This was supposed to be a big week for the Jones family. We have seen other coaching brothers make the NCAA tourney in recent years (Archie/Sean Miller, Bobby/Danny Hurley, etc.), but this was going to be the year of the Jones. Yale coach James Jones made the tourney last year and had a legendary upset of Baylor in 2016, and after 16 years as a head coach his brother James finally made it this year as coach at BU. Then the NCAA tourney was canceled and we were left to wonder “what if”. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our 7-part series of Joneses past and present by chatting with James about upsetting Baylor in the 2016 NCAA tourney and the impact of the coronavirus on college basketball.
You were a player/assistant for the legendary Doc Sauers at Albany: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He was dedicated to his craft and worked extremely hard. I learned about the importance of a strong work ethic from him more than anything else. He worked out every day and still does so today even in his 80s: staying in great physical condition is really important.
In the 2014 CIT title game your team had 52 REB but had their shots blocked 14 times in an 8-PT loss at Murray State: how close did you come to winning a title? Our best player Justin Sears was out after breaking his wrist in the semifinals. If we had him then we would have had a much better chance to win but we were still close.
In the 2016 NCAA tourney Makai Mason scored 31 PTS/11-11 FT in a 4-PT upset of Baylor: where does that game rank among the highlights of your career? It has to be at or near the top. It was the 1st NCAA tourney win in Yale history and Makai was spectacular in that game. It got our program on the map and moving in the right direction.
Each of your 1st 6 losses this season were by single-digits (including road games at Penn State/North Carolina): how exciting is it to coach a team that literally has a chance to win every single game it plays? It is a great feeling. We lost the regular season finale but had clinched the league title the night before. We had a great group who played really well together and defended/rebounded/shared.
You lost your regular season finale at Harvard but after the Ivy League canceled its postseason tourney you were awarded the conference’s auto-bid to the NCAA tourney: how did the team feel about the whole situation? It was kind of crazy: things were still evolving so we never knew what was going to happen. Our kids were saddened that the opportunity to celebrate a championship was taken away from us. At the same time, we reached our goal of qualifying for the NCAA tourney so we were elated about that.
Your brother Joe won the Patriot League title last week as head coach at BU: how excited was your entire family at the prospect of seeing the rest of college basketball trying to “keep up with the Joneses”?! It was short-lived but was great for our family. I saw a couple of brackets that had us in the same region, which meant that we might have been able to play each other in the Sweet 16. My dad lost a chance to peacock a little bit: Joe and I were going to fly him from 1 location to the next so he could watch all of our games in person. Our family followed us both throughout the year and were happy for our success.
What kind of seed do you think that you deserved? I have not given it a lot of thought but suspect that we would have been a 12 seed. At the beginning of the year I thought we would be good enough to win the conference. After a few games I really thought that we were good enough to win an NCAA tourney game, especially after we almost beat Penn State.
You just completed your 21st season as head coach at Yale: how have you been able to stick around for so long, and how much longer would you like to stick around for? My former athletic director who hired me had a lot of faith in me and we have had some success. I do not know how my career will end but I feel that I still have a lot of life left in me. I would like to win the most games of any coach in Ivy history but I just live day-to-day. It would be nice to challenge former Princeton coach Pete Carril and become the best of the best.
You will lose 2 senior starters this spring in Eric Monroe/Jordan Bruner but bring back almost everyone else (including 2020 conference co-POY Paul Atkinson/2020 conference co-DPOY Jalen Gabbidon): how do you like your chances for next season? I feel great about our chances! We will also return a 1st-team All-Ivy player in Azar Swain. We just need to have the right guys who are willing to sacrifice to be successful like Eric/Jordan did.
Any thoughts on the impact of the coronavirus on college basketball this month? It has affected all of our lives: athletics is just a small part of it. It has jeopardized many people’s lives and caused a lot of people to get out of sorts. There is no meat or canned goods at the supermarket. I had a friend in the Army Reserve who once told me that the biggest problem in a situation like this is feeding ourselves. I hope that we can get back to some sense of normalcy in a couple of months: it has been an eye-opening experience.