On Syracuse basketball's media day on Friday, I spoke with Orange guard Justin Taylor about the upcoming season.

He goes in-depth on the switch from zone to man-to-man defense, the competitiveness of the team, and the biggest differences from last year to this year.

The Juice Online: What's been the biggest differences between practices last year and this year?

Justin Taylor: Defense, there's a lot more to cover from man to zone. We might play both, but I think with man, just going over all of the defensive coverages, ball screen coverage, help gaps, it takes a lot more time. In that sense, practices have been a lot more competitive, a lot more intensity. It's been good for us with live competition. We'll go over our defense, go over our plays, and play for a while, too. The main difference from last year is the competitiveness and the defense, for sure.

TJO: Is the competitiveness because of the depth of the roster?

JT: It speaks to the beauty of the guys we have. We're all hungry to win. We all want to compete and bring the best out of each other. We compete on the court, but we're all brothers outside of the court. We come into practice knowing we have to push each other to try to be great. Like you said, we have a ton of guys who are super talented. We have a ton of weapons. That will prove beneficial to the season and down the road. It starts with practice and pushing each other.

TJO: With the change from pure zone to more man-to-man, what's the mental challenge been like?

JT: It's more physical playing man. There's more stuff you have to go over rather than zone. Us having played zone last year, we still have that experience. Depending on the team we play, depending on what's going on in the game, depending on if we get in foul trouble. But definitely, there's definitely a lot more to go over, it's a lot more physical. But I think we all love it. We're excited to play man. We haven't played it in high school. It'll be different playing it in college. It'll be exciting to play bot and confuse offenses.

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