Mark Gottfried's press conference went pretty much exactly how you'd expect a press conference in July to go. He took the opportunity to stay on message about the quality of his first team ("long way to go") and spoke a bit more about his scheduling philosophy (got to avoid those teams in the 250+ RPI range). He also said he thinks both Alex Johnson and MegaHorse De Thaey can contribute this season:

"Both guys, Thomas [De Thaey] and Alex Johnson, both can contribute this year. Thomas is a 20-year-old freshman. He's a physical guy who can really shoot it. We're excited about him. Thomas had a lot of options, we were excited to get him. He can be a contributor."

Which is good since if they can't, we're in worse shape than I thought.

Gottfried spoke a bit about Richard Howell, who he said is down to about 250 pounds from 271. So that's great news. A little more quickness should help him at the defensive end and on the glass. Someone (Giglio?) pressed him a bit after his "long way to go" comments, noting that the core of State's team (Brown, CJL, Howell) can be as good as anybody not named Duke or UNC. Gottfried didn't change his tune, said he hadn't really looked at the rest of the league and didn't know where to put his team, but I suspect he knows better than that.