INDIANAPOLIS — LSU put in a full day here on Friday as the Tigers held a one-hour practice at Butler University followed by its mandatory 50-minute workout in the RCA Dome on the eve of Saturday’s national semifinal contests.
LSU squares off against UCLA at 7:57 in the RCA Dome on Saturday in the second of the two national semifinal games. Florida and George Mason meet in the first contest on Saturday.
LSU used Friday’s workout at Butler to fine tune its game plan for UCLA, while the practice in the RCA Dome was open to the public and to the media and had the Tigers electrifying the crowd of 25,000-plus with dunks and their other basketball skills.
The Tigers, along with head coach John Brady, met with the media for 30 minutes after the practice as LSU made its final public comments before Saturday’s game with the Bruins.
Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Tyrus Thomas and Garrett Temple each met with the CBS announce team of Billy Packer and Jim Nantz to discuss the UCLA contest. In addition, the threesome, along with Darnell Lezare, Darrel Mitchell and Tasmin Mitchell, spent five minutes each with CBS doing a specialty shoot for the network’s open for tomorrows broadcast.
Back at the hotel, “Big Baby” Davis’ day wasn’t quite over as he made the wish of Jason McElwain come true. McElwain, who has autism, is the senior manager for the Greece Athena High School basketball team in Rochester, N.Y., who nailed six 3-pointers and scored 20 points in just four minutes of action in his only action of the year back on Feb. 23.
McElwain’s story made national news and when told of his wish to meet Davis, “Big Baby” replied, “he wants to meet me? Wow. That’s great because I’d really like to meet him too. I remembered seeing highlights on TV of what he did in that game.”
McElwain is in Indianapolis this week as a guest of Pontiac at the Final Four. McElwain will get to meet with all of the teams, but his one special request on Friday was to personally get to meet LSU’s Big Baby.
The Tigers closed out their day with a film session and dinner.
LSU TIGERS QUOTES
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by LSU head coach John Brady. We’ll ask Coach Brady to make an opening statement, then open it up to questions.
COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, our team is excited to be here. After the Atlanta Regional, our team feels like we still have some things to do.
As a coach, when you have an opportunity to coach in a Final Four — I guess what I’m saying is I thought that coming off to Florida at Atlanta, that I would think differently, Wow, we’re going to the Final Four. For some reason when that game was over against Texas, Glen Davis, Tyrus Thomas, Darrel Mitchell, were walking down the hall to meet you guys, the media. I told the players I didn’t feel like I thought I would feel. I thought this would be — I would say we’ve arrived now, we’re going to the Final Four.
Glen felt the same way, there was something left to do, something more to accomplish. Our team has been real resilient in that particular fact. It seems like every success they’ve had, they’ve been able to focus on the next task at hand.
Even though we feel good about being here, our team is fortunate to be here in a way. I think our players feel like there’s some other things left to accomplish. That’s good. That’s a good thing. We’ve had two or three good days of practice. Our preparation has gone well. Our team has continued to approach it in a serious manner, but with a relaxed sense about itself.
I think we’re ready to play. If we don’t play well tomorrow, it will surprise me, it really will, because of what our team has gone through to get here and how they feel about themselves right now.
Q. What does it say for your league to have two teams here, particularly in a season where there wasn’t that much expectation?
COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, what I’ve said about the Southeastern Conference since the beginning of the season is that even though we lost some players that put their names in the draft as underclassmen and on the surface it looked like it took away all the potential Southeastern Conference star players, they left early, that most teams were going to be starting over a little bit.
But our league, I think from top to bottom, it recruits well. We were a young league this year. But my statement was, there are some very good coaches in the Southeastern Conference top to bottom. I thought that the league may be young, but I thought the league would improve as the season went along, that these young players would develop, the teams would get better. I think that’s what you’ve seen, particularly with Florida starting four sophomores, LSU starting three freshmen and a sophomore. I think both of our teams have improved as the year has gone along.
Florida is in the Final Four and lost six games in our league. I think our league was pretty good and got better as the season developed because there are good coaches in the league, they know how to recruit. I was proud of what our league had been able to do.
I see South Carolina won the NIT for the second straight season. You could have an SEC team win a national championship, the NIT in the same year. I think our league next year will be good.
It seems sometimes that the Southeastern Conference has to almost prove itself every season. I love football. I hope our football team wins a national championship, goes undefeated. But sometimes we wrestle with that football sort of image, which I don’t have any problem with it, but I think what it does sometimes, it makes the league get overlooked, is not as appreciated as it is in our part of the country.
Q. Non-basketball question. Everybody that covers college athletics knows the significance of the APR. How do you keep your kids dialed in as you go through a tournament like this that’s long, make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to do?
COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, we do everything we can to support them in that effort. It’s not an easy thing to juggle. It’s something that you have to pay attention to. We travel one of our academic advisors with our team. We try to stay in tune to what our players need to do on the road and what they’re missing in the class, particularly the ones that need some more attention. That’s something I support, our school supports.
With our basketball program over the last several years, we’ve improved in all areas in that. We’re doing our best to continue to do that. But it’s something that we work on daily. It’s something we pay attention to. It’s something that’s important to us. We provide our players the necessary help that they need to do the best they can.
I know when this is over with, when we get back to campus, that’s going to be the main priority that we have, is to get back into class, do the work that we’ve missed. Hopefully we’ve done some of that along the way because we only have three or four more weeks of school once we get back. That’s something that we’re concerned with, we pay attention to. Hopefully when we get back, we won’t have any players that have any problems.
Our team overall the last several years have done quite well in the classroom, and we’re proud of that. I don’t see any reason that that won’t continue.
Q. Can you tell us a little bit about what kind of game we should expect against UCLA. They seem to have emphasized defense quite a bit.
COACH JOHN BRADY: I watched the UCLA team on tape. Ben Howland has done a wonderful job with his team. They know what they’re supposed to do on both ends of the floor, particularly defensively. Their best players shoot the majority of the balls. Their guards are extremely talented and smart. Defensively they’re as sound as any team we’re going to play. They understand rotation. They understand help-side defense. They rebound the ball well.
We have stressed to our team that we’re going to have to execute against their defense in order to have an opportunity to win the game. I’ve said all along that if our perimeter holds up, we’re usually pretty good. So far our perimeter hasn’t shot the ball as well as maybe we would have liked, but I think we’ve made some timely shots in critical moments of games that has helped our team.
Defensively we’ve been quite good throughout the tournament, but really we’ve been quite good defensively the whole year. When you have a player like Tyrus Thomas to roam around a basket and protect some defensive errors that you may make in the perimeter, it allows you to maybe do some things that other teams may not be able to do because we have a player like him back around the goal.
Q. Could you expand a bit more on how your defense has improved this year, against Texas, Duke.
COACH JOHN BRADY: Both of those teams presented different challenges. It wasn’t difficult to identify on the Duke team who the best two players were and who you needed to stop. Williams and Redick had attempted over half their free-throws and made over half their free-throws, had shot over half their field goals, made over half of their field goals. Half of their points came from those two players.
We had to develop some type of plan to hopefully make someone else make baskets to beat us. I’m not saying Duke had not done that, but in that moment, that situation, that particular game, that particular stage, certainly if you’re going to play percentages, you want someone else shooting balls in difficult moments and making them make ’em, not a guy like JJ Redick who is the best shooter in the country from the distance he shoots from them.
Our plan was to double JJ off of every ball screen, bump him on every cut. If we were ever in doubt of him coming off of a screen by himself, the screener should run at him, and his man recover to him, too, and leave someone else open. That was the plan. Garrett Temple did a wonderful job of face-guarding him really. Never concerned himself with any help at all. Shelden Williams got to make some baskets on us one-on-one in the post. Running time scores, Shelden made one basket in the last 10 minutes of the game. What we started doing with him, every time he caught it, we doubled him post to post. In essence, the last eight, nine minutes of the game, their scorers that they need to score in critical moments for them to win, we disrupted their flow of offense, which allowed us to score enough points to win that game.
Texas, on the other hand, presented a different challenge for us because they had four, five players averaging double figures. Any number of those guys could score. As opposed to more of a team defensive effort, as we did against Duke, it was more of an individual guarding effort against Texas because they spread us out a little bit more.
We respected the rest of their team in scoring the ball. I thought we did a real good job on Daniel Gibson particularly later on in the game. He made one 3 late, but we did a nice job on him the last 12 or 13 minutes. I thought throughout the game, Glen Davis did a real fine job on Lamarcus Aldridge. We took the best two players for each team. We made it uncomfortable for them offensively, which allowed us to score enough points, find enough points to win the game.
The overtime we played against Texas was about as good as we could play on either end of the floor.
Q. Both teams are similar defensively. In what way are you most dissimilar and do you thus anticipate a low-scoring game?
COACH JOHN BRADY: I hope — I’m not going to say that.
I think we’re similar defensively. I think if you didn’t know who was saying it, you were looking at the words in print, I would — Ben Howland’s comments are similar to mine. If you didn’t know who was saying it, you’d probably read defensively, what his plan is, what mine is, what he emphasized, what I emphasized, they all may be the same.
Now, offensively I think we probably think the same offensively in some ways, but I think the nature of his team and the makeup of his team is a little different than mine.
We’re pretty good around the goal. Their strength is their two perimeter guards. Their two guards could start for anybody in our league. We’re going to have to do a very good job of making our team concerned with where they are, what set they’re in, who is setting the screen, what we’re going to do to disrupt both of those players.
Afflalo is a nice jump shooter. He has a good bounce to the goal. Farmar on the other hand, you know, he can shoot it from the three, but he’s very, very good off of ball screens and even off of double teams. I’ve watched enough tape on him to know how dangerous he can be. He can make the other players better.
Like I said, if our perimeter can hold up, find a way to guard those two players, disrupt them a little bit from an offensive flow, because the other three players really rely on those two guards playing well.
Offensively we’re going to do what we’ve done. We’re going to try to take advantage of where we think our strength is. That’s around the goal with Tyrus and Glen and again, coming off the bench with Magnum Rolle and Darnell. They’ve played really well throughout the tournament for us. Hopefully Darrel Mitchell can make some baskets. Tasmin Mitchell and Garrett Temple can make some timely baskets. If we can do that, we can be fine.
We’re going to try to advance the ball, try to get some cheap baskets. We’ll do what we’ve done. I’m sure they’ve seen on tape, press from time to time, when we think it’s appropriate. But it’s all about us being able to execute and keep defending and rebounding. Against a UCLA team that I think the strength of their team is the two guards out front that I think are very good, and we have a tremendous amount of respect for them.
Q. Do you think a team, if they had your credentials, had been from the Big East, Big-10, ACC, you still would have been a 4 seed?
COACH JOHN BRADY: You know, sitting here having the opportunity to play for a national championship, the way it worked out, I’m glad we were a 4 seed. For me to sit here and argue that I wish we were a better seed, we may be sitting at home now.
The way it’s worked out, you know, you have to say, Well, the committee was right, worked out for LSU.
But, you know, there may be another time for that discussion. We were 14-2 in the Southeastern Conference. In retrospect now it looks like the league was pretty good. I don’t know if you can say one league is better than the other because they have two teams in the Final Four. There are too many things in the course of a one-point game, take away our shot that Darrel Mitchell made against A&M. We could be back in Baton Rouge trying to figure out what we’re going to do next year.
There were a lot of close games in the tournament. Just on the front end, from a logical standpoint, we were 14-2 in the Southeastern Conference, won the league by two games, beat Tennessee up by 14. Got to the semifinals of the SEC tournament without Tyrus Thomas and Florida was able to beat us. I think it’s great that Tennessee was a 2 seed. I would never begrudge them at all. They had an outstanding season, and Bruce Pearl did a wonderful job with that team.
If that be the case, it’s hard for me, from a logical standpoint, to see how the SEC overall champion in a 16-game schedule, that’s pretty difficult to do, can be a 4 seed, and two teams in the league are seeded higher. Our strength of schedule was 10, 11 or 12, depending on what you picked up. Our RPI was 10, 11 or 12 depending on what you picked up.
But that’s just discussion and debate. It won’t change anything. But what I do know is that LSU and the collection of players that I’m fortunate enough to be able to coach have an opportunity to play for a national championship, regardless of where we were seeded. We’re excited about it, looking forward to the opportunity.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. Good luck.
COACH JOHN BRADY: All right.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.
Q. All three of you, how have you and the coaches balanced the size of this event and the fact that it’s just a basketball game? Have you allowed yourselves to soak up some of this a little bit besides getting ready for a basketball game?
GLEN DAVIS: Well, I’m just trying to, you know, enjoy the moment, you know. You don’t get this chance a lot. You don’t get this opportunity to play on a stage like this, win one of the immortality trophies, that’s what I call it. You win the trophy, you live forever basically.
I’m just trying to soak it up, you know, take it in, take a humble approach to it, don’t get too wound up, try to act my weight, not my age basically (smiling). Trying to act older, trying to act grown. I don’t want to get too excited like a kid, you know. I don’t want to get too excited. I just want to just ride it on out, just try to remember everything, just try to enjoy the moment. I’m not really looking at the Final Four. You look at that, you’re like, Oh, my God, Final Four. Get excited, start hyperventilating. 60,000 people out there, oh, my God.
I’m just trying to enjoy it like a regular old game.
THE MODERATOR: Darrel?
DARREL MITCHELL: Are you done (smiling)?
For me, I’m taking every moment in. This is my last go-around. I’m taking it day to day slowly, since we got here. It really didn’t hit me when we first got here. Since I’ve entered the Dome, it’s really sinking in that, you know, we are here, we have a chance to do something special with this team.
But, you know, this is my last go-around, like I said. These guys may have an opportunity to do this again, but I don’t. I’m taking it day to day.
TYRUS THOMAS: It didn’t hit me until we got to the hotel. We had pull-out couches in the front. We had some nice rooms. It’s like, We’re in the Final Four.
You know, we got to take the same approach. Just, you know, keep a level head. We got to stay humble and hungry, just be ready for a fight Saturday because UCLA is going to put up a good fight. We just have to be ready. We can’t let the Final Four thing or title excite us, get us too riled up. We just got to play calm, relaxed, play like we’ve been playing.
Q. People say in the NCAA tournament the officials call it loose or let players play more. Has that helped with your aggressive physical style of defense?
TYRUS THOMAS: Well, you know, I got a couple of fouls earlier against Duke. Glen and myself had to sit out because we were in foul trouble. You know, they did let us play. They let us play. It’s good when they let us play on both ends. They keep the game fair. They’ve been doing a great job of keeping the game fair.
I’m less hesitant about being aggressive. I’m less hesitant about bumping somebody or just putting my body against people because they’ve been letting us play. I appreciate that the past, what, four games.
GLEN DAVIS: I don’t really have nothing to say about that. I just seem to get screwed any way ’cause of how big I am, just all the flopping (smiling).
But I think it’s okay. You got to roll with it. It’s just sometimes it don’t go your way, it makes you even play even harder. It makes you more smarter on the court, you know.
Q. Glen, after y’all vanquished Atlanta, can those tape worms in your belly be tamed by the mystique of UCLA? They’ve won more championships than anybody. They’re the Boston Celtics of the NCAA.
GLEN DAVIS: Last time I checked the roster, Bill Walton wasn’t playing. Kareem wasn’t playing. Reggie Miller wasn’t playing. We can’t let that scare us. We can’t let that get to us. This is a different time. This is a different time.
I respect their tradition tremendously. I respect their tradition and the things that they done ’cause, you know, they also have earned their right to immortality, too. You got to respect that.
But right now it’s time to play. UCLA, you know, is just a couple letters on the front of the jersey really to me. They’re a great team. I respect their team. They got to go out there and play the same way we play.
Q. At the end of the practice today, a young kid came up and introduced himself to you, started crying. Do you understand the magnitude of the effect you have on people in this community? A lot of people from Louisiana up here watching you.
TYRUS THOMAS: That was my little brother. He was just playing. He wasn’t crying. That’s what we do (laughter). That was my baby brother.
He’s one of the main reasons I have to watch what I do, because he does everything — he tries to do whatever I do. I got to watch what I do because not only him, a lot of kids in the neighborhood, they kind of, uhm, look up to me I guess ’cause not many in my neighborhood actually, it — do something positive on a national level. I got to kind of watch what I do.
That was my brother. He wasn’t just an Average Joe (smiling).
Q. Since you brought up the weight issue, Glen, I have to ask about the nutrition program and the weight program that you’ve been on at LSU. I heard you really enjoy that organic oatmeal.
GLEN DAVIS: Why don’t you be quiet over there. This woman is asking a great question on nutrition.
Organic oatmeal? You ever watch Fear Factor (smiling)? You know how you’re sitting there, you look like you see this nasty food, but you want to eat it ’cause you can get a lot of money? That’s how I took it. I was just like, you know, if I eat this, I can make a lot of money one day. That was my motivation. It’s hard.
If you got some organic brown sugar, some raisins, throw it in there, give it a little flavor. It’s tough. The nutrition part of it is really, really hard because of the habits I used to have. I ate a lot of organic stuff. Whole Foods was my place that I roam. So, yeah…
Q. Darrel, looking at how thin the line has been between winning and losing, have you thought about that shot against A&M, what might have happened if you didn’t make that shot?
DARREL MITCHELL: I thought about it that night after the game, but after it was done and over with, we had to move on. We had to face Duke the next round. That was a big task for us.
Face a team like that, prove people wrong, all the people that doubted us, we used that as motivation. But after the shot, I thought about it that night, a little bit the next day. After that, we had to move on. I let it go.
Q. Glen, last week I think you said in reference to your mom “the curse stops here.” Have you ever been tempted to have a beer or something like that? Some could argue this is genetic.
GLEN DAVIS: Huh-uh. My thoughts on alcohol and drugs is I can’t stand it. Every time I see somebody smoking or just, you know, drinking a wine cooler, it just makes me sick to my stomach. So, nah, I don’t mess around with stuff like that because I know the effect of it, understand. I’ve seen the result.
Q. Can you talk about the nickname, how it came about? Do you like it?
GLEN DAVIS: I’ve grown to love it. I’m a nice guy. It depends on how you use it, though. If you use it, yeah, I’ll have to regulate.
It started when I was nine years old. I was a big, big, big toddler. I was overweight, you know. I was real overweight. But I loved to play football, loved to play sports. Back in Baton Rouge, you had to be a certain weight limit to play in your age group. I was way over that weight limit. I had to play, you know, two, three years older, 11, 12, 13 bracket. I was just overweight.
When I got to playing, I got okay, I was holding my own. I used to get beat up, banged on, picked on a lot. Just a little kid. I was whining. My coach was just like, Stop crying, you big baby. He just said it every day. I won’t never forget that.
I just went to school, and it started spreading around. For somehow y’all got a hold to it and turned it inside out, man. I can’t shake it (smiling).
Q. Do you like it?
GLEN DAVIS: Well, I never looked at it in a negative way. Gives some of my critics something to feed off of. I’m a nice guy. I don’t mind. I adapt to anything.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen.
UCLA BRUINS
THE MODERATOR: We have the student-athletes. We’ll start with questions.
Q. I know you were big targets as far as recruiting. Did you have any doubts about the program at that time? How did he sell you on his style?
ARRON AFFLALO: No, personally he didn’t really have to sell me too much. UCLA has got a lot of rich tradition, history around it. Has been down for a few years. I thought that might be a good challenge to try to get in there and help out the current team.
JORDAN FARMAR: I feel the same way. Not too much selling was done on the school. But, you know, style of play, things like that were not what a lot of other schools were talking about. You really emphasized defense and toughness, not things like shot attempts or minutes. I think that was definitely a challenge for me, especially seeing the way the program had been going the couple years prior to us getting there. It was a good opportunity for us to get in there and accept the challenge and help turn the program around.
Q. How much did you know about the UCLA tradition, John Wooden, all the championships? Now that you’re there, is it a burden, fun? Does it affect what you do?
ARRON AFFLALO: I definitely knew about it, being from Southern California. Coach Wooden is the top coach in college basketball history. You’re definitely aware of it.
It’s not a burden at all. His success was his success. We’re just trying to add our little piece of history.
CEDRIC BOZEMAN: Exactly, I mean, the same thing. We’re all from Southern California, all three of us. You grow up listening and hearing about UCLA basketball. Just to be a part of that, it feels good. Hopefully we can add on to that tradition.
JORDAN FARMAR: Same thing. Being an LA kid, you know how big UCLA is. Walking into Pauley Pavilion every day for practice, you see those 11 banners up there hanging. I think it makes us set our goals higher and strive for more, like we said earlier, we won the PAC-10 championship this year, we made it to the Sweet-16, the Elite 8, the Final Four. None of that is going to be recognized in terms of banners in Pauley Pavilion. It helps us reach for the stars and keep our goals high and work hard to try to accomplish those.
Q. Can you talk about embracing defense. You have to take a lot of pride in what you do out there defensively.
JORDAN FARMAR: I think we really embrace winning. Everybody likes to win, especially knowing that you only have one college experience. Winning makes it much more enjoyable. Anybody in our program is going to do anything it takes to win. Knowing that defense is the key ingredient, the key component that can help us do that, that’s exactly what we’ll do.
Q. Arron, given that you’re probably going to be matched up with Garrett Temple from LSU, given the way that he performed playing defense last weekend, can you give us your take on that match-up, given that UCLA really counts on you to do some scoring.
ARRON AFFLALO: Offensively? No, not much is going to change. I’m not going to try to force shots or take less shots. I’m going to take what’s available, still play within the flow of the game. Hopefully he does a great job on me, he’s a good defender. I have to worry about my own team, what allows us to succeed.
Q. Defensively LSU is a team that can really match up with you guys, go toe to toe. This is a game that’s going to come down to whoever gets the final stop wins?
JORDAN FARMAR: It may. We don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see. We’ll take it however it comes. If our best bet is get out in transition and push the ball and get easy opportunities, that’s what we’ll look for. If it’s best for us to slow it down, execute in the halfcourt, that’s what we’ll do.
We’re always going to rely on our defense, maintain and focus that. Offensively we’ll just take it how it comes, one play at a time.
CEDRIC BOZEMAN: I mean, these are two great defensive teams. I think it’s going to be a defensive battle. They pride themselves on defense. We pride ourselves on defense. I guess the best defense wins.
Q. Along the lines of defense, how important is it going to be for you to contribute to stopping Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas?
JORDAN FARMAR: Our defense is always a total team effort. It’s five guys with the same goal, really helping each other out at all times. It’s not going to be any different for this game.
For myself and Cedric, all the rest of the players on the team, it’s going to be our responsibility to get in there and really help on the boards. They do a great job of getting second-shot opportunities. We have to limit them as much as possible. That’s just being tough and physical and getting down there and banging with them.
CEDRIC BOZEMAN: I mean, we’ve definitely prided ourselves on team this whole season. I know people get caught up in the individual match-ups. We’re a team-oriented organization. That’s what we’re here to do.
Q. What does it mean to be trying to bring the tradition back to UCLA? What is it like going up against a guy named “Big Baby”?
ARRON AFFLALO: Yeah, again, just restoring that tradition is what we’re playing for right now. We’re not playing for just our team, our university, we’re trying to carry on something that John Wooden started that, Harrick continued, and hopefully us.
Winning this is more meaningful than what it appears – at least to us.
As far as Big Baby goes, I think that’s just a nickname for his personality. I’ve known him for a few years. He’s just a great kid. He doesn’t play like a baby on the court. That will be very interesting.
CEDRIC BOZEMAN: I mean, basically what Arron said, we’re playing for the tradition of the school, tradition of John Wooden. Hopefully we can build on that.
Big Baby, that’s a nickname. It’s a big-time nickname, too. I don’t know (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much and good luck.
We’re joined by UCLA head coach Ben Howland.
COACH BEN HOWLAND: Well, I guess we’ll start with an injury update. Today in practice, this morning, Ryan Hollins suffered a contusion to I believe his right knee, right above the kneecap. That was about 20 minutes into practice, maybe 25. Started to ice it, did not practice the rest of the time. Has swelling there. He will not be shooting around.
When we’re done with our media obligations, go out to shoot at 3:10. Then we’ll see how he feels tonight. I would expect it would take a lot to keep him out of that game tomorrow. We’ll see that later.
Lorenzo Mata who broke his nose on practice on Wednesday when we arrived did get the CAT scan done. Our trainer did a good job of snapping it right back into place. They looked at it. The doctors were impressed. He did not practice yesterday, but did practice today with his mask on, which he had already broken his nose once, so this is the second broken nose for him this year. He’s got two broken noses and a broken leg going right now. Hopefully he can stay healthy here the rest of the way.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. When you came in with the two guards, your first targets for recruiting, did you ever worry about the defense, the rugged style not selling to either players or fans in that area?
COACH BEN HOWLAND: We just try to play hard, compete at the defensive end of the floor. I think when you look at the teams right now that are playing, for example, our opponent LSU is holding the teams they’re playing against to 33% in the four games they’ve played in the NCAA tournament.
If you want to win, you’ve got to play hard, you’ve got to play good defense. That’s not just college basketball, that’s Detroit Pistons or the San Antonio Spurs or the Lakers of the past, the Bulls of the past, the Celtics, the Lakers again in the Riley era, the Chuck Daly teams or the New England Patriots or the Green Bay Packers or the Pittsburgh Steelers – go Steelers – the Colts here did a great job playing better defense. You talk about baseball, the team that has good pitching.
There’s no big secrets to this. If you want to win, and our players want to win, they want to have a chance to put themselves to be able to advance beyond the college level, all of them do, and you have to be able to play both ends.
The best players in the world are players that play both ends of the floor, starting with Michael Jordan. You can go right there, talk about him. He’s the greatest player arguably that’s ever played the game. He’s definitely obviously one of the top if not the top. He’s the best defender at his position ever.
So great players compete at both ends of the floor. When you start really talking about it, really being rational about it, it’s not a hard sell because all players want to be great. “Be like Mike.”
Q. When did you look up and see your team and realize that the defense was starting to kick in, make sense, work?
COACH BEN HOWLAND: We’ve had some very good defensive performances throughout the year. We started our first conference home opener against Stanford up 18-2. We started our first — I shouldn’t say our first, but against USC up 18-2. Both those games were really started off well by playing great team defense and really creating some turnovers and opportunities with our defensive intensity.
I thought we played very good defense against Nevada early in the year and Michigan early in the year. We were outstanding defensively against Temple I believe the second game of the year where they shot less than 30% from the field of the year. A very good John Chaney team. We’ve been playing good defense pretty much throughout the year and have really ratcheted up to a new level probably the last 11 games of this season.
Q. With UCLA back in the Final Four, there’s been a lot of talk of the tradition. How have the players embraced the tradition that comes with playing at UCLA? Have you had much interaction with Coach Wooden?
COACH BEN HOWLAND: In answer to your first question, we really — I really try to help our players be encouraged to understand how lucky they are to be a part of the fraternity they’re in, which is to be a UCLA basketball player. That’s a very special fraternity. One of the things that we did was I had a barbecue at my house in the early fall where we invited all the former players and had a great response. Probably had 70 to 80 of the former players, including Coach Wooden, Jerry Norman, come to my house, then have my entire team there so our entire team could mix in a relaxed setting. I had my two best friends come up and cook the best tri-tip barbecue, enchiladas you can imagine, unbelievable food. It was great.
You had Bill Walton, Greg Lee, Don MacLean, Rod Foster, Eddie Sheldrake, George Stanich from the Class of ’46 on coach’s first teams in 1946, all the way through. Marques Johnson, Lucius Allen, Mike Warren, John Vallely, Bill Sweek. I could go just go on and on and on and on and on. It was great because I think it really helps.
What’s special about that is that nowhere else in the country does anyone have the tradition and history that UCLA has in college basketball. It really is a motivator ’cause not only are our players representing our team, they’re representing the program and they’re representing all the former players that played here.
In answer to your second question, I talked to Coach Wooden on Sunday upon returning after we arrived back from Oakland Saturday night. I came back to the office from church Sunday morning, talked to him Sunday afternoon. He was great, so excited for our team, the program, his team, his program because that’s what it is. Our players understand that aspect of it. This is always and always will be John R. Wooden’s UCLA basketball program that really he started. I am at this point in time the torch bearer and carrying the flag forward.
Q. Once you get ’em on campus, you make ’em understand what the tradition is. When you go recruiting, do you lead with Coach Wooden? What impact is that on the recruiting process?
COACH BEN HOWLAND: It’s important because I think, more so for the parents of the players oftentimes that we recruit because they really get it, they remember, they remember those teams as obviously I grew up with that most of us — I’m a 48-year-old, you know, we all remember. The parents of kids today are typically a little younger than that now. I’m getting old.
But we also talk about just how many pros have come out of UCLA. Kids today, they want to play in the NBA. That’s the ultimate goal. We want to get to the league. We’ve put out more pros than any program in the country in the last 20 years except one I believe. We’re going to have a lot more. We want to obviously sell that. Starts with winning.
The tradition and history is always important. In UCLA you have more media attention and media coverage than maybe any program in the country. It’s the second biggest market in the United States. It’s a great school academically. We have to get a special recruit. We can’t just recruit every kid in the country. It has to be a profile that fits UCLA.
The average GPA of the incoming freshman class at UCLA this past year, for the entire freshman class at UCLA, was a 4.2 out of 4.0 with a 1360 on the old SAT out of 1600. They turned away 5,000 to 6,000 4.0 students. The most applied-for campus in the United States of America. It’s a special place.
It takes a very unique kid that is motivated highly not only as a player but also as a student and understands the expectations that if you come to UCLA, you’re going to graduate as well as be a part of the something special, and us help him, whatever player we’re recruiting, reach his goals, while along the way having goals together we’re going to reach.
Q. In the PAC-10 tournament you did a good job in the second half shutting down Leon Powe. Does Davis present a similar challenge, and how do you think your guys matchup to both he and Thomas?
COACH BEN HOWLAND: Leon Powe is a great player. Second-Team All-American. I saw one of the All-American teams, well-deserved. He led our league, the PAC-10, rebounding. Two years ago, his freshman year, he redshirted last year, led us again this year in the league. He’s the last player since Adam Keeffe in 1991 in the PAC-10 to average 20 and 10, which is an incredible feat for a year-long season, not just PAC-10 play, but overall.
The difference between him and Big Baby is Big Baby is 310 pounds, 6’9″, unbelievably wide and athletic, whereas Leon is only 240, 245. Big Baby presents even more issues and challenges, has unbelievable feet. I imagine him, how good would he be as a tailback? He is self-proclaimed — last night, we were at the salute for the four teams that were in, they quoted, he actually didn’t say it, quoted him he’s the best tailback to ever come out of Baton Rouge. I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to tackle him. I certainly wouldn’t want to box him. With those hands and feet, geez, he could be unbelievable at anything he wants to do. That’s the kind of eye-hand coordination he has. It’s going to be a huge challenge.
Thomas is the Shawn Marion of college basketball. Shawn Marion is the greatest athlete in all of the NBA. He was playing right here last night. We went and watched Reggie’s jersey be retired as a team, which was really special for our program, our team to be there, to be able to support him. What a great player, great person he is.
Thomas, he’s a shot-blocking, fly-swatting machine who plays so hard and has such passion in the way he plays the game and competes. I respect their whole team, but he is a special talent.
Q. Could you talk about Ryan, your other big guys.
COACH BEN HOWLAND: First of all, we hope Ryan is going to be okay, number one. Number two, Ryan has been playing the best basketball of his career here the last seven, eight games of our season, has really helped us as a team be able to get to where we are right now. Without Ryan Hollins’ productivity, both at the end of the season, the last few league games, the conference tournament, now the four NCAA tournament games, including being regional MVP in Oakland, we would not be here obviously. We need Ryan Hollins to continue what he’s been doing. He’s been rebounding well, scoring, being down low. He’s so smart, so intelligent.
Ryan Hollins’ greatest attribute is how smart he is. He’s very bright. His best basketball is his future. He’s a 21-year-old senior who doesn’t turn 22 until October 10th, ’06, this year. I mean, I had players at Pitt that were playing at 25, which is always an advantage. At 24 years old, when you’re a man physically and mentally, it’s always advantageous to be older. You just get better.
Q. Obviously Ryan wants to play tomorrow. How could that type of injury potentially impact his mobility?
COACH BEN HOWLAND: He’s going to be with Tony Spino, our trainer, all night. We’ll be hooking him up to — what’s the machine called, Stim machine. He’ll be getting stimmed, iced, they’ll be massaging it. Just assuming it’s musculature, it will take a team of horses to hold him from being able to play. His senior year, his opportunity to play in the national semifinal game against LSU. That would be my guess. Anything’s possible, though, especially this year.
Q. So much has been raised with UCLA, Coach Wooden, how much you’re attached to him. It’s been 31 years since he coached college basketball. How relevant is John Wooden in 2006 to college basketball? Can you talk about the George Mason story, how it’s touched you this year.
COACH BEN HOWLAND: I hope you’re planning on serving me a lob pitch there on the first one, because that’s really easy. How relevant is John Wooden to the game in 2006? He’s the greatest coach in the history of the game, period. What they accomplished, when you’re talking about players changing, it’s not like an NBA team where you can — especially back in the day, you could keep guys six, seven eight years on the same team. Hazzard, Goodrich, Fred Slaughter, Jack Hirsch, Keith Erickson, on to Warren, Jabbar, Lynn Shackelford, et cetera. On to Wicks, Rowe, Patterson, Hollyfield. Don’t let me forget Gail Goodrich, on to Walton, Lee, Jamal Wilkes era, all those great players. Marques Johnson, Meyers. So many different groups of guys, yet all having similar levels of success. Four teams that were 30-0. 37 times they won sudden death playoff games in the NCAA tournament without defeat. 141-2 at Pauley Pavilion. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar I believe was 89-2 in his career. Lucius Allen lost one game.
His teachings, the fundamentals, the adherence to doing the right thing, being a good person, having a routine, basketball is a game of repetition. Just go read his works. His relevance will not only be today, it will be 50 years and a hundred years from now relative to this game. That’s his impact on this game.
I think the George Mason story is a special story. It just speaks to George Mason’ success, college basketball today, in that anybody can beat anybody on a given day. I coached and played at the Low major, the mid-major, I’ve been at the high major in all different levels of Division I basketball. You’re seeing the evening of college basketball more because there’s so many good players.
You look at their program, you see that Florida, LSU, UCLA are very young teams. We have four freshmen that are going to play significant roles tomorrow. LSU starts three freshmen. Florida obviously has a lot of young kids that play for them that are very important.
George Mason is that mid-major program that has three redshirt seniors that have been through the wars, that are older, they’re men, they’re not deterred. They have a great coach. He does a great job. This could be Mark Few sitting here easily. Very easily Mark Few could be sitting where I am right now with no question. They’re a unique situation that they’re like a high major, but playing in a mid-major league, the WCC, which is a great league.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. Good luck.
COACH BEN HOWLAND: Thank you.
GEORGE MASON PATRIOTS
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined now by George Mason head Coach Jim Larranaga. We’ll ask Coach to make an opening comment, then open it up for questions.
COACH JIM LARRANAGA: On Wednesday, just before we left for the first round to play Michigan State, I brought the team together at the halfcourt circle as we do to end every practice. I told them, I’m going to have more fun than any other head coach in the NCAA tournament, and I want you guys to have more fun than any other team.
Now, when I said that, I’m not sure exactly what I meant. Boy, it’s sure been true. I’m having a blast. My players are enjoying it. By just looking out there, the sea of lights and cameras, reporters covering us, it’s been an absolutely fantastic magic carpet ride.
We’re very, very proud to be here. We want to thank the City of Indianapolis for the great job they’ve done in being our hosts, the way we’ve been so well-received.
Thank you.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Larranaga.
Q. Could you talk about the start of your career at Davidson. From talking to some people that knew you back then, they described you as very bright, they said that maybe learning to relax and have fun is something that came later in your career, that you were very intense to start out.
COACH JIM LARRANAGA: I think I’m very intense now, too, but I’ve learned through my experiences that intensity has its place, but maybe not always appropriate. I got married on July 17th, 1971, 7/17/71. My high school coach, Jack Curran, attended the wedding and drove with three of his Molloy players to Davidson, North Carolina, to work the Terry Holland Basketball Camp. At that time Neal McGahee left to become the assistant coach of Duke, and Terry Holland asked Coach Curran, would you recommend somebody. Mr. Curran recommended me. Coach Holland then called Dave Gavitt at Providence College to see how he felt. Coach Gavitt put his stamp of approval on it, as well. They tried to call me at Blue Beards’ Castle at St. Thomas, the Virgin Islands, and ruined my honeymoon.
Thank goodness they didn’t reach me, otherwise I might have been back on an airplane. My wife may never have forgiven me.
When I got back, I had messages from my mom to call Coach Holland. I called him. The next day my wife and I flew to Davidson, North Carolina, got a chance to meet Terry Holland and his wife Ann. Went through the interview process which included Terry and Ann staying at their lake house on Lake Norman while my wife and I stayed in his home in Davidson by ourselves.
To tell you, I’m from New York City originally, to think that someone might let me in their house with no supervision was almost too much to imagine. Coach Holland and I have been very, very close, lifelong friends since then. He’s helped mentor me. I was at Davidson for five years. I was with Coach Holland for seven years at the University of Virginia. I learned an awful lot during my years of working with him there, how to run a program.
But one of the most important relationships I would ever develop would be with a gentleman whose name is Bob Rotella, one of the world’s greatest sports psychologist, works with 17 of the top 20 money winners on the PGA TOUR. Through the last 20 years as a head coach, Bob has helped me relax and enjoy the process, more than put the intensity into the hard work that goes into the practice sessions, but kind of relax and enjoy every other aspect of it.
I’m grateful to my high school Coach Jack Curran, to Dave Gavitt and Terry Holland and Bob Rotella for helping me prepare for this moment.
Q. A lot of people tomorrow night will see your team for the first time. What would you tell them is the identity of your club? Who are the George Mason Patriots?
COACH JIM LARRANAGA: Who are those guys? Did you see the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? You’re probably too young for that. During that movie, Butch and Sundance were being chased by these detectives or what have you that had been put together. They keep trying to lose them. They can’t. They just keep asking themselves, Who are those guys?
I think basically that does represent George Mason University men’s basketball team. Nobody knows us. We’ve been flying under the radar screen. We were not supposed to make the tournament. When we did, we were not supposed to beat Michigan State. When we did, we were not supposed to beat North Carolina. When we did, there might have been some believers then that we might beat Wichita State. We were the lower seed and underdog. For sure, we were not supposed to beat Connecticut and be here in Indianapolis and participate in the Final Four.
All can I tell you is I am privileged and honored to be working at such a great university, working for the people that I do. Our president, Dr. Allen /PHER ton [oops], is an unbelievable leader, most positive person I’ve ever been around. Our athletic director, [] Tom O’Connor is so supportive of our men’s basketball program.
I think my appreciation for where I’ve been, where I’ve come from, where I am now, I’ve been able to share that with our players. They’re so excited, they don’t really care that maybe we weren’t supposed to get in. They were excited to show what they were capable of doing on the court and let people decide for themselves who they are and how good they are.
We already felt we had accomplished a lot. We set great goals already before this NCAA tournament began. It’s been really great for these players, for our guys, to see not only the university community embrace them, but the whole country, the emails, support letters, the tremendous receptions that we have gotten.
I think we all feel like it would be great to be the underdog and to be the overachiever, so to speak. I think we all can identify with that attitude and personality. This team has embraced that.
Tony Skinn is very good. Lamar Butler, best three-point shooter in the school’s history. Folarin Campbell, multi-dimensional, terrific player. Will Thomas, as consistent a player as I’ve ever been around. Jai Lewis is our go-to guy. They each bring a lot to the table. Guys like Gabe Norwood, Sammy Hernandez, Chris Fleming, Jordan Carter, Tim Burns coming off the bench. We’re a bunch of no-name guys playing in the biggest sporting event in the world and loving it.
Q. How have you been able to avoid, with a relatively small double-post setup, foul trouble? Does that concern you going into tomorrow?
COACH JIM LARRANAGA: If you look at us statistically and you know I’m a big believer in the numbers, we have emphasized all year long not to put people on the foul line. In our first game against Michigan State, we knew they were the No. 4 free-throw shooting team in the country percentage-wise. We made a point of emphasis not to put them on the foul line.
If that was something new, I don’t think we could have gotten it done. But if you look at us, I know at one point we were 19th in the nation in the fewest fouls committed. I think we’re higher than that now with the great defense we’ve been able to play in the tournament without fouling.
Does it concern me? Before every game I’m always concerned about stuff like that. So far we’ve got a very good group of smart players. Jai Lewis and Will Thomas, especially, are very intelligent. Hopefully we can continue to play smart basketball. That includes not fouling.
Q. You were mentioning Coach Curran. You’ve said before that he was very influential on you. Can you tell us in any way, describe in any way, the way that George Mason’s play maybe is an extension of things you learned from Jack Coach Curran?
COACH JIM LARRANAGA: Our scramble defense is basically a concept that began when I was playing for Mr. Curran in high school. When I was in high school, we pressed for 32 minutes every single game, trapping all over the floor. I can’t tell you the names of our defenses back then. I mean, it’s not in my memory. But I just remember how much fun it was to press and trap and run and play up-tempo.
We brought that philosophy to George Mason when I came from Bowling Green. We used it the first several years throughout the game. I’m talking 75, 80% of the time we’d be scrambling, trapping, pressing, just like a Molloy team back in the ’60s.
But this team, probably because a little bit of our depth, we lost two great players to injuries before this season ever began. They’re both redshirting. If you were out in the arena, you saw John Vaughan and Jesus Urbina shooting on their own. John is a terrific player, all-rookie team, not able to play because of a torn ACL. Jesus was our backup post, would be playing a lot now. They’re hurt, redshirting.
Without having the great numbers, we’ve kind of reduced the number of possessions we use to scramble because it requires a great deal of energy.
We turn it on and off. Mr. Curran was the one that got me excited about pressing and running and creating a style that players would enjoy playing in, and that we hoped would mean in the recruiting process he could attract a better player because he’d like our style of play.
Q. When you made the decision to suspend Tony, how difficult was that, knowing it could very well be for an NCAA tournament game? What do you think he’s learned from that experience?
COACH JIM LARRANAGA: Well, the first thing is, you have to understand that we live by certain principles. I have a certain philosophy that we’ve implemented at George Mason. We’re very consistent with it. That philosophy is based on three very simple principles.
Number one, we want all of our players to have a positive attitude. Number two, we want everybody to have a great commitment to the program, a total and unconditional commitment. Third, we want all our players to behave in a first class manner.
The circumstances do not dictate whether or not we follow that philosophy. That’s just what we believe in. That’s who we’re going to be. When the incident happened with Tony, with just a minute left in the Hofstra game, I didn’t see it myself, but in just talking to him, I know Tony and I knew he had done something that he was ashamed of. I could see it in his face. So I took him out of the game, did not put him back in, even though we were down four with a minute to go. Afterwards, when I had the opportunity to view the tape, I viewed it with our athletic director, Tom O’Connor, we just both agreed that this was something that doesn’t represent George Mason University or our basketball program, that we needed to take immediate steps to send that message not only to Tony but to the rest of our team and to the rest of the athletes who represent George Mason.
When you asked me how difficult it was, the answer is, quite frankly, I didn’t think it was difficult at all. I’m not going to judge based on the circumstances. I’m not going to be influenced by what the cause and effect might be or what the consequences are. If I did that, I’d be changing my philosophy every single day. We can’t live that way. We have to have a certain amount of core values that we live by.
Tony didn’t behave the way we wanted him to. He knew what was coming. I explained to the team, I’m not punishing Tony, we’re disciplining him, trying to teach him something he probably already knows. But this is a reminder. You’re not going to play in the first game, whether we’re in the NCAA tournament or NIT. Whether we get into a post-season tournament or not, that’s not what we stand for, you know that. That’s not who he is. That was the point.
Tony Skinn is a great kid. I’ve loved working with him. He’s made a tremendous number of sacrifices to be at George Mason. He’s always conducted himself in a first class manner. That was a rare exception.
What has he learned? I think something we all learn is that when you make a mistake, you have to pay the price. I think it’s something that now, looking back, was the best thing in the world for him and for us.
Q. Some people have said the trickle down effect of your success is going to be more pressure on other mid-major coaches. What are your feelings about that?
COACH JIM LARRANAGA: I understand that train of thought. My response to that is, one of the reasons we’ve been able to be so successful is because of the tremendous support that I get, using Tony Skinn as an example, it would have been far more difficult for me to make that decision if I had an administration that was putting pressure on me to get to the NCAA tournament and win basketball games. They do not.
What we stand for is far greater than whether we win or lose on a basketball floor. We are all educators. Our responsibility is to teach these youngsters, whether they’re basketball players or any other student-athlete who we’re responsible for working with, to set the right example.
Is winning important? Yes, we all strive to win. But more importantly is we strive for excellence in all areas. We want to exceed in the classroom. We want to exceed in behavior off the court. We want to see our students graduate.
One question I’m always asked after the recruiting period is over is, What kind of recruiting year do you think you’ve had? And my answer is always the same, Ask me in 10 years when I see what they’re doing with their lives.
I hope that the message that George Mason made it to the Final Four is not about winning, it’s about doing things the right way, it’s about supporting each other. I get the support from my administration. Our players get the support from me. The players support the university’s mission. We stand for something far greater than ourselves.
And this trip to the Final Four, how George Mason has been able to get to it, is not something everybody should strive for and saying, That’s what we want to accomplish. No, it’s about the principles. It’s not about the winning and losing. Had we lost to Michigan State, would I have considered that a bad tournament? No, not if we played as good as we can play and Michigan State was just better than us that day.
We emphasize to our players all the all the time, it’s not who we play or where we play, it’s how we play. I think our players understand that. It’s why they’re able to do what they’ve done so far.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. Good luck.
COACH JIM LARRANAGA: Thank you.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll bring up three student-athletes now.
Q. A lot of stories have used the word “Cinderella” to describe your team. How do you feel when you see or hear that? What has the general reaction been at home and reception for the team?
LAMAR BUTLER: Tony has it.
TONY SKINN: Yeah, I guess through the course of the tournament, we’ve been called a Cinderella team. We’ve kind of used that to our advantage a little bit because we’re capable of playing with anybody in the country. The stage we’re on now is our chance to show everybody we can play. Even though we’re supposed to lose, just because they’re calling us the Cinderella, I guess the other teams are kind of falling asleep on our abilities a little bit.
We’ll stick to it and just run with it.
Q. Tony, can you talk about how difficult it was to sit out the first game and what you’ve learned from that?
TONY SKINN: I mean, I’ve tried to put it behind me. I just know it’s a blessing to be here. Sitting through the game against Michigan State, it was tough to be on the sideline. I knew if I couldn’t be on the court with my team physically, the next best thing I could do was be with them spiritually. I did that. My team went out there and played a great game, and we’re here now, so I’m definitely blessed to be here.
Q. Jai, coach was telling us the other day before he came up with unity ball, he was thinking about making a football game every week amongst the team. How much would you have enjoyed that?
JAI LEWIS: I definitely would have enjoyed it. It would have helped me out a little bit before going into these little camps I might be going into the NFL.
It’s just something to keep us loose or whatever. It didn’t really matter if it was baseball or football, the outcome still would have been the same.
Q. Jai, wondering if Coach Larranaga or any of your coaches ever told you you were too heavy to play and how you used your size to your advantage.
JAI LEWIS: Coaches never told me I was too heavy. It’s just something I’ve been able to do, something I’ve been doing ever since I was in high school. I’ve always been on the little heavy side.
You know, playing different sports, I’ve been able to adjust my weight doing different things. I might not be the best jumper or runner, but I think I’m intelligent enough and I can anticipate things happening before they really happen. I guess I use that to my advantage.
Q. How much film have you seen on Joakim Noah and Al Horford?
JAI LEWIS: We haven’t watched tape on them yet. We’ll probably do that tonight. Joakim, he’s a good athlete, 6’10”, 6’11”. He definitely uses his height to his advantage, whatever.
Q. Each of the players, the Florida players have the famous dads. If each of you would tell me about your father, any advice he might have given you, what he does for a living, or a father figure.
LAMAR BUTLER: Oh, man, my dad was the first one that introduced me to basketball. Ever since I was little, he tried to feed me basketball. I actually loved football first. I wasn’t blessed with a body like Jai. I had to stick to basketball. I didn’t really start till about middle school. He’s been very instrumental in my game. Even initially he’s been at the gym with me working late night on my game.
JAI LEWIS: My dad, he used to take me to the gym when I was about five or six, just basically teach me the fundamentals of basketball. He said that was the most important thing you need to know, is the fundamentals. Once you learn that, everything else is going to snowball into whatever it may be.
TONY SKINN: My mother left me in the gym and left me in there by myself (smiling). That’s pretty much where it started for me.
Q. Lamar and Tony and Jai, can you talk about, do you feel you’re the favorite of the country, except for the people who have certain partisan favorites? What lessons do you think people can learn by what you guys have done already just making it to the Final Four?
LAMAR BUTLER: We’re the favorites (smiling)?
Q. Do you think the whole country is behind you, the fans around the country?
LAMAR BUTLER: I would hope so. I hope they come out tomorrow and cheer us on. I hope they get the message to come tomorrow and watch the game, cheer for George Mason.
We kind of feel that. Cinderella team, underdogs. Nobody even expected us to get in the tournament. For us to get into the Final Four, people have something to cheer for. We’re the Dallas Cowboys of the 2006 era. We definitely feel that.
TONY SKINN: It’s definitely been a great thing to see everybody pulling for George Mason. Even though we’re far away from home, I think we have just about everybody cheering for us. It’s definitely to our advantage. Whenever we score or do something, we’re going to hear the crowd roar.
I definitely am happy to have that.
Q. Tony, when you sat out that Michigan State game, were you afraid that the punishment would be greater than that or do you think the punishment was too harsh or just right?
TONY SKINN: I mean, it was one of those things where, I mean, I knew coach, he had to do what he had to do. If I did something wrong at home, my mother had to punish me, I’m not going to argue with her. One of those disciplinary things. Coach been around the game for a long time, probably longer than I’ve been alive. That was the decision. That’s what it was. It’s over with now.
Q. Lamar, you were peeking through the curtain, smiling. What was going through your mind?
LAMAR BUTLER: I was looking at how big the room was, how many media people were here. Never seen this many people here just to ask questions and write a story.
I saw Coach Larranaga, he was serious, serious, answering questions, bobbing his head. I was laughing at him, that’s all (smiling).
Q. Jai, you have faced bigger teams so far in this tournament, but great success inside, down low. What is the reason for that?
JAI LEWIS: We made sure we put a body on somebody. If you don’t put no body on nobody, that person don’t get the rebound. Throughout this whole post-season, that’s what coach has been working on. We do a lot of defensive and rebounding drills.
We just do a great job finding somebody to put a body on, keeping them from getting on the glass.
Q. Lamar, you are obviously happy to be here. Is there a danger in just being too happy? Teams often worry about that idea. Does that make you more dangerous, how loose you are?
LAMAR BUTLER: We’re happy to be here, no doubt. At the same time, this is a business trip. We didn’t come here just to come to the Final Four, visit, take pictures. We came here to play Florida Gators and win the game. That’s our goal right now. That’s the obstacle in front of us on Saturday. We’re ready for it.
Q. You have the most senior starters of any of the Final Four teams here. How much of an advantage do you think that gives you?
JAI LEWIS: I think it’s just our little bit more maturity. This team has been together for two years. We had the same team last year. We didn’t lose nobody. We gained two freshmen in Sammy and Chris. We just got that little bond that other teams may not have.
TONY SKINN: Yeah, definitely, I think the maturity of the team is a big key to why we’re here. A lot of teams we played, they’ve been younger than us. There’s been certain things they haven’t faced that maybe we have. I think we’ve benefitted from having three seniors and two sophomores that are playing like upperclassmen.
Q. Lamar, I don’t imagine you’ve played basketball in a football arena before. Could you talk briefly about what it felt like to walk onto that court. Does that affect your shot, particularly three-point orientation?
LAMAR BUTLER: Well, at first it did. I think I shot an airball my first shot, you know. But I’ve never — I’ve never even been inside of a dome. I played football in a basketball gym, but never basketball inside of a football arena. Just to walk in, I kept thinking about Peyton Manning throwing all those touchdowns.
Q. Tony, what was Selection Sunday like for you guys until they announced the field? Was there a point in all of this where you went from it’s great to be in the tournament to we can win some games and we got a shot?
TONY SKINN: Well, when they selected us, I was of course happy that we got into the tournament. Then when I saw the match-up against Michigan State, I knew we had a fair chance to beat them. We played them great last year in the BB&T Classic. We also have five guys averaging double figures this year. I mean, we definitely had a shot. It benefited us that we were playing them on a neutral floor. It wasn’t like in the back of my head I thought we were going to lose. I thought we had a great chance to win the game. We just had to go out there and play great, and that’s what we did.
Q. Any superstitions, pregame meals, prayer, rituals?
LAMAR BUTLER: I have a Bible verse that I search out every time before a game. That’s my ritual.
JAI LEWIS: No, I don’t have no rituals. I just go out and play.
TONY SKINN: Yeah, I usually talk to my mother before the game. She says a little prayer me before every game.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen.
LAMAR BUTLER: Can I have my name tag (smiling)?
THE MODERATOR: After the tournament is over.
FLORIDA GATORS
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Joakim Noah and Taurean Green. We’ll take questions.
Q. For Joakim, it’s not like you guys were seeded No. 1 or even the pre-season pick to win the SEC East. When you go on the court tomorrow night, you’re going to be seen as the huge favorite, playing the biggest underdog in the history of the tournament. Do you feel like you’re going to be the villain tomorrow night? How are you going to cope with that feeling?
JOAKIM NOAH: I think we’re definitely going to be the villain. Right now, it doesn’t matter ’cause it’s do or die. Things haven’t changed. We’ve been through a lot of experiences this year. People have been against us, we’ve been in very hostile environments. We’ve been through a lot. Right now it’s all about getting a win. It doesn’t matter what stories are being said about who. George Mason has a great team. At the end of the day, like my teammate Adrian Moss says, there’s 10 players out there, two buckets, and one ball. That’s what it’s all about, just playing basketball.
Q. Could you tell me a little bit about your impression, I don’t know if you’ve seen any tape of George Mason, but Jai Lewis, obviously a great tournament and season. Do you have much of an impression of going against a guy like that?
JOAKIM NOAH: Great player. Right now we’re in a position where, like I just said, it’s do or die. It’s not going to be one player. If you want to win, everybody has to step up for your team.
We’re not on edge about one player. We’re worried about everybody on the team who can make an impact. Like I said, right now we’re just ready to play basketball.
Q. Taurean, your dad was a famous player in the NBA. What did you take growing up learning from your dad about preparing for a moment like now? What was it growing up in a household with a father who played in the NBA?
TAUREAN GREEN: He just always tells me to go out and have fun and enjoy playing the game. That’s the main thing he tells me when I’m about to play a game.
Just growing up, he really wasn’t there sometimes because he was on the road. We talked a lot. We still maintain a great relationship.
Just the main thing that he always tells me, just to go out and have fun.
Q. Talk about how tight you guys are as a group, that chemistry you have as brothers, how it’s going to help you on the court tomorrow night?
JOAKIM NOAH: I hate him. I hate Taurean (smiling).
But we have the same goals, so we have to support each other on the court. But off the court, I really hate him.
TAUREAN GREEN: I hate Joakim Noah, too, off the court (smiling).
No, but we maintain a great relationship. I mean, it’s not just us four, we all have a great team, we all have a great relationship. Just by the way we interact with each other on and off the court, I think that’s why we’re at the point we’re at right now.
Q. George Mason has had a pattern in these playoffs of beating teams with larger frontlines. Your frontline resembles in size the frontline of Connecticut that they handled last week. What is going to be different tomorrow? What needs to be different for you guys to not let that happen to you?
JOAKIM NOAH: How are we similar to the ones in Connecticut? I don’t understand.
Q. In terms of size. I’m not trying to match you guys in terms of types. They overcame a Connecticut team that had similar size to your frontline.
JOAKIM NOAH: To me, size doesn’t really mean anything. I mean, right now we’re playing basketball against a great team. In this tournament, you can’t underestimate your opponent because it doesn’t matter. If you play 10 games and a team beats you nine times, it doesn’t matter. It’s the 10th time that will make a difference. It doesn’t matter at this point. A team that’s better nine times, who might win nine times, might lose in this game.
Right now, it doesn’t matter. It’s all about being on edge and playing possession by possession. So I’m not worried about their history and who they beat. Right now we’re just excited about playing basketball on a great stage.
To tell you the truth, I mean, a lot of respect to George Mason, but it doesn’t really matter who our opponent is. We’re just happy to be in this place and playing basketball.
Q. Talk about the dealing with the glare of what this spotlight is being at the Final Four, whether it’s an issue at all, what Coach Donovan has told you guys?
TAUREAN GREEN: You just have to be able to handle all the distractions that are going to be thrown at you in the Final Four, all the media, all the hype, with all the other teams. We just got to be able to focus on our team, what we have to do in order to win games.
JOAKIM NOAH: Well, our goal hasn’t changed throughout the year. Our goal has always been to win a national championship, even before the season. So I think that’s made us tighter throughout the year, is that everybody has the same goals. But especially right now people are coming at us with media, on campus. Everybody’s just really excited because this is an exciting time of year, which is very understandable.
But right now, like Coach says, we have to narrow our focus. Our focus has to be on doing anything we have to do to win the basketball game.
Q. Taurean, the SEC had some pretty mediocre ratings, RPI and AP, all year. Did we miss something or are you surprised also that there are two SEC teams here?
TAUREAN GREEN: You know, pre-season, everybody was saying that the SEC is going to have a down year. I mean, we knew going in when we started SEC play that every game was going to be tough. We knew the type of competition and talent that all the teams had.
It doesn’t surprise me that two SEC teams are here. LSU is a great team. There are other great teams in the second, too. I don’t know why people said the SEC was going to have a down year.
Q. Could you tell us something about Coach Donovan that we wouldn’t otherwise know?
JOAKIM NOAH: I mean, he’s a competitor. I mean, I feel like he’s not just a coach that cares about the results on the court. I mean, to me personally, I feel like he’s like a father figure to me, like a father figure away from home. I think personally we’re very different in like the way we think about a lot of things. But in terms of basketball and just being there for his family, like I really respect what he does for his players and his family. He’s definitely somebody that’s influenced me in my life so far.
TAUREAN GREEN: I think Joakim said it. He’s such a big competitor. When it comes down to it, I mean, he cares — but that’s not the main thing to him. He cares about his players. He’s just a great teacher. He wants his players to get better and become the best that they can be.
Q. Joakim, most kids who come out of New York City come out of Lincoln, other programs. When you first got down to Florida, did you have to field any questions from teammates, what is Poly? What is it all about?
JOAKIM NOAH: I still don’t think people really know what Poly Prep is in Florida, which is understandable, that’s a school in New York. I’m the first player from New York to come to play for the Gators. I don’t expect anybody to know.
Next year I actually have one of my teammates is going to come, one of my teammates will be Jonathan Mitchell. He might know a little bit about Poly Prep. Yeah, I mean, it was different but I feel like Coach McNally, transferring from the United Nations school in the City, when I came to Poly Prep, it was the first time where I realized how important basketball was to people. At the United Nations school, it was just basically kids from all around the world, and soccer was more important than basketball. When I went to Poly Prep, which was the first time I actually went to a real American school, is when I really realized how big basketball was. I love that because I love basketball, too.
Q. Joakim, I read where you said that you think your hair gives you strength and power. Could you talk about that.
JOAKIM NOAH: My hair gives me strength and power. Yeah, it does. So don’t cut it.
Q. Why?
JOAKIM NOAH: I can’t tell you all that kind of information.
Q. It’s Final Four, we’re here, whatever. Don’t you have an advantage because you’ve played in the larger venues, played in the big conference games, on TV? Doesn’t that still give you an advantage over George Mason?
JOAKIM NOAH: No. Like I said, it doesn’t matter. At this point it doesn’t matter. It’s do or die. If we worried about the things that you guys worried about, worried about who has the most hype. You guys are usually wrong when it comes to things like that.
Like you guys only seen us play maybe three, four times in the year and you guys think you have it all figured out. But we know — we know what we have to do. We’re not really worried about all the stories, everything that’s going on. Our job is just to play basketball. You guys write stories. We can’t worry about what you guys say, otherwise our heads would explode.
Q. A lot of people probably ask you about your last name. There’s been talk about your first name. What are some of the funniest things people have mispronounced? Do you correct them? Did you ever think about shortening your game to just Joe?
JOAKIM NOAH: No, don’t call me Joe. It doesn’t really bother me because in France you pronounce it Joakim (French accent), and in Sweden you pronounce it Joakim (Swedish accent), and then Spain you pronounce it Joakim (Spanish accent). Here people are from all over the place. People are confused.
It doesn’t really bother me. Wherever you go, it’s pronounced differently. If you say Yokim (ph), I’m going to turn around. I know you’re talking about me. Yokim (ph) is probably the most extreme I’ve got.
Q. A lot has been made of George Mason being a Cinderella team. What about you and maybe how your reputation has grown throughout this tournament, how you guys have gone from one of the underdog teams to one of the teams expected to be a favorite?
TAUREAN GREEN: We still feel that we’re the underdogs. All the hype surrounding George Mason, we still feel that we’re the underdogs and we have something to prove to everybody still.
We’re just going to approach this game like we’ve approached every game. We just got to go to prove to everybody.
Q. I know you said you hate each other off the court. Have you had a chance to take in anything in Indianapolis or does coach have you on a pretty tight leash?
TAUREAN GREEN: We’re here to handle business, we’re not here to have fun. We’re here to have fun, but we’re going to have fun on the court, not to go around and sightsee.
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Florida head Coach Billy Donovan. We’ll ask you make an opening statement, then open it up for questions.
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: Thank you. It’s very exciting to be here in Indianapolis. Feel very, very honored to be a part of the Final Four. We realize that we’ve got a great challenge and opportunity ahead of ourselves on Saturday against a very, very good George Mason team.
I think our basketball team is excited about having the chance to play. A lot to get prepared for. When you talk about a team like George Mason, they’re very balanced, very good, and certainly they’ve proved themselves a great deal throughout not only the NCAA tournament but the season, they’ve played great. You have to congratulate them, as well.
So we’re just excited about the opportunity.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. How would you explain the fact that none of the top No. 1 seeds got here?
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: Well, I really think that the NCAA tournament is a completely separate entity from your regular season. When you’re playing in your conference, the 16 or 18 games that you’re playing, things have a tendency to balance out, you’re going to probably face people twice. There’s a lot of different things that happen.
Again, I think when you talk about the NCAA tournament, you talk about a one-game situation against good quality teams. There’s over 300 Division I teams in the country. You narrow it down to 65 teams, all those teams are there for very good reason: they’re very good teams.
All it takes is a game where you don’t shoot the ball well or play particularly well or a team gets very, very hot, that anything can happen on any given night.
I think also the parity and the balance in college basketball, I really don’t believe that seeding means a whole lot or makes a whole lot of difference any more. It used to be a time where if you got that No. 1 seed, No. 2 seed, you felt pretty good about trying to get to the Elite 8 20 years ago. I think those times have changed.
This tournament is so difficult and it’s so hard, you realize how fortunate you are to be able to even get to this point in time. Even if it’s a 3, 5, 11, 1, 12, I don’t think anything surprises at least me any more in this tournament.
Q. Providence obviously is not a mid-major. Back in ’87, you were sort of in the position of George Mason. That was the perception.
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: Yup.
Q. Do you have a handle on what they’re experiencing? Do you think it gives you any advantage knowing what they’re living right now?
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: I don’t know if it gives myself personally. I can definitely feel and experience what they’re going through. I think it’s the same feeling and experience that our basketball team has, as well. I think when you started the year and you said, Listen, Florida and George Mason are going to be playing each other in the national semifinal, I think a lot of people would have said, Come on.
For us in ’87, as a player, it was 11 years before Providence — Providence had gone 11 years without going to the NCAA tournament. So for me as a player, I had never even been to the NCAA tournament till my senior year. All of a sudden it was just an incredible ride getting to the Final Four and having an opportunity to play against Syracuse.
I certainly understand the excitement and enthusiasm. But I think our kids have the same level of excitement and enthusiasm as their kids do. I think our guys are excited. Their kids are very excited. It’s so hard to get to this point.
I don’t know if I’m doing a good enough job answering that or not. Am I all right?
Q. Yes.
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: Sure (smiling)? You can spin it, great.
Q. In the six years since your last Final Four trip, you’ve had teams that were more hyped than this one, higher ranked. What, if anything, did you change in your approach to either the makeup of the team or the way you coach it that has led to the success of this team?
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: Well, I didn’t hype the teams. You guys hyped the teams. I’m not a guy that goes out there and tries to hype my team. I would say this: when you start playing the season, the difference from this year’s team maybe to last year’s team is we have more balance and we can do more things.
I was very, very proud of our previous teams. I really felt like a lot of those teams really overachieved in a lot of ways. I think the perception has been that our roster is filled with McDonald’s All-Americans, and that’s the furthest thing from the truth. It’s been that way. We’ve signed a lot of McDonald’s All-Americans and several McDonald’s All-Americans, but none of them stayed here.
Kwame Brown was as highly exposed as any player ever recruited. He was here for no years. Didn’t play. Mike Miller played two. Donnell Harvey one.
The thing I don’t think gets publicized enough about our kids is those guys like Udonis Haslem, Matt Bonner, Justin Hamilton, Matt Walsh, the guys that maybe didn’t have that type of exposure coming out of high school.
I really believe that some of our teams were ranked high because of what happened in 2000. I thought a lot of that was unjustly given to us; it wasn’t earned. This year’s basketball team, when people looked at it, they said they’re losing their three leading scorers, they’ve lost too much offense to be any good. This team starts the year “under-hyped.” I don’t know if anybody has a grasp or a hold on what teams are going to do what during the course of the season. I think so much goes into it.
But I’ve been proud of all of our teams. I really believe this: the trick is getting into this tournament to give yourself an opportunity and a chance to move on.
Q. Along the same lines, you lost two underclassmen to the NBA last year. Does this team you have now seem a little more ahead of schedule than what you thought they could do before the season started?
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: For me, and I made this comment all the way back in October, that I was going to love coaching this team, that this team was going to really try to play the right way, they were going to be unselfish, try to play together.
I think some of the reasons why our team maybe the previous year was a little bit one-dimensional, and people don’t realize this, but two years ago in October when those guys were freshmen, the only three proven guys we had coming back was Roberson, Walsh and Lee. That was about it. We had to rely on some freshmen.
I didn’t know if these kids this year, if that enthusiasm, excitement, unselfishness, their team, those things they were really trying to build, I don’t know if we had enough experience that it would translate also into wins. That was the biggest uncertainty for me.
I think I said that back in October, that this was going to be a team that people were going to be really proud of, really excited about watching play, but I just didn’t know our level of experience, if we had enough of it. You have to go back. Our leading scorer returning from last year’s team on this year’s team averaged seven points a game. Right now we’ve got five guys averaging double figures because they’ve relied and helped one another.
Q. Can you talk about the chemistry among your sophomores. Is it something where they hit it off right away or is that something you had to foster and develop?
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: I think probably a little bit of a combination of both. But I also think a lot of it has to go into the makeup of the young men that are here. See, I think in order to harbor and create chemistry on your team as a coach, the players inside the team have got to be willing to accept one another for their faults. It’s easy to like somebody because of the good things they do or the way they make you happy. I think a true sign of love and affection for somebody is being able to show that type of love and commitment when they get under your skin, when they do something that upsets you.
I can tell you that these kids have a great level of love and concern and care for one another. I think Joakim talks about — I don’t know what it was during the year, but they were kind of suite mates, in the same room, same area, all of a sudden Taurean gets up in the morning and tells Joakim he loves him. I just don’t think that’s stuff that normally happens, that you normally can create that. I think some of it you can create, but a lot of it is their personality, the type of commitment they have towards unselfishness.
Because they have that level of unselfishness, certainly we’ve tried to foster that, build that up, get them to really take those qualities and take it to another level. They really have tried to do that.
Q. Do you think your players at all are getting tired of hearing about the underdog George Mason Patriots? What is the importance of the first few minutes of that game on Saturday when both teams walk into a dome filled with people and you have to get down to actually playing basketball?
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: I don’t think that our guys are upset or bothered by it. That’s something that’s out of their control. People can say and talk about the George Mason story, and rightfully so. It’s a great story that I think will hopefully inspire many people outside of basketball.
But we really have no control over that. I think our kids started the season as well unranked. Some polls had us to finish fifth on our side in the east in the SEC. I think our guys understand 6:00 on Saturday, the ball is going to get thrown up, they look at it as being a 40-minute game. Again, probably less about, you know, George Mason and a lot more on what’s on the back of their jersey. What makes George Mason so good is Skinn, Lewis, Thomas, Campbell, Butler, Hernandez. That’s what makes up George Mason.
So it’s not really anything to do with the publicity and excitement that’s been created. For us, it’s a lot more understanding their personnel, understanding their system, understanding how they’re going to play. At 6:00, all of that stops and both teams have to play. Even if we were getting a lot of hype, it doesn’t make any difference at all because none of this stuff has been something that we as Florida have any control over other than we have to go out and try to be as prepared and play to the very best of our ability at 6:00 on Saturday.
Q. Talk about how creating that chemistry is tougher when you have players leaving early, and how that is an advantage for the mid-majors because their guys stick around longer.
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: Well, that’s what I really believe has — I think you can get rid of the word “mid-major.” I don’t ever like using that word. George Mason is a high-quality basketball team. Forget conference, they’re a high-quality basketball team.
Our team, LSU team, extremely, extremely young. George Mason, level of experience. We played UW-Milwaukee in the second round of the NCAA tournament. They were the only team in the NCAA tournament to start five seniors. Several of them were fifth-year seniors. That’s the one thing that’s really balanced out the NCAA tournament over the years, is you have a lot of teams dealing with an extreme amount of youth. You have some other teams that have had players stick together over a three- and four-year period. They bond, that chemistry and teamwork that can really make them very, very good.
George Mason is a perfect example of a team that has continued to grow and develop. They’re a great basketball team.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. Good luck.
COACH BILLY DONOVAN: Thank you very much.