What initially made you want to play at Fairfield?
Rose: When I came for my visit, being around Coach Johnson and the whole coaching staff. I just felt like I could learn a lot from him on and off the court. He’s a great man. He’s taught me a lot already.
Chappell: The coaching staff. Coach Johnson is a great guy and thankfully, it’s a good school.
What first got you interested in basketball?
Rose: My father played basketball, so I started playing when I was like three years old.
Chappell: My dad. He played basketball all his life, so I guess I got the basketball genes.
Are your teammates serious or are there a lot of jokesters?
Rose: There’s a lot of jokesters, we like to have fun. We’re a lot like dancers and everybody loves to joke on each other. We’re a family and we love each other.
Chappell: We’re serious when it counts and we do joke around at times.
What are you looking forward to for the rest of this season?
Rose: Winning the conference tournament, going to the National Collegiate Athletic Association [Tournament], and shocking the world.
Chappell: Getting to the tournament.
Do you have a favorite basketball team/player?
Rose: I would say Tyreke Evans is my favorite NBA player, and team would be the Pelicans.
Chappell: Favorite team would be the Wizards. Favorite player is Kobe Bryant. He plays hard, he knows what he’s doing, he’s a vet, he’s a leader and hard worker.
What are your thoughts on the exhibition game?
Rose: I think we played very well. A big problem we had last year was that we’d never make a comeback, so we worked on that and got really good at it. We played to our strengths and were able to close the game.
Chappell: We played well. We actually created on offense. We have to get better on the defensive end, but that will come. We have a lot of new guys and they played well.
What are your goals for this season?
Rose: Our realistic goal is that we want to beat everybody, we want to shock everybody. We want to go to the NCAA [Tournament] and get payback for last year.
Chappell: Win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship.
How do you feel your game has improved from last year?
Rose: I think Johnson hit my head basically on working on my free throws, my handle, learning the offense more, keeping everybody on track, and stuff like that.
Chappell: My ball handling has gotten better. I’m starting to get the principles of the team, it’s a working process.
What has been your best basketball moment so far?
Rose: Right now is the best basketball moment. Starting now, we’re playing as a family. Last year was rough, but we’re making a comeback.
Chappell: Committing, just committing.
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