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MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2013Ben JacobsonAnthony JamesMarc SonnenST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: Northern Iowa will be next. We move on to the third seeded Northern Iowa Panthers with head coach Ben Jacobson. As we have in the past, we will start with a statement for or with Coach Jacobson and then move to questions. Coach? COACH JACOBSON: Thanks. We've played well. These two guys and Jake and Austin have done a great job with not just their leadership but kind of imposing their will, and whatever other words you want to put on it, with the rest of our team. Because of it, we've played really good basketball for going on six weeks now. Not that we were playing poorly before that. Missed on a couple of opportunities, but they've‑‑ like I said, these four seniors have done a terrific job and put us in a position that we really finished well in February and heading into the tournament. Proud of what these guys have done. I know they're anxious to get going tomorrow night. Not to speak for them, but they understand that it's going to be a hard game. But they're anxious to get going tomorrow night. THE MODERATOR: After questions for Coach Jacobson, we'll move on to questions for our student‑athletes Marc Sonnen. Q. The coaching stability has been pretty good in the Valley the last couple of years. How much do you think that has played into how much parity there is and how even everybody is? There's been a lot of coaching turnover and not a lot of roster turnover. COACH JACOBSON: I think that's one of the key factors in why our league has been strong for a number of years in a row. Without being able to maybe pinpoint the exact correlation between the years where we did have some coaching turnover, and if there was a downturn in the league, Paul, I would certainly say there was some of that when the league downturned a little bit. I think that aspect, and I also think this year, maybe more so than some other recent years, the number of seniors on so many of the different teams. I think you take Indiana State out and you take Missouri State out‑‑ Anthony Downing, a terrific player and a terrific senior in our league, but Indiana State having none. I think the other teams have two, maybe three, and in many cases, four seniors. Regardless of how you're playing, where you're standing in the league, seniors are going to find a way to play well and to play extremely hard. That's certainly been the case for us, as I mentioned. But there's no doubt that the coaches that are in the league right now, it's been a really good group. It's my seventh year. Guys that aren't here anymore like Dana and Turge and some of the guys that aren't here, Chris Lowery and guys that went to the NCAA Tournament. But we've got a group right now of guys that are really, really good. Q. Your defense on Tyler Brown Saturday, what did you identify the problem areas are and what are you going to do better? COACH JACOBSON: He's getting 25 in his last seven, eight, nine games, whichever number of games it is. So he's been doing it for‑‑ against multiple teams and been in different situations on the road, at home. There's really‑‑ he's just playing great. Because he's got the ability to score in so many different ways‑‑ he can score in transition. He can score early in the shot clock. He can score late in the shot clock. He can catch and shoot, drive it off the ball screen, get to the basket, get to the free‑throw line. Because he scores in so many ways, he's a hard guy to slow down. I do feel like Marc is going to do as good a job as anybody in our league can. Marc's that good a defender. When he isn't on him, whether it's A.J. or someone off the bench, they're going to put in a big‑time effort. That might mean Brown still gets 25, but we've got to put in a great effort on him and a great effort on Carmichael and then make sure we do what we can to not allow Ekey, Wilkins, Bryant, Hill, somebody else to have a big game. Brown's really good. He's a hard guy to stop from getting points. But I know Marc will put in a great effort. THE MODERATOR: Other question for Coach Jacobson. If not, we'll turn to questions for our student‑athletes, Marc Sonnen and Anthony James. Q. The single season three‑point record, what allowed you to achieve that this year and how much does it mean to you? MARC SONNEN: I've got to give a lot of credit to my teammates finding me and getting me the ball. I wouldn't be able to do that by myself. They find me and find me and give me the good shots.  Also, I've got to give a lot of credit to the coaches, kind of getting on me to get in the gym and work out. I think it's paid off a lot for me in my confidence and my game and kind of my all‑around game. The record means a lot to me, but no individual record is going to mean anything more than what we do as a team and what we can accomplish as a team. That's what I'm looking forward to for going on further with our team. The single season record is great, but it doesn't really mean a lot to me personally. I'd rather have some as a team. I'm more of a team player than anything else. Down the road, something I can look back on and say I was able to accomplish that, but I'd rather have something that we can all share as a team. Q. For Anthony. My question is, you're from St. Louis, senior year, your playing doesn't get much better than this. Can you talk about your emotions going into what arguably could be your last time playing in front of family and friends and all that. ANTHONY JAMES: This is my fifth year down here. It's always good to be able to come back here in St. Louis and have family and friends support for myself and also for the teammates. I'm just looking forward to tomorrow. This is my last go‑round in Missouri Valley, and I want to go out on top, myself and the rest of the seniors. We're extremely focused and extremely confident right now. We've got a good game plan for both tomorrow night and whoever else we play for the rest of the tournament time. I'm just looking forward to having an overall great time down here with the team for the last time. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, your time is up. Thank you so much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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