	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: BUFFALO

March 15, 2017

Buffalo, New York

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everybody, welcome to the Key Bank Center in Buffalo, New York for the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

We have with us student-athletes from Princeton, from the far side, Devin Cannady, Steven Cook, Myles Stephens, and Spencer Weisz. Please silence your cell phones if you have them with you, we would ask that you raise your hand. We'll get a microphone to you, please wait for the microphone to get you to.

Please state your name and your affiliation. If you could, please direct your questions to a specific student-athletes. That's helpful and you are allowed one follow-up question after your original question if you have one.

With that being said, we'll go ahead and get started. Please raise your hand if you have a question for Princeton student-athletes.

Q. Devin, just your thoughts on going up against your hometown team, and how close you were to playing against your former teammate, Demetrius Jackson.
DEVIN CANNADY: First off, it's an honor to be here and represent the Ivy League. I know my teammates and I are really excited to play and for me, especially, I'm looking forward to playing against some of my friends, you know, V.J. Beachem and I have a close relationship. I play summer basketball with these guys, so, I live right down the road. So it will be interesting. It will be really fun for me.

Q. What are some of your emotions? Is this a -- because of the set-up and who you're playing, is there a little bit more emotion involved with it?
DEVIN CANNADY: Yeah. I think there is. But, you know, when we get on the court tomorrow, there's going to be high emotions, but my teammates and I are going to be looking forward to tipping off and playing some good basketball.

THE MODERATOR: Other questions?

Q. Which of you guys have mid-terms that you have to take today? You do, Spencer?
SPENCER WEISZ: I do, at 4:30.

Q. What's your schedule like today? Can you describe in terms of -- are you rushing to study hall after practice?
SPENCER WEISZ: Focus is on the game. You only go to the NCAA Tournament so many times in your life. While there will be studying done, most of the studying will be done of Notre Dame and their scouting report and what the coaches are giving us and focusing on executing tomorrow at 12:15.

Q. What can you tell me about Professor Gene Grossman?
SPENCER WEISZ: He's unbelievable. Unbelievable adviser to all of us. Always wanting to help. Unbelievable person as well.

Q. This is also for Spencer, kind of a follow-up on the mid-term thing, how much more difficult or challenging has it been, given the fact that they -- you know, you're coming off the inaugural Ivy League Tournament, and how much of a juggling act has it been given that fact?
SPENCER WEISZ: Certainly it's tough, but at the end of the day, that's what we signed up for. Coming to Princeton University, we know we have to balance academics as well as athletics. Certainly the stage has risen a bit, but, nonetheless, we've been balancing both our whole lives, and this is no different.

Q. Simple question, Spencer, what is the mid-term in?
SPENCER WEISZ: Business Leadership.

Q. And are you prepared?
SPENCER WEISZ: Hopefully. We'll see later today.

Q. So, most of you guys, I'm sure, are familiar with snow. Have you ever seen anything like this? It's like a blizzard outside.
THE MODERATOR: Myles, you want to take it?

MYLES STEPHENS: We got here Monday night and it was snowing, and we woke up this morning and it was still snowing, and it hasn't stopped since. I've been telling the guys on the bus, I can't believe we're driving on these roads that aren't being plowed. I guess they just don't care here. The drivers must be really good. But I think it's crazy. I mean, we're here, and we're here to play basketball, so --

THE MODERATOR: Lots of practice?

MYLES STEPHENS: Lots of practice and driving.

STEVEN COOK: Devin and I are from the midwest, so we're used to this. Maybe the Jersey folks are less used to it. But yeah, we're excited to be here.

Q. Spencer, you said you had a mid-term. How many more of your teammates also have them?
SPENCER WEISZ: I'm sure everyone does. We're in the middle of mid-term week, so whether we're getting proctored today, sometime earlier this week, I'm sure we're all swamped. Nonetheless the focus is tomorrow at 12:15.

Q. Do any of you other fellows have tests going on this week?
MYLES STEPHENS: I had a mid-term today. I got it rescheduled until after the game, so I still have some studying to do. But focusing on the game, first and foremost.

Q. Can you elaborate on the difficulty of studying for two different types of tests, game and academically?
MYLES STEPHENS: I'm going to echo what Spencer said. We signed up for this and we've been doing this for a while. We know what we have to do on and off the court. I think we -- at this point in the season, and in our career, we've become pretty good at juggling academics and athletics, so it's just like another day on the job. I guess the stage is a little bigger, but that's what we do, so --

Q. This is for Devin. Now you're half a year removed from your trip to Tanzania, what was the impact of you on that trip and what -- is there some things you miss about it, food or something else like that?
DEVIN CANNADY: Yeah. It was a very special trip. I was blessed to have the opportunity to go over there and do two semesters of studying and prepare myself. The whole reason for me going was to lighten my schedule for my sophomore spring. The goal at the beginning of the year was make this tournament, and so -- in terms of mid-terms, I have a little lighter load. And looking back, that was the start of it, so, I had some really -- I had a really good opportunity to meet some amazing people in Tanzania.

One of my friends was actually the national team captain, Merji Mujicat (phonetic). He is in the States right now. He wished me good luck. I have a lot of support to people back there reaching out to me on Instagram. Being able to touch a lot of their lives through basketball and my time over there. The food was great. It was really cheap compared to what we have in the States. I miss that, but there are some good relationships I've built, and I'm looking forward to going back sometime in the future.

THE MODERATOR: Other questions for Princeton student-athletes?

Q. You know, for any one of you, maybe Spencer, just what can you -- how would you characterize Coach's offensive philosophy, because a lot is made of the Princeton, quote, unquote, offense, which isn't really what it was, but what can you say about some principles about his offensive philosophy.
SPENCER WEISZ: Versatile. Everyone in the offense needs to be able to dribble, shoot, pass. It's part of the player, I guess, that Princeton looks for nowadays, but nonetheless, it's less read and react. It's really just playing.

You know, we're always going up and down during practice, getting after it, but as much as people want to talk about our offense, it's really been our defense that's carried us all year. Offense is -- has been there for quite some time, but our defense was lacking. This year we really stepped up on our defensive end, and that's a big reason why we're here today. We're playing the game tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Anybody else want to talk about what you are doing offensively?

STEVEN COOK: Yeah. I think it's definitely a lot less structured than it was in the past. When you think of the Princeton offense, you think of sort of rigid structured decisions. You go back-door when this happens and you come around other times. The thing that we really appreciate is Coach is giving us a lot of freedom in the offense, just sort of read and react and do what we want when we see something on the court, and I think that's really benefited us this year.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? Okay. If not, Princeton will be tipping off against Notre Dame 12:15 tomorrow. Thank you, gentlemen. Best of luck tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297