OXFORD — EDITOR'S NOTE: Before his team boarded the plane for New York City to take part in the Final Four of the National Invitation Tournament  last week, Ole Miss head men's basketball coach Andy Kennedy took time for a 30-minute telephone interview with Star-Herald sports editor Austin Bishop that covered a wide range of topics and led to a few others that were pretty interesting, including what he thought about expansion of the NCAA Tournament.



Andy Kennedy would have loved to have had his Rebels playing for the National Championship in Indianapolis on Tuesday night.

But after his team was passed over when it came time to select the 65-team field for the NCAA Tournament, the Ole Miss head basketball coach said his team refocused and decided to make the best of the situation.

Kennedy, a Winston County native, led his Rebels all the way to the Final Four of the National Invitation Tournament before falling 68-63 to eventual champion Dayton in the semifinals in New York City.

Kennedy is 85-50 in his four years as head coach at Ole Miss and has led his teams to at least 21 wins in four of the last five years, including his one season as interim head coach at the University of Cincinnati.



Q:  IS IT BETTER TO PLAY ONE GAME IN THE NCAA AND LOSE OR ADVANCE TO THE FINAL FOUR IN THE NIT.



KENNEDY:  "The ultimate goal, because of the way that our sport is created, is to make the NCAA Tournament. That is the next step we want to take and we were oh so, so close to making it.

"From an exposure standpoint, it has been good for us to continue to play. These last three games have provided us with a lot of exposure and the chance to play in front of a national audience."



Q: DO YOU THINK IT WAS THE LOSSES TO MISSISSIPPI STATE THAT HURT YOU THE MOST, OR WAS THERE SOME OTHER GAME YOU CAN POINT TO AS THE ONE THAT KEPT YOU OUT OF THE NCAA TOURNAMENT?



KENNEDY: "If you talk to five different people, you will get five different answers. I think if you take any one of our 10 losses and make it a win, then we are in. "Obviously if you beat Villanova or West Virginia, it would have given your resume a boost. We had seven losses in the SEC, none of those other than the one to Arkansas at home was really a bad loss. We lost in overtime at Tennessee early.

"We are sitting there at 24-10 and if we had any one of those losses back we could be in the NCAA instead of the NIT."



Q: HOW HARD IS IT TO GET A TEAM READY TO PLAY IN THE NIT?



KENNEDY: We knew for us to control our own destiny we needed to beat Tennessee (in the SEC Tournament) and we didn't. We were very disappointed.

"That first game in the NIT is always the most interesting to a coach. You find out if your players want to keep playing or not and you are counting on the competitive nature to kick in.

"I'm proud of the way they responded just to get to New York (for the NIT Final Four). It was a tough challenge."



Q: WHAT KIND OF STATEMENT DOES MAKING THE NIT FINAL FOUR MAKE?



KENNEDY: "It's big just based on the fact that there are not many games left and by the time we play (against Dayton) there will be only eight teams playing. Obviously would would rather be in the other tournament, but we're not.

"The exposure it gives us as a program is valuable and the win against Texas Tech was big for us. But it's really about creating a memory for these kids.



Q: WHAT KIND OF THINGS DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULES?



KENNEDY: We certainly never have it figured out. When you schedule your games you really don't know how good a team will be. It's a moving target. You don't know what kind of season you are going to have. Last year we certainly didn't know we were going to have three injuries.

"One of the reasons we felt like we had a chance (to make the NCAA Tournament) was because of our schedule. We beat UTEP and Kansas State (both NCAA tourney teams) at neutral sites."



Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF NCAA TOURNAMENT EXPANSION?



KENNEDY: "I am a proponent for it. I have heard this mention of 96 and I'm not sure about that. My formula would be this, to add seven teams and go up to 72 (from 65). You let the last 16 teams who are up for at-large spots play for the last eight spots in the tournament.

"They wouldn't be the 15th or 16th seeds, but would fall wherever they would have fallen, whether it be 13 or 11 or whatever. That way you are not just making the winners of the smaller conferences play each other, but you are letting the last teams on the bubble have a chance to play their way into the tournament.

"There really aren't ever more than five, six or seven teams that are really out there who are left out. This would solve that and really make for some interesting opening round games that would draw a lot of attention."



Q: IS WHAT KENTUCKY HAS DONE — BASICALLY GETTING NEW PLAYERS FOR ONE OR TWO YEARS — GOOD OR BAD FOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL?



KENNEDY: I believe we live in the greatest country in the world and if a kid has the opportunity to go to the NBA right out of high school then he should be able too. We are only talking about one tenth of one percent.

"I am not in favor of one-and-done. It makes a mockery of the whole collegiate experience. The guys realize they are in control because they only have one year."



Q: TELL ME SOME THINGS YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM VARIOUS COACHES YOU HAVE PLAYED UNDER AND COACHED WITH?



KENNEDY: "I have worked and played for some outstanding coaches. I played for Jim Valvano (at North Carolina State) and Gene Bartow (at UAB) and coached with Bob Huggins. They are are all completely different, but they were all program builders. It was all about building a program and I was able to see the way they built their programs and were able to sell their visions. Some of that has helped make me who I am."



Q: WHAT CHANGES DO YOU SEE IN YOURSELF FROM FIVE YEARS AGO?



KENNEDY: "I turned 42 a couple of weeks ago, and I would hope I am starting to mature. I have a better understanding of what it means and takes to be successful.

"As a man of faith I know that even though I am in charge (as head coach at Ole Miss), I am not in control. As you get older you see things differently and begin to understand a little better about what's important."