this building especially in the main area has been tremendous. Obviously the color change and the court flip. I know the color change was already in the plans, I think the court flip maybe had been talked about. But when you look at the new video board, you look at the new video boards in the end zone. Obviously the color pops now. I think it's been unbelievable and what we've been able to do with our locker room and the lounge area and we still have some things that we’re working on and hopefully we can get done really soon, but I think will enhance it even more.