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Q&A with new Indiana State basketball coach Matthew Graves: ‘This a perfect fit for me.’

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6 months ago

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Q&A with new Indiana State basketball coach Matthew Graves: ‘This a perfect fit for me.’

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IndyStar’s Kyle Neddenriep traveled to Terre Haute and Switz City to get to better know new Indiana State basketball coach Matthew Graves and his family. Click here for the full story Sycamores fans won’t want to miss.

Here’s some more from Kyle’s interviews with Graves and his daughter, Lily, a standout for Franklin Central’s girls basketball team:

▶ On coaching at Indiana State: “What excites me is the opportunity here. I mean, this place, this community, the fans, being home. All of it encapsulates what I’m excited about. So many things that kind of bring it all together. To get a second chance, as I’ve told many people — I’m thankful that I had a first chance at South Alabama — but to get a second chance, though, at a place that’s a great fit and you are in the state of Indiana… there are just so many positives that make this a perfect fit for me.”

▶ Style of play expected at Indiana State: “There’s going to be a lot of similarities (to Josh Schertz’s style). The way the game of basketball is going is position-less and being able to play fast and have interchangeable parts. Over the last three years, we’ve tweaked the way we’ve played here. But there will be a lot of similarities to what we do. You have adjust with personnel and being able to recruit through the portal and high school to you system is going to be invaluable for us. You have to do a great job in that area, understanding how we want to play. It’s what the fans want to see, it’s how I think the game is going and trending. Even the Pacers, how they are playing and how fast they play. Want to continue to build on that, recruit the right pieces.”

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▶ Recruiting the transfer portal: “There’s a new way and I think that’s evolving every day. Used to, you would recruit three, four, five guys in a new class. Now we’re bringing in 10 new guys. The last couple years, we’ve had to bring in seven, eight new guys. The biggest piece we have to get to at Indiana State is we’re consistently recruiting maybe five or six guys in a class, not eight, nine or 10. We need to have that knowledge, continuity with he staff, all those things are key to helping us compete in the top of the Missouri Valley That will be ultimately how we are going to be judged. How do we do in conference play? And in March when we head over to St. Louis for Arch Madness, do we have a team that’s capable of winning? Those are the goals that we’re going to continue to strive for.”

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▶ Time away from family and maximizing time with his daughters: “Not to say I’m different from what any other parent would do or any dad would do. But as an example, we had league meetings (recently) in Chicago. Saturday, my wife and I went to Evansville to watch our baseball team play and compete and got back on Sunday. I’m getting ready to drive up to Chicago and getting ready to leave. Lily comes in and says, ‘Hey, you want to get shots up for an hour?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, lets go.’ I change clothes and we go up to gym and work out for an hour. Then I come back and head up to Chicago. You just try to adjust and make you plans and be as in the moment as much as you can. Sometimes hard to put cellphone away because you feel like you are always on call. But just to find the moments where you can be with them and locked into what they are doing. Those are some of the fun moments.”

▶ Recruiting in state: “I think it’s certainly an advantage. One of the reasons Josh hired me initially when he got the job was for my connections here in the state, and it made a lot of sense to be back here. I’ll never forget the first person we had on campus was Ryan Conwell. I saw him at the Top 100 and he came down for a visit that Monday after the Top 100. We didn’t get him first time around (Conwell committed to South Florida), but building those relationships and through the effort of the staff, were able to get him the second time. Or a guy like Isaiah Swope, the connection there was connection was his trainer, was a kid I recruited while I was at Butler. The connections you are able to make gives you a little bit of an advantage. Then ultimately how well a guy like Isaiah or Ryan did while they were here in our system I think opens it up for for more Indiana kids to want to taka a peek at Indiana State. Obviously, we’ve had good players from the state, like Cooper Neese. You can go down the line in past decade guys who have been from Indiana who have had good careers here. I think our style of play, on top of that, makes it more attractive for kids.”

▶ What would you tell the Matthew Graves of 2013 (at start of South Alabama job)? “I think I would go back and tell that guy, ‘Just continue to be yourself. You are doing it the right way, you had a lot of experience and continue to work hard, stay the course, treat people the right way and hire good people around you and good things will happen.’ We did a lot of great this down there, we just didn’t win enough in the end. All the other stuff was really good. You have to catch a few breaks. That same formula holds true — work hard, hire good people and recruit good kids. Stay the course and it will work out.”

▶ Lily Graves on her realizing her dad was a good player: “I actually used to joke with dad, ‘You weren’t that good.’ Then getting to talk to all the people in Switz City and looking at different articles of stuff and when I started caring a lot about basketball, I said, ‘I’m going to have to give it to him. He was a good player.'”

▶ Lily on her dad helping her with recruiting: When I started narrowing it down, (Southern Indiana) was a pretty easy choice. But at first, it really stressful. I took my first visit and I didn’t know what to look for in a college. He helped me break down everything I needed to look for when I stepped on Southern Indiana’s campus, I thought, ‘This is where I want to be.’ I loved Evansville and the campus itself. It was where I wanted to be. When I told my dad and got into the car after the visit, he said, ‘Let’s look and make sure this is the one.’ I texted him in middle of May that’s where I want to be, he said give coach (Rick) Stein a call and let him know. He was really helpful to me.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649

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