Tim Jankovich shares his thoughts following SMU's 70-63 loss to Memphis
Opening Statement: “Just proud of our team. All year long, I’ve been so appreciative of these guys and their efforts, their fight and their togetherness and all the things they’ve overcome individually and collectively. And I’m proud to coach these guys. I feel horrible for them. I know how badly they wanted to win this tournament. This game today. And, obviously, painful loss. All losses are painful. Some a little more than others. But I just do appreciate our team very much.”
On why he thinks SMU should be a tournament team: “I look at it — how could you not be? How could you possibly not? The American Athletic Conference with the teams that are in this league, and we finish second with the wins that we had and — I think it’s — it’s hard for me to even grasp, you know? And I would be saying this if I was in — I’ve coached in, I can’t tell you how many leagues. The Big 12, SEC, Big 10, Mountain West, Southland, Missouri Valley, American. I’ve got a great grasp of this. I do. I’ve got a really, really good feel for the difference of teams. And I’m here to tell you it’s about that far, you know. If you’re the 41 on the NET versus the 86 on the NET, well, that game is going to be this close most of the time, (indicating). And I just think that a full season in a great league, I think a team should be rewarded across the country, not just us.”
“So of course I’m biased, but I promise you I’d be saying this if I was in a whole other league, and you asked me should that team that just got second in the American and won the games — yes. Of course they should be in, but we won’t know that until tomorrow.”
On how Memphis was able to slow down Kendric Davis: “That’s what they did the last — that’s what they’ve been doing every time. It really wasn’t any different. But I guess they might want to say it was. But it’s really what they’ve been doing every single time we play. So that makes me laugh. It’s the same. Same first time we played them, second time we played them, third time, played them last year, they basically have done that the whole time and that’s the way they play anyway. So I really didn’t see a change.”
“The success we’ve had over them the last couple years, our guys have just done an amazing job — because there is a shifting of gears when you play them because they’re not going to let you play in your flow. And because of that, your team has to make a pretty big adjustment to play a lot more freelance but with purpose and with certain rules, what we want to do and what we don’t want to do. And these guys did a terrific job the first two games.”
“Today we didn’t do as good a job. We probably wanted it too bad. Probably tried a little too hard. Probably forced some things. And give Memphis credit. They played very hard today, of course. And so I’m not taking anything away from them at all. But from an offensive standpoint, it was a little tougher today.”
On the uncertainty of the next 24 hours: “It’s really, really tough. I’ve coached a long time. I’ve been in a lot of situations where we were guaranteed to be in. I’ve been in a lot of situations where we were definitely not going to be in. And I’ve been in too many situations like this one where, you know, where you’re right there. And I — it’s not fun. I don’t wish it on anyone.”
“But I’m not — really, I’m not worried about for me. Gosh, I’ve done it forever. Of course, I would like to go again.”
“But these guys, I just — I want this team to go. I want this team to experience — as a group, they deserve it. If they didn’t deserve it, I wouldn’t be talking that way. But I really — I mean, every finger crossed, everything — every prayer, every whatever that the committee sees fit and sees it as I do. So, yeah, it’s bothersome. But maybe we’ll get some great news tomorrow.”
