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BIG TEN CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS

October 13, 2016

Tom Izzo

Washington, D.C.

TOM IZZO: I'm excited to be back. It's great being back in college basketball. I also still appreciate football season, so I'll enjoy a little bit of that. But we've got something different for us this year. A lot of young, new guys, and a lot of the young, new guys are going to play, which hasn't always been the case at our place, maybe one or two, but not three and four. So we've got a blend of old and new. And yet I've really enjoyed the first ten days of practice.

Q. Tom, with Ben being out for an undetermined amount of time right now, where do you anticipate his minutes being picked up at? Could you talk maybe about your big- man rotation as far as on defense?
TOM IZZO: Well, I don't think there is any question we're going to miss Ben Carter. He will be out for an extended period of time. I think he's going to have surgery here in the next day or two and we'll kind of know more. But it's not going to make us real big. But we've been in that position before. We're probably going to play a center, a point guard and three guys that can run, shoot and do some things. So who is going to pick up his minutes? I think Kenny Goins is going to get more minutes, but no question that Nick Ward's going to play more than we thought he would play when we recruited him. But part of that is because of the loss of Carter. And part of it is because Nick's played awfully well. He's been a little better than we thought. Which normally the case is you get them into high school and they're great, you get them to college, and they're good. I actually think Nick has been a little better in college than I saw him in high school.

Q. I know it's early, but could you assess the way you think the Big Ten season will go?
TOM IZZO: Boy, it's harder to assess it, even though there's a lot of people back. Each team has lost some key people, whether it be Indiana or even a Purdue, Wisconsin has lost the least. So I think everybody has picked to win it, and rightfully so. But I think you're going to see improvement from teams like Illinois and Michigan who had a lot of injuries. I think those teams are going to improve a lot, the Michigan States and Iowas, and Ohio State a little bit lost some people. But I think some of the peripheral teams that haven't -- Penn State I think is going to take a big jump in my humble opinion. So I don't know. I haven't looked yet at who plays who once, who plays who twice. All those things that usually make a difference in the conference race. I just think it's going to be four, five teams ranked in the top 25, and I think it will remain that way all year. There may be some jockeying where some go up and some go down. Our league has always been competitive. There are too many good coaches, and I think it will be very good again this year.

Q. You had mentioned guys coming back. With the number of guys who tested the NBA draft and came back, does that feel any different this year with Big Ten players? What does that say about the state of college basketball and what it means about these guys?
TOM IZZO: Yeah, it made me feel awful. Mine left and the others stayed. No, I think it's good. You're seeing more kids staying, and hopefully it's to help with something that I've been part of, which is try to give those kids more chance to make an educated decision instead of a rash decision. But I also think they realize that the NCAA and college sports in general have done a better job of trying to facilitate kids better and better whether it be facilities, whether it be some of the new rules, and they better realize that still no matter how much money you make, once you go to the NBA or get out, it's a real job now, and college isn't as bad as you think. So it's good a lot of guys have stayed in there. There were some key guys in our league that I thought might go but stayed. In all honesty, I'm happy for those coaches, I'm happy for those players. I think we are trying to rush the process sometimes too much. But that's the day and age that we're in. So I think it's good for college basketball. But I think it's even better for the players.

Q. Is it going to be different for you coaching so many young guys? Do you have to change your style or do they have to adjust to your coaching?
TOM IZZO: I think the one thing we've developed at our place that I've talked about in the last year or two that I really feel I'm finally comfortable saying, I think we've developed a damn good culture. And the culture means that players know what they're getting into when they come, and the juniors and seniors, a player-coached team is better than a coach-coached team are coaching those young kids. So I don't think a lot is going to have to change. I mean, we're not very good defensively right now after ten days of practice. We're actually better offensively. But that, I think, happens with younger guys. That's my job, to make sure we get better defense, because everybody knows you have to be good defensively to win big. So are you going to have to make a few adjustments? Sure. Are you going to have to spend a little more time? Sure. But do you really change anything that you've built over the 20 years in your culture? Hopefully not. What I've been impressed with our freshmen is they fit right into it. They almost have thrived on what we want to do, how hard we want to work. I think that will be a positive.

Q. You've got a guy in Miles Bridges who is really versatile. Played a lot of different positions in high school and AAU. What do you want to do with him? What do you want him to be as a freshman?
TOM IZZO: I'm going to have to work a little harder to teach him how to jump, that's for sure. But you know what I love? We've had a lot of success with 6'4" to 6'7" guys that are versatile, just what you said. I think he can be one of the more versatile players that we've had since Jason Richardson. He shoots it pretty good. He's stronger than most freshmen. He's a man-child in that respect. He's a power jumper. But he's been an incredible kid. Sometimes your top 10 or 15 players are full of themselves. He's been as humble and hard working and coachable a kid as I've had. So that's exciting for me. Because when your best players are some of your hardest workers and your easiest to coach, that's usually a recipe for success. I think Miles Bridges is going to be the next Flintstone that has great success at our place because of the way he's handled everything, from his recruiting on. It wasn't all about him. And he's been a good teammate and his versatility is what I think. He can play three positions right now, if you ask me.

Q. Do you pay attention to your demeanor in practice? How are you now as a mature coach compared to what you were like with young players with a team you have now? Any different or just the same as always?
TOM IZZO: I'm just trying to think who in the hell thinks I'm mature? My wife thinks I'm immature. So, I don't know. I don't know if I'd pay attention to my demeanor. I think like every coach you've grown up a little bit. You understand things a little bit better. You try to get your point across in different ways. I hope I don't lose the enthusiasm or the passion I have for it. If it comes out different ways, everybody's got to coach to their style. I definitely, the one thing I'd never want any of you to do is come to my practice and say, boy, he's being phoney today because there's people around. I hope what you see is what you get. What the players see is what you get.

But I think I have -- oh, I don't want to say mellowed, that's a soft word, but I think I have matured a little bit. Not to the point you think, but I think I have matured a little bit. And that's been good. I can look at things differently, and yet there's nothing like the practice floor. There is nothing like getting after it on the practice floor. That's the greatest part of my job.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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