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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 15, 2015Mike BreyTHE MODERATOR: We have Coach Brey with us. Q. Congratulations, Mike, great win. COACH BREY: Thank you, Reggie. Q. You enter this tournament, the NCAA, in a different locale, because this is a new thing to be going in off an ACC Championship or any conference championship. Your team has been level‑headed all year. I assume that you expect the same thing to get back to work mode right away? COACH BREY: Well, we need some rest, I think tomorrow, too. We got back early a.m., didn't do anything today, and we still need another day of rest. That will give us two days to prepare. This has been a focused group, there is no question. They enjoyed and celebrated one of the most if not the most special moment in our program's history and well deserved. I also think that they're a confident group. I've never taken a team into the NCAA Tournament off of a tournament championship in our league, and so I think that gives you a whole other level of believing. Q. And one of the things that you have been able to do is put together streaks of wins during the course of the season and, obviously this is a great example, an ACC Tournament, is a great tournament situation, but this team has been able to sustain its level of play. What do you attribute that most to? COACH BREY: I think they're a pretty mature group. You've heard me give credit to our leadership. They set a great tone starting back in Juneand they have been really good in March. I thought they were great in Greensboro, I would say Pat and the Jerian and I would add Demetrius with his voice and drive and they were focused on going down there. We talked about cutting nets down and they interpreted it as wanting shirts and hats, and they kicked it around and certainly they were wearing them on the plane back last night. Q. As you look ahead a little bit to Northeastern, what do you know? COACH BREY: I know Northeastern well. I played them a lot in my America East days, when I was at the University of Delaware. They were in the Hall of Fame Classic, so got to see them play a little bit, remember them beating Florida State early in the season, Billy Coen is a bright, young coach, one of the best in the business. They play a lot like us. They spread you out, they move the ball. They've got shot‑makers, they know how to play. They will play a little bit of a match‑up zone, but, again, it's a team like this that just won a conference championship tournament, so you go in with some momentum and belief. Q. What are the tangibles that you take from an ACC Championship, whether it's immediate or big picture? COACH BREY: Well, big picture, I think it's an unbelievable endorsement for our program. The one thing you have heard me say about our program is, we were independent until '95. We didn't join a league soon enough. Then we joined a league, then we switched leagues. We have been kind of an ‑‑ erratic basketball history, as far as where do our fans follow us, who are our rivals? What's our identity? We established a pretty darn good identity in the Big East, we really did. We were well respected and very consistent. But we never got to Saturday night in New York City, never won, you know, a championship. So doing that in this league, I think, really kind of‑‑ as I told John last night, I said, "I guess we're in this league now, it's official, we're in!" But I think it's great for our program, big picture. Short‑term, I think it's great for this group's confidence as they move into the NCAA tournament, because I've never had a team come off a tournament championship moving into an NCAA Tournament. Q. How different is it watching on Sunday after trying to get them down, back to earth instead of pumping them up? COACH BREY: The other thing is, that's our first automatic bid in history! We finally earned an automatic bid. This group will recalibrate and the be hungry quickly. That's been their MO; it starts with Pat and Jerian, but even those other guys, I know they're not satisfied. We started talking about the next tournament, which happens to be the Pittsburgh tournament, last night, whatever it would be, and I just talked to them before those guys talked to you about, we just won a really tough tournament, now let's win another mini tournament in Pittsburgh, and then we will regroup and see what's going on after that. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Yeah, there was a lot of people on Tobacco Road that are wondering if we broke in their houses and got in and out of town and stole the trophy and came back home! Also what we did in the regular season on Tobacco Road, winning in Chapel Hill and the state, it's really‑‑ it's got ACC country understanding, you know, who we are and we're really respected, and that's what I hoped for last year to go in with momentum, and we didn't do that but we certainly have bounced back. You hear from a lot of guys. A lot of, you know, Coach Wootten, guys like that. A lot of guys I know from back home were ACC guys and as you can tell from last night, the way the media down there talks to me, I'm like an ACC guy. I was a Big East guy, I was never maybe a true Big East guy, because I grew up in ACC country, and I coached at Duke so it's interesting how the ACC guys, even when we went down there to say we were announcing, welcome home, welcome back. So it's funny, I always kind of thought, I'm in the Big East, I just want to be a Big East guy, that's who we are. Maybe at the end of the day my destiny was to go back to the ACC. Thinking a lot about that on the plane last night. But in the league and around the league, I think it's very powerful and when you‑‑ and I think what was so powerful for our program was that we moved to the night sessions. We moved the bracket like the Big East bracket playing at night. We played in prime time and won two great games, everybody in the country watched. It's great for your program, great for your recruiting, the whole bit. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Oh, I wouldn't put myself in that category‑‑ tournament winner, yeah. I think for the people in ‑‑ the true ACC people, that's a real endorsement, like, okay, man, he's for real, he's one of our guys. I think ACC country has been intrigued by me a little bit. I've been offered a lot of ACC jobs, when I coached here. So now I'm back there in front of 'em, and, you know, it was really gratifying to see my team play like that last night. They played so well and so fearlessly. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Well, you know, it's funny how this year has been‑‑ the karma has been so good that who is standing in front of me when the buzzer goes off but Jerian Grant, and I get to hug him and it's a good, long hug and certainly get a little emotional.  It was so fitting that the two of us happened to be right there when the horn went off, and you saw my quote, he said, "Gosh, is this for real?" "Yes, sir, it is, definitely for real!" But seeing our guys celebrate at half‑court, Roy Williams was amazingly gracious. He's a long‑time ACC guy, and it meant a lot what he said about our program, as it did Friday night, what Mike K. Said about our program. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: You know, I don't know if we flat out said, you know, let's recruit these tough guys. I mean, the group toughness is just so good. Certainly Pat and Jerian are Pat and Jerian, Demetrius has an edge about him. As I said last night, I know there are commercials about Steph Curry, the baby face, and Steve, that story is ours. What a killer that dude is. I mean, you know what's the epitome of him last night, he throws the ball away before half. They come down and dunk it, and then bangs down a three right before halftime. You got to have special DNA to do that. Zach Auguste has got more than an edge, and he controlled it better. I thought he was fabulous down there and went to a whole other level, defending the post against Okafor, and throwing off the big guys last night. And Bonzie's toughness. There is a toughness and swagger about Bonzie's. I've had individual tough guys. The collective toughness, though, is really special. You never know how it's going to come together, but it's been interesting to watch. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Well, yeah, I mean, I would say most of the kids that are going to get high‑level Division I scholarships, they're going to have an edge about them. They can't be totally soft, and yet skilled. But we have had guys like that, and now that you ask the question I'm reflecting a little bit. You know, I've been attracted to guys like that. Aron Brody was 6‑6 undersized guy, but when I watched him in Houston, everyone in the gym was scared of him. I wanted to coach that guy. Hell, I was scared of him when I coached him. And Hansborough, who would get whacky as heck; there was an edge about him, and I wanted that guy on my side. So I think I do identify with that a little. Demetrius always had an edge about him, everyone in town knows that. And that was good and Connaughton‑‑ Connaughton could not dribble left‑handed, so people backed off. His senior year. All I know is when I watched him in Orlando, he made every play. Parents in the stands were yelling at him. He made two free‑throws, he kinda gestured at him, and I thought I want that guy. I want to take that guy to Chapel Hill and Greensboro. And Jerian has developed a toughness, but it took all of five years to get him to that point. Q. (No microphone.) PAT CONNAUGHTON: Well, by simplifying this tournament and looking at it as just one weekend here, I put on the board in there the three other teams in our mini bracket in Pittsburgh, Butler, Texas and Notre Dame and Northeastern. I put up there the Pittsburgh tournament. You've won one tournament, we've played some pretty good teams, can we win the Pittsburgh tournament. I told them don't look at the rest of the bracket; let's look at the Pittsburgh tournament. Let's win that, regroup and talk about the Cleveland tournament. And I do want them to enjoy this for another day. We can't practice very hard tomorrow. We're tired. Make sure to enjoy this for another day, and we will be ready to lock in Tuesday and then we've got to travel Tuesday because we will have media obligations Wednesday. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: It's the best place it's been all the way around. We were at such a high level down there, especially Friday and Saturday, that I think they know how it feels; they know how we prepared. We have a reference point. We have a reference point of a higher level, and the level we had goin' there wasn't too bad. Got us a double bye, but it was another level of stuff, and that's a group giving of themselves and our bench being good and supporting guys and good attitudes. It's been a really low‑maintenance group. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: You know, I think it's time. I think he knew, peer pressurewise his teammates needed more consistency out of him, and to be more reliable, and those guys putting heat on Zach is more powerful at this time than me putting heat on Zach. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Well, when those two guys are slashing and we have two guys using ball screens and Demetrius kicked it to another level as well. We're hard to deal with, we're coming right down your throat. You know in the games Friday and Saturday because of those two guys we got to the bonus quick and we made free‑throws. We've improved there, we've made free‑throws at a higher level here. But those two guys drives get you to the bonus fast. I thought Demetrius was as potent off the ball screen Friday and Saturday, as Jerian was, and we tried to get 'em both in it. Regular season most of the times it was Jerian, but I thought‑‑ Demetrius has become a voice, he wants to win, he talked about a trophy all week leading up to the game on Thursday. He's so pure in wanting his team to do it. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Yeah, well, I felt that in Italy. I mean, you know. We didn't have this level in Italy that we had in Greensboro, but once he got the ball in his hands and he was the starter, he was going to be fine. Once it was his team and we were able to do that in Julyand Augustand not wait until October, I think it sped the process up. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Yeah, I mean, it's just another way of playing. We're a little bigger that way. I think we're able to rebound a little better defensively, which can be a weakness, even though last night, 13 we could absorb, and we could offensively rebound al little bit better. When I'm looking at it, it changes us offensively. We don't have the spacing we have when Pat is our 4 man and we can really spread the court. You're always trying to feel that. Bonzie had a tough time covering their big man's last night, so it was going to be a Zach Auguste night, but it was Bonzie's night Friday night, and he was great against the middle of their zone. So you're always feeling that. We've gotten more reps at it the end of the season. We played it, we practiced that way a little bit, and then you just kind of read it and see what's going on. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: No. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: No, I think the biggest thing is not to overanalyze. I am at a point in my career I don't dwell on it. Maybe I would if I was younger. The thing we're doing different this year is we're going into this thing after winning a championship and that's maybe the biggest thing. We handled our league play at another level and I think that gives us a great chance to do more. You know, the job is 365 days a year and I'm motivated to keep want to go make that run, and I'm excited about the possibilities with this group. Q. (No microphone.) Is there something that you saw was a common theme? COACH BREY: Eight McDonald's All‑Americans! (Laughter.) Winning a regular season conference championship sets you apart going into this next tournament, and this is the only group that we have had that has ever done that, which is why you feel confident. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Yeah. Our mental toughness, that's why, you know, we have reference points, heck, I was talking about it in that 9‑minute time‑out. I said, "Guys, we have been in this position so many times, down 9, down 10"! We've had to fight our way back to win. We've been there, done that. This group has‑‑ you know, if we did have a problem with that, it would have showed itself in Greensboro. That's why I feel better about Pittsburgh. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: I saw that. Indiana State Championship, right? Heck of a bracket. I know what's on that other side but, boy, we haven't looked over there. I have a lot of respect for‑‑ you know, Butler had a similar year to us, bouncing back off a difficult year, first time in a new league. I think that's great story. Texas has been the most analyzed team down the stretch, but they're really playing pretty good right now and they're huge. Again, I have a lot of respect for Northeastern. I coached in that league. You have seniors that have played together, they have won together, they will be loose and they're skilled offensively and they can make shots. So we've got our hands full and it's a little bit like guarding ourselves. Guarding the arc and having to attack from a matched‑up zone when they change to it. Last year they beat Georgetown in the SanJuan shoot‑out and we were kind of watching games in Novemberand that's the first time I concentrated on them under Billy Coen and was impressed. Watched them a little bit in the Mohegan Sun and watched them against Florida State. They're good, man. It's an ACC game. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Where would I be? I would have been somewhere else doing TV or something. Now I look and go, what am I going to do without those two guys? But you know what? On Friday night and really throughout the year, the way Zach, our sophomores, Bonzie now, the way those guys have played, I always like to glance ahead at this time and go, I kinda like that group coming back, it's a solid nucleus. But Pat and his dad were, "Coach, we're coming back," and I took them at their word, no matter how much heat the Orioles put on them. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Somebody laid it on the floor, and the Commissioner came in and said, "You may want this," and my reply was, "We're kinda new at this." It was neat to see them sitting around in the locker room. They didn't shower right away, trading stories and checking their phones and talking about different things. It's really‑‑ you know, you talk about chemistry and being together and as a coach you're always‑‑ you always worry about how it can be screwed up from inside or out and they're so strong internally, it's just like refreshing to be around them. I think they're very hungry, still, even though what they accomplished last night was extremely special. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: They were on fumes. You know, down there, I didn't talk the whole time‑out. I let them talk. This thing is running itself. This leadership and this mojo is those guys talking through things, getting on each other a little bit. I started time outs by saying, if we can get a kill coming out of here, the whole complex will change. That's all we talked about on Monday. We got here, we're playing tonight because we got kills, three stops in a row, kills. You do that, things will change. Then we got I think eight, three's, and by the end of the time‑out they were not only talking but yelling at each ear in a good way, some colorful language! (Laughter.) And I added in there a little bit, too. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: I never try and get a technical and I had a better angle where I was standing on that drive in all fairness to the official, but I just thought, God, that's a hard one to get his third, I thought he was gliding out‑of‑bounds and I overreacted a little bit, and I did apologize to the officials at halftime and told them "I'm a little excited." Q.(No microphone.) COACH BREY: Yeah, I would say it's the most confident I've been with a team going into the NCAA Tournament. Yep. And I think with the experience and what happened in Greensboro, it's given me that, and then that. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: I don't know. I think you can overanalyze that, too. We've been through the gauntlet of that league and then the gauntlet in Greensboro, too. What's interesting is that Northeastern is similar to us. So when we're guarding ourselves in practice every day we're guarding a little bit of the Northeastern tendencies, and I think, you know, hopefully that can be helpful for us as we start to prepare on Tuesday. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: I know that was special to turn around, see Murph and Matty behind the bench, C. Jones, Martin, Flaunty, that's probably all of them, right, of my former guys? And then maybe‑‑ certainly I got a lot of texts, the best texts were from our former guys, Herring, Atkins, Humphrey, I feel so glad that are they're part of the program. Wherever they are today, they got their N.D. stuff on. I tell you one guy who is going to wear his N.D. stuff is Matt Carroll in North Carolina, wearing that stuff everywhere. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: He is! He got picked up by the Jazz again, didn't he? They are going to pick him up. What did he do? Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Oh, was he really? Q. He was at the scorer's table checking in, and asking bout the score. COACH BREY: Who? Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: Gene texted me, too, but I didn't know that. The Jazz are going to bring him back up. That's great. When you get‑‑ and then, you know, Austin Carr, Monty Williams, John Paxton, Collis Jones, the old guard of guys, too, that are really proud of the program. That means a lot to me. When I got here that's one of the things‑‑ you want those former guys to feel good about their program. Q. (No microphone.) COACH BREY: You probably haven't seen me as much as everybody here. My demeanor is pretty steady. Some of the people tonight we saw said, "You're so calm" I am on the outside, maybe not on the inside, I did have a snap moment last night, but when you're guys look over they gotta see poise and how you talk to them in the huddles, and I've been aware of that. Hopefully that helps our guys stay more balanced. The other reason maybe I don't panic being down 9 with this team is because we always answer. Other teams I probably would be a little more uptight. This team has always answered the bell. Even when Miami took the lead we were, like, cocky, like boom, boom, boom, Steve, hit that, let's get outta here. It's a great trait. All of them that play have really got an edge about them. Even B.J. has developed that, being around these guys. Q. Mike, you were at Duke when Bobby Hurley was there and now he's coaching a team into the tournament. When did you first see him as a potential future coach, and what do you think are his strongest assets that have allowed for his success at buffalo? COACH BREY: I'm so proud of him, and that is no surprise at all. As a freshman at Duke the questions he asked, how he fought the game, how he talked to you about the game you can only imagine the dinner table talk in that house growing up. How can you not know what you're doing growing up in that family? I think what really helps him is he is a steady, poised guy on the sideline, and his relationship with players is his greatest strength. I think he's really a great communicator, connecting with players and a calmer guy in how he leads his team and I'm really thrilled for him. It's Buffalo's first NCAA. He made that A.D. look good, and that A.D. was a walk‑on for me. He was a Notre Dame grad and a walk‑on for me. Knew that early in the recruiting process, Ian, that this guy was going to be pretty good if he wanted to be a coach. Q. Mike, people saw Bobby then as an extension of Coach K. as a player. Do you think Bobby has some of his characteristics as a coach, or do you see him as a different Coach? COACH BREY: I think he's his own man. The biggest thing we had a hard time with was getting him to talk to the team and as a quarterback be more vocal, and I think that developed later in the his career. You've got two strong personalities that are his mentors, his dad and Mike K. I think he's found his own way and his own way of doing it and for a young coach like that, you know, that's really pretty good to be able to do that and not copy too much. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, everybody. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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