BIG 12 CONFERENCE BIG 12 MEN'S BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 20, 2021

T.J. Otzelberger

Iowa State Cyclones

Media Day Press Conference

T.J. OTZELBERGER: We couldn't be more excited to get going. I've been fortunate to work in this conference as an assistant for a number of years, have tremendous respect for the coaches, the student-athletes, and everybody and their hard work and efforts. Excited to be back.

Enjoying each day. A place that's really important and special to me. Thrilled for what's to come.

Q. You mentioned you've seen a lot of iterations of the Big 12. What is your feeling of where the league is now heading into a new era here?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: The Big 12 over time has established itself as the best league in the country both by the quality coaches and the production of the teams. As we move forward, I know there's a lot of uncertainty to the future with adding the teams, when everybody joins, how that may go.

What I'd say is I know the administrators and decision-makers in our conference are doing the best they can to make sure this league stays at the top nationally year in, year out. I'm confident in their ability to do so. Excited to embrace that challenge.

Q. Could you assess maybe expansion, what your thoughts are on that, specifically a team like BYU joining the conference. What kind of impact do you think a team like that could make in this league?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: Well, BYU is certainly a program and a school with a rich basketball history and tradition. Recently they've had some really good teams and seasons, as well. Passionate fan base.

This league is made up of a bunch of programs that have that history, tradition, fan base. Be exciting to see what they bring to the table in the years to come.

Q. What has impressed you the most about your team this summer as you've started practicing?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: Our guys overall embracing work capacity, work habits, daily habits. We feel we're demanding in terms of what we expect in how they conduct themselves on a daily basis both on and off the court.

Been very pleased with how they've taken on that process. Always believed that before you can win at the level you'd like to win, your daily habits have to be reflective of what winning is. It has to look like winning before it can be winning.

Iowa State is a place that I have a tremendous sense of pride, and success for the program matters a lot to me. So everything that we do, we're going to continue to embrace winning. Been really fortunate to have a group of guys who understand how important all those other actions are each day to lead into winning.

Appreciate it.