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The Big Ten's annual media day was held this year on October 15th and all the Big Ten coaches and selected players were able to give their thoughts on the upcoming season and their respective teams. It's a very exciting event and signals the official start to the college basketball season.
BTPowerhouse will be posting the various transcripts of each coach's statements to the press. Including below is the transcript from Rutgers' Eddie Jordan.
Eddie Jordan On Big Ten Media Day
COACH JORDAN: Good morning. We're looking forward to a second year in the Big Ten -- looking forward to being more successful in the second year in the Big Ten. Lost three of our top players last year, being [Kadeem] Jack and Myles Mack and two top scorers and one of our best defenders. So it's a new team. We have 7 newcomers. I like our talent base, we look good, deeper, athletic. And we have 8 or 9 guys to start. But the talent level has gotten better. Young, and so we'll go from there.
For the most part, we're looking forward to competing in the Big Ten. However, our Non-Conference schedule is pretty good. Last year we were as high as 15th, toughest schedules in the country. And we remain to be that way Non-Conference. So before we can get to the conference, we'll have (indiscernible) early.
Q. Coach, what do you see from freshman Corey Sanders so far?
COACH JORDAN: Young, athletic, enthusiastic, knows how to play. You know, he's one of the top guys already who can start for us. But for the most part, he's an energetic young man. He's fun to be around. I know he's got a huge following on YouTube's, but he's a terrific young man and he goes to class. Hasn't been a blip about him missing a tutor, being late for study hall, so he does everything right.
Q. Coach, you mentioned the guys that you're going to have to replace this year. How tough is it going to be to lose that and get back to the level they were playing?
COACH JORDAN: As a coach, you look forward to the team you have in front of you, and you don't necessarily look back. I'm excited about coaching this team. I see a lot of good things for us as far as the way we're going to play. For most of my career, I've done a Princeton-like type offense. This year, we changed it up. I'm excited about that. We're more perimeter oriented. And so we have a lot of good athleticism. We have good talent. And it's something I'm looking forward to. So I'm not looking back. I'm hoping we can have, you know, six, seven guys who averages probably 9, 10 points a game. Last year, Jack and Mack were our top scorers, and we just couldn't score last year. I thought defensively we were solid for most of the year. We were one of the top 100 teams, maybe even better, defensively in the country. So I just think that we just need to score more, and we've opened the offense up a little bit more, and I'm excited about how we're playing so far in practice.
Q. Coach, we're just talking to Bo Ryan about the rule changes this year, shot clock and things like that. I just wonder how you think that might impact, talk about how you think that might impact the team's playing.
COACH JORDAN: I don't see us changing anything philosophy-wise. I think you always start with guarding in half court. We didn't pressure much full court last year. Two years ago, we did. But last year I wanted to concentrate on solid defensive line set on the half court. So this year's guys are a little bit more athletic. We make (indiscernible) defense full-court style but we don't look at the clock as being a big difference in the way we're going to play.
I'm excited about, you know, pushing the ball, taking your person within 3, and I know three or four of our guys have the ability -- who have the ability to make 3s. If it's a good open shot, I don't care if it's 22 seconds on the clock, go ahead and shoot. They like that idea, and I think we're playing a little bit more loose and more confident-wise. But we don't look at the clock as something that you have to play to or defend.
Q. Coach, talk about the role of Mike Williams and Bishop Daniels talking about the need for primary shooting and especially since Williams kind of came in with a reputation as a shooter last year and he kind of struggled a little bit.
COACH JORDAN: You know, freshman jitters, and he even admits he was nervous for most of his freshman year. And, you know, I told him I want him to stay aggressive. Bishop is not going to be known to be a 3-point scorer for us. He's more of a penetrator and finish at the rim and keep us organized at the offense. But Mike Williams Justin Goode, Corey Sanders, I want those guys to jack him up, we want them to maximize their open 3s and (indiscernible). Mike has been looking very well, very good in practice. He's played well. He's one of our toughest defenders and probably the toughest defender that we have. I know he had a reputation coming out of New York as a top shooter, but you know, he confessed he was nervous as a freshman. So we have a few more newcomers this year. We have to work through some of that but I'm excited about that and we should grow.
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Read all of BTPowerhouse's preview coverage for the 2015-16 Big Ten season here.