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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: OKLAHOMA CITY

March 19, 2010

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

THE MODERATOR: Now being joined in the interview room with Northern Iowa student-athletes, Ali Farokhmanesh and Adam Koch.

Q. Ali, you're from Iowa City. I'm curious about how Northern Iowa became the best college program in the state. You follow college basketball. Saw what's happened to the Hawkeyes the last few years. What's your theory on why the Hawkeyes have gone downhill and Northern Iowa is the best program in the state of Iowa now?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: I don't know. I can't say what's going on there. I mean, I know they've had their struggles. I know they're struggling lately, but I'm sure they'll turn it around eventually. But as far as our program goes, we recruited good kids and kids that want to play basketball.
I think that's the biggest thing. We're a bunch of kids that love to play the game. We don't care who scores the most points, who is getting all the publicity or whatever. We're trying to win basketball games.

Q. Adam, Northern Iowa is kind of emerging here as being predominant in the Missouri Valley. How satisfying is that for you?
ADAM KOCH: It's definitely satisfying you know from the four years I've been here, even before that when Coach McDermott was the coach. They've had a lot of success in the Valley, been to a lot of tournaments, won a couple Conference Championships now. It's definitely nice to be at a point where the program is kind of a high point, you know, during my senior year.
I feel like it's kind of been on the rise now for awhile, and I think we're just kind of peaking right now.

Q. This is for Ali, could you give me the short version. I read that your father was in the Iranian volleyball team. How did your family get to this county and why did you settle in Iowa?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: Well, my dad played in the Olympics for Iran in 1980, but he came over to play volleyball. He actually went to BYU and Western Illinois and Southern -- Southern Illinois, and then my mom's from Iowa, though. That's kind how we ended up back in Iowa, but they actually met and started coaching at Weber State first. I've only been in Iowa for about six years. Once we came back to Iowa, that's kind of my mom's home state. That's why we came back to Iowa.

Q. For both guys, what does it mean to have Coach Barry on your bench, and how have you guys adapted to being around him a little bit?
ADAM KOCH: Yeah. It's pretty nice having coach Barry there with us all the time at practices, on the road trips, at games. He just kind of sits on the side and observes, and, you know, when he says something to you, it's probably a good point, you should listen to it. He's not out there being a "rah rah" guy. He makes his points, and we take it for what it's worth. We take it pretty -- we listen to it.

Q. Guys, holding teams in the low 50s and even in the 40s is kind of retro back in the '70s. Can you talk a little bit about your defense and what's gone into that to produce such great defense in holding numbers down on your opposition?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: That's what Coach Jacobson preaches. It's kind of cliche, all coaches want to play defense. We did that from day one in practice. When you're a freshman, that's the first thing you learn right away is defense. Our offense has been coming along lately. It's our defense we start at the beginning of the season and hopefully carries us throughout the rest of the season.

Q. For both of you, when McDermott left for Iowa Jacobson apparently sat down with you two and talked about sticking around. What did he say to you, and was there any inking on either of your part to go with McDermott?
ADAM KOCH: You know, I think one of the big things was a lot of the coaching staff, lot of guys, everything was kind of staying the same. We had some guys leaving, some of the coaching staff leaving for Iowa State, but a lot of the players were staying, lot of the staff was staying. So it was pretty comfortable knowing it was going to be a lot of the same stuff that we had committed to with staying at Northern Iowa. So I think that made it real easy to stay here.

Q. Ali?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: I came from JUCO.

Q. Just what kind of emotions or feelings are you experiencing, knowing you got a shot at the No. 1 team in the country?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: I think it's just a great opportunity. They're an amazing program, great coaches, great players. It's just -- we look at it as an opportunity to play against one of the best teams in the country. We're kind of proud of that and excited about the chance to play against a team like Kansas.
THE MODERATOR: Adam, address that as well?
ADAM KOCH: It's a pretty exciting opportunity to play against a team that's considered the best team in the country. That's what you want to do as a player, want to find out where you're at, and you do that by playing the best team. It's a great opportunity for us, we're excited for it.

Q. How many of you guys do you think -- how many guys on your team do you think would start for Kansas?
ADAM KOCH: I don't know the answer to that one. That's tough to say. They've got a lot of talented guys. I'm not sure how to answer that one.
ALI FAROKHMANESH: They got a lot of talent. Be pretty hard for one of us to start for them. Yeah.

Q. Guys, were you still in the building when Lehigh got up 12-4, and what were you thinking? Were you pulling for Lehigh? What was going through your mind?
ADAM KOCH: Yeah, we were still around. We got to watch the first half at the arena yesterday, and we just wanted it to kind of be a close game, I guess. It was fun to be able to watch it, see both teams kind of play in person at half. I wouldn't say we were pulling for their team. It's exciting to get the opportunity to play Kansas, but at the same time, it would have been a pretty historical upset if Lehigh would have pulled it out.

Q. For either of you guys, do you feel as if playing in the Valley, you're in kind of the Big 12's shadow? And also, after you found out you were the only team to win on a Big 12 home floor this year, what did that feel like?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: It was probably biggest for the fact it was Iowa State. Also a Big 12 team. It's a rivalry and Coach McDermott is there. There's a lot of connections going into that game. It definitely felt good to win that game, and, I mean, maybe we feel like we're in the shadow a little bit because the Big 10, Big 12 are all surrounding us. It definitely feels like sometimes we feel like that.

Q. In the limited amount of time that you've seen Kansas on tape or watching them this year, what impresses you most personnel-wise or what they do?
ADAM KOCH: They're a pretty impressive team top to bottom. There are big guys inside, guards outside. They've got so much talent. They can do it all. There's not much weakness in their game, I guess is one of the things you notice. So we're going to have to really be on top of things, you know, tomorrow, but you can tell right away they're a really tough team.

Q. To pulling out that game, winning the game in the NCAA Tournament, where is your confidence at right now?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: I think for a team aspect, we're pretty -- we're always a confident team. I think that's just from Coach Jac, really. No matter what, no matter what the situation, you can always tell we have the same faces on no matter what's going on in the game.
We could be down 10 and might look like we're up 15 at that point. I think no matter what, when we're playing that bad, we usually have pretty high confidence in ourselves.

Q. Adam, one thing that people say about Kansas is just talking about how deep they are, and yet in the conference final, you don't score a point and yet you guys win by 15. Can you just talk about how your guys' rotation may kind of help match some of their depth?
ADAM KOCH: Yeah. I mean, I feel like we're a really deep team. We've got so many guys that can play, so many guys that can play at a high level. I feel when we get our guys off the bench coming in, there's not really a drop-off. There are times this year when in big games, the stars, I guess, hasn't come out, and they've come in and extended a lead for us or got us a lead. So we're really confident with whoever is in the game, whoever is taking the shots, that they're going to hit and they're going to make plays.
THE MODERATOR: Last couple of questions for the student-athletes. Okay, guys. Thank you.
Northern Iowa Head Coach Ben Jacobson in the interview room.
COACH JACOBSON: Thank you. We've, you know, started, of course, last night working to get ready for our basketball game, you know, not unlike UNLV and some of the other teams we've played. When you start to dig into Kansas and really watch them on film and try to pick them apart a little bit, you know, even better than what I thought before I started watching some film last night, and, you know, of course, that part of it makes it an extreme challenge. I knew they were very good for a lot of reasons, and watching them on film, they just -- no weaknesses. So we'll continue to work hard in our preparation today with some more film, and we'll get ready to play tomorrow.

Q. Ben, you guys have become by far the best college program in the state of Iowa now. What do you look for in recruiting, and are you going up against the same type of players Iowa and Iowa State are going up against? Are you beating them on those players?
COACH JACOBSON: You know, there's occasions that we'll be in the recruiting mix with Iowa, Iowa State, Drake, some of the Wisconsin schools, Minnesota. Most of the time, there's going to be a handful of schools in our league, and then the ones that I mentioned that we're watching the same guys.
You know, we're working hard to find guys that really fit and that really want to be at the University of Northern Iowa. We've got a plan as to how we're going to play offensively and defensively and they have to fit that, but more important, you know, guys that are unselfish and guys that really care about winning. And that extends beyond the basketball floor, into the classroom, and how they represent our university, and that's really what we're looking for.

Q. Ben, you mentioned last night how important winning an NCAA Tournament game is to the continuation of building your program. How important is it to even get a chance at No. 1 one in the country? And if you can project, what kind of an impact would beating the No. 1 team in the country have?
COACH JACOBSON: Well, you know, the opportunity that has presented itself for us is certainly an important moment in our -- for our program, without question. Not very often do you have the opportunity to play against the best team in the country. And we've got that opportunity coming up tomorrow, and it's a challenge that our guys are excited about, excited to really worked hard in our preparation, done a good job so far with how they prepared and so -- I think just a terrific opportunity. And when you put that two days after an important win in the NCAA Tournament and continuing to build your program, a very exciting opportunity.

Q. Coach, most college coaches agree high school kids don't play nearly tough enough defense to begin with. What do you do with kids when they get there and if they have trouble clinging to your philosophies and those kind of things?
COACH JACOBSON: Well, we've actually got a couple guys we signed early that would fit into the category that you're talking about, couple of guys that can really play offense and got some work to do at the defensive end of the floor. I think a lot of times that's the biggest adjustment for high school players is the ability to perform at a high level every possession.
You know, in high school I think guys are able to turn it on and defend when they need to when it's an important part of the game. At this level, of course, that's every single possession, and so it's just something we work at everyday.
I think the biggest key is your older players, your best players are bought into what's important, and in our program that's defending and rebounding. And when guys come into our program, they're able to learn from guys that have been in our system, and they know it starts with our defense. And so I think the leadership from within the team is the most important thing.

Q. Can you talk about having Coach Barry around, how that came to be and what it means to you personally and what you believe it means to him just to be involved with this?
COACH JACOBSON: He had retired from high school coaching, of course, and we were able to get connected and talked about what might be an option, and we were able to settle on -- the term that he's on our staff is "consultant," and he's just been -- he's been terrific in a lot of areas.
For me personally, he's been very good. For my staff, he's been very good. For our players, you know there's some things basketball-wise that he's really helped them with. But I think more than anything, just the toughness that he shows up with every day, battling cancer as he is and still showing up to practice and doing it with a smile on his face. He's always got an encouraging word for the guys or for me or for our staff and just his mentality, his mindset, his toughness, those things have had a real impact on me and our guys.

Q. Ben, a lot of schools around the country have a lot of problem with attrition, particularly some schools near you. What is the key to keeping kids around and rosters intact and how does the fact you play so many players so many minutes have to do with it?
COACH JACOBSON: You know, I think an important part of that, of course, is in the recruiting process, you know, as I mentioned and talked about in the recruiting process, there's some things that we're looking for. And, you know, I think that through recruiting, you know, you're able to put your team together and put your program together. And, you know, we do that with your red shirting in mind, you do that with guys that are staying for all four years in mind, and really working to build our program.
I think a lot of it is through the recruiting process and, you know, for us, an important part of that is guys that are unselfish and guys that really care about winning in different areas.

Q. Coach, what do you think about Kansas what might be the most difficult matchup for you, what or who? And on the other side of that, what do you do that might surprise Jayhawk fans who haven't seen you play yet?
COACH JACOBSON: Kansas presents so many problems with their offense, because if they don't get you in transition, they can get you inside. And if they don't get you in those two areas, they can get you with the ball screen. If they don't get you there, then it seems like Collins is going to find a way to get you.
So it's -- I think because they can do in it so many ways, you have to find a way to set your defense to slow them down in transition. You have to find a way to defend the post, because if they're able to get touches there early in a possession, they're going to get scores or get to the free throw line.
If they get loose with their ball screen actions, now you're chasing them around the entire possession, and anytime they something doesn't quite work the way they want it to with those things, Collins does what he does and comes up with big plays and finds teammates at the right time.
It's a very challenging when you look at how to slow them down, how to defend them and I think that's the result of having great players and a great coach, great staff. Paragraph March in terms of our team, you know, our stuff is pretty straightforward. We work hard to be consistent with how we defend. That, I think, is going to be important for us tomorrow to be able to defend the way that we have the entire year. Obviously because of who we're playing, there's some more challenges there.
When we defended well and rebounded the ball well, we've been in basketball games. That will be important tomorrow.

Q. Coach, everyone is kind of looking at this matchup with Kansas as kind of a David versus Goliath type of deal. If you look at your players tomorrow before tip-off or maybe that second TV timeout or something and they look a little nervous, what might you say to them to kind of get them to settle down and play basketball like they played all year?
COACH JACOBSON: You know, I think we went through that last year, Kelly, and it's -- your question is very good, but I guess my feeling is we went through that with Purdue last year. We weren't quite sure what to expect. We had a very young basketball team a year ago.
Purdue had been in the NCAA Tournament and had the majority of their team back, and that really showed I thought in the first half of our basketball game a year ago. And so I think we've been through that in a different -- yes, because of where Kansas is at nationally and the terrific group that they've got. But I think our experience last year will really help us tomorrow and then having a game under our belt yesterday. I think our guys will go out, and we'll play as hard as we can.

Q. Coach, can you speak to any difficulties that are presented, existing in the Valley anyway, in the Big 12's Shadow and also the significance of being the only the only non-conference team to win on a Big 12 home court this season?
COACH JACOBSON: One of the things, having played against Iowa State, the game that you're referring to, the guys are familiar, of course, with the players on Iowa State. So when we put the film on with Iowa State and Kansas, it helps, because we've been on that floor and played against those players and now watching that game. I think that's a benefit as we get ready for our game -- our game tomorrow.
In terms of our league and the shadows of the Big 12, that's -- that is what it is. That's the reality of college basketball. The Big 12 is a terrific league, and it's been that way for a long time and our league is good. We've got a very competitive, very good league but, again, that is what it is.
THE MODERATOR: Last two questions.

Q. Ben, how do you convince your team it can win this game?
COACH JACOBSON: I think I'm fortunate in the sense that we've got an experienced team that expects to win basketball games, and that's an approach that our guys have taken all year, really for a year and a half now.
We got things rolling a year and a half ago, and since that time, these guys expect to win. And so I don't have to do a lot as our head coach in terms of trying to make up something different or trying to trick them into believing they can win a basketball game.
They've got a lot of confidence in each other. They really trust each other. We've had a lot of success this year. They also have a great feel, and they understand the challenge that we're facing tomorrow. They understand that Kansas is the best team in the country right now for a lot of reasons and our guys know that. But they also -- they expect to win.
THE MODERATOR: Last question.

Q. Coach, there's lot of teams across the country that emphasize defense, yet they don't have the defensive numbers that you have. Can you talk specifically about your personnel, what you emphasize or what you do better than others to produce those great defensive numbers?
COACH JACOBSON: I think because these guys have played together for a long time, that has helped. They've really got a feel for rotations and for covering up for each other, and if we do get into a situation where we get in a little bit of a bind, they got a knack of bailing each other out and team out on a defensive possession. I think that's an important part of it is having experience. The key for us, it's pretty simple. Working hard to keep the basketball in front of us and contest a shot. When it goes up, everybody has got to find a block-out.
As simple as that may sound, that's what we talk about everyday is keeping the ball in front of us and contesting a shot and blocking out and really working to finish plays. And so we try to keep it pretty simple. But because we have an experienced team, they've gotten really good at some of the more difficult parts, and that's the rotations and covering up or each other and trusting that you can make a rotation, your teammates will be there. All those things that go into it, our experience has helped us with those things.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach.
COACH JACOBSON: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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