“You’ve got people in the NBA who used to dream about, like, winning a college basketball championship or just making it down to the Final Four,” he said.

Townsend has high expectations for the upcoming season. He wants to show both himself, teammates and coaches that he has improved greatly since last season. Todd did a lot of hard work over the spring and summer working on ball handling, shooting and rebounding. He hopes that the hard work he did with his teammates will pay off. He has also increasd his leadership role with the team.

“I want to show people that I can lead on the bench,” Townsend said. “Off the bench, on the court, off the court. I just want to be a leader out there.”

Townsend’s goal for this season is to be more consistent. He wants to be able to play hard and play well in every game. He wants nothing more than to be a blue-collar basketball player for the Golden Eagles. He’s not looking to be a superstar, but instead he wants to help his team be the best that it can.

“I want to be a blue-collar ball player. I think, for the most part, I am,” Townsend said, “It’s just a point of being one every day. You’ve got to bring it every day.”

Townsend feels blessed to have ended up at Marquette with a coach like Tom Crean.

“Marquette is perfect for me, I’ve definitely benefited from Marquette a lot,” he said. “(Tom Crean) is definitely a person I need in my life right now. To help me take no shortcuts in life. I’m just so glad he’s my coach.”

Before games Todd likes to talk to his family. It relaxes him to be able to hear a familiar voice or see a familiar face.

“I’m the type of person, you know, I get very excited before a game,” he said. “Just to hear somebody’s voice from my family it kind of calms me down a little bit.”

Currently Todd is reading Lance Armstrong’s new book. He said that he admires Armstrong because of all he has been through and all that he has accomplished despite the obstacles he had to overcome.

Marquette has a competitive schedule this season, and Townsend is looking forward to an exciting and thrilling season.

“I think we’ve got a great schedule this year. I think Crean did a great job,” he said.

Todd enjoys spending time with his teammates off the court as well, during his free time.

“We sit around, we play video games, we watch games and things like that,” the Chicago native said. “We joke around a lot, we go places…we do have fun.”

After college Townsend would like to continue playing basketball, but Marquette has also helped him to realize that he has other options besides basketball after graduation.

Townsend is a communications major, and is also studying education. He hopes to someday teach third grade.

“I can’t really handle the big kids. The third graders are kind of on my level,” he said.