Sydney Johnson on the Ivy League Preseason Basketball Conference Call

Princeton men's basketball coach Sydney Johnson spoke with media far and wide today along with his seven Ivy League colleagues on a preseason conference call. Here is some of what Johnson had to say:

Johnson's opening statement:

"Our team is young. In many ways, even some of our older guys are inexperienced, and yet clearly this is the best time of year. We’re all undefeated, we haven’t lost a game, we haven’t won a game, we haven’t made too many mistakes, and they’re learning. The group is anxious to stake their claim. The staff are excited, the players are excited. We’re just ready to get this thing going."

On what's different from his first season as he approaches his second season as coach:

"Year One was a blur. Everything worked so fast. I felt like it went from [introductory] press conference to recruiting to the first day of practice in about three days. Obviously it wasn’t quite that fast. Year Two, we kind of have a feel for what we like, what we don’t like, not just on the court but in our gameday routine and travel and things like that. In the end, it’s all the same. We have a great style of play. We have some kids who are bringing some enthusiasm, wanting to be good, wanting to challenge people, wanting to compete and so, at the end of the day, when you focus on the basketball part and you focus on mentoring, I think you’re rewarded. There aren’t a lot of things similar that you draw on for some of these similar type of experiences and lessons that you have to pass along to kids. It’s different, but it’s the same."

On the returning players keeping their focus during the offseason:

"They have. I think that there was obviously a challenge made to them in the sense that, we have to want to change our end result. You have to want to change it bad enough that it affects our behavior day to day, not just when the game rolls around, we’re very locked into winning. That preparation goes into play months and months before we play any one team in our league. We have to prepare for them in June, in July, in August. I would say today at this point, our older guys are focused and have a better understanding. That being said, these teams are coming up and that’s the true test. One, the preparing and two, following through and being able to apply everything you’ve done and learned."

On the three-point line being moved back one foot:

"We love that shot. We want to make that shot. Obviously we focus on it in terms of what we do and we’ll continue to go after guys who want to shoot from that line. To be very honest, I don’t think we shot the ball nearly as well as we should have last year or that we wanted to and yet I’m all for moving that line back because I think good players adjust. Whether it was my time here at Princeton or overseas, I felt like I played with a lot of guys who could shoot the ball well. It really didn’t matter what gym or necessarily how far away or what circumstance, what situation. We’re trying to attract those guys now. In addition, we’re coaching our guys to have that on our mind. It really doesn’t matter, one foot back, step up, make the shot, know it’s going in and go down and play defense. I don’t think it’ll affect us, but obviously the games will be the real proof of that."