Notes & Quotes: John Beilein on weekly Big Ten teleconference

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John Beilein joined the rest of the Big ten coaches on a conference call Monday morning. You can read selected notes and quotes from the conversation below:

• On how different the top of the conference looks this year as opposed to last year: “It’s probably too early for me to even judge that. …I see the records, and I follow it the best I can, but I’m probably not educated enough  to make a comparison right now. I’m more concerned with our non-conference schedule than what the other teams are doing.”
• On the development of the freshmen: “They’re all coming along at different stages. We feel really good about all six of them (including Max Bielfeldt). … Nik Stauskas had a tremendous opportunity because we lost Stu Douglass and Zack Novak, and with other guys there are some people there that they’re competing with. I just really like their progress so far, and I love their attitude even more.”
• On his time at Michigan and notching his 100th win on Saturday: “Coaching at Michigan is special. For me to have this opportunity for the last five years and some change now has been wonderful… Those first few years, when you’re trying to turn around a program and get it back to the top of the Big Ten and to the NCAA tournament, it certainly wasn’t easy. We embraced it and fought through it. We’re not there yet. We have a lot more work to do.”
• On Trey Burke’s play early in the season: “I think very early, he was upset with himself because he had some turnovers and now  his last few games he has a 5 or 6 to 1 (assist-to-turnover) ratio. So, he really has done a great job. … His attitude’s been good, his defense has been very good. He’s such a gamer.”
• On his coaching staff: “There’s an environment here of really hard work, of a lot of people who really care about these young men, whether it’s their academics, their individual improvement or the culture. You take Vall (Jordan), Bacari (Alexander) and Jeff (Meyer), the symmetry that they have, the way that they work together and the way that they work with the head coach is as good as it gets. We all have strengths, we all recognize our weaknesses, and we all blend pretty well. Now in year three, I think our roles are clearly defined: I just hand things over to Jeff or to Vall or to Bacari, whether it’s on the floor or off the floor, I know it’s going to be taken care of.” (Photo: Dustin Johnston)