Virginia men's basketball head coach Tony Bennett speaks at the ACC Basketball Tipoff in Charlotte.
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00:00 Talk to us a little bit about why the schedule was designed that way and then
00:06 also how exciting it is for the players to face these teams. Yes, so coach first
00:11 and player reaction? First, yep, and you didn't mention Houston and Northern
00:18 Iowa and you name it. I mean the thing about college basketball now, last year
00:21 we played a very good Navy team and got beat. We went to JMU in a real tough
00:25 environment and played them and they played great. Like college basketball is
00:29 like that, but as players you know this is an experienced team and there's a
00:33 chance to really have a chance to go get some big wins, which is important. You
00:38 know the ACC was, we talk about it, it got better as the year went on. It was I
00:42 think sneaky good, but it certainly evolved because it was a newer league
00:45 with newer players and then it showed its worth in the NCAA tournament, those
00:50 teams that got in and you know a lot of times the die is cast. How does a team
00:56 do in the non-conference and fair, unfair, unfortunately that's kind of how it is
01:00 and I don't think that's always right, but there are some opportunities for us
01:03 and look even if those don't go the way you want, you really can grow and learn
01:08 from those games and prepare yourself going forward, but some of those are
01:12 return games. Obviously the ACC Big Ten is a good one, but exciting for these
01:16 guys and it'll test us and we're doing rebounding drills and practice. I'll
01:20 sometimes say hey remember Houston last year or we're going against these teams.
01:24 We have to be ready for that, but exciting certainly, great programs, great
01:28 teams. These guys have established a heck of a program, so that's that was the plan
01:33 and try not to take a backseat to any of those teams and go prepare well to play
01:38 and enjoy the process.