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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: DENVERMarch 19, 2016Larry KrystkowiakBrandon TaylorKyle KuzmaDenver, Colorado Gonzaga - 82, Utah - 59 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Utah. We will go right to questions for the student-athletes or coach. Q. Brandon, what are you feeling right now coming out of that locker room for the last time as a Ute? BRANDON TAYLOR: I just feel so much. You know, I definitely feel overwhelmed, you know, because I don't think any of us pictured it like this. When you have a close group of guys and coaching staff like this, you don't see it or want to say good-bye to any of them. You know, that's the bittersweet thing about it. I'm not going to go to war with guys like Kuz anymore. I'm not going to go to war with Coach K being my coach. That's the most hurtful thing out of the whole thing. Other than that, we've had a hell of a year. Q. Was there something out of the gates that maybe Gonzaga presented that you didn't expect? KYLE KUZMA: They just hit shots. You know, they came out on fire. They were 8-12 maybe for the first half. They shot the blood out of the ball really. Q. Coach, when a team gets out to that kind of start, you're watching your plans go down the tube, what was the talk about trying to get things back under control? COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: Well, you know, I think a lot of the emphasis was on the plan the last couple of days. I don't know exactly what I would have changed. We had some mental errors early in the game as far as Wiltjer getting going with 11 points pretty quick. We had a couple breakdowns in pick'n roll coverage that allowed Sabonis to get going. I thought we were playing pretty hard at the beginning of the game. Then, you know, through some of those mistakes that we made, got them fired up. Eight first-half threes. We know they're a tremendous shooting basketball team. There's some guys firing on all cylinders. You know, we made a few adjustments at halftime. Disappointing, obviously. You know, as I shared with our basketball team, there's not many places you can be placed in life where you get to ride the emotional rollercoaster like we did. I know this isn't the way we wanted to finish our season. It's been a tremendous group of guys that have won 27 games. If people knew the kind of brotherhood that I think we formed through the season and some ups and downs, the locker room was a pretty tough place. But some seniors, you know, giving us their heart and soul for four years that probably bought into something that they didn't quite have a plan, you know, didn't see the vision ahead of time. I was extremely proud of those guys. Again, a lot of this credit now in sports, we can sit up here, the emotion we're feeling -- the best team won tonight. The emotion we're feeling is because it's over for some of these guys. It is that time of year where the best team wins. It's a one-game situation. Without a doubt, Gonzaga was the better team tonight. A lot of credit goes to them. We wish them well representing the west as they go to Chicago. Our kids are going to bounce back. We'll get over it, grow through it and we'll be okay. Q. What accounted for the difference inside between the two centers? COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: You know, I'm not going to make excuses for anything that took place. But I know Jakob tweaked his ankle pretty good. You know, Sabonis got the best of Jakob in the situation. You know, there were some different double-teams. We sent double-teams. I think Sabonis got it going a little bit with offensive rebounding. When our bigs came to help, we didn't do a good job of boxing him out. You know, that's sports. A one-game series. That particular matchup, he outplayed us. He outplayed us tonight. It's collective. I think they both got pretty bright futures, so... Q. Coach, without getting into every single thing about debates over seeding, you've been in a bunch of these tournaments, did that look like any 11 seed you've seen before? COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: I've never really paid too much attention to numbers. I think numbers are a necessity in order to start the tournament. So, you know, it's not as though I've looked at any team that was over-seeded or under-seeded. It's just the next opponent. You know, it's being witnessed by a lot of the so-called upsets. That's the beauty of this time of year. I know Gonzaga's a really good team. I would never put a number on them. I wouldn't be surprised if they're in the Final Four. They're playing well at the right time and they have a lot of nice pieces to the puzzle. I've never been too caught up in seeding. And at this point, the seeds do go out the window. You know, when you look at who it appears they're going to play next, it's pretty irrelevant. A couple double-digit seed numbers, it's all about trying to get to the Elite 8 and I think that's how we've always tried to approach it. Q. Did you give any thought to putting Jakob back in with two fouls in the first half when Gonzaga was picking up with the double-digit lead? COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: I didn't, you know. Tried that a year ago with Delon before halftime. I will say this. It may be an opportunity to say this. I've been a big advocate of it for a lot of years now. It's not on queue because Jakob got into foul trouble or Delon did a year ago. But we talk a lot about rule changes in NCAA basketball. I don't know if anybody can explain to me what in the world you would want to give five fouls to a player for. What other sport is there? I'm not saying they were bad calls. They could very well been bad calls. We've all been in games where a bang-bang play in 40 minutes of basketball that puts two fouls, since when can five be divided evenly by two? Why wouldn't you have at least six fouls for a player? I think it would make the job easier for officials to actually call it when there's fouls, to know that you're not -- what other sport do you put some of the top players on the bench at a time like this? So if there's ever a time, and again it's not crying over spilt milk, I've been an advocate of saying there should be six fouls in college basketball all along. It's not what we came to watch, fans and players. I wouldn't want Sabonis to get quick fouls, to be honest with you. It's like a coin flip. I think the game needs to change a little bit. They talked about maybe tinkering with the rules. Unless somebody else can tell me, short of a yellow card or red card in soccer, it's not like an egregious things are taking place. I can see a flagrant foul, maybe you remove somebody. But with bang-bang plays, it's just unfortunate. I would like to see the rule change for the betterment of the game. Again, I'm not saying if Jakob wouldn't have had foul trouble - again, the best team won the game. I think that question led me to an opportunity to address something that needs to have a good look taken at it. Q. You've had comebacks this year. What maybe didn't materialize tonight? Why couldn't you maybe recapture some of that energy? BRANDON TAYLOR: Well, we didn't end up making enough shots, you know. They shot lights out tonight. It just came down to them, they got some stops and they were able to put the ball in the basket. Something we weren't able to do. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you for your time. COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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