The MAC Women’s Basketball Tournament starts Wednesday in Cleveland for the top teams in the league. We’ve already previewed some of the best teams and matchups for quarterfinal play. If you’ve ever watched MAC basketball either on the men’s or women’s side you immediately note the toughness and fight from most teams in the league. To come to Cleveland and win three games in a row is difficult. While some other leagues focus on everything other than team defense, MAC league play is about being physical and usually the hardest working defensive team usually wins it all. I recently had the chance to visit with some of the top team’s coaches as they prepare for games down at Rocket Arena.
Those coaches included Mike Leflar from Massachusetts, Kristin Haynie from Central Michigan and Brady Sallee from Ball State. I want to thank them for taking the time to chat with me about their teams they are all so proud of. Good luck this week in Cleveland!
Here are some of those interviews
Massachusetts (No. 3 seed) Coach Mike Leflar
Question: Tell me a little bit about why your team has been successful this season?
Mike Leflar’s response:
“ Well, I think a large part of our success is attributed to our roster continuity. You know, having four starters back this year, which made our off season, you know, go a lot smoother. I think people understood our expectations. And we were able to really as a coaching staff, dive into the things that we needed to improve on. You know, we weren’t relearning a new roster. So we were able to get a little bit more athletic in the recruiting and transfer portal,…people are just more comfortable. They are more and more comfortable with what we do on the offensive side and defensive side of the ball. So, I think having that continuity is a big part of it. And, you know our players who did come back really took great steps forward in their games and that’s a big credit to them and the work they put in.”
Question: This is the first year in the MAC after coming over from the Atlantic 10. What do you think of that transition this season?
Mike Leflar response:
“ Yeah, I mean, there were challenges with us just being the new team preparing for 12 other teams and all 12 other teams just preparing for one team. There was just a challenge for us in terms of familiarity. You know, even, you know, playing like Miami (Ohio) the first time around, you know, saw them on film, but really didn’t have a feel for how crisp they were and how good they were. And that’s right down the line, top to bottom. You know, just not really familiar with players in the league or styles, and that’s something that would, you know, we have to get accustomed to over time. But I really felt our staff did a great job handling those challenges, you know, scouting, game planning, and our players did too. So, turn what could have been a negative into a positive.”
Question: What makes the MAC league so good?
Mike Leflar’s response:
“Yeah, well I think that, you know, the top of the conference, both tops of conferences are really, really strong. You know, they are really well coached…you know, I was surprised that for the MAC is more physical which I enjoy…I was a little surprised like, boy, a lot of these teams shoot a lot of threes too. Um, you know, we’re not one of them, but, but, um, I thought we had a stretch where we played, uh, every team we were playing was shooting over 30 threes a game. it was just kind of getting more accustomed to that. And, um, you know, honestly, it was more just a lack of familiarity, and that we needed to get accustomed to that early.”
Question: What do you think are your strengths that can help you win that championship this year?
Mike Leflar”s response:
“Well, I think, you know, we work hard every single day. I think our players have done a nice job game planning for each team. There’s certainly a lot of belief on our end you know, and and the recent wins against Miami at home and even going to Central Michigan and handling them in a really big game for both teams. You know, it just builds confidence. It builds belief. You know, I just think, again, we have a team that…their goal all season has been winning that championship, and I think, you know, we’ve, we’re in position to do that. It’s going to take great effort this week, but we’ve certainly put ourselves in a really nice position by how we’ve handled our business all year long.”
Question: What do you like most about this time of the year and coaching in these big league tournaments?
Mike Leflar’s response::
“Oh, my, I mean, certainly like the anticipation in the buildup and like the fact that we’re still playing. I mean, obviously there’s a lot of conference tournaments last week as we were winding down the regular season and I, you know, our team was, was in tune and watching and I think everyone was excited to get out here and to get going, but, uh, you know, it still comes down to executing and game planning and uh, paying, paying attention to details. So it’s balancing that excitement, that extra emotion with, um, you know, remembering what’s important, possession by possession. So I’m excited for our team to have the opportunity ahead of them and looking forward to seeing how we perform.”
Central Michigan (No.4 Seed) Coach Kristin Haynie
Question: Tell me about your team and your success so far at Central Michigan?
Kristin Haynie’s response:
“Yeah, we got the job three years ago. This is year three and we just, you know, we won six games the first year. So every year we just wanted to get better and better…our goal for year two was to double our win total, and we got 14 wins. So, we did well, and then this year, the goal is just to get better, and get more wins than last year… Last year, we had practice shirts that had the area code for Cleveland (216)… So our goal last year was to get to Cleveland and we talked about it. We saw it and we did… we got to Cleveland and then, unfortunately, we lost in the first round, but we got a taste of what it’s like to get to Cleveland. So, this year, our goal was to get to Cleveland and now win more games and do better than we did last year.”
Question: What makes the MAC so special?
Kristin Haynie’s response:
“ Yeah, I think there’s great coaches that are in the MAC and even, you know, when I played or even when I co-chaired as an assistant here a while ago, like there’s just always great coaches…and then the MAC is just physical. You know, it’s a hard-working conference where you’re going to battle and be physical all night….a lot of the MAC teams play up tempo too… So, it has a really good system to it… For us, we just got to take it one day at a time…everyone’s records are 0 and 0, you know… it’s a new season and we have to defend like every game we got to play defense…and we just gotta be hungrier than the other team.”
Question: What do you love about this time of the year and coaching?
Kristin Haynie’s response:
“I mean, upsets happen all the time, you know, so we’ve already seen it in conference tournaments, um, last week and, uh, we just, we have to bring it every game. Anyone can win on any given night. So we feel like there’s parity here….and anybody can win, and the eight teams that are here, anybody can win it. And so we just really got to bring it. And play together and also make sure that they’re still having fun. You know, like when we play well together and we play on both ends of the floor, then we’re having fun, and that’s what we need to do.”
Ball State (No. 2 Seed) Coach Brady Sallee
Question: What makes Ball State special this year after winning the championship a year ago?
Brady Sallee’s response:
“ You know, it’s uh, an all different team…we brought in nine new kids, and only four returners from that squad last year… those four really didn’t get many minutes last year. So, it literally is 13 brand new kids. You know, the one thing that I think they’ve been so good with from the get go is coachability…they were very eager to understand how it was, we had to go about winning games. Um, If you look at us at the beginning of the year, we were very three point heavy…and then we started figuring out that we had to play through our bigs in order to be successful. So, we kind of morphed into an inside out team. We still shoot the three and shoot it really well, but, you know, we’ve got some dominant bigs that have made a real difference. And then we’ve been a great defensive rebounding team. So, you know, I think that’s been a big story of our success, but I love our length. I love our size. I love our own selfishness. Our assist numbers are through the roof this year. All those things have led to 25 wins…you know, I think, I think we’re really confident… I think our locker room has a lot of self-belief and we know how we win games. And so really the focus becomes less on, you know, the conference tournament and more on, we got to do what we do to win games and we know how we do that. We rebound the ball. We play from the inside out and we share the ball.If we do those things, we feel like we’re as good as anybody. And so that really becomes a challenge for us.”
Question: What makes the MAC special to you?
Brady Sallee response:
“Well, you know, I think, uh, we’ve, we’ve got a really good group of coaches. You know, night in and night out, the game plans are deep, well thought out, and, and it seems like every team in our league has a true identity…and it’s not everybody playing the same way. I mean each team truly has something that they do well and, and, um, you know, it, it becomes that chess match of how can I get to my strengths before they get to their strengths or more times than they get to their strengths? But, the talent level continues to increase from top to bottom in our league. Now with the addition of UMass coming in, it’s only going to help elevate league play….as for the physicality of the league…if you can’t handle physicality, um, you’re not going to be at the top of this league. Um, you got to be able to play through it so that’s one of the reasons we try to build our team big and long so that we can handle it and so far this year, I feel like that part of it has been something we’ve been good with.”
Question: What’s the best part of coaching this time of the year?
Brady Sallee”s response:
“Yeah, you know, honestly, as long as I’ve been doing it, you know, it’s, that answer has probably changed for me over the years, you know. I’ve been up here so many times,…as a basketball coach and a basketball junkie, this is the best time of year, you know, but now for me, it’s, it’s really like, I just love seeing the kids come up here and have this experience. The whole, you know, top to bottom of going to the conference tournament…it’s what they all play for…so just really sit back and seeing them enjoy each other in this environment, you know, our band, our cheerleaders, our fans, and, and just really all of it kind of coming together to celebrate another great year and, and hopefully make a 3 game run here! I’m excited to see my group in particular and see what they look like on this stage.”
Recent Comments