Comments from Mitch Henderson on the Ivy League's Preseason Media Call

The Ivy League held its men's basketball preseason media conference call Wednesday morning. Below are head coach Mitch Henderson's comments from that call as the Tigers ready for their season opener on Nov. 12 at Butler:

Opening statement on the status of the team:
Good morning, everyone. I just caught a little bit of the end of the other phone calls and I think all coaches are, you know, we're not sure (about our teams). What I do know is that (we) have a backcourt that's returning in Devin and Amir Bell. I think the college game, you tend to do a little bit better when you have really good guards that you know and you can count on. I'm pleased about that, and of course Myles brings back scoring and a high level of defense for us. We're pretty sure we've got an idea of who's going to be some of the other guys, but we're figuring that out now, so we're excited to be back at it.

On the prospect of Rutgers returning to the schedule:
We would love to play that game. We've made every effort and we're hoping that that series would continue in the near future. I think it's a really good game for New Jersey. We drive right up here on Route 1 past New Brunswick all the time, so it's an easy travel game and we'd love to see that happen going forward. It's nice to play a local team.

On celebrating versus moving past 2016-17 accomplishments:
We had a really nice celebration after last season. We had a banquet and all that. That was fun, and then you put it to bed. It's over. It's ancient history at this point. The standard now is to redefine yourself. Do it again in a new and fun way. Be excited about the process of getting there. When you look back on last season, we're obviously proud of what happened, but it took a lot of different winding roads to get there. I don't want the guys to forget that that's the fun part too, is the process of getting there. I haven't talked about it at all. We happen to have lost some key contributors and there's enough new faces around that I think we have a nice blend of people that have not won the league in the past and guys that were young and were on that team for the first time.

On Amir Bell:
Yes, he does (look more like the player that finished last season well). If Amir and I sat down together and we tried to figure out where he was a year ago at this time, I don't think we could put our finger on it. I just said this all along, I thought he was if not the best player, one of the best players in the league the last three months of the season. What he did was he let the game come to him. There are more expectations for him, but I thought that his season that he had was (the result of) allowing the game to come to him, allowing the reads to come to him. Amir is a very aggressive player, and that suits you really well in this game and I think you've got to be on he move going forward. You've got to be ready to go, and he wants to be like that. He has worked through challenges all four years. He fouled a lot when he was a sophomore. He corrected that last year. He had some ups and downs shooting. He understands the pieces that he has to work with. We have high expectations, but also, you know, he's a captain, so now he's pulling the levers from the bottom too. He's got to get everybody going, so there's some new challenges. I told him this yesterday, I expect him to keep evolving as a leader.

On the non-conference schedule and the 2017-18 team:
I just always joke, I probably have a loose screw doing it, but we want to challenge ourselves. I thought our schedule last year was challenging. This one is more challenging, at least as you look at it from the beginning. I thought it prepared us well (last year) for the league play. We've been fortunate to have a really nice record in the league the last two years, and I think it's because we challenged ourselves in the non-conference, and the guys feel similarly. We prepare them to win every game and it'll be no different when we hit Indianapolis on November 12.

On the freshman class:
I like the freshmen a lot. So, we have Charlie Bagin from Don Bosco, Elijah Barnes, who is a local New Jersey guy at Mater Dei, Jerome Desrosiers from Northfield Mount Hermon – there's a number of Northfield kids in the Ivies. Ryan Schwieger from Weddington, North Carolina, a Charlotte kid, and then Sebastian Much from Southern California. Sebastian is, he's a big, strong kid. He's probably a little stronger and more ready for the college game than I would have expected. He can really shoot, he's skilled, he can play both a post position and on the perimeter. I think he's going to be very good and I expect him to contribute. Jerome Derosiers is like – it's unfair to say this about him, but he's kind of an Ian Hummer-type player where he's a very physical post presence. Unfair for Jerome in that Ian ended up being a great player, but he has that type of a game. People come into the gym and they ask me, why is one of your assistants playing? Jerome looks like he's 35 years old. Jerome is just a very mature-looking 19-year-old freshman. And then Elijah Barnes, very athletic kid from locally here who I think is going to be a terrific Princeton player. He's, I think, just a terrific athlete and was what we were looking for in this class was just somebody that could kind of change the game a little bit athletically, and he does that, and so does Jerome, actually. And then Ryan Schwieger is a do-everything guard. You stand next to him, he's listed at 6-5, but it feels like he's 6-6. He kind of has a real upright posture, he can shoot, he really thinks the game well, smart. All of the freshmen are good and we need them to come in and help us and they will.

On what early-season success looks like:
Last year, we started off the season 4-6, and then if you go back to those 10 games, we were imperfect, and that's sort of what I addressed early on, is just really concentrate on the day-to-day, making a little progress and seeing it carry over. That said, there's not a whole lot of room for us to be waiting too long. We need a clear mind early on in terms of just the way we're going to play, and so we're left figuring that out now. Whenever you lose good players, everyone asks you the same question, how are you going to replace so-and-so? Well, that's what you're doing all the time, I think, in terms of the development of the younger guys in the program. Soon, it's going to be their turn and hopefully they've been watching Spencer Weisz, Steve Cook, Pete Miller, how they go about their business every day. Right now we're focused on how you bring your work to the court every day. It's Butler, BYU and Saint Joe's for us. It's a very challenging start, but we're excited about it.