We are still about 5 weeks away from the tip-off of the college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to prepare for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Ball State coach Michael Lewis, who talked about winning 20 games last year and his expectations for this season.
Your 2138 career PTS at Jasper High School was #13 all-time in Indiana state history: what is the key to being a good scorer? Good teammates! In high school I had the opportunity to play at an early age and I knew what I could and could not accomplish on the court.
You played for Bob Knight at Indiana and worked for him as a grad assistant at Texas Tech: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He was able to win all of those games while only coaching 1 future NBA All-Star (Isiah Thomas). He saw things in his players that we did not see in ourselves and pushed us to do great things. He never allowed good to be good enough as we played outside our comfort zone. The most important thing I learned was a level of accountability to myself, which allows you to demand it from others.
In the 1998 NCAA tourney you scored 2 PTS in a 7-PT OT win over Oklahoma: how were you able to get refocused after blowing a 19-PT lead with 13 minutes to go? I just remember that we played Oklahoma.
Your 545 AST remains #2 in school history: what is the key to being a good PG? Good teammates! It forced me to see the game differently and has allowed me to coach. For us to be as good as we could be I had to play a role that I was unaccustomed to coming out of high school. I had great shooters around me and that was how I could best help us win.
In the 2021 Final 4 as an assistant to Mick Cronin at UCLA, Jalen Suggs scored 16 PTS including the game-winning 40-foot buzzer-beater in a 3-PT OT win by Gonzaga: where does that rank among the most amazing shots that you have ever seen? It was not really amazing to me because I was on the other end of it! It was a high-level game with great shot-making by both teams: it was 1 of the best tourney games of all-time.
You were hired as head coach of Ball State in March of 2022: what was the best part of Year #1? The best thing we did last year (aside from winning 20 games) was that we reestablished a pride/excitement in the program that we have not had here in 2 decades. The community/state took notice: it is our job to get back to that by continuing to build off our success last year.
Your 23 FTA/game was #4 in the nation: how crucial is that to your team’s success? I think that it was big. It causes a lot of problems and puts a lot of stress on the other team. Our roster looks very different this year: we do not have a 6’7”/250-pound bully on the block (Payton Sparks). 1 of the things I believe in is to get easy points at the FT line.
You were 20-8 in late-February before losing your final 3 regular season games and then your conference tourney opener: what happened, and how will you get back on track this year? We did not play with a full roster in any of those games, as we had some all-conference players out due to injury. When you take 1 of the top-10 players in the conference off your roster it is not good, especially when you lack depth.
You have 1 grad student and no seniors on your roster: have you figured out yet who will be your team leader? You look right to the returners. JR Basheer Jihad is due for a big year even though he is just 19 years old: I expect him to make a jump. JR Mickey Pearson Jr. does his job at a high level and has improved during the off-season. We will rely on those guys but our 5 freshmen will quickly have to become semi-sophomores as they get thrown in the fire right away.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? I expect us to compete and play hard and be well-prepared. I think we will be hard to score on and hard to guard even though we look different schematically from a year ago.