Arguably one of the most competitive college conferences in basketball, the Big 12 Conference hosted a Men’s Basketball Media Day on Tuesday, October 25th.
The event which brought every men’s basketball head coach in the conference and a couple of their key players to the Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO was highlighted by an optimism for the season.
Despite being ranked #9 in the conference by his peers, KSU Head Coach Bruce Weber said that his team is competitive and motivated.
“The big thing we’ve talked about is that they’re competitive…they have a good culture as far as getting along and enjoying each other, the intensity at practice is there and that’s all we’ve been asking for; if we keep sharing the basketball with our versatility we can attack people in a lot of different ways and if that stays there and they focus on winning – a lot of good things will happen,” said Weber.
Equally optimistic about his young team is Oklahoma Head Coach Lon Kruger.
“We’ll have a much different looking roster because we were a veteran group last year, we’ll be very young this year – but still we’ll try to accomplish [offensively and defensively] similar type things, we’ll push the tempo offensively and try to dictate attack on both ends of the floor; but certainly, with a much younger group this year we have to grow quickly and mature in an effort to compete in the Big 12,” said Kruger.
Being the youngest coach in the conference isn’t a setback to Texas Head Coach Shaka Smith who said that he respects the wisdom of the more tenured coaches in the conference.
“I try to coach with enthusiasm and energy – I don’t have the same wisdom as some of these guys who have coached 1000 games – but hopefully I can build great relationships with [the players] and relate to them and hope to be the best…when you go through the process of helping [an athlete] grow you learn a little bit about how to help the next guy even if he’s a little bit different,” said Smith who said that his goal for his team is to “grow and get better each week.”
West Virginia Head Coach Bob Huggins said that he has his recruiting challenges but is confident in the program he’s built.
“It’s perception, it’s not so much being able to recruit them – once we get them there [for a visit] they love it, it’s just the perception you have to overcome to get them there…it’d be really neat to win a national championship and get on a bus and go to all these places in West Virginia that nobody has ever heard of and have it on the radio [saying] ‘everybody who wants to touch the trophy in 20 minutes they’re going to be on the square in Jane Lib,” said Huggins.
Kansas Head Coach Bill Self said that he really likes the mix of veteran and young players on his team this year.
“I love having Landon, Devonte and Frank back…and then you throw in talented freshman that can certainly have an impact on our sport – not only in our league, but nationally…your foundation is your upperclassmen, but your most talented guys a lot of times are your youngest kids and I think we have that this year,” said Self.
Quotes as part of the press conference for the Media Day Event can be found at https://www.big12sports.com/.