Gopher Basketball
Niko Medved
GH.com: This is not the first time you’ve been involved in the Minnesota coach staff, can tell me about your former role as a grad assistant?
Medved: Well it was obviously a little bit different. The role wasn’t the same as the one I have now. It was really kind of nice. I was really involved with the assistant coaches and scouting, helping up setting up recruiting, and just kind of being in the meetings and being around. When you’re younger, if you’re really observant, you can learn a lot. So I felt like I learned a lot in my experience here and it’s kind of neat coming back.
GH.com: What were some your key learnings?
Medved: I think it’s just seeing how somebody operates their program, how different coaches go about recruiting, how you go about scouting opponents, getting prepared to play a game, practice plans. You name it. You don’t only learn from the head coach, but a lot of assistants that have come through here and gone onto be head coaches, you can learn something from each of them.
GH.com: What is your coaching specialty?
Medved: Well I don’t know if I have a specialty. Through out my career and coming from Furman, I really held every spot on the staff. There wasn’t really anything I wasn’t involved with, whether it was scheduling, recruiting coordinator, scouting, doing individual work, practice planning, running practice, I had my hand in just about everything, so it’s been a good experience.
GH.com: What brought you to the “U”, even though the rumors were rampant that Coach Monson was on the hot seat?
Medved: (Laughs) That’s a long story, we probably don’t have time for all that. Really, it’s been an interesting off-season for me with everything that happened at Furman, and I think really, at the end of the day, there was just something that told me to come home. Come home for a year, this is home for me. I grew up here, I graduated from here and I feel like this was just a good opportunity to come home and everything has worked out for me.
GH.com: No regrets?
Medved: No regrets at all.
GH.com: At Furman, you were known as a great recruiter in the states and abroad, how do you have such a large network? And, how do you not only spot talent, but also attract them to your school?
Medved: Recruiting at a school like Furman really helps you because you really have to scout. We recruited a lot of players internationally, and really, from all over the country based on our academic profile. We recruited in Minnesota successfully too; two of our best players were from this state. I worked a lot of camps while I was growing up, whether it was the Nike All-American or other camps. I really got to meet a lot of good contacts here in Minnesota and abroad. I’ve traveled abroad, worked camps abroad. And, recruiting is really about relationships, so I’ve been really fortunate through my time to not only recruit regionally, but I’ve really recruited all over the world. I think that has helped me and will help me in the future.
GH.com: So are we going to turn into Northwestern and recruit a lot of European guys?
Medved: (Laughs) Ha, no I don’t think so. I think every school kind of has it’s own niche about where you can recruit, and where you get your kids. Like I said, I think recruiting is about relationships and about being aggressive and really going out there, getting an early start, and seeking guys that will fit in your program and can really help you.
GH.com: Is there any reason the coaching staff decided to promote from within, instead of bringing in another coach? There was a lot of mention of bringing in Trent Tucker, amongst a long list of others.
Medved: Well, I don’t know, you’d have to ask Coach Mo why he decided to do what he did. We felt like there were some good things happening here and we just wanted to keep a little bit of continuity. We didn’t have a lot of time; we needed to move forward, now we finally have a little bit of practice time here after finals. Coach Mo felt like we needed to keep some continuity and keep going and build on the foundation that we had.
GH.com: How do you deal with the vagabond nature of a college basketball assistant? Are you putting family life on hold for now or meshing personal life with demands of job?
Medved: It’s probably the best part about being single and not being married and not having kids, it just allows you to do that, it’s just kind of the nature of the business. Sometimes it’s not great, but it has allowed me to see so many things, not just here but around the world and getting the chance to meet so many different kinds of people. It’s been a great experience, it’s been a great ride and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
GH.com: It seems like fans are more excited to talk about the coaching change, and possible hires for next year that this season. Is there anyway to take the focus from the Gopher fans back onto the court?
Medved: You know, everybody’s got a job to do; to me the player’s job is to play and go to class, our job is to coach and try to get these guys better, and the administration’s job is to worry about all those other things. I think that’s what we’ve really tried to do, just go, prepare, coach the team, and we really can’t worry about anything else.
GH.com: What are the biggest differences in practice and performance that you see with Coach Molinari as head coach?
Medved: I just think every coach has their own personality and as time goes by Coach Mo is trying to get these guys to fit his personality. Obviously, he’s a great defensive coach, he coaches with a lot of intensity, and I think you’re going to see this team take on his personality, that’ll be the biggest change.
GH.com: One of the most upsetting statistics is that we are getting out-rebounded by our opponents in the non-conference; can we expect drastic changes for BT season?
Medved: Obviously, we’ve put a big emphasis on rebounding. Everyday we’re doing different rebounding drills. Rebounding is about toughness, it’s about awareness, and I think a lot of it has to do with how we play defense. As we get better defensively, as a team we’ll rebound the ball better. But obviously that’s the key, if you can’t get a defensive rebound it doesn’t matter how good your initial half court defense is, you can’t win. So, obviously we know that, the players know that, and as we improve in that area, will really probably be a big key how many games we can win the rest of the way.
GH.com: What player has the most potential on the team, that hasn’t broken out of his shell yet?
Medved: I don’t want to single out any player; we’ve got a lot of players with potential who I think are just scratching the surface. Obviously everyone knows Dan, Lawrence and Spencer, three of our leading scorers. I think guys like Kevin Payton and Jamal are guys that have a lot of potential that are young guys. Jon Williams is coming on, they all have potential, I’d like to see some of younger guys, in particular, Kevin Payton to really come through, learn to take care of the ball, become more of a threat on offense, and really becomes the defensive stopper I think that we need on the perimeter.
Brent Lawson
GH.com: This past year had been a huge year of change for you, can you please tell me what career/life changes you’ve made since last December?
Lawson: Last year at this time I was just graduating from school, I had an extra semester after I finished playing, and I was searching for a full-time, engineering job. Then I began working as an engineer, so this past summer when James (Ware) moved on to a different position, I was talking to Coach Monson and was hired here as the head of basketball operations.
GH.com: You have a Mechanical Engineering degree from the U, which is a difficult degree. Have you always wanted to get into coaching and engineering was just a back-up job for you?
Lawson: Coaching was always something I thought about getting into. I was an assistant coach last year at De La Salle High School, and I really enjoyed that. It just sometimes gets tough to do that on top of a full-time job. If I can make a career out of coaching, I might enjoy that more.
GH.com: What is your coaching specialty? Is it defense since you were mainly known as a defensive player?
Lawson: You learn a lot about the game when you play at a high level, you learn a lot. On every possession there is something you can find a player and correct them on some things. I wouldn’t say I have a specialty right now so early in my career.
GH.com: Having been a member of the Gopher program as a player and now coach, what do you say to Minnesota preps and other recruits to encourage them to attend the “U” in this uncertain time?
Lawson: It’s just a great program, a great school, there’s a lot of people that are willing to help you while you’re here and when you graduate from here, the alumni base and so forth are willing to help you get jobs and do other things in life, that’s pretty amazing. It’s always great to play in front of your friends and family if you’re from Minnesota.
GH.com: What role are you playing in recruiting?
Lawson: We’re all contributing a little bit; go watch some local games, stay in contact with some coaches, and the local guys that we have on our radar.
GH.com: Do you feel it’s a help or a hindrance being so close in age to the players, and having played on the same team with a few of them?
Lawson: I think it’s a help, it’s good for them to have someone that can understand a little bit more what they’re going through. It’s also good for the rest of the coaches to get a little bit into the mindset of what the guys are thinking and feeling.
GH.com: When you were the captain of the 04-05 tourney team, our identity was hard work and tough defense, what do you think this team will emerge as?
Lawson: We’re trying to get to that same point I think. That’s just the objective everyday to build that identity of toughness and defense.
GH.com: What responsibilities do you have as a new assistant coach? Has it been a drastic change from director of basketball operations? Do you still cover those responsibilities in addition to being an assistant?
Lawson: I still have many of the same duties that I had back then, it’s just that when I’m at practice, I can be on the floor, and coaching and getting into guys a little bit more and have a little bit more input.
GH.com: So you are still covering off on that position?
Lawson: Yes, for the time being.
GH.com: Are you getting paid two salaries?
Lawson: (Laughs) I wish.
GH.com: There have been a number of bad things written about this team and year. Does the bad press ever affect the morale of the team?
Lawson: Coach Mo says you have to keep a level head, when you’re winning everyone is going to tell you how great you are, and there’s no time to get a big head. When you’re losing everyone wants to tell you how terrible you are, and there’s no time to listen to that. So you just need to stay levelheaded and everyday just have the same goal in mind to come to practice, work hard, and try to get better.
GH.com: Pressing and rebounding were huge obstacles in the non-conference season, what have you done as a coaching staff to work on these issues?
Lawson: We just try to come up with drills and different ways to simulate those game situations, and do your best to make sure when it happens in a game, the guys feel like they’ve been there before.
GH.com: If you had to name one player who you see could be the breakout player this year, who would it be?
Lawson: To echo Niko, I don’t think I could single out one particular person. We’ve got guys, our junior class, who’s got a little bit of experience. Then we’ve got younger guys who are playing a little bit more as time goes on. Bryce, Lawrence Westbrook, Kevin Payton, Damian and all those guys; if they keep working hard, they’ll have great careers here.
GH.com: What have you learned most from Coach Mo as a player or an assistant Coach?
Lawson: I guess I learn something from him everyday; I really appreciate the passion he has everyday to come out and make the guys better. I also consider him a close friend, and I’ve learned a lot about how to treat people from Coach Mo.
GH.com: How so?
Lawson: Coach Mo is just really good with people. People like him. He talks to people around the office, not only when he needs stuff, he just really cares about people, and I respect that.