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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEFebruary 20, 2012Jim LarranagaCOACH LARRANAGA: Last Wednesday we played NorthCarolina. It was a pretty good game until about the 7:00 minute mark when the score was tied 53. They pushed ahead and were able to beat us by nine. Then on Saturday, we played Wake Forest. It was tied at halftime. I thought we played a little better offensively and defensively in the second half, and we were able to push ahead of Wake Forest and get a nice win at home after having lost two games in a row. Q. When I read all the national guys that do all the tournament projections, they have you guys as a classic bubble team right on the edge at this point. Do you pay any attention to that and use it as motivation or anything that you guys are right there to get an at large bid or not depending on how you finish out? COACH LARRANAGA: No, we don't discuss it with our team. We are obviously aware of where we are and where we'd like to be. But we're trying to really prepare ourselves for one game, and that's the University of Maryland. Don't want to look too far ahead or too far back. We've got a very important road game to look forward to, and we're getting ready to get on a bus and head up there right now. Q. When you played them the first time at your place, a double overtime game, but the teams have changed a little bit. You didn't have Kadji for that game. They did from Howard. How does that change the match‑up of the way the personnel has changed? COACH LARRANAGA: My guess is both teams will play about the same. There aren't too many secrets right now. Their way of playing is still going to be a high octane scorer trying to attack. They've got Foust now moving to the point, and he's a very aggressive scorer. Mosley's a terrific player. They've got big guys that can really rebound the ball. Alex Len is playing very, very well. It was a great game here. I expect it will be a great game tomorrow. Q. Coach, looking back on it, how important was that first Maryland game just for the psyche of your squad and the way it unfolded? The lead disappears, and all of a sudden you're in two overtimes and guys are fouling out. Yet you find a way and end up going to Duke and winning it. COACH LARRANAGA: Yeah, I would say that victory really helped our confidence and put us in a position that when we played at Duke, we felt good about the way we were playing. We did the same thing with Duke. We had a nice lead in the second half and had a huge comeback. Our guys did not lose their poise. They stayed focused and believed they had a chance to win, and we were able to win in overtime at Duke. Confidence has a funny way of growing, and it also has a funny way of disappearing. When we won in double overtime, I thought our confidence grew as a unit, and hopefully our win over Wake Forest will do the same. Q. Did you know that Kenny Kadji would be this good a three‑point shooter? I think he's 22 out of 46 on the season, especially good away from home. But what did you envision that as a major part of your offense? COACH LARRANAGA: You know, we had not seen Kenny on tape or anything, had not practiced or anything until we got here. First time we ever saw him in a five‑on‑five situation was like in the middle of October. It was very clear once we started doing shooting drills, that he was an exceptional shooter. Even though his size would indicate he should be a great back to the basket player. He's more comfortable facing the basket. So when Reggie Johnson became available to us, Kenny was able to move more to his natural forward spot, and his game really expanded to what he was comfortable with, and that is Reggie inside and him on the perimeter shooting jumpers. He is a very good shooter, and he shot the ball consistently well throughout the season. He's been a major plus for us. He's had a great, great year. Q. You've been through the are‑they‑in, are‑they‑out talk before at George Mason. Just wondering how you address it, if at all, with your players? COACH LARRANAGA: No, we don't talk about it at all. I would say this, having been at the mid‑major level for 25 years and I still follow that closely, this has been a year where the non‑conference performance of the high majors far exceeds what the mid‑majors were able to do. There have been years, and last year was one of them, where the mid‑majors performance was outstanding. With the expansion of the field from 65 to 68, a couple of more mid‑majors were able to get in. In this particular year looking at their non‑conference performance, it would appear to me that those spots should be reserved for the high‑majors who played a much more difficult non‑conference schedule and were far more successful than any of the teams in the mid‑majors. I think you see that if you watch the bracket buster this past weekend. A lot of the so‑called quality teams, highly regarded, didn't do that well. Q. Would you be saying the same thing if you were sitting back there at George Mason at 14‑2 in the CAA though? COACH LARRANAGA: Yeah, but if you look at their non‑conference strength of the schedule, it's in the 300's. That's not the resume that the committee has looked for over the years. You look for people who have really challenged themselves in the non‑conference. And not only challenged themselves, but did pretty well. If your strength of schedule is 200 and below in the non‑conference, as a committee, you look at that and say, well, you know what have they proven? They can win games against weak opponents, but there's no weak opponents in the NCAA Tournament. Those are the teams that even the automatic qualifiers from a weaker league have had to win a lot of games to put themselves in a position to win the tournament and be in the‑‑ and the at‑larges are basically the next 37 strongest teams. If you look at the field overall, it's rare anybody's RPI is below 40 to 50. I think the lowest ranked RPI team to get in last year was VCU with 49. So if you look at the RPIs right now, there are not a lot of mid‑major teams that have played a very strong non‑conference and performed well. They might have won games, but still their RPIs are in their‑‑ their strength of schedule is in the 200's, and 300's, and their RPIs are in the 100 to 150. That's not a resume for the NCAA Tournament. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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