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MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 10, 2016Todd SimonIke NwamuLas Vegas, Nevada Fresno State - 95 UNLV - 82 THE MODERATOR: Coach, if we can start with you, get your thoughts on tonight's game. INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: Well, I mean, I just was extremely proud. The guys battled to the very end. I think you saw some effects, you know, obviously, of just the duration of minutes and all the exhaustion from really the season, but especially such an epic game yesterday on a few of our shots. We're not a team that's 6 for 22 from three team overall. You saw some of that. We were maybe six inches or a half step slow on a number of dribble drives or help sides, and some of those things that kind of point to, maybe just a little bit of legs moving slower than what the mind wanted them to. But I was really proud of the guys' engagement. They wanted it. They were emotional. They were into the game and gave everything they had and came up short. To Fresno's credit, they played a phenomenal basketball game. And they were active. They took advantage of some of their advantages on us, and they didn't turn the ball over. They didn't do anything to beat themselves. So hats off to Fresno State. Q. They got up early and kind of set the tone. How difficult was it where you felt like you had to keep trying to come back and what challenge was that for you guys? JEROME SEAGEARS: It was definitely tough. We had it in us, but you could see towards the end it was tough playing with six guys went into a triple-overtime game. No excuses. We gave it all. Q. Playing the three overtimes yesterday, did you feel like it really caught up to you guys, especially in the second half? IKE NWAMU: We were battling hard, but you could tell on a few shots that we didn't have the same legs. So it's not an excuse, but it did play a role. Q. Was that the best the pick and roll has worked this year with Zimmerman? JEROME SEAGEARS: Yeah, it was pretty effective early on in the game so we kept going to it. Got some easy buckets out of it and trying to do whatever worked to get some easy points on the boards. Q. How are you going to remember this season? JEROME SEAGEARS: Wow, that's a good question. Just a lot of adversity. Just shows in life never ever goes as planned. You have to be ready to take all the blows and stay strong throughout and just be ready for whatever life hits you in the face with every day. Q. What do you take out of this season? IKE NWAMU: I mean, it definitely didn't go as planned. But like Jerome said, you know, it was really good for us to learn that stuff's going to come at you in life and you've got to keep rolling with the punches and just keep trying to persevere through everything. Even though it didn't finish the way we wanted it, definitely thankful to be able to have learned that. Q. Yesterday Todd mentioned that nobody can question your guys' heart. Can you talk a little bit about that? JEROME SEAGEARS: I guess you could probably sum it up, guys never gave up this year. There were so many situations where guys could have just put their head down and wrapped it up for the end of the season, injuries, just in terms of guys ready to go to the next level. Guys never looked at the situation like that. They looked at it as we're going to give it all we got until the fat lady stops singing. Q. Same with you, Ike? IKE NWAMU: It's no secret we've been through a lot this season, and it's just a testament to the coaching staff and the kind of character guys we have on the team. Our whole theme was to stay together and stay strong and make sure we persevered through everything, and that's really what we did. Q. Does it maybe even surprise you guys that you're able to as a whole entire group, there was no dissension, after those few problems you actually stayed together? JEROME SEAGEARS: No, not at all. IKE NWAMU: Like I said, we've got good character guys, we knew that wouldn't be an issue. Q. I know both of you are seniors, but what does this Rebel program mean as far as a new head coach, what kind of characteristics do you think are required to fill that role? JEROME SEAGEARS: This guy sitting next to Ike over there, he requires them all. He's a great leader. He gives people confidence. He just demands the best out of everyone every single day. And I think going forward that's the most important thing for this program. IKE NWAMU: I agree wholeheartedly. Q. So you're both for him, Coach Simon? JEROME SEAGEARS: (Nodding head.) IKE NWAMU: (Nodding head.) Q. At one point, I don't know if TV, someone caught you in the huddle and you plainly said, Don't feel sorry for yourself. And it seemed like you were trying to do everything you could to stave off what the 55 minutes were ultimately going to show tonight down the stretch. Were you trying to do everything to keep them in those four minutes, even though in the end you might have seen it rear its head? INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: You try to push different buttons at different times. And whether it's love one moment, another moment try to challenge a little bit, even though I don't believe they really were. Sometimes in the heat of the game you're going to try to say something to maybe poke at someone's manhood, just in case they even start to creep into that thought. And they look around and are you talking about me? Are you talking about me? You try to do those little games as a coach to prod them a little bit and get the best out of them and inspire a little spurt. And that's all that was really about. Q. Especially after you had played that triple-overtime game, and then they come out hot and made the first seven or eight shots, how difficult is it when you feel like you're going uphill the entire time? INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: Yeah, they came out on fire. Generally speaking, some of those are perimeter shots, obviously a couple of layups and they turned the corner on us a couple of times. They come up firing making all the shots. We try to spin it that that's not going to happen for the duration of the game. Felt like they took their best shot early on. But it does put you in an uphill battle in a shorthanded situation. And Zimm gets maybe an early foul and all of a sudden he's got two for a good portion of the half. And that's when you start to see some of the limitations that we have going five guards against a team so big and physical as Fresno is. And now all of a sudden you're trying to save bodies but also match up with their physicality and size. And then you're really in an uphill battle. And that's a little bit what we kind of felt like. Felt like we never could get over the hump. We didn't have that burst that we've displayed over the last 17 games. We've always had that burst, make our run, get over the hill and make it interesting. We showed a little glimpse of it and then we just couldn't play to sustain it. Q. With the numbers and just what this program is right now, is it even worth pursuing some sort of a postseason opportunity for these guys or are you saying this is it, and move on? INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: We haven't really crossed that bridge. That's a conversation we probably ought to have at another time. Really, we've had such a singular focus on this event and kind of seeing where things go and all the uncertainty as to the numbers we have and what's going to play out from various guys from Jerome to Dwayne to Derrick, we've got some wild cards. We have to have that stuff sorted out and we'll approach that subject at another day. Q. They really went hard after Zimm in the second half. Do you think when he got into foul trouble that threw him out of his game at all? INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: Absolutely. They've got big, physical guys that obviously size and strength. Fresno's done an incredible job building their program, guys that play with a physical style. And once Zimm kind of got in that foul trouble you're stuck, you're stuck in the middle, because you don't want to give up buckets, but you also need him to stay on the floor, because if he's not on the floor there's no plan B at times. A number of times we had Jerome Seagears on Terrell Carter fronting the post, just on basic switching action when we were five guards. He did a heck of a job, but you're talking about unbelievable mismatches. So it's tricky. So you kind of get stuck in hoping that they kind of miss. But to their credit they're physical and they continued to go at them. And we weren't able to collapse quick enough because they have such deep position. And that's the result. Q. What did you learn most from the time you were appointed the interim head coach to now, being in charge of this thing and so forth? INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: Well, what I learned is the stuff that my mentors and the things that I've learned along the way and the core values and the way to handle a program and handle adversity and to inspire guys are the way to do it. And holding on to those principles. I truly believe in all those things. And then applying them to just the wave of stuff that we've gone through, from losing players, to losing players for the season, which is significant. And these are significant things in these kids' lives and their teammates' lives. Ike losing a former teammate to tragedy. And removing players from the squad. To Derrick Jones's situation. It's such an array of stuff. And what I really learned is handling it and doing it in a way that we handled it I truly believe was the right way. So it kind of reaffirmed all those things I kind of believed going into it. And now applying it I think I did the best job we really could do and got the most out of this group that we really could have. Q. After this experience, is this a job that you want? How do you go about pursuing that? INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: Oh, absolutely, of course. To be head coach at UNLV is a tremendous honor and a privilege. Whether it was for 17 games or for a long period, I'm thankful to Tina for the opportunity to be able to lead these guys even for 17 games. And whatever the future may hold, that I don't know. But absolutely, I mean, to lead a program, whether it's here or anywhere, is something that I love to do and aspire to do. But that's never been something that I felt was the right thing to do was to go about and be a distraction, as the head coach of the program for these guys, because I wanted to make sure that it was about them from beginning to end. Q. What can you tell us about Stephen Zimmerman's situation and the NBA possibility? INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: Obviously he and a number of our guys are going to have choices to make. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing. They've worked hard. They gave it all they had. Obviously the NBA is a futures market. So guys like he and Pat and Derrick, these guys that have performed and have tremendous upsides and shown what they can do, they're going to have great decisions to make. And that's good for teenagers to be able to have that choice that they've done something right. Q. Based on that, I think you talked about this when you first got the job, when you have the turnover this program has had, whether it's you or someone else who's the head coach, do you think there should be a fundamental change, when you look at the top teams, there are men playing against these kids, a fundamental change in recruiting, on who the program recruits to try to keep people here, so you don't have disparity, Fresno State or San Diego State, have physical men playing against this program? INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: I think there's a blueprint on how you do it, and I think it is for college basketball in general. I don't think at UNLV you aspire to win small. I think this is a program that can win big. And when you have the ability to get future pros and answer questions about whether guys are going to league, that's a good thing, just based on the statistics and the history of who wins big in college basketball, usually you need two or three pros. But that being said, I think the core of your group, you need to have a core group of guys that are with the program for three or four years. And that's without a doubt, you've got to get old, stay old. And then I think you sprinkle in the guys that can be a part of winning, that are difference makers, but the pillars and the foundation need to be guys that are going to be with this program, that the community can latch on to for three or four years and give that continuity where -- the difficulty of teaching -- we're teaching 8 new systems in the last 17 games because of necessity. Whereas Fresno, they've run probably the same plays for four years, for 170 games. These guys have been together forever. And we have guys, Barry in that role, has probably ran the plays that he was in there today four times. That's the disparity that we're talking about. But you need to build with guys that are going to be part of this thing. And I think the other guys are the cherry on top. Q. You thought the class of Dwayne, Pat and Jordan and Goodluck when you brought them, you thought they were going to be the pillars of the program? INTERIM COACH TODD SIMON: No question. In year two of it, and obviously Dwayne being hurt today, but you need to have some of those guys that you hope sustain it. And you start backing classes up, the four guys that we have committed now are tough winner-type kids. And I think we have the last couple of years tried to follow that blueprint, if we're going to have that guy that has a chance to go early. And then build it around other guys that are just tough as nails. And I think you can kind of see that in the four guys that we have in this upcoming recruiting class, exactly what the blueprint is, and that's exactly what we're talking about here. This guy is going to be a four-year guy on paper that's going to be all in. And maybe this guy has a little bit of a chance, but these guys are going to be all in. I think you need to have back to back to back classes of them. And you need to retain them and have those relationships where they trust everything and you're behind the decision making for them, because they're so all in and engaged. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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