Flint, MI has receive a lot of bad press over the past few months, but at least 1 good thing to come out of Flint is Deondre Parks. Last week he scored 14 PTS to help lead the Jackrabbits to an 8-PT win over North Dakota State in the Summit tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. South Dakota State won a game in the 2015 NIT, so we shall see if they can win another postseason game on Friday against Maryland. Yesterday HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Deondre about the water in Flint and the rebounding in Brookings.
You grew up in Flint, MI, where 2 of your younger brothers have tested positive for lead poisoning: how did you feel after learning the truth about the city’s water situation over the past few months? I felt great that the news finally came out so that they will start doing something about it: we need justice to be done for what has happened.
Last year you were named Summit League Newcomer of the Year: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? The guys knew how I played and just helped me get comfortable with the system so that I could be a great leader/teammate. I give a lot of credit to them for helping me out.
Last March in the NIT you scored 17 PTS in a win at Colorado State before scoring 10 PTS in a loss at Vandy: what did you learn from that experience that you think will help you in the postseason this year? We learned that anyone can be beat so you cannot take anyone lightly. We will compete at a high level against whoever we play and it gave us a lot of confidence to play free.
You play for Coach Scott Nagy, who is the winningest coach in school history: what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He loves his guys: he meets with us individually to see what is going on in our lives and has helped me become a better man.
You played several good teams in non-conference play this season including Weber State/Texas Tech/FGCU: which of these teams impressed you the most? I would say Texas Tech: they have a great coach in Tubby Smith and some great players as well. They are tough and sooner or later they will be among the top teams in the Big 12.
On Tuesday you scored 14 PTS to help clinch an 8-PT win over North Dakota State and ended up being named to the All-Tourney team: were you out for revenge after a 1-PT loss to the Bison in last year’s title game, and what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? I would not call it a revenge game: we got over it and we had some tough games to win the title this year. It is great to go to the NCAA tourney with these guys to end my career.
In the past week PF Mike Daum has been named conference ROY/conference 6th Man of Year/conference tourney MVP: what kind of relationship have you developed with your star freshman as the senior leader? I just tell him to stay aggressive. He is a hell of a player even as a freshman so if he keeps getting better each day he will be unstoppable. He is our main post presence so when I get him the ball he scores down low: he is a great listener.
Your team is among the top-30 in the nation in REB but Daum leads the team with only 6.1 RPG: how is your team able to dominate on the boards despite not having a single dominant rebounder? We just call it gang-rebounding. We have guys who have a great nose for the ball and we all try to rebound because we know that we are undersized. Coach also emphasizes that at practice.
Your teammate George Marshall played in the 2013 NCAA tourney with Wisconsin before becoming a Jackrabbit and assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft made 4 straight NCAA tourneys as a player for the Badgers from 2006-2009: have either of them given the team any advice about what to expect next week? George has been telling us how much fun it is, as has Coach Krabbenhoft. We are just ready to play and need to keep our heads straight and be ready to compete.
You ended up with a #12-seed and will play Maryland on Friday in Spokane: do you think you deserved a higher seed, and how are you preparing to face the Terps? We do not mind the seed we got: everyone knows that we can play. If we have confidence and play good defense then we can compete with anybody. Maryland is a great team and we are looking forward to playing them.