University of Massachusets Athletics
Head Coach Steve Lappas' Weekly Teleconference
March 07, 2005 | Men's Basketball
March 7, 2005
Head Coach Steve Lappas took part in his weekly teleconference on Monday morning. This week, Lappas discusses the upcoming Atlantic 10 Tournament, the first round game versus La Salle, and the team's perfomance throughout the year.
Question: Can you talk about the final week of the season and what you saw from your team?
Lappas: We lost to Dayton at Dayton. We had a one-point lead with three seconds to go and there was a horrendous call made, unfortunately, and we ended up losing by one. I thought our guys did a great job. Then, we played Duquesne at home on Saturday, our last game of the year. We did a lot of good things and I think we're ready to go into the tournament this week.
Question: When you look back on the season. 16 wins, can you talk about the team this year and your thoughts about entering the tournament?
Lappas: We've improved tremendously over the last year, there's no doubt. We've had some great things this year. We have arguably one of the best wins in the league by beating UConn and I think that what gets lost in the shuffle is that we're starting four sophomores. If you go by adding up years, we're right there at the top in terms of having a very young team. I thought our guys did a great job and I'm pleased with where we've come to.
Question: Would there be an advantage going in as a favorite or do you think it matters to the players at all?
Lappas: I think it's a little harder going in as a favorite. When you're up five with three minutes to go in the game, you have a different feeling than the underdog. The underdog feels like they did a great job being there. If you're the favorite, you think that you should be doing better than this. It's a lot easier to come as the underdog, but talent usually wins out.
Question: If you get through La Salle, you have to play Xavier in Cincinnati. Is there a big advantage for them because it is in their hometown?
Lappas: I think there is a huge advantage. We're not going to have many people there, and they're going to have the bulk of the building.
Question: Dereck Whittenburg was just saying that teams in the league might want to reevaluate their scheduling to try and schedule more wins. In his opinion, wins are what it's all about at the end of the season. What do you think about that?
Lappas: I don't necessarily agree with that. I think scheduling is something that you really have to take a lot of time to think about. It doesn't help you to schedule four teams that are ranked between 250 and 320. I've been on all sides of the fence. I've been at Manhattan, I was at Villanova, and now I'm here. We scheduled 11 non-conference games and that was the sixth toughest non-conference schedule in the country. I think we would have had a great chance for an at-large bid if we played a little better in our league. I think we did enough with our non-conference schedule considering who we played. You have to schedule top 150s because if you take a hit and lose to somebody under 200, it kills you. I think that everyone does what they have to do. I'm very happy with the way we scheduled this year, and we put ourselves in the position to have a very good year. The way they switched around the RPI in December was a little odd, so now you might have to make some adjustments in that regard, too. We like scheduling tough non-conference teams and I think we benefited from it.
Question: I hope I didn't misrepresent what Whittenburg was saying. He never mentioned scheduling really easy teams. He doesn't feel that these tough losses on the road do you much good.
Lappas: Either you're looking for easy games, or you're looking for home-and-home games with good teams. If you're goal is to schedule wins, then you're scheduling easy teams. That's the only way you can say, "We're going to win this game and we're going to win that game." I'm not saying that was said, I'm just telling you what we believe. We were very careful to schedule teams like Boston University, Northeastern, Gonzaga, Miami, UConn, and Boston College. We were careful to get a good mix but not to schedule anyone below 150.
Question: Who do you think is the favorite heading into the Atlantic 10 Tournament?
Lappas: You have to say Saint Joseph's based on the regular season. If you're going by anything, you might as well go by being true to form. Xavier has a great opportunity because of where they are. Hopefully we get a chance to play them. We have to beat La Salle first, which is not going to be easy. I think Saint Joseph's.
Question: What about the La Salle game?
Lappas: We went to overtime last time. It's going to be very tough. When you have a player on the court that is one of the best players in the league, you always have a chance. They talk about their depth, which isn't great. But, truthfully, our depth isn't that great either. You have two teams with not a lot of depth. They have a great player and we have one also, and I think it is going to be a very tough matchup.
