BLOG — Ole Miss men’s basketball coach Andy Kennedy spent a considerable portion of his weekly meeting with the media Thursday talking about the Rebels’ future and the job he has done coaching the Rebels heading into the final three regular season games.On the team’s motivation for playing hard the rest of the way even with an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament all but gone, Kennedy had the following to say:
“As a 42-year-old, you look at things differently than a 19- or 20 year-old. The motivation should be you’re in the SEC on scholarship and have the opportunity to play high-level college basketball. That’s something that anyone who has done that, you’ve dreamed about since you were a child. That’s the goal, to get to the big-time and have the ability to play at this level. My hope is that the competitive nature comes out and drives you. People that have to be constantly externally motivated are going to go through peaks and valleys. There has to be an internal fire and my hope with this team is that fire still burns.”
On criticism from fans about not making the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season:
“I can’t control it. Fans are passionate. You want that passion when things are going good and you can’t turn it off when things aren’t going as good as you hoped. It comes with the territory. I understand that. No one likes to be criticized. At the same time, I honestly try and put my energy on things I can control and that is dealing with the day-to-day realities of this team and continuing to try and give perspective to our group. We’ve got three games left leading in to Atlanta (SEC Tournament) and there are still opportunities there. What are we going to do with it? That’s the question.”
On how college basketball coaches are measured by making the NCAAs in relation to their job:
“That’s the way college basketball coaches are judged at the end of the day. At the end of the day, it comes down to did you get to the dance or did you not get to the dance? It’s been amplified over the last five or six years. It’s all about the tournament. You have guys that are making a lot of money creating terms such as ‘bracketology’ and ‘bubble watch’ and this and that and it becomes the in vogue thing to talk about. For our team not to be in the conversation this year, certainly as a coach, is frustrating. But now is not the time for me to reflect and say what should we have done. That time will come and right now it’s really about trying to get this team prepared to play arguably the best team in this league come Saturday.”
Ole Miss (17-10 overall, 5-8 SEC) hosts Alabama (19-8, 11-2) on Saturday in a game that will broadcasted on the SEC Network at 3 p.m. (February 24, 2011)
