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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 11, 2012Scott MartinQ.  Scott, just real quick, talk about what the experience is like this year getting into the NCAA Tournament as opposed to last year. SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, it's definitely a different feeling today than it was last year. You know, you look back at where we were, we always talk about the Gonzaga game. If you would have told me then that we were going to get a 7 seed I'd have probably kissed you. We're just happy to be in it, and we're excited to go down there and just play. Q. And what's your overall impression of Xavier going in before you've gotten in all the scout work and breaking them down? SCOTT MARTIN: We know they're good. We know they're talented. We know it's going to be a little battle out there. We're excited. We're ready to get down there and get playing. But we know that they're a very good team. Q. It's been a long road. Can you just comment in terms of it being the last go‑around for you here as far as the tournament is concerned? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, it's exciting, and the season was definitely one of ups and downs, that's for sure. We want to end it on an up. I think we're very focused that we didn't play the way we wanted to play in New York, and I think that could be used as a good thing, give us a little edge going into practice. We just want to come out, and at the same time we just want to play hard and play to the best of our ability and let the chips fall where they may from there. Q. How about just the finality of it, being a fifth year senior? SCOTT MARTIN: I'm not thinking about that at all. Q. Is it official? Have you received word from the NCAA, or you're just not thinking about the decision that's still in their hands? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, we haven't heard anything. I don't want to ‑‑ you don't ever want to think about the end and how it could be over. I'm just taking it day by day and thankful to still be playing and still be out here with the guys. We're just excited to go down there, and that's how I'm thinking of it, as an opportunity just to keep playing as long as I possibly can. Q. You've been called the glue of this team all year, the most vocal guy on the floor. What was your message to the guys after a disappointing performance Friday and trying to rally the troops, I guess? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, that it's not over, and we've got one more opportunity to go at this thing. These couple days of practices are very, very important for us, and we need to get in the gym and get some work in and get some shots up and get ourselves back to that confidence and that rhythm that we had earlier in the season. Q. Coach Brey mentioned a lot of you guys are basketball junkies, and I would guess Xavier is a team you've gotten a chance to tune into. Are you kind of familiar with them at least over the last two years? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, definitely. I've watched some of their games, and you'd have to live under a rock not to know that they were a very good team. Q. Is it something where you play a team like this and you know they have NCAA Tournament success? Is playing a team with this track record in the NCAA Tournament, is that exciting? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, I lost that track record one year, my freshman year at Purdue, so I know what they're capable of and I know how well they play in the tournament in their history. This team is just as talented as that other team. I think we're very aware of the team we're playing. I think we're already the underdog apparently. Nobody is picking us, so that's a good thing, I guess. Q. Based on your experience last year in the NCAA, what would you tell your teammates the games are like? How are they different from the Big East Tournament, the regular season? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, I think there's‑‑ it's hard to put your finger on exactly. There's more pressure for sure, and then there's a lot more distractions around the whole week and everything like that. But I think the most important thing for us is to be loose, and I think last year we got a little uptight and a little conservative, and I think the big thing for us this year is going to just play loose and play like we did during that stretch when we played so well. I think if we can get out and get some shots up early and find a nice rhythm and just go have fun, good things will happen. Q. Coach Brey mentioned he thought the team was really NCAA Tournament worthy. When did you think it occurred, when you first began thinking that you were pretty good? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, I think I have to agree with Coach. I think after the Seton Hall game gave us some hope and a little chance that we started to believe. And then I think after the UConn game we felt we could really put out a solid résumé for ourselves, and to keep building on it from there, I think we were pretty confident from that stretch on that we were a tournament team. Q. How do you ensure you guys have a chance to get better shots? SCOTT MARTIN: Honestly I felt like we got a lot of good looks over the course of the week, and they just didn't fall for us. I think it's just going to come down to just simply‑‑ I don't think there's anything you can do, you've just got to make the shot, and that's what it's going to come down to. I think we have to have that mindset that everything we shoot is going in, and if we play with that confidence, then I think good things will happen and translate from that. Q. Talk a little bit about last year. Obviously that wasn't a pleasant experience for you. How much does that game motivate you? Do you think about that at all? SCOTT MARTIN: I don't think we think about it too much because a lot of us‑‑ a lot of the guys weren't even out there. It's kind of this team has a completely different identity than last year's team, and it has a completely different feel and personality. I think we all understand what happened and why it happened last year, and we're going to learn from it, but I don't think that we're looking at it as we can't repeat what we did last year or anything like that. I think it's more of a learning tool than anything. Q. Eventually do you just say I want a better experience? SCOTT MARTIN: Oh, absolutely. That was about as bad as it could get. I'll be very thankful to get through a game healthy and see where it goes from there. Q. (Inaudible.) SCOTT MARTIN: You know, I don't know. It's a combination of a lot of things, I think. I think one thing, we didn't hit shots in Chicago, and I think then you start to worry, especially when you hit a three and then‑‑ you would miss a three and they'd come down and hit a three and you'd miss another one and they'd hit another one, and you put that pressure on yourself, I've got to hit the next one. It kind of just builds on itself. It was nothing from an outside perspective; I think it was just something that happened within the game that got us into that funk, I guess. Q. Are you guys playing you differently than they were late January, early February? SCOTT MARTIN: I don't know if they're playing us that much differently. I think we've had a problem getting Jack going, and I think if we can do that, then good things tend to happen. I think that'll be important for us. But in terms of overall, I think teams‑‑ you look at Louisville, Louisville is going to play everybody the same way. They're going to press everyone, that kind of thing. South Florida is going to pack in and use their size. I wouldn't say that they're going away from their normal game plans or their tendencies to play us any differently. Q. After the Gonzaga game, how were you feeling about the rest of the season? SCOTT MARTIN: I think we never lost hope. We never thought, well, we've got no shot at it now, so what's the point. I think we were believing the whole time that we could do this. I don't think I was as good of a leader as I should have been before that point, and I felt it was my responsibility, and I need to step up and do something and say something and just‑‑ like I said, it's my last shot, and I didn't want to go out with a bad memory, I wanted to go out‑‑ at least I can say to myself I did everything I could do in terms of what I could do to get us out and get us as best a season as we could. I was just laying it all on the line from then on out, and good things have happened. Q. At what point late in the year did you think to yourself, we're in? SCOTT MARTIN: I think it goes back to after the Connecticut game. I don't know if we thought we were in for sure, but we thought we were in a very good position where if we weren't in, we could get ourselves in and we had control of it instead of worrying about other teams losing or that sort of thing, that we could control our own destiny. Q. How do you guys balance the idea of wanting to advance (inaudible). Seems like kind of a tightrope. SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, it is a little bit, but I think we have to worry about ourselves and this team more so than the history and that sort of thing. I think we have to worry about what's best for this group and the way that this group is going to play the best. And we'll worry about that stuff later when we reminisce and look back on it. I think we have to just worry about getting ourselves in a rhythm. I think it's going to come down to getting ourselves confident in practice. These next three days of practice are huge for us. Q. Is there less pressure on the team than there was last year so you guys can be loose out there? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, I think so a little bit. I think we can just go have fun, and I think that's the most important thing. And I think we kind of lost that a little bit last year, and it was more of a work kind of‑‑ we've got to do this, we've got to do that. And this year, I mean, two months ago we weren't even in the thing. We're just happy to be here. We're going to go out, have fun, and whatever happens happens, but we're going to give it everything we've got and then see what happens. Q. (Inaudible.) SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, I think I looked at‑‑ when we lost him‑‑ Tim and I had kind of‑‑ neither one of us are big talkers really. We're not rah‑rah guys, so we don't yell and scream and get everybody fired up and that sort of thing. And when Tim went down, I still stayed the same way and that carried through to the Gonzaga game. At that point I thought I have to start talking, I have to start saying stuff. At that point I started thinking I'm going to say what's on my mind and do my best to get this team any better we can get. Q. Do you find yourself being more emphatic? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, I think so. My personality is not one of yelling and get going, that sort of thing. I think it speaks a little bit more if I'm yelling, that everyone realizes the severity of the situation. If you've gotten me to yell, then things are not good. I think that was one of those situations where at that point we had to do‑‑ we had to get going. We weren't really able to do it‑‑ we made a little run at them, but obviously it wasn't enough. Q. In terms of Eric, how does Eric play all these minutes and still stay energized and fresh? SCOTT MARTIN: Yeah, I think that's just the way Eric is. Eric is a little squirrelly kid. You know, he's always got that energy, he's always got that bounce to him. I think‑‑ you look back at it, that's the way Ben was. You can't get Ben tired. That's just the way it is, he's not going to get tired. And I think Eric has a lot of that in him, he can run for 40 minutes straight up and down, and he's not going to get tired. That's the kind of person he is, and I just think that's the way he's wired. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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