Ben McCollum Media Day News Conference Transcript

BEN McCOLLUM: We're excited to get the season going. We think we have a big group. Big, physical. Obviously, we have a long ways to go, but we're excited.

I think some of the additions will essential help our athleticism. We'll have more depth. I think we'll have more shooting. It's just a matter of how we get to that shooting is what we're still working on, and then defensively making sure we can defend at a high level with the group that we have.

Love our schedule. Good to be back. Excited to talk to you guys again.

Q. With Ty'reek Coleman, it's been an interesting addition to you guys, and I know you're trying to replace Bennett Stirtz. You talked about how Bennett took so much gravity, be by committee, but have you seen Ty'reek really evolve his game and mold him into kind of what you want to see out of him in your system over the last three or four months or so?

BEN McCOLLUM: He's gotten exponentially better since he's gotten here. He has a lot of physical tools, a lot of twitch, athleticism, can get wherever he wants to go.

Running a team and then playing, you know, in a system is the thing that he is still learning, and he's doing a much better job. I thought he had a really good scrimmage.

Defensively, he can be a problem. Again, you have to get him into the defensive system, defensive program, and he's done a much better job of that. We're definitely pleased with him. Personality, attitude, toughness, all those things, that all checks out at a high level.

Q. You talked this summer about you feel good about the first 35. It's the last five that you have questions about. How do you go about figuring that last five out?

BEN McCOLLUM: It's probably a little bit of a trial by error. I mean, it's one of those things that a lot of times it figures itself out throughout the season just like your lineup does. The lineup that you start with isn't always going to be the lineup that you end with, and you have to play other teams to really get that.

So, obviously we've had one scrimmage. We'll have two more here coming up. As we go through those, we'll start to figure out, okay, this makes sense, this makes sense, and then you slowly get to where you can close games consistently.

It's been a unique just summer and even fall just trying to figure out what we're going to hang our hat on. It does take a little time when you have such a new group. Even though we have ten returners, it's just so new because everybody's role is completely different than what it was the year before just because you don't have a Bennett.

We're still trying to figure that out, but I think we're moving in the right direction.

Q. I wanted to ask, going into year two with this program, what are some of your goals for this team in terms of helping sustain what you created last year and then -- not just sustaining, but exceeding the expectations that you set last year?

BEN McCOLLUM: I think our goals are always going to be to compete, create a habit to play hard, all those different things that are process-driven. I think my first year as a coach I had a lot of goals. We didn't attain any of them, and I think we might have even finished last. So I'm done with goals.

Yeah, my goals are to just play really, really hard, have a great day every single day, create that habit, make sure that we're intentional about those things.

I think our group has done that, but that's how you build a real program that sustains itself, is you really focus on all your daily habits and how it feels to be around your program.

If we focus on those, we think that the external goals will take care of themselves.

Q. You said you're not yet sure what you're going to hang your hat on, but one very notable difference is you have Trevin Jirak coming off a largely red-shirt year. Not completely, but didn't play much.

Then Andrew McKeever. How have you seen those two big men change the way you guys are going to play? Do you have an idea of how that's going to look now?

BEN McCOLLUM: Yeah, we have really good passing bigs. Like really good passing bigs. Might be our best passers, is all of our bigs can really do that, which is a big deal. Then if you get teams into rotation, they can make decisions very, very quickly.

Obviously the size of Andrew presents some serious issues for an opponent. We dives down the lane, have you to pay attention. So there's gravity there.

Trevin's ability to shoot and pass, there's gravity there. Then obviously our wings, and they've got good size to be able to shoot over the top of people.

So now where else can we create a level of gravity where we can get two on the ball and get things in rotation? How do you defend with those kind of big lineups? How do you defend if you play Trevin at the four? How do you defend a four that can shoot? That's going to be tricky.

But, no, just continuing to find that kind of gravity. Yeah, we will be different. We know Andrew, he could be a problem. We know that.

We know that other guys can be pretty good, but you have to get a couple more to be able to really get yourself over the hump.

Q. You mentioned moving on from having Bennett as your go-to guy. Obviously very ball-dominant. Do you expect to maybe spread that responsibility out a little bit this year? Do you expect to maybe put Tate Sage on the ball a little bit more? What are your expectations?

BEN McCOLLUM: Yeah, we've toyed with a lot of it. Tate has done some throughout the summer, and he's done a good job. He's done a good job of passing. We just need to be careful that we don't take away from his ability to shoot to where he's always passing, because he's not ball-in-hand. Bennett could really handle the ball. He was a natural point guard, and so he's not quite that. You just use Tate a little bit different.

Obviously Kael can take some of those responsibilities. Ty'reek, et cetera. I don't think it's going to be as ball-dominant. I think the ball will move. I think our bigs will touch it a lot more, and I think you'll play through them.

Not necessarily in the post, but just in a variety of different ways where they can trigger offense even more so than they had in the past.

Yeah, it was pretty balanced, and you know how scrimmages are for me; they don't always go great. It was pretty balanced in regards to scoring. I think it will probably be a little bit of that or who is hot that day and then making sure that, again, we find guys that can get two on the ball consistently so we can play in rotation.

Q. You talk about a bunch of guys who are going to have increased roles compared to last season. In your experience guys that are able to make that jump, what are characteristics that they show and then maybe guys that weren't able to make that jump, what are some things that they need to avoid to make that jump?

BEN McCOLLUM: The guys that haven't been able to make that jump would be guys that try to make that jump, if that makes any sense. So I think when people try to be something that they're not, you know, I don't think they can make the jump that they want to make, meaning it's like, okay, now I'm the playmaker, I'm the guy.

I think when that happens, you stop being yourself and you start being a bad player. I think the guys that have success making the jump understand that they're just going to do them and they're going to do it a little bit better and maybe add a piece or two.

Then part of it is the way we run our offense. So our offense can adjust to help some of their strengths. Maybe you set more pin-downs. Maybe you use the gravity of Andrew a little bit more. Maybe you play out of empties more. Maybe you do a variety of different things that highlight the strengths that they currently have, being careful not to try to be something that they're not.

Then the other thing is the humility of being that. You know, I think that's tricky too. It's hard to be, I guess, the guy, if you will, because you have to understand that your job now is to serve your teammates because your teammates have to allow you to do that.

That's really hard for guys to understand if they increase their role a little bit.

Q. I know you know one game does not define a season, but last year in the NCAA Tournament Illinois pulled down about 55% of their own misses; they outrebounded you 38-21. I know your season is more than one game, but how much did numbers like that affect you in the offseason both from a roster-building perspective and perhaps in the offseason the workouts? Do you do one extra box-out drill, anything like that?

BEN McCOLLUM: I don't know that one game necessarily affected us. I think the season as a whole probably did. I thought we were above average defensive rebounding I think statistically. I'm not totally sure. It felt like that.

Usually we would like to be at the top from a defensive rebounding perspective. Honestly I don't think it was a size thing in that game, specifically that game. I think it was their guards that got a lot of them. I think Mirkovic did a few, but we weren't physical enough on box-outs. We didn't get the ball quick enough, et cetera.

And so is it something that we do differently? No, not necessarily. Just make sure that we're continuing box-out drills. Did it adjust how we do from a personnel? Not necessarily. We just need to be better and better at what we currently do and do it more consistently.

I didn't think we did a great job in the scrimmage. They didn't get a lot of O-boards. But in our first scrimmage we didn't do a good job of boxing out.

You have to understand that when you miss some of those box-outs, just because they don't get it, doesn't mean another team won't, and that's where we're, with a younger team -- because we are younger; we just have guys that have been in the program -- with a younger team they have to understand that process piece of every single time we need to be physical on those box-outs and not be so result-focused on whether they get the offensive rebound or not, because you'll run into an Illinois who can really offensive rebound.

Q. Coach, with this team, more size, more shooting, will you take shots earlier in the shot clock this season, or is that something that's still evolving, your pace of play?

BEN McCOLLUM: I hope so. I hope we can get shots quicker than the last five seconds.

I think this is how I view pace or tempo or whatever you want to call it. I always call it two different things. Tempo to me is the amount of possessions in a game. Tempo is dictated to me by what shots you're able to get and take.

So if you are selective on what shots you want to take, meaning if I can get, you know, the top-quality shot early in a possession, then I'm going to take it.

If the defense is worse, then naturally you're going to be able to get those shots. Or if you have more shooting, you're going to get those shots that you really want. The shot quality early in a possession, which naturally will increase the pace of the game.

Now, your defense can also dictate that as well. So if you can't get a quality shot against our defense until late in the possession, naturally the tempo is going to slow even more and even more.

Shot selection and the quality of shots you can get and how quickly you can get them, both sides of the ball to me, dictate tempo.

Pace for me is different. Pace is how fast things come at you, meaning are we trying to get a shot that entire possession, and I would say we are. I would say our offense comes at you really, really fast. It just isn't going to shoot a bad shot because we say we want to play fast, if that makes sense.

I think a lot of teams just play fast for fast's sake, and most of those teams aren't able to win at the consistent level they want to win.

Q. You said obviously maybe by committee with Bennett not being here anymore, how is this team going to look different than it was last year, for people who haven't seen what you're doing in practice?

BEN McCOLLUM: Some days it's going to look really good, and some days it's going to look really bad if it's like practice (laughing).

I mean, when you play four shooters at a time it's a lot different with the spacing. That certainly helps you there. You're able to play like drive, kick, swing a lot more, meaning when you drive, you're able to kick out and swing and get a shot; whereas a lot of our threes had to come off direct kick-outs because we didn't have a second guy there to be able to shoot a second shot -- or a swing shot.

With that you can create more rotation. When you get more rotation, you're able to offensive rebound a little bit better, plus you're able to shoot better shots, which gives your transition defense a chance.

That's if we do everything we're supposed to do without a No. 16 draft pick in the NBA Draft. If all things go well, we should have enough paint pressure to be able to get those drive, kick, swing threes and lay-ups, which, again, allow for all the other things.

I don't know how we looked last year. I know how it looks to me, but I don't know how it's going to look different to the outside, I guess.

Q. You spoke on day one about wanting to get the fan base really engaged. Ticket sales have increased significantly here heading into this season. What does that mean for you and your program moving forward?

BEN McCOLLUM: It hopefully will give us a home court advantage. I think that's a big deal. I think that our team and hopefully our staff has done a good job of getting out in the community to where you're supported because of what you're giving back to the community and not necessarily just the product.

I do think the product is really good because of the kids that we recruit. So, yeah, I think it gets it to where it's, like, okay, we want to build and build and build and build.

But, again, it's such a process that it still continues to take time. It's not going to just, hey, it's going to flip and now ticket sales are there and it's like let's ride this wave and everything is great, duh, duh, duh.

It's still a process. We still have to be better. We still have to be out in the community. We still need to be outing interacting with students to continue to grow the fan base even more for men's basketball, which so far we've done. We're going to continue down that path.

Q. Last year you talked a lot also about building a culture within the program. Coming off this offseason, how have you seen the players kind of embrace continuing to progress with that culture, and what are some things that have kind of stood out this offseason, like, hey, they're in the right direction?

BEN McCOLLUM: Yeah, we work hard. I think some of the foundation you just come in and it happens. For instance, if we're in the weight room and we're running from thing to thing to thing, we don't have to fight that anymore. They just do it. So it's like the unwritten rules are happening.

Guys are consistent super early for everything, for all their workouts, for weights, all those different things. Just all those little things that you're not having to hold people accountable to because they just do them.

But in saying that, it's a daily thing. Hey, how hard are we going to go in practice today? In the weight room did you get your extra shots? All those different things. Did you eat right? Did you sleep right? All those different things that are still a continuing process.

I think the biggest part about it, though, is I think we have the right group of guys to keep building that direction because we've got guys that will work hard. If we can keep getting those guys, I think eventually you're going to see it be able to sustain itself more consistently.

Q. I know secret scrimmages are secret for a reason, but is there anything you can share from your first scrimmage or the things that you learned?

BEN McCOLLUM: We played our whole team, which is good, so you're able to see a lot of players. I thought the first one, we passed to the other team a lot, which isn't good. Then the second one we didn't pass to the other team as much, which is good.

Nothing spectacular outside of just like little things that you're trying to work on, meaning did you defense rebound. Technically we did, but I didn't think we boxed out very well. Offensively were you able to get to your stuff? Not really. There was a lot of game slippage. It took us a while to get trigger and get going.

I do think our depth is real. I do think we can play more players. I do think our shooting is real. I do think it really helped our guys a lot because it was a unique -- they're a unique team, so it certainly helped us.

That's why we scrimmage the way we do. Bad match-up teams, you know, because one of their bigs is obviously out, so they're just playing a bunch of guards. Well, we're big, so it's a bad match-up for us. The same with our next scrimmage as well, which will be good for us in the long run.

That's what you need out of those scrimmages, is to play a lot of bodies and to see them, figure out what you can be great at and then move forward with that.

Q. You guys have all talked about Isaia Howard taking that next step and really having a good offseason. You brought in some interesting new acquisitions. It seems like a deep team. Highly competitive, but there is really not a lot of ego there, despite guys that probably feel like they deserve a lot of minutes. Does that stem from the way you guys recruit? Does that stem from the culture? Is that something that you address with guys early on in the recruiting process or when they actually get in the building and start working with you on a daily basis? And finally, how important is that to have highly competitive, low ego guys?

BEN McCOLLUM: Low ego guys is really important, especially in today's climate. I just think that there's a level of team ego. Obviously we want a little bit of ego, a little bit of competitive spirit there in regards to that, but more a mentality of serving others is kind of -- that allows those guys some happiness where it's like if you want for your teammates' success, then you're not worried about how the world is treating you all the time.

You're worried about how you're treating other people, and that's where your happiness stems from. I think that's just a happiness thing more so than it is necessarily a team thing.

I think from an ego perspective, I think getting guys to stay and want to build something. Guys that always search for the greener grass, a lot of times it doesn't work out for them. You know, comparison is the thief of joy.

I think our guys do a good job of not doing that, making sure that they understand what they've been given here rather than always looking, okay, well, I could get this there. That's part of the ego process.

Yes, we check that throughout. I would like to see a little bit more, like, kind of juice in regards to not an ego, but sometimes when you have success, there needs to be some confrontation within your team. I think sometimes when you get too many just great kids -- not too many. You can never have too many great kids.

I think sometimes you do have to have a little more edge, and I think that's one thing that we need to grow into where guys are able to hold each other accountable, guys are able to kind of get after it.

I watched a clip the other day. I don't ever want my team to say this, but it was a clip of they asked LeBron James whose team is that. Oh, it's everybody's team. Then they asked somebody else, whose team is this? Oh, everybody's team. Then they asked Kobe Bryant. He said, don't get it confused, it's my team.

We don't need that, but conceptually I take a lot of pride and a lot of responsibility in how we play and how we act, and right now we need more ownership in regards to that, if that makes sense.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the freshmen? Ethan, Jaidyn, and then kind of lump in Trey and Peyton. To what extent can those guys contribute and what does that look like?

BEN McCOLLUM: Jaidyn, he'll be as athletic as there is. He's freaky. He dunks a lot, which is nice. Then defensively he can really heat up the ball. He's a good point of attack defender because he's 6'6" and physical and really competes at a high level.

He's figuring it out. He's had a really good summer, had a good fall, and then had a really good scrimmage as well. He was good in the scrimmage. I think he might have even been plus in the scrimmage.

Ethan was really good in the scrimmage as well. Ethan, same concept. It takes a little while for him in particular to figure it out because he has so much that he can do. He's more of a guard where he can pass and come off ball screens. He can set ball screens. He can shoot.

He's got a lot going on, so it makes it difficult initially to kind of figure out, okay, what can I be great at?

He's gotten better and better. And then his personality is through the roof. He's fiery, and we love that about him.

Trey, his ball goes in. That's what we keep saying. He can really shoot it, can really finish, and has done a good job of that.

Then Peyton, defensively really good. I mean, that's what he does. Then obviously knock down open threes. He's done a good job of that. So he gets his shot from his mom, which is good.

But, no, all four of them have done everything that we need them to do. Two of them were actually plus whatever it was in the scrimmage, which is good, a good sign for some of our depth and they're doing what they're supposed to do.

Q. I wanted to ask about the schedule. You mentioned you're excited about the schedule. Now that we've seen the full picture, nonconference and conference, what stands out to you about the excitement level you have for this schedule and in what you think that fans can bring in terms of atmosphere?

BEN McCOLLUM: We could have gone to Atlantis or Maui or whatever it is, but we chose to stay in beautiful Iowa during the fall and winter.

A lot of that was because, one, I like neutral floor games. I've always enjoyed them.

Two, I do think Iowa deserves to see their team. So if you go off and you get 25 fans in California or whatever that are Iowa people, it doesn't do you a whole lot of good.

Now we can hopefully get close to selling out a couple of those venues and everybody can see it. So then the hopes are now they'll come to Carver more often and be able to see games there.

We did schedule more difficult. I just think that's what I'd prefer in the future, is just to continue to grow our schedule and get better and better from an NCAA Tournament perspective. If you want to be a real program, that's what you're going to have to do. We'll continue to schedule that way as well.

Q. Cam moving from playing more of the five and being an undersized five to being a solid-sized four and being able to use his athleticism, how does that change things for you defensively as well as having the 7'3" size of Andrew?

BEN McCOLLUM: Yeah, I think with Cam, the hardest thing for him is having another kind of five out there with him and then figuring out what he is supposed to do to a certain level.

So I think his greatest strength is his ability to get the ball, his ability to create energy in gym because of that, his ability defensively. His role will adjust the most, meaning because of Andrew, because of the size that we have, and because there's no Bennett.

Him and Bennett, I think they were No. 2 in the country in a pairing for scoring or something like that. I don't know. Somebody sent it to me once.

That's going to be the trickiest thing. Okay, how do I create value for myself throughout the possession? I think for him, he can create value through offensive rebounding, through defensive rebounding, through physicality, through his experience, through his elite personality.

Can I add value through that? That's what we're asking him to do, but that will be the toughest task for him to figure out how he's going to do that with the group that we have.

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