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AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 12, 2017

Hartford, Connecticut

SMU - 71, Cincinnati - 56

THE MODERATOR: Okay. We're joined by SMU. Coach Tim Jankovich, Sterling Brown, Semi Ojeleye, Ben Moore.

Coach, congratulations. We'll take an opening statement.

TIM JANKOVICH: Thank you. Thank you. I don't even know what to say. What a great day. What a great tournament. A lot of fun; lot of fun. And we played terrific today, but the biggest thing for me is I'm so happy for these guys and all of the guys on our team. They've been absolutely fabulous all season long. They never cease to amaze me, including today, and I'm just happy for everybody in our camp.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open to questions at this time.

Q. Coach?
TIM JANKOVICH: Yeah. These lights are hot. Hot lights. Hot lights.

Q. How proud are you of the guys winning their second conference title in three years? What are your thoughts on that?
TIM JANKOVICH: Say that again.

Q. What are your thoughts winning three tourney titles in three years?
TIM JANKOVICH: I think it's really hard in a league like ours. This is an outstanding league. Look at what we're rated year after year. Great teams, incredible traditions, incredible coaches with amazing track records. This is a high, high level basketball conference in The American, and for these guys to be able to do that two out of three years, it's pretty incredible. Pretty incredible, really.

Q. Coach you go into the tournament on a 16 game winning streak, 26 out of 27, and get a six seed. Can you talk about how you feel about where you're seeded and -- you got to figure you're the hottest team going into the tournament?
TIM JANKOVICH: I really could start bitching and whining, I really could. I hear -- I watch -- and I don't blame coaches for doing it at all. I don't blame them because you always feel like our guys deserve better. I certainly think they deserve a great number. But you know what the truth is? I don't care at all. I could care less what the number is. They're just numbers. It's like preseason rankings. They're just silly numbers. The Committee tries their best. They're trying to assess everybody. It's a hard job. You know what? I'm thrilled we're playing on Friday. That's my biggest thing. I thought that was going to be really, really important. We're the last game in the country today, if I'm not mistaken, and we're a long way from home.

I wanted a Friday game. So you can have the number, but I wanted that one extra day and so I'm really happy about it.

Q. For the players, last year you had to sit out the post season. How gratifying is it to come back and have a great year and to win a championship and going to the NCAA Tournament?
BEN MOORE: Oh, wow. It's very gratifying. I'm really proud of the team. All of the players contributed. The coaching staff has done a good job. We just did it for the fans. They've always come out and supported us, and we're really thankful for them.

STERLING BROWN: Same thing. You know, we're just grateful. You know, I mean, it feels great. Not being able to last year, but this team, we fought every game, and, I mean, you see the results.

Q. What was the difference between today between Cincinnati and how you were able to pick up that win and pull away in the second half?
TIM JANKOVICH: I didn't hear you again. My ears are ringing from all of the fans.

Q. You know, what enabled you all to pull in in the second half against Cincinnati?
TIM JANKOVICH: Oh, oh, second half? I think we got in a really good rhythm offensively against their switching defense. And it's not easy to play against, and particularly not that easy when you don't really have -- you have a ballroom walk through, and a little chalk talk. That's how you get to prepare. You usually get to practice a little bit, but we didn't it on the fly. Our guys did an amazing job of understanding it, and more importantly, executing it. And I just thought we got into a great flow and confidence and comfort level in the second half, and we just continued to execute and get great shots. And, of course, the other end was outstanding, you know, really, really from start to finish.

Q. Sterling, you guys opened on an 11-2 run, you never trailed. Can you talk about your mindset? I think you had six points in the opening run. Your mindset getting off to a quick start.
STERLING BROWN: You just said we had to get off to a good start, jump on them early. From that, there was no looking back. We were ready for this game. We've been thinking about it for the last two years. When we got that, we just seized the opportunity.

Q. For all of you players, it looked like it got easier and more comfortable as the evening went on. What do you think that was even though you played game after game after game three days in a row.
THE MODERATOR: Semi, will you take that?

SEMI OJELEYE: Can you repeat the question, please?

Q. It looked like you guys got more comfortable as the tournament went on. Why do you think that was?
SEMI OJELEYE: I guess -- I don't know. We just had to take our time to get our rhythm. Our chemistry is as high as any team in the country. It was only a matter of time until we hit our stride in tournament play, so I guess we just needed a little time to get it together.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Coach or the student-athletes?

Q. Semi, can you just talk about your post season experience? I mean, you come in here and win MVP, had three great games. So, what were you thinking? Were you nervous at all coming into the post season? What was your mindset in the three days?
SEMI OJELEYE: It's a little different knowing that if you lose you go home. But I love these guys, I love my coaches. They all give me confidence and that's why I play for them. It's business as usual for me going into the games. I'm just trying to help my team win.

Q. Coach, just curious, given what you've seen from your team down the stretch in the season. How confident are you you guys will be playing your best basketball this coming week and how well-positioned is the team to make a deep run in the national tournament?
TIM JANKOVICH: I think I've just had -- because of them, for, I don't know, a good part of two, three -- two and a half months, they've just given me so much confidence, so, mine doesn't have to grow for them. I just keep being amazed by what they do night after night. I'm really thankful that we did get to play three games here, because tournament settings do feel a little bit different than conference races.

You know, you sort of settle into that conference race mode. You come to a tournament, and sometimes it can be just a tiny bit disconcerting. And the fact that we got to play three of them, you know, three hard games, three high-level games, I think the biggest thing for me is I think it will feel, you know, next week, much like it just did here. It's the same thing. It's championship basketball.

So maybe I gained a tiny bit more confidence just for the fact that they got to experience all this. But I also want to say we've got Sterling and Ben here, these guys came. We were -- they kind of bet on us. It wasn't going all that strong. We were in our first year. They took a chance on us. They also took a chance by staying through some really, really rough times that not many athletes across the country ever experienced, nothing I've ever experienced in all of the years I coached or played. And for them to just, you know, just to keep going forward and forward, there would be a lot of adults that could learn a lot from the way they handled things.

And then for Semi to come in the midst of all of this and transfer. I mean, that's what I think is the hidden thing. Those of us that have lived all of this and known what these guys have been through, and the way they've acted and the way they've competed, and the lack of whining, complaining, pointing fingers, and all of that, and for them to have cut down nets in two different -- in a week in a row, they're cutting down nets, and now we're getting to going into the NCAA Tournament.

That's why it means more than I can describe. This is not normal. This is not just a bunch of guys that had a good year and they're going to the Tournament. It runs deeper than that, at least it does for me for sure.

Q. Sterling, can you just talk about how this team's confidence level is going into the Tournament, 16-game winning streak, you know, 26 out of 27 or whatever? Do you feel like you're the team to beat?
STERLING BROWN: Our confidence is very high. We just go out there and do what we do. We're gelling on and off the floor and it's showing. I feel like we're going to make a good run in the Tournament. We got high expectations. We got high goals and we've been accomplishing them since the beginning of the season. But I feel like our confidence is pretty high.

THE MODERATOR: SMU, congratulations. Thank you for joining us.

TIM JANKOVICH: Thank you very much.

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