BATON ROUGE -- LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson met with the media Tuesday prior to the start of practice as the days continue to count down to the start of the 2009-10 season on Nov. 13 against Louisiana-Monroe.

The game is set for 7 p.m. in the Maravich Assembly Center and season tickets, mini-plans and single game tickets for the non-conference games are on sale at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at LSUsports.net.

Here are some of the comments from Coach Johnson regarding the LSU Tiger squad:

Head Coach Trent Johnson

Opening Statement ...
“Just from an injury standpoint we are going to hold Storm (Warren) out (Tuesday). We are also going to hold Aaron (Dotson) out. Both guys are having problems with their knees. Aaron, regardless of what he says, has probably been at about 70 percent since he has been here and he is probably starting to have a little tenderness in his back. We need to be careful and be smart so we are going to hold those two guys out so that will give them about two days off. Other than that we are making some progress. There were some good things and some bad things at this scrimmage (Sunday). The good thing is right now we are healthy with the exception of those two, and we are making some progress. Is it fast enough? I’m not so sure it is but it is going to take time. “

On if he has a comfort level with any of the new players after watching the scrimmage ...
“Well I have a comfort level because these are the guys I am going to coach. I also understand that in the big picture they are going to be a lot better individually and collectively down the line. Dennis (Harris) has been out here for two years. He works hard and he gives you the effort. Trust is something that has nothing to do with his character or him not working hard, trust has something to do with understanding that in the heat of battle that this is what we are running and this is what we are calling. All these guys want to play and it is not fair to anybody. It is not fair to them coming from me to pre-judge them based on one good game or one bad practice. It is going to take time. That being said, my comfort level is good from the standpoint that they are working really hard and they are trying the very best they can. But we have to understand that everything we do from a standpoint of passing and catching has got to be with two hands. You have to make good decisions. You have to understand your role and to stay confident as a team and as individuals. That is important with this group. There is a comfort in the sense that I know this is what we have and we are going to be much better down the line if we stay the course and work on things.”

On if it is more important to teach the mental or physical part of the game ...
“No question that it is the mental. Physically, because of the situation we have in terms of injuries and not being able to go five-on-five and not being deep, I have to make sure there are constant reps and a constant mental approach that they understand when they play in a week or two weeks from now they are going to be playing five-on-five and be physical. In a perfect world we all know in athletics that the deeper your team is the more competition you have in practice. The more physical you can be when you go up against each other the better off you are going to be when you get in the game. We are not in that situation so we are going to have to trust that the veterans and the younger guys are going to continue to grow and continue to understand. Then when we get to where we can judge ourselves against competition we can go from there.”

On the mental development of the team ...
“It’s fine. When you say mental development they are doing everything we ask. There are breakdowns when certain guys are trying to do too much at certain times. There are certain guys lacking confidence at times. Certain guys are dropping balls at times. They also understand that the guy they play for and our program is always in search of perfection. Mentally they are where they need to be but they also understand that they haven’t been up against anybody.”

On if the team is where it needs to be for the beginning of the season ...
“No. In ten days from now we are going to have to line up regardless of what the situation is. Any coach in America that said that they would be ready now they would be lying to you. I’d love to have more experience and more games and a healthier team than I have right now. Ten days is a long time so it is my responsibility that whoever is out there is ready to go and we are working towards that.”

On what he noticed at the scrimmage ...
“We are going to really have to take care of the ball. We are going to have to rebound and really make sure we manage the clock and get the shots that we want to get and make sure we get the ball in the right people’s hands at the right times. We are probably going to have to mix some defenses here and there so really from my standpoint that there is nothing that surprised me. The good thing for us is that we are probably as healthy as we have been. If we had a game tomorrow both Storm (Warren) and Aaron (Dotson) could both play.”

On if he has a sense on the starting five...
“It is still a little early. I am still looking at combinations and obviously the two veterans have to be on the floor. It is too early for a lot reasons, it is not coaches speak it is just from an injuries standpoint. Storm Warren is nothing like he has been when he is favoring his knee. There is a lot that is going to happen in ten days and we are going to get another good luck on Sunday against a very explosive Houston team and then we are going to go three of four days in a row pretty hard to gear it up a little bit.”