NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR

March 19, 2024

Donte' Jackson

UD Arena

Grambling State Tigers

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Now we welcome Coach Donte' Jackson.

Q. Talk about the historic moment for your program and your excitement being here at the First Four.

DONTE' JACKSON: Man, an incredible moment. Just incredible. Still kind of at a loss for words. It's been going so fast. Just happy to be here, ready to compete, ready to do what we do and kind of go from there.

Q. Your players were up here and they just said that one of their main team identities is built on defense predicated on winning on that side of the ball. Could you tell us what that looks like day to day, and how that has been maybe a key to your season?

DONTE' JACKSON: That's something we live by. I always try to tell them I can't tell them if you're going to make shots day to day, but I could tell you how hard you can play, and I can tell you that we can defend at a high level and rebound at a high level.

That's kind of our identity. Every day we're going to come in, that first hour of practice, they know we're going to do all type of defense drills. We'll get after it. And we're going to compete against each other, so that when we go on to the court, it's not a problem competing.

Q. Your student-athletes talked about the experience of already being here and playing in a game at UD Arena earlier this year. What was your mindset with that schedule, and how do you think that's going to prepare your team for tomorrow night?

DONTE' JACKSON: Coming into the year, after going 24-9, you try to find people to play. Not quite easy. You go 24-9. I was talking to a coach over here at Dayton, we were talking back and forth. He said, you know what? Let's go play because my goal was to be here anyways.

So it was just I knew this is where the First Four is held. I know Dayton is a tough opponent. We'll see somebody probably like Dayton at some point in time. We've got to prepare and get ourselves ready. It was really more of a scheduling and understanding the goal at the end of the year.

Q. Players spoke on it a little bit, but what was the main difference between last year's team and this year's team, losing by three in the championship last year versus getting it done this year?

DONTE' JACKSON: The main difference between this year's team and last year's team for the most part is youth. We're playing three to four sophomores the majority of the time. And earlier in the year it was an adjustment period for them to get acclimated.

Some came from junior college and some transferred from Division Is, didn't play a lot. You have to get those guys acclimated to the expectations that we have here at Grambling.

And then on the other end of it, just more about, we were a senior-led team last year, and so many different seniors was ready to step up.

The main difference in the championship game this year is that we had four juniors or five juniors that returned that were seniors, and they remembered that pain.

At the end of the day, they didn't want to lose another time around because it's not always that you get to the championship game. So when you get those moments, you've got to take advantage of them.

Q. Beyond the basketball, Grambling State, what makes it special? And what should the nation know about it?

DONTE' JACKSON: Grambling State, what makes it special? The history of Grambling and the tradition of Grambling makes it special. When you think about the history and tradition, first you start off with Coach Eddie Robinson. Coach Rob was one of the most incredible coaches that ever walked the face of this earth.

Every time I'm on campus I always feel like I'm walking around greatness from Coach Rob to Doug Williams to Coach Hobdy, who was the basketball coach who has the most wins in the state of Louisiana.

It's just a lot of tradition at Grambling. A lot of tradition and it's exactly what our university slogan is: It's where everybody is somebody.

Q. Can you take us through what the last 48 hours or so have been like in terms of preparation for Montana State? What's that film study look like and what stands out about this team that you're going to have to be mindful of?

DONTE' JACKSON: Our preparation has been advanced. We've been rolling since Sunday. So a lot of things that stand out is the fact that they're really hot right now. They're playing some of their best basketball that they played all year. They pretty much kind of -- they kind of figured out the scene. They figured it out right now.

The one of the things we have to do a good job of is they shoot a ball at a high level and we have to do a good job of controlling Jones (phonetic). Jones does a lot to really set everybody up.

It's a tough game. A lot of respect for Montana State. Three NCAA Tournaments -- I know Coach Sprinkle started it -- but Coach Logie, I hope I'm not saying his name wrong, picked right up. He picked right up and it's still rolling just an incredible program.

I've seen Coach, I'm walking into practice and they were walking out of practice. They will put us against the hottest team in the country, come on, now. Like seriously. But at the end of the day a lot of respect for him what he's done.

For me, Division II, Division II, figuring it out, trying to get to Division I. For him, I want to say Division II, maybe D-III, Division II, (indiscernible) get to Division I. A lot of respect for him because it's a tough grind. It's not as easy. These jobs don't come by very easy. You've got to win and people got to respect what you're doing.

Q. I know you've said that Dayton was like a second home for you. Could you expand on that for everybody here? How did Central State sort of start you on this path?

DONTE' JACKSON: Dayton is my second home. I met my wife here. I had my kids here. I spent 15 years here, from 1999 to 2014, I spent 15 years here. Grew up as a man.

I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but grew up as a man here in Dayton. Dayton is a definitely a second home.

I expect a lot of people from Central to show up today, just have some pride because this is what this is about. We always support our own.

Q. Seems like March Madness every single year there's a team that always takes the nation by storm, one of these lower seeds. Do you talk about that with your group, just like you said, taking advantage of this opportunity and kind of putting the nation on notice of what Grambling is? Do you talk about that?

DONTE' JACKSON: You know, I don't know if we're taking the nation by storm, but at the end of the day, I mean, the main thing is just coming out here showcasing a good brand of basketball that we play.

We're going to be a strong defensive-minded team. We're going to get after it. We just want to make sure we play our best basketball. This is the time that you want to play your best basketball. And you want to make sure that you're doing whatever it takes to stay in this tournament.

Q. First of all, how many ticket requests have you gotten from Dayton since you got up there? And who does Montana State remind you of offensively and defensively out of the teams you played this season?

DONTE' JACKSON: Ticket requests, sheesh, I had to make the Facebook and Instagram post and I don't have -- I have limited, limited tickets. Just please come support. Definitely got a lot of ticket requests -- family, friends, colleagues, teammates, advisors, professors -- it's a big moment.

You don't really realize how big of a moment it is at the end of the day until you look at it and you have 300 text messages. So totally different.

But when I watch Montana, they remind me of a team that we lost to, Pine Bluff. Pine Bluff came in, made 15 3s against us, really shot the ball well against us. Pine Bluff had four people with double figures, could score at a high level. Looking at this team, same thing, guys can shoot at the high level, and shoot to the rim. And one big man that's a mismatch problem.

You slam on the parameter, then he's posting you up, dribbling it in from the perimeter. The other, 16, kid catching alley-oops everywhere. And at the end of the day we've just gotta do a good job just playing defense, playing our best basketball.

Q. You mentioned just the tradition at Grambling State from Eddie Robinson to Doug Williams to the awesome marching band, how do you hope this sort of puts the basketball team into that tradition, and what do you think of this opportunity to show Grambling State basketball to the rest of the country?

DONTE' JACKSON: Phenomenal opportunity for us to show our brand of basketball. I always say when you walk at Grambling, you know you're at a football school. No ifs or buts. But people understand we play good basketball at Grambling also. Some good basketball that's going on. And I also want to know we're trying to change it to being a basketball school also. This is three conference championships in seven years. Unfortunately, my first year we won the regular season title, we had APR issues when I inherited the program. We don't have those issues anymore.

Last year we're in a championship game. This year we actually won the championship game. So I want to feel like we're making our own basketball history now and we're trying to set the tradition where basketball is going to be great for a long time.

Q. Do you have a favorite March Madness moment?

DONTE' JACKSON: I have a lot of them. Ward blocking the shot. Drew making the shot. I mean, there's so many moments. Just in awe just having an interview with Coach Boeheim back there. It's like it's Coach Boeheim. And the bad part, you would see him recruiting all the time, do all the good stuff, but it's a hi-and-bye thing.

But to really sit down and have a moment to speak with Coach Boeheim and I'm sitting there I bought all your DVDs on Championship Productions. Just a guy that wants to keep learning about the game and pick somebody else's brain and figure out what else there is to know. But it's a lot of good moments. I'm hoping we can create our own moment.

Q. After last year's hurt, how much pain did you guys go through after losing the championship game by a few points and what went into each and every practice, each and every game, going through the SWAC this year?

DONTE' JACKSON: It was a lot of pain. Seeing a guy like Cam Christon, who stayed, who could have gone to a several schools, stayed, finish out the journey to be player of the year.

And Shawndarius Cowart coming in, two-year transfer, just really become a great leader. Watching those guys cry, that's tough. Nobody likes losing, especially when you're a competitor.

But every day in practice we came with it. It was a fight. That's why we're here.

Q. Can you talk about your non-conference schedule, how you think that prepared this team for the nice run you've gone on now here these last couple of weeks?

DONTE' JACKSON: I feel like we had one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country. Let's say Colorado, they're in the tournament; Dayton, they're in the tournament; Washington State, they're in the tournament. Iowa State; they're in the tournament; Drake, they're in the tournament.

Sam Houston State won their league. Troy, third in the Sun Belt. No days off. Even Delaware State finished in the finals of the MEAC. No days off for us.

And I knew that was going to happen. But that was I wanted that schedule so we could be prepared for this. We wanted to make sure it was tough as possible so when the moments came we were ready.

Q. There's been a lot of talk out there possibly making some changes to the tournament with auto bids, expanding it. From your perspective would you say that it's important to have all these different schools be able to mingle and be part of this stage?

DONTE' JACKSON: At times I'm (indiscernible). Let's play the 64. Then you start seeing the 68, makes sense. 72 may make some sense. And you want to see as many teams as possible get this opportunity because this is a major opportunity to play, you're 68 of, what, 367, I don't know, keeps changing, fluctuating.

But I think at the end of the day, as many opportunities as possible, it's great. Not too many where you water it down, but as many opportunities as possible.

One of the things I didn't like was the format change in the NIT because winning a regular season title should be held to the highest regard. You go play somebody and on their home court, you play them on your home court, and if you win in that round-robin situation, that should be held high. But now that the automatic -- I guess there's not an automatic bid to the NIT anymore, that's stuff. So hopefully we can kind of revisit that eventually. I think that should change because I think you should reward winning the regular season title. I think that's important.

Q. You mentioned how hard it is to win a regular season title. You guys have been able to do that now two years in a row in the SWAC, and being able to come into the tournament, there weren't many teams in this field that were able to accomplish both the regular season and tournament. Just talk about that accomplishment of your group and trying to achieve the goal and then being able to go out and accomplish it.

DONTE' JACKSON: It's tough. I mean, it's tough. As they say, it's rough in the SWAC. Every day it's competitive. And to be able to win both, it's an amazing accomplishment for our group, and we wanted that No. 1 seed like all year long.

We wanted the No. 1 seed because we felt like having a 2 seed it was such a disadvantage. We end up playing -- we finish our game at close to 11:00 at night, still have to get food, get guys sleeping, and you turn around play at four. No, we want the No. 1 seed, play the early game, and have all day to rest. So it was kind of a mission we were on. And we were just happy we completed the mission.

Q. What are some of the differences between Division II and Division I no matter what level you're at Division I and how would you describe that?

DONTE' JACKSON: The Division II tournament ain't this. No, it's been a blessing. Being to the Division II tournament, now I'm in the Division I tournament. Travel is totally different between Division II and Division I because it's more of a regional situation. Being Division I, especially in our situation, we go play money games, what not. So travel all over the country to play. Whether it's California, New York, middle America, wherever you go, you go, do what you gotta do.

But Division II is just more regional. I mean, basketball is basketball, there's good players all over. And as you start to see with the transfer portal, you start to see some Division II pop in. Division I playing really well. There's players everywhere. So regardless of the fact that basketball is basketball, you've got to score more than somebody and stop somebody from scoring. It is what it is.