BIRMINGHAM - Auburn men's coach Jeff Lebo and forward Lucas Hargrove, along with women's coach Nell Fortner and guard Alli Smalley, were at Southeastern Conference basketball Media Days on Thursday.
Here are some highlights from what they had to say.
LEBO
ON NOT MAKING THE NCAA TOURNAMENT LAST SEASON: "There are too many good teams that are not getting in to the tournament that deserve it. I believe our team was one of those. It was frustrating. We thought that we did enough to get in, especially since there has never been a team to win 10 games in the SEC and not make it to the NCAA. We felt we had done enough, but we do not make that decision."
ON HOW TEAM RESPONDED IN NIT: "I was really proud of how our team responded to the disappointment. We did get a number one seed in the NIT, played very well, won some games and were only a few free throws short of making it to New York. We played meaningful games coming down the stretch and that was very beneficial to our team."
ON USING THE FRUSTRATION AS MOTIVATION: "Our returning players have had a taste of success. They like it and want some more of it. We want it not just at the end of the year but throughout the season. We have a lot of new faces that do not understand how hard it is to get into the tournament and do not understand the disappointment of not getting a bid. For the older guys, they will hold it in the back of their heads, because they want to get to postseason games. They really enjoyed the chance of getting to play when other teams were going home."
HARGROVE
ON BEING LEFT OUT OF THE TOURNAMENT: "It hurt us really bad, but it taught us a lot. What we learned from that disappointment was that it takes not only a good season, but a great season in order to play in the NCAA Tournament."
ON OUTLOOK FOR SEASON: "We are looking pretty good so far, because we have good players and great team chemistry. People on our team know their roles, which only helps the chemistry of the team. That is really going to help when the season comes around. Hopefully, we cannot only match, but win more than the 24 games we won last year and get into the tournament."
FORTNER
ON EXPECTATIONS FOR SEASON: "There is no question we are a much different team this year. We lost four starters, and they had a tremendous career at Auburn. When you lose four starters and they’ve played together for four years, you have a lot of rebuilding to do. One thing I can say about this years team is that they are very hard working and they are extremely hungry to prove themselves in this conference and it’s they’ve been a lot of fun to coach."
ON STYLE OF PLAY: "Were going to try to stay with the up tempo style of play that we played last year for as long as we can. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll slow it down a little bit. This team and these players are comfortable with this style. It’s the only thing they know. Even if they didn’t play it very much last year, it’s what they’ve practiced. It is something they are very familiar with and comfortable with. and the freshman have come in and picked it up quickly."
ON BLOWOUT LOSS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT: "I don’t know if you ever get over it. You just have to kind f move on from it. I think about it a little bit every day. Whether that serves as motivation for me as a coach, I don’t talk to the players about it. They make talk about it, but we’ve have not talked about it since it happened. It’s just time to get that taste out of our mouth and move on."
SMALLEY
ON TEAM CHEMISTRY: "We do have great chemistry. We have four new freshman, and they have been doing a great job in the offseason. We have a lot of roles to fill with the loss of seniors, but everything has been going well."
ON THE SEC: "Every team is strong and tough in the SEC. Any given team can beat you on any given night. You have to be prepared and be ready to bring your best game."
