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Steve Woodberry has been through quite a number of championship games in the world of basketball during the past 30 years. He lost a Kansas high school state title game on a 3-PT shot in the final seconds, lost to a legendary Duke team in the 1991 NCAA title game as a player for the Jayhawks, won a 1993 gold medal game as a player for team USA, and won the 2010 CIT title as an assistant at Missouri State. He now begin his 2nd year as an assistant to Danny Manning at Wake Forest. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Woodberry about playing pro basketball and avoiding the wrath of Jay Bilas.
At Wichita South High School you won 2 state title games but lost a 3rd by 2 PTS to an undefeated Shawnee Mission South on a 3-PT shot by your future Jayhawk teammate Greg Gurley with 2 seconds left: did you think his shot was going in, and what is it like to become teammates with a guy who previously ripped your heart out? It looked good the whole way so my hat is off to him…but I took my frustrations out on him at Kansas every single time that he guarded me!
In the 1991 NCAA tourney title game you scored 2 PTS in a 7-PT loss to Duke: where does that Bobby Hurley/Grant Hill/Christian Laettner team rank among the best that you have ever seen? That was 1 of the better teams that I ever played against. They played very well as a team and they had so many weapons that you could not just shut down 1 guy.
You won a gold medal with team USA at the 1993 FIBA U-22 World Championship: what did it mean to you to win a gold medal, and which of your teammates impressed you the most (Eddie Jones/Wesley Person/Corliss Williamson/other)? It is always great to win a gold medal: you have to build chemistry to create 1 common goal. We had no selfishness, which made it enjoyable. Wesley impressed me the most: he was a great shooter and made it look real easy.
You played pro in several different countries for more than a decade: what is the biggest difference between basketball in America and basketball overseas? Overseas they practice twice a day and there is more of a focus on skills. Here it is more about transition and attacking, but over there they want you to make several passes and execute the offense.
In the 2010 CIT title game as an assistant to Cuonzo Martin at Missouri State you beat Pacific to clinch the title: what did it mean to you to win a title? It was our 2nd year with Coach Martin after we had only won about 11 games the previous year. Losing games is tough on the confidence of young players, so it was a great accomplishment for our guys and helped give us the momentum to win the MVC the following year.
In 2012 you become an assistant to fellow Kansas alum Danny Manning at Tulsa, and in 2014 you followed him to Wake Forest: what makes Manning such a good coach, and how do you like working for him? He has a great demeanor: he is tough on you but is very approachable and will help guys work out or shoot with them. It has been great to coach with him and he has given his assistants the opportunity to do our jobs.
Your non-conference schedule includes games against Rutgers/Arkansas/Xavier/LSU, as well as several great teams in the Maui Invitational: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? LSU will be a great test for us because it is on the road and is right before we start conference play. Maui will be tough with 3 games in a row, but we want to get off to a good start against LSU before starting conference play.
You return each of your top-5 scorers from last year: how crucial will all of that experience be to your team’s success this year? It is very important for us because we will not need to spend all day teaching the players what to do. We expect more from our veteran guys and we expect them to finish games strong this year.
1 of your incoming freshmen is Anthony Bilas, whose father Jay is an analyst for ESPN: are you worried that if he does not get enough playing time that your coaching staff might get called out on national TV?! Maybe in a joking fashion, but not really. I guess we can hold him hostage if his dad says anything negative about us!
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? We will be better later in the year because while our freshmen are talented, they are also young. We want to be in contention in the ACC and finish in the middle of the pack or higher to show some growth. I think we have a chance to win a lot more than 13 games this year.