MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 29, 2005

Alan Anderson

Paul Davis

ALAN ANDERSON: Our practice is just, you know, pretty much it's no rules. You know, you got to get the ball. The object is to get the ball by whatever means necessary. You know, five guys inside the paint, somebody shoots the ball up, we just attack the ball. We get credited. But the loser, we try to tab most offensive rebounds, whoever scores the most, you know, the loser has to run. It's called the War Drill. We just attack, you know, attack each other, we get aggressive.

ALAN ANDERSON: I mean, like in practice today, seeing all the media in the stands, how many messages I'm getting every night, all the calls I'm getting, how everybody's treating you, it's amazing. Like I said, I don't think we're really going to have the full effect until we take off tomorrow night, get in St. Louis, see the environment and everybody, you know, in St. Louis. But, I mean, it's incredible from right now.

ALAN ANDERSON: I mean, when the game is down to the wire, like I said, we done been through so many different -- every type of situation there is. I mean, he just pretty much tells us, you know, what to do on different situations, like what play to run, if they score, if they don't score, what to do, and we just go from there. Foul shooting things like that, we've been in that situation before. So it's just a matter of calming yourself down, calming things down, having confidence in each other.

ALAN ANDERSON: I don't think there's any problem. Like I said, there's guys on this team that have played already multiple position. If they are in a jam where they're down in the wrong position, they can run it from there. We're used to being in different positions to help us out.

ALAN ANDERSON: I mean, like I said, just having, you know, the coaches still pushing us, not giving up, former players still pushing us and having the faith in us, just guys on the team just sticking together, not breaking up, not saying everything is done, whatever, just sticking with each other, always seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Never thought we was buried, so, I mean, we always just saw the light.

ALAN ANDERSON: Oh, no, no. Like I say, when you do something like that -- I mean, I know some guys do that. When you do something like that, you just putting too much pressure on yourself because you're putting yourself in a situation where you're saying, "I've got to hit these. I've got to do this. I've got to do that." You just got to do your same routine you do daily. It's just a matter of knocking 'em down.

ALAN ANDERSON: Like I said, it's just a matter of -- like I say, once you go through so many down times, success, you take it and run with it. Like I said, we had success with Old Dominion, Vermont, it kept building. Then we got one off of Duke. We just moved on from there. We just stayed confident, coaches stayed real confident, but not cocky. You know, we felt just comfortable.

ALAN ANDERSON: That you don't know from what?

ALAN ANDERSON: He's a great passer. I know he's been having a couple turnovers the last games, but he's a great passer out there on the post for a guy of his athleticism and his caliber.

ALAN ANDERSON: Like I said, I know they think it's a match-up problem, they have a mismatch on me with their size. But, I mean, I'm not like, you know, a skinny guy. You know, I got a little bit of strength to me. I can't overpower him, I'm not going to say that, but I can use my quickness, one thing I have. I just have to use that to the fullest. I have to beat them to the block, beat them to their position. On the offensive side, I have to bring them off-side where it's tougher for them to guard me.

ALAN ANDERSON: Guys just helping each other up. Coach is in the huddle, you know, just trying to talk to guys, telling them when different situations happen, do this, do that. Like I say, if another team scores, we going to run this play. If they don't, we're going to hold it, somebody will take the ball up. We just try to get guys in the right position and just try to be sharp doing it.

ALAN ANDERSON: Yeah. I mean, you know -- you know, it's always that. I mean, it's that first. "Come on, guys, this is our time." Whatever it is, it's pretty much our time. Like I said, we've been through it before. We got a lot of veteran, older guys, mature guys. We just talk it through with each other.

ALAN ANDERSON: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like I said, that's where the schedule plays in effect. Playing two years ago at San Antonio against Texas and Tampa before that, I mean, that's where the schedule picks up. And last year the schedule we had also.

ALAN ANDERSON: Like I said, it depends. I mean, if we need a guy on the line, I'd love to be the guy on the line. If we need a big stop, like I said, I feel, you know, I've been through four years of this where I can guard. I've been guarding everybody. I'm ready to guard anybody.

PAUL DAVIS: I think the biggest thing with coach was, you know, he's been through so many things that I'm going through. (Inaudible) couldn't get my game going. Me and him talked about putting us on the same page. He's telling me that he's gone through some of the things I am. He's been to the top, and he has also had people knock him down, and he's still standing (inaudible).

PAUL DAVIS: The very first time was when I was -- I think Duke last year, after the game there. We obviously didn't play very well. I personally didn't think it was my best game. I just felt like (inaudible). Talked to my dad. I didn't know what to do. He said to go in and talk to coach. I went in the next morning, (inaudible) couple hours later that night and we watched some film. And I think that's -- that might have even turned my whole career around.

PAUL DAVIS: I think the biggest thing was we weren't thinking about what people outside of our program were saying. We weren't thinking about some of the criticism. We stuck together. The people that are in the program, I mean, I'm talking about the players and coaches, just some people involved, everybody knows what each other can do. We see it every single day, and most people just see it when we play the games. So I think the biggest thing is we've seen what we can do before, we know where we can go. We've just got to keep trying to have it be consistent. I think right now it's really paying off. We knew we could make it to the Final Four; we just had to go out and do it.

PAUL DAVIS: He's obviously always been a great post player. I've heard some things over the last couple years as far as him losing some of the weight and just working on his conditioning. And I think he's obviously -- he's got a big body and he uses his size well, you know. Some of the tape I've watched, he's creating the space which allows for easy shots. Now he's I think -- I think he's always been a great shooter, but he's added that into his game, you know, that 16-foot jump shot. You know, he's definitely one of the best, I'd say, if not the best post player in the country right now. You know, it's weird because the last four games we've really played teams with great big men, so it's not going to be any different. We still got to, you know, just take it at them before they take it at us.

PAUL DAVIS: I mean, sometimes with those things, you never know how they would work out. Obviously, if he went to Indiana, I'd be seeing him a lot more during the season. You know, with the thing they got at North Carolina with those three guys, and now four and five guys, is just unbelievable. I think, you know, he really does fit in perfect there for their big men.

PAUL DAVIS: My mom went to Michigan State. I was always watching Michigan State football and basketball. But watching other programs, I loved watching North Carolina when they definitely had Vince Carter, Antoine (inaudible). You know, I tried -- like I had all the North Carolina clothes and everything like that. As I got older, really started looking at what school I wanted to go to, I had to start getting rid of some of that, start wearing more green and white. But it's always been something I've always watched. I mean, I still watch them on TV today because I think, A, they've got a great program, and B, I do know a lot of the guys on that team. I haven't played against Sean before. I did get to know him at the McDonald's game, but I was hurt then. I did get to know him. I mean, he's a great guy. I look forward to probably seeing him down there and then playing against him.

PAUL DAVIS: Yeah, it's weird how this time of year there's more close games than not. I just think it's every team's will to do whatever it takes to get closer to the win. You know, this time of year, the tougher team, the team that wants it, I mean, truly wants it more, is going to win. I think our game against Kentucky, I think both teams wanted it, we just made a couple more baskets. But I've said before it's the best time of year to be a fan, a player and a coach. I think so far it's been one of the better tournaments I've seen.

PAUL DAVIS: Yeah, I believe so because, you know, when they tied it up at the end of regulation, they got a couple offensive rebounds. We get a rebound, we could put it away. But then, you know, coach really -- not just coach, I mean, every guy on the bench got into us and said, We need to rebound better in these overtimes. Going down four quick was, you know, obviously a surprise to us. But we had to do whatever it took. Shannon hit probably the biggest shot of the game right there, and I think that's what won us the game was, "All right, we're back in it. Let's win this thing."

PAUL DAVIS: You know, we've been in a lot of those games. We've come up short on a lot of them, too. You know, in the Duke game, I mean, I'll go back to even Old Dominion when it was close, you know, everybody is saying, "We're not losing this game; we're doing whatever it takes." We got past the first weekend, and the second weekend was the biggest weekend of our lives. When we were in Duke, "We're not losing this game at halftime," when I think it was almost tied up or something, "We're not losing this game, we're taking it at them." Then I think Kentucky was the culmination of everything because it's a double overtime game against one of the top programs in the country with a trip to the Final Four on the line. I don't think you can top playing that kind of game to, A, boost your confidence, and B, get that monkey off your back.

PAUL DAVIS: I just think, you know, we knew what we could do coming into the tournament; we just had to prove it to ourselves. Coming into the tournament we came off that loss to Iowa in the first round of the Big-10. We knew what we could do; we just had to prove it to ourselves. We knew we had a run in us, we knew we could make it to the Final Four, we just had to prove it. Now that we're there, you know, we feel we know we belong here, you know, this is where Michigan State University belongs, now we got to take full advantage of that.

PAUL DAVIS: I can say to that I committed early for myself. You know, I didn't commit early for some fans to just see me. I mean, this is where I wanted to go. I felt there's no reason to draw the process out as maybe some kids do. I thought this was the perfect coach and the perfect place for me to play. So if people want to see that as a negative thing, I feel that it's wrong to say. It comes with the territory. I mean, people now are going to scrutinize you no matter what you do, so it just comes with it. Honestly, most of that stuff just goes unnoticed. It doesn't have a lot of weight to it. It's one of those things that I hear it, but that's about it.

PAUL DAVIS: Well, you know, the players play the game. Coach just gives us a blueprint. We go out and build the building. But I think he instills in us what he's been through before and we go out and use it on the court. You know, we just go do what he knows in his head to be right. We just got to trust him because now no one on the team has been here before except him. So we got to be all ears all week long.

PAUL DAVIS: Yeah, I think I'm having the most fun of my career right now. I do feel I'm playing better. I think it's because I'm being more vocal, even if it's just in practice, and carrying that over to the game. But this past off-season, I just stayed up here, I stayed in the weight room, you know, worked on my game and just kind of concentrated on what I needed to do for next year, whether that was thinking about being more vocal or whether that was lifting weights or shooting jump shots. It was a great summer. I'm looking forward to this one again to really improve on my body.