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PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 14, 2013Dan MonsonTIM SIMMONS: A few opening questions: One, early season start this year for practices in late September, has that been a benefit for you? COACH MONSON: I think that's probably a TBA question. I think initially I like the fact that it didn't feel like quite that month grind you have before the season where it's just practice, practice, practice. You were forced to take some days off in there in the middle of the week, and I enjoyed that. It didn't feel like even coaching‑wise it was just pounding on each other so much. My biggest question on it is with the new rules of being together in the summer, being together in the fall and then starting up in September, for the teams that finish in the bottom half of their leagues in February, how are we all getting along. It's a long time together, and I think if you've had a wife that you've been with that long, 24/7 or somebody even you love and whatever, it's a long time and you need breaks from each other. It's going to be, I think, a long ways there. Hopefully that won't be the case, but I think for some teams, and that's something I'm trying to be very conscious with ours as we're trying to build here, just not overdoing it because it is going to be together a long time. Q. You've got a reputation that you don't like to play an easy non‑conference schedule. Kind of comment on that and your philosophy of trying to be well‑prepared going into the Big West Conference. COACH MONSON: Well, I think as a coach you do whatever you've had success with in the past, whether that's your offense or your defense or the way you prepare for practice. Coaches are creatures of habit when they've had success, and scheduling is no different. When I was an assistant at Gonzaga we used to play four non‑D‑1 games, and I always thought if I ever had an opportunity I would play a hard schedule, and my first games as a Division I head coach at Gonzaga were up at the Top of the World Classic up in Alaska, and we opened with Tulsa and Bill Self, and then we played Mississippi State, who had been to the Final Four that year, and Rick Barnes and Clemson was fifth in the country, and we won that tournament. I was a naïve first‑year head coach and thought, wow, this is easy; why doesn't everybody do this. I had taken poundings along the way. I think the philosophy at Long Beach State is we're trying to beat the Gonzagas and the VCUs of the world and you can't do that unless your players know what that level is like. For Long Beach State it is a true preseason. A couple years ago we maybe had an at‑large bid with our schedule, but this is truly for us to get better, it is a preseason. 18 to 20 years olds, they don't need confidence, they need reality. We try to give them reality here of how much better we have to get. Arizona gave us a big, big dose of that on Monday, and I'm sure we're going to get a lot more of that in the next week. But I think that's good. We haven't had a winning season here in the preseason since I've been here, and yet we've won the league three straight years. I think it's a formula for success. I think it's helped us recruiting. I think kids want to either play at the best or play against the best. So it's just a philosophy that we've had in trying to build Long Beach State into another level program. TIM SIMMONS: Obviously you play Kansas State in a non‑bracketed game on the 17th and then you've got national runner‑up Michigan in your first round. Kind of some thoughts on your upcoming two games. COACH MONSON: Well, we should roll through those two. I'm worried about the championship game. Those two shouldn't be a problem, right? Somebody asked me after the Arizona game what did you learn about your team now, you said you wanted to figure out what you needed to work on, and I came out of that game, and I said, it's really pretty simple, we only have four things we need to work on now, and that's our offense, our defense, our rebounding and our shooting. I say that to kind of be funny, but it's also really true. We have two starters returning, but we're trying to integrate seven new guys in, kind of what Bruce was saying about his team, and you know, this is a great opportunity for us just to improve and get better. The great thing for me is I don't have to worry about Kansas State or Michigan. I know who they are. I've got to worry about my team. I don't know who they are. We're going to worry about ourselves and getting better and trying to compete better than we did on Monday, and those teams are going to really expose us in those areas. We're excited to just get better. These tournaments have always been great for us, to play people on neutral courts, and we've had some success in our program.  A few years ago we were able to beat UCLA who down here you'd never play on a neutral court, and I think Iowa in the Bahamas a few years ago and then I think last year or the year before we went to Hawai'i and were able to beat Xavier and Auburn, and opportunities that you don't get at a mid‑major school, and that's playing a major, a BCS school on a neutral court. We're very excited. I don't think we're at the level we've been the last few years as a basketball team, but we're going to strive to get there. TIM SIMMONS: Dan Jennings obviously played against you out in Anaheim when you beat UCLA in that tournament. He was at West Virginia and of course he played in Puerto Rico when West Virginia finished second to Minnesota. Can you make a comment about Dan? He was your leading scorer, he's averaging a double‑double now. COACH MONSON: Yeah, I'm happy for Dan. It's been a long road for him. Just his whole life he's fought to get here. He had a great freshman year at West Virginia. They went to the Final Four. He played in the Final Four and ends up here. He's had a tough year last year, but he's lost about 25 pounds, he's in the best shape of his life, and as most fifth‑year seniors, he feels that urgency of this is it and I've got to play now or it's over. After two games he's shown an aggressiveness and a confidence that, again, we need. He and our point guard Mike Caffey, who was an all‑league point guard for us last year, are really the only guys with any experience that we have that we're putting on the court. So we're going to have to rely on them and they're going to have to have big games for us just to have any sort of respectability in these games in Puerto Rico. DAN SHOEMAKER: Just for those on the call, I want everybody to know that you are the dean of coaches for the ESPN multi‑team events going back to our first Orlando event when you were at Minnesota. We appreciate how excited you've been to play in these tournaments over the years and the terrific showings you've made. COACH MONSON: Wow, I get to be the dean of something. That is awesome. I didn't know that. You know what that means? That means I kissed up to Pete Derzis well over the years. He was my old boss at UAB 30 years ago. I really, really do appreciate these tournaments because even at Minnesota, it's always been a great field for teams to prepare for the NCAA Tournament, to prepare for their regular season, and I appreciate everything ESPN has done over the years for me and the programs that I've been associated with. TIM SIMMONS: Is your father going to be at the tournament? COACH MONSON: My father is 80. He can barely make it to the bathroom, let alone Puerto Rico. That's a long journey for him. But he'll be watching every game. He lives or dies by them. I'm very blessed, both my parents are in good health, and they'll get to a few games here. But I think Puerto Rico is a little out of their travel radius right now. TIM SIMMONS: With John Thompson's father being the coach of Georgetown, of course your father coached at Idaho and Oregon and of course been credited for recruiting Magic Johnson. COACH MONSON: Well, he's the only one that credits himself for the Magic deal, by the way. But yeah, I appreciate that and I appreciate you asking about him. He's still my idol, and it's pretty neat to be able to be in the same profession and know some of the same people that he went to battle against and be able to do the same thing. Q. Dan, one last memorable quote from you for this event? You do have the distinction of being our most quotable coach. COACH MONSON: That's because the other guys are worried about bulletin board material. We don't need to worry about the bulletin board. I think these teams will be fine without any other motivation with us. We're going to try to go represent ourselves, and again, we've got to be notable for making the biggest trek as we go through Manhattan to get there, and as Bruce said, it's going to be a great bonding experience, and our team will continue to get better. Our goal is not to represent ourselves in the Puerto Rico tournament but to keep improving to where later in the year you look back and say, wow, look at Long Beach State, we had them in the tournament and look at how much better they are now. We look forward to doing that this week and seeing everybody down there. TIM SIMMONS: Coach, thank you very much. Obviously you've got the longest trip coming out from California. Good luck. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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