UTC men's basketball coach Will Wade told the Chattanooga Civitan Club on Friday afternoon, "I always tell my guys you've got to have the pain of discipline because you don't want the pain of regret."
He said he encouraged his players to "be accountable to yourself to do what you need to do," whether that means staying after practice to shoot more free throws or extra work in the classroom.
That extra classwork has paid off so far.
With an averaged GPA of 2.93, the team now has its all-time highest grades.
Coach Wade, a former coach at VCU, also said, "I want guys who think about the team first, who put the team in front of themselves."
He described his program as "player-centric," saying, "I don't make any plays, I just set the roadmap."
While practice does not officially start until October, he said the team is currently doing small group workouts once a week.
Coach Wade told the club that when the season starts, the biggest thing the community can do to help is come to the games.
He said, "That's the number one thing we want. I want this to be source of pride for the community."
He pointed out, "Our home schedule is really good this year. We have 17 home games." These home games include big-name teams such as Georgia and UAB.
As for the away games, he said, "We're not ducking competition. We're playing Wisconsin, who went to the final four last year."
With just a few exceptions, he said he has worked to schedule road games that are within driving distance for fans.
Coach Wade was also excited about the team's "fast tempo" playing style for this season. He said, "This year we're going to play a bit more like I want to play...We're going to try to score within the first 12 seconds of the shot clock."
His goal, he said, is "to be top 5 in the country in turnover goals and steals."