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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: PORTLANDMarch 18, 2015Brandon AshleyT.J. McConnellSean MillerKaleb TarczewskiPORTLAND, OREGON THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Arizona student-athletes. The floor is now open for questions. Q. Any familiarity with Texas Southern before this game? T.J. McCONNELL: Not really. Usually in the first round, you're not too familiar with your opponent. But we've watched film on them for quite some time now. I think we're pretty familiar with them now. Q. How much do you have to prepare for a team that you don't know? What are some of the ways, besides watching film, that you anticipate a team like this? T.J. McCONNELL: You know, you pretty much just have to watch film to be ready for a team you play in the first round. Kind of just watching college basketball throughout the year, you know what kind of team this could be. You know they're going to play hard. They really have nothing to lose. You know, we just have to match their intensity and play just as hard. Q. Brandon, I know this time of year, the message is you don't look past anyone. When you look at their schedule, you see who they played, as a number 15 seed that they are, do you have to look at them differently? Does it catch your attention a little bit more so? BRANDON ASHLEY: Absolutely. Just the fact that they've played such a tough schedule, you expect for them to come to the game, you know, with no fear in their hearts. They're going to come prepared to play against, you know, any type of team. You definitely have to be ready to play just as hard, like my teammate T.J. McConnell said. Q. T.J., Damon Stoudamire is from Portland here. Can you tell me what you get from working with him, maybe if you have a story about working with him at all. T.J. McCONNELL: You know, he's pretty much made me the point guard I am today, along with Coach Miller, my dad. But he's taught me so many things about being a point guard that I didn't think I'd be able to do or know. I'm the luckiest guy to have him as a coach. Glad we have a chance to let him come back home. There's not really a story that sticks out, there's so many. Q. When you are watching the film, who or what stands out about the way they play so much? KALEB TARCZEWSKI: We know they're a great team, like you guys have alluded to. They've played a pretty good out-of-conference schedule. We know they have great guards. They really look to attack. They use a lot of ball screens in their offense. We know they're going to be prepared. They made the tournament; they're obviously good enough to be here. We're going to try to do what we do, play our basketball, play hard. If we do that, we'll be fine. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much. Good luck. Coach Miller of Arizona has joined us. Coach, if you want to make an opening statement, then we'll take questions. COACH MILLER: We're obviously excited to be here in Portland, excited about our matchup against Texas Southern tomorrow at 11 a.m. Obviously it's an early game. But I feel like right now our basketball team is playing well, and hopefully we've kind of brought that here to the table in this region. Q. Your thoughts on Stanley coming into tomorrow's first game in a tournament, what you're expecting out of him, maybe trying to do too much early. COACH MILLER: Well, you know, Stanley, obviously like a lot of freshmen, because of the role he's had from day one, we look at him as almost a veteran player now. He was the MVP of the Maui Invitational. Doesn't represent the NCAA tournament totally, but three games in three days, kind of a national spotlight against quality teams. That was a long time ago. I use that as a frame of reference. That was his starting point. Obviously, 34 games later, including this past weekend's PAC-12 tournament, again we're now in the month of March, playing on a neutral-court setting, single elimination. He's really been through an amazing amount of experiences. If you know anything about Stanley, Stanley won four high school state championships before he ever showed up. I think he's won two gold medals, if not three, representing Team USA. This year he won a PAC-12 championship, tournament championship. I don't really worry about him trying to do too much. I think he clearly knows who he is. We're very confident in his abilities. Q. Shaka Smart, the fact that he's stayed at VCU with all the opportunities he's been presented with, how rare is that as a fellow coach? What does that tell you about Shaka? COACH MILLER: I've known Shaka for several years. Knew him prior to him becoming a head coach. He's always been one of my favorite people just because he's truly himself. He doesn't try to be anybody that he isn't. I think every coach, when you're around them, you really respect somebody like that. Obviously he's taken a successful program and he's made it even more successful, which is one heck of a tribute for somebody like him. I guess that's my answer. Q. Appears to be at least through the regular season the best team you've ever had. What tangible or intangible qualities does this team have that elevates from teams in the past and makes it a potential championship contender? COACH MILLER: I think our strengths are fairly obvious. Number one, it starts with our rebounding. The margin we had in Las Vegas this past weekend kind of highlights what I'm talking about, whether it's offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, not allowing teams to get more than one shot against us. We've been very consistent for two years. A lot of the players on this year's team were with us last year. I think number two is being an outstanding defensive team. When we haven't been that this year, we've been very vulnerable. For the most part we've done a great job. I think our defense has grown and improved. Hopefully it will be here with us in this tournament. I think that's where it starts, with defense and rebounding. When you talk about defense and rebounding, sometimes it's almost as if you're not a very good offensive team. I also believe that's the furthest thing from the truth. Maybe where our success lies this year is that we've been an improving offensive team, and maybe better than a lot of people realize, with at the same time having those two strengths, rebounding and defense, with us almost the entire way. We're looking to build on that right now here this week. Q. When you're watching the selection show, Texas Southern comes up, you know Mike Davis is the coach, what was your gut reaction when you saw that? COACH MILLER: Well, I think it was right before Christmas, I happened to be at my house, late night, just flipping the channel. The Texas Southern-Michigan State game came on. I always like to watch Michigan State play. Just so happens they were playing Texas Southern. I watched really the game in its entirety. So when I saw their name came up, I guess you probably get a sick feeling in your stomach because you know anybody that can go to East Lansing and can play that well against Michigan State, a team that's very well-coached. I'm familiar with Mike Davis. He's been in the national championship game. He's done well wherever he's been. He has his team back in this tournament again. Whoever you play in this tournament, it's going to be a tough draw. Couple years ago we played Belmont. See Belmont come up, sick feeling in your stomach. Last year when we were preparing for Weber State, we were a one seed, you start to say to yourself, How can they be a 16 seed they're so well coached? That's what makes March the way it is, this tournament the way it is. But I think you have to respect every day you're here, respect every team that you play, and hope you have a chance to move on. That's where we're at. Q. There's been some talk from the NBA Players Union about potentially bringing the draft age back down to 18. As a coach who's had some one-and-done players now, do you have an opinion on where you would like to see the draft bar be set? COACH MILLER: You know, I don't. I will say between the NABC and the players union, maybe the cooperation now between the NBA and the NCAA has never been better. If that's not accurate, I think it seems to be moving in a positive direction, where maybe there's cooperation to just make our game better, both the NBA and college basketball. They work hand-in-hand. I think all the decisions that will be made, obviously I think many are going to benefit young people, the young student-athletes. But I do think the more ready that our players are when they leave us, the better the game will be at the next level, and obviously will only enhance college basketball right now. There's a lot of different ways to look at it. I think the model we have right now needs some work, so I think any type of positive change from where it's at now will help all of us. Q. Would you mind commenting on the job your brother has been able to do this year at Dayton with limited depth and a tough schedule. COACH MILLER: Yeah, you know, when I watched Dayton play early in the year, I knew they had a terrific team, especially coming off the heels of all the success they had a year ago. For him to lose two pivotal front court players, both that were really like starters, you don't know how that's going to work. But just to see how his team responded to that, his program, how the entire program responded, obviously him and his coaching staff, I think says a lot about Bob McKillop at Davidson for my brother not to be the Coach of the Year. I think in any other setting it would be a natural for him to finish. I think Davidson was predicted to finish 12th, obviously they won the league, which speaks for itself. Other than Coach McKillop, I don't know if anybody's done a better job handling adversity, coaching their team, leading Dayton back to the tournament, I think back-to-back years for the first time in a long, long time. I think that says it all. I'm very happy for him. I'm also happy for Dayton because when they hired him, they took a leap of faith and ended up getting a terrific coach. Q. Could you talk a little bit about what hiring Damon Stoudamire for your staff has done for you. Does having a former NBA player help you in recruiting? COACH MILLER: All of us need great coaching staffs. I think we have one of the best ones. Emanuel Richardson has been with me for eight years. Joe Pasternack in that case, who is our current associate head coach, does an outstanding job. Damon Stoudamire, no question, he's added a lot. One of the things we love about Damon is that he became an NBA player for 13 years, but he did it by playing at the University of Arizona first. Played in a Final Four. He played in his conference that we're in. He lived in Tucson. He came back to get his college degree, but is a graduate from the University of Arizona. A lot of the things that our current players, they're trying to accomplish, they can look at somebody who is on our staff and say, He did it as one of us. Damon I think has given a lot of our players a sense of confidence because when he believes in them, it's one thing for me to believe in them, they can say, Yeah, but you didn't play in the NBA. They can't say that about Damon. But he's added a lot to us. I think he's made our coaching staff even better. Q. Given all that your brother accomplished and his team accomplished, is it fair they're in a first-round game? COACH MILLER: You know, the seeding is hard. The committee has such an impossible job. There's so many quality teams. There's certain teams right now that aren't in the tournament that I'm sure could advance and win a few games if they were invited. The bottom line with Dayton is they're in the tournament. They're going to play tonight in front of one of the great crowds that you could ever experience in college basketball. I feel bad for Boise State. Not that that means that Dayton is going to win, but you're playing a true road game there. But other than that, I think it's about being in the tournament and having a chance to advance. I know so many teams in the first four, I think Shaka and VCU is a great example, went from the first four to the Final Four. It just shows the parity that's in this tournament. Once you get an opportunity, you have to try to stay in this thing. It's funny how on a single day, 40 minutes, so many different things can happen. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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