Lawrence North head coach Jack Keefer is an Indiana legend. He has coached for 37 years, with 33 of them at the helm of the Wildcats where he has an astounding 560-216 record (621-242 overall). He has been blessed to coach some of the highest talent ever to emerge from our great state, including Eric Montross (North Carolina), Todd Leary (IU), Chris Hill (Michigan State), Greg Oden and Mike Conley (both Ohio State). He also has a current crop of D1 players this season. Coach Keefer was kind enough to spend a few minutes chatting with me after his 4A #4 Wildcats came away with a hard-fought 69-57 win over 2A #1 Bishop Luers. Here's the transcript of the interview:
P-Hoops- Coach Keefer, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Couple of questions. First off, great win over a great team. Guarding Deshaun Thomas: what was your plan for defending such a big time player?
Coach Jack Keefer: Well, he's obviously a special player, and a special talent. I never like to worry too much about one kid. We obviously wanted to favor him, but I think if we just play our game, do what we have to do, we should be okay. I mean, we don't want him to get forty. He didn't get forty did he (laughs)? We favored him, but we didn't spend too much time on it.
PH- You came in with a high ranking to start this season, but lost to Terre Haute South, but since then you've rebounded well. What has been the key to that?
JK- Terre Haute is a guard-oriented team, and we've got all these big guys trying to chase them around, getting beat. And if their guards are hitting all their outside shots, it's hard to stop them. But we played so sloppy against them. We're still playing so sloppy, but I like it. I like that they're correctable mistakes. You can't correct shortness or things like that. We have correctable mistakes.
PH- With the high preseason rank, do your kids feel pressure to live up to LN's past success? Or do they buy into hype?
JK- Well, they're typical kids who think they're better than they are. I think the loss was a good thing for us. Now they're working very hard.
PH- Coach, you have a nice problem with so many D1 caliber players on the roster. How do you manage the rotation and keep everyone happy?
JK- It's a job. It's a real job to manage it. But they are buying in. Look at the bench. They could be hanging their heads thinking, "Why aren't I playing?" But they're not. If you watch, it's a really active bench. The kids are up and excited, rooting for each other. I've been tickled to death with that.
PH- Speaking of the bench, you've got some good guys on it. Care to speak on your sophomores Ryan Taylor and Michael Chandler?
JK- Well, you saw Taylor. He's very good. Still has a lot to learn, but a very good player. Chandler is a little bit away. He should be playing more. I should play him. But there are older kids in front of him who deserve it too. His time will come.
PH- Coach, thanks a lot for your time. Good luck this season.
JK- No problem.
Thanks again to Coach for being so generous with his time. If LN continues to improve with each game, expect them to contend for the State Title.
3 comments:
Michael Chandler should come back to IPS, to Broad Ripple, where he would STILL be a D1 recruit and he would play the minutes he deserves! This youngster has the skills of players much older than him, no way he should be sitting on ANYONES bench.
LN is more crooked than Matt Nover's beak.
Take care of your properties! Stop ignoring your responsibilites!!!
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