The Olympians: HoopsHD interviews 2-time Olympic gold medalist Doug Bruno

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Jon Teitel

The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have won 15 gold medals in the 18 tournaments they have participated in during the past 84 years, while the women have won 8 gold medals in the 10 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 44 years. Those of you who were looking forward to the 2020 Olympics opening ceremonies in Tokyo on July 24, 2020 will have to wait an extra 364 days, as the coronavirus caused a postponement until July 23, 2021. Due to the absence of college basketball since mid-March, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel decided to fill the void by trying to interview as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible so that you have something to read this summer while not watching the Summer Games. We continue our coverage by chatting with Doug Bruno about winning a pair of gold medals in 2012/2016. Today marks the 4th anniversary of team USA beating Spain 101-72 to clinch a gold medal in 2016.

 

You played for Hall of Fame coach Ray Meyer at DePaul: what made him such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He gave me an opportunity to play and I am so blessed. He was an unbelievable competitor and just good to/for people. I was never 1 of the best players but he said that I was 1 of the hardest workers he ever had and I am very proud of that. Back then the Bulls practiced right after we did and 1 of their players who befriended me was Jerry Sloan, who just passed away. He would stick around and play 2-on-2 with the college kids. After I became a coach we did camps together: he was such a giving person that it was his idea to call it the Bruno-Sloan camp. Everything I have in basketball I got from Ray. Jerry is in the Hall of Fame as a coach but was also a really really good player and great defender. He would not shave and eat a raw onion before every game so that it would give him an edge over his opponent! He was unbelievably competitive and if they kept stats for on-the-ball charges he would have led the league every season.

On December 9, 1978, you were coach of the Chicago Hustle when you beat the Milwaukee Does 92-87 in the very 1st women’s professional basketball game in the United States: how big a deal was it at the time, and were you ready to be a pro basketball coach at the tender age of 27? When you are 27 you feel that you can do anything but in hindsight I probably was not even close to being ready. I do not know about the impact but we played at the old Milwaukee Arena that Al McGuire would sell out when he was coaching at Marquette. I had played there before so I knew the arena. My 5 starters were pioneers in their own right: it was not like the WNBA.

You later spent 8 years as associate men’s head coach at Loyola-Chicago: what is the biggest difference between coaching men and coaching women? When you talk about strength up the middle of an athlete (head/heart/guts), there is no difference because it transcends gender. There are some physical differences on the court that allow you to do things a little differently but from a pure coaching perspective I always treated my women’s team the same as a men’s team: preparation/workload/etc. Some men’s players have the misconception that athleticism means you do not need to learn the fundamentals. The best ones understand that you need to build the foundation from the ground up, even though fans/media watch the game from the rim down. I remember watching the “Last Dance”: all of Michael Jordan’s movements were grounded in well-executed/fundamental footwork. Women do not think “I am athletic: therefore I am”.

In November of 2011 your alma mater named the court at McGrath-Phillips Arena after you: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? I was really touched/honored but I tried to give it back so they could do it again when my career was done. There were 4-5 boosters who put some substantial dollars into our program to make that happen because they wanted to do something for me. I do not want a car/house: I would rather have something go into the program so I am prouder that these generous benefactors helped out our program.

Take me through the 2014 NCAA tourney as coach at DePaul:
You had a 104-100 win over Oklahoma: how was your blood pressure doing by the end of the highest-scoring regulation game in NCAA women’s tourney history? Coach Sherri Coale and I have a similar philosophy so it was 1 of those games where we both just let it rip. Tourney games tend to be lower-scoring but it was a great ballgame.

Your team made a season-high 14 threes in a 9-PT upset of #2-seed Duke: where does getting your 600th career win at Cameron Indoor Stadium rank among the highlights of your career? I do not keep track of such things as they are happening but will appreciate it after the fact. To beat a storied program like Duke on their home court as a lower seed was my only concern: you are really in survive-and-advance mode. I just remember being excited for my players in the moment: that is what I remember about that game.

You were an assistant to Geno Auriemma with team USA at the 2012/2016 Olympics: how did you like working for Geno, and what did it mean to you to win a pair of gold medals? It is an honor to work for USA Basketball. As a young coach I felt that I would do anything to join the staff. In February of 2006 I got a call in my office from Carol Callan at USA Basketball, who has been there for a long time. She said she would like me to be head coach of the U-18/U-19 teams and would give me a couple of days to think about it because it was a 2-year commitment. I told her that I only needed 3 seconds to agree to take the job! We had some great players like Tina Charles/Maya Moore and we won a pair of gold medals. A few years later I got a call from Geno asking if I would be interested in working for him. At the time the bylaws stated that the USA coaching staffs were made up of 3 pro coaches and 1 college coach but they eventually changed it to 2 from the WNBA and 2 from college. It was great to work with all of our staff members at every stage of the process. Jen Rizzotti/Chris Dailey also helped out with the program all the way through. The Olympics are the most celebrated athletic event in the world with something like 10,000 athletes from 200 countries. The World Championships are just basketball so they are a bigger deal inside FIBA, just as the World Cup is bigger within FIFA. The media has not celebrated the World Championships as much as they have celebrated the World Cup but FIBA has now changed the nomenclature to call it the World Cup. Geno was great to work with, as was Jerry Colangelo/Martin Dempsey. All of the men’s players like Kobe Bryant/LeBron James and the coaches like Mike Krzyzewski/Jim Boeheim treated us very well so it was fun. We also had some special players who made it worthwhile.

Your team has earned the BIG EAST Team Academic Award in 9 of the past 10 seasons for having the top GPA in the conference: how much importance do you place on academics? It is vitally important: we choose to coach college basketball because they are student-athletes. In the modern-day discussion about whether athletes should get paid the only way we can currently pay them is in the form of getting an education, so we need to maximize the opportunity that is offered to them.

You are 1 of 5 schools to have appeared in 17 straight NCAA Tournaments and with a 28-5 record this past season you were looking to make it 18 in a row before everything was cancelled in March due to the coronavirus: what was your reaction when you heard the news, and how has it affected your life either on or off the court? There were 8-9 schools who had already qualified by earning their way in, including us after winning our conference tourney on March 9th. You have to feel bad for all of your players who put their blood/guts into playing for a championship, especially our 2 special seniors in Kelly Campbell/Chante Stonewall who worked really hard to get there. We had a heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M a couple of years ago so we were really on a mission this year. We thought that we would be a top-4 seed in 1 of the regions and were really excited about getting the 1st 2 rounds at home. We would eventually have to play 1 of the juggernauts but were in a good place to win a tourney game. I also feel bad for the schools that would have been making the NCAA tourney for the very 1st time. As a coach you have to pull yourself together and explain to your team that a pandemic is bigger than sports. I had to help them put it in perspective during that infamous 24-48 hour window. After we won we ran out the door to recruit on March 10th/11th while our players were off and were getting ready for our 1st practice on the 12th when the news came out, so we just sat there as a team and talked about trying to manage our grief. It hurt to lose a game…but you have to truly grasp the bigger picture of families losing loved ones. Like everyone else I am spending more time with my family but I really miss the interaction with my players. Some people say that relationship-building occurs off the floor but it is interconnected to coaching them on the floor.

You ran a girls basketball camp every summer for the past 40 years: what makes your camp different from other camps? I have done camps for 43 years total: Coach Sloan and I did day camps for 3 years. My name is still on the brand but this is the 1st year I am not working the camp myself. I tried to coach every drill and work on the court with my players every day. We have been successful due to a curriculum that maximizes the girls’ growth not just in basketball but also emotionally/socially. Our camp staff does a great job of teaching girls how to grow into independent young women who learn how to achieve goals outside of basketball, which is what I am proudest of. Camps are dying because parents’ discretionary dollars are going to travel basketball. It does not have to be an either-or situation but some athletes choose to spend money on their own personal trainers. I am proud that our numbers have sustained us throughout the years while other great camps across the country are no longer in existence. I have had great women on my staff that helped young girls to stand on their own and try to achieve their personal/professional goals.

You are already a member of the DePaul Athletics Hall of Fame, the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, the Illinois Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame, and the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame, and in January you were named 1 of the 12 finalists for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame: what makes you such a great coach, and are we going to see you on the podium at Knoxville 1 day? I sincerely believe that you go into sports for the opportunities to compete/achieve, either as a player/coach. I do not think that you should get into sports to make a Hall of Fame. I am honored to have made some Halls of Fame and to have been named a Finalist for the Women’s Hall of Fame but I am a coach because I like the day-to-day work. There are plenty of women’s coaches who are not in the Naismith Hall of Fame even though their achievements have far surpassed some of the men’s coaches who are already in there. I believe that your time needs to be consumed with the achievement of that day, and when it is all said and done if the celebrity happens then I will not throw it back but it is not why I coach and it is not my philosophy. We are also trying to grow the game and get people to come watch us, but if women’s sports are not covered as much as men’s sports then it is not easy to compete sociologically. I watched the Bulls before the Jordan years when they were bad and nobody showed up back then: the coverage precedes the viewing. As a Cubs fan I remember for years when they did not open the upper deck…but the team was still covered by the media.

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The Olympians: HoopsHD interviews Kent Babb about 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Allen Iverson

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Jon Teitel

The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have won 15 gold medals in the 18 tournaments they have participated in during the past 84 years, while the women have won 8 gold medals in the 10 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 44 years. Those of you who were looking forward to the 2020 Olympics opening ceremonies in Tokyo on July 24, 2020 will have to wait an extra 364 days, as the coronavirus caused a postponement until July 23, 2021. Due to the absence of college basketball since mid-March, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel decided to fill the void by trying to interview as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible so that you have something to read this summer while not watching the Summer Games. We continue our coverage by chatting with Kent Babb, author of “Not a Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson”, about Allen Iverson making the NBA Finals in 2001 and talking about practice. Today marks the 16th anniversary of Iverson scoring 16 pts vs. Australia in Olympic round-robin pool play.

At Bethel High School Iverson was named AP High School POY in both football/basketball and won the AAA Virginia state title in both sports: which sport was he best at, and which 1 did he enjoy the most? I am a little skeptical that he was actually a better football player than basketball player, mostly because of his size. Iverson was so quick/dominant on the basketball court in a sport that showcases the individual and actually allows speed to overshadow size. I do not doubt that he was a terrific football prospect so maybe I just find it hard to believe that he was better at anything than he was at basketball.

In 2 years at Georgetown he set the school record for career scoring average (22.9 PPG) and was named Big East DPOY both years: how was he able to balance his offense with his defense? The offensive success was due to the fact that Coach John Thompson just turned him loose, which is something he had never done before, and Iverson could cut through opposing defenses on the way to the basket like nobody else could. The defense was a combination of Thompson’s system/Iverson’s speed. He was fearless and nobody could match him in terms of quickness, which gave him the ability to run down the floor and set up before pretty much anybody else. He did not care how big/skilled his opponent was: Iverson was happy to mix it up on the court and then try to get a steal no matter what.

In the summer of 1996 he was drafted 1st overall by Philadelphia (becoming the shortest 1st overall pick ever at 6’ tall): did he see that as a validation of his college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the NBA, or other? I think it was simpler than any of that. He was getting an NBA contract, which to him meant providing for his mother/girlfriend/baby daughter/disabled sister. He also liked helping out his friends from Newport News, and for the first time in any of their lives 1 of them had access to a seemingly bottomless pit of money. I am sure that deep down there was some pride in being the top overall pick but Iverson never struck me as anyone who needed validation. He did, however, need money.

In 1997 he was named NBA ROY after averaging 23.5 PPG/7.5 APG/2.1 SPG: how was he able to come in and dominate right from the start? At that time the NBA was still mostly a big man’s league. Michael Jordan was the outlier, and it was his speed/perimeter game/detail-oriented approach that made him so dominant despite an overall lack of size (and Jordan was 6’6”). Iverson, though, caught everybody by surprise and was just so much faster than everybody else. The fact that he also was not scared of taking the ball to the hoop, no matter who was waiting for him there, was just something that was almost impossible to game plan for defensively.

Take me through the 2001 playoffs:
He finished the regular season by being named MVP: how much extra pressure did that put on him to try to lead the 76ers to a title? Iverson put pressure on himself because he knew that the Sixers were short on talent, especially in a head-to-head match-up against the Lakers. This is the first time that Iverson kind of took on a Jordan-like approach: not relying only on his own natural gifts but also on some conditioning/nutrition/training. It was never the same as Jordan, or as most other elite athletes, but for Iverson it was the best that he would ever do. I think that if the Sixers had known he would take those things that seriously then they would have added more talent around him…but it would have been foolish to think that Iverson was going to work that hard.

In the Eastern Conference Semifinals he scored 54 PTS in a Game 2 win, watched Vince Carter score 50 PTS in a Game 3 loss to Toronto, scored 52 PTS in a Game 5 win, and had 21 PTS/16 AST in a 1-PT win in Game 7 after Carter’s long jumper at the buzzer bounced off the rim: did the series simply turn into a 1-on-1 battle to see who was the best player on the court? Iverson saw every match-up as a one-on-one battle, usually against the biggest star on the other team. There was no way that he was going to let Vince Carter upstage him, even if there is an argument to be made that the Raptors had the better top-to-bottom team.

In Game 1 of the Finals he scored 48 PTS in a 6-PT OT win over the Lakers (their only loss during that postseason): why did he decide to step over Tyronn Lue after hitting a crucial shot in the final minute? To him this was a respect thing: he had learned days earlier that Lue had been imitating Iverson during Lakers’ practices. He refused to pass, would not stop talking s—, and took crazy shots every chance he got. That pissed Iverson off, especially since he did not see Lue as someone who deserved to be on the same court as him, let alone as a comparison to him. It obviously made sense for Lakers’ coach Phil Jackson to use somebody to mimic Iverson from a strategy/preparation standpoint but Iverson did not see it that way. He saw a middling player acting like Iverson as a sign of disrespect, and stepping over Lue was his way of expressing his anger at being insulted like that.

In the 2002 Eastern Conference 1st round he scored 31 PTS in a 33-PT loss at Boston in the decisive game 5 (Paul Pierce scored 46 PTS/8-10 3PM as the Celtics made a playoff-record 9 threes in the 4th quarter), then 4 days later made his legendary “we’re talking about practice” comments: how much importance did he place on practice during his playing days, and should we care since it obviously did not keep him from having a great career? I think that the 2001 season showed what Iverson could have become. If he had truly been dedicated to training/nutrition/fundamentals then it is possible he would have been among the top-10 or top-15 players of all-time, not just 1 of the top-10 or top-15 pound-for-pound players of all-time. It is hard to know whether he would have won a championship because the Lakers were just so dominant during that time, but he would have had other chances. I have gone back and forth on this: if he had actually trained like that then he would have lost some of the “everyman” quality that makes him so legendary. Iverson almost literally rolled out of bed (whenever that was) and went to the arena. What we saw was unvarnished raw talent. If he had taken himself and his game more seriously, would he have been as fun? Maybe it would have taken away from what we loved about Iverson to begin with so I am unsure which version I would have preferred: I will always wonder though.

Former referee Tim Donaghy said that in a January 6, 2007 game between Denver and Utah he and the other 2 refs agreed not to give Iverson any favorable calls as a way to “teach him a lesson” for criticizing referee Steve Javie a few days earlier: do you think that is true, and how was Iverson viewed by the referee community? Iverson talked s— to everybody, including the officials. Some officials thought that he was entertaining/childlike but others got pissed off. I do not know the truth of that Donaghy story personally but I would not doubt it.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016: when people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? Everybody says this but it is true: his heart and refusal to quit is why I fell in love with Iverson’s game. I wrote in my book that he was identifiable, unlike a lot of other NBA stars, because he was small and drank and smoked and ate wings. Everybody wanted to be like Mike but nobody actually thought that was possible. You kind of did think that you could be like Iverson because he was not superhuman, although he had superhuman skills. The fact that he preferred cheap beer/crappy bars just grew that legend. He is all of us who never grew to 6’3” or taller.

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RIP: HoopsHD interviews 1983 NIT champ Boyd “Tiny” Grant

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Jon Teitel

Boyd “Tiny” Grant was born in Idaho on August 17, 1933, and exactly 87 years later he passed away after suffering a stroke. In between he became 1 heck of a college basketball coach: assistant to Jim Williams at Colorado State, assistant to to Joe B. Hall at Kentucky, 1976 NJCAA national champ as head coach at the College of Southern Idaho, 3 NCAA tourneys and the 1983 NIT title as head coach at Fresno State, then 2 more NCAA tourneys as head coach at his alma mater of Colorado State before retiring in 1991. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Grant a few years ago and is proud to present this previously unpublished interview for the very 1st time. We send our condolences to the Grant family on the loss of their loved one yesterday.

In the 1976 NJCAA tourney title game as coach at Southern Idaho tourney MVP Kenny Davis scored 16 PTS in a 12-PT win over Mercer County CC to finish the year 32-1 and win the title: do you remember the 1 loss, and what did it mean to you to win a title? I do remember the 1 loss: it was to Snow JC (where I had played in the past) and we only lost by a couple of PTS. We actually won 49 in a row over a 2-year span. I lost the 1954 NJCAA title as a player at Snow to Moberly Area CC by 5 PTS in OT so to finally win it as a coach meant a lot to me. There were some great coaches before me like Eddie Sutton/Jerry Hale who had never won a title, and I remember telling my kids before the start of the season that our goal was to win the title.

In the 1981 NCAA tourney as coach at Fresno State Chip Rucker made a layup with 4 seconds left in a 2-PT win by Northeastern: how frustrating was it to stand on the sideline while the Huskies held the ball for 5+ minutes until the final shot? We called a timeout with about 20 seconds left. We had 1 foul to give and planned to use it but we let the kid go down the court and make the basket. I felt we had the better team but Northeastern was very well-coached by a young guy named Jim Calhoun. We led for most of the way before losing in the final seconds and it hurt a lot.

In the 1982 NCAA tourney Patrick Ewing scored 15 PTS in a win by eventual national runner-up Georgetown: how on earth did the Hoyas shoot 63.6 FG%? They got ahead of us early before we were able to make it close in the final minutes. Ewing was blocking shots and making passes which forced us to foul down the stretch.

In the 1983 PCAA tourney title game Eric Booker made a 23-footer with 2 seconds left in a 3-PT OT win by UNLV: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career? I would say that was the most devastating. For the 1st 35 minutes I do not think I have ever seen a team play better. We inbounded the ball to Mitch Arnold at the end of the game and the ref called him for walking: I watched the film 100 times and he never moved his feet! I really felt that when we had a 19-PT lead in the 2nd half we would win but we made up for it the following year.

In the 1983 NIT title game Ron Anderson scored 14 PTS in a 9-PT win over DePaul en route to being named MVP: what did it mean to you to win the title, and where does that rank among the highlights of your career? It was tremendous to win it because it put us on the national stage. We had 2000-3000 fans who came out to Times Square to cheer for us. Nobody in New York City had ever heard of Fresno State but when you win a title in Madison Square Garden then people take notice.

In the 1984 PCAA tourney title game you had a 2-PT win over UNLV: was your team out for revenge after the heartbreaking loss the previous spring? No: I do not think we even talked about that. When you face Coach Jerry Tarkanian you just try to give yourself an opportunity to win because he always had great teams. Jerry was a graduate of Fresno State and well-liked there so it was a big win for us.

Your zone defense led the nation in scoring defense on multiple occasions: what made it so effective, and what is the secret to playing great defense? You just have to teach the fundamentals. We were ranked last in the conference during my 1st year in Fresno so what we needed was a post person. We did not have great outside shooting so as a staff we decided to teach man-to-man pressure and exactly what to do. Coach Don Haskins told me that he thought that it was a new thing in college basketball and that nobody else was doing it at the time. Other coaches would often tell the media that they could not figure out if we were in a man or a zone because we pressured everyone the same. After a few years coaches would come in to see what I was doing and the fans loved it as well. I coached the offense and Ron Adams coached the defense (who is now a 3-time NBA champ at Golden State). I do not mean to be egotistical but when you get a 5-second call 13 different times in a single half you know that you are good! If I did not have Ron then that probably would have never happened.

You remain the all-time winningest coach in Fresno State history: what made you such a great coach, and do you think that anyone will ever break your record? I think that someone will break the record. All of my players were willing to listen, had supportive families, and had a lot of respect for our great staff. It was tough to play us at home because of the “Red Wave”, which was our home crowd that gave us a huge advantage. It was a real honor to be there during that time.

In 1987 you became head coach at Colorado State: why did you take the job, and how did you feel about returning to your alma mater? I always felt that I was in debt for the education I had received. I was proud to play for the Rams and owed them a lot so when the job opened up the athletic director talked to me and asked me to interview for it. I love the university.

In the 1988 NIT consolation game Pat Durham scored 7 of his 17 PTS in the final 41 seconds including a layup at the buzzer to clinch a 1-PT win over Boston College: how were you able to overcome a 13-PT deficit to win the game? We had a team that would not quit. We had a reserve guy go down with a knee injury so I ended up using the same starting 5 most of the year…and none of them fouled out all year long. It was tough to lose to Ohio State in the semifinals but Pat made an amazing shot to win the consolation game after the ball deflected directly to him. It was the luckiest thing you have ever seen: we laughed about it all the way back to Fort Collins!

When people look back on your career, how do you want to be remembered the most? The only thing I want to be remembered for is working hard and having good assistants/players/administrators. I knew where I came from and never changed. I was very fortunate to get a scholarship after not being big enough to be recruited anywhere else and I remained lucky along the way to get into coaching. You can use luck to get somewhere but you have to work hard to stay there.

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The Olympians: HoopsHD interviews 2004 Olympic gold medalist Shannon Johnson

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Jon Teitel

The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have won 15 gold medals in the 18 tournaments they have participated in during the past 84 years, while the women have won 8 gold medals in the 10 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 44 years. Those of you who were looking forward to the 2020 Olympics opening ceremonies in Tokyo on July 24, 2020 will have to wait an extra 364 days, as the coronavirus caused a postponement until July 23, 2021. Due to the absence of college basketball since mid-March, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel decided to fill the void by trying to interview as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible so that you have something to read this summer while not watching the Summer Games. We continue our coverage by chatting with Shannon “Pee Wee” Johnson about winning back-to-back ABL titles and a gold medal in 2004. Today is her birthday so let us be the 1st to wish her a happy 1!

(photo credit: thestate.com)

Your nickname is “Pee Wee”: who gave you the nickname, and did you see your 5’7” height as an advantage or disadvantage on the court? My nickname was given to me by my volleyball coach Debra Tyner. I was in the 6th grade and was the smallest player on the team so she gave me the nickname. My height was never a problem for me in the league: I just worked my butt off to be a good player every year.

You grew up in Hartsville, SC and won a pair of AAAA state titles in 1990/1992: what made you choose South Carolina for college? I chose to attend the University of South Carolina because of my relationship with the coaching staff. I also liked that it was close to home: being only 1 hour away meant that I could visit home on a regular basis.

In January of 1996 you scored a school-record 50 PTS in a win over Appalachian State and you remain #1 in school history with 20.4 career PPG: what is the secret to being a great scorer? The secret to being a good scorer is the work you put in before the games. Every day I worked on my craft and my teammates/coaches pushed me daily to better my game. I was very disciplined and had a strong work ethic, which helped me get stronger/faster.

You played for the Columbus Quest and won a pair of ABL titles in 1997/1998: what did it mean to you to win a pair of titles, and how on earth were you able to win the 2nd title after Coach Brian Agler left in the middle of the season?! To win a championship at any level is an indescribable feeling. You feel on top of the world with so much emotion. You laugh, cry, and hug anyone/everyone. We won both titles with Coach Agler and he did leave the 3rd year for the WNBA. We were a very strong group and continued to play hard under player/coach Tonya Edwards before the league folded midway through that year.

You were a 5-time WNBA All-Star and also played in Spain/Italy/Turkey/Poland/Russia: what is the biggest difference between basketball in the US vs. basketball overseas? The biggest difference during that time was that the players overseas were so fundamentally sound and most Americans played with their athleticism. Now you cannot tell the difference because the game has grown on both sides. Players now are working more on their weaknesses and perfecting their strengths.

In 2004 your jersey was retired and you were inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? Having my jersey retired is at the top of my list of favorite career moments. All of the work during my collegiate career paid off and I will always be remembered for that work. I thank my coaches/teammates for always encouraging and supporting me. It was because of them that my jersey is hanging up in the rafters.

You played for team USA at the 2004 Olympics: what did it mean to you to win a gold medal, and could you have ever imagined that your teammate Dawn Staley would end up becoming a national champ at your alma mater and head coach of team USA? Winning a gold medal was and is the highest achievement of my career. Playing with the 12 best players and representing our country in 2004 in the birthplace of the Olympics in Greece was awesome. I still get emotional watching the game and the gold medal ceremony. Playing with Dawn was the best because she is a great leader and made everyone feel important. She is also my mentor/role model so following her greatness was important and very easy. I am so happy and proud of her continuing to help team USA grow and succeed. She will be a great coach to lead our team into the next Olympics.

In the decisive Game 5 of the 2007 WNBA Finals with Detroit you had 13 PTS/8 AST in a loss to Phoenix (who become the 1st team in WNBA history to win a title on the road): where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career, and how did Penny Taylor (18-18 FT) almost make as many FT as your entire team (19-25 FT)? Losing the 2007 Finals was very hard to accept: both teams played great but there has to be 1 team that wins and 1 team in 2nd place! Penny Taylor is and will always be a great player and I have much respect for her game.

Your 1424 career AST remains #9 in WNBA history: what is the key to being a great PG? Anytime you are in the top-10 in any category it is a good feeling. The game has grown so much and records are made to be broken. The key to being a great PG is to make others around you better.

You spent the past 5 years as head coach at Coker University before resigning last week: how did you like the job, and what impact did the coronavirus have on your job either on or off the court? I loved being the head women’s basketball coach at Coker because it gave me a chance to give back to the sport that I love so much. The coronavirus has changed all coaches’ jobs to working from home. Basketball is a sport that you teach and not being able to have time with your players is a loss. We do talk on the phone or message the players but it is different now because they cannot stop by or vice-versa. We all understand the time that we are in now and hopefully we can get back to playing/coaching basketball.

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2020 Draft Preview: HoopsHD interviews Montana prospect Sayeed Pridgett

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Jon Teitel

On May 1st the NBA’s Board of Governors voted to postpone the Draft Lottery and Draft Combine in Chicago due to an abundance of caution regarding the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to all of the seniors who have wrapped up their college careers, the early-entry deadline for underclassmen was August 3rd and the NBA deadline is today. The lottery has been postponed until August 20th and the draft itself is scheduled to take place virtually on October 16th. We will spend the upcoming months interviewing as many members of the 2020 draft class as possible. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage by chatting with Sayeed Pridgett about being a leader and what it would mean to him to get drafted.

You were born/raised in Oakland: what made you choose Montana? Coach Travis DeCuire was an assistant coach at Cal so when he got the head coaching job at Montana it seemed like an obvious choice for me to go there. His staff was at many of my high school/AAU games.

In high school you worked out with a local coach who happened to be the father of Hall of Famer Gary Payton: what was the most important thing that you ever learned from the man who is nicknamed “Mr. Mean”? To be focused and take everything seriously and go as hard as possible so that nobody else around the country is outworking you.

Coach DeCuire started recruiting you when you were in the 8th grade: what makes him such a good coach, and how intense is he? He is very intense but he knows how to reach each player differently. He knew that if I was not having a good day then yelling at me would fire me up. He knows how to get us to the right spot and then call plays for us.

He has also stated that you are “different than any leader I have had”: what is the secret to being a good leader? The best thing that I did was getting to know everyone on a personal level. I made sure to work out with each of my teammates at least once/twice so that we knew what to expect from each other.

You did not start a single game as a sophomore but as a junior you were named 1st-team All-Big Sky and were 19th in the NCAA with 60.5 FG%: how were you able to step in and lead the team in scoring after Jamar Akoh suffered a career-ending injury midway through the season? I have always been a guy who tried to give the team whatever it needed via my energy. The 2 years prior to that I did a lot of scoring but we had so many other scorers on the team that not many people noticed.

Last January you scored a career-high 33 PTS in 45 minutes in a 2-PT OT loss at Weber State: was it just 1 of those situations where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? I just had the hot hand that night and also had a good game there the previous year so I just had the green light.

You entered the 2020 Big Sky tourney as the #3 seed as you tried to make 3 straight NCAA tourneys for the 1st time in program history, but then you learned that the Big Sky/NCAA tourneys were canceled due to the coronavirus: what was your reaction when you 1st heard the news, and do you think that it was the right decision? When I 1st heard the news I thought that it was just a joke so it did not hit me that hard. I do not think that it was the right decision but I guess they just had to be on the safe side.

You finished your career in the top-6 in school history in PTS/STL: how were you able to balance your offense with your defense? My 1st couple of years my role was to play defense at multiple positions as I just tried to do whatever it took to get onto the court. My final 2 years I definitely scored a lot more but still had to guard some of the best players on the opposing team.

What is it like to be an African-American man/basketball player in 2020? It means a lot. There is a lot on your shoulders with so many things happening and I try to let people know what is going on. I have a stage on which I can speak and get my point across.

What would it mean to you to get drafted, and what is the plan if you do not get drafted? It would definitely be a dream come true but if not then I will just work hard to eventually get to that place. I know that if I keep working hard then my time will come.

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The Olympians: HoopsHD interviews Rory Karpf about 1992 Olympic gold medalist Christian Laettner

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Jon Teitel

The NBA Finals date back to 1947 (when they were known as the Basketball Association of America Finals) and the very 1st NCAA tourney was held in 1939. Olympic basketball competition is even older: it debuted as a demonstration event in 1904 and the men’s version became a medal sport in 1936, with the women finally getting their chance to go for the gold in 1976. The United States has dominated Olympic basketball competition from the start: the men have won 15 gold medals in the 18 tournaments they have participated in during the past 84 years, while the women have won 8 gold medals in the 10 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 44 years. Those of you who were looking forward to the 2020 Olympics opening ceremonies in Tokyo on July 24, 2020 will have to wait an extra 364 days, as the coronavirus caused a postponement until July 23, 2021. Due to the absence of college basketball since mid-March, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel decided to fill the void by trying to interview as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible so that you have something to read this summer while not watching the Summer Games. We continue our coverage by chatting with Rory Karpf, director of “I Hate Christian Laettner”, about Christian winning back-to-back NCAA tourneys and a gold medal in 1992. Today is Christian’s 51st birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1!

Laettner played at Duke for Coach Mike Krzyzewski, the winningest coach in men’s D-1 history: what makes Coach K such a great coach, and what was the most important thing that Laettner ever learned from him? Coach K tells a story about going to Laettner’s home and hitting it off with his parents. I think that he saw something in Christian that other coaches missed: they had an instant kinship that is hard to explain. At his senior year banquet Christian got emotional and said that what he would miss the most was playing for Coach K. He never really found that kind of mentor again in the NBA.

Take me through the 1990 NCAA tourney:
After Coach K called out ”Special” with 2.6 seconds left in OT, Laettner inbounded the ball to Brian Davis who gave it back to him, then he double-pumped in mid-air he made the game-winning shot at the buzzer in a 1-PT OT win over UConn: did you think the shot was going in, and does it get forgotten because it is far from his most famous buzzer-beater? I was pretty young back then and not watching much basketball but it does get forgotten. In the end credits of my film Christian shows the shot to his son, who had never seen it before. 1 thing I learned is that he wanted the ball in his hands when the game was on the line, almost like Michael Jordan.

He scored 15 PTS in a 30-PT loss to UNLV in the title game (which remains the largest margin of victory in title game history): where does that game rank among the most devastating losses of his career? It was really motivational for him. In college he played better with a chip on his shoulder and when people were against him, and he used that the following year against the Fab 5.

Take me through the magical 1991 NCAA tourney:
He scored 28 PTS including 2 FTs with 12.7 seconds left in a 2-PT win over UNLV (ending the Rebels’ 45-game winning streak): how hard is it for a team to go undefeated, and do you think that we will ever see it happen again? It was such a different period in college basketball because teams do not stay together like that anymore. How many undefeated teams do you see in any sport? It was pretty incredible for Duke to beat that team.

He had 18 PTS/10 REB in a 7-PT win over Kansas in the title game en route to being named tourney MOP: what did it mean to him to win a title, and what was the reaction like when he got back to campus? Winning meant everything to him: he did not care much about stats. Superstar players back then played 4 years but if it happened today he probably would have gone pro after that game. He won with arrogance and all the girls wanted to be around such a good-looking guy. He was like a God on campus a la Zion Williamson but hated by everyone outside campus.

Take me through the magical 1992 NCAA tourney:
After catching a last-second pass from Grant Hill he made his famous turnaround game-winning jumper in a 1-PT win over Kentucky (which is considered by many people to be the “greatest college basketball game ever played”): how did that shot change his life (if at all)? It is the play he is most famous for and he spoofed it throughout the years (www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo3G2MfOYeA). Not only was he great but he got away with something after stomping on a player. He has a pretty good attitude about it and I think it has to go down as 1 of the most famous/clutch plays in college basketball history. You can make an argument that he is the greatest of all-time.

He scored 19 PTS in a 20-PT win over Michigan in the title game: how did it feel to beat the “Fab 5”, and how did the 2nd title compare to the 1st? I think that he had a really bad 1st half and Bobby Hurley really lit into him in halftime, which meant something to Christian. Everything was about winning as a team so it was a storybook finish for him to go out like that.

2 decades after becoming the only player to ever start in 4 consecutive Final Fours he still holds the all-time NCAA tourney career records for most PTS (407) and most games played (23) in NCAA tourney history: did he realize at the time how prolific a player he was, and do you think that anyone will ever break his records? I do not think that he realized it due to his age: most 21-year old players are not thinking beyond the moment and he was just looking ahead to playing in the Olympics. He grasped what the team accomplished but I do not think those records will be broken because great players will keep going right to the NBA. He came from working-class Buffalo and only went to a prep school on scholarship where he would have to clean the school during the summers.

He won a gold medal as the only college player selected for the 1992 Dream Team: what did it mean to him to win a gold medal, and do you agree with those who say it was the “greatest sports team ever assembled”? I think so: it was so unique at the time. It was monumental to Christian to be selected. There was some controversy because they picked him over Shaquille O’Neal but it meant a lot to him to play with guys like Patrick Ewing/Magic Johnson/Charles Barkley.

After being drafted 3rd overall by Minnesota in 1992 (1 spot behind Alonzo Mourning) he averaged a career-best 18.2 PPG and was named to the All-Rookie 1st-team: what did it mean to him to be drafted, and how was he able to make such a smooth transition from college to the NBA? He did not like losing and that Minnesota team was not very good so I think he was very frustrated. He clashed with Coach Sidney Lowe: Sidney asked Coach K how he dealt with him and Coach K said that Sidney was not utilizing him correctly. Christian fit really well into the Duke scheme but could not single-handedly lift up a team as a rookie like Shaq did in Orlando.

In 2010 he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of his career? It just goes back to the fact that while he is appreciative he does not dwell on it.

When people look back on his career, how do you think that he should be remembered the most? As 1 of the greatest college athletes of all-time, bar none. I do not think that a player like him will come around again. 1 of the reasons he was hated is because he was so good: if you look at the numbers AND the footage you will see that he dominated Shaq in a game at LSU (www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ODZhiims2g). You could argue that he is the greatest college basketball player ever!

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