We are still a couple of months away from the tip-off of a new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing 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 UAB SR PF Yaxel Lendeborg, who talked about being a great rebounder and his expectations for this season.
You were born in Puerto Rico but moved to Ohio at age 2: how did you 1st get into basketball? Basketball runs in my family. I was a bigger fan of baseball growing up, but my friends eventually convinced me to play basketball with them and I had fun.
You were a 2-time NJCAA All-American at Arizona Western College: what made you choose UAB? Assistant coach Ryan Cross recruited me very heavily and it felt like family here. They put their trust in me and have not let me down yet.
You play for Coach Andy Kennedy: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He is a players’ coach: he was a great player himself and is a hard coach but knows when to lay off. He taught me how to be the best version of myself and stay on track with what I need to do because he knows how to get the best out of me.
You led the NJCAA in 2023 with 429 REB and set a school record last year with 370 REB: what is the secret to being a great rebounder? What started it for me was watching videos of Dennis Rodman. It is all about timing for me.
Last year you averaged 13.8 PPG/10.6 RPG/2.1 BPG and were named conference DPOY: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? Coach was pressuring me to be what I could be, but I did not really see it until the season came around. His belief in me really helped me out.
Take me through the 2024 postseason: In the AAC tourney title game you had 14 PTS/16 REB in a win over Temple en route to being named conference tourney MVP: how were you able to play your best when it mattered the most, and what was the feeling like in your locker room afterward? It was a do-or-die moment for us. We had a rough year, but we all came together in that tourney and played as if we had nothing to lose. You should have seen the faces we were making in the locker room: it felt like a brotherhood and was something that I loved to see.
In the NCAA tourney you scored 11 PTS in a 4-PT loss to San Diego State: what did you learn from your postseason run that you think will help you this season? I learned that there is a different level of competition in the NCAA tourney: you need to play smart and not be overly aggressive. I will cool off my nerves a bit and trust my teammates more this year.
Later that month you announced that you would be returning to school: how close did you come to leaving, and why did you decide to stay? I felt the whole time that I was going to stay because I did not have a good reason to leave a place that believed in me. I promised more than what I gave so I will do it again next year.
Both of your parents played basketball: who is the best athlete in the family? My dad: he was 1 of the greats in the Dominican Republic. My mom was also good and played for her country as well.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? I want to win POY this year and make it back to March Madness, go back-to-back in the conference tourney, and hopefully make the Sweet 16.
We are still a couple of months away from the tip-off of a new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing 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 new Long Beach State coach Chris Acker, who talked about starting his new job and his expectations for this season.
You played basketball at D-2 Chaminade: what is the biggest difference between D-2 and D-1? Most D-2 guys could also play D-1 so there is not a lot of difference from a talent standpoint: it is more about resources/funding: how you travel, what you eat, arena size etc. Much of it is out of your control.
Despite only starting 3 games as a junior you declared for the 2004 NBA draft as an early entrant, and after not being selected you played pro basketball for several years in the US/Europe/China: why did you go pro, and what is your favorite memory from your time as a pro? I felt that if I did not take the opportunity at that time to turn pro then it would never happen. In China I got to climb the Great Wall and experience a totally new atmosphere.
As an assistant coach at Citrus College you won a state championship in 2008 and went 92-9 during your 6-year run: did it reach a point where your team just expected to win every time they stepped onto the court? I would not say that we expected to win but we were prepared to win. Those days after those 9 losses were probably the most stressful of our lives because we had fallen short. We did not hang our heads but rather attacked the areas that we needed to improve in so that we never felt that way again.
As an assistant to Brian Dutcher at San Diego State you finished the 2020 conference tourney with a 30-2 record: what was your reaction when you learned that the NCAA tourney was canceled due to COVID? It was heartbreaking for me but even more so for our players who had put in the work. When we were unable to play in the NCAA tourney it hurt because we knew that we were capable of making a run so not getting to experience that was the hardest part.
Take me through the magical 2023 NCAA tourney: Darrion Trammell made the game-winning FT with 1.2 seconds left in a 1-PT win over Creighton in the Elite 8, then Lamont Butler made the game-winning jumper at the buzzer in a 1-PT win over FAU in the Final 4: how was your blood pressure doing after those amazing back-to-back wins? After we beat Charleston in the 1st round our approach was that we were playing with house money at that point. People had previously said that Coach Dutcher was incapable of winning in March so once we got that monkey off our back we felt that it was our year. The matchups made sense for us defensively even though we were playing against high-caliber players/coaches. Success in March is about making plays so I felt that we would emerge victorious because our players were good enough. I hoped it would happen and I trusted in the work that we had put in so I was excited to compete with those guys.
In the title game you lost to UConn: what was it like to face Dan Hurley with a title at stake? We played UConn each of the last 2 years and obviously did not get it done, but every time we played them we knew that they were the best team in the country. It was 2 well-deserving programs competing against each other: they were the better team and were rightfully crowned champions so hats off to them.
Last April you were hired as head coach at Long Beach State: why did you take the job, and how is it going so far? I took the job because when I 1st got into coaching I remember facing Long Beach State while working at Hawaii. My family lived in Long Beach and I knew that it was its own little world so I felt it would by my dream job. I was from the area and it was a community that was proud to be from Long Beach. A lot of former coaches had success at the program and took it to new heights and there were plenty of players who played in the NBA/Olympics after leaving a great lineage. When you take over a job you cannot control which job you get because it is hard to get these jobs. It is going well: it is still a work in progress every single day but the desire to be great is there and the administration/community are awesome.
In November you have a road trip to Spokane: how do you like your chances against Gonzaga in “The Kennel”? I am not 1 of those people who focuses on teams we are not about to face: I just take it 1 day at a time. If I thought about Gonzaga then that would probably mean we lost all of the games before that 1. Coach Mark Few is a legend who just won the Olympics so we are fortunate for the opportunity to play in their gym.
Most of your roster is from California with 1 guy each from Georgia/Maryland/Canada/Indonesia: what sort of recruiting philosophy do you have? We want to stay local and recruit guys from this area. We love our guys from out-of-state who we got based on our relationships in the recruiting world but our identity will be based on the great players in this area. We have a connection with this community and want to make it a better place, which starts with recruiting right here.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? We do not put any limitations on ourselves or pre-determine what will happen. There are great things coming and we will chase them every single day. Everybody is excited/motivated and we are chasing greatness.
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 now won 17 gold medals in the 20 tournaments they have participated in during the past 88 years, while the women have won 10 gold medals in the 12 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 48 years. While we have to wait 4 years until the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will fill the void by interviewing as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible. We continue our coverage by chatting with Cassandre Prosper about playing for Team Canada last summer and playing at Notre Dame this fall.
You were born in Montreal and played several different sports as a child: which sport were you best at, and which sport did you enjoy the most? I played volleyball/soccer/basketball/track. I was best at basketball/track, and liked track the most until about age 12/13, and then I got into basketball more. I had always finished 1st in track but after taking 1 year off and then finishing 3rd/4th I wanted to do something else. Track is an individual sport, but I liked basketball a lot because you are part of team. In 2022 you were named the top high school basketball player in Canada: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? It was a big deal! We won the league and I was named MVP, so it was great to be recognized like that after all those accomplishments/goals.
In November of 2022 you committed to Notre Dame and the following month you became the 2nd Irish women’s basketball player to ever enroll early (along with your teammate Olivia Miles): how difficult was it to start your college career in the middle of the season? It was challenging: not just coming from high school to college but learning all the plays. The team did a great job of teaching me what I needed to know for each game. I literally arrived 3 days before playing in my 1st game, but it is just basketball and my teammates/coaches made it easy on me.
Last fall you appeared in 5 games before suffering a lower leg injury that caused you to miss the rest of the season: how bad was the injury, and how is your health doing now? It was bad enough to keep me out for the season, and it got worse over time because I did not know how bad it was at the beginning. I chose to heal naturally because I was not comfortable with surgery that would put something in my leg for life: I wanted to let my body do whatever it wanted. It was a challenging year, but I learned a lot about myself. I love basketball but it is not who I am: being on the bench and watching the game gave me a different perspective. I am doing great now: it is fun to be back on campus and getting into the routine of the season.
Last spring your team won the ACC tourney and made the Sweet 16 before losing to Oregon State: what is the secret to winning games in March? There are so many things that lead to championships. In the ACC tourney our focus was on point. We had difficult conversations and great team meetings and were all aligned on our goals: we played with so much more heart. In March Madness the details really count because the margin of error is so small. As long as we learn from it we will be fine next March.
In the past 3 years you won a bronze medal at the 2023 FIBA Women’s AmeriCup, a bronze medal at the 2023 FIBA U-19 World Cup, and a silver medal at the 2021 FIBA U-16 Americas Championship: what does it mean to you to represent your country, and what is the key to winning medals? It never gets old to represent Canada: I have so much pride/gratitude while I am playing for my country. We had great team chemistry when winning those medals: we were not just playing for our team or our club but for our entire country. Those experiences have so much value because there are only 12 people who can do that. You are the best of the best but must bring your “A” game every time.
You played for Canada at the Olympics last summer: what is your favorite memory from your time in France? We played France in our 1st game, which was basically a home game for them. Listening to the national anthem and see all those fans was an amazing moment. My family was in the stands: if I close my eyes then I will always be able to imagine that moment.
You have a brutal non-conference schedule this year including Purdue/USC/Texas/UConn, as well as possibly Mississippi State/Utah in the Cayman Islands Classic: is there any 1 game that you feel will present your biggest test or that you are looking forward to the most? I am looking forward to the USC game because it is in November: we have been talking about it since last season. It will be 2 great teams competing on a national stage and we match up very well with them. It is our 1st “big” game so we are focused on it.
Your parents Gaetan/Guylaine both played college basketball, and your brother Olivier-Maxence now plays in the NBA: who is the best athlete in the family? My brother and I are both great athletes…but I would pick my mom. She coached both of us and is the most intense of all of us: she is very detailed in her knowledge of the game and has a lot of energy. She was a great player/coach and we love that.
In addition to you and Olivia both being healthy, your team returns 2024 All-American Hannah Hidalgo and brings in 2024 McDonald’s All-American Kate Koval: do you feel that your team has the talent to win it all next April? Definitely. Injuries have happened in the past, but our focus right now is chemistry and being purposeful in everything we do. We are aware of the prize but there are many steps to get there so we just try to win every day.
Rocco Miller, who works as a D1 scheduling consultant, joins Hoops HD to discuss the different ways that teams go about building their out of conference schedules. We discuss some of the different scheduling philosophies, how some of the teams would benefit from playing tougher schedules than what they do, and how schedules impact the NET and their NCAA Tournament Chances.
Check out Rocco Miller’s site Bracketeer.Org to follow (among other things) team schedules as they are announced.
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
We are still a couple of months away from the tip-off of a new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing 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 commences our coverage with Wagner SR PG Javier Ezquerra, who talked about winning the NEC tourney as a #6-seed and his expectations for this season.
You were born in Puerto Rico: how did you 1st get into basketball? I started playing basketball at age 3. My dad would dribble a ball while I was in my little bed and I would always get excited about the ball.
What made you choose Wagner for college? Former assistant coach Bobby Jordan used to coach me at IMG, so that is how I 1st got recruited, and Coach Donald Copeland used to play in Puerto Rico: it has been a great decision to come here. What makes Coach Copeland such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? His toughness: he loves basketball and is great at breaking down film. He cares a lot about us and wants to win and is the best coach I have ever had: he is a winner.
You played in 26 games as a freshman: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? I started a couple of games but came off the bench for most of them. At 1 point we had the longest winning streak in the nation: it was 1 of the best teams that I have ever been on with guys like Alex Morales/DeLonnie Hunt.
You led the team in AST in 2023 and led the conference in AST in 2024: what is the key to being a good PG? You need to be vocal and lead the team. When you are on the court you are the coach of the team so you have to take care of the ball. Coach gives me the confidence to be a true PG: I do not score if I score 0 PTS because all I care about is winning and taking care of my guys.
Last January you scored a career-high 22 PTS/6-9 3PM in a 1-PT OT loss at CCSU: was it just 1 of those scenarios where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? For sure. I made back-to-back threes to start the game and stayed hot the whole game. We were up the whole time but they put pressure on us at the end and we ran out of gas.
Take me through the 2024 postseason: As a #6-seed in the NEC tourney title game you scored 9 PTS in a 7-PT win over Merrimack: how big a deal was it to become the lowest seed in 25 years to win the NEC tourney and the 1st team ever to win 3 straight road games en route to an NEC title? It was awesome! We only used 7 players but knew that we had everything we needed to win. We were mentally focused because the coaches did a great job of preparing us for our great run.
In the NCAA tourney you had 8 AST in a 3-PT win over Howard and 4 STL in a loss to UNC: what did you learn from your postseason run that you think will help you this year? March Madness was a great experience and it taught me the importance of playing hard. Even if someone is bigger/tougher/quicker you can still compete…and even win.
In November you have non-conference road games at Rutgers/St. John’s/Seton Hall/Georgetown: is there any 1 game that you feel will present your biggest test or that you are looking forward to the most? I would say Rutgers: it is the 1st game of the season and they have a couple of top prospects so hopefully we can steal that game.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? The goal is always the same: hang a banner. We want to get back to March Madness and if we do not win then we will not be satisfied. The way to do that is defense, which is what we preach.
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 now won 17 gold medals in the 20 tournaments they have participated in during the past 88 years, while the women have won 10 gold medals in the 12 tournaments in which they have competed during the past 48 years. While we have to wait 4 years until the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will fill the void by interviewing as many prior Olympic players/coaches as possible. We continue our coverage by chatting with Steph Rovetti about facing Breanna Stewart in the 2014 Sweet 16 and winning a bronze medal a decade later…in a different sport!
You were born/raised in Reno, NV, where you were named state Runner of the Year in 2008 and Northern Nevada High School Player of the Year in 2010: how much of an advantage was your athleticism on the court, and what made you choose BYU for college? I was always fast as a 5’6” PG: on the court my speed had always been my advantage. I was a good attacker/slasher and had good court vision. The BYU coach back then was Jeff Judkins and I grew up in the church so I committed during my sophomore year. It aligned with everything I wanted from a college experience and I developed a good relationship with the 2 assistant coaches as well.
In the 2014 NCAA tourney you made it to the Sweet 16 before losing to eventual champion UConn: where does that undefeated Huskies team rank among the greatest that you have ever seen, and could you have ever imagined that a decade later you and your opponent Breanna Stewart (16 PTS/3 STL/4 BLK) would both be winning Olympic medals for team USA?! We were about to go into the Olympic opening ceremonies last month and I happened to see Breanna…but I do not think she remembered me during that 2-worlds-colliding moment. That was a tough UConn team. I grew up in Reno a little older than Gabby Williams (who went 148-3 as a player at UConn from 2014-2018 and won a bronze medal with France this month): Coach Geno Auriemma does a great job coaching his team. They had a threat at every position, but it was still a cool opportunity to play against them. That run to the Sweet 16 really prepared me to play sports at an elite level and helped me move on to this next level of sport: dealing with pressure, getting a lot of hype, etc.
After 4 years at BYU/1 year at Fresno State you switched to rugby and later earned MVP honors at the 2018 Club 7s National Championships: how were you able to make such a smooth transition to an entirely different sport? My sister Morgan and I overlapped at BYU for 1 year and she found rugby before me through her roommate. I had been around the sport by attending her games and being around the culture…but I still did not know the rules! I was coaching basketball at San Diego and my sister encouraged me to join the local club rugby team, which was very competitive because the national team trains here. I called her every day to ask questions, which really helped. It was an inclusive culture that was selfless about teaching the game to new people. It is a new sport in the US, so everyone was very patient and taught me how to work together: they were very welcoming. My club coach in 2018 is now my Olympic coach so the timing worked out very well for me: she would take me aside to teach me the fundamentals. Basketball is like rugby in a lot of ways: reading defenders, having good footwork, defensive positioning, etc., which helped the new sport come more easily to me. I played a lot of different sports growing up (including soccer) so I was able to learn new skills (like kicking the ball) and was a good all-around athlete.
Morgan also played rugby on the U20 Women’s National Team: who is the best athlete in the family? She will always tell you that she is stronger…but I am faster!
Your alma mater joined the Big 12 last year: any thoughts on conference realignment? It was great for BYU to join a power conference, which was long overdue. It is a winning program in many different sports and the amount of growth that I have seen is a testament to their administration/coaches/players. They can compete in a bigger conference on a bigger stage against the best teams in the nation, which is great to see.
You suffered a string of several injuries during the past couple of years: how bad were they, and what did it mean to you when you learned that that you would be going to the 2024 Olympics? My injuries were 1 of the hardest things that I had to go through. Since I joined rugby at age 26 it was an adjustment to come back from injuries, but we have a great medical staff who keeps us healthy. I did not make the cut for the Tokyo Olympics, which was heartbreaking for me at age 29. It was a hard decision to try to make the Paris Olympics a few years later at age 32, but I was determined to compete for a spot. A couple of months later I broke my lower leg in 3 places and has a less-than-15% chance to return to sport. It really deflated my sails, and that rehab took 2 years for me to get back to full strength. I learned a lot about patience/mental progression/strategy while shadowing our veteran players and picking their brains. I also moved to a new position called “scrum half”, which involves a lot more decision-making: I am not sure if I could have evolved if I did not have 2 years to prepare. The medical staff helped me both physically/emotionally. At the 2022 World Cup in South Africa, I had worked my butt off to get back onto the field…and then broke my finger in practice. I taped it up and figured I would try to make it work…and then I broke my hand, which was very tough for me. The injuries built a lot of resiliency in me by allowing me the chance to overcome adversity. Then I broke my finger in the very 1st minute of play in Paris…but since I had been there before I had the mindset of how to deal with it. It is worth it because we won a medal, but it was tough both physically/mentally.
On the final play of the bronze-medal match your teammate Alex “Spiff” Sedrick ran the length of the field to score the game-winning try/conversion and give team USA its 1st-ever medal in women’s rugby (www.youtube.com/shorts/4dfNuTwZoQU): what are your memories of 1 of the most amazing accomplishments that I have ever seen at a sporting event? It is by far the coolest experience of my whole life. We played 6 games over 3 days so the ups and downs were really heightened. Our 3 pool games were all tough: we beat Japan/Brazil, then had to face the home country in front of a sold-out stadium of 68,000 fans. The amount of energy in that stadium made it very challenging and they ended up beating us. We played Great Britain next in the quarterfinals, who had beaten us in Tokyo, but we talked a lot about how history can instruct you but not determine your fate. It was a special game for us, and we won 17-7, which was special because our group had never won a quarterfinal match before. Our semifinal was against 1 of the best teams in the world in New Zealand. We had come close to beating them many times, but their offense is very hard to replicate in practice because it is different than most other teams. We gave them a good game and had a lot of good moments but had a couple of costly mistakes. As an athlete it is hard to take but we knew that we would still have a chance at a medal. We had not beaten Australia all year and the last time they had beaten us via “golden point”, but it was a good opportunity for us to face the #1 team in the world. They scored late to take a 5-PT lead and we only had 1 chance left to score. Spiff had a really good break and it was a cool moment. I looked around to see which of our regular kickers would be taking the kick, but it turned out that she had to kick her own conversion. It made it a little more exciting, but she had been practicing in warmups and we all had faith in her. We try to empower each other and knowing that it was the 1st medal that any US team has brought home is very special. We want to create a brand of rugby that is not just about athletic women who did not play the sport growing up: we want to grow the sport so girls can play the sport as kids.
In addition to your brand-new bronze medal, you won a silver medal at the 2019 Pan Am Games and a gold medal at the 2023 Pan Am Games: what is the key to winning medals? The team culture is so important in rugby. Having cohesion/trust/vulnerability is key in high-pressure situations so that when those medal moments arrive you can fall back on all of that. We identify as the “Highwomen”, which we took from the Brandi Carlile song: a bunch of trailblazing women who create opportunities for other women. We wanted to win but also do so in a way that we will be proud of. We have 5 values that we try to embody: love, work ethic, resilience, selflessness, and courage. It was challenging, but if you buy in and have those hard conversations and put in the work then you can get it done. I have been on a lot of teams in a lot of different sports and seen that the right kind of culture can bring out different things in people.
You spent a few years as Director of Operations for the San Diego women’s basketball team: how did you like the gig, and what do you hope to do in the future? I worked for Coach Cindy Fisher as my 1st job out of college. It was VERY different from being a player but being immersed in it was a cool experience. There was a 3-month period right in the middle of the basketball season when I tried out for the national team even though they could not pay me. I was living in San Diego and Coach Fisher let me train half the time and come in late. It was the hardest 3 months of my life, but it was very valuable because I became very coachable after learning the coaches’ perspective and everything they must deal with: rotations, skill development, etc. It was very valuable in my ability to deal with hard player-coach relationship moments: both parties were great due to their flexibility. I think that chapter has closed for me. I am currently in occupational therapy school: I have a couple of months left and then will go into pediatric occupational therapy. I am resting and just enjoying the experience.
You have also worked as a project manager for the Down Syndrome Network of Northern Nevada and an intern for Family TIES of Nevada: how much importance do you place on helping others? Those organizations hold a very dear part of my heart. My brother Jack has Down Syndrome and that is what sparked me to go into therapy. I would love to give back and it is a big passion of mine (along with sports): it is great to make an impact on the lives of people with disabilities and it helps drive me. Being at your best/overcoming obstacles is a big part of sports/life but seeing how my brother can do it has helped me with my own motivation.
Posted inNews and Notes|Taggedbyu, Steph Rovetti|Comments Off on The Olympians: HoopsHD interviews 2024 Olympic bronze medalist Steph Rovetti
