|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2015D.J. BalentineEgidijus MockeviciusMarty SimmonsST. LOUIS, MISSOURI COACH SIMMONS: I'm sure like every other team, we're excited to be here. It's a great opportunity for us. St. Louis has always been a great host city to the tournament. They've treated all the student‑athletes, coaches, fans in a first‑class manner. A great opponent in Illinois State, a team that's beat us twice already. Had a great game Saturday at Evansville. Very talented team, very well‑coached team, big, strong, physical team. We're looking forward to the opportunity. Q. Marty, can you talk a little bit about where you see this league right now. Give me a little bit of a pulse check. Is the arrow in this league pointed up? Flat line? Give me a sense for the big picture, as it were, of the Valley. COACH SIMMONS: Well, I'm probably biased, but I said it before the season started. I thought, top to bottom, it was going to be as good as it's ever been. That's pretty good when you just lost Creighton a couple of years ago. Some programs had some injuries along the way that I think might have affected it being even better, but I think it speaks for itself. When you have Wichita and Northern Iowa, being in the top 25 pretty much the entire year, both right in the range of the top 10, and I'd like to think those two were ahead of everybody else. But I'd like to think that everybody else had a pretty competitive year as well. We've got a lot of players coming back next year. So I guess I spent a lot of time saying that I think it's headed up. I think it's been a great year, and it's only going to get better. THE MODERATOR: We are joined by D.J. Balentine and Egidijus Mockevicius. Q. For Egidijus, what makes it so tough‑‑ Coach just referred to their front line being very physical and all that, but what's it so tough for you to play against them? EGIDIJUS MOCKEVICIUS: What's tough to play against them, as you mentioned before, they're just physical. I don't know. All we're going to do is match their physicality, and hopefully we're going to get in the zone. Q. D.J., obviously, you played them six days ago. You've lost to them twice. Does that give you guys any kind of psychological edge? Everybody has always heard this hard to beat a team three times and all that. Do you think, especially the way Saturday's game went down to the wire, that that gives you a little bit of an edge?  D.J. BALENTINE: I wouldn't say an edge, but just more excitement that we got beat by them twice. Obviously, we really don't want it to be a third time. I really think that motivates us a lot just to come out and compete really hard. Q. D.J., when you've got two monsters in this league at the top, like you do right now, does that put more pressure on them, less on everyone else, to get onto a three‑game roll? Is that psychology overworked? Can you just give me a sense of, psychologically, what it does for a team like you guys? D.J. BALENTINE: It makes us more hungry, I'd say, just to be where they're at. Just to see the success they have, and they deserve all of it. I think it makes us want it more. But I think, like you said, the two power‑heads at the conference, I don't think it's much pressure on them. I think it's a lot of pressure on us. Q. Two either one of you guys, when you hear Arch Madness, what do you guys think? D.J. BALENTINE: Arch Madness is incredible. It gets me excited every year, and I think I'm more excited this year than ever before just because of what's at stake. All the teams are great this year. So just really gets me excited, the atmosphere and it all. COACH SIMMONS: I'd say the same thing, excitement. I think fans, coaches, players, everybody involved, parents, they just get excited about coming to St. Louis. Again, like D.J. said, the atmosphere, and obviously what it means, the opportunity. You're playing for a championship. The slate's clean. Everybody's got an opportunity now for a second time to play for a championship. EGIDIJUS MOCKEVICIUS: And that's what we play for. Just that's why we practice, just to come here and show ourselves. We just want to play here honestly. So that's an incredible, incredible opportunity. Q. Marty, as a coach preparing to play a team that you just played six days ago, what‑‑ is there anything different about that that is a special challenge. COACH SIMMONS: Not really. Everything's pretty fresh in your mind. I think both teams can evaluate what they had set up in both games, what worked, what didn't work, things that maybe we want to try differently. I think maybe both teams will adjust. We've done it quite often here in the last four or five years. Not really. I think really any of the two teams that play, they're going to be familiar with each one. I think it's just going to be really competitive. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the Aces? Okay, gentlemen. Thank you very much. Best of luck this weekend. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|