Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Basketball conference call transcript
03/19/2007 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
March 19, 2007
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
Tony Young
Talk about Coach Lowery's development over the last three years...
"I think the biggest difference is that he's learned to relax a little more. When he first came in, he was nervous about getting the program going and getting headed in the right direction the way he wanted it. But after he saw that we were all on the same page, he got everybody to buy into his system and the way he wanted to play. I think since he's been here he's learned to relax a lot more and trust in his players, and it's worked out better for all of us."
Is there an overall philosophy that's operated under, why has SIU been so competitive?
"I think the biggest thing is that everyone we recruit are tough-nosed, hard-nosed guys that don't mind getting beat up and don't mind getting banged and that's really just the style of basketball we play. SIU is just a defensive-minded team. I think that's why we're always good, because we don't mind playing defense and doing those small things to win games."
What do you know about Kansas and their 3-guard set, do you looks to slow the pace down against the Jayhawks?
"Obviously, I can't really say what the game plan is because I don't know yet. I let my coaches do the scout report. But as far as seeing them play this year, I know they're a really athletic team, and I know they're very fast. They're a real good team. As far as the way we play, I know we're going to have to guard them. We're going to have to stop them and slow them down in transition if we want to have any chance against them. But the biggest thing is to let the coaches handle the scouting report and for us to just recoup and get our bodies back before we play against these guys."
How do you go into a game against Kansas, mentality wise?
"I think it's the same preparation as in any other game. You've got to really respect your opponent and know what you're going up against. You can't go into a game blinded. You've really got to have a certain mindset about what you're going against, who you're going to play. We've really got to go in expecting to play hard, expecting to play defense, and really just expecting to do all those small things, diving on the floor, getting loose balls, all those little things that count in winning games."
Coach Lowery
When you get to this point in the tournament, how to do keep things in prospective?
"I just think you've got to keep you near them and keep them around you, and consistently talk to them about their focus. I think when you let them get away from you, give them days off, and you allow them to get caught up in the hoopla, and caught up in the people consistently telling them how great they are, they tend to get away from why those people are telling them those things. It's hard work, and discipline and doing the right things on a daily basis. We really have kept them close. We're leaving on Tuesday, we just got back last night. So hopefully having them around the coaching staff and having them around each other will keep them focused."
How does taking a team to the Sweet 16 impact your life?
"I want to win with my guys. As far as my life is concerned, it's more than me it's my family too. At this point, the only thing I'm thinking about is Kansas, and not what it can do for me if we continue to win."
On Julian Wright...
"I love Julian, I thought he would be a phenomenal player. When you see kids who aren't selfish and as talented as he is, you have to respect them because he knows he's good but he doesn't want to be as good as everybody wants him to be. But you see the flashes of how good he can be, instantly, almost every time you watch him, it doesn't have to mean making a shot, it's his ability to hit a three or pass from either hand, his ability to seem to make plays so easy, is what makes people in awe of his talent."
Prospective on why this program has sustained success despite coaching changes...
"The number one thing is that we're all here together. Every kid knew us all. I think with Bruce Weber, Matt Painter, then me now, I think we have consistency here and I think that's why we're taking off again. That's the No. 1 thing, we knew the kids we were recruiting and we knew the kids that were in the program. That's the level of consistency, because we kept it in the family and that's why the program has continued to grow."
How similar are your styles? (Lowery, Weber, Painter)
"I think we're all different. We all do things differently, if you go to each of our practices you'll hear the same things said as far as preparation, and how we go about doing things and how we try to get our kids motivated. As far as the other stuff, I don't know because I'm not there with them anymore. I just know what we do here."
Talk about your maturation process over the last 3 years...
"I think that my No. 1 thing when I came here was I wanted to set in stone how I wanted things to be done on a daily basis, and they didn't like it. That's a part of it when you bring something new, that's been winning and you change some of the styles and some of the things you do for the long-term betterment of the program. Not very many people are going to like it. It was tough for them at first, Tony and Jamaal were sophomores, Matt and Randal were freshmen, so obviously year one was tough and year two was tougher because I was hard on them because we didn't have any seniors. Now year three, I don't have to tell them what needs to be done in order for us to have success, they understand it. It's easier for me to just sit back and allow them to play. Tony and Jamaal have done a really good job of understanding what I want and doing it themselves, without me having to get on them."
Would you have described yourself as a hard-liner that first year?
"The first two years, definitely, just because I wanted the program to not slip. People say it's easy with good players, but it's harder with good players because they're expected to win. To sustain success like we have, through three coaches and now to continue to take the program even higher is a credit to the kids and the coaching staff."
When you were recruiting Jamaal Tatum did you foresee him to be the player he's become?
"That was my number one thing, we didn't think we had a chance to get him. He was putting up unbelievable numbers, he had a great summer, they won the Nike Peach Jam. They won the Nike Super Show Case that July. I remember Coach Weber saying, "What are you doing? He's going to get something better." I just stuck with it, we just kept fighting and plugging away and then when he came on campus we got him. That was just amazing because I knew after watching him so many times, I knew that kid was going to be really good. To be able to recruit him and help him and make sure that he came here and to see him blossom into what he is, he can play in any league in the country with his talent and his toughness."
What did you sell him (Tatum) on?
"We sold him on the family side and we sold him on the Sweet 16, obviously Bruce Weber had a lot to do with it, he was our head coach. He was coming to play for him, not me. As an assistant, you work hard to get guys to the point where your head coach can take over the recruitment and that's what we did here. Coach Weber did a great job with him, obviously that was a big part of him coming. We had to call him when we left and say "Hey, you still need to come to Southern Illinois" and I'm glad we did, because I had a chance to coach him for three years."
What do you know about Kansas at this point, do you think something is going to have to give on Thursday?
"They're good. They have guys who are going to shake commissioner Stern's hand in the NBA draft. Their players are that good. They're talented, right now they're playing better than anybody else in the country after the first weekend. Now it's a new weekend, it's a new time. We're not worrying about how we match up with them now. It's about when we step on the floor with them. Right now we're worried about us and how we are and our health, that's our biggest concern."
Family atmosphere with the coaches...
"Me and Paul Lusk were teammates here and roommates at SIU when he first transferred from Iowa. He's a guy who was in my close circle and obviously him coming to SIU was a huge part of playing there and our friendship with me knowing Matt (Painter) better than he did, then he went to Purdue with Matt. It's important to have people in the business you trust. Let's be honest, it's not a trustworthy business all the time, having a family aspect, having coach Weber and Painter also in our family tree just makes it even better."
Matt Shaw's health...
"Right now he's banged up. It was a bad one, it was a bad ankle sprain. He's trying make it back. We told the players to give us one more chance to play with Matt Shaw. We usually say that about our seniors but now he's trying to get back healthy. Our athletic trainer, Ed Thompson, is doing as much as he can to get him ready."
Do you have an idea of when Matt will be able to play, what is your thought process?
"My thought process is day-to-day. It would different for me and for him if he were a senior. We still want to win games and we're going to be smart, but we're also going to be smart about the future of the program too. He doesn't have to be 100 percent to play but he's got to be capable of doing what we do defensively, and he knows that."
Best description of the injury?
"It's a high-ankle sprain."
Jamaal Tatum
The early days of Coach Lowery coming into the program...
"When he first came in I was like, `Yes, we get Coach Lowery, the coach that recruited me.' I was very happy about it. The first day of workouts I wasn't too happy about it anymore because he was tough on me and he was tough on Tony (Young). He knew that we had to get better as players to be able to push our seniors, Darren Brooks and Stetson Hairston. So he was tough on us and we didn't really know why, but it made us better players. He actually stayed on me a lot last year too and he stayed on Tony a lot because he wanted us to be leaders for our team. Tony and myself felt like we kind of came up short on being good leaders because we didn't have the seeds we wanted to have last year. Coach kept staying on us and then finally we got the point, we got what he was talking about. This year we've been a lot better leaders and helped get our team come key victories this year."
Is he a much different coach from year one to year three?
"He's still a great coach and he still has about the same intensity level. But he's kind of backed off Tony and I a little more this year because he knows that we finally get the point and we finally understand what he was trying to teach us about being good leaders and being good teammates."
What do you about Kansas and what kind of challenges do you think they might present?
"We know they are a very athletic team and we know they have a lot of great basketball players, in fact some NBA basketball players. We know what kind of talent they have and our main concern is coming out and playing hard. We can't worry about what kind of talent they have or how many players they have capable of going to the NBA. We have to come out and just compete and match their intensity level. We have to come out and set the tone of the game and not be intimidated."
Do you feel like Southern Illinois has gotten the respect they deserve at this point?
"I think so. I think there is plenty more respect to come because I think we can make a big run still. I think we're a great team and we have accountable players to get us another level with this tournament. So right now, our main focus is just taking one game at a time. We're not going to surprise ourselves, we have high-expectations for ourselves."
How tough was it to choose SIU and what led to that decision?
"It was a very tough decision. Any time in your life you have to make a decision with what you're going to do with the rest of your life, and the next four years, it's going to be a tough decision. Coming to visit SIU made that decision a lot easier because when I got here I knew some people in the program already and I was familiar with some of players because they had played on the AAU team, the St. Louis Eagles. I was familiar with the winning program and the success they had. It was easier once I got here and I had a feel for it, and knew some people in the program and some things about the program, it became a lot easier."
Was it a sell to you that you could've gone to a bigger conference?
"Not really. I had a few other schools recruiting me. Creighton was recruiting me real big, and I think they had offered already. I think I was supposed to go on a visit to Utah, but at that point I was happy with my decision. I knew about the success of this team and I definitely wanted to be a part of it."
You said that when Lowery first got here he was tough on you, were the rules different were the practices any different?
"I don't really think the rules were any different. I think the rules were already established before I got here. I think it was the fact that it seemed like he was singling Tony and I out. He wanted more from us, he wanted to push us to the limits. He liked to test us mentally, that was the main thing. The physical part was very hard, and we had to go through a lot physically, but we were both tough. Mentally it took a toll on me and made me a lot tougher mentally."
How much inspiration was it to see so many mid-major teams make deep tournament runs?
"It definitely inspired us because we knew that we were capable of being one of those teams that made a big run to get to the Final Four or to get to the Sweet 16. We had the potential to do it. When you know you have the potential to do something and you come up short, it always hurts. So I think everybody is motivated. Tony and I being seniors, we're definitely motivated, knowing that this is our last chance to do it."
