BIG TEN BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS

October 7, 2021

Chris Holtmann

Ohio State Buckeyes

Men’s Head Coach

CHRIS HOLTMANN: All right, guys, great to be with you. Big Ten office, thank you for putting this on.

It's great to be back with all of you here in person. We're really excited about the season. You guys contribute so much to our game, the popularity of our game, the energy around each individual game, each individual program. Even when you ask some of those questions I don't always love, it's great to have you guys here and back in person hopefully for a full season.

We're excited about our group. We have very much a veteran group. I think our team will be led by guys like Kyle Young and EJ Liddell, Justin Ahrens, who are all going into their third, fourth or fifth season in our program. That continuity is really important. We have some other veteran guys who have had guys that have had good Big Ten seasons.

Obviously there are questions with losing our back court, how will we respond to that. But I'm really excited about some of the potential answers we have in our back court there.

It's a fun time of the year. Itself a really fun time of the year with a lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement. We put together the most challenging non-conference schedule that I've ever played. I think those will present some real decisions for us here early in the season. It will determine a lot for us in terms of how tough we are early in the season to manage some of the challenging games we have. But I'm excited about that.

I love this league. The depth of the league, as we've mentioned a number of times, is really second to none. I think that's been established. I think you'll see this league continue to grow in its depth. I think it's got a really, really exciting future in terms of men's basketball.

Looking forward to getting started and I'll answer questions.

Q. You mentioned the fact you have a veteran team. A lot of teams have veteran teams because of getting the extra year of eligibility. What is the key to having a veteran team but turning that into success?

CHRIS HOLTMANN: Well, health is so important. Obviously I think that was a really critical factor for us late. We had an older group last year, but we had some of those older guys sitting next to me. We really need to be healthy particularly towards the end of the season.

A lot of coaches are going to talk about their depth and experience as they come through here because of the super seniors and the addition of transfers. A lot of teams have older teams.

I think role definition and how all that gets figured out, what chemistry. We had really good chemistry. Doesn't mean we'll have really good chemistry this year. That will be determined as we go through difficult things together. We'll see.

I think the value of having guys that have been through the battles of the Big Ten should provide dividends, but we certainly need those guys healthy.

Q. Looking at the two guards that you brought in, Cedric Russell, Jamari Wheeler, your thoughts about what they've accomplished, what their assimilation has been with your program, and even Joey Brunk as well from Indiana?

CHRIS HOLTMANN: Those guys have been good for us. Jamari is one of these kids that is an everyday guy. You want him next to you any time you're competing and doing anything. He's really helped us. He brings a lot of juice to practice every day. He's been really good for us.

I think Joey is a guy, as you know, who came from a really good program in Indiana and had success on their team that was going to be certainly a tournament team.

Cedric I think is finding his way. Any time you jump up a level, it takes you time to find your way. He's in the process of doing that. We're only six practices in right now.

Q. I think there's this negative connotation around all of the challenges that COVID presented. Now that you've had an opportunity to reflect over everything you went through last year, how did the 2020-2021 season make you a better coach? How did it make your program stronger?

CHRIS HOLTMANN: You know what I think it did as much as anything, it made you as much as possible be more aware of the health of your players, not just the physical health. You could really see guys who were struggling with whatever it was. Just the grind of the season, not playing in front of fans, the daily testing. College kids don't always love to get up and get a test at 7:30 in the morning every day. Not one of their favorite things. When you do that six days a week, it can take a toll. It was important, I'm glad our league did it.

As much as anything, it just made you aware in some cases your kids go through a lot of things that maybe you can be oblivious to. I think we really tried to be as a staff in touch as much as possible with what they were going through.

Q. With the changes to the transfer portal, the transfer rules, there's been a lot of coming and going on everyone's rosters. What do you think was the biggest impact of that last year and how are you going to deal with all of that coming and going, going forward?

CHRIS HOLTMANN: For those of us that know, the transfer thing has went on for a number of years. Tom Izzo and I have had a lot of conversations. I've probably done more listening than talking which happens a lot of times when we have conversations.

I understand kind of the perspective on both sides of this thing, but it's certainly here to stay. I do think what it's going to contribute to are teams that are a little bit older, a little bit more experienced. I think you'll see less programs recruit freshmen every year. I think you'll see more teams that will wait until the spring.

It does probably allow you to potentially rebuild quicker than maybe what the traditional way used to be for certain programs. So I think all those things are benefits.

We've had a lot of success both at Butler and Ohio State with important transfers, a kid like Keyshawn Woods who came from Wake Forest really helped us to get to the tournament and win a game in year two. We wouldn't have done it without him. I think those guys are important. But they also have to be the right fit for your program.

Q. We talked over the summer about external expectations on your program. Now that you've gotten together with the guys, how have you seen this group come together? What kind of expectations do you have for handling those expectations outside the program?

CHRIS HOLTMANN: I think you want those every year. You want to go in with the level of anticipation. We've been ranked every year we've been there, our four years, been in the top 20, top 10 two of the years. We've been a part of the tournament every year we've been there. Unfortunately experienced an upset last year, but advanced the prior years.

You just want to continue to build. As you know, the focus really has to be on the day-to-day. I think when you get outside of that, whether you're thinking individually, expectations, we have young men that are really good players that have some individual expectations. That weight can be pretty heavy if you think about it too much.

I think the challenge really is to stay in the moment, enjoy each day and see where that takes us. I'm excited about this group, but we're not going to get outside of anything other than the day-to-day process.

Q. You mentioned the benefits of the transfer portal. What about the challenges of turnover and the lack of continuity that it brings as well?

CHRIS HOLTMANN: I think you're aware of that more now than ever. It might change some of the dialogue and conversation you have throughout the season with players, with parents, with people around the young men. 10, 15 years ago that didn't happen a whole lot. It's not going to change how you coach. It shouldn't change how you coach.

But it is going to change I think the dialogue and conversation that goes around on the front end and throughout the process just to make sure there's open lines of communication.

But I think it's something that every coach who stands up here is aware that roster management is one of the greatest things and challenges facing him or her.