Season Preview: HoopsHD interviews UCLA associate head coach Darren Savino

Posted on October 8, 2023 by Jon Teitel

We are still about 4 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 UCLA associate head coach Darren Savino, who talked about making 3 straight Sweet 16s and his expectations for this season.

You played for Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley Sr. at St. Anthony High School: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He is arguably 1 of the best coaches in basketball history. I learned so much from him such as focusing on the competitive drive/hunger of a team: that really stands out. Our team just refused to lose because of how he pushed us/coached us.

In 1989 your team won the USA Today national title: what was Bobby Hurley like back in the day, and what is it like to face him now when you play ASU? Bobby and I are childhood friends so we go back to age 5-6 when we lived on the same block in New Jersey. It is not fun to play ASU but I definitely see similarities between his own defense and his dad’s defense: great intensity.

You were an assistant to Mick Cronin at Cincinnati/Murray State and are now on his staff at UCLA: how close have you 2 grown during the past 2 decades? We have a good relationship after having worked together for so long. I am close to his family but this is a business so I try to separate the 2 because I have to do the best I can to help our team be successful.

You have made 3 straight Sweet 16s but had your season ended by Gonzaga on deep 3-PT shots in the final seconds in both 2021/2023: is there anything more that you can do as a coach or do you just give a tip of the cap to Jalen Suggs/Julian Strawther and hope that the 3rd time’s the charm sometime in the future? It stinks to lose that way but I have been on the other side of it when we won games on last-second shots. You go back through the film to see where you could have gotten a stop. I do not know if it is bad luck but we made a lot of defensive mistakes in the 2nd half last March and it was a tough way to lose.

In addition to the Maui Invitational your schedule includes games against Villanova/Ohio State/Maryland: how will you try to survive that gauntlet of big-time opponents? It is a tough schedule: the Maui Invitational is extremely loaded this year (including Gonzaga/Kansas/Marquette/Purdue/Syracuse/Tennessee). We are such a young team so we are focusing on the day-to-day. We just need to worry about our 1st scrimmage/exhibition and then build off that, and hopefully we can compete with those teams.

You lost each of your top-5 scorers from last year (Jaime Jaquez/Tyger Campbell/Jaylen Clark/Amari Bailey/David Singleton): how will you try to replace all of that offense? We are so young that we are solely focused on teaching winning habits: defense, rebounding, etc. The past 2 years we had older players who already knew what a winning team looks like…but our current guys do not know that yet. The scoring will just happen via guys like Dylan Andrews.

You have 1 5th-year player/no seniors/1 redshirt junior/1 junior: have you figured out yet who is going to be your team’s leader? Lazar Stefanovic is an older player who is a really great leader. Even though he is new to our team he has fit into that leadership role 100%. Adem Bona has a work ethic that is unmatched and is a very vocal guy. We do have a core of upperclassmen who are good guys and want to win.

Your team got to travel to Spain in August: what was the best part of the trip? The food…although I do not know if the kids would agree because they would rather have McDonald’s! We could not have drawn it up any better because we have some international players (including guys from Nigeria/France/Turkey/Serbia/Spain/Slovenia). The chance to bond off the court and outside the weight room helped speed everything up. Spain is beautiful and everyone really enjoyed it.

The Bruins will be switching conferences next year: how do you feel about moving to the Big 10 and the implosion of the Pac-12? I do not want to even think about playing at Villanova this year, much less the entire Big 10 next year! We are bringing some familiar faces with us in USC/Oregon/Washington. It will be extremely challenging but is a great branding opportunity for everyone. It is sad that an elite conference like the Pac-12 might be coming to an end but as coaches we just focus on the positives.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? Mick always says that the goal is to get to a Final 4 and win a national title. I know we have talented/great guys who are listening to what we are teaching them so it just depends on how fast they can grow. Once you get in the NCAA tourney you have a chance: just look at what we did in 2021 (going from the 1st 4 to the Final 4).

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Season Preview: HoopsHD interviews Ball State coach Michael Lewis

Posted on October 7, 2023 by Jon Teitel

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.

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Season Preview: HoopsHD interviews Kansas State SR C Ayoka Lee

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Jon Teitel

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 Kansas State SR C Ayoka Lee, who talked about setting the D-1 scoring record in 2021 and her expectations for this season.

At 6’6” you are the 2nd-tallest female player in Kansas State history: how much of an advantage is your size on the court? Obviously, height is something that is desired in many sports and by a lot of athletes as they grow up…but I know a lot of tall individuals who do not have an athletic bone in their body! I do think my height gives me an advantage but only because I have been able to develop the skills to go with my height (for example, footwork, knowing where to keep the ball, and how to strategically post up). At this level when you are going against other centers your size and players who are extremely athletic, I do not believe height will get you that far without your skills being refined. I think minimizing it to just height disregards all of the developmental work every center must do to be successful.

In 2020 you averaged 15.7 PPG/11.4 RPG/3.1 BPG and were named conference ROY: how were you able to come in and dominate right from the start? A large part of the success I had my freshman year came from my redshirt year and having a full year to recover from my ACL and integrate myself into college basketball. Being able to focus solely on getting stronger while developing/fine-tuning my skills set me up for great success that first year.

On January 23, 2021, you set a D-1 record with 61 PTS/23-30 FG/15-17 FT/12 REB vs. Oklahoma: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”, and do you think that anyone will ever break your record? Going into that Oklahoma game I remember being very locked into our scouting for that game and our game plan to beat Oklahoma. More than anything that is where my focus was, and out of that preparation/mindset I was able to be really successful on the offensive side as well. There were a lot of variables that had to go right for me to break the record and it is such an amazing honor that it did. To take all of the credit or attribute it to me just being “in the zone” would not be fair to my teammates and how well they played that game. To be given the ball that many times to get enough attempts to break the record in my mind is a show of their selflessness and trust in me. I believe that it is possible for someone to break it: selfishly it would be nice to hold onto it for a while…but when the time comes I will share in celebrating whoever breaks it.

You were named All-American in both 2021/2022: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? I believe it is an amazing blessing for my name to be mentioned among some of the best players in women’s basketball. It was really amazing to see my hard work be recognized with that high of an honor.

You are also a 2-time Academic All-American with a degree in psychology and are pursuing a master’s in couples and family therapy: how do you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? Managing both grad school and basketball is a challenge. For me it takes a lot of planning ahead, communicating with my coaches/professors, and asking for help when I need it. It can be easy to get overwhelmed with all of it when demands are high on both sides, and while it has been really humbling it has also helped me grow in a lot of areas.

You are 1 of 3 seniors/grad students on the roster: how much pressure is there on you to be a leader this year? Due to being in the same program for so long I have been able to see what it takes from the upperclassmen to be successful and fill their roles well. The teammates I have had in the past have set the standard for what it looks like to be a leader. In my mind it is more about responsibility than pressure because I know what it takes to be successful at this level and I want to be able to pass that knowledge on to our underclassmen.

Your schedule includes games against Iowa/Wisconsin/Missouri and perhaps North Carolina: which of these games do you feel will present your biggest test? Each of these games will pose their own challenges and I know my teammates and I are excited to take on each one. Two of these teams (Iowa/Wisconsin) we played last year so it is always fun to have them on the schedule for another year, and the other two teams will be fun to play in some fun places (Missouri on the Kansas-Missouri border and North Carolina in Florida).

You had a birthday last month: what did you do for the big day? Summer was really busy for me so this year I wanted to do something more laid back. I was lucky enough to get out of town and spend the weekend with some good friends.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? I have really high expectations for myself and my teammates this season. We have a lot of great pieces and the opportunity to have a great postseason. As far as goals, getting back to the NCAA tournament is a big one for me.

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SWAC Media Day Recap and Response

Posted on October 5, 2023 by David Griggs

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SWAC MEDIA DAY PRESEASON POLL:

  1. Texas Southern
  2. Grambling
  3. Alcorn State
  4. Jackson State
  5. Southern
  6. Prairie View A&M
  7. Alabama A&M
  8. Alabama State
  9. Bethune-Cookman
  10. Arkansas Pine Bluff
  11. Florida A&M
  12. Mississippi Valley State

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL SWAC 1ST TEAM:

-Zion Harmon – Bethune-Cookman
-Jeremiah Kendall – Alcorn State
-PJ Henry – Texas Southern (Preseason Player of the Year)
-Chase Adams – Jackson State
-Kylen Milton – Arkansas Pine Bluff

MEDIA DAY PRESEASON ALL SWAC 2ND TEAM:

-Romelle Mansel – Jackson State
-Ken Evans – Jackson State
-Joe French – Arkansas Pine Bluff
-TJ Madlock – Alabama State
-Jourdan Smith – Grambling

 

COMMENTS FROM DAVID:

The SWAC is perennially one of the worst conferences in all of D1, and you have to go back to 2015 to find the last time the SWAC champion received a seed that was better than 16th.  It is also very difficult to tell how good these teams are before conference play (at least when trying to compare them to each other) since the vast majority of their schedules are made up of road buy-games.  But, as poor as this league is, they did manage three wins against Pac-12 teams in last year’s Legacy Series with Grambling knocking off Colorado, Texas Southern beating Arizona State, and Prairie View knocking off Wazzu.  All three wins came at home, and the series was actually a 3-3 tie with the Pac 12!  So, even when playing against SWAC teams, it is hard to win on the road!

-Texas Southern had an unspectacular season last year where they finished the regular season 7-11 in SWAC play, and were as low as 8th in the standings…but they won when it counted.  After barely making the SWAC Tournament, they won three straight games and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the 7th time in the last 9 years.  They are this year’s preseason favorite, which makes sense because they have been the flagship program for the past decade, but they are not the team I would personally pick.  Still, they do have two starters back, and should get big time minutes from Jaylen Wysinger, who is a transfer from Incarnate Word.  Like a lot of teams these days, they look to their transfers to play key roles.

-Grambling finished in a tie for first last year, and I am once again excited about this team.  It has been fun watching them go from being one of the worst teams in the SWAC, and for that matter in all of D1, to a conference contender.  This is an experienced team that has two key starters back, and is adding some key JUCO transfers as well and I think they will once again be dangerous.  They are balanced, have depth, and will likely again finish at or near the top.

-Alcorn State also finished in a tie for first last year, and has some key players returning, including three starters.  They appear to be particularly strong and experienced in the backcourt, and also have Jeremiah Kendall returning, who should be one of the better frontcourt players in the entire conference.

-I am a little surprised Jackson State is only picked 4th.  They were a modest 12-6 in SWAC play last year, but they were absolutely on fire in the second half of conference play winning 8 out of 9 before losing to Grambling in the semifinals.  All five starters are back.  They have talent.  They have experience.  They are dangerous and I think they are good enough to win the league.  My pick is still Grambling…but I really like this Jackson State team as well.

-Southern, like a lot of teams, is in a bit of a reboot mode with just one starter returning from last year.  They do have some guys back that came off the bench last year and who could end up playing a bigger role this year, and they also add Tai’Reon Joseph, who averaged over 26ppg as a JUCO player a year ago.  So, the Jaguars do have some pieces.

-Prairie View is rebuilding from a 13-win season that saw them go 9-9 in SWAC play.  All five starters are gone, and they have gone into the transfer portal where they picked up players who appeared to play limited roles at UTR schools last year.  I do not think they will be at the bottom of the league, but I do not see them at the top of it either.

-Alabama A&M finished the season fairly respectably last year by winning 5 of their last 7 before losing in the semis of the SWAC Tournament.  With three starters back and some decent looking JUCO transfers I think they can finish in the top half of the conference this year.

After that, it appears to be a rather big dip…

-Alabama State won just 7 D1 games last year, and while they have three starters back it could once again be a long season.

-Bethune-Cookman looks a little better to me then where they were picked in the preseason.  They did kind of collapse in the month of February, but finished the season by winning three of their last five. Three key players are back, including two double-digit scorers, and I think they can contend to at least finish in the middle of the conference.

-Arkansas Pine Bluff finished 9th last year and looks to be about in that range again this year.  They were noticeably better last year than they had been the previous three years, so perhaps that trend will continue and they will finish higher than expected.

-Florida A&M appears to be among the worst ten teams in all of D1.

-Mississippi Valley State has won a total of 13 games in the last four seasons, and once again looks to be among the worst in all of D1.

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Season Preview: HoopsHD interviews Hawaii JR G Lily Wahinekapu

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Jon Teitel

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 Hawaii JR G Lily Wahinekapu, who talked about making the NCAA tourney last March and her expectations for this season.

You were born in Oahu: how did you enjoy growing up in an island paradise?! I loved growing up in Hawaii. It is very family-oriented and there is sunshine all year so it is a great place to grow up.

You are 5’7”: do you see your size as an advantage or a disadvantage on the court? Size does not really matter: even though I am not tall I am 1 of the fastest players on the court. Growing up some people said I could not play basketball due to my height…but I can!

You began your college career at Fullerton, where you scored 14.7 PPG as a freshman en route to being named 2022 conference ROY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It meant a lot to prove to myself/my family what I could do. I missed my senior season of high school when it was canceled due to COVID so I just worked out every day, and that was 1 of the goals I wrote down on paper.

Why did you decide to transfer, and what made you choose Hawaii? There were a lot of reasons to choose Hawaii but ultimately I did so because it was home. My sister committed here and it was our dream to play together. I was kind of homesick in California but having my family at my games now is very important to me.

Last year you led the team in PTS/AST/STL: what is the key to being a good PG? I am just trying to focus on improving the little things. I can communicate better with my teammates now after spending a year in our system. I want to be a more vocal leader: we push each other during practice and have worked on our weaknesses.

Take me through the 2023 postseason:
In the Big West tourney quarterfinals you scored a team-high 20 PTS in a 7-PT 2-OT win over Fullerton: how exhausted were you after playing 47 minutes vs. your former team? Very exhausted: it was a long game! Both teams were hitting shots so it was a tough game but I was proud to face my old team. There were no hard feelings and we wished the best for each other. I had to get in the ice bath after the game: the travel to Vegas took a lot of toll on my body.

In the Big West tourney title game you had 19 PTS/0 TO in a 2-PT win over UCSB: how were you able to erase a 15-PT 2nd half deficit, and what did it mean to you to win a title? The 1st half did not really go our way so we just tried to stay positive and take it 1 PT at a time in the 2nd half. We tightened up on defense, hit some shots, and tried to work smarter/faster. We made a run in the final quarter and it felt really good. It was a tough year due to all of our team’s injuries but the title made it worthwhile. I hope we can do it again this season.

In the NCAA tourney you scored 11 PTS in a loss to eventual champion LSU: where does tourney MOP Angel Reese (34 PTS/13-20 FG/15 REB/3 BLK/3 STL) rank among the greatest college players that you have ever seen? She is definitely in the top-25. She is very athletic/tall and pursues the ball very well.

1 of your teammates is your younger sister Jovi: who is the best athlete in the family? It is definitely me, even though I am the shortest. She is faster and we push each other: I would not be here if she were not here with me.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? Our overall goal is to win another Big West title and advance to the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney. I would like to increase my PPG/APG and advance all of my numbers.

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Season Preview: HoopsHD interviews San Diego State women’s assistant coach Kellie Lewis

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Jon Teitel

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 San Diego State women’s assistant coach Kellie Lewis, who talked about making the WNIT last March and her expectations for this season.

You grew up in California and won 4 Sierra Foothill League Championships as a player at Placer High School: how big a deal was it to later become the 1st women’s basketball player inducted into your school’s athletic Hall of Fame? It is probably top-2 among my life accomplishments. We have had some really good players come through the school and even a couple who won a state title.

You were a 2-time captain as a player at Boise State: what is the key to being a good leader? As a PG I naturally had to lead from that position. You need to know your system, communicate what your coaches want, and pick things up quickly.

You majored in social science/public affairs with an emphasis in sociology/psychology: which of those subjects serves you best as a basketball coach? Definitely the psychology part. It was a long time ago but learning/reading people and figuring out what motivates them is very important.

You were a 4-time all-conference all-academic selection: how did you balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? I would like to give a profound answer…but academics just came easily to me. I had some high goals during high school and pushed myself hard to reach them, which made the transition to college easier, as did the fact that I enjoyed my classes.

You remain #4 in school history with 80.7 FT%: what is the secret to making FTs? The best part of my game was my ability to shoot so that was a stat that made sense for me. I did not get rattled under pressure, which has also helped me as a coach, so I was able to maintain my confidence.

In 2012 you were named head coach at FAU: what is the biggest difference between being a head coach vs. being an assistant coach? You have to carry so many other things on your plate as a head coach and so little of it involves what goes on between the lines. You cannot really understand all of it until you are thrown into it. There are so many other things to manage/deal with so as an assistant I try to make the head coach’s job as easy as it can be.

At FAU your team had the 2nd-highest scoring offense in school history, and as an assistant at Colorado State your team had the 2nd-fewest turnovers/game in the nation: is it easier to teach players how to score or how to not turn the ball over? I think it is hard to teach them how to take care of the ball. At FAU I had players with certain skill sets that I could build around, which seemed easier.

Last spring your women’s team at San Diego State made the WNIT and your men’s team made the NCAA title game: how excited was the city to see both teams having such success simultaneously? It was awesome: kudos to the men for their unbelievable run! It was not surprising to me because those players are in the gym all the time. We had a lot of 5th-year seniors using their COVID year and they deserved to go out by making it to the postseason. The way that the fans got behind both teams was pretty cool.

You have 6 seniors on the roster: how crucial will all of that experience be to your team’s success? They will be a big piece of who we are. We have added some transfers as well but the biggest thing is to get everyone on the same page. We do not have to coach effort so once they understand what we are trying to do that leadership will be big for us.

What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? The #1 expectation is to compete/play hard, and then the rest will take care of itself. We will celebrate the big/small victories and will continue to get better every day by excelling at the little things.

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