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We continue our 2016-17 season preview interview series with Loyola Chicago coach Porter Moser. He has only made it to 1 postseason so far but certainly made the most of it when he got there: after leading his team to the 2015 CBI he won 5 straight games to clinch the title, meaning he is 1 of the only D-1 coaches ever with an undefeated postseason record. He also had success as a player while winning the 1989 MVC title at Creighton, and later learned how to win games as an assistant to Wimp Sanderson at Arkansas-Little Rock and Rick Majerus at St. Louis. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Moser about having 2 seniors on the roster and his team’s summer trip to Spain.
You were named conference POY as a senior at Benet Academy, where you contributed to a big chunk of the school’s state-record 102-game home winning streak: did it reach a point where the home crowd just expected you to win every time that you stepped onto the court? Absolutely. Winning was such a big part of that culture at Benet. The tradition there was all about winning, so as a player you expected to win every time you stepped onto the court. Because of that tradition the pressure/expectations mounted, but with that came the thrill of being on that platform. All of those experiences at Benet helped prepare me for my college career at Creighton.
In the 1989 MVC tourney title game as a player at Creighton, James Farr drove the length of the court/split 2 defenders/made a 13-footer with 2 seconds left in a 2-PT win over Southern Illinois: how long did it take for that shot to roll around the rim before dropping through the net?! I cannot recall how long that shot rolled around the rim. I recently saw James on the road while recruiting and we reminisced about that game, that shot, and how it changed our lives.
You were as an assistant to Rick Majerus at St. Louis: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? Coach Majerus had a special talent for teaching the game and his practices were special learning sessions for his players. I learned so much from him, including an abundance of X’s and O’s, but the best thing he did was teach his teams how to play the game correctly from a fundamental perspective. He would methodically go through drills over and over until they were done correctly before we moved on to something else. You achieve what you emphasize and coaches who allow slippage in practice will undoubtedly have to deal with it during games.
In the 2010 CBI with the Billikens you made the finals before losing twice to VCU: how much fun was it to face “Havoc” twice in 3 nights? Those losses still eat at me. Shaka Smart is one of the best coaches in the nation and gets his guys to buy into his system as well as any coach in the country. Their guards pressured us to no end and they had an NBA rim protector in Larry Sanders.
In the 2014 MVC tourney as head coach at Illinois State, Milton Doyle scored a team-high 19 PTS including a contested 3-PT shot at the buzzer in a 2-PT win over Bradley: where does that rank among the most clutch shots that you have ever seen? The magnitude of that shot was amplified because it came during our first year in the Missouri Valley: to win a game at Arch Madness was a statement for our program at that time. For a freshman to hit that shot on that stage was huge for Milton as well as for all of us. Let us hope that he can repeat it as a senior…but in the finals!
In the 2015 CBI championship series you had a 1-PT win over Louisiana-Monroe to clinch the title: what did it mean to you to win a title? Earlier that season we won the Las Vegas Classic while playing against some good really programs such as Boise State/Texas Tech. To win a title was monumental, especially for the culture of our program. We got to experience how the pressure mounted in each subsequent round. It had been 30 years since Loyola had won a title so hopefully it has set the stage for bigger things to come.
Your non-conference schedule includes games against St. Joseph’s/NC State/San Diego State: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? All of them will present a huge challenge for our program this season. St. Joe’s won 28 games last year, NC State is a program with a lot of tradition, and San Diego State should be a top-20 team this year, so it is hard to pick which will be the lesser of any evil. They are all great programs so each will present a tremendous challenge for us.
You have 2 seniors/9 juniors on the roster: do you think this team is ready to contend right now or do you think that you are a year away from doing something really special? We are no different than most programs in that we want to win this year. We worked very hard in the summer/fall and took a trip to Spain to help prepare us to have a good season. The uncertainty is having so many new guys: some of them are going to have to step up but I have confidence that they will.
Your team took a trip to Spain over the summer: what did your team get out of this experience that you think will help this season? This is a very close-knit group. We have a lot of new guys and they got to know each other faster while gaining an understanding of what to expect in practice/game situations, so that has helped alleviate the unknown. Building chemistry helps pull you together because it is inevitable that at some point you will face adversity.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? I will not hide from that question: we want to win the Missouri Valley and go to the NCAA tournament. We have set the bar high in how we approach each day with our preparation and what is said to our guys, always keeping that end result in mind.