All Access: Almost Gametime at Cameron Indoor Stadium

AllKYHoops.com is going to give you an All-Access pass into the locker room of a good mid-major team as it prepares for a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium against the powerful Duke Blue Devils. I will be talking to Radford University freshman guard Evan Faulkner, a Kentucky kid that played high school basketball for the Elliott County Lions. Radford will battle Duke today at 3:00 p.m.

- Evan Faulkner has started the first two games for the Highlanders (2-0). He is averaging 32.5 minutes per game and is tied for the team lead with 7 assists. He is averaging 4.0 points per game.

- The Radford Highlanders are an NCAA Division I basketball program that competes in the Big South Conference (Kentucky fans may recall that Gardner-Webb competes in the Big South Conference). The Highlanders are coming off a winning season and are expected to compete for the Big South championship in 2009-10. The university sits just off of I-81 in southwestern Virginia (near Blacksburg).

Almost Gametime:

The Highlanders had a shootaround at Cameron Indoor Arena from 9:30-10:30 this morning. I talked to Evan afterwards and asked him his initial thoughts on the legendary facility:

"Honestly, it's quite a bit bigger than I expected. It was just obvious as soon I walked onto the court that it is a lot better than I thought. The bottom level is right on the floor. You can't tell from watching on television how close it actually is. We know they're going to be right in our face the full forty minutes."

I asked him how he shot in practice this morning:

"I was a little surprised how loose the rims are. They give up a lot of rolls. If you can get it up on the rim, it has a good chance of going in."

Any last second-preparations this morning?

"We basically got our shots up and just went over some of their stuff."

Any thoughts on Duke?

"As a team, we know they're ultra aggressive defensively. We going to try to stick to our gameplan and if we do, we feel that we have a chance to compete. We're a great team."

I asked Evan if they had any interaction with the Duke players or coaches this morning:

"We did not have any interaction. We showed up at the arena already dressed and ready to go and we went straight to the floor for the shootaround."

What's the schedule before the game?

"We're back at the motel right now. We will get taped and leave for the game at around 1:15."

I'll be talking to Evan after the game to get an inside look at the experience of playing the Duke Blue Devils in Durham.