Salisbury, MD - The Salisbury men's basketball team is set to open its season at the Frostburg Tournament in Frostburg, MD this weekend. SU will sport a relatively young team in 2003-04 that hopes to improve on the 6-20 record from a year ago.

"We are very excited to get started. We have a lot of new faces and good young players," said fourth year Head Coach Steve Holmes, who has a 119-117 overall record in nine years of coaching experience. "We have a good mix of veterans and newcomers. I have seen a lot of good things in our scrimmages. There has been a lot of energy and we have really progressed throughout the pre-season."

Salisbury will look to sophomore point guard and team captain Justin Rice to provide leadership and poise throughout the season. As a freshman, Rice started 25 of 26 contests, tallying 9.0 ppg and adding a team-high 3.4 apg.  Junior Dameon Gibbs, a 6'6 forward who averaged 5.2 ppg and a team-high 6.1 rpg, will be the team's primary frontcourt anchor  this season.

Sophomore guard Neil Tucker, a transfer from Waynesburg, and freshmen guard Segun Odumeru and forward Sean Whitaker should also play major roles in a 10-man rotation that Holmes hopes to utilize to create match-up problems for opponents. 

Four other returnees should serve as consistent contributors throughout the season. That group includes senior guard and leading returning scorer Ryan Freeman (9.4 ppg), senior forward Jeff Rothley, junior guard and co-captain Matt Hunter, and sophomore forward Kyle Harmon.

Holmes tabs athleticism, quickness and shooting ability as his squad's primary assets. 

"We will look to get more guys involved," said Holmes. "We want to use our depth to wear teams down. We will look to keep our energy level and composure up. Last season, we dealt with some adversity early in games and were able to come back, but were unable to finish them off. Hopefully, this season we can do the same and see the efforts translate into some wins."

The Capital Athletic Conference schedule will again pose a big challenge for the Sea Gulls throughout the regular season.

"The CAC, from the top to bottom, is as tough as ever," said Holmes. "Mary Washington is the defending champion and Catholic, as always, is solid. Goucher has a majority of its team back and Gallaudet is steadily improving. Each conference game will be big for us.

"In the short-term, we are just trying to get better everyday. We have to forget about last year. We have a different team and will grow from here," said Holmes. "We want to be the best basketball team that we can be at the end of the season. If we can achieve that, we will be able to achieve our ultimate goals of winning the CAC and getting an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament."