Video: Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery looks ahead to 2011-12 on BTN

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery appeared tonight on the Big Ten Network's "Big Ten Basketball & Beyond." He talked about the season and his expectations for next year. Here's what he had to say:

Talk about your first season as coach at Iowa:

"I think the thing that really made me happy as a coach is that we got better. We started the season a little bit slow out of the gate. (Matt) Gatens wasn't healthy. We had a big win against Alabama down at the Paradise Jam but didn't really get any traction. (We) had some tough, close losses. It gave us the feeling that we could play with Ohio State, we could play with Illinois. We struggled a little bit on the road early but as we came into the last part of the Big Ten schedule, our guys really competed. We had some big wins. We had some tough overtime losses. But I think we grew as a team. Our confidence level improved greatly I think.

"Bryce Cartwright at the point was absolutely fabulous. Early on we weren't sure. Early in the season he wasn't really projected to be the starter, and he ends up leading the Big Ten in assists. Melsahn Basabe had a number of 20-point, 10-rebound games. He was the dominant post player on the floor at many times.

"A guy we will miss is Jarryd Cole. He had a fabulous senior year. The thing that really upsets me is he was playing his best basketball at the end. The way he played against Purdue was phenomenal. Matt Gatens shooting the basketball. Roy Devyn Marble really came around. Eric May had some phenomenal games. Andrew Brommer, I think, has a chance to have a fabulous senior year. We add Josh Oglesby to the mix, a great shooter and Aaron White an athletic front-court player. We still have a couple scholarships. I really like our chances next year."

On changing the team's mindset and practice routines:

"We did a lot more situations later in the season. Time and score. We've always done that. I didn't do as much earlier because we were in a situation where I was putting so much new in. I was trying to get them to understand what we were doing. But there's no substitute for understanding how to play in a tight game. You have to run an out-of-bounds play from the side; you have to run an out-of-bounds play from underneath. They're pressing, you're  pressing, You're behind, we're ahead. How are we going to protect the lead? I think they got so much better at that. We were trading baskets earlier in the season, and to see the transformation, especially with Matt Gatens defensively. He became our stopper. Here's a guy who was a scorer, he was a shooter, he could score the basketball, our leading scorer, now he's going and shutting the other team's best wing player down and doing it playing 36 or 37 minutes.

"I think we have to get better defensively next year, and I think our depth will help. I want to press more. I want to run more. But obviously we have established we're going to play uptempo."

What jumped out at you after competing in the Big Ten for one season?

"I think it's really difficult to win on the road in this league. People said that about the Big Ten and you go on the road (and) the crowds are phenomenal. Teams shoot the ball and play better at home. So right off the bat, you look at what Purdue did, what Wisconsin did. They run the table at home. So you have to play almost picture-perfect basketball. You go back to Wisconsin. They don't turn the ball over so you have to go beat them. Each team has stars so you have think, 'OK, we come into the game against Ohio State, what are we going to do with (Jared) Sullinger? What are we going to do with (Purdue's) JaJuan Johnson. How are we going to play (Wisconsin's) Jordan Taylor? What about (Illinois' Demetri) McCamey?' Then they had secondary stars. They had guys coming off the bench that can play. They had size coming off the bench. That's what this league is. It's talent, it's great coaching , it's phenomenal atmospheres, and it's the mentality that has to be built over time that we're going to compete tonight. We're going to go on the road with a game plan and successfully implement that game plan and beat really good teams, and that's how get to the NCAA Tournament."