BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 18, 2023

T.J. Otzelberger

Iowa State Cyclones

Media Day Press Conference

TJ OTZELBERGER: It's exciting to get ready for another season. Being the caretaker of this program is something that means a lot to me. Love Iowa State. Every year feels like a dream come true, and I'm really fortunate.

Excited for our guys, how they're working each and every day, and looking forward to the opportunity this season presents.

Q. I'm curious from your perspective with so much focus on transfers, have high school kids become undervalued for programs these days?

TJ OTZELBERGER: Well, I think each program and each coaching staff has to evaluate for their program what their needs are and how they can fill those, whether it's transfer portal or high school.

On a given year, that could change. Certainly can have teams that maybe need some more experienced players as opposed to maybe another year where you're looking for some guys that you can develop.

What I would say is that for our program and how we look at it is we want guys that have the passion and enthusiasm to play for Iowa State and take so much pride in putting on that jersey. If that's high school guys or if that's transfers, year in and year out we'll evaluate it, but we want guys with that tremendous sense of pride for our program.

Q. You've obviously been in the Big 12 for a while, but with all the stuff that's gone on with realignment, I was curious what your opinions are of being in a conference that seems to be prioritizing basketball programs.

TJ OTZELBERGER: Yeah, it's great with Commissioner Yormark and his commitment to continuing to elevate what is the best conference in all of college basketball. We're certainly appreciative for the work that he puts in.

From my vantage point, we know we play in the best league in America. We know we've got to practice a certain way. We've got to have a process, a discipline, accountability to compete in this league night in and night out, and we're excited for the continued forward movement and elevate of our conference as the best league in the country.

Q. Obviously you guys have been so successful defensively the last couple of years. I'm curious when you're evaluating whether it's high school kids or guys in the portal what you're looking for that allows them to come in and seamlessly fit into what you guys do on that end of the floor.

TJ OTZELBERGER: First of all, we're looking for guys with tremendous character and basketball character. Those guys, they usually want to do effort-based things, give multiple efforts, do the hard work every single day. When you're defending the way that we try to defend, it's certainly a premium to have guys that play with some physical force, a mentality, a mindset, a discipline, maybe guards that are bigger and more physical at times and frontline guys that have more versatility to guard the bounce or defend on the perimeter.

Ultimately, we're trying to play winning basketball. Certainly as we came in, felt like defining that defensively could give us the most clear path to restoring some pride in our program and how we move forward. Now the challenge is continuing to do that, and hopefully we can continue moving forward with some of the things on the offensive side, as well.

We're looking for guys that every day they know they're going to bring it and have those goals and dreams and that passion that shows up on a daily basis.