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(almost all the questions came from the same 4 or 5 questioners)
Up first, Greg Lansing (Indiana State) is up first - says he's focusing on Thursday but confident they can win four games in four days!
Next, Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa)- the SIU media guy asks Ben Jacobson if he's worried about the refs he gets assigned for the game, or if he'd prefer that the MVC allow 6 fouls per game in the tourney.
When asked why his teams always seem to do well late in seasons and in the tourney - Jacobson says it's because he recruits freshmen and has them at least 4 years with a lot of them staying 5 years. That he doesn't go for the transfers & jucos much. He notes Jeremy Morgan numbers have dropped off a little of late & is a "little banged up" but expects him to play great on Friday.
Brian Wardle - playing Drake at 8:30pm Thursday. Says we gonna take better care of the ball and defend the 3-pt shot better.
Asked about team's recent improvement - Coach Wardle attributes it to gradual maturity, and credits the players & their efforts. Gaining confidence also. Dave Reynolds asks - to elaborate on any disadvantages of playing the same team (Drake) again. Coach answers that game prep is fresh but we know exactly what we need to do better this time. Other keys - rebounding & defend. He expects all the games to be close. Darrell Brown still a little bit sore but showed in the 2nd half Saturday that he's ready.
Paul Lusk (Missouri State) talked mostly about what he expects with UNI and Jeremy Morgan
Barry Hinson (SIU) - facing Loyola again, Barry predicts that the SIU-Loyola is gonna be one of the best games of the tournament. Then was asked how he might play if they get ISU...kind of an odd question...
Barry then goes back to lauding Loyola and calls them "Golden State" because they have so many ways to beat you!
Marty Simmons (Evansville) facing Indiana State, didn't get a lot of questions
Porter Moser (Loyola) spent some time complimenting Sean O'Brien (SIU) then spent soe time touting his guy Milton Doyle. Planning to use Aundrae Jackson more as a 3-pt shooter. "Got the green light".
Then he touts all the teams from 3-10 as very good teams but just not obvious to some because the top two teams are "elite" - hoping for a few extra (lower-level) tourney bids
Jeff Rutter (Drake) - Bradley's opponent - Rutter talks rebounding and knows his team needs to do better.
Dave Reynolds asked Rutter about advantages of playing the same team again - kinda got the same answer almost word-for-word- "preparation is still very fresh" but also his team could feel intimidated and they need to come up strong mentally. Rutter kinda hints their game plan is gonna be on the perimeter. The he was asked about his team's struggles and how he (Rutter) feels being the assistant coach - and Rutter gave the answer expected - that you can only worry about what you can control - Drake's been thru a lot of changes and he seem to hope that they don't make more changes. He's excited and confident that his team can finish very strong.
Dan Muller (ISU) talks a little about game prep - they head to St. Louis Wed. nite and practice early on Thursday.
they are prepping for either of the two teams (Evansville/Indiana State) they might face then Thursday nite they will focus on whoever it turns out to be.
Mikyle McIntosh still has issues with his knee and they have been careful with him - and they are worried he might "tweak" the knee again. When asked about the upcoming announcement of All Conference picks he mentions he's hopeful for his guys but since you can't vote for your own guys he can only remain hopeful.
Gregg Marshall (Wichita) - talks a bunch about Landry Shamet, calls him "the best player in the league".
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