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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 31, 2014Sam DekkerJosh GasserTraevon JacksonTHE MODERATOR: We can go ahead and take questions for any of the players up here, if you can please just direct who you'd like to answer. Q. For Traevon and for Sam, if I remember correctly, on Media Day, you guys were asked about this team and what you expected from this team. You guys talked about raising the bar, changing some things. Has it turned out the way you anticipated by what this team has accomplished this year, or do you need to do more? TRAEVON JACKSON: We're definitely proud of how far we've come, the obstacles we've overcome this year. It's been a great ride. We had expectations from the beginning of the season back in the summertime. It's still not done yet. We're excited we made the Final Four. We're excited to go down and have an opportunity. But to complete the assignment is still at hand. SAM DEKKER: Obviously, you've got to be proud of what you've done to this point. We really are. We're proud of what we've done as a team together, and we set goals in the summer where we wanted to be, and this is a place where we wanted to get. We didn't want to just stop there. We didn't want to get there and let it come short. We want to win this next 40 and then hopefully get to another one and win another. We have all intentions of going down there and reaching another goal of ours, and we're excited to do it. Q. This question is for Josh and Traevon. How have you handled the pressure, the increased pressure as each round has gone on, both on and off the court? JOSH GASSER: I mean, all the off‑the‑court stuff, it's who handles it better. Once the game starts, all the media, all the nonsense throughout the week, it's kind of thrown out the window. So it's not any more pressure. It's still a 40‑minute game. It's still a 10‑foot hoop. Everything's the same. I think that stems from our coach. He prepares. Coach Ryan prepares us the same for any game. It doesn't matter if it's now in April or it's back in November. We prepare the same way, we get ready the same way, and just got to stay that way. TRAEVON JACKSON: Yeah, exactly what Josh said. I think just the process of just going through the same routine over and over again. At the end of the day, it's just basketball. We just go out and have some fun and play the game. I think that it's more fun the farther we go. It's not more pressure actually, I don't feel like personally. And I can say the same thing for our team. We're just enjoying the moment and just try to get better every day. Q. Josh, when you committed, or the guys in your class committed with you, did you check out recruiting rankings? Or after you got here, when guys like Sam or Trae would commit, did you check that? Was stuff like that important to you? JOSH GASSER: It's definitely not that important. I know, growing up against Wisconsin, all the talk is they don't get high recruits, but they always win. You just kind of know that coming in. We kind of joke about it. It's just kind of funny how we're not highly recruited, but yet we still win some games and stuff. It's the kind of tradition we have, and it's great to have. We obviously have great talent. For Coach Ryan to do it year in and year out, it obviously means you're doing something right. That's all I can say about that. Q. For Traevon and Sam again, going back to the beginning of the year when you guys set the goals, what were the catalysts for wanting more? Was there any connection to the way last season ended, or was it just in general to see this program reach a point that it hadn't reached since 2000? SAM DEKKER: After we lost to Ole Miss last year, I was pretty up front saying, we're going to be working really hard this next season to not let this feeling happen again, and I fully meant that. If we wanted to reach our goals and if we wanted to do something big with the group we had, we've got to put in the work, and we've got to have the right mindset. If you have the right mindset going into anything, there's not much you can't do. Especially when you're together with 16 other great guys, you know, you can get almost anything done. We all bought into it together, and we've gone on this ride together. We've gone through the ups and downs and having broken apart. That's what makes a special team, and a team that can get along on and off the court is a team that's going to stick together through everything. We've been able to do that to this point. So I think definitely the way last year ended had a little bit of things to do, but we also knew we had the pieces there that we could get through it. Q. Traevon, can you talk a little bit about what it is to be a leader? Josh and Ben have a little bit of age on you, but just how you've embraced that‑‑ sorry, Josh. Just how you embraced that or the importance of that for you? TRAEVON JACKSON: This is such a senior laden program. To see guys like Josh and Ben and even Z‑Bo, I really look up to them in terms of how they handle themselves. They're always just solid. I remember coming in freshman year just seeing Josh, and Jordan especially when he was here, and Josh being a guy that, no matter what it was, that he always was just rock solid. I just couldn't put a handle on it. A lot of that had to do with his maturity and just learning from him, and I think that's just a blessing just being able to go through a couple years here and just embracing the moment, embracing the opportunity that has been given. You know, just trying to learn from the mistakes I made in the past or the past failures and stuff and just capitalize on it. I've been given a special role on this team as a point guard, and it's important to embrace that. Q. This question is for all of you guys, whoever wants to chime in first, but obviously focuses on the game. How cool is it that there's two pretty much legendary head coaches involved in it? JOSH GASSER: It's pretty cool. This is kind of where coaches get their name, making the Final Four. Coach Calipari has done a great job wherever he's been at, especially with Kentucky the past few years, and Coach Ryan has been so consistent in his whole career no matter where he's been. Like I said, if you're in the Final Four, you're obviously going to be a well‑coached team. So we're not surprised by that. TRAEVON JACKSON: Yeah, Coach Cal is a great coach. He's won wherever he's been at. It's a great opportunity to go up against him, and it's a great opportunity for Coach Ryan as well. We're just happy that we got him here. SAM DEKKER: It's exciting. It's an honor to play for especially someone like Coach Ryan and go up against someone like Coach Cal and Coach Donovan and Coach Elliott on the other side, two other great coaches. You get to this point for a reason, and they put their teams in the best opportunities to win, and it's worked for them. Q. Coach Ryan spoke about yesterday and today you guys needing to stay on top of the schoolwork with all of the traveling. Have you guys managed to do that okay? Has it been a challenge? TRAEVON JACKSON: School? JOSH GASSER: For me personally, today, tomorrow, going to try to knock out as much as I can. You only get one shot. A lot of people get one shot to go to the Final Four and win the national title. We're going to try to get the school stuff, grind these next two days out in school, work hard in the classroom, and then going to focus on that. SAM DEKKER: Today I had two classes and a quiz. Tomorrow I've got a test to make up. Going to get through that, study with Frank a little bit tonight, and try to get through this week. Q. For Josh, do you think this team is tougher mentally after that losing streak? I think it was 4 in a row and 5 of 6 after that hot start. JOSH GASSER: Yeah, I think so. Like I said before, you can learn a lot more from losses than from wins sometimes, kind of wake you up a little bit. I definitely think it was 5 of 6. It wasn't fun at the time, but I think ultimately it helped us in the end, it helped us get to this point, and we just got better. Mentally, that was the big thing. We got a good mix of young and old guys, but to go through that, to kind of just see how you respond, how you react from some tough times, I think it helped us in games such as the Oregon game, we're down 15. We felt like we've been through it all this year. Getting to this point, it just helps out. Q. Guys, Josh and Trae, now that you guys are in the Final Four, can you talk about what the new defensive rules this year, how that affected you guys, and especially with how Coach Ryan teaches defense? Was it not as big of a transition as maybe people led to believe? Sam, if you could chime in, how did you think those defensive rules help you guys become a better offensive team with other teams, maybe not as disciplined as you guys, being forced to adjust? JOSH GASSER: Earlier in the year, you definitely could notice it. Our first game in particular, it was just a ton of free throws and stuff. You've just got to learn from it. You've got to kind of figure out how things are being called throughout the game. As the season's gone on, you don't really think about it at all. It's just kind of part of the game. Offensively, we've got multiple guys that can score, and that always helps. When we're sharing the ball, moving, cutting, that's what forces fouls and stuff like that. I think that's just where our offensive ability comes from, not necessarily the rest. TRAEVON JACKSON: Yeah, offensively, what Josh was saying, I think that we just have such a versatile lineup, 1 through 7, 8, even our guys that don't play, a lot of different skill sets, so it puts a lot of pressures on defenses. Defensively, I think the refs have done a good job in terms of adjusting. It's tough for them to put them in that position because a lot of things now are‑‑ some things are charges. Some things are blocks. It's a lot of social calls. So you've got to bear with them. I think for the most part, they've done a good job. SAM DEKKER: You know, we just have a team that likes to put pressure on defenses now. We've got the guys that are able to do it, and we like to be aggressive and get to the hole and get to the rim. When you've got guys with that type of mindset and put that pressure on the defense, it makes it tougher for them. I think that's a lot of what's worked for us this year. Q. Sam, whether or not Cauley‑Stein plays on Saturday, what kind of challenges does Kentucky's size pose to you guys? SAM DEKKER: We've played big teams before. We've been outsized in multiple matchups this year, and I thought we've done all right with it. It's just going to be another fight and another test for us against a good team. They've got some big guys on the outside and inside. Their point guards stack up at 6'6". They've got good size. Everyone knows that. But we've got guys that are going to fight and claw and do everything they can to get a win. When you've got four guys on the court that are with you with the same mindset, it doesn't really matter how big you are. It just matters how much you want it and how much you're willing to fight for it. Q. This is for the Wisconsinites on the panel, Josh and Sam. I'll begin with Josh. What does it mean to you to be a kid from Port Washington, growing up in Wisconsin, and to be in the position you're in. And after he's done, Sam, same thing, being from Sheboygan and being in the position you're in, representing the State of Wisconsin and UW? JOSH GASSER: It's crazy. It's a lot of fun. I'm just trying to enjoy the moment, embrace it a little bit. I mean, not many people get to experience this. So it's fun. We're not just, again, happy about making a Final Four. We're trying to finish the deal off. But just the support that I've had personally and the whole team has had from the entire State of Wisconsin, me being from Port Washington, all the support I've gotten back home and on campus here, that's what it's all about. That's what makes it fun for us. Just to represent all of our students and the entire state, it's just awesome. SAM DEKKER: It's really, really cool. Sheboygan is a big Wisconsin Badger rooting city, and I was always a big Badger fan growing up. So to be in this situation and have the jersey is really special to me and special to a lot of people back home. Even for Trae, you know, it doesn't really matter where you're from, to be in this situation as a player growing up, watching March Madness and always wanting to be there, it's real special, and it's a basketball player's dream. Q. This is for Josh and Trae about Frank. I think you said something on TV after the game that he screams at himself on the court sometimes when he gets upset. I never noticed that, but what are some of the things he criticizes himself for? Are you at all surprised, as some people around the country are, at where he is today as a player compared to where he was even at the beginning of this year? JOSH GASSER: Frank criticizes himself over everything, which is ‑‑ you know, he's always done that. That's where a lot of his growth has come. He's got a lot more maturity. Even just throughout this year, from the beginning of the year until now, he's got a different mindset. He's calling for the ball more. He wants the ball on the block more. He's just‑‑ I think he's realized how good he is, and we all realized it, not only like this summer, but just the past summers, past years, how good he is, how talented he can be. Obviously, losing three really good players in the frontcourt last year just gave him more of an opportunity to step in and kind of give him some confidence. So we all saw how good of a player he can be. He just needed to keep growing mentally and getting more mature, and he's done that. TRAEVON JACKSON: Yeah, absolutely. He criticizes himself over some of the just most nonsense things. We try to tell him, like, Bro, just relax, like it's okay. Like get the next one. But since the beginning of the year, Josh said it right, he's grown so much. He's matured mentally so much. I've always told him, Man, like you're great. Just believe it. I'm just so happy that he is really embracing it. I remember freshman year telling him stuff like that, and just to see him come out and play with the confidence. He's always been there. It just didn't come out of nowhere. It's not a fluke or anything. He scored 40 at the beginning of the year. That just doesn't happen, like the guy can play. Nowadays, he's just doing it on a bigger stage, and it's just great to see. Q. Sam and Trae, kind of piggy‑back off Jeff's question from before about the losing streak back in January and February, do you think some of the lessons you guys learned during that stretch have been applied during this tournament run? SAM DEKKER: Definitely. Ever since we went through that little stretch of losing, we buckled down mentally and physically as a group on defense, and that's what's really gotten us to this point is stopping teams and not letting them get the easy buckets like they were able to get when we were losing. Our defense always‑‑ if we're playing good defense, we'd always transition pretty well into our offense. We've got to focus on getting stops first, and then it will flow easily into our offense, and we're talented enough there to score. Mainly, the defense is what we really learned from there. TRAEVON JACKSON: Yeah, absolutely. I think we made some adjustments on specific parts of our defense and just tried to apply that. I think that now, when we get down in some of these games, that it definitely helps being in that situation before and not having that look of just, oh, crap, like we're in the same thing. It's more of a let's fight through it and let's keep persisting. It's been good for us to experience that. Q. Josh, I wanted to ask you about Ben's family. They're pretty exuberant, pretty vocal. They've gotten a lot of national TV time although Bo says your family probably fights for that time too.  Can you just give me your impressions about Team Brust? JOSH GASSER: I'll give you the PG version, I guess. They're pretty crazy. I mean, they're just kind of a different breed of people, I guess, in a good way, in a good way. They like to have a good time, as does everyone, but they just are much more vocal about it, I guess, and they show it a little more. You know, it's funny to hear. His brother Jonathan has been screaming his whole life. Sometimes he's got‑‑ I think he's like 30, but sometimes he acts like he's a college kid, which is awesome in the stands. When we don't have student sections in these tournament games, the Brust family really helps make that up. So it's great to have all his family support us and come out to games to give us some sense of a home court advantage, and they're definitely on the top of that list. Q. Josh, you spoke earlier about staying in your routine during all these games and trips. Any specific superstitions or routines you've done in the last two, in Milwaukee and Anaheim, that you're going to be doing again this weekend in Dallas? JOSH GASSER: We do a lot of superstitious things, I guess, just in terms of practicing. We have the same routine for practice every day, and like I said, it's making this Final Four run, the only thing that's going to be different is the outside stuff. We're still going to practice the same way. Coach Ryan is going to do the same thing he always does. We're going to come prepared to practice like we always have. So it's just about kind of adjusting to the other stuff. That's pretty much it. Q. For Josh and Traevon, I know you guys don't look at yourselves as underdogs at all, but do you feel like there's a perception from outside the building that you're underdogs or under the radar? Can that be a good thing for you guys? TRAEVON JACKSON: I don't know. I don't really know what the outside perception is. I just know from inside that we've got a great opportunity. We come together, and we're just trying to accomplish something that is‑‑ that hasn't been done here in a while. So in order to do that, we've got to stay focused on what we've been doing and just staying internally focused on what we can control. We can't really control what's outside. JOSH GASSER: Yeah, both teams need to be recognized for being good. You're in the Final Four, you obviously did something right. Kentucky deserves credit for being a good team, and I think so do we. We've beaten a ton of good teams this year, and I think that speaks for itself. We don't really care what the outside perception is of us. We know, like Trae said, internally we're confident. We believe that we're a good team and we can beat anyone on any given night if we play our game. So we're definitely confident in that, and that's really all that matters. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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