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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: MEMPHISMarch 23, 2017Chris HoltmannAvery WoodsonKelan MartinAndrew ChrabasczMemphis, Tennessee CHRIS HOLTMANN: Well, it's certainly great to be here, and it's an exciting opportunity for our guys. We're obviously playing an outstanding team and an outstanding program in North Carolina, incredibly well-coached team, and we're excited about what that challenge is. Hopefully we can finish up here in the last day with great preparation. Q. What has Andrew meant to you guys this year, and what's tomorrow's challenge for him, obviously a great opportunity for him against some of the best big men in the country. CHRIS HOLTMANN: Yeah, we play through him a lot, and I think his ability to make decisions at his position, to play through him, to be a little bit of a mismatch, you know. He is undersized. He'll be undersized tomorrow. But he really makes up for it in his skill, his intelligence, his savvy, and his understanding of how to play. And more than anything, his competitiveness. Q. This is somewhat similar, Tyler Wideman is somewhat undersized for a center. What do you hope that he can deliver for you, and what has he maybe surprised you with what he has delivered so far this season? CHRIS HOLTMANN: I think Tyler is best when he's playing with great motor, and when he doesn't is when he can really struggle. And his motor is going to be challenged tomorrow because of how intentional they are about playing through the post. He's going to have to really defend. We're going to have to defend the post great together. But I've always said about Tyler, Tyler is very bright. He really understands playing to win, and not everybody does. He's a tough kid. He wants Butler to win. I've been really pleased with his gradual progress as a player. Q. You have a former Memphis Tiger on your team in Avery Woodson. What was it like for him transitioning into your program and what has he meant to your team? CHRIS HOLTMANN: I know he had a big smile on his face when he got off the bus and arrived here, had a huge smile on his face. He loves being back here. He is a terrific kid. He's an adult. He's a terrific young man. He's been so important for our team. When we recruited Avery, I've said this story multiple times, that we recruited him and called him, and he didn't answer. He texted back and said I'm fishing, I can't answer, I'll call you back when I'm done fishing. And he said, you know what, I want to play on a team that's going to play in the NCAA Tournament. You guys have done that the last two years. You have a history of that. And I said, well, you know, if you believe what people are writing, we may not get there this year, and I said, we may not, but you would certainly help that cause of getting back to the tournament. I said, I can't make you any promises, but you would help. It was a condensed recruiting period, but a very intense recruitment for a fifth-year young man. It was a lot of time and effort, and he's been such a great addition. Q. Could you just describe in words what Kelan Martin means to your program? CHRIS HOLTMANN: He's been -- boy, he's had an incredible last stretch here. He was obviously an All-Conference player in the Big East. He's had an impact really from day one, from the moment he arrived on campus with his ability to score the ball at a really high level. You know, I've said that he's just gifted in that area. He can just really score the ball. We've really challenged him to grow other aspects of his game. He's coming along in those areas, and I've been really pleased with his approach and wanting to improve in those areas. But he's always been able to score the ball and rebound at a pretty high level. You know, he had four assists and zero turnovers in the Middle Tennessee game, not to mention a really efficient stat line, and defended pretty well. It was an outstanding effort, and he's been very good for us in the tournament. Q. I know your focus is on basketball, but it was confirmed that the Vice President will be here to cheer you on Friday; what background does Mr. Pence have? I know his wife went to Butler, but background over the last few years with your program. CHRIS HOLTMANN: I believe he came to a game maybe a year or so ago. Obviously his wife has two degrees from Butler, and they lived right around Butler, so anytime you have an elected official come to a game and support your program, you're excited about that. We welcome Vice President Pence at our game. Q. If you go back to when you hopped on the Butler coaching staff four years ago and you think about to now, about to play in the Sweet 16, what have you learned about Butler that you didn't know before you came here? CHRIS HOLTMANN: You know, I think I knew it was a resilient program, but I think I've learned that even more now. And I think I've learned how incredible this community of Butler basketball is. You know, those that know us know that we went through some tough stretches there that have followed our program. You know, in 2012, when we had some early NBA entrants in Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack that went and we didn't get to the NCAA Tournament in 2012, and then we didn't get to the NCAA Tournament in 2014, our first year in the Big East, and had a losing season for the first time in, I think, 10 to 12 years. And there were a number of people who were questioning was the move to the Big East a good one? Was it the right one? Was it timely? As we went into our interim situation in 2015, we weren't expected to be in the tournament that year, so people were saying three out of the last four years haven't been to the tournament. So there were some really tough moments, and I think what came out of that was a reminder to me that the core values and core principles that have helped Butler achieve success, that my athletic director Barry Collier, 20, 25 years ago began to implement -- have allowed us to be resilient and tough and come out of some tough stretches. Q. Of your win over Middle Tennessee last week, you said it burned you up when you heard about some commentators saying that Butler had no chance to win. I'm expecting a lot of people to say the same thing going into tomorrow. To that you would say what? CHRIS HOLTMANN: Wait and see. You know, wait and see. You know, I think with that particular moment, you know, you didn't have to look hard for us in that -- people ask, well, where did you see that? You didn't have to look hard to see people picking Middle over us. It did bother me because I felt like in a lot of ways our players weren't getting the credit they deserve. We're playing a No. 1 seed who can easily win a National Championship, who has a Hall of Fame coach and a terrific program. They are elite in everything they do. We are going to have to play very, very well to have a chance to win this thing. And we're going to try to -- as we've done, stay in the moment as much as possible. I can't tell you how much I respect the way Coach Williams coaches and the way his program, that program -- look at his résumé. It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable, his résumé. I think between he and I, we have eight Final Fours, two National Championships, about 15 Sweet 16s, and a ton of Conference Championships and over 900 wins. So somebody is going to be really calm come opening tip and somebody is going to be really nervous. I'll let you figure that out. Q. I know it's just a 40-minute game, but how important is it for your team to really match their physicality and aggressiveness early in the game? CHRIS HOLTMANN: Yeah, it's important. I think it's really important. That's what they do. Their bread-and-butter -- I've said they're almost like the old Lombardi Green Bay Packers, that play they used to run where they said, here's what it is, come stop us. That's really, I think -- they do what they do, and they do it in such an exceptional way, and they say, come stop us, and it's a lot easier said than done. We're going to have to be really physical. We're going to have to be really smart in how we play because they're a tough-minded group, and they're really intentional about the way they want to play. Some teams will deviate from how -- they don't. They come at you in transition, they come at you through the post, they come at you on the glass, and they say, come stop us. Q. Andrew, for you personally, you're going to go up against two of the best big men in the country, guys who are highly rated, kind of very different from you. How much are you looking forward to this challenge and what kind of problems do you think you present to their bigs? ANDREW CHRABASCZ: So yeah, no, we have a lot of respect for their big men and UNC altogether. We know they're a very, very tough team. Big thing we have to do with them is keep them off the glass, limit their easy opportunities in transition, and just anything close to the basket, and then offensively, I mean, we just have to space them out as much as possible, keep them moving. I mean, the big thing right now is making sure they're just not standing in the paint waiting for help-side D. So yeah, no, we have a great game plan going in, so we're just ready for the challenge. Q. Andrew, go back to your committal to Butler four years ago. At the end of the day, this is why you committed, right, to play in games like this? Did you ever worry that that wouldn't happen? ANDREW CHRABASCZ: Honestly, no, because when I was getting recruited here, I knew the tradition they had of playing in this time of the year. We were close the past two years, a couple possessions here and there, and then we're in this weekend again. But no, I'm very excited to be here and up for the challenge come Friday. Q. Kelan, talk about your season a little bit; you've obviously had tremendous success, and this magical run, is it all you dreamed of, and were you overlooked by Louisville and Kentucky, or how did that fit into the recruiting thing? KELAN MARTIN: I was never looked at by Louisville or Kentucky. Butler came in the mix around my junior year, and it just felt like home when I came on a visit. This is why I came here, for these type of moments, like Andrew said. Never got -- I haven't reached the Sweet 16 since I've been here, and it's an incredible feeling, but we can't get satisfied with it now. We want to keep succeeding. Q. Avery, how does it feel to be back at home in FedExForum? AVERY WOODSON: It feels great, but at the end of the day, we're here to take care of business. Q. Avery, what was it like for you going through the decision making to leave Memphis, and obviously here in the Sweet 16, you've had a great season; is it fair to say that you made the right decision for yourself? AVERY WOODSON: Any decision I make is a decision I wanted to make, and I always feel like I make the right decisions because I pray on it. Leaving Memphis wasn't an easy thing to do. I have a lot of love for this city and the people in it. You know, any decision I make, I know I'm backed by God, so I don't really worry about it. Q. Andrew, when you look at North Carolina, so much of their success is predicated on success on the offensive glass. For you personally, how do you go about addressing that challenge? ANDREW CHRABASCZ: Try to make -- like I said, try to make it as difficult as possible for them to get the rebounds. A lot of their offense, the bigs are just floating around the basket. So just having early contact with them and just making sure -- the guards are going to be huge this game for rebounding. Like I said, Hicks and Meeks, just making sure they're not getting as many of them, doing whatever it takes, being very physical with them. That's going to be huge for us, and like I said, the guards stepping up and getting some rebounds will be big time. Q. Kelan, from Ballard High School to now, how much have you grown as a person and as a player? KELAN MARTIN: A lot. You know, coming into college, all I thought about was just myself, just scoring, and then I kind of realized that this is a team thing. Without your team, you can't go far. But this year has been successful for our team. We had a bunch of ups and downs in conference play, but we overcame those and then just stuck together, and now we're here together in this thing, and we're here to finish it off. Q. Andrew, downstairs I asked you a little bit about your relationship with Chris Herren. You said he helped you a lot off the court. How did he help you off the court? ANDREW CHRABASCZ: I mean, everyone knows his story. I'm not saying that I had any issues with that, but just making sure, avoiding that type of stuff. His family has been tremendous for me, just if I ever have just a night where I'm not doing anything, he'd just have me over and I'd hang out with his family. So just keeping me on the straight and narrow, making sure I stay focused on my ultimate goal of playing Division I basketball. Like I said, he's been a tremendous help my entire life. Q. Avery, when Coach Holtmann said he put out the call to recruit you, you said, hey, look, I'm fishing right now. Tell me a little bit about that. And then can you compare a little bit and contrast what it's like for you at Butler now until your time at Memphis? AVERY WOODSON: Yeah, when they first called me, I was actually fishing with one of my friends that lives here in Memphis, and I looked at the phone and it had a 317 area code that said Indianapolis, Indiana. And I thought about it, and I thought, that could be Butler. But I was fishing, so obviously I'm not going to answer the phone. But the process went well when I finally got in contact with them. I got a chance to visit and gel with the team and the coaches, and I felt like that was the right decision to make. Everybody keeps wanting me to contrast and compare Butler and Memphis, but I can't. It's like eating barbecue and comparing barbecue and Olive Garden. You can't do it. It's two totally different things. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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