The ACC's basketball media day got underway this morning with player interviews. Scott Wood and Lorenzo Brown are State's representatives.
"Practice has been more intense this year, more physical type play," [Brown] said. "I think that's the thing that we need to be a great team. It's been more energetic this year. Practices last year would be kind of quiet, no one would say a word, go through the drills and leave. This year we are [pushing] people on to work harder."
"Practice is intense this year, sore after every practice, notes last year they didn't even stretch after practice"
"We see him a lot more than we saw coach Lowe last year — coach Lowe was like a close friend to everybody but coach Gottfried is like a coach and a friend."
I'm not even sure how to take that. Sidney Lowe was the coach who wasn't a coach but was a good friend and they didn't see him all that much? Does that mean he would only hang out on weekends at their apartments?
"It's definitely going to be a transition, but I think they can all produce and all can get significant amount of minutes," Wood opined. "Tyler Harris is very versatile. He's 6-foot-8, put the ball on the floor. Thomas can stretch the floor and is a monster down low, and Jaqawn [Raymond] can probably guard one through four. There's definitely going to be some learning curves, but at the same time I think they are going to have great years."
Fran Fraschilla attended practice on Monday and commented that Tyler Harris could be a Tayshaun Prince-type player from a defensive standpoint. Sounds good to me; lord knows we need whatever defensive help we can find.
Scott Wood also spoke specifically about rebounding being a big key for this team at the defensive end.
The head coaches meet with the media later this afternoon. The schedule is here, and you can watch the interviews right here.