Yale's James Jones & Co. are experienced in the madness of March

Champions of the Ivy League with an overall record of 22-7, Yale is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the third time out of the last four seasons. Before this week's matchup with Texas A&M, Bulldog head coach James Jones spoke to TexAgs Live about his 2024-2025 squad.

Key notes from James Jones interview

• I have been at Yale for a minute. I started when I was 35 years old back in 1999, and I never thought that I’d still be in the same seat for 26 years. With how college basketball is, it’s a rarity to be at one place this long. I have a daughter who is 28, and when she was 12, she told me I couldn’t take another job until she graduated high school.
   
• We won a championship in my third year, but we were right around .500 in our league for almost every year early in my tenure. It wasn’t for the last 10-15 years that we really started to build the program and found the success that we’re having now. It has been great for our community and Yale Nation.
   
• What happens is that coaches have an idea of who we are. Buzz Williams does a great job and is a tremendous coach. He’s a savant with the game of basketball. The community around doesn’t understand what Ivy League basketball is about. A lot of people who watch us realize we’re pretty good. We had Michigan transfer Danny Wolf last year when we beat Auburn, and now he’s going to be an NBA Lotter pick. Matt Knowling transferred to USC, and Yassine Gharram also left for the transfer portal. We lost three guys for last year’s team, and now we’re better offensively and defensively. We certainly have a challenge in front of us with Texas A&M, but we have some experience playing at this level. We’re excited for the opportunity.
   
• Our league is the best league in the country in terms of 3-pointers made. You might not be as athletic as the kids in the SEC, but we may shoot it a little bit better. Almost every team in our league shoots the 3-pointer. We are the best 3-point shooting percentage team, but we take less than everyone else in our league. We have more inside presence than most Ivy League teams.
   
• Whatever you want to be, you can become that from Yale. Whether that’s a CEO, an astronaut or a politician, you can do it from this place. You’ll never be the “first” anything from Yale with the people who have come through these doors. It’s a tremendous academic institution, but we’ve built a great basketball program.
   
• Matt Painter played us because we’re friends and have worked together at USA Basketball. We played Minnesota the day after Wolf entered the portal and transferred to Michigan. We don’t have any high-major games on our scheduled next year, but we’re built to play anybody in the country. We don’t feel we’re any different than the programs in your conference. We like to lace them up against anybody in the country.
   
• John Poulakidas is the best tough-shot maker I’ve ever coached. He has an uncanny ability to make shots. I liken it to watching guys play pool when they take and make a shot that you never even saw. He and Bez Mbeng are two of the hardest workers I’ve ever coached. They want to hone their craft and play at the next level. It’s great to have kids who care as much about this sport as I do.
   
• Watching A&M play defense, and you try to figure out what they’re in. Are they in man? Are they in zone? It’s organized chaos defensively. They like to chuck and chase it offensively. They do a great job on the rim and getting extra opportunities on offense. They don’t have any bad losses. We have our work cut out for us. We are trying to get a practice in on Tuesday and Wednesday and get ready to play a game.
   
• Williams, you can tell, is a really good basketball coach and basketball mind. I’m sure he could rattle off the history of the game. He’s an interesting person. He’s a different guy, but he does an outstanding job of coaching his team, and his teams are always really well-coached. There is always a rhyme and a reason for everything he does. I appreciate the way he coaches.
   
• Our guys are really good decision-makers, and we have guys who are good passers. Taking care of the ball is paramount for us and trying to get a good shot. A&M is going to pose some issues for us because of the trapping in the half-court and full-court. We’re going to have to be on our toes and ready to play.