BYU Basketball Media Day recap

PROVO, Utah – BYU men's basketball held its annual Media Day today at the BYU Broadcasting Building to preview the 2015-16 season.

The day began with an episode of BYU Sports Nation that included interviews with coach Dave Rose, seniors Kyle Collinsworth and Chase Fischer and freshman Jordan Chatman. In the afternoon, BYU Rose held a press conference and was then followed by media interviews with the players.

Quotes from Rose press conference

Watch the entire press conference on BYUcougars.com

"It's a big week all around the country with teams starting practice."

"I'm really excited about this team. Some years you're a little more apprehensive. This year with the chance we had to travel (to Spain) and coach our team in August, we have a good feel for the group, what we need to do and how we're going to do it."

"I'm really excited about the depth of this team. Hopefully that's how it plays out. I love competition. I think competition is the key to success. If our team can compete with each other I think we'll find a real solid group that can compete for championships."

"This reminds me of four or five years ago when we were trying to replace Jimmer (Fredette) as far as scoring is concerned. Tyler (Haws) was such a consistent scorer for us. The way we'll do this is similar to that year. We'll have a lot of guys share that role. Coming back from Spain in the four games we played we had four players average double figures and I think this team is capable of having five or six score in double figures depending on how the rotations work."

"I'm looking forward to Monday. That's the start and we'll just go day to day from there."

Interviews with Kyle Collinsworth, Jamal Aytes, Corbin Kaufusi, Kyle Davis, Nick Emery, Chase Fischer, Nate Austin

Audio courtesy Greg Wrubell from the Cougar IMG Sports Network

Player Quotes

Kyle Collinsworth

“This is as good as I’ve ever felt in my career. My knee feels the same as my other one. It’s no longer a mental issue. I don’t think about it at all, I don’t feel it at all. Everything else is good. I feel really good and explosive.”

“I have some pretty good goals for myself and my team. The main thing with all of the records is to be consistent. I’m trying to be consistently good everyday like I was last season, and great things happen.

On Nate Austin: “I don’t think he’ll take away my rebounds but rather add to the total rebounds. My sophomore year I think we averaged the same amount of rebounds per game. I think he will just make us a better rebounding team.”

On losing Tyler Haws: “It’s a tough loss to lose Ty, obviously, but I think it’s possible (to be a better team this year). I think balanced scoring from guards and bigs will be helpful. On the defensive end, we need to make more stops.”

On Kyle Davis: “His low post scoring will be great. We missed that last year, and he is very good at that and very consistent.”

On Zac Seljaas: “He’s super tall, I think he grows an inch every day. He’s a great shooter, he can rebound, he does a lot of little things. I’m very impressed with how much he adds to the court.”

“It was nice to be able to have a season and an off season to be able to build on to the next season. It’s something I haven’t had in my career from my mission and recovering from my ACL injury. I feel very blessed right now. Last year was a great season, but I’m very excited to see what will happen this season.”

“We shared the ball well (in Spain). We were better defensively. It’s early, but I saw a lot of good things.”

On the NBA: “I talked to some people, had some options. Age is a big concern for me because obviously I went on a mission. One more year will do a lot for me. Age isn’t really a factor at this point.”

“I think each guy taking responsibility for the guy he’s guarding, with helping, getting the gaps more. We kind of ran this defense when I was in high school, so I feel like it fits our personnel a little better. We are going to be more packed and have more of a team concept.”

“He (assistant coach Quincy Lewis) is a big defensive presence and is something different. Every coach is different, they bring their different flare to the game and different mindset. It has been good.”

Jakob Hartsock
“I feel 1000 times better than when I got home fro my mission. I feel a lot stronger in the weight room, a lot quicker in the court. I finally have my legs under me.”

“I think it is going really well so far. Kyle and Chase are the captains and are so accepting of everyone. They tell us goals and what they except of us. They are really pushing us. I think those two and our coaches understand that we can be a team that comes together and be a great team. They have been great helping us build that chemistry.”

“I feel like my role is just to do everything that I’m asked to do, to be a fundamental player. To get rebounds, to box out, to do all of the small things.”

“I’ve worked a lot on my outside shooting since being home. I’ve worked hard to be reliable on that, so I feel like that is a good strength of mine.”

“I love the competitive nature (of basketball). Everyone is out there to win, and I love that.”

“I think a big reason I came to BYU was watching him (older brother Noah Hartsock). I loved the program and what they did with his game and how they incorporated it. When I got home for my mission, I worked a lot with my coaches, but he was there for the first week before he moved down to Vegas, just giving me some tips and helping me understand the program and what my role could potentially be. I think I’m more of an outside shooter. Noah is a really good post player. I learned a lot of my post moves from him. It was really fun learning from him.”

On watching the WCC tournament on his mission: “My mission president let me go to one of the games. It was awesome. Being on your mission, it was fun to go back to the game. My companion loved it. He got a picture with Tyler Haws after the game.”

Jake Toolson
“The biggest thing I got from him (his uncle Danny Ainge) is to just love the game. Always continue to learn and grow. His biggest thing is what kind of shape are you in? How are you conditioning? The better shape you are in, the harder you can run, the harder you can play. That’s his thing: playing hard, playing defense. He cares about the things you can control.”

“I think that last year it was a great learning year for me. I have it down for what it takes to be on the team. I had great leaders to learn from last year. I think my role will be whatever happens. I have my strengths. One thing I can bring is toughness and consistency. I want to be out there to compete and make plays. Whatever it takes for this team to win. Rolls switch as the season goes on. You might need me to rebound more or score more or be a lockdown defender. I think as the season progresses so does the role. I don’t think there is one role you can put me in.”

“I remember just a short year ago being in their (the freshmen) position. I think my experience can be similar to theirs. It is hard adjusting and it’s hard being put in uncomfortable situtaions. My job is to not only help me grow and learn, but to help my teammates grow as well. If there is a way I can help, I feel like it is my responsibility to help these guys out, not only with basketball.”

“I’m just excited to compete. Last year, I kind of sat and observed. I got to learn a lot, and I’m excited to put all of that on the floor and lay it all out there and to see where things go from there. It will definitely be a good year. I think this team has something special. We are just excited for practice to start on Monday to go out there and compete. I think we all have the same mindset.”

Chase Fischer
“It (the trip to Spain) was a good experience. We played four games over there. I think a lot of the young guys got good experience. It was good to be with a lot of new faces on the team to get to know each other. By the last game, we were really clicking. Now when we are playing pickup and working out, we have a sense of chemistry. It was good to build that before the season even started.”

“I don’t really look at it as trying to fill Tyler Haws’ shoes. I think it’s a group effort. I spent a lot of time this summer expanding my offensive and defensive game. I think I’ll fill that void, but so will Kyle (Collinsworth) and Jamal Aytes and Kyle Davis. I think last year I was kind of more of a shooter. I’ve always been a scorer, and I think this year I’ll show that a lot more.”

“I expect a big inside presence. Last year we had a lot of injuries. Corbin played great and he is really coming along, but I think we'll have more of an inside presence, more rebounding and more physicality. I think we’ll have more depth on the inside, which is good because we will be more balanced. It is a pressure release. We can throw it in other than having the other team know a guard is going to shoot. I’ve been helping Kyle Davis come off that redshirt year, which is a lot harder than people think. Him and Jamal will give us another dimension to our scoring this year.”

“I’ve noticed a big, big difference. Kyle (Collinsworth) and I worked out this summer, I stayed here all summer. He’s really improved his game. He put a lot of work in and really expanded his game, working on a lot of things he needed to work on. He’s one of the hardest workers I know. This year will be a big year for him.”

“More of an off the dribble game for me. I really got in the gym and worked on my ball handling and different ways to get my shot off. I’m more of a complete player now. I’ve had the best summer of my life and put a lot of work in. I think it will be a big year for me.”

“There were some growing pains for me in Spain because I had been working on it all summer. I think it paid off a lot in Spain to implement those things I had been working on.”

“We had a big turnover last year, but this year is even bigger. It has been nice to have Nate as a fifth year guy and some other people returning. Corbin seems like a veteran. It’s a good mixture. These guys have come in, worked hard, and they will fill their roles when they need to.”

“They (Jakob Hartsock and Braiden Shaw) fit in great. They came back off their missions a little late, so not going to Spain gave them time to get their bodies acclimated. They are really playing well. It made them a little more hungry to work even harder. They are really good.”