“I think he’s progressed really nice. He has a great work ethic, and when he got on campus — obviously he was more of a power forward when he came in — but he’s worked really hard on his ball skill, he’s worked really hard on shooting, so it’s been a nice progression for him.”
On potential Big East expansion:
“It’s over my pay grade. I think we’re in a really good spot as a league. If there’s someone that makes sense, if the presidents and ADs think it makes sense, obviously they know more than me.”
On the double round robin setup of the Big East schedule:
“I think it really makes it fair. I think the Big East regular season champion has earned it, and you can’t say, ‘well, he didn’t get to play him twice, he didn’t get to play them twice.’ It’s a fair and true test.”
On Seton Hall’s current health:
“We’re behind. To be honest with you, I’m a little worried, but we’ve got a couple of weeks to kind of get things going in the right direction. Everyone got COVID in September, so it’s not a 10-day (recovery), it’s 21 days that you miss. We had eight kids get it at different times, so we missed a big chunk of September, and then we lost our gym. We didn’t have a gym for two-and-a-half weeks.”
On practicing at Walsh Gymnasium:
“Walsh is great. That’s why we’re kind of getting back into it a little bit more. We’re just a little bit behind, we’re about two weeks behind.”
On scheduling an exhibition game:
“Well, we were going to do two scrimmages, but because of COVID and some scheduling conflicts with the gym, I decided to throw in an exhibition. It was going to be two scrimmages this year just because we’re a little bit older, but also I think being in front of fans is important. We had the Blue-White (scrimmage) the other day, it was a great environment, but there was nerves. We haven’t played in front of fans in almost two years if you think about it. The last time these guys played in front of fans — I mean, Butler had 5,000 and they were nervous — we didn’t play well. To get them back in front of fans, I think is the biggest thing.”
On differences in Rhoden this year:
“I really say this: I don’t think this team’s going to have a guy. I think we’re deep enough where there’s going to be two or three guys. I think the biggest difference between this year and years before is he doesn’t have pressure to where he has to be the guy. It’s just (that) we're too old, we’re too deep, and there’s not going to be one guy on this team.”
On Rhoden being a leader:
“He is. But Myles Cale, Ikey, they’re all fifth-year guys, so there’s not a huge need for someone to be this leader when you have multiple leaders. Myles Cale has been to three NCAA Tournaments and he’s started in all three of them, Ikey has been a huge part of what we’ve done, Bryce is a fifth-year guy, so the leadership role is more by committee because they’ve all been in big roles. But that’s always been Jared. He always plays with a lot of energy, so I think that’s one of the reasons why he’s progressed as a player, because he has an unbelievable work ethic and he has tremendous energy.”
On Rhoden’s progression:
“I say one thing to every recruit: If you love to work on your game and you love being in the gym and working out, I’m a great coach to play for. If you don’t like working on your game and you don’t like working, then I’m a terrible guy to play for. And Jared loves working on his game, and he does it with an unbelievable energy. And that’s why guys like that always succeed with me, because I love being in the gym with them. It’s what we built this program about.”
On incoming players being primary options vs. role players:
“It’s hard right now, to be honest with you. We’re not nearly where we need to be, and we have fifth-year guys that are coming in and starting, trying to figure out how we do things with guys who know how we do things — defensively, a breakdown here or there, which would never happen — it’s been a little more difficult and I think it’s been a little more boring to some of the returners, because I’ve had to really break down certain things. I think it would be a lot easier if you bring in a fifth-year guy to come off your bench. It makes it much easier when you know who your top two are, like Posh (Alexander) and Julian (Champagnie), you know who’s going to shoot the basketball. We have five guys — in practice the other day, I had five guys that, any one of them, I could get a shot for and feel comfortable with them getting a shot. I probably need to get them shots, so it’s probably going to be a little bit of a feeling-out process, and it still is. Guys are still getting comfortable with what they can do and they can’t do.”
On Rhoden helping the transition process:
“I’ll be honest with you: It’s comfortable to have Myles Cale. He’s always been my security blanket. A guy like Myles is someone (who) I know what I’m going to get every second he’s out there. He’s never missed a day of practice, he’s been as steady as anybody can be. He always is.”
On Alexis Yetna:
“I think he gives us an opportunity to play smaller at times. We struggled last year with teams that had small five players, I’d have to ask (Obiagu) to play guys that it’s really hard for him to play, because he’s probably the best rim protector in college basketball, but at times, what teams tried to do was go smaller against us. It would have made it difficult for us to guard smaller fives, so he gives us a chance to play a little bit more — with Tyrese and him, we can play small — he gives us a chance to play small ball, which we haven’t had an opportunity to do.”
On Kadary Richmond and Jamir Harris in the backcourt:
“I think we’ve added a couple of extra ball handlers, which really helped. I think last year, Shavar did an unbelievable job for us. It also gives us a chance to defend that position better, where we really had to be careful how we played defense last year because Shavar got in foul trouble. It gives us a chance to play more aggressive defensively.”
On expectations for Tyrese Samuel:
“I think he’s gotta take that step. He’s got to realize that opportunity’s there, and he’s got to step up and do it. He’s capable of doing it, he just has to do it. It’s easy for all of us to say. I’ve seen it flicker. I just need to see it more consistently, and I think he needs to see it more consistently. It’s night and day when he’s playing at a high level. He’s an extremely talented player, but the consistency of doing it when you’re on the floor, it’s his biggest challenge and it’s always been his biggest challenge. If he gets that down and that light switch goes off, I wouldn’t want to play against him. I wouldn't want to play against anybody at my age.”
On Jahari Long and Tray Jackson:
“Well, Jahari’s been out three months with a knee injury, so Jahari’s kind of up in the air right now. But Tray has really taken some good strides. It was really tough when he got eligible in the middle of December, technically in the middle of Big East play. It’s tough to kind of fit him in, but now he’s had a full, a really good summer, he’s had a good preseason so far. I think Tray is going to be a big boost for us.”
On UConn returning to the Big East:
“Oh, I gotta be nice on this one. You want the real answer, or do you want the political answer? I think it’s great. I’m a huge fan of having them back. When I played, I played against Ray Allen, all those guys, so to have them back, I think, it’s added another great team to this league. And I think the way Danny coaches fits this league. They’re tough, they rebound, I think it fits really well.”
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