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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: DES MOINES

March 16, 2016

Tad Boyle

Des Moines, Iowa

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the head coach of Colorado, Tad Boyle. Welcome to Des Moines.

TAD BOYLE: Thank you, great to be in Des Moines. One of the great things about being sent here is the fact that I think the fans in Iowa are great basketball fans. This is a great basketball state, and it's amazing when you look at all the teams that are here, how many storied programs are here. So I think it's going to be a great weekend of basketball. Certainly at the University of Colorado, our staff, our coach, and our players are really excited to be a part of it. Hopefully we can stay a little while.

Q. Coach, the last few times you've been in the Tournament you were one-and-done. What have you learned from those experiences that you have you better prepared and your team better prepared for tomorrow?
TAD BOYLE: I think I look back two years ago when we played Pittsburgh in the 8-9 game, and we got smacked pretty good, and a lot of our players then were freshmen and sophomores, and now they're juniors and seniors. And now they understand if you're not ready to go from the get go, it's a short stay. There are going to be 34 teams that lose their first game.

So I think from a toughness standpoint and sense of urgency standpoint we've got to make sure we bring it from the opening jump. I think our players understand that.

This is our fourth tournament in five years, so I think the awe factor is gone from our players. I think they understand what's in front of them and they're look forward to the opportunity.

Q. Coach, you just alluded to the Tournament experience this team has. Came here three years in a row and then a one-year hiatus. Is there anything you learned from the three times you came here before in terms of preparing this team this week that you're utilizing this week that might be a new approach?
TAD BOYLE: I don't know about new approach, it's just -- you know, talking about -- we have to understand what our strengths are as a team and what our weaknesses are and we've got to play to those strengths. I think that's -- when you get to this stage, this point in the season, you can't try to be somebody that you're not.

That's one of the things we try to talk to our players about, look, we don't have to do anything special. We just have to play Colorado basketball, play it to the best of our ability, and if we do that, and we play together, we got a chance to beat anybody in this Tournament.

But you have to play well. You have to play well when your best is needed and that's something we have talked a lot about as well. So in terms of preparation, changing preparation, not so much.

Q. Confidence is such a big deal for Dom and he's grown in that respect, but where do you see him from the start of this year until now, and secondly, what overall are you going to need out of the point guard spot in this game?
TAD BOYLE: Great question. Dominique Collier has certainly grown since this season has gone on. He's got a great feel for the game. I've said that from the time we recruited him, and I trust him. I believe in him, and he's got to play well for us to play well. We've got to take care of the ball especially against UConn and their pressure and guard play. Both Dominique Collier and Thomas Akyazili and Xavier Talton when he's in there at the point are going to be critical to the offense, making sure we get a good shot every time down and getting to our bigs, Josh, Wesley, Tory, getting it to our strengths down on the block when is an advantage that we have on UConn that we need to take advantage of.

The guard play is going to be critical, taking care of it and getting us in our offense, and they're going to be challenged defensively as well. Dominique Collier is in the process of developing, growing, and you want to be able to press the fast forward button on that, and sometimes it just takes time. But he's fully capable of playing well, so no better time than the present.

Q. You mentioned four postseasons in five years, and I saw a record for victories over a five-year period at Colorado. How have expectations at Colorado changed and has the Pac-12 changed expectations at all?
TAD BOYLE: Not so much the Pac-12, I always say we went from one great league to another great league, Big 12 to the Pac-12 and our recruiting territory is the only thing that has changed, where we emphasize that aspect of our program.

But have those expectations changed? They absolutely have. They have changed internally, with our fan base and with our administration, because we now know what is possible. But we're to the point now where four in five years, we're not just happy to be here. We want to advance. We're past experiencing the NCAA Tournament feel. We want to be here. We want to make some noise, and the only way you do that is by winning games, and the only way you win games is to play well at this time of the year. Our players are challenged, our coaches are challenged, and it's time for us to take the next step. But expectations have definitely changed.

Q. Coach, officials have stuck with their emphasis this year is on what they were going to call and what they weren't and they seem committed to do that in the future?
TAD BOYLE: They have?

Q. I guess they have.
TAD BOYLE: Okay.

Q. What are your thoughts on that, and how does that influence the way you coach next year and beyond?
TAD BOYLE: Next year is next year. I will worry about that then, but I've watched a lot of film on UConn and watched their tournament game and it's amazing how the physicality is back to some degree.

I remember when I was a high school player and I played my first state tournament and I kept waiting for the whistle and it never came. Typically the NCAA Tournament has been like that. The level of play goes up. The physicality goes up and the calls aren't as rampant.

So it will be interesting to see how the games are called from region to region and game to game. I tell our players and our coaches we have to adjust to how it's being called. I don't know who our crew will be. We'll find that out tomorrow, but we're going to have to adjust to how the game is being called. If it's being called with the hand checks and taking the physicality out of the game then we've got to adjust to that and play accordingly. If they're letting us play and the whistles are not coming then we've got to play accordingly.

Hopefully it's called the way it's been called all year, but I've noticed in conference play from November to December the games are called differently now, whether you want to say -- believe it or not, they are. So from night to night, game to game you just have to adjust and that's what we have to do.

Q. What makes your team such a great rebounding team and how important is that to your success?
TAD BOYLE: It's very important to our success and rebounding and defense is something we stress on a daily basis. It starts with your individual players and it becomes a contagious thing, but, you know, Josh Scott, Wesley Gordon, Tory Miller are all terrific rebounders, and we've really challenged our guards, guys like George King, Josh Fortune has rebounded the ball for us well at times this year, 6-5 guard. Guys we always challenge, it's on our stat sheet. I tell our players, I do not want you to be selfish when it comes to assists, when it comes to shots, I don't want you to be selfish in any area other than rebounding. I want you to be a selfish rebounder, and we really try to get some internal battles going on on our team, like who is going to get more rebounds, Wes, you or Josh? Who is going to get more offensive rebounds tonight? And try to get them thinking about the rebounding aspect of the game, because when we do it and our guards do it we're really, really good. Now we've got to finish a little bit better. We had 25 offensive rebounds against Arizona, and we didn't finish off those. So that's a good number, but we've got to finish better, and we have got to defensive rebound. I think one of the keys with UConn is you've got to limit them to one shot and we have to get long rebounds.

Q. Coach, I want to ask, because he's a Connecticut guy if you can describe Bill Cartun's role and his contributions?
TAD BOYLE: Bill Cartun? He's got the most job security of anybody on our staff because nobody can do what he does, he's our film guy, he is one of the first people we hired when we got to Colorado six years ago and he came from the NBA, worked for the Bobcats, worked for Coach Brown, and he has expanded his role. He's terrific, and he's does a lot of administrative things through our office. Bill is a big, big asset to Colorado basketball, guy that doesn't meet the public's eye very often, but a guy that I really rely on on a day-to-day basis in terms of how our program is run, and we're proud to have Bill, and he will be with us as long as I'm there, for sure.

Q. Can you talk about the challenges UConn poses for you guys defensively and offensively?
TAD BOYLE: First of all, defensively, UConn is fourth in the country in field goal percentage defense which is something we pride ourselves on as defensive field goal percent able and they're fourth in the country, so they do something that we aspire to do, and I think we're a good defensive team. But we're not fourth in the country and they are. We have got to be able to make shots.

Before you make shots you've got to be able to get shots. And the way we have to get shots is take care of the basketball. We have to play through our bigs. We fully expect UConn to double the post, so we've prepared for when Wesley and Josh and Tory get the ball on the low block they will come with a double-team.

If they don't, we're going to go to work down low. But we expect them to double team those guys, get it out of their hands. So we've got to move the ball and quickly to get a great shot and then we're going to have to make some shots. We're going to have to make jump shots to beat UConn. And we're going to have to rebound the ball to beat UConn. So they pose significant challenges defensively and offensively they're a team that is very explosive. Again, they don't have one or two options that you have to say, okay, if we take this guy out or this guy out we got 'em beat. They got four guys averaging in double figures for the year. In the conference tournament for UConn they had five guys averaging in double figures.

So they've got a lot of guys that can hurt you. We have to have a great team defensive effort and each guy has to take on a challenge and they pose a lot of challenges, not just one or two. Defensively they got a shot blocker inside that's really good. We're going to have to take it at him and finish. Going to be a heck of a game, a heck of a challenge.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else? Coach, best of luck tomorrow.

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