The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The East Regional is taking place in Washington, DC this weekend and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is all over it and covering all of the angles so you can look forward to a cascade of coverage in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage by chatting with as many LSU players as possible after they finished practice.
Let’s do this:
If you like large smelly sneakers then this is the place for you:
SO PG Tremont Waters was unavailable because he was on the podium with JR SG Skylar Mays/FR PF Naz Reid but at least he can easily find his locker afterward:
SR PF Kavell Bigby-Williams has an awesome accent because he was born in London. He said that the key lesson he learned from playing in the 2017 Final 4 with Oregon is to stay in the moment and play each game like it is your last. 1 of his cousins is 3-time world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis but sadly they are distant cousins and do not talk very much. He said there has been no problems with all of the off-court obstacles because all of the adversity that they faced has made them even tougher. He admitted that Michigan State is a physical team with great guard play and will be a tough match-up.
I tried to get JR SG Marlon Taylor to confirm that his rumored 50” vertical leap is indeed true but he smiled and just stated that his athleticism helps him defend/rebound.
I was unsure whether to ask JR SG Marshall Graves about receiving deceased teammate Wayde Sims’ scholarship right before Christmas. He said it was okay to ask because it is definitely an honor, although at 1st he was unsure if he was worthy. Sims was also his high school teammate for 2 years and now everyone at LSU plays hard for him. He said that Sims was the same at LSU as he was in high school: always laughing, a jokester who brought positive energy to the team. Marshall is well-aware that Tom Izzo is a Hall of Fame coach and the Spartans like to get out and run thanks to the good guard play of Cassius Winston. However, he feels that all of the Tigers’ guards are good and it will definitely be a team effort to try to stop Winston. He said that Coach Will Wade remains the foundation of the team who changed the whole culture into something that will last. They have avoided all the distractions because they are a close-knit group whose great chemistry will help them get through anything.
If you like 2-sport athletes then may I introduced you to SO SG Will Reese…who was a pitcher on the LSU baseball team before walking-on to basketball team. He said that making the 2017 College World Series Finals before losing to Florida was very similar to the Sweet 16 in terms of the attention/excitement surrounding each sport’s postseason. He believes that another big similarity between his 2 tourney runs is that both teams played their best toward the end of the season with everyone coming together both on the diamond/court as well as in the locker room. When he 1st thought about switching sports he met with both the basketball/baseball coaches and felt comfortable because he knew another player who had previously walked-on to the basketball team. He admits that any Tom Izzo team will be really talented and play extremely hard…as will his team.
This time last year SO SF Courtese Cooper was busy winning the NJCAA D-2 national title at Triton College. He says that his prior squad and his current team are similar in terms of their togetherness. His birthday is next week and he hopes to spend it at the Final 4! He knows that Michigan State has a lot of big guys and a score-1st PG so they will need to corral Winston with some really good defense. He assumes that Skylar Mays will be the primary player guarding Winston.
The player who is having the most fun today is FR SF Emmitt Williams…but beware of pissing him off. He was not invited to the 2018 McDonald’s All-American Game and took out his frustration on the competition at the Jordan Brand Classic by scoring 44 PTS to break the scoring record set by some old guy who never even played in the NCAA tourney: LeBron James! He did not watch the McDonald’s Game last night because he was tired but referred to MVP Cole Anthony as his “little bro”. He is not overly-concerned about stopping Winston because in his opinion his team has the best PG in Skylar Mays. Everyone on campus has been showing the team love this week but it is nothing new because it has been that way all season. 1 reason he is looking forward to facing the Spartans is because his favorite player is Draymond Green. To avoid distractions the team is taking things 1 game at a time while acknowledging the great opportunity that lies ahead of them. They will focus on what is important and just try to win their next game. I noticed that he wears a wristband in honor of Wayde Sims:
1 player who is no stranger to the DC/MD/VA area is FR SF Aundre Hyatt, who played the previous 2 years for the Miller School in Charlottesville and was named the 2018 Virginia state POY after winning a state title. He said that coming back to DC feels like home and he is happy to be back. He admitted that he faced good competition in Charlottesville but instead of UVA he visited Virginia Tech when looking at colleges. He hopes that the Hokies beat Duke in the other regional semifinal because they play at a fast pace just like his team does:
FR SG Ja’vonte Smart was in the news earlier this month due to a suspension but seems to have gotten back on track He says despite all of the off-court drama the team will keep fighting because they believe in each other. At the 2015 U16 FIBA Americas Championship he won a gold medal for team USA with roommate Tre Jones (who now plays for Duke): they are really good friends and if they end up facing each other in the Elite 8 on Sunday then he said he will have to do some talking! He understands that Michigan State has really good big men in addition to Winston. The mood on campus is good so he has been able to focus on going to class this week and getting his grades up. Even with Coach Tony Benford subbing in to run things on the sideline the game plan stays the same and he will have the same routine.
The 3 podium players returned at the end of our allotted 30 minutes but there was a sea of humanity around each of them:
Mays: 
Waters: 
Reid: 
That’s all for now, check back later for continuing coverage.