ACC Basketball Media Day kicked off today. Let's see what the early word is from Syracuse folk.
Listen as Syracuse Orange guard Trevor Cooney talks about how arena location and crowd noise can play a major role in the ACC as opposed to Big East venues.
Here's some more video of Cooney's presser: And here's video of Rakeem Christmas...
Cooney and Christmas were both asked about the upcoming NCAA investigation results and both provided the appropriate answers...
"I don't even want to know," Christmas said. "We just come together, go to school and stuff. I mean, as a team you just come together and just worry about getting ready for the season and winning a national championship."
Said Cooney: "I know that something is happening and I think the hearing's soon. But other than that, I have no idea. Being in college, you have other things to worry about. You have basketball itself, you have school and everything else. The last thing we need to worry about is stuff that's happening off the court."
Duke guard Quinn Cook was asked about former teammate and current rival Michael Gbinije and how the Syracuse guard has dealt with his winding road. With stretching, apparently.
"He made the decision to leave (and) I was upset to see him go just because we'd grown close. But I'm happy that he's at a good place where he's enjoying it and having fun."
"He's very athletic," Cook said. "We always used to make fun of him for stretching. We'd be at an airport, he'd start stretching. We'd be at dinner, he'd be stretching. He's always stretching. He was so athletic and I remember him and Austin Rivers having great battles in practice, just with him being a great defender. He made Austin work."
Duke center Amile Jefferson asked about his favorite ACC atmospheres and the Carrier Dome got a big nod.
"Outside of Carolina, it was Syracuse. I only played there once, but it was amazing. Great atmosphere. And our guys are looking forward to playing there again."
Any takers on this?
You could have an amazing caption contest with Syracuse's media guide cover: pic.twitter.com/X02WcbHErx
— Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse) October 29, 2014
Jim Boeheim was asked about the impending NCAA investigations and he gave the answer you knew he'd give...
"When it's over, I'll be happy to explain things. You'll want to hear when it's over, what it's all about. But I can't talk about it right now. When it's over, we'll discuss.''
Cooney was asked about freshman Kaleb Joseph and what the newbie will bring to the table as he replaces Tyler Ennis at the point:
"I don't look at Kaleb to come in and be exactly like Tyler was. He's a totally different kid, he's a different person, he's a different player. The one thing that Kaleb does well is he plays hard, he's very competitive and he cares about the game of basketball.
"He's a little bit more explosive than Tyler. What made Tyler so good was he was so ahead of his years, he was so mature and so mature as a point guard. I think Kaleb's a little bit quicker off of one step, just getting to the basket. But Tyler was such a great finisher."
We'll add more updates as they come in...
