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MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 24, 2015Tom IzzoCOACH IZZO: As far as everything goes, I think, again, this weekend we're trying to go to win the thing. That's what I got to do. There's a lot of different teams there. Of course, we're focusing a lot of our stuff on Oklahoma. But we just kind of had a big meeting now to go over all three teams and try to get a little perspective on each one of them. It is a wide‑open regional. I'm not sure there's any real favorite going in. Some people have certain teams favored, but I think everybody's pretty even as far as what we're doing. Our defensive effort in the NCAA tournament has been unbelievable. But I think on both ends, meaning the three‑point field goal percentage, and the regular one, I think we're second only to Kentucky now in that area. The other thing that's been unbelievable is our turnovers, 7.5 over these games, 6 turnovers against Virginia, a very good defensive team. That's been great. As far as a number of our trips to a Sweet 16 that everybody is asking me about, I'm just thrilled that I'm a part of the ride. We are playing some of our best basketball. Everybody's asked me on radio or TV, When did it really change? I wrote down some things in my mind, it was about the Northwestern game over there, we had just got beaten by Illinois at home. We did change the lineup a little bit. I don't think that had everything to do with it because the lineup was changed for a variety of reasons. But we have won 10 out of the last 13. That crazy loss to Minnesota at home, then the two to Wisconsin. Only three of those 13 were at home actually. A couple neutral sites. But nine of those games were against NCAA teams. I downplay where we are sometimes because this team is a little different. I've up‑played it some. After that devastating loss to Illinois, and to me it was devastating the way we lost that game at the free‑throw line, we have made some big jumps. Travis Trice, rather than sulking because we didn't start him, like I said, that wasn't all because of Travis. Some was take some pressure, some was get a rest, some was get a better scorer off the bench. He's averaged almost 18 per game since. He's been shooting nearly 70% from the three. In those 13 games as a team we've only averaged nine and a half turnovers which would be a low, low for our team. It's not like we've just come on in the NCAA tournament. We have been steady in the last month. What would be the biggest thing is we bumped our free‑throw percentage up in the last 13 games to almost 65. That sounds ridiculous, but I told you earlier if we shot 60% from the line, we would have won four more games, maybe 55% from the line. So I think everything I said was pretty much on track. I know that's not a big goal, to shoot 65, but it's changed some games that we won that we were losing earlier. If we can start upping that now a little bit more, that would be of great benefit. What am I worried about in the tournament? The two negatives have been our foul trouble. Denzel, Branden, can't have those key guys in it. Probably the biggest negative of all for me, I think I have a reason for it, we're only like a plus‑one or two in the last 13 games rebounding the ball. Been out‑rebounded in the NCAA tournament, including killed on the offensive glass by teams. That has to be fixed. When you have Dawson on the bench for half the game against Georgia, when you have Valentine on the bench for a lot of the time, those are two pretty good rebounders. Schilling played four minutes against Georgia. Costello has been a little slowed by just a knee that's been on and on and on. It's nothing serious, but a little tendinitis in it. It's caused him some problems. I'd say the negative is we haven't rebounded well. But how can you say if you have Bren, Trav, and Tum out there because 'Zel is in foul trouble, Branden is in foul trouble. I think if we stay out of foul trouble, it will help our rebounding. That's going to be a point of emphasis tonight, tomorrow and the next day, along with trying to do a better job, again. It's not aggressive fouling, it's a bad turnovers, then a frustration fouling. Questions, I'll take them. Q. With Travis, it seems like this year he has learned how to use what he has more so than in the past. Doesn't seem to get blocked as much. Seems to understand his limitations and how to work with them. Can you talk about that. COACH IZZO: I can, and you're not going to want to hear that. 99% of his improvement is health. It just is. When you're a buck 50, a buck 60, a buck 70 ‑ do you remember those days ‑ when you're in that situation, little injuries become big injuries because you're just not strong enough. I'm telling you, those two summers really took a lot out of Travis. Everybody wonders why he's so much better. Well, there's a couple of reasons, I think. Number one, health is a big, big, big reason. Two is we're moving him around a little bit more now, giving him some opportunities at different things coming off screens, not being the dominant ball handler all the time so he's not getting dogged all the time. He played 39 minutes. I said to him in the locker room, You look fresh. I think that has helped a little bit. But his whole career was about a couple major illnesses or injuries, but some minor ones. Somebody brought up the other day, remember the blisters he went through? Who gets that in the middle of the year? If you looked at them, they were so bad it was scary. But it doesn't happen very often to many people. He's just had some things to fight through. I think he's at peace with himself, too. I think sometimes you use the chip on your shoulder that can make you try to do things you can't do, and sometimes you use the chip on your shoulder to motivate you in a more sane way. I think sometimes you can let those things get to you, little man syndrome, whatever you want to call it. Sometimes you make them work for you. I think he's learned how to do that, along with being healthy. Q. Last year you talked about loving the bullseye on your chest. This year there was no bullseye going into the tournament. Now Vegas says you're odds on to win your region. With this team, did you prefer being the underdog? COACH IZZO: I just can't believe in this program that anyone would look at us as underdogs. One year you can be, but these guys have been through the others. We're not underdogs. We're not that much better than anybody. I think they have to be able to accept that. I did tell them, get my commercial in, I did tell them the minute we walked into the locker room, I said, Take your phones, stick 'em where the sun doesn't shine, and stay off Twitter. A couple guys had tweeted some dumb things after the tournament. Not from the team. You probably now. That wasn't what I meant. I meant, Don't read the stuff. All the people that adore you now that had you in the NIT... I mean, I understood the whole deal. But remember this: this team hasn't changed as much as everybody's making it out to. We had a lot of losses that we played our tail off, shot 48, 52, 53 from the free‑throw line. It's not just us that would lose those games, those kind of games, there's a lot of teams that would. So the actual play was pretty good. Defensively, I kept coming into these press conferences saying stat‑wise we've been pretty awesome. But the one stat that killed us killed us in a couple games. I didn't look at us as underdogged. Did I question whether we would get in the tournament? Hell, yeah, I did. Did I question what we'd be? Yes, I questioned it. The one thing I came back with from the Big Ten tournament, and I told them, We can let everybody outside laugh at us, rightfully so, you shouldn't shoot 50, 60, 40 from the free‑throw line. I was right with them, our fans. I understood it. We have played everybody right to the T. Everybody acted lining losing to Illinois or losing to Nebraska, Nebraska was playing better then. That was a day to remember then because of their assistant coach's son. It was an incredible atmosphere. Maryland here. I mean, bad loss at the time turned into not as bad a loss. I don't think the team has changed as much as you think. We found a way to win not doing as well from the free‑throw line. I think we've made some adjustments in our lineup that is giving us more off the bench, with Tum in there defensively. But we're not that far off. So underdogged, not underdogged, I mean, we still deserve to be an underdog. We haven't won those games, whatever my great excuses are. Free throws are part of the game. But at least I know we can play with those teams, yet we got to finish the job. That's what I think our guys understand. A little humble pie early in the year is not good for you, but maybe for this team it served them well. Q. You talked a lot this year about your big three. Before this year, those three guys, the games weren't put on their shoulders. A couple talked in the past that they could have a bad game and still win. When have you seen them start to embrace that? I've seen it more the last few weeks. COACH IZZO: I think Denzel embraced it from the beginning, but not until he tightened up his stuff, which has its moments. But Denzel always relished that. I'm not sure BJ ever relished that. Every kid's different, you know. Personally, I'd like to have everything on my back. I wish I could shoot the free throws and do the things. But every kid is different. I think Trav grew into it. I think I had three different guys. I'm not sure it's something that BJ, it doesn't matter, but I think he doesn't need the weight of the world on his shoulders. I think Denzel loves to have it. I think Travis has gained the respect and knowledge that you need to have that kind of position. He likes the ball now in his hands. Also he comes to the bench a couple times on some plays I wanted to run in the last game. He said, Put 'Zel at the point, I can come off this. So I think those two have really worked together. We're just trying to keep BJ's motor running, because when that thing is running, and when he's running, we're better. I have talked about the big three. I keep saying, Is it any different? If somebody else's two best players didn't play well, other than Kentucky, if it's Arizona, if it's Duke, they're not going to be as good. So it is what it is. But most of our guys were in (secondary/sedentary) roles in the past couple years. That's what happens when you lose kids. Everybody's got to step up. Q.  You talked about the camaraderie of this team, how much time they want to spend together outside the court. How unique is this team? COACH IZZO: I think most of my years I've been very fortunate I've had that kind of stuff. I've had a couple years we were very successful and didn't really have that, and a couple years we weren't as successful and didn't really have that. But 90% of the time when you have that, you have a better chance to be successful. On this year's team, I think it was imperative because we knew we weren't as talented. What I think has changed with this team is defensively they figured out that individually we're not lock‑down defenders and we need each other. Then when we started playing better defense because we needed each other, I think we started playing better offense needing each other. That's when the assists went off the charts early in the year. The best team I've had is of them figuring out that the true meaning of the word 'team' is everybody's involved with everybody. This team maybe has done that as well as any I've had, especially under the circumstances. Q. What kind of game do you think Oklahoma wants to play Friday night? COACH IZZO: Run, run, run, run, run, man. I think we could have a test run for the 20‑second shot clock in this game. It will be just the reverse opposite of what we just went through. We told our guys last week, You're going to have to play defense probably for 34 seconds, maybe a little less, with Georgia. But we felt with Virginia, that's what we had to do. Now I think we're going to have to play defense for a lot less seconds, but our transition defense is going to be very, very critical. Our rebounding off the run is going to be something that they are very good at, which not a lot of teams do that. Illinois used to do that very well, real good team they had in '05. They'd break so much, then they could rebound, Augustine, those guys, off the miss. That's different because everybody is running back and you're not finding guys. We got five or six things that will be points of emphasis in tonight's practice, tomorrow at practice and hopefully Thursday's. Q. They have those two bruisers in there, too. COACH IZZO: They are, but they're not as bruisers as the four we just played. I think they're a little more skilled, but they're not quite as physically bruising. We got hurt on the boards, but we played against four guys that I thought were very, very, very good rebounders, quickness to the ball, strength, jumping ability. Not huge size, meaning 6'10" or 6'11". Both those teams had guys that could get after you on the boards. Q. To put it mildly, you've been critical of Bryn Forbes over the course of the season. He has responded, though. COACH IZZO: Damn right. Q. What has happened to him? Is it a case of a kid finally realizing that toughness is an important part of getting time on the floor? Is it an issue where as long as the shots are falling, his mind is into it, but if the shots aren't falling, you have a problem? COACH IZZO: I think that was part of the problem early. I think he knew coming here it was going to be more physical than where he was. I think he also knew he was going to have to defend better. In fairness to him, you have an Appling at the point, your two guard doesn't have to be as good defensively. He and Trav, I mean, we had some lineups in there. The other night, I didn't think he took a step. I don't think he even took a leap. I think he rocket‑shipped off the ground compared to where he was, because he had to guard. As I told Dantonio, linebackers, he was guarding linebackers. You watch the film, and sometimes he'd even get lost because his body just isn't where maybe it would be if we were able to keep him out a year and work with him. He has improved enormously. Is it because Denzel is on him? Is it because Valentine is on him? Is it because I'm harping on him every single day? I don't know. I know this: it sure has gotten better. That's an area that is harder to get better at than even making free throws, believe it or not. I give Bryn a lot of credit because I have been critical of his defense, his ability to go in and rebound. You play the two or three spot in major college, a lot of times that's where the best players are. You've got to be able to defend. It's what made Harris such a special player, if you asked me. He could do both. Yet just like I was critical of him, I am very proud of what he's, as you say, grown into here. We have work to do still in the off‑season. He better live in that oblong building over there, the football one, because he's got to get stronger. I mean, he's actually lost some weight. But, boy, mentality‑wise, I mean, I think if you looked at him now compared to the beginning of the year, he might have made as big an improvement in that one area, and a lot of it's been in the last couple weeks. Now, he didn't get put on the bench because something he did wrong either. One of the things is I wanted him to score more. But if he looks at going on the bench, wants to get off it more, and that was a motivating factor, then that, too, worked. I don't know what buttons you push all the time. But I know this: I relentlessly stayed after him about it, so did some of our players. I told you early on that he's a kid that wants to please. He really does. I think it's something he has to learn that wasn't a comfort level thing for him. Boy, he's made some giant strides. Really, really proud of what he's done. Good question. Q. When you watch several of Oklahoma's games, Hield is a scorer. He can fall in love with his own shot. Against good defense just take bad shots. The way you're playing defense right now, is that a good thing for you guys? COACH IZZO: The coaches I've talked to around that have gone against them, he does take some tough shots, but he makes some tough shots, too. Great offensive rebounder. We got to cut him out. That's not been a strength of ours. Especially when we switch on our perimeter, we could have Tum on him, we could have Trav on him. That's going to be something, again, that is one of the 10 commandments we're going to work with tonight. To be honest with you, I think he's a hell of a player. He's a good kid. I think Tum has known him from back home. He's got size. He can pull up and shoot on a dime. They shoot behind ball screens, they shoot from range. They're getting shots up. He's making his share of them, too. I don't think it's a good thing for us. It's a good thing if he wouldn't shoot. I'd rather that than him taking a few bad shots because he makes some of them. It will be an interesting matchup. The more film we watch, the more calls we make to find out the best ways to defend him... It's been fun. It's been a fun two days because usually it seems like when we've been in this round, there's a real favorite. Sometimes it was us, but sometimes it was somebody else. Usually the game you're going to play, there was a real favorite. Everything now is a coin flip. That makes you have to do more prep on more teams, really talk about it: How do we use this whole week to try to work on one, but work on more than one. You get a Louisville who is completely different. So it's been fun. I mean, the staff meetings, my staff has been great about it, but they've been working their tail off because there's so many different ways that everybody's playing, especially in this group. You still look at the other three. I think Kentucky is Kentucky, but what do you got out there? Arizona? Who are the top two in there? Wisconsin and Carolina. Then you got Gonzaga and Duke. The others are a little bit below that. In ours, it's just a complete coin flip, not only because one and two are gone, but I think we've become a better seven. Three and four are still in it. It will be fun. Q. You get a lot of respect, and should, for your success in March. Lon Kruger, what is it that makes him a good coach? COACH IZZO: I think Lon has been phenomenal. He won at Florida. He's won at Kansas State. He's won at Illinois. He's won at Vegas. Nobody until recently wins at Atlanta. That was an interesting period of time since I was involved in that job. He was one of the guys I talked to, even though I didn't know him as well then, because he had a chance to leave I think when he was at Florida to go to the NBA. When you can do it at five, six different schools, it means you got a hell of a system. I think that's as important as anything. He's got a very good system he must live up to. Everywhere he goes, the turnaround time is quick. He's always in the hunt for some things, as he was this year, for a Big 12 championship. I have great respect for Lon. I've known him for quite a few years. I appreciate how hard his teams play, the job he's done. Q. You and Travis have some animated and entertaining on‑court conversations. Looks like it's over strategy. Does he ever win those when he's barking back? Do you like having him do that? COACH IZZO: Travis is a coach's son, which means he's knowledgeable, once in a while too knowledgeable maybe. I think where he's changed the most is those have turned into now completely, if you watch him, they were disagreements, but now they're... He knows when he makes a mistake, when he takes a bad shot. I also know when I got certain lineups in there, he's got a little more pressure on him than I think. I learned enough about Travis when I brought him in and told him I'm not going to start him this game, maybe it will last a little while. I told him some reasons, some poor play a little bit, but mostly getting some rest, maybe not playing as many minutes. More importantly, trying to get him off the point a little bit which I think was wearing his body down. The proof's in the stats. Some guys would sulk. Some guys would complain. Some guys would be upset. He's waited his turn for three years. I learned all I needed to learn about Travis Trice in that one 20‑minute conversation. And he's proven. So now I understand him a little bit better, too. There will be a, Why did you take that shot? I wanted to run it down a little more. I wanted to go for two for one, you should know that. Get the timeout at the line, not too far up. Things he knows. But, you know, he's got a lot on his plate with some of the substitutions we've had. When you're looking out there, there were times in that Georgia game it was Alvin and Bryn, then Colby and Marv up front. We don't practice with that one a lot. In fact, fricking never, okay? So then all of a sudden your quarterback has got to get everybody in the right spot, do everything. I'm trying to tell them that we've got to do it quicker. It's hard. But he's done a hell of a job. The reason he's a better player is because he knows where I'm coming from. He's healthy. Winning is the ultimate premium for him. Winning is more important than those points. I really love his defense, too. It's improved over the year. I think that's partly because of health. Q. (No microphone.) COACH IZZO: That's what's great. You know who appreciated them more than anybody, Ellis, Valentine and Trice. That's what is great. Everybody loves Colby. I know he's going to end up a doctor. He'll save me. Maybe they're thinking the same thing, he'll save them. BJ has taken to Marv. He's just like mentoring him. To me something I didn't think BJ had in him. That's not a negative, it's just a personality. He really has. I think he's done that a little more with Costello and Schilling, too. And 'Zel just does it with everybody. 'Zel, he appreciates those guys. Those guys did a lot. Bryn had to guard, gain some, a better player. Colby, six and a half, seven inches, 200 whatever he is, he was going against those guys that were 240, did a heck of a job. And Marv has grown a lot, I mean he really has. He plays with some energy. He's going to be a hell of a player before he's done. But this was a year when there was so much to learn from a guy who just hasn't played as much basketball. Those guys are all important to us. We still think we have to get Alvin going a little bit more. That would really help us. We're into the second round of the NCAA tournament and still don't have a definitive rotation down. I kind of gave up on that. It would be nice if we could do it a little better than we're doing it. I guess the zebras take care of that because we're in enough foul trouble that I have to sub that way anyway. It's almost not by necessity. It's almost like it's so built in. Four minutes in, somebody has two fouls, it's just like if I was subbing that way. Hopefully I can correct some of the foul situations. Our subs have meant a lot to us, they really have. They're the ones that have probably come the farthest because early in the year, that's why it was wearing down those two players so much. Q. You talked about the perception of the conference this season, in large part due to what happened in November and December. How do you look at what the league did in the first week now? COACH IZZO: Well, I was disappointed in the Purdue game because I think Purdue's really good. I thought they were a team that could have won. I think Indiana, they played everything right with Wichita State. That game came right down to the very end. Indiana, I didn't get to see all of it, but I thought they played very well. Proved to be against a team that handled Kansas pretty handily. Who else am I missing there in the early rounds? You know, Ohio State. I was shocked at Iowa. Is Gonzaga that good? Iowa, who has been up and down at times, just run into a buzz saw? I don't know. How well they played against Davidson, I thought that would be a dogfight, they win by 30. I don't know how you rate it because it all comes down to matchups. It doesn't mean because a seven seed beats a two, or a 12 seed beats a five, it doesn't always mean they would beat everybody else that's below them, it just comes down to matchups. Some matchups work in your favor. I'm glad us and Wisconsin are carrying the flag. We were the two teams left standing at the end. I'm not sure there was a time five, six years ago where at this point Wisconsin would pull for us or we would pull for them. I think that's, too, what happens with a little maturity, a little understanding. I watched his press conference, you know, kind of the weird turnaround they had. That's the same one we had when we played the 8:00 at night game at Columbus, or 7:00, then we went to Phoenix on Thursday. Those things have been tough on teams if you look at the history the last four, five years. I feel for him. I'm actually going to give him a buzz later today when he wakes up out there to tell him what we went through on that. But it is fun now to still pull for the conference. Maryland, weird game. But the way Melo was in and out of that game. There was a case of a matchup. One thing Maryland has is a great point guard, but not a lot of other guard guards. They're a team that pressed the whole time. Maybe it was just a bad matchup. They might have been able to beat Gonzaga, some other good teams, but just struggled against that team because of the matchup. Q. Early in the year you said that you thought this team could be really good. Is the team that we see now what you envisioned? You had variables in there. Is this the culmination of a plan or are you looking up and saying, Wow, this and this and this happened? COACH IZZO: I would like to say it was a combination of a plan, but I'm more into the 'wow'.  I just think with the couple of injuries we had, including Forbes early with the broken hand, because maybe we could have done more with him then. There were so many practices that we just didn't get a lot out of because we had a bunch of guys injured that first month. So I'm more into the 'wow' factor with this team. I thought we could be good. I thought Trice would have a good year. I thought Valentine would have a great year. I thought Dawson would have a more consistent year. All those things have happened to a certain level. Costello and Schilling. I thought Schilling was really a guy that would step up. He did early, but he hasn't as well lately. He played better in the last game. I think he's a big key to the game this weekend. I thought I'd get a little more out of a couple guys. As I told you, I thought Bess would be our best freshman and we haven't gotten a chance to see him. On a team that's not as deep, especially at the wing position, that was a big loss because I thought we could play him at the four. When you had to guard bigger guards like we did this weekend, I think he would have been tailor made for it. I thought we could be good. I keep going back to this: We were better than you think during the year, better than I think during the year. That's what losing does to you; it makes you worse than you are sometimes. I mean, we played offensively and defensively pretty well in a lot of those games. Kansas. Notre Dame we played awfully well. We just didn't make free throws. It made it look a lot worse than it was. Yet in my wildest dreams, as I look back two weeks ago when I was trying to get my team ready for the Big Ten tournament, telling them, We could have won this game, we're not that far off, at the time maybe we could have been 24‑6, 25‑6. Really could have been. We would have been a top 12, 13, 14 team. I'm not sure I thought we could be that good either. I thought we could be really good. But that's to me really, really good. So I don't know. Talking around circles here. I'm somewhere in the middle. I think in a lot of ways I like what this team has done, but there have been some frustrating moments. The turnovers and the ‑ how could I say the right words here ‑ the poor decisions at times. Politically correct, Drew. I don't want to use words you couldn't write in the paper. We just didn't use our melon the correct way. I don't know if it was mental toughness, it was just mental. We had our moments. But none of them by lack of caring or preparation. Maybe trying to go for home runs sometimes and we needed to go for singles. Twitter, I get that advertisement every press conference. In honor of you baseball. Q. (No microphone.) COACH IZZO: I just hope we make it to the national championship game and you're down there watching the Tigers, that's what I hope. Q. What did Travis say or how did you react in that 20‑minute meeting that taught you something you didn't know or surprised you a little bit? COACH IZZO: Well, I think he got it. There was no, Why? There was no questioning. I think I addressed it the way I wanted to, too. I mean, I said it just like I said to you guys. There's nothing different. I need someone coming off the bench. I need to get you some rest. If I can pick up four minutes a half by not starting you, maybe that's good enough. And I need you to play a little better. I don't think he disagreed with any of them, including that, I need you to play a little better. I think that's what was so great about it. You know, not many guys, especially seniors, will handle that. Yet, you know, a couple games later, I had him back in the lineup in a different way. Look, we've gone since then. Maybe the guy that deserves the most credit is him because some people could have acted in a different way. He not only acted in the right way but I think he took it as a challenge, and that was good. Q. You mentioned that he's grown more comfortable with the bullseye on his chest. Did that have any effect? When you took away some of the minutes, did that take the pressure off his back? COACH IZZO: When he was playing as a freshman, playing on the aircraft carrier, we cut the lead down to six, makes a shot. He jacked a shot I think from the water. I think the water he took it from. I told the president across from me what I thought of that shot, too. It was really good. He's always had a lot of confidence. Not cocky confidence, but he does believe in himself. So I don't think that changed his positive feelings about what he can accomplish in any way, shape or form. I just think it made him focus in a little bit more. We talked about some of the things. We showed him some shots where he was leaning one way or the other. One of the areas I think you've seen him improve on, he's getting into the paint more. He made that great step‑back shot. He would have taken that from three a month and a half ago, now he took it from eight feet. It makes a big, big difference. He's gotten to the hole a little better. He's reversed better. He's doing things more north and south than east and west. Is some of it because he's healthy or because he's less fatigued or because he watched some film with us and learned that isn't all great and those bad shots turned into layups at the other end? I don't know. That would be a good question to ask him. Q. With Trice's frame so slight, do you ever try to cram a couple sandwiches down him, or is he stronger than we realize? COACH IZZO: He is stronger than you realize.  He's a guy that has really gotten into stretches. He stretches a lot. He's tougher than I think we all realize. But, yeah, we feed him. He eats good. He's one of those guys that eats correctly. He gets his rest. I mean, I always blame his mom, you know. He's just slight in a lot of ways. But I don't think he would have been that way if he would have had those two summers, his freshman and sophomore year, to do what 90% of the kids do. Every football player, you see them in April, then you see them in September, they've got a couple more inches on their chest, a couple less on their stomach, and a couple more on their arms. He's never had the ability to do that just because of what he went through. In fact, the one summer he went from 171 or 172 into the 40s, I think. He went the other way. He could just do nothing that summer. Wasn't his fault. Really, the story on Travis Trice is going to end up a little bit more, What would he have been if he had the same opportunity as 90% of the other kids? I'm starting to appreciate just how incredible of a job he's done under the circumstances that have been placed in front of him. So, you know, I'm going to tell him that after the year. The next two weeks, still dog‑eat‑dog, baby. We're just going to keep pushing, grinding, see if we can make this little ride into a longer ride, into a bigger ride. I appreciate all the support you guys have given us. We'll look forward to try to, I don't know, what expectations to live up to, maybe the expectations of trying to find a way of getting this team to a Final Four. Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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