College basketball season is approaching. The Stanford Cardinal enter their third season in the ACC, now having a full understanding of how competitive the conference is. Ahead of the start of the season, the program took part in the ACC Tip-off media event in Charlotte, North Carolina.

This is the first opportunity for the media to ask questions and find out how things currently stand within the program. Head coach Kyle Smith and two players, forwards Donavin Young and Aidan Cammann, were the program's representatives. Here are the key takeaways from what was said.

Smith and his staff have put in work in the recruiting department since taking over the program, signing players like Ebuka Okorie and turning them into stars. But this year's freshman class is loaded with talent, featuring top players such as guards Isaiah Rogers and Elias Obenyah and forwards Aziz Olajuwon and Drew Anderson.

But Smith shouted out guard Julius Price, a four-star out of St. Joseph-Santa Maria. Price could be a key player for the team right from the start and prove himself to be Stanford's most impactful freshman.

"The one that's been the most ready is probably Julius Price," Smith said. "He's kind of a combo guard, the two-way player, just really good, strong and athletic. He played on the Swedish National Team, and his emotional maturity, he's really level. Isaiah Rogers is a really electric scorer, can get them in bunches, and [he has] an awesome attitude and seems to be getting better every day. And Aziz [Olajuwon] gives us something different.

"He's a big wing that I think will have an impact for us in two areas. He's a three and D guy, a good perimeter defender, and goes after the ball as you might expect on both sides, rebounding, which I don't think that's necessarily a strength of ours but having a guy like that, I think Donavin actually said it yesterday, it's nice to have him competing for balls out there.

"As the season goes on, I don't like to put too much pressure or expectation on any of them because, academically and socially, there's an adjustment at any school. Especially Stanford, but that's what we've seen, and we've got a couple of others that are pretty good too, Elias [Obenyah] and Drew [Anderson]."

College basketball is filled with freshman stars, and for the second consecutive season, one—or multiple of them—could play at Stanford.

Okorie was the star of the team all of last season and took the college basketball world by storm. The Cardinal saw several key players miss a chunk of the season in the midst of Okorie's breakout year, including forward Evan Stinson. Stinson, a former three-star recruit, played in just four games with the Cardinal before taking a medical redshirt.

But he is back and ready to go and will give the program a major boost this season. The 6-foot-7 forward will bring size and length back to the roster, along with 21 games of experience in Smith's system between his freshman and sophomore seasons. 

"It's great having our full team back," Cammann told reporters. "I think, especially Evan, he's been here since Smith's been here and he's always a great guy to have in the locker room and around the team.

"But having him back on the court is something we've been missing, and I think he can really help us this year moving forward. He has some of that veteran experience, even if he hasn't played in too many games, and he will be a great piece for us this year."

Stanford is in a tough conference, and if it wants to see success and compete for championships, a healthy roster is going to be a must for the program. Luckily, players are coming back just in time, and if they can stay healthy and give the team depth, it may be a good year.

Whether that means a long-awaited return to the NCAA tournament for the first time in over a decade remains to be seen, but the pieces are there for Stanford.