Everything Nick Mingione Said About Kentucky Hosting Regional, NCAA Tournament Draw
Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione spoke to reporters on Monday following the reveal of the NCAA Tournament Field of 64, which placed the Wildcats as the No. 12 overall seed.
Heading to Lexington for the Regional is West Virginia, Indiana and Ball State, with the action set to begin at noon EST on Friday, June 2, as UK and Ball State will square off.
Below is everything Mingione said about UK's draw, his team following the SEC Tournament and more:
On the validation of hosting after making the schedule:
MINGIONE: Just thankful ... it's one thing to put a schedule together, then we put together the hardest one. Our conference schedule is our conference schedule. But if you look at our non conference schedule, as well I mean, I think it's top 10. So it's one thing to put it together, but it's a whole other thing to go out and execute your schedule. And that's why I'm so thankful of our team. You know what they've been able to do. Really thankful for Mitch Barnhart.
I've said it all year long and you guys are probably like 'Coach Minge, you're like a broken record, you keep saying the same things.' But this team just wants to win. And it started with Mitch Barnhart's message to our team at the beginning of the year, and he just challenged us to win for Kentucky. And that's what this team has done. That's what they've been committed to doing. That's what they've continued to do. And I'm thankful that they're gonna get this opportunity to play in the first regional here at Kentucky Proud park and you know, that's why you invest $49 million into this beautiful stadium is to host postseason events and thankful for our fans that have showed up you know, all year long, especially thankful for all the former players that put on his jersey and our in our staff, you know, even former coaches and staff members, there's just a lot that goes into this.
To be a top 16 team, that didn't happen overnight. There's been a lot of people that have invested a lot of time and effort and energy and, you know, thankful for those former players and I'm especially thankful for my wife, you know, like, man, it's been, it's been too long since we've done this again, you know, but she is the standard of what a wife is supposed to be like.
On the emotion being different this time around:
MINGIONE: Someone asked Thomas Edison one time what it felt like to fail 10,000 times when he was trying to invent the light bulb, and his answer was I never failed one time. It just happened to be a 10,000 step process. And that's how I feel about here. It's been a process. You know, we've been close I talked about that at Media Days. I wanted it so bad for those other teams, two of the last three years we've been one or two wins away and we haven't been able to get over the hump and I put a lot of that on me, you know, to try to put them in a better position with the schedule.
Ultimately you have to go out and execute it and this team has done that, you know, but just thankful for all those people, but it does seem like it's been a little while, you know, but same time, anytime you can get your team in the postseason whether it's hosting or not. I think you saw that last year with Ole Miss. Our ninth place team in our league wins the whole thing. That's the power of our conference.
On seeing other teams UK have played also in the tournament:
MINGIONE: You know, what's interesting about the schedule is you just never know how a team is going to be every year. It's just so difficult, you know, to put a quality team on the field every single year. You know, we've had amazing people, but there's been some teams — we've just fallen a little short. So even when you schedule a team, you're just hoping, right? I hope you appreciate my transparency. You're like man, I hope they're gonna be good this year. Right? You can go by track record and everything else. But I mean, I think if you were to ask any coach, you know, even at the beginning of the fall, we have no idea how we're going to be we think we know but until you get out there and actually watch your team, you just don't know. And it's worked out well.
Obviously our strength of schedule is one of the main reasons why we're in this position and played a lot of really good teams and you know what, that's one of the things about our league is our guys are battle tested. You know, and it's why they've done so well in the postseason when you look at some of the teams in the postseason — because every weekend feels like a super regional.
On the three teams coming to Lexington:
MINGIONE: At this time of the year, you guys know this, all of the teams are good. Ball State, I mean they're on fire. They just won their tournament, had a huge, clutch home run, won 35 games. You win 35 games in college baseball. You're doing something good, right? I mean, and then you sit there and you look at West Virginia, I mean, they've stolen 122 bases. Two weeks ago, they're in talks of a national seed. I mean, so they're clearly a host worthy team. And then obviously, Indiana, they won over 40 games. You do that in college baseball, you got a special team, you know, so definitely a difficult regional, and one that'll be definitely a challenge for us.
On juggling pitching in a regional:
MINGIONE: We've thought a lot about it. Obviously, you know, we'll go back and we'll look and kind of evaluate strengths and weaknesses of each team. You know, we threw some guys last weekend where we feel good about if they throw on Friday or Saturday or Sunday, however we line it up. They're in a good position. That was one of the benefits of coming home a little early from the SEC tournament is you know, we've been able to let guys get rested but also practice really hard. And we've practiced really hard over the weekend. Going to have a great practice today, but we'll look at and evaluate and try to see match up who might do best versus who.
On having a longer layoff from the SEC Tournament to the NCAA Tournament:
MINGIONE: We've practiced really hard, you know, the times that they've been out here we have not given any days away. They've competed especially hard. they've practiced hard. I give a lot of credit. I mean, we played eight innings on Friday, seven innings on Saturday, and they've gotten after it.
These guys, they just compete and they want to win. And it's one of their greatest strengths. They have a lot but their desire to win that dominates is pretty special. And they've practiced hard. We've gotten rest too, played some paintball yesterday. I think they loved that. I was like, 'hey, what do you guys want to do?' and they're like, 'coach, we want to go paintballing.' And I'm like, 'sure you guys want to compete? Of course you do.'
On not being concerned about the team being happy to just be in the NCAA Tournament:
MINGIONE: No, they love being around each other. They're just a very mature group. I mean, it's been obvious from what they've done in the classroom off the field. It's been a team that wants to win but super mature, very mature.
On the advantage that hosting a Regional gives Kentucky:
MINGIONE: I tell them all the time — our team — there's no secret that there's — I think we've had one guy, maybe that's played in the postseason before, like and that doesn't bother me one bit. The way they've attacked our schedule, the road series, the opponents at home, on the road, like they just have, they give me a lot of peace. And they've been really good at — and I've said this a lot — but they've been really good at just focusing on what's in front of you at that moment. They've been really, really good at that. And, you know, that's how you peel off 17 games in a row.
There's a lot of guys that made a lot of sacrifices. It's a very selfless team. But they're able to do that because they don't have personal agendas. It's all about Kentucky and when you have that type of maturity, and that type of group, they can stay focused on the tasks at hand.
On what you want to see cleaned up before the Regional:
MINGIONE: There's been times where you know, on the pitching staff, we haven't gone on the attack enough and maybe not throwing as many strikes. There's been times where we've hit too many routine fly balls. With this team, it's really interesting, you ask them, 'hey, look, we need to do this' and they make conscious effort to fix it like that. There hasn't been a ton, but we're at our best when we're attacking on then mound, that starts with our guys there. We're creating line drives, ground balls, creating all kinds of pressure for our opponents. We're stealing bases. We're bunting. That's us at our best. When we're not at our best, we're tentative, routine fly balls, nibbling around the strike zone, you know, but we're at our best when we just were attacking.
On using the home crowd to your advantage this weekend:
MINGIONE: One thing I'm just so thankful for, our fans, you know,they've come out and I told out team at the beginning of the year, you got to have two things: Number one, you got to be winning, right but just gotta have good weather. And then our administration added a third one: They're like 'coach, they added beer.'
You know, those three things that give people an opportunity to come out and our fans have just, they've just they've rallied behind our guys. They make a huge difference. And, you know, we have an opportunity to create a home field advantage. You know, similar teams travel well, but I know there'll be loud. When we opened up at LSU you know, I apologized to our team after that first game, and I just told him, I said, 'Hey, there was nothing I can do that prepare you to have 13,000 people against you.' Like, I'm sorry, I did a bad job. I didn't know how to create that for you. So you know, having played in environments like that can only make our team stronger.
On having good hitting and pitching, not just small ball:
MINGIONE: Yes, I brought this to our team's attention. The amount of times we bunt is such a small percentage when you think about how many at-bats we actually have. When you think about how many plate appearances you have to how many times we actually bunt, it is so small.
In SEC play. We led the SEC in batting average. We were second in on-base percentage, right? You know, we were first in doubles, first in triples, second in HBPs, first in stolen bases. We were top-five in ERA, batting average against, hits allowed, runs allowed, all that. you know, to me, That's all what goes into — We're not the only SEC team. There's a lot of teams that have done a lot of those types of things. You know what I mean? But, you know, this time of year, a lot of teams in the field, you have to have a well-rounded team or just you don't get a chance to play here.
On the chaos that would come with a game vs. West Virginia:
MINGIONE: How about that? That would be sounds like — I gotta do more research — but it sounds like two teams that are trying to do a lot of the same things. You know, so obviously a super talented team. They are a team well-coached. But it sounds like they're trying to do some of the same things we are you know, so that'd be an interesting matchup for sure.
On this season being validating:
MINGIONE: I just think it's really important, you know — been through a lot. We all have, personally, professionally. We all have our stories, right? If anybody acts like life has been easy, and it's been a cakewalk. I think we're lying. Just to be at a place that I love, to be under a boss, like Mitch (Barnhart), you know, that is just super supportive, you know, and to have my wife, coaches, families, players.
This league is not easy, right? I mean, I want you to think about the last two teams that have won a national championship. They didn't make the conference tournament. Like this is fragile. And that's what I love about it. I've been doing this for 17 years. So I have been at the very top and I've been all the way at the bottom, and it's just, it's a really challenging thing, but that's what makes the beauty of it, for times like this, to watch the guys see their name up there, and just be excited and, you know, after practice, still have all their families and their friends and they deserve that. The staff members, they deserve it.
The former players ... there's been a lot of time and effort and resources and people just put a lot into this program. It's been, you know, kind of crazy to think, you know, 2006 When I first rolled up here in the summer of '05, that first year we hosted. Then we went a pretty good stretch and then we were able to do it in '17. And now again, and anybody that tells you it's easy, it's not. I'll take five minutes tonight...went for a walk with Kristen, got emotional...awesome. Awesome. A lot of people, a lot of people deserve a lot of credit. So thankful.
On Mitch Barnhart's "play for Kentucky" message:
MINGIONE: When you don't make it about yourself, and you literally show up every day and just try to serve, whether it's your teammates, your players, your coaches, your staff members, your family, your whoever, when you don't make it about you. It is so much more rewarding. The second we try to make it about us and do it, that is a trap. That is a trap and it leads to a road of sadness. Failure is just not healthy. And that's the thing you know, Mitch has been doing this a long time. That was mentioning to all the teams like 'make it about Kentucky.' It is so much better when you take the emphasis off yourself and it should just be freeing. Like you can take off the shackles and just go for it.
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