Last Wednesday Colgate beat Lafayette 79-61 in the Patriot tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to next week’s NCAA tournament. The Raiders were 6-7 on Christmas Day but have won 20 of their last 21 games to claim the school’s 3rd straight NCAA tourney bid. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Colgate JR PF Jeff Woodward about dominating his conference for 3 straight years.
You were born/raised in Pennsylvania: what made you choose Colgate? I grew up just outside of Philly. Colgate has a really cool close-knit community where you can get to know everyone really well. It is a perfect fit for me both athletically/academically.
You play for Coach Matt Langel: what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He is always focused on us not getting too caught up in the moment: we try to stay level-headed and just do what we need to do. He is great at X’s and O’s but also knows how to inspire people to follow him by practicing what he preaches.
You are a psychology major and philosophy minor: why did you choose those subjects, and do you use them at all during games? I am also a religion minor. I chose psychology because I took an AP class in high school and fell in love with it, and philosophy/religion are super-interesting to me. I want to go into the field of clinical therapy. I do not think about them too much during games but I have noticed that I use them both before and after games. I try to have the best mindset in advance and then use some tools afterward so that I do not get too high/low.
In 2021 you made the Patriot All-Rookie Team: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? A lot of it is a credit to Coach Langel for believing in me and letting me play right away as a freshman and giving me a longer leash than other players in our conference might get. It gave me confidence and allowed me to just play without worrying about having to come out of the game if I made a single mistake.
In the 2021 NCAA tourney you scored 11 PTS in a loss to Arkansas and in the 2022 NCAA tourney you scored 5 PTS in a 7-PT loss to Wisconsin: what did you learn from those 2 games that you think can help you this time around? Due to COVID the Arkansas game happened to be my 1st non-conference game of that season. The Wisconsin game in Madison involved a pretty hostile environment against a Power 5 team so I learned to control my reactions. They were both good teaching moments that should help everyone on our team.
In 2021 you went 14-2, last year you entered the NCAA tourney having won 19 of 20 and this year you have won 20 of 21 games since Christmas with only a 1-PT road loss at American: has it reached a point where you expect to win every single conference game that you play?! The expectation within our program is to go out and win every single game, which has been built over time through our sustained success. We do not go in with false confidence thinking that our opponents will roll over and die. We know that teams are gunning for us, especially when we are on the road, so we approach every game with confidence but never look past our opponent because we will get everyone’s best shot.
Last Wednesday in the Patriot tourney title game you scored 6 PTS in a win over Lafayette: what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? It was an awesome feeling, as were all of our championships. 2021 was my 1st title but it was a redemption game for our veterans who lost the title game at home by 3 PTS to BU in 2020. Last year was different because we finally had a full season with fans in the stands so it was more special to get to celebrate it with everyone. This year we lost a couple of guys who had made 5 conference title game appearances and were bringing in some new guys: even though we did not have the same leadership we did in the past we were able to grow together.
You have 6 seniors on the roster: how crucial has all of that experience been to your team’s success? It has been super-important because Tucker Richardson/Oliver Lynch-Daniels have played so many games before and been in those moments. We won a lot of conference games that went down to the wire, which is a credit to their leadership.
Your team leads the nation with 40.9 3P%: what is it like to not be a 3-PT shooter on the best 3-PT shooting team in D-1? It is definitely interesting: even 6’10” Keegan Records has stepped out and shot a few threes this year! I know my role and the things that I am good at. I do not want to bring down our team’s average by missing a lot of threes, and our great shooting allows space for me and our other big men to thrive in the paint. We do not get double-teamed a lot down low because you cannot leave our 3-PT shooters open: I had a similar situation in high school so I am used to it. I consider myself unselfish so I love to rack up some AST by kicking it out to our great shooters.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? I think that we deserve a 13/14 seed. We played some pretty good non-conference teams and picked up a road win at Syracuse in November. Our resume during the past 2 NCAA tourneys should also be factored in, as we played very tough against 2 very good teams. I think that we will end up with a 14/15 seed but we will have confidence no matter who/where we play because we know what we have done in the past.