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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 15, 2015Jerian GrantTHE MODERATOR: We have Jerian Grant. Q. Jerian, congratulations on the ACC Championship. You guys went out there and showed what you can do in the tournament situation. Do you feel like that is the best possible scenario to know what you've got to face now that you go into this next part of the season? JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, I do. I think just being able to play in a tournament like that where everyone you play against is a very good team, that it will help out. Q. Pat mentioned that this team kind of wanted to establish itself as a different type of team to kind of reinvent the program, so to speak. Do you feel like you've been able to do that with this program at Notre Dame, maybe reached a level that you guys had in your own minds? JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, you know, winning the ACC Championship is big‑time; that's something that big‑time programs do. Just to be able to do that I think will go a long way in the future. Q. Where do you see the pivotal key for you guys as you go into the next phase, the NCAA Tournament? What are those factors for you guys as you enter this? JERIAN GRANT: Just playing our game. We have been a Top‑10 team for most of the season, and as long as we play our game and not try to do anything different, I think we will be fine. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, it's be important. We want to rewrite history here at Notre Dame. We have done something so far, but just to be able to go to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight and to do something special there would mean a lot. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Well, definitely haven't had the leaders like me and Pat, us knowing that it can be our last game, the young guys want to help us keep playing longer, and it fuels them and it fuels us. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: We took our message personally. It's about guarding the guy. Our help defense has been great, but if you don't need help defense it will help your defense even more. We went up to each and every guy, and we took our message personally to keep our guy in front of us. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: It's hard to explain. I gave Coach Brey a hug, and he said, "You know, we did it. We did something special, something that's never been done at Notre Dame," and it's hard to explain. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Probably one more day because we talked about cutting nets down, so this will be it for this, but it's something that we will definitely be able to look at 10, 20 years from now but we're not done yet. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: I think definitely in Italy, you know, I seen "Z", Zach and Demetrius, I think those guys really played up to their potential, and me and Pat were kind of ‑‑ sat back a little bit and watched and seen what those guys can do, and obviously you've seen it now, it's gone a long way. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Like I said, we want to play our game. We feel like if we play our game, we can play well against any team in the country, and if it happens to be Kentucky we will go out on the court confident. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Well, we have had an amazing regular season, but we just won the ACC Championship, something that's never been done and will go down in history here at Notre Dame, and every year we have a different team, and this year's team is that much more different, so we have confidence going into the Tournament. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Being fearless and confident and playing your game. You can't go out there playing not to lose. You have to go out and play your game. Q. How different is Selection Sunday today than it was a couple of years ago after coming in after a tournament loss? JERIAN GRANT: Your confidence is sky high, you're not worried about who you're matching up against, once you hear your name, you're ready to go out there and play, and I think that's what this team is doing. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: I think it was definitely the trust that we have in each other. If we go down or up, we trust in each other that we're going to be able to make a come‑back or weather the storm, and everybody in our locker room knows that we can win and we have confidence in each other. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: The program hasn't done much in Marchbefore. Obviously we're going to keep getting that until we do something. I think making a statement, winning the ACC Championship is going to gain us respect in the future. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: A lot. Pat always talks about rewriting Notre Dame history, and we've done that a little bit this year, but we're not done. We still have another tournament that we want to go and win it all. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, going into the game, but once the game started it was all about getting the win. I think I talked about just being able to get a win would be more important than ACC Player of the Year, so I feel like if my team won, I feel like that would speak for itself. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Not really, not at all. We really didn't focus on what our seed was going to be. It was all about just seeing our name there, and especially last year not being there, we wanted to hear our name and we didn't care who we matched up with our what number was next to our name. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Should be confident. Like we said, we beat two No. 1 seeds, so we are just ready to play. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Just being on stage with the team, holding up the trophy and cutting down nets. It's special, something special with your team and we have come a long way together. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: Actually, it meant a lot to me for you to tell me I could be a captain with you during the ACC Tournament. I wanted to be like you, obviously. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: You know, it's been a big part of my life, and I just talked with him about championships. Like he said, it takes a lot. He had to put in the a lot of work and he said you're going to have to be a great leader, and we joked around a little bit because I teased him because I won an ACC Championship and that's something he didn't do. Q. (No microphone.) JERIAN GRANT: He texted all of us. He said to all of us that he watched the game, and I think it was like 4 a.m. where he was at, but he watched the whole game, and he congratulated us, and he was excited for us, and that meant a lot to all of us. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Jerian. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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