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

March 17, 2017

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Joined by Middle Tennessee student-athletes, JaCorey Williams, Giddy Potts, and Reggie Upshaw. Thank you for joining us, guys. Questions, please.

Q. For Giddy, how do you guys react internally in the locker room when people talk about your seeding, when they say you're an underdog, a Cinderella team, especially after season you guys had?
GIDDY POTTS: We really don't consider that game as an upset or anything you want to call it. We just going out there and played our game like Coach told us to and we came out a big win. And the seeding and stuff, I think that stuff is just out the window for our team. We just go out there and play the game that we love and enjoy it.

Q. One of the other two guys to answer the same question, please?
THE MODERATOR: JaCorey.

JACOREY WILLIAMS: To touch on what Giddy said, we didn't really pay attention to the seedings and the upsets or what's an upset or not an upset. I mean, I don't know. People had us favored to win the game, some people say it was an upset. I was kind of confused with the media. I was trying to focus on the game, try to win the game, defend and rebound the best we could. And we defended and rebounded well and we won the game.

THE MODERATOR: Reggie.

REGGIE UPSHAW: I wouldn't say that we get caught up in the seeding or anything like that, because, I mean, last year was a perfect example of, you know, us just going out and playing the game. You know, that's the same way we approached this game yesterday as far as, you know, just going out and trying to execute what Coach Davis was calling and the different defenses that he was throwing out, you know, in between transitions and stuff like that.

Q. For Reggie and Giddy, what has JaCorey done this year in terms of vocal leadership? What has he added other than what he does on the court?
REGGIE UPSHAW: He just added experience. Anytime you can come from a High-Major program and sit out a year and, you know, use that year to really make your game better, appear become a more mature player, it does nothing but help our team.

And you know, JaCorey, he really embraced what he did last year, and it's coming to light now with how he's playing. And as far as being the vocal leader he is, I'm not really the most vocal guy at times and Giddy, he's never really that vocal. JaCorey is the guy, if we need somebody to kind of spark the huddle or just during the game when the 5 that are out there huddled up, he's always the one guy you always hear his voice the most.

GIDDY POTTS: I just think this guy right here, he's grown up as a man and -- on and off the floor. He helps guys in so many ways, and he just give our team a spark when he's in the game, and when he's out of the game, just having the vocal presence in the huddle and also stuff like that.

Q. JaCorey, kind of talk about, Butler seeding aside, what you guys are expecting to see and what kind of game we can expect to see on Saturday.
JACOREY WILLIAMS: I think you got to see two well-coached teams that focus on defense and a lot of help defense by both teams, they rebound. From watching film, their bigs, they're not conventional bigs, don't roll to the rim, they can stay out and shoot the ball. They actually play their offense mostly through one of their forwards, great passer, kind of hard to try to double-team him because he knows the exact guy to hit.

It's going to be a tough task, but I think you'll see a physical game, both teams trying to play very good defense and both well-coached teams.

Q. JaCorey, can you talk about or describe what it was like last year to watch the tournament? I know you went to St. Louis, I believe on your own, and can you just kind of go through the details of how far a drive it was, what did you do in terms of lodging, all that kind of stuff.
JACOREY WILLIAMS: From Murfreesboro to St. Louis, four-and-a-half, five-hour drive. I made it four and a half, kind speeding, kind of excited to watch these guys play. There was no question I was going to go to the game no matter how far it was. I don't care if it was 10, 12-hour drive. I wanted to show my teammates I was there to support them. I was just as excited as they were to play in the game. I felt the excitement, but I'm pretty sure these guys felt way more excited than I was because they played in the game. I was excited for my team. I thought I kind of helped it a little bit. I was on the scout team. So I kind of went at Reggie and Giddy all year long on the scout team trying to simulate other guy's play. I kind of had fun doing it. I enjoyed watching these guys get the win last year.

Q. Any of you, have you talked among yourselves or thought at all about you guys are sort of in a role that Butler used to be in often as being from a smaller conference and underdog team trying to make a run, what do you guys think about that?
THE MODERATOR: Start with Reggie and come down the line, please.

REGGIE UPSHAW: At the beginning of the year, Coach Davis always, whenever we have our first team meeting, he'll explain how we're trying to be a national program and how us being a Mid-Major team, you know, we look up to teams like Butler or VCU or the teams that are considered technically Mid-Majors but really nobody really considers them that way. But we embrace that role of being where they were a couple of years ago and being in that smaller conference and kind of shocking the world or having a lot of upsets in our background.

You know at the end of the day, we're a confident group and we'll play against anybody.

GIDDY POTTS: Just like Reggie said, Coach explains everything at the beginning of the year and just tells everybody that they have something to prove this year and everybody take that as something that we can play for and have a chip on our shoulder, and everybody basically took their role and played and we came out as big team in the NCAA.

So, I think that Coach is the guy that tells us what we need to do and how we need to do it. That's a big key.

JACOREY WILLIAMS: I think for me and our team, I think it's like honor playing against a team like Butler because we want to be so much like their school. To watch their school grow from seven years ago up till now is really incredible the way the school has grown. Can't really call them a Mid-Major. They're kind of like Gonzaga. They're so effective in the tournament, it's hard to compare them to a major school. They play like a major school. To play this type of team and knowing that Middle Tennessee is trying to trend upwards to try to kind of be like Butler is a big honor for me and my teammates. We're trying to help get on the map a little bit.

Q. Any of you guys, can you sort of describe what it's like to play in a league where you may have to win the conference tournament to get, and how does that pressure throughout the season help you, do you think in a situation like this where obviously the pressure just inherently is higher than it would be in a different situation?
GIDDY POTTS: I think we can't let any games get past us. We got to go out there and play our game every game and go out there and be physical with every team. Every team will give us their best shot. We got to go out there and play our game every game.

REGGIE UPSHAW: I guess going off what Giddy said, playing in a conference where it's basically seen as you have to win the conference tournament. We're used to playing with that pressure. So when a team like yesterday when Minnesota made their run where they jumped out on us 7-0, we were kind of used to playing with that pressure having to fight back to get back into the game. Playing in Conference USA and playing with that pressure, you have to win the conference tournament to get back, you know, we're used to it.

Q. JaCorey, what are some of the keys to playing the 1-3-1 effectively? And when you play it well, what are some of the impacts that you see on the other team?
JACOREY WILLIAMS: I think a big key playing the 1-3-1 zone, you can't really be complacent. I think the pressure has to be very aggressive. Our backline has to be correct on the rotation. Basically all five guys have to be on the same page. I think the more aggressive you are, the better it can be, and it's kind of like a guard stopper kind of helps keep guards out of lane.

They can't split it because we have a guy in the middle, so active and athletic that can move at a guard. I think what it does for the game is get teams out of rhythm. I know a lot of these teams, these High-Major teams are used to seeing conventional man-to-man defense. 1-3-1 kind of slows you down and changes the rhythm of the game.

Q. Reggie, yesterday the crowd was behind me and your crowd and I could hear them yelling lots of instructions to you and what kind of stuff to do. And I'm wondering, after you hit the 3, kind of turned and pumped your fist towards them, is it a lot of family in your crowd or are they very vocal group usually at your games?
REGGIE UPSHAW: I mean, I consider all of the Blue Raider Nation my family. So whenever anybody is trying to yell out instructions or anything like that, you know, it's all for best. They just want to see us win. Everybody thinks they're a coach while they're watching the games and know what the best thing to do is. But you know, at that point I was just trying to make the shots that my team needed.

I didn't hear anybody yelling anything. I guess it was too many people for me to hear, but I was just out there trying to help my team win.

Q. Whether it was Coach Pitino yesterday or Coach Holtmann today, when you guys look at yourselves and teams refer to you as being extremely physical and playing very tough with a lot of aggression, where does that come from? Is that something you guys take upon yourselves? Is it from the style of practices you have? Where does the physicality come from that you're able to overwhelm certain teams?
REGGIE UPSHAW: I think it's from our practices. Especially early in the year, we do a lot of rebounding drills, lot of 2-1 rebounding drills, 3-3 box-out drills. Just all the physical stuff that you see in our games today, you know, really started in early, early November when we were going through the grind of just trying to make it to the first game to start the season.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else? Thank you. Good luck tomorrow night.

Joined by Middle Tennessee Head, Coach Kermit Davis. Questions, please.

Q. Coach, at all a surprise when you found out you were going to be a 12 seed? Disappointing?
COACH DAVIS: It wasn't a disappointment because we were glad to be in the tournament, but it kind of alarmed us going forward that, you know, we were ranked in the Coach's poll 25th and RPIs like 35, and everybody says you need to play a good non-conference strength of schedule. It was 18th. We won 30 games.

So, what alarmed us is what do we have to do next year or the year after. Then when they ranked us 48th, when you got in, you got beat in the conference tournament finals. We think we would have. It's a question you like to ask the committee. It's full of a lot of guys with great integrity. So it is something that was a concern. But it was about matchups, and obviously our team was excited about being in.

Q. Kermit, you've answered this -- you've answer this before, but how important is it to your program to establish itself as another Butler or a Gonzaga or Wichita State, VCU?
COACH DAVIS: It's been a goal of mine for awhile. And when I took over 15 years ago, you know, Gonzaga, I used to be the coach at Idaho. So I saw when Gonzaga played at a place with 2200. Dan Fitzgerald was coach and then they hired Dan Monson and the rest is history.

Then I -- really I've had such a great respect for Butler from afar because they do it at our level in such a way with integrity, with athletes and academics.

Last year to be included with Butler -- this was a stat, there were seven teams in NCAA Tournament last year to win a game and have 100 percent graduation rate. We were one of them. Butler was one of them, Duke, Notre Dame, Kansas, and I think Iowa. To be on the same footing as those guys and just what they've done with sustainability is something that we're sure striving for. We're not there yet by any means. We got a lot of hard work ahead of us.

Q. Coach, your guys really aren't looking at the seeding going into Saturday. They're really looking at the matchup. How have you gotten them to kind of do that?
COACH DAVIS: You know, I think it's been -- we've been a team that's been favored so much this year, you know, that they've been favorites in almost every game we've played except maybe a couple, and so it's a team that carries themselves with a lot of confidence. We have great, great respect for Butler and very, very well-coached, good players. Just a typical Butler team. And when you can win at Villanova, you have a chance to win a National Championship and they do.

But I know our guys are looking forward to it. We love great competition, and we're going to get every bit of it tomorrow.

Q. When you took the job 15 years ago, did you think that you'd be in the same spot for that many years trying to build something, or did you envision yourself kind of moving around the way certain individuals in the profession do?
COACH DAVIS: You know, if you come to Murfreesboro, the quality of life is terrific. And I've raised both of my daughters there. And when you have -- I'm probably one of the most fortunate guys, I've only had two Athletics Directors, Chris Massaro and I are great friends, Boots Donnelly hired me. I have the same president that hired me 15 years ago. And the quality of life is as good as it is. I have a special needs daughter that's kind of grown up in that city and the people there have just embraced Allie in an unbelievable way. That's a huge part of us being a fabric of that community. There's a lot of different things and, plus, you know, we've got a chance to really build it, and it's been really fun for us to see it grow.

THE MODERATOR: When Chris was here, he called you guys a Final Four team. Your reaction to that?

COACH DAVIS: That's a great compliment coming from Chris, and I think he's the kind of guy that he's just trying to, you know, kind of what he sees and that's the thoughts on our team. That makes us feel good. We do feel we can play with anybody in college basketball. That's not arrogant. I'm sure Chris thinks the same thing about his team. We've got really good players, a group that has great experience, a team that we've won in big settings before, and, you know, that's a great compliment. And you know, and I mean this, I told our staff and our team that today, you know, like I just said, I think they're a Final Four team and a team that can definitely win a National Championship.

Q. I was wondering what your impression of Tyler Lewis was for Butler and also what that type of smaller point guard does when you're trying to trap or whatever you're doing in half court?
COACH DAVIS: His basketball intellect -- I followed him at NC State, he's got great quickness. He's a good a passer as anybody in college basketball at the point guard position. His assist-to-turnover ratio is terrific. I'm a huge fan. I've watched him from afar for a long time. After you really start watching game after game like last night and today, you have a great appreciation of his toughness and just his ability to find guys at the right time.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thank you. Good luck tomorrow night.

COACH DAVIS: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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