Jay Ladner's Postseason Press Conference
3/12/2020 10:49:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss head men's basketball coach Jay Ladner met with media members Wednesday to discuss his first season at the helm of his alma mater.
The Golden Eagles finished 9-22 and 5-13 in Conference USA after entering the year with only 36 percent of their minutes returning from last year's 20-win campaign. Southern Miss also had 11 newcomers, tying for sixth nationally.
Below are some of his thoughts.
Overall review
"We're disappointed. Our fans should be too. One of our goals was to make the Conference USA tournament, and we didn't make it. I'm a positive thinker in that we finished higher than we were picked. We were in such a strong position heading into pod play, and I've never been in a situation in my 29 years where we had to take so much time off in the middle of our season. We had a nice weekend sweep of FAU and FIU and then played two games over the next 15 days. I just didn't do a good enough job at keeping our guys sharp during that break. We were right there in all four games, and those two weeks affected us. I've had a lot of well-wishers, but when we fall short of a goal, no matter the circumstance, we are not excuse-makers. We wanted our guys to experience the conference tournament."
On having a short-handed roster through the second half of the season and the role it played
"Certainly, a lot of people have brought that up. I'd be remiss as a former athlete to say that over the course of the season, that will be a factor. We seemed emotionally spent. It was really hard to get that emotional edge back. We had some guys, like Gabe Watson, averaging over 40 minutes per game due to playing entire overtime ones. I don't blame anyone else for that since it's our responsibilities. We had some guys not taking care of business in the classroom, and that hurt our team, but they have been doing better and learned their lesson. I'm proud of that. But we had six players or so playing entire games with minimal substitutions."
On his recruiting outlook
"NCAA rules keep us from being specific on recruiting. I will say we need a point guard. We need to increase the athleticism of our team and sign an athletic, off-guard wing or small forward with the ability to score. We are looking at several high-level players. We need to sign one or two guys at the four- or five-spot. We have a great nucleus returning, and our lumps this year will pay off. Let's use Artur Konontsuk as an example: a freshman who averaged 36-37 minutes per game to finish the season. In a normal year, maybe where we'll be in Year 3, he would only be playing 10-12 minutes per game. It's not always a negative since those guys got experience in close, league games. This is my first true recruiting cycle at Southern Miss since I was hired right after last year's signing day, but I will say that the Southern Miss brand has made a strong impression."
On redshirted players
"Denijay Harris is still recovering from an injury sustained in junior college, but he's been practicing. He and Isaiah Jones got a great experience every single day in getting equal reps as other guys on the roster and retaining a year of eligibility. We need to be a team that wins with guys who are well-experienced in the program. A school like Gonzaga emerged in the late 90s and early 2000s by building strength in all its classes and sustaining that success. We are in the building stage. Overall, one of the things we want to establish is our culture. It's not just about how we operate on the floor, but how we do things on campus and in the classroom. We want a commitment to excellence."
On his first experience through the Conference USA circuit
"We had played some C-USA teams when I was at Southeastern Louisiana, but in my first trip through the league, we were highly competitive and not far from flipping the league schedule and finishing in the middle. Each year I'm here, we should get better and better players. We had a meeting with a player earlier today where we told him of the areas he needed to improve in. Minutes are not guaranteed next year. That's what competition does, and it's great for everyone. This should be a baseline year for us. We won five league games with our present roster, but we will bolster our skill development and replace our two scholarship seniors."
On his early outlook to the 2020-21 season
"We have three players coming back that led us in scoring (Gabe Watson, Tyler Stevenson, LaDavius Draine). For Tyler, we need to have an award for 'Most Improved Player.' This was a guy who started as a walk-on and played sparingly last year. He had an incredible year and he embodies that hard-working, non-entitled Southern Miss culture. Draine started slow this year, and while a lot of people don't know this, he hurt his wrist real bad in the last three weeks and was playing through it. He's the last guy to make an excuse, and he's an outstanding shooter we have back. Gabe, in the middle of league play, was moved without any preparation from the off-ball to point guard spot, which is not his natural one, and really finished strong with a great game last Saturday. We'd like for him to be more consistent, but we have our three leading scorers back and Konontsuk as well. He had 19 points against Gonzaga. He came to the United States for the first time and is playing Division I basketball."
On freshman Angel Smith, who suffered a season-ending injury on Dec. 7
"I would group him the way we did those other guys. His situation was a little different. He got some playing experience, and as he finally worked into the starting lineup, he broke his wrist. I will say he did it taking a charge, which to me is the most selfless play in basketball. He got his cast off two weeks ago and was never cleared for full contact, but he's really close. If our season continued a little longer, he might have gotten back in. He would be a cinch for a medical redshirt. He got some game experience that will translate to next year. He looks the part and was a top-25 recruit in Florida. He can be an x-factor next year."
The Golden Eagles finished 9-22 and 5-13 in Conference USA after entering the year with only 36 percent of their minutes returning from last year's 20-win campaign. Southern Miss also had 11 newcomers, tying for sixth nationally.
Below are some of his thoughts.
Overall review
"We're disappointed. Our fans should be too. One of our goals was to make the Conference USA tournament, and we didn't make it. I'm a positive thinker in that we finished higher than we were picked. We were in such a strong position heading into pod play, and I've never been in a situation in my 29 years where we had to take so much time off in the middle of our season. We had a nice weekend sweep of FAU and FIU and then played two games over the next 15 days. I just didn't do a good enough job at keeping our guys sharp during that break. We were right there in all four games, and those two weeks affected us. I've had a lot of well-wishers, but when we fall short of a goal, no matter the circumstance, we are not excuse-makers. We wanted our guys to experience the conference tournament."
On having a short-handed roster through the second half of the season and the role it played
"Certainly, a lot of people have brought that up. I'd be remiss as a former athlete to say that over the course of the season, that will be a factor. We seemed emotionally spent. It was really hard to get that emotional edge back. We had some guys, like Gabe Watson, averaging over 40 minutes per game due to playing entire overtime ones. I don't blame anyone else for that since it's our responsibilities. We had some guys not taking care of business in the classroom, and that hurt our team, but they have been doing better and learned their lesson. I'm proud of that. But we had six players or so playing entire games with minimal substitutions."
On his recruiting outlook
"NCAA rules keep us from being specific on recruiting. I will say we need a point guard. We need to increase the athleticism of our team and sign an athletic, off-guard wing or small forward with the ability to score. We are looking at several high-level players. We need to sign one or two guys at the four- or five-spot. We have a great nucleus returning, and our lumps this year will pay off. Let's use Artur Konontsuk as an example: a freshman who averaged 36-37 minutes per game to finish the season. In a normal year, maybe where we'll be in Year 3, he would only be playing 10-12 minutes per game. It's not always a negative since those guys got experience in close, league games. This is my first true recruiting cycle at Southern Miss since I was hired right after last year's signing day, but I will say that the Southern Miss brand has made a strong impression."
On redshirted players
"Denijay Harris is still recovering from an injury sustained in junior college, but he's been practicing. He and Isaiah Jones got a great experience every single day in getting equal reps as other guys on the roster and retaining a year of eligibility. We need to be a team that wins with guys who are well-experienced in the program. A school like Gonzaga emerged in the late 90s and early 2000s by building strength in all its classes and sustaining that success. We are in the building stage. Overall, one of the things we want to establish is our culture. It's not just about how we operate on the floor, but how we do things on campus and in the classroom. We want a commitment to excellence."
On his first experience through the Conference USA circuit
"We had played some C-USA teams when I was at Southeastern Louisiana, but in my first trip through the league, we were highly competitive and not far from flipping the league schedule and finishing in the middle. Each year I'm here, we should get better and better players. We had a meeting with a player earlier today where we told him of the areas he needed to improve in. Minutes are not guaranteed next year. That's what competition does, and it's great for everyone. This should be a baseline year for us. We won five league games with our present roster, but we will bolster our skill development and replace our two scholarship seniors."
On his early outlook to the 2020-21 season
"We have three players coming back that led us in scoring (Gabe Watson, Tyler Stevenson, LaDavius Draine). For Tyler, we need to have an award for 'Most Improved Player.' This was a guy who started as a walk-on and played sparingly last year. He had an incredible year and he embodies that hard-working, non-entitled Southern Miss culture. Draine started slow this year, and while a lot of people don't know this, he hurt his wrist real bad in the last three weeks and was playing through it. He's the last guy to make an excuse, and he's an outstanding shooter we have back. Gabe, in the middle of league play, was moved without any preparation from the off-ball to point guard spot, which is not his natural one, and really finished strong with a great game last Saturday. We'd like for him to be more consistent, but we have our three leading scorers back and Konontsuk as well. He had 19 points against Gonzaga. He came to the United States for the first time and is playing Division I basketball."
On freshman Angel Smith, who suffered a season-ending injury on Dec. 7
"I would group him the way we did those other guys. His situation was a little different. He got some playing experience, and as he finally worked into the starting lineup, he broke his wrist. I will say he did it taking a charge, which to me is the most selfless play in basketball. He got his cast off two weeks ago and was never cleared for full contact, but he's really close. If our season continued a little longer, he might have gotten back in. He would be a cinch for a medical redshirt. He got some game experience that will translate to next year. He looks the part and was a top-25 recruit in Florida. He can be an x-factor next year."
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