Last Friday Miami lost to Duke 85-78 in the ACC tourney semifinals but still earned an at-large bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Hurricanes made the Elite 8 last March and have now clinched the school’s 2nd straight NCAA tourney bid. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Miami associate head coach Bill Courtney about playing against Jim Boeheim in the NCAA tourney.
You were a 2-time 1st-Team All-Patriot League player at Bucknell: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? I had a great experience playing for Coach Charlie Woollum all 4 years. I did not play much as a freshman but by my senior year I was 1 of the leaders.
You were also captain for 2 years: what is the secret to being a good leader? You need to be a hard worker, which was a big thing for me. I prided myself in being 1 of the hardest workers in the league so I put in the time to do that, which allowed me to gain confidence. My teammates did not love it when I pushed them into the gym but I just tried to lead them in the right direction.
In the 1989 NCAA tourney you scored 2 PTS in a loss to Syracuse: what was it like to face Jim Boeheim in the postseason, and can you believe that he finally retired last week? How about that!? I was so young as a freshman that I did not know how to handle their zone defense. Sherman Douglas was my favorite player growing up in DC so it was a thrill to actually play against him. Coach Boeheim was a legend even back then and now my friend Adrian Autry has taken over for him. Adrian was our director of basketball operation at Virginia Tech in 2010 while I was an assistant to Seth Greenberg!
In 2007 you were named to the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? It is right near the top. I have a great affinity for the place so to share that honor with my wife/2 boys was awesome. They had always heard that I could play but never actually thought that I could play!
You work for Jim Larranaga at Miami after having previously been his assistant at Bowling Green/George Mason: what makes him such a great coach, and what kind of bond have you 2 developed over the past 3 decades? He is not only my mentor but 1 of my best friends/father figures: he has been everything in my life since he hired me at age 26. I coached his son Jay, who remains 1 of my best friends and was the 1st person I hired when I became head coach at Cornell. We had a couple of years at the beginning here that we struggled but are succeeding now because he is 1 of the best to ever do it. He has built programs/teams everywhere he has been and done a remarkable job of having the same values/ethics throughout his life to do it the right way.
In 2022 you made the Elite 8 before losing to eventual champion Kansas: what did your team learn from that run that you think will help them this year? You need to have fun with it! We had more fun than anyone last year and felt loose/confident, which is also how we played. Coach gives his players the confidence to do their best so we will do what we have done all year to have success.
This will be the 10th postseason appearance of your coaching career: what is the key to winning games in March? If you start to try new things then it can hurt you a bit. Everyone always says “guard play”, which I agree is extremely important at tournament time since most of the games are close. You need guys who can make plays at the end of the game and the ball is in their hands. A lot of the big shots in tourney history were made by guards. We started 4 guards last year who were all tremendous at making plays down the stretch.
You are known as a great recruiter: what impact has NIL money had on your ability to recruit players (if any)? It has made things more complicated, for sure. Every state has different laws and every program has a different way of doing things. We have not been involved in that as a coaching staff because Florida state laws do not allow it: we just recruit normally as we always do.
Your team was top-25 in the nation this year in both PPG/FT%: how were you able to have such an amazing offense despite having only 1 SR on the roster (Jordan Miller)? What really helped us was recruiting very unselfish kids, as well as getting players via the transfer portal who were great teammates and willing to share the ball. We have 1000-PT scorers who will turn down a good shot for a better shot. Isaiah Wong is 1 of the best scorers in school history…but is also 1 of the best AST guys on our team.
How do you feel about being a 5 seed, and what do you know about Drake? Drake is very good! We played in the same tourney in Orlando with them last year and they have a very veteran team. Tucker DeVries is probably going to become a long-time NBA player and they do not make a lot of mistakes. They are very efficient on offense and Darian DeVries is a terrific coach so we have our work cut out for us. The MVC has always been an underrated league.