CARL BIALIK/YH

First-year wins and woes with Jones' boys

• 'Herald' Sports sits down to talk with basketball coach James Jones.

Coach Jones has certainly put in the hours, often getting into the office before 8 a.m. and staying past midnight. And while the Bulldogs have struggled, they have won five Ivy games, three more than last year, and the program appears to be on the verge of a renaissance.

The Yale Herald: After going 2-12 in the league last year, the team has improved dramatically. There's a buzz around the John J. Lee Amphitheater that this team can win. How do you account for this new attitude?

James Jones: The reason I think it has changed is that I've demanded more of the student-athletes here. We ask them to do a little bit more than they have done in the past. For instance, earlier in the season Jason Williams [PC '00] was complaining about being tired. I asked him what was wrong, and he said, `I'm tired from practice, I'm tired from practice every day.' And I ask, `Jason, how many times were you tired from practice last year?' He says, `Like two or three.' So we demanded more from the kids because I felt that they were capable of doing more than they did. And I still think we're capable of doing more than they did this year. It's not so much of an effort level now as opposed to a psychological level in terms of getting us to the next plateau.

YH: What about this season have you been most proud of? What have you been the most disappointed by?

JJ: I'm most proud of the effort our kids give every day, the way they relate to each other—like earlier in the season when we were playing St. Francis and we were up by 18 in the first half. We ended up losing that lead and actually losing that game. Watching the videotape, I noticed that when negative things happened, it was like a hand going in five different directions. Each player would go off on his own. But now when you watch our team, when negative things happen, our guys come together. I'm really proud of that.

YH: How were you able to beat Princeton?

JJ: We're just like they are—we're slow, short kids. Our kids know Princeton, and [Assistant] Coach [Ted] Hotaling, who did the scouting, did a really good job. We put a really good game plan together to go up against them. Their expectation is that they're going to come in and roll over everybody. And if you jump up and punch them in the nose early, and you can sustain that, then you can be successful against those guys—and we were. Our biggest problem, of late, is that teams figured out who we are and what our deficiencies are.

YH: What are those deficiencies?

JJ: You can look at our statistics and you'll see that we don't shoot the three well. Jason Williams is 0-22. Chris Leanza [SY '03] and Onaje Woodbine [BK '02] shoot about 31 percent from behind the arc, and that's ok. You take those two guys away, and the rest of the team shoots eight percent. Our third-best three-point shooter is Ted Smith [CC '00] at 21 percent, and if you take him away, the rest of the team is shooting only four percent. We had some success because people didn't figure that out before. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Now, as long as they guard Chris and Onaje, they can double down all they want on Neil Yanke [MC '01]. They've figured that out.

YH: Why has your team had so much trouble winning on the road?

JJ: That's a good question. I guess you get the hometown crowd—our fans really have been pretty good. It comes to the point with road games where you have to go out and just have to prove to yourself that you can get it done. Until you do that, in those waning moments of the game, it's hard to believe deep down that you can do it.

YH: Looking forward to next year, who do you see emerging as the team's leaders?

JJ: We'll have three seniors: Isaiah Cavaco, [JE '01], Yanke, and Tom Kritzer [PC '01]. I expect these guys to be leaders, but leadership is a funny thing, especially with basketball. You tend to follow those who put forth the best work ethic, work the hardest, and get things done. One of the greatest leaders of them all in basketball was Michael Jordan because he demanded so much of himself. When you have leaders that do that, that is what really helps a basketball team. I want someone on the floor to take the place of a coach. I've coached standing up and screaming until the last two seconds of every game. What I'm hoping for is that we develop some leadership where guys can call offense on the floor and I don't have to call it every time. I call every offensive play now. I want these guys to figure it out for themselves. I want them to understand what works and what doesn't work. I want my point guard to be an extension of myself, so that we're thinking the same things, like when he's coming down the floor, and I think we should run triple right now, and all the sudden we're in triple. But you know, for the first year, that's difficult.

YH: What impact has Chris Leanza had on this team? What has his role been?

JULIA TIERNAN/YH

JJ: It's too big a role for a freshman. Chris Leanza is in a situation where he's been asked to do too much. The kid plays 40 minutes a game and he's played hurt all year. He's had a slight shoulder separation and he's had knee problems all year. But I can't take him off the floor. I don't even think about taking him off the floor. We don't have anyone else who plays the point. We beat Columbia because Chris Leanza had an exceptional game.

YH: Do you think you can eventually play on the level with Pennsylvania and Princeton?

JJ: Without a doubt. That's one of the reasons I took this job. I feel that we can beat them. We've beaten either Penn or Princeton at least once in each of the last five years. We jump up and bite them like that. But the problem is that in those same years, we lose to, say, Cornell twice, and that can't happen. Yes, we will be competitive with Penn and Princeton. It takes another player or two and the belief system that we have to play back-to-back. We can't take nights off. To be a front-runner, you have to be two-deep at every position because every team has its injuries. Look at Penn—they're two-deep at every position. They have two guys at every position who can go out and beat you. They have guys on the bench that are better than a lot of guys who start on other teams. So you have to get to that point where you're recruiting that caliber of student-athletes.

YH: You were an assistant to former Coach Dick Kuchen. What did you learn from him, and what are you doing differently?

JJ: Dick Kuchen gave me a good understanding of the Ivy League and how it's different from other leagues. You have to understand how this place works to be successful. You have to understand financial aid and admissions. As for what I do differently, well, Dick and I have different work ethics. I'm the type of person where if things aren't going right, it's on my shoulders, and I'm going to do everything I can to make it better. After we lost to Columbia, I was in my office until midnight to get things set for the Cornell game. I don't expect every coach in the country to do that; I don't think every coach in the country will—that's just me. I don't know if that helped us, but I just want to do everything I can. Until we get to the point where we're winning 20 games a year, I have to do that.

YH: Where do you see yourself in five years?

JJ: In terms of my career, I'm five years ahead of schedule. I thought I would get my first head coaching job at 40—I got it at 35. Looking at another school or anything like that hasn't crossed my mind. What I want to do right now, I want to take this team to the Ivy League Championship and bring them to the Big Dance, that's what's on my mind. That's my goal. I feel that I can attain that. We've come a long way.

YH: Can Yale really win the Ivy League title?

JJ: Sure. When we get the championship here, it'll be more exciting than in most places. Every game we've won, in the locker room afterwards, it's been like the Fourth of July, because our expectations were so low. You've got to crawl before you walk, walk before you run. We will get there.

Carl Bialik and Ben Litman contributed to this article.

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