We are less than 2 weeks away from the tip-off of the new college basketball season, which means that we still have a little time left 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 San Diego coach Steve Lavin, who talked about winning games in March and his expectations for this season.
You have made 10 postseason appearances as a head coach and won at least 1 game in 7 of those 10 appearances: what is the key to winning games in March? The most important element is playing your best basketball at the right time of year. There are 3 stages to a season: non-conference play (where we will test ourselves and put the foundation in place), conference play, and the postseason. You must be at your best when your best is needed…but you still need to take care of business in November/December.
You won the 1995 NCAA title as an assistant to Jim Harrick at UCLA, in large part due to Tyus Edney’s game-winning layup that beat Missouri in the 2nd round (www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS8QCoYfzW8): what is it like to face Tyus multiple times/year now that he is an assistant to Ed Schilling at Pepperdine? Tyus is 1 of my favorite people in the world. He changed our lives with that mad dash in 1995, and it is something that our fans will remember forever. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to coach him because he is a great human being and has a bright future in this business.
You have only 4 road games this season outside the state of California: is that a happy accident or do you prefer it to be that way? There is no doubt that it is an advantage when it comes to logistics, but we also head to the Northwest for road games in Seattle/Oregon. Our schedule checks a couple of boxes: we will be challenged by good competition and will have a chance to build a road-warrior mentality. I like our schedule for this year, but at some time in the future I would like to head to the East Coast or Midwest.
You had a birthday last month: what did you do for the big day? I was in San Francisco and got to see some family/friends (I grew up in the Bay Area). There was also some good wine from Napa involved!
After winning 18 games in 2024 you only won 6 games last season: what will it take to get back on track this season? It feels like a “relaunch” because it truly is. We have 14 new players and opened our new $35 million performance center last April. The NIL collective has allowed us to build a roster with the appropriate funding to compete. We have a great sense of optimism as our guys try to put a foundation in place and leave a legacy.
