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We continue our season preview coverage with Colgate JR PG Jordan Burns. The Raiders lost a home game last February to fall to 13-10 overall, and then proceeded to turn things around by winning 11 straight games to make the NCAA tourney for the 1st time since 1996. It was a total team effort but Jordan deserves a lot of the credit for getting hot at the right time with 35 PTS in the conference tourney title game win over Bucknell and 32 PTS in the NCAA tourney loss to Tennessee. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Jordan about being named conference tourney MVP and having a brutal road schedule this November.
You grew up in Texas and originally decided to play D-2 basketball at Midwestern State: what made you change your mind, and why did you eventually choose Colgate? Colgate was my 1st offer but I chose Midwestern because it was close to home and a comfortable spot for me so that my parents could come drive and see me play. After about 1 month I saw Colgate’s schedule come out and talked to my parents/coaches, then ended up decommitting and came here for an official visit. It proved to be the right place for me.
You play for Coach Matt Langel: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He genuinely cares about his players and treats us like his real family. It is the best that I have ever been treated by a coach and he teaches us life lessons that translate well to the court.
You started 19 games as a freshman and were named to the conference All-Rookie team: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? It was a big credit to the other guys we had on that squad who put the ball in my hands when it was time for me to play and helped make me feel comfortable.
Last year you set a school record for most assists in a season with 171: what is the secret to being a great PG? You always need to want the best for everyone else. Finding other people for open shots just helps with the flow of the game, and you also need to want your teammates to succeed.
In the 2019 conference tourney title game you scored a Patriot League tourney-record 35 PTS in a win over Bucknell en route to being named tourney MVP: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most, and what was the feeling like when your fans stormed the court? Rap (Rapolas Ivanauskas) got into a little foul trouble and he told me to take over the game. My teammates told me to keep shooting because I was hitting shots early. The court storming was a feeling like no other: my mom/brothers were there and I ran over to them to embrace them.
In the 2019 NCAA tourney you scored 32 PTS/8-13 3PM in a 7-PT loss to Tennessee: how close did you come to pulling off the upset, and what did you learn from that game that will help you this year? We believed that we were a really good team and played with a lot of confidence. We learned that we have to keep coming together despite injuries and if we continue to work super-hard then we can be even better this November: it gave us a big confidence boost.
Last year Langel was named conference COY, PF Rapolas Ivanauskas was named conference POY, and Tucker Richardson was named conference ROY: is there anyone on your team who did NOT win an award last season?! There were actually not enough awards to go around: we had some guys on the bench who should have won some awards as well! We are ready to win some more awards this year and are hungry to succeed.
Your non-conference schedule includes 3 straight road games in November at Clemson/Syracuse/Auburn: how do you prepare for such a brutal road trip? Anyone who says those games are not circled on our schedule would be lying. We believe that we can go into those games and get some wins: we will not lay down for anybody and truly believe that everyone on our schedule is beatable.
You missed several games last year with a chipped bone in your left ankle: how is your health doing at the moment? Really well: I am getting back to 100% and still doing my rehab but by November I am pretty sure that I will be at 110%!
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? We have a lot of goals: we think that we can win 30 games, win the conference outright (after sharing the regular season title with Bucknell last year), and maybe even make the Sweet 16. We also want to be the best defensive team in the country because we already have the offense to be a special mid-major team.