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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 23, 2010Frank SpazianiCOACH SPAZIANI: Thank you. Hello, everybody. Well, we're out of conference, and we're finishing with an old rival, an old opponent. There is certainly a lot of history there. So we're excited and looking forward to going up to Syracuse and finishing our season out on the road against a very well-coached Syracuse team. So as Mike said, any questions? Q. Who gets plugged in in Montel's spot? What kind of production can you reasonably expect there? COACH SPAZIANI: Well, Williams goes in there. He played last week, and he's been a back-up all year. He didn't play as much as I'm sure he would have liked to, obviously, because of situations in Montel's durability. But we feel very confident in him. He's a young freshman. He's going to be prone to some of those things. But he works extremely hard and he has talent. So we'll see if we can manage him through the game. Q. At this point, is it too early to tell if Montel could be back for a possible bowl game? COACH SPAZIANI: Yeah, it's too early. Yeah, too early. Q. When you look at Syracuse, obviously having a better year than they have in recent years. What stands out to you on the film when you look at them? COACH SPAZIANI: Well, I hadn't seen Syracuse or studied them for quite a while. I've seen them in crossing with other opponents through the years, but they seem extremely well-coached. They're very physical. They seem to be going in the right direction. They certainly are a challenge to us. They have a winning attitude. They're playing hard. They look like they have very talented players. You know, it's going to be a very tough challenge for us. Q. Do you have to attack them in different ways because of not having Montel, I guess? COACH SPAZIANI: Well, once again, what we always do is try to utilize our personnel to the best of their ability. Not our system. Now having said that, we are who we are. We'll obviously tweak some things, but once again, we are who we are. Q. If I polled your players, what do you think they would say if there was one thing you did or said in any team meeting that helped instigate this impressive turn around? What would that be? COACH SPAZIANI: You I don't know if there's one thing. I think it's this. I think it's a cumulative effect of the character of these young men. In other words, we had a young and experienced team. The teamwork and the leadership needed to develop, and sometimes that takes a little time. Not sometimes, it does take a little time. To the kids credit, they stuck with it. They understood what the situation was and where we were going, and some of the reasons for the troubles we were having and are still having, by the way. They've just worked hard and have been able to win a couple of games at the end there. There is not much difference than five weeks ago, but the fact is they're still working hard and they've got a very positive attitude. They've never lost that. So there's not one thing I can pinpoint. Q. I wanted to ask you, Mike kind of mentioned that you and Syracuse haven't met since 2004, since the conference split. Have you seen your program change at all moving from the Big East to the ACC? COACH SPAZIANI: You know, that's a good question. I think there are subtle changes in expanded recruiting areas and things like that. But the core beliefs and the core philosophy hasn't changed. Q. Does it give any additional motivation that you're playing a school in a conference that B.C. used to belong to? COACH SPAZIANI: No. Q. To talk about Montel. What was the reaction when you found that out, and are you confident with who you have behind him? COACH SPAZIANI: Well, obviously we were very concerned for Montel and disappointed for him and his family. The team withstanding, I mean, everybody knows what Montel has contributed to us and knows what kind of player he is and what kind of person he is. It's just been the theme all year though. We've had guys, a lot of guys go out. Somebody's got to step up and do it. Yeah, we're confident. That's what you have to do. There have to be guys that are ready and have to come in. We're confident his back-up will perform and we'll be able to manage our way through it. End of FastScripts |
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