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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SALT LAKE CITYMarch 15, 2017Sean MillerParker Jackson-CartwrightKadeem AllenSalt Lake City, Utah Q. Your fan support is legendary across college basketball. How nice is it and important is it that you are able to play your way to the 2 seed, stay out west, and give all those fans an easy trip to support you and see you play? PARKER JACKSON-CARTWRIGHT: Yeah, our fans have done a great job all year of showing support no matter where we play. So us being in the west we know they're going to come out and show a lot of support. KADEEM ALLEN: I just piggyback off what he said. They've been supportive and they've been with us every game, every tournament we've played. And like I said before, I think they're the best fans in the country. Q. In your own words can you explain Sean Miller's coaching style? KADEEM ALLEN: He's very competitive. He wants to get out there, no matter who we play, what time we play. He wants us to go out and give our all and play hard. PARKER JACKSON-CARTWRIGHT: He's very unique, how he approaches every game, every practice. He brings out a passion, a sense of urgency every day. He wants to win and it shows. And everybody just wants to follow him and do whatever he says, because we know he knows what he's doing. Q. Kadeem, you're the senior leader, Parker, you've been around for a while. You have a lot of newcomers, a lot of guys who have never been to the NCAA tournament, what do you tell Lauri and Kobi and Rawle to make sure they're ready to go? PARKER JACKSON-CARTWRIGHT: Just stay in the moment. Not take it for granted. Not make it any bigger than it already is, and just have fun. Not everybody gets this opportunity. And to come in as a freshman and be a part of something like this is really special. So just for them, just to do what they've done all year, really, and they should be fine. Q. You guys were getting along fine with Allonzo out, but how did his return change the landscape of your season once he came back and give you guys an uplifting presence toward the end of the season? KADEEM ALLEN: I feel he added more depth. I feel like we are the same team we were once before when he was out. And when he came he added more to the team, allowed other guys to rest more during the game, more minutes have been cut down. Everyone accepted our role. We're here now and ready to make a big run in the tournament. Q. Having been around the program for a while how would you describe the atmosphere that you guys have to deal with day in and day out with regard to having not made a Final Four yet and just the pressure that comes with you guys trying to break through in that regard? PARKER JACKSON-CARTWRIGHT: Everyone adds pressure. It's our job to kind of just honor each day and approach each day the way it is. And work extremely hard. If we honor the process, our goals and what we want, will be very clear. We don't add anymore pressure than anybody else does. Q. Guys obviously in a 15-2 game, you're heavy favorites. I'm sure Coach has reminded you 15 seeds have won in this tournament before. What are you telling each other in the locker room, what Coach is telling you in regard to any kind of letdown or potential upset? KADEEM ALLEN: Just like every other game, go in with a mindset and perspective to play hard and win the ballgame. But in a tournament there's a lot of upsets. Actually, me and Parker talked about it at the practice, how we have to keep reminding these guys, that any game you can get knocked off. Just come prepared, focus, and do what we do. PARKER JACKSON-CARTWRIGHT: If your identity all year has been not to take any opponent for granted and just honor each day and work extremely hard, then you're not worried about getting upset. We know in March anyone is capable of winning a game. When we have that mindset, you can just go out and really play hard. Q. Looking forward at North Dakota, what have you seen on film, and how are going to deal with the combo of Crandall and Hooker on their back court? KADEEM ALLEN: They're a very talented team, but we've been playing against talented guards all year. It's not new to us. We come in with a perspective and the details of the game how we've been doing all year, just come ready to battle and have fun out there. PARKER JACKSON-CARTWRIGHT: Obviously they wouldn't be here if they weren't good. We respect them a whole lot. They play at a very fast pace. They have a good coach. It's like any other game. We have to be ready and prepare to play. Q. Lauri had that 8-game slump and then picked it back up in the PAC 12. There's not a lot of 7 foot guys that can shoot like him. What can you tell everyone that's watching this tournament about what Lauri is like as a player and how he picks his shots? PARKER JACKSON-CARTWRIGHT: Lauri is a great shooter. He wasn't going to make them every game, consistently. And he did it consistently pretty much all year. He hit a slump but it just took him that one game, that one shot to really get it back going. And since that's happened I think every part of his game has really flourished since then. Q. Can you carry over the momentum from the conference tournament championship, or having been part of last year's team? KADEEM ALLEN: Last year we faced adversity, we know how it feels to lose in the first round. We said before early, you have to remind the young guys how easy it is to get knocked off. We know in the PAC 12 tournament we beat three good teams. And now it's time to move on and face other opponents and just bring our best game and hopefully we get the job done throughout the tournament. COACH SEAN MILLER: Well, we're obviously very excited to be here. The NCAA tournament is something that I don't think any of us ever want to take for granted. And here at the University of Arizona we have such a storied tradition that sometimes you can almost be made to feel that it's a given. But because of the parity in this game and the change from one season to the next I think all of us fight hard to be able to return each and every year. So we're excited to be here. And I think we're showing up with a great group of kids, hopefully playing our best basketball on the heels of our PAC 12 Tournament Championship. And certainly know we're playing against a very well-coached championship team in North Dakota here in round 1. And we're excited to face them tomorrow night. Q. You just mentioned closing well and playing your best basketball at this time of year. What has gone so well during this last stretch to end the regular season and win the conference tournament? COACH SEAN MILLER: We've gone through a lot of different injuries in things that I think can derail a team during the year. Some games we could have lost we found a way to win while our team was getting healthy or maybe waiting for Allonzo to return. But we've had, for the first time, a really good stretch of health. And we have all of our players playing. And now we've had a time together, as well. It's not as if we've just come together for the first time for a week. We've been together for maybe a month or so, when you consider all of our players. With that, I think we have depth and on a given night it's not just one guy that we're counting on. We really have gotten contributions from everyone. And I think that's what's so special about our team to this point is that we really have had a total team effort in building the success of the regular season. Q. Last year you went all the way to Providence. This year everything is all West. How much does that help logistically staying close? COACH SEAN MILLER: It helps a whole lot, especially Providence obviously was far away. But you earn your seed. You earn your location. And I'm sure that the play of our entire season in the PAC 12, what happened this past weekend, allowed us to be here in Salt Lake City and have a seed like the No. 2 seed. We love being here in Salt Lake. It's in the footprint of the PAC 12. Our players have been in this city many times. Our fans are able to travel here very easily. And really for our own team, logistically, we're here in an hour flight, which a lot of teams in this tournament don't have that. So now it's up to us to take advantage and perform well. Q. You mentioned taking things for granted. I'm wondering how much maybe do you take for granted what you've accomplished in this tournament when so much of the conversation is often about what you haven't accomplished, i.e., getting to the Final Four? COACH SEAN MILLER: You know, for me, much has been talked about, the end. But I think the older you get as a coach the more seasons you have under your belt, you deal with different groups, it's so much about the journey. It's the beginning of a school year which for us at Arizona starts at the end of August and early September. And you work towards the beginning of the season starting, which let's call it mid-October. And you reflect now, we're six months from that period of time and a lot happens. And so I think the success of the entire journey, the entire regular season has to be taken into consideration. But at the end of the day all of us are judged by what happens in March. And I think for us to duck that or look at that as not being the case is somewhat unrealistic. For us it's you have to advance. You want to take advantage of a good seed. You want to play your best basketball in March. And if that happens and you still don't advance or win then I think all of us walk away with our head held high. And we'll put our ball away and come back next year. I try to focus more on that. Clearly the goal is to get all the way to the end. Q. How would you describe your own coaching style? Do you manipulate it based on who the player is and how they respond to your criticism? COACH SEAN MILLER: All of us as coaches you try to be yourself. If you're not who you really are I don't think it works. So for me I'm more of a passionate type of a person or coach, kind of put all the eggs in that one basket. In terms of our style at Arizona, I think the players first and foremost are at every decision we make. I think if that's the case and you're working hard to develop them off the court, in the classroom, on the court, teaching them the game, allowing them to understand how hard success is, that's really what we try to do. And each player is different. Sometimes tough love is needed, other times a lot of encouragement is needed. And I think that's part of the trick of being a good coach or a great coaching staff, learn your learner, learn what makes the player tick and what can bring out the best in every player. That's really how we go about it. Q. How much in your preparation this week have you reminded some of the older guys about last year's first-round loss and how much have you talked to the freshmen about what that was like? COACH SEAN MILLER: Wichita State last year, they made our program better, they really did. Ironically they're playing my brother at Dayto in this year's tournament. So -- what I mean by that, it's not just that we lost in the first round. Sometimes that happens, as much as nobody ever wants to have that first-round exit, this isn't a seven-game series tournament. This is you have to be at your best in that first 40 minutes or the next 40 may never come. But Wichita State a year ago, they were bigger, stronger, they were better coached. They were more ready. They were tougher. In the first eight minutes of that game it was over. And just because you're from the PAC 12 or in our case maybe that we had gone deep in this tournament in previous years doesn't mean that it's going to happen again. Each year is different. So I think that we had quite a few players that experienced both, a deep run almost to a Final Four and a first-round exit. So I don't really have to remind them a lot of it. I will tell you that there's a lot of different things that game taught us. And hopefully the lessons learned from a year ago will help us tomorrow night. Q. What have you seen on film with North Dakota? COACH SEAN MILLER: Well, North Dakota, they run some really, really difficult to guard offense. They're fast into what they do. They have a lot of movement, a lot of different ball screens. And when you have a lot of movement and it's fast and you have a number of very good players, I think their guards are as good of a tandem as we've faced, especially when you look at their production. They combine for about 35 points per game. Everybody on their team seems to know their role very well. And they score 80 points per game. So we're really going to be challenged in defending them. And I think that's been a big focus the last couple of days on defense, predominantly a man-to-man team. They get their hands on a lot of of balls. They get steals. They deflect. Turn you over. They use their defense to get out in transition. We have to really be smart and take care of the ball when we have it on offense. But very well coached, tough team. When you win your regular season, which we did, and then you win your conference tournament, I think it says a lot about kind of your heart. And I think they're a team that has a big heart. And it's going to be a tough game. Q. You mentioned getting everybody back has obviously helped during the stretch. What has Allonzo specifically added? COACH SEAN MILLER: Well, Allonzo I believe is one of the best guards that are playing in this tournament. His numbers speak for themselves. He's shooting very, very close to 50 percent from the field, I'm thinking the high 40s right now. He's above 40 percent from the three-point line. And not only is he 80 percent from the foul line, but he really gets to the foul line. He's always been able to do that. But the thing that I'm proudest of him, and I think that our team appreciates the most is how he has learned to pass the ball, play with others better than he ever has before. His assists are up. And defensively he's given us a rock solid defensive player. A year ago as a freshman he was finding his way. And he learned a lot through the season here a year ago. It's just we've waited a long time to have him this year. But once he established himself, got comfortable, I think he really has put it all together. To answer your first question about us playing well, it's no coincidence that as he's played his best, it's brought out the best in our team, as well. Q. Going back to the matchup tomorrow, can you elaborate more on their back court duo and what problems they might pose. COACH SEAN MILLER: Well, Crandall and Hooker, like I mentioned, they do it both on defense and offense. If you look at their steals, they really disrupt the other team. I think they combine for about five steals a game. But they're pesky, they set the tone for their defense. And on offense they can both score and make others better. And they're always using ball screens. They can shoot the 3-point shot, especially Hooker. And in transition both guys thrive. When they're coming at the basket, a lot like Allonzo, Kadeem, Parker on our end, a lot of bad things happen for the other team. Getting back in transition, taking care of the ball, and really understanding how good they are as players. A lot of times the difference maybe from one conference to the next isn't at the guard position. It's maybe the overall size or depth of size, from maybe a conference like the Big Ten and some others. The guards, if you add them up, you really can't tell the difference. And I look at those two guys as two guards who are really terrific players. Q. Earlier in the year Kobi was playing well, lots of minutes, and the last few games he hasn't played as much. How has he handled the lack of minutes, and what does he need to do to make sure he gets back on the court and make an impact on the tournament? COACH SEAN MILLER: Kobi's attitude has been incredible. He's a great teammate. He's a really, really good kid. Loves the game. Our team would not have the record we had if he didn't have the type of freshman season that he has had. And recently he hasn't played as much. That doesn't mean that he won't have a big role -- he certainly is going to have a role tomorrow. But that role can change and grow. We've shrunk our rotation a little bit, we've given some players more minutes, maybe others less. But that's not really a reflection on Kobi as a player or his attitude. Part of what we've talked a lot about this year, the three constants on our team have been the three freshmen, Rawle Alkins, Lauri and Kobi. It's not just their overall play, but their attitude, how much they love the game, how hard they work in practice. And a lot of times the freshmen that are highly talented, they come with a lot of drama and a lot of unknown. It's not until you coach them that you see all the different things you have to teach them. But in their case, Kobi being one of them, their maintenance is as low as I've ever seen it. That's part of how we've been able to get through a lot of the different obstacles that hit us this year. Q. In this type of age it's instant gratification for the kids, get in and get out as soon as they can. What does it mean to have a guy like Kadeem and PJC who have stayed the course and been here for a while? COACH SEAN MILLER: It certainly doesn't reflect anything else maybe in life that you're going to be looked at as a failure if something magical doesn't happen in the first seven months of college. Really, if you think about it, I don't know if there's anything else you can compare. But in some cases if you're a highly talented young player and for whatever reason it's not in the cards, that first spring that you can become an NBA lottery pick there's almost like, Well, what's wrong with you, or what's wrong with the place that you chose or, man, it wasn't a good fit. But in reality if that same kid just stays with it a year later, and I'll give you Allonzo as an example, if I would judge Allonzo as a player, leader, teammate a year ago, although he was very talented, he had so much to learn. Even though he's gone through a lot this year, and who he is in this year's NCAA tournament, it's like going from a young boy to a man. He understands much more. Kadeem and Parker give us that for sure. They've been with us three years more. Talking about Kadeem, because he's the one senior on our team, he embodies all of the qualities that every coach would love to have in a senior leader. He's a great teammate, hard worker, tough. He doesn't really care about what position he plays. We've asked him to guard the other team's best perimeter player, he's taken it as a personal challenge. And it's not like what he says every day, it's what he does. And our team really respects him a great deal. And that's one of the things that I'm optimistic about coming into the tournament that I do think we have a great, great leader, and certainly others like Parker next to him that can help him lead. But Kadeem, he's two credits away from graduating, is going to be a great story. He's come a long way in that area, as well. He's done it both on the court and in the classroom. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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