Notes from Big Ten MBB Media Day

All the best sound bites from Big Ten MBB Media Day in Rosemont. Some of these quotes have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Junior forward Angelo Ciaravino about stepping into a leadership role with the team: "Being here for two years and being under guys like Brooks and Nick and Ty and Matt, being able to learn from them has been great for me. And now, stepping into that bigger leadership role, I felt pretty comfortable showing the new guys the culture and the way we run things."

Ciaravino on his focus in the offseason: "I would say just focusing on my strengths, honestly. Just keeping that physicality, strengthening that physicality. I stepped into the bigger leadership role. So I would say that was a huge one for me: just being a better leader on the court, off the court, and bringing these guys together and just kind of shaping this team up to be where it needs to be."

Ciaravino on learning from the new faces in the locker room: "It's cool to just hear everyone's different perspective and where they came from and how they did things at their schools. You can kind of just pick everyone's brain a little bit and just find ways that we can improve what we have going on. And I feel like that's definitely a big part of all these new guys and they've been super great about sharing their experiences, sharing what went right at their schools and what went wrong and what they feel like we should have in our program and what we should be doing. So I feel like it's been super great having these guys."

Ciaravino on how the team will replace Nick Martinelli's scoring: "Everyone's just gonna have to step it up. Definitely losing some scoring from him, so everyone's just got to give it everything they got. We got a lot of shooting this year. The outside shooting is going to be key for us. Spreading the floor, playing faster, guard play… I feel like all around, everyone just got to step it up because that's definitely a big piece that's going to be missed."

Sophomore guard Jake West on the team's incoming transfers: "These guys were super hungry. They're super selfless people. Like Gelo said, they want to show that they belong in the Big Ten, not only to the media but to themselves. Like they made this jump so that they can show that they're ready to compete at the Big Ten level."

West when asked if he has the green light on offense this year: "I think it's super bright. Obviously, last year I didn't really play much at the start of the year and then toward the end of the season, playing 30 minutes a game as a freshman in the Big Ten is not really heard of nowadays. So I think Coach Collins has a lot of confidence in me and my confidence is through the roof as well. I put in so much hard work, keep my faith in God."

West on excitement for the season: "This team is just super hungry to get out there. Obviously, we've been competing in the summer and we've been competing in the preseason against each other, but nothing beats that college basketball atmosphere. Going out there on the road, going out to Welsh-Ryan when it's packed. Like, we're so hungry. We can't wait to play basketball."

West on the importance of returning managers and coaches in helping to instill team culture after a tumultuous offseason: "It's very important to have people that are very invested into the program, right? So obviously we talk about it a lot in practice, but you're only as strong as your weakest link. If you have managers that are messing around, it could affect the program, right? So people that just show up every single day and work very hard — and you guys might think it's funny — but seriously, like a culture starts from people being sharp all the way around, like managers all the way up to head coach. So we've really harped on this year being very sharp, like Gelo said, working very hard and making sure that everything we do is sharp."

West about Symon Ghai: "He's awesome, he's a great dude. He works super hard. Symon works super, super hard. You know, he might mess up a few drills here and there, but you can just tell like he wants it so bad. He works so hard and I think Gelo can attest to playing with him in practice. He might be the only one that's blocked a couple of Gelo's dunks. But he just has so much fresh energy in the locker room and he's always bringing it every day. And like I said before, he doesn't really have any off days. He always has energy."

Head coach Chris Collins on building the roster: "When I woke up one morning and there was only three guys on the roster, it really gave me and my staff an opportunity to get together and say, 'The slate is somewhat clean, let's try to figure out what we want to do with this and how we want to build this roster.'"

Collins on how the roster has meshed in the offseason: "They've been great… the guys have gotten along really well. The chemistry's good. The vibes are good. All the intangible things that I value have been really good so far with this group."

Collins on the team's mentality: "I think there's an inherent chip on the shoulder that a lot of these guys carry, and really, that's who we've been. Even our great players, in my time, three of the most recent most prominent players we've had — Boo Buie, Brooks Barnhizer, Nick Martinelli — not any of those guys had a Big Ten offer coming out of high school. They all became league players and two of them were drafted and are in the NBA now. So, we've always wanted guys that carry a little bit of a chip on their shoulder that believe they can compete against the best. I see that in some of these guys we've brought in: that they're anxious. They're older guys that have done really well in so-called lesser leagues and now they get an opportunity as veteran players to see how they can stack up against the best. There is a hunger, there is a little bit of a chip there."

Collins on hopes for the team despite roster turnover: "Look at that Iowa team, right? I know a lot of those guys played together for coach McCollum, but everybody said those were guys who played at Drake and before that played at Northwest Missouri, and they transferred well when they came in and they ended up going to a tournament, getting to an Elite Eight. So I think there's examples of teams. I thought Nebraska was very much like that last year as well. So, I think we would love to be a team of that mold: tough competitive guys who play really well together. Competitive, and have a good chemistry and hunger to us."

Collins on what the NCAA Tournament's expansion means for Northwestern: "If you come in the top half of the Big Ten, you're going to most likely be in the tournament. It's really hard to win in our league, especially on the road, so I think the expansion will help. That's the way I look at it… now it's just about getting to the tournament. There's so much parity now and it's about matchups and who's playing well at the right time. As long as you can get in there and have a chance to play, you can compete."

Collins on the offseason and the importance of the team's three returners: "Like you said, it's been wild. The spring has become chaotic now with roster construction. We went from three to 12 players in the span of like two weeks. But [the returners] were very instrumental in the recruitment of all these guys. They were very present, whether it be text messages, talking to the guys on the phone, spending time with them on their visits, kind of getting to know them."

Collins on what to expect from a Martinelli-less offense: "I think what you're going to see stylistically is a little bit different, especially offensively, because Nick was such a dominant offensive player. But, you guys know from following us, [Nick] was very unique. In order to play to his skillset, you had to play a certain way, right? He played in isolation a lot and you had to give him space to do what he could do and get the double teams and find open shooters. I think you're going to see a little bit more movement with this year's team. Cutting, a little bit more off ball activity with screening actions: that's going to lend itself more to our team."

Collins on the offense's strengths: "Shooting is something, hopefully, that'll be a real strength for us. I think the guard play, the creativity of Jake and LA Pratt, I think those are going to be two guys that have the ability to play in pick-and-rolls and kind of make plays off that end. Jack Karasinski is really good coming off screens, playing and movement, scoring that. Alex Kostić can really shoot the ball. Angelo Ciaravino is a guy who works well cutting, moving, curling into the lane. He's improved as a shooter. I think that being said, though, I think we have pretty good size. Last year we only had one guy 6-foot-10 and above, now we have four. We have some bigger wings: Jayden Hodge, Colin Smith, Jack Karasinski, Angelo Ciaravino… I think our guards are bigger. Last year, we had three guards that were smaller than Jake West. Now Jake's the smallest guy."

Iowa head coach Ben McCollum about his transfer portal philosophy: "We had 10 returners, which was nice. I would say your best transfers are the guys in your program. So we want to recruit from within and really develop the guys that are currently on our roster and we're hopeful that we've done that. I would say ultimately the best teams, obviously Michigan was pretty unique with their transfer portal class, some of the better teams that consistently win, your UConns and what not… Duke. Like those teams still are pretty heavy high school for the most part. I think that's still what our strength needs to be: developing and recruiting high school kids, keeping them here for as long as you can keep them here."

McCollum on what Iowa's Elite Eight run means for the program going forward: "I mean the job's nowhere near done. I don't think in terms of that, so it's easy for me. I think in terms of trying to build a program and trying to get it to be able to sustain the amount of success that you want. When people come to our practices, they can feel it and they can feel welcomed and established."

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo when asked about his strength as a coach: "We all got something, you know. Painter… his best strength is he finds seven-four guys that are bigger than God and they're really good. And he makes them good, but everybody's got his strength. And my only strength that I think I have is some time for my players."

Izzo when asked about where he's at with retirement: "I'm right in front of you, brother. So the million dollar question, 'when are you gonna retire?' When I don't have the energy, when the bad things outweigh the good things. And I said this 100 times and I'll say it one more: I still love my job, love the practices, love the meetings, love the film sessions. I do not respect my profession as much as I should right now, but I've been on every board trying to change it. I want to keep trying to change it… I'm good to go, man. If you come next year, you might see me again."

Izzo about high expectations for Jeremy Fears Jr.: "Fortunately, I've been here long enough that we've had a lot of time for it. When expectations have been high for a player, it's always a little different. But I think he's been through some things that help him stay grounded. I will say this, this summer I thought he had one of the best summers he's ever had there. And I have not seen, the four letter word that — you know, there's a lot of four letter words I use and I can't use here — and one that's as bad as any of them is entitlement. And I think we're getting a lot of people entitled and he has not shown any of the entitlement and that's what excites me the most."

USC guard Rodney Rice when asked about USC's goal for the season: "Win a national championship."

USC forward Jacob Cofie on the strength of USC's roster: "I would say our lineups, how many different lineups we could run, how deep our team is. I feel like everyone on our team can play, to be honest with you. We have a lot of height and length, so I think we'll use it as an advantage for us and I think that'll bring us together as a team."

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood when asked about expanding college basketball to the summer: "Yeah, but I don't want it in the summer. Summer's an awful idea. I'm not in favor of that at all. I think that's getting the cart before the horse. I think we need to expand the regular season. I think we need to grow the regular season. We need to play more games. We need to play more meaningful games."

Underwood on expanding the regular season: "I just don't think we can make basketball a year-round sport. And I don't want to see us do that and then have to go back and change it because in five or whatever years we change the schedule and we're playing more games and whatever. And I do think we need to play more games. We need to play 40, 45, whatever."

Underwood on the state of college basketball and the Protect College Sports Act that would create legislation surrounding NIL, the transfer portal and eligibility: "We need help. The game of basketball has never been better than it is right now and we shouldn't move aside of that. But we need more structure, we need regulation. We need help. The Big Ten's in favor of that, the conferences are in favor of that. I hope we can get the House support that we need for that to pass. It's obviously gone through the Senate. But college sports needs that. We can't continue to stay unregulated with this Wild West mentality. We need that."

Indiana head coach Darian DeVries on if Michigan winning a championship lowers expectations for his team: "No, it doesn't change anything at all. Our challenge is being the best version of Indiana we can be. So, all this, it doesn't really matter. Like last year and the year before, 10 years ago, our goal right now is for us to go challenge for a Big Ten Championship, challenge to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament."

DeVries on his hopes for Indiana's identity: "Physical, tough. That's what we have to be. And that's what we try to recruit to. It's our approach every day in practice. We want physical, tough, to be good at the things that can be prioritized, taking care of the basketball. You've got to be physical and tough, take care of the basketball. Defensive, offensive rebounding."

Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg on the high expectations for the program that have come following the team's success last season: "You talk about expectations, that's why you're in this thing. You don't want to go into a season every year where you're picked at the bottom, the bottom third or whatever it is. You want those expectations. You want to live up to them. We talked about that. We are the hunted this year, where we were picked where we are. Last year, we had a chip on our shoulder and used that as motivation. You can't lose that, even though you got picked much higher than you were a year ago."

UCLA head coach Mick Cronin on the Big Ten: "Big Ten basketball is hard, very hard. It's hard to win. Great players, great coaches, great road environments. The actual game is played with hard guys that play hard. Guys that are big, tough, strong, hard guys. It's not for the weak, Big Ten basketball. It's the depth of our conference, it's the depth. In our conference, teams eight through 13 play in the tournament or have played int the tournament. It's not easy to get a win and it's real easy to get off track in this league."

Cronin on the transfer portal and player retention: "Well recruiting and retention, as far as player acquisition, is all about money. So it's easier for some people — those that have more money — it's harder for those that don't. And look there's people out there that said we retained all five guys. Now, if you say, well you're in Westwood: UCLA tradition… No, no we paid them. We paid the five guys that we retained, that were the five guys that had eligibility left on our team, but we paid them."

Cronin on the importance of money in getting players: "Most guys leave predominantly in this era for more money. Some leave for more opportunity and more money. Of course, relationships matter. You have to have relationships, and [money has] never been more important than having a relationship. But what I'm trying tell you, there are coaches, some in this league, that have great relationships with their players and they still have a league because they got four times the amount of money. And I'm not gonna name names, but there's coaches where you'll say, 'Well, you know, this guy does a great job.' It's just a comedy show when a kid commits to a school and says, 'He really bonded with the staff,' and he met [them] two weeks ago… but nobody wants to say that. It's okay. That's how free agency goes. There's nothing wrong with it, but we really got to talk about the truth. The reason the guy left a team at a bottom of the Power Five — that was their best player — is because he got three times more money to go to the best team. It's just the facts. Some guys got no chance. They can't retain their players. It's tough, it's tough, it's hard on them. Fortunately, I'm not in that situation, I'm selling hamburgers down on Santa Monica Boulevard."

Washington head coach Danny Sprinkle on Washington's financial outlook: "Once we get a full share [of Big Ten funding], I think it's in 2030, that'll help our program immensely. From a fundraising standpoint, everything. The Big Ten's the best of the best and now you're going in there with a half share, that's hard. I give our athletic director Pat Chun and just our athletic department a lot of credit for the way that we've handled things and still been able to compete."

Oregon forward Andrew Meadows on the team learning about Dana Altman's retirement: "It was just out of the blue. We were really surprised. Honestly, I didn't know what it was going to be because we finished our scrimmage in the morning yesterday and then he pulled us in the film room. I thought it was going to be like maybe some new shoes or something and then he gave us the news."

Meadows on Altman's message to the team: "His message yesterday was that he's excited for us and that we have to stay together. We can't let this break us apart. I think from the vibes in the locker room yesterday, after we all went back in, we're a very motivated group. We have a lot of talent. Our teammates are very talented players. We all have a chip on our shoulder. We all want to win."