Indiana coach Mike Woodson joined the CBS Sports Eye of College Basketball podcast from Big Ten media day in Chicago.

The podcast was also released in video format, which you can watch here. We’ve also transcribed everything Woodson said, which is available below:

On how sick he is about being asked about how good the team’s 3-point shooting is going to be:

“It’s always a concern. But let me make it clear. I’m not dumbfounded to shooting 3s. I mean if you go back to my Knick team, we led the league in 3s taken and made and was third in field goal percentage. And we were putting up 30 at that time and the NBA now is putting up 40 to 45.

“So the game has changed. But you’ve gotta have players that can make them, too. And I think we’ve struggled in that area over the years that I’ve been here. We just haven’t had enough guys to be able to take that many, but I think the fact that we’ve gone out into the portal this summer and revamped our whole team, we’ve put ourselves in a different position now that maybe I can please some people about making 3s and shooting them.”

On what it’s like to live day-to-day in charge of the IU program:

“It’s been my whole life. You think about it, I mean I grew up in Indianapolis watching Indiana University basketball, Purdue basketball, Notre Dame basketball, Indiana State, Butler, I mean it goes on for days, the basketball part of it. But there’s nothing like Indiana basketball. Expectations are always high. It was that way when I played for Coach (Bob) Knight and it hasn’t changed.

“Our fanbase is probably one of the best fanbases in all of sports. So, I don’t take that very lightly. I knew taking the job there was a lot of work that came behind it. When I took over, they hadn’t made the (NCAA) tournament in, I think, six years and we were able to get them in the first two years and we had some slippage last year, which is unacceptable, I think. I take full responsibility of that. So that’s why we had to go out and retool and revamp our team this summer to put ourselves in the best position possible moving forward this season.”

On why the program took an unexpected step back in year three:

“Well again, I don’t call it a big step back. We didn’t make the tournament. We won 19 games and I don’t really like talking about it but you’re not going to win a lot of college basketball games without your starting point guard who only played half the season, Xavier Johnson.

“But again, fans and the media outlets, they don’t want to hear that. They want you to win and I get that. But I’m a realist when it comes to basketball. I take responsibility of us not making the tournament. That’s on me and that’s why after the season I had a long talk with all of the players that I was going to go out and revamp our team and make sure we put ourselves, this season, in the best position possible to win basketball games.”

On what he put priorities on when recruiting from the transfer portal:

“We sat down and we put the best group of players that Mike Woodson liked, along with the staff, and we watched film. And once we came up with the players that we liked that we thought fit what we were trying to get accomplished… meaning we needed frontcourt players, which, you know, we got caught, we put Gabe Cupps in a bad position last year just having one other point guard in Xavier Johnson. We converted Gallo (Trey Galloway) last year and he made a big jump from just an off-guard to handling the basketball and making basketball plays for us. So we knew we had to address that.

“And we did with Myles Rice, Kanaan Carlyle and then getting Bryson Tucker. We had to address some shooting. Getting Luke Goode has been a tremendous relief. We haven’t played any games but he’s been everything that I thought he would be. Myles and Kanaan can both make the long ball. Tucker’s shown he can shoot the long ball. And we already had Mackenzie (Mgbako) who shot it pretty well. And we get Gallo back to form how he shot it two years ago at a 40 percent clip, I think we address all of the shooting part. We had to get better from our perimeter standpoint, especially out front. I think we addressed those issues.”

On why he’s not sure about how much Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau will play together:

“Well right now we’re still tinkering with different lineups. I know I can play two bigs together. I’ve done that in the past. Race Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Malik and (Kel’el) Ware. I know that I can do that. I know Ballo and Malik can co-exist without a doubt. I’m trying to break it up and do something a little bit different. That’s kind of how I played in New York a little bit. Malik, I know, can play some five. We got LT (Langdon Hatton) who can also play five for us. So I really got a three big man rotation if I need to use that.

“So I got different ways to go but I’m still in tinkering mode trying to figure it out. This summer I didn’t experiment with that much because I wanted these guys to kinda grow together and just kinda get to know each other on the floor. And it’s been a nice transition now over into official practice to the point now I can, you know, mix and match and we’ve been doing that a little bit which is kinda nice.”

On how much of his playbook draws upon his time in the professional ranks versus how much has been stuff he’s brought in or learned from other college coaches:

“I’ve changed a lot over the years. My coaches think I’m kind of like a mad scientist, they call me, because I’m always trying to find ways from an offensive standpoint to score the basketball. There are things that I brought from the NBA, there are things that I’ve taken from college and just kind of flipped it and twisted it a little bit to kind of fit my personnel that we have.

“But I’m always looking to make changes. The 3-point deal has always been on my mind because I’ve been there and I’ve done that. But I would be foolish with Trayce Jackson-Davis and that team to jack up 30 3s when you’re not making them. And you don’t have the personnel to make them. To me, it’s a wasted possession when I can probably punch it inside or run a pick-and-roll and get a dunk or something for Trayce. I have changed, I will change some this year based on personnel but a lot of it is personnel-driven as well, too, in terms of style of play and the things that you do. I think I can do a lot of things with this team based on what I have.”

On if he feels he has the best team in the Big Ten:

“I don’t know. I don’t know. Because I would never say that we have the best team. You’ve still gotta play the games. You guys, you predict who is going to win the Big Ten and who could possibly win the national title. I don’t know how you do that but you still gotta play the games. And when I look at the 18 teams that are in the Big Ten, they’re all well coached, the talent level is off the charts. You gotta be on your A-game each and every night you step out on the floor to win at a high level so it’s wide open.”

On the pressure of the IU job and expectations:

“Well again, I don’t really concern myself with the media that much. Even the fanbase, there are some fans that truly like the direction of where we’re going. It’s only four years that I’ve been in. They hadn’t made the tournament in the six previous years and we finally got them into the tournament. It ain’t just about making the tournament, it’s about winning Big Ten titles and national titles. And that’s the only reason why I came back.

“So expectations are high and it should be that way. I’m good with that. I can’t worry about, you know, I respect our fans, I respect the media, you know and we try to do the best we can from a coaching standpoint but we’re still early in this. I don’t want nobody to panic. You’re just four years in and we’ve still got a long way to go and we’re going to keep pushing our guys to get better and I think we’ve made a nice run in the portal, now we’ve gotta put it all together and make it work on the court.”

Filed to: Mike Woodson