	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: OKLAHOMA CITY

March 17, 2010

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

THE MODERATOR: We're here with student athletes, Ali Farokhmanesh and Adam Koch. Questions, please.

Q. This is for Ali or Adam, talk about last year kind of those opening moments, maybe getting caught up in the moment a little bit and falling behind to Purdue, which I think it was 18 to 6. How do you prevent that? How do you guys approach this a little bit differently to make sure maybe avoid a slow start?
ADAM KOCH: I think overall just a little bit different feel the second time we've been doing this. I think last year there was a lot of excitement. Just getting there and exciting being here, and this year it's a little bit different feeling. I don't think we're overwhelmed at all or kind of happy to be part of this. I think we're a little bit more focused this trip.

Q. What are you seeing with the UNLV backcourt that is going to maybe change, or do you change anything the way you've defended all year long?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: They got a great backcourt. We've been working over it the last two, three days. They're tough to guard. They run so many different things for their guards. I think they've created a few different matchups we haven't seen recently in conference. It's a little different to play with them. Probably won't change our defense a whole lot. A lot different reads against them because they can do so many different things with their backcourt.

Q. For either of the athletes, what did you think when you saw the letters UNLV put up in terms of what you thought of their programs in the past? After you saw them on film, are they what you thought they were in terms of UNLV, its past and what you might have known about that team?
ADAM KOCH: Yeah. We had definitely heard about UNLV. They've had a little bit of history I guess of being a successful program, and so when their name came up and we saw ours next to it, we knew they were going to be a good team. We knew they had a history of being good in the past as well, and definitely watching the film and watching them play a little bit, you get the same feeling. They're going to be a really tough team and really talented.

Q. You guys may have a size advantage over UNLV. Do you think that's something you can exploit in this game as your strength and are there things where Northern Iowa should have an advantage?
ADAM KOCH: Yeah, I mean it's nice. We've got Jordan, the 7 footer and a lot of big guys. Hopefully that's something we'll be able to use for our advantage. You know, they got -- tough to say there's a little different style of play than we are. It will be a little bit conflicting, I think, when we get out there, but we'll kind of see what happens.

Q. Do you guys kind of -- you know, I know you're not big Internet guys. I know you get to watch a little TV now, the coach will let you. Do you laugh when the Iowa job comes up and they throw a coach's name out or the Oregon job is open and they throw a coach's name out? He's not here. You can tell me anything.
ALI FAROKHMANESH: The coach has done a great job in the last two years. He deserves all the credit he gets for what he's done with this program. You probably don't. I mean, the coach definitely deserves everything he gets, and I'm not surprised his name has been thrown out there for certain jobs.
THE MODERATOR: More questions?

Q. I'm sure you watched Bracketology and stuff like that. Do you enjoy that the people are now saying you're going to be a team that will advance tomorrow. I haven't seen anybody not pick you guys. It's a Northern Iowa team that maybe people across the country learn more about this week. Do you enjoy that? Do you wish they knew more about you to begin with before this week?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: I mean, it's nice but at the same time, it doesn't really mean a whole lot. It's not going to help us win a basketball game by people picking up. We know UNLV is a good team and honestly does not matter what all the other people are saying about the game. We know we're going to have to play probably one our best games we've played all year in order to beat them.
THE MODERATOR: Do we have more questions? Great. Thank you, guys.
Meed
THE MODERATOR: Joined in the interview room by Northern Iowa Head Coach Ben Jacobson. Ask him to make an opening statement and then open it up for questions.
COACH JACOBSON: Thank you. We've had a good week of preparation. Guys have done a good job as they have all year in terms of working hard to get ready. Obviously, we've got some real challenges with UNLV, a very good basketball team, do a lot of good things at both ends of the floors and coached by one of the best guys in the business. Lot of challenges.
THE MODERATOR: Ready for questions.

Q. Jake, the team is 0-4 the last four trips to the NCAA Tournament, losing all four games by five points. What's the secret? What's the key to success tomorrow to flipping that around?
COACH JACOBSON: You know, I think that one of the keys is having experience, and we've got that this year. Last year, obviously relatively young group, first time in the NCAA Tournament for that group of players. And I know we had the three-year run when I was an assistant coach, we played better each of those three years and our best, we were in the best position to win by the way we played against Georgetown that third year.
I think that's one of the real keys, having an experienced basketball team and everything just seemed a little bit more normal when you've got experienced guys. And so I think that's something that can help us play better tomorrow. Whether that can -- is going to help us win the basketball game, as I said, there's a number of challenges in playing a good opponent like UNLV, but we've got a chance to play better tomorrow because we have an experienced team as opposed to last year when we were very young.

Q. Just get the feeling talking to the guys in the locker room that everyone when they won the Valley, said this is one of our goals. It's almost like getting here isn't good enough, winning is what the guys really cherish.
COACH JACOBSON: You know, I think that there's probably if not all 64 teams, lot of them that feel the exact same way. You know, you want to get to this point. You want to play in the NCAA Tournament, want to be on this stage. But I think there's a strong feeling that when you do get here, you want to win a game, you want to win two games, you want to continue to advance, and I think our guys are no different that way right now.

Q. After watching UNLV this week on tape, is there a team that you played this season that they're similar to, or do they bring different things to the table that you haven't really seen as much this year?
COACH JACOBSON: Maybe the combination of a couple of teams we've played. There isn't one team that seemed to be exactly alike. Old Dominion and Siena because they do this defensively where they work to disrupt you .
In our league, we've got a couple teams that have a power forward that makes 3-point shots and can also drive it, even do some things off the dribble. Bradley plays at a pretty fast pace at the offensive end of the floor and they're undersized. Probably the combination of three, four teams that we've played and the ones that I mentioned would be the most similar.
THE MODERATOR: More questions?

Q. Jake, some people have asked you about this already the last couple of days, but how do you react when people link your name with vacant coaching jobs either in Iowa city or Eugene, Oregon or Timbuktu, because it's been tossed around there?
COACH JACOBSON: You know, the same thing that I mentioned a couple times, I guess, when I've been asked about it. It's not something that I put any thought into. I think it's flattering for our program, but not something that I think about. It's not something I talk about with our guys.
We've got a very experienced team. Our guys, they know that I love what I'm doing. They know that I really appreciate everything that's happening in our place, and so really no thoughts about it beyond the fact that it's flattering for our program and it means we've had success as a program, but I love what we're doing. I'm going to do everything we can to make sure we continue to do what we're doing.

Q. You called Kruger one of the best guys in the business. Is there a relationship there, a history, or just watched from afar places he's been and coached and what do you think of his style?
COACH JACOBSON: Watched from afar and then talked with some people that have a relationship with Coach Kruger, some guys that had worked with him maybe at different points or been around him a little bit, and then just watching what he's done over the course of his career. And then the conversations I've had, they've all mentioned the same thing about the way he does it first class, you know, the wins in the NCAA Tournament, of course, stick out. But when you add that to people that would have worked with him or know him and they talk about him doing it always in a first class manner, and that to me is extremely important, and it appears that he's got all of those things going for him and has done that throughout the course of his career.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Jordan and how much of an impact he will have on tomorrow's game on both ends of the floor because of the huge size difference that it will have on everybody on UNLV?
COACH JACOBSON: Jordan has had a very consistent year for us. He's really improved from a year ago in terms of his consistency, his ability to play longer stretches. He's much better defensively than he was last year. That's kept him out of foul troubles so sews been able to play more minutes.
My hope, of course, is that he has a real impact on tomorrow's game, because he's done that a lot for us this year and it's been important for our basketball team. We're going to do what we've done all year. We'll work to get him touches. That's something that we try to do every basketball game. Because he has the ability to score, he's got the ability to get it out of there if there is some traffic.
And with his size, he presents -- he does present some challenges for opponents, and we're going to have to work hard to do that. We're going to see a lot of pressure in terms of getting the basketball to the right places so we can get him touches where he needs to. So we've got some challenges to get it there, but we're going to work hard to get him touches as we do in all our basketball games.

Q. Coach, what might be a wow factor with your team facing UNLV that the rebels might go wow, they can do this or that? Kind of a wow factor?
COACH JACOBSON: Oh, boy. Couple of the people from the state of Iowa are laughing up here in the front of the room only because they've seen us play quite a bit and there really isn't much of a wow factor with our basketball team. I can tell that's why these guys are grinning.
You know, I don't know. Our depth was very good in St. Louis. We had some guys come off the bench in St. Louis that really played well, and I think to the point where maybe even some of the teams in our league were caught off guard just a little bit as how well in particular our three freshmen played off the bench in St. Louis because they were very, very good in that game. Two of those guys have been playing a lot throughout the course of the year.
So, you know, I don't know. With our basketball team, there isn't a lot of that. We've tried to be very consistent, really tried to defend at a high level and rebound the basketball and then take advantage of what opportunities present themself at the offensive end. I think our consistency has probably been our biggest strength. That's something that really doesn't jump out at you.

Q. We're not laughing at you, we're laughing with you.
COACH JACOBSON: Right. Right.

Q. I've never heard the word wow asked of you in the news conferences. Getting back though to this event, what would it mean to you personally and professionally to win a game? And do you ever think about what that's going to look at on the resume, how people perceive you and the program if there's a win at this event?
COACH JACOBSON: I guess I haven't thought at all about what it would mean for me personally or as a head coach to have that on my resume. You know, it's about our basketball team and our basketball program, and there's some benefits to winning a NCAA Tournament game for our program and our team.
Obviously if that were to happen this year, if we're able to win a basketball game or win a couple basketball games, I would be awfully proud of this group of guys, but it does have some significance for our program going forward, and there's a lot of positives to that.

Q. Coach, what this game on paper looks like, UNLV has a great offense, you have a stellar defense. What are some keys of trying to control the tempo of the game? Because you guys have done that quite a bit this year.
COACH JACOBSON: I think when you do look at the numbers, UNLV has done a very good job offensively, but when you watch them play and maybe you don't see it in the numbers as much, they are very, very good defensively. They do a great job at the defensive end of the floor. I think it's a team that as good as their numbers look offensively, they're equally that good defensively. I think there's a chance we're going to see two good defensive teams that really go at it tomorrow.
We'll have our challenges in terms of being able to attack against their pressure and get the basketball where we need to get it to be effective offensively, and then we've got to do a great job of being able to set our defense so that we're not in a position where UNLV is able to get things that are less contested maybe than what we've been able to do throughout the course of the year.

Q. Because of the way last year's NCAA Tournament game started, have you put any emphasis with the guys this week on we got to start fast, the first five minutes make all difference where you're trying to make sure these guys are ready to go from the jump?
COACH JACOBSON: We haven't from a coaching standpoint. I think one of the -- one of the positives and one of the luxuries we have as a coaching staff with this team, they've got a great sense and feel for the game, for what it takes to win basketball games. And, of course, with the number of these guys back from last year, they know. They know what it's going to take to win a basketball game tomorrow, and they're excited about the challenge. They know it's going to be hard, but they've got a good understanding and a good feel for what going to take to win tomorrow.
THE MODERATOR: Last couple questions in the back.

Q. Coach, you mentioned UNLV's defense. Will you have faced any team similar to that with that defensive stiff, stiff lining defense that Ron will certainly throw at you guys?
COACH JACOBSON: You know, again, little bit of Siena does some things in the full court with their pressure. Bradley does some things. So maybe a combination of a couple of the teams that we've seen. I don't know that -- again that there's somebody that's exactly alike for the course of the 40 minutes we're going the see tomorrow from what we've seen on film and what we've prepared for.
They just -- they do a great job defensively. I think sometimes when basketball teams trap you a little bit or a lot, they do it in the full court, do it in the quarter court, sometimes there's some openings, maybe not as disciplined over the course of a 40-minute basketball game as it needs to be. This is very difficult. It's a very disciplined attack defensively while they're trapping and making things hard for you. It's going to be a real challenge. Month.
THE MODERATOR: Do we have a last question?

Q. If I can go back to the wow factor question. Does it take a unique kid, personality to buy into the style that you guys play and perform at the level that you guys have?
COACH JACOBSON: I guess it would depend on how you would describe "unique" in this situation. I say that because you know really we just -- we've got to find guys that are unselfish and care about winning. That's really the bottom line. We've been very fortunate to find young guys that care about winning and that are unselfish and because of that, you know, they do the things that it takes to be part of a winning program and got to be able to play a little bit, yeah, but you've got to care about winning.
That stretches beyond the basketball floor, and you've got to care about winning in the classroom, got to care about representing our school the right way, and those things are extremely important to our program, and we're fortunate right now that we've got a group of guys that really care about that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297