Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer speaks at Big East Media Day.

New York ? With the first day of practice, coach C. Vivian Stringer and her Rutgers team finally got a chance to stop talking about radio shock jocks and lawsuits and got down to the business of basketball.

“I just wish people would say Rutgers, the national runner-up, and leave it at that,” Stringer said at Big East media day Thursday.

Life hasn’t been that simple for the coach, and the Scarlet Knights, who return all five starters from last season’s team that lost to Tennessee in the national championship game.

A few days after the game, radio host Don Imus made a racist and sexist remark about the Rutgers women, the insult triggering a national debate about public speech and civility.

Instead of having a chance to relax in the offseason and recharge, Stringer was making many more appearances across the country. She had nearly triple the number of speaking engagements than in previous years.

“I’m tired of it,” she said. “I want to get back to just watching film, coaching my players and focusing on what we can control.”

Kia Vaughn, who became the face for the Scarlet Knights when she filed and then later dropped her lawsuit against Imus, was happy to be back on the court.

“It’s nice to just be playing basketball,” Vaughn said. “Last year is last year. If anything, we’re a stronger, closer-knit team because of all that happened.”

Stringer returns one of the top teams in the country featuring Vaughn, and seniors Essence Carson and Matee Ajavon. All three were preseason Big East first-team selections. About the only loss was that of assistant coach Jolette Law, who took the head coaching job at Illinois.

Last season there were lots of questions surrounding a team that had no seniors and five freshmen. Now, the Scarlet Knights have much higher expectations.

“Most people say we’re the hunted instead of the hunters,” Vaughn said. “I think that we still have some hunting left to do.”

With so many off-the-court distractions, Stringer gave her team an extra day off at the start of the season. While the NCAA allowed teams to start Oct. 12, Stringer didn’t have her first practice until the next day.

She in fact gave the team the three days leading to the first practice off as a chance to “cleanse” themselves and get ready for the year ahead.

“This team is ready to go,” Stringer said. “They for the first time asked me to give them the (fitness) test three weeks before the season started.”

The Scarlet Knights will be tested early in the season. They again have one of the most difficult schedules in the country, facing Stanford, LSU, Maryland and California before Christmas. Rutgers also has a rematch with Tennessee on Feb. 11 in Knoxville. Not to mention having to face Connecticut twice.