Tag: Greg McDermott

‘I still love that school;’ Oregon’s Dana Altman prepares for bittersweet battle vs. Creighton

Oregon Ducks coach Dana Altman knows Saturday’s NCAA Tournament matchup will be bittersweet against his former Creighton Bluejays.

The 11-seed Oregon Ducks surprised some people on Thursday afternoon when they rode a 40-point game from guard Jermaine Couisnard to “upset” 6-seed South Carolina, 87-73 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Those who follow the Ducks closely know this wasn’t really an upset, though. For starters, Oregon was favored by 2.5 points to win the game, and on top of that, head coach Dana Altman entered the game with a 7-0 record in the first round of the March Madness tournament.

If you know Altman, you had a pretty good sense that the Ducks would win on Thursday. Of course, if you know Altman, then you also know how meaningful this upcoming round of 32 game will be for the long-time coach.

[lawrence-related id=59093]

Oregon will tip off against the 3-seed Creighton Bluejays on Saturday night at 6:40 p.m. PT. This matchup will pit the Oregon coach of 14 years up against his old team, where Altman spent 16 years coaching before he came to Eugene.

It’s not just an entertaining storyline that has been drummed up over the past week, but something that holds real meaning for Altman, the winningest coach in both Oregon and Creighton history.

“Oh, you know, you spend 16 years at a place…” Altman trailed off on Thursday after being asked about the matchup on Saturday. “I’ve got great feelings about Creighton. As I said yesterday, you can leave a place, but that doesn’t mean you still don’t love the place.”

Altman coached in Omaha from 1995-2010, where he took Creighton to a total of seven NCAA Tournaments, having won six Missouri Valley Conference regular season titles, and three conference championships. Currently, Altman is the winningest coach in Creighton men’s basketball history, though he could lose that title this month if the Bluejays are to make a deep tournament run. Greg McDermott is only three wins off of his pace.

[lawrence-related id=59126]

Seeing a new name on top of that list is likely something that would please Altman, though.

“I’m so happy for Greg and Creighton and all their fans and the people that I know there,” Altman said. “Greg’s done a tremendous job. They’ve got a tremendous program. I’m so happy for him.”

On the court, Saturday’s matchup is going to be grueling for both teams. The Bluejays are currently favored, and many have them as a real contender to make a deep run and potentially get into the Final Four later this month. However, anyone who has watched the Ducks over the past few weeks, and saw their game against South Carolina in the first round knows that Altman’s team is far from an easy out.

“It’s bittersweet because only one of us is going to move on. But we’ll battle our tails off,” Altman said. “We’re going to have to play as good as we’ve ever played to get ’em. We’re going to have to be so sharp defensively, on the boards. We’re going to have to shoot it good again.”

If the Ducks find a way to pull off the upset, Altman will continue this magical run in 2024 and strengthen his already robust legacy as one of the best coaches in the history of the sport.

[lawrence-related id=59151]

If Oregon loses, at least the 65-year-old coach can take pride in watching one of his favorite teams battle on into the second weekend of March Madness.

“I’ve had 14 great years at Oregon, and I love this place,” Altman said. “And when I’m done, I’ll feel the same way about Oregon as I do about Creighton.

“Oregon is 1, but I think Creighton is 1A. There’s not much separation. I still love the school.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Creighton coach Greg McDermott on wild call at end of Elite Eight: ‘We’re not going to go there’

Greg McDermott took the high road with this answer here.

Creighton’s NCAA men’s tournament title hopes came to an end on Sunday in the wildest, most unsatisfactory way possible. And yet, when asked about it, Creighton head coach Greg McDermott took the high road.

San Diego State advanced to its first Final Four in program history after besting Creighton 57-56 on an unceremonious last-second foul. Creighton got the ball back with 1.2 seconds remaining, but the pass down the court tipped out of bounds, which lead to a referee review. The result? An anticlimactic end to a game that went down to the wire and was decided on the final play.

MORE MARCH MADNESS: Darrion Trammell broke down in tears after sending San Diego State to school’s first Final Four.

While other coaches may have let the moment get the best of them in postgame interviews, McDermott had a very measured response to the foul on Ryan Nembhard that kicked things off.

A pretty classy response from McDermott there!

[pickup_prop id=”32763″]

[mm-video type=video id=01gw2eekjb0f8pv8tkgb playlist_id=none player_id=01gp1x90emjt3n6txc image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gw2eekjb0f8pv8tkgb/01gw2eekjb0f8pv8tkgb-f9135a1c4219940b57d78d7f6ebb6d28.jpg]

Brothers Arthur Kaluma and Adam Seiko will face off again in a second straight March Madness clash

The Elite Eight’s Sunday clash between Creighton and San Diego State will feature a sibling rivalry.

Creighton sophomore forward Arthur Kaluma and San Diego State senior guard Adam Seiko will put their sibling rivalry to the test one again in the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament.

After facing each other in the first round of the 2022 men’s NCAA tournament, the two will square off in the Elite Eight on Sunday for a chance at the Final Four.

No. 6 Creighton and No. 5 San Diego State will try to settle who wins the South Region and gets to compete for a national title.

Last year, Kaluma and Creighton topped Seiko and San Diego State in overtime, 72-69, to advance past the tournament’s first round. This year, Seiko’s San Diego State will try to return the favor.

The elder Seiko recently praised Kaluma’s growth and talked about the potential for Sunday’s family clash with the Final Four on the line.

“You know, it’ll just be a surreal feeling,” Seiko told Hurrdat Sports about a possible Elite Eight matchup with Kaluma. “You know, something I can’t even put into words, really.”

The two brothers offered each other some social media support ahead of their Sweet 16 victories.

Creighton head coach Greg McDermott very much has a bias as to which sibling he wants to continue to play for the title.

Pete Thamel lists four coaches who could fill Notre Dame opening

Would you like one of these coaches?

Since [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag] announced his intention to leave Notre Dame in January, various names have floated as his replacement. Our own Nick Shepkowski made his own list of candidates in the immediate aftermath of Brey’s announcement. While it’s nice to keep all options open, it appears the list is starting to narrow down. At least that’s what ESPN’s Pete Thamel said he believes during the most recent episode of College GameDay:

For all we know, this list could be completely bogus with none of the four landing the job. But when you cover college basketball for a living, you’re bound to hear a few whispers about who the next coach might be. For argument’s sake, let’s pretend this list is legitimate and that the search indeed will come down to these four. Then, we can debate as to who would be the best candidate for the Irish for the long haul:

Greg McDermott said what he meant and meant what he said when he spoke of the ‘plantation’

Simply awful.

Creighton basketball coach Greg McDermott has apologized for telling his players, after a loss late last month, that “I need everybody to stay on the plantation. I can’t have anybody leave the plantation.”

McDermott got out in front of the story by being the one to reveal what had happened when he sent out his mea culpa — typed on Notes, of course — Tuesday night. He says that he has “never used that analogy” and that it’s “not indicative” of who he is as a person.

That may very well be true, and McDermott is saying the right things about how he’ll try to move forward: There’s still work to be done and he’s going to listen to his Black players as they work through this.

Creighton assistant coach Terrence Rencher, who is Black and a member of the Coaches For Action coalition that seeks to use basketball to raise awareness of social injustice, also released a statement decrying McDermott’s language and saying he was focused on helping the players through this time.

We’ll have to wait and see what comes from this. Of course Creighton’s Black players want to push through now; they’ve spent hours upon hours this year, and throughout their lives, trying to get better so they can win games and are 13-5 in Big East play. Asking them to disrupt the season because their coach said something racist would be absurd.

After the season, though? McDermott is going to need to do more than just meet with a savvy public relations pro for more advice on how to spin this. Let’s give him the chance to do that work.

But let’s also acknowledge that he absolutely meant what he said — and that his charged language had very clear targets. McDermott wanted more from his Black players, and wanted them not to falter under the most difficult conditions. So he literally invoked slavery.

That’s horrifying, but also indicative of the attitude that still pervades among college coaches. Players have got to be all in, even though they don’t own the rights to their own name, image and likeness. They’ve got to be willing to go the extra mile, even though their scholarship isn’t guaranteed. They’ve got to listen to Coach when it feels like he’s trying to break them, but also never forget that student comes first in “student-athlete!”

As an athlete you’ve got to go all out — don’t for a moment think about running toward the transfer portal, that’s ungrateful — even though you know your coach is on the phone with his agent when a bigger job opens up.

If McDermott survives this and if the Blue Jays manage to go on any sort of run in March — and I hope they do — it will purely be because of the strength and grace of the players he aimed his unfathomable diatribe toward.

McDermott should give them space to lead here and turn his attention to coaching them: by working on technique and strategy, finding weaknesses in opponents and lifting players up when they sag under the pressure he helped to create.

Maybe that will be enough to make McDermott truly understand he should not run his program as if he’s an overseer pushing his players to fill baskets. He can find other ways to win.

[listicle id=999518]