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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: DES MOINESMarch 16, 2016Matt McCallDes Moines, Iowa THE MODERATOR: We welcome Coach Matt McCall, head coach of the Chattanooga Mocs. Welcome to Iowa. MATT McCALL: Obviously, we are excited to be here with a tremendous opportunity tomorrow to play against one of the most historic programs in all of college basketball, with a terrific coach, terrific team, and really excited. Excited for our program and excited for our players, and we're really excited about this opportunity that we have been presented with tomorrow night at 7. Q. Matt, since 1985 there have been 124 games between 12 seeds and 5 seeds, 44 have been upsets with the 12 seed winning. Do you have any sense of why historically that's been the case? MATT McCALL: I was one of those 44 when I was at the University of Florida, I believe 2003, we lost to Manhattan. We were the 5 seed and Manhattan was the 12, and I think there is just terrific parity in college basketball, top to bottom. No matter what the seedings are, there is so much parity and you get to this point in the year, and I use this analogy with our players even go into the Southern Conference Tournament, it's like a horse race, it really is. And the team that runs the race the best is going to win. And like horses, horses have blinders on, they can't see to the left of them and they can't see to the right of them and the teams that play the best wins. And it's a 40-minute game this year, and I don't know why the 5/12 has been, but I think it goes back to the parity in college basketball, and these games have always been really, really exciting. Q. Matt, when you started dissecting Indiana here and started getting ready for this game, you watch Yogi Ferrell play, what stands out about him on film? MATT McCALL: Obviously being at the University of Florida and being in the SEC, you know, for 11 years, you run across a lot of good point guards and this is no slight on any of those guys. He's as good as anyone I've seen. I think that it even starts with his unselfishness. As much as he can score, he's really, really unselfish and when he gets in the lane, he finds guys at a rapid rate. He's got such balance and doesn't really get rattled easily at all, tremendous toughness. He just impacts the game in so many different ways, which obviously is why he's one of the best point guards in the country. I think it says a lot about him as a person, too, guy could have been a first-round draft pick, somewhere around there last year, decided to come back, have a huge year here and win a Big Ten Championship and get his team to this position this year, I think it says a lot about this kid and his character, too. Q. Matt, your players are talking about how much you guys like to press. Is that something without giving away the store, is that something you're bound and determined to do even though IU does have a lot of really good ball handlers, including Yogi? MATT McCALL: Obviously the game will dictate some of that. Pressing is what's gotten us to this point, but we're going to do whatever we have to do in the game to be successful. We're not bound to it. We're not doing it just because we're set in our ways. We're going to do whatever we have to do to be successful. It's difficult to get in the press when you have a guy like Yogi who can get the ball up the floor so fast. You've got to be really, really disciplined to get into our spots. So obviously they cause us problems as far as getting into our press, but it's what's gotten us to this point but we want to do what we have to do in the game to be successful. THE MODERATOR: Other questions for Coach? MATT McCALL: What was that drive from Chattanooga? How long was that? Q. 13 hours. MATT McCALL: 13 hours and you aren't going to ask one question? Q. Too tired! MATT McCALL: Goodness, get you a Diet Coke here from the back to get you to ask a question. Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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