One of Morehead State's assistant coaches found out about JMU coach Dean Keener's resignation while he was on his computer last night, and gave the Eagles head coach a heads up. His response was straightforward.
"That's either bad for us or good for us, and usually it's bad," MSU coach Donnie Tyndall said.
He analogized Keener's resignation to John Brady's firing at LSU, where Tyndall coached as an assistant from 1997-2001.
Tyndall called the performance a "tribute to Dean and his staff" but acknowledged that the Eagles did a poor job of defending Swanston early.
"I thought about four of the six [3-pointers] he made were uncontested and we did a poor job guarding him," Tyndall said.
He also recognized JMU's solid defensive performance and said that aspects of it caught the Eagles off guard. The MSU coaching staff had observed that JMU usually drops into zone defense out of the 1-2-2 three quarter court press, but today they dropped into man-to-man.
Keener emphasized the resiliency of his team after losing big to Old Dominion on Wednesday; he didn't think the Dukes' performance had anything to do with any attempts to support their coach.
"You know when you're embarrased; when you just dont have it," Keener said, referring to the loss against ODU. "I think they knew it, and they were ready to come back and prove themselves."
Hot shooting paved the way for Madison to set its press, and it paid dividends.
"When you're making shots you're not in transition defense," Keener said. "It allows you to 'jump into your defense.'"
Keener also talked about having pride in your job, and said that coaching a day after his resignation didn't affect him in any significant way.
"It is what it is, so let's continue to look forward," he said.
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