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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: NEW YORK

March 25, 2017

New York, New York

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with a opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

MIKE WHITE: Just happy to be here, proud of these guys really quick turn, of course, great opportunity for us tomorrow against a team we're very familiar with, of course. The South Carolina team's had a tremendous year. A program we have a lot of respect for, of course.

I think both teams, fortunately, with this really quick turn especially are extremely quick turn, the familiarity I think is fortunate for both of us to come down to concentrating on ourselves as much as the opponent and doing some of the little things, executing some of the stuff that South Carolina knows is coming and vice versa. But great opportunity.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the coach or the student-athletes, please.

Q. Chris, what was your night last night like after you left here? And were you up late, who did you hear from? And any concern about getting over that to get ready for tomorrow's game?
CHRIS CHIOZZA: I heard from everybody that probably I ever met. It was a long night, but I tried not to talk to too many people, just my family and people that I'm pretty close with. I tried to get my rest. It was tough though, it was exciting, so I just tried my best to get off my feet and just lay in bed and try to fall asleep.

Q. Coach, last night you said you were lucky that you didn't have a timeout. So, two questions. Would that have been an absolute no doubt about timeout situation? And in situations where you have to make that decision, whether to call one or not, what goes into that decision?
MIKE WHITE: Yeah, sure. I was glad we didn't have one, of course. Especially a half hour after Chris makes the shot he made. It was easier to say that last night than right now, but I don't want to back off of that sentiment. If we had called a timeout, who knows what Greg does and how they lineup and matchup and what type of defense that we see.

I think with our strength, especially in the full court, versus pressure, late clock situations, of course, we have two of the fastest guys in college basketball. And so with this particular lineup, again, I'd probably, I'd probably stick by it, in that I'm not sure we would have used one. And that's probably been the case five or six times this year, where we had one late half or late clock, late game, where, especially with both these guys in the game, if they can get ahead of steam in four seconds, they can cover a lot of ground, and Chris obviously showed that.

Q. Chris, number one, you were scrolling through your text messages in the locker room last night. Did you ever actually count the number of text messages that you got after the game? And as a follow-up, the shot that you made, is that even something you would even, just in practice even during your off time, just kind of just go head and try it?
CHRIS CHIOZZA: On my phone it told me I had like 200 something. I don't remember the exact number, but it was a lot. I was able to press read all, so.

But in my off night when I'm in the gym or something I might do that two or three times the whole time I'm in there, and it normally doesn't go in.

Q. Did you think the shot was going down when you did release it last night?
CHRIS CHIOZZA: I wasn't sure. It felt good coming out of my hands and I knew it had a chance to go in, but I didn't know if it was for sure.

Q. Kasey, I know you said coming into New York that you thought that this team was better than the 2013, 2014 team because of depth. What about last night's game proved that again?
KASEY HILL: Like you said, we got -- Chiozza came off the bench and he played good for us, he hit a big shot and that proves that we do got a lot of depth on this team.

Q. Chris, for the first time that you face South Carolina, when you face that defense, emotionally, what is it like? What do you experience?
CHRIS CHIOZZA: It's hectic. They have guys flying all over the court any time you try to get a shot off, you have two or three guys on you. They're just energetic, especially at the beginning of the game. They don't give you any easy looks in the paint, the best bet is to go inside out and just move the ball around until you get an open outside shot.

Q. Chris, how many times have you watched the video?
CHRIS CHIOZZA: I don't know. Every time I look somewhere somebody's sending it to me or I see it on Instagram or something, so I've seen it quite a bit. I enjoy it every time I watch it.

Q. To that point, if they had been able to make you change direction maybe one step, how much do you think that would have affected your ability to get that shot off?
CHRIS CHIOZZA: I think I still would have got it off, I had like a half second or a little bit more once I let the ball go. So I think I still could have got a shot off. I don't know what the result would have been the same though, but I feel look I still could have got it going off.

Q. Chris or Kasey or anybody that wants to answer it. What's the most disrespectful thing you heard about the SEC this year or recently, and what does it say about your league that three of the Elite 8 teams are from your league?
CHRIS CHIOZZA: Probably just the amount that other conferences get talked about, being the best conference. They don't really give the SEC any credit for being the best conference, but we have three teams in the Elite 8, so that speaks for itself right there.

KEVARRIUS HAYES: It's for like, kind of proves the point that we can actually can compete in terms of being a power conference, having three out of the eight teams that would be from the SEC has proven that we have made it here.

KASEY HILL: I would say pretty much the same thing they said. It's not just a football school anymore, I think it's turned into becoming -- or a football conference, so it's turned into a basketball conference.

Q. Coach, you referenced this last night as well, the SEC's not just a football conference, it's a basketball conference, a gymnastics conference. I'm wondering though, it's known as a football conference, do you think all the revenue and the TV exposure of the SEC network has trickled down to help basketball?
MIKE WHITE: I'm sorry, I can't give you an intelligent answer there. I'm just not informed enough with all that stuff. I can't imagine it's hurt. I can't imagine that the SEC network has hurt in any way with exposure, with recruiting, so on, so for the. But yeah, we talked about it last night, going back to your initial words, I can speak to Florida more specifically than any other place, I mean, this place we have won a ton of championships. Scott will win a bunch himself, Jeremy Foley won a bunch himself, so to call it a football school is I think, a slap in the face to all those other sports.

And to Coach Donovan, who won a couple national championships himself. And we're not the only school, there's had a high level of success in all sports in our league. Is football incredible? Absolutely. We love watching it. But SEC basketball's pretty special as well.

Q. For either Chris or Kasey, Sindarius Thornwell is kind of the engine that makes South Carolina go. What do you take from guarding him the first two times you faced South Carolina? And how can that be effective or what can you guys do differently this time around to keep him in check?
CHRIS CHIOZZA: He's a tremendous player. He's the Player of the Year in our conference, so we know he's going to get his. But we just try to not let him get everybody else going as well, try to put some size and length on him and make it tough for him to get his shots off and limit his open looks and just try to be physical with him and try to limit the ways he can affect the game. But he's an all around player.

KASEY HILL: Just limit his touches, challenge -- accept the challenge and compete, that's all it is.

Q. Kasey, you're the only guy left from the Final Four run in 2014. What did you learn from playing with those guys like Patric Young and how are you using that to lead your team now?
KASEY HILL: Just staying in the moment, honestly. Those guys, they were very big on that, they had a lot of experience, a lot of tournament games under their belt. But really just staying in the moment and going out there and competing and trying to play every game like it is your last.

Q. Mike, sort of along the same lines, I think Kasey and Frank Martin are the only ones that have been in this position. So for yourself as a coach and for your players, how do you make sure that your not prisoners of the magnitude of the moment as you prepare for this sort of game?
MIKE WHITE: Nothing changes for us really. People have asked about the big picture and the greater perspective and chance to go to the Final Four and how do you feel, what's going on in your head. I don't know why, but I think my players would agree with me as well, that I don't think it's that difficult. Kasey just used the terminology, stay in the moment. If we're not focused 100 percent on preparing as well as we can for South Carolina, then none of it matters. So it's a one-game tournament for us. Kasey said, treat every game like it is your last.

We have a saying on our locker room door that it's the last thing our guys see heading out to practice every day, that you are not promised tomorrow and that's it. I mean, it's a great opportunity against South Carolina, we'll go back and celebrate the wins and mourn the losses, and go back and watch Chris' shot a million times in the spring. But right now it's about the Gamecocks.

Q. Mike, does it matter what the perception of this league is as a hoops league? From the outside?
MIKE WHITE: As the perception continues to increase and we are more welcomed amongst the higher level leagues in the country, we have been there before, and we're certainly on our way back in our opinion, I don't think it hurts at all. But honestly, it's not something that I put a lot of stock into. It doesn't affect recruiting much for us, it doesn't -- these guys, their approach to East Tennessee State, Virginia, Wisconsin, now South Carolina, that approach has nothing to do with what people say about our league. It really, a lot of it -- even if the computer rankings had us first in the country, say mid next season, which we very well could be, and people continue to say this about the SEC and this about the ACC, whatever. I don't know how much any of that matters, I really don't. The selection committee's going to do a terrific job regardless, we're going to be the Florida Gators regardless and do the best we can do.

Q. Mike and maybe a player or two who want to take this question. So much of what people think about Florida's program usually has to do with things like speed and athleticism and playing in transition. Could you at least address what you -- the toughness factor for this team. Because that is not something that you generally hear about Florida, but yet Wisconsin touted it in its own program leading into the Sweet 16, and you guys seem to have that resolve last night.
MIKE WHITE: I appreciate it. That means a lot to us. We like to stand for toughness as much as anything. And we just played two of the toughest programs in all of college basketball. What Virginia and Wisconsin have accomplished over the last few years is amazing. Both of those programs pride themselves on the defensive intensity and physicality and toughness. And that's what those coaches are known for and those programs and those players are known for, and they have had tremendous success, of course.

This team, this particular team, toughness and togetherness, I think, is unappreciated. These guys, these are some tough dudes. And South Carolina's got some tough dudes as well. But these guys battle. They battle coming off a win, coming off a loss, they battle against each other every day in practice, and they're together. They like each other, it is a tight knit group. So again, toughness and togetherness are things that I want these guys remembered for, they certainly deserve that.

DEVIN ROBINSON: I feel like our team has been through a lot of adversity in these past couple years, and this year especially. And I feel like that brought us together and a lot of things what coach said about us hanging our hats on toughness, we compete every day in practice, and we just like to play the game. So the toughness comes from just going through a lot of adversity and coming together and just being tough.

JUSTIN LEON: Like both of these guys said, with us just being tough, that's just one of the culture aspects that we focus on now. Like Devin just said, us going through a lot of adversity, bring us more closer together and just helping us be a tougher group, and we can depend on each other for that.

Q. Mike, you mentioned they benefitted from familiarity. Unlike the other teams that South Carolina has faced, you have faced them before. So whether you can simulate it or not simulate it in practice, you faced it. How much of an advantage is that? And conversely, how much better are they right now with doing what they do than they have all season long?
MIKE WHITE: Yeah, sure. Let me start by saying, I want to be clear that I think it's an advantage for both of us. I don't think we have an advantage over South Carolina in this preparation at all. In fact, if there's one disadvantage, it's the fact that I'm not sure Chris has even slept yet. We got back so late, and then, we're not here to make excuses, we got great opportunity. Our guys will be rested up and we'll be ready to roll tomorrow.

I just think it's fortunate for both of us with the quick turn, because they have a quick turn as well, that we're very familiar. That said, they're playing better. I think it's an offensive thing. Somebody asked me earlier, both teams seem like they are really defending lately. Since the first game of the season, Frank's had his guys in the Top-5 in defensive efficiency in the entire country the entire year. Every time you look at this, they're second, they're third, they're first. They have a really tough week, they drop to fourth. They've been incredible defensively all week. These guys have been as well. It's the two Top-5 defenses in the country. I think the difference in them, in the tournament, just looking at their numbers, they're just shooting the ball better. For whatever reason, they seem to be playing with a lot of confidence led by Thornwell and the way he's scoring it in the tournament. PJ has been tremendous in the tournament. They have five guys averaging double figures in the NCAA Tournament.

So now to complement their unbelievable defense with the way, with the way they're scoring the ball, it makes for a tough out.

Q. Devin and Justin, I just wanted to get your thoughts on what you saw from the moment Chris got that ball and started going up court. And what's the most incredible thing you have seen him do before last night?
DEVIN ROBINSON: I was in the game, I saw him take the ball out, I was all the way in the corner, and I just saw him just sprint in front, and he sprinted past like three defenders. And first I thought he was like throwing it up like for lob and I didn't know how much time and I looked up and it just kept floating and I was like oh, snap.

(Laughter.) Like, this might go in. And it dropped. And I was like, oh, wow. You know.

MIKE WHITE: "Holy snap" is going overtake, "pipe it up."

DEVIN ROBINSON: It was nuts. And I was just proud for him, happy for him. And I have seen Chris do a lot of things, like in practice and stuff like that, and part of the game that he shows off a little bit. But he did a lot of things that a lot of people might not know for a little guy like him. No shots. No shots.

JUSTIN LEON: I was on the side lines during the time, and I just seen him just go full court, and I knew that he's a fast guy, so I figured he would be able to get down the court in time. And as I was watching, I just seen him plant and just float it up there. From my position, it looked good. And I was watching the ball and I was just like, asking God, please don't let my career be over yet. And it went in and it was just, everything just broke loose from there. And, like, I've seen a lot of crazy things, like, Chiozza has done, like a lot of freaky layups in practice and all that type of stuff, so I think that this probably top every crazy thing he's done.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll excuse the student-athletes and take questions for coach.

Q. Could you talk about Canyon Barry, because he's obviously struggled offensively in the last month, but yet you trusted him to be in the game totally on the offensive end in that last one minute, 40 seconds and frankly, you didn't have that great, that good of a game, but in the last 90 seconds, he was huge.
MIKE WHITE: Yeah, we just we want our best offensive players out there. Canyon is one of our better two or three offensive players for sure, he's had huge games for us. And in Canyon's defense, when you're being yanked in and out of the game, when you're not playing 12 to 15 consecutive minutes, in consecutive halves, it's hard to get into a good offensive rhythm and sometimes to maintain an offensive rhythm if you're in one. But he's not over there sulking, he gets in the game late and he makes huge plays. The LeBronesque block by Canyon "James", I mean it was a huge play. Obviously, while I'm screaming foul him, foul him, and he goes and blocks the shot, was enormous. If he doesn't make that play, we don't win the game, of course.

And then we talked a lot about the last play of the game, and I thought it was great recognition by him. We had two speed guys in the back court and two guys were shading Kasey, and they had a big shading Chris and he made the right play. Could have easily thrown it to Kasey and we wouldn't have gotten the shot off. We would probably have got a half court shot off. So great recognition there, great pass, and continues to make good plays for us.

Q. Last night was such a tremendous night, but how worried are you where they're going to be emotionally tomorrow? And when, as a coach, do you start addressing that?
MIKE WHITE: Already worried, not going to lie to you, about where our emotions are and our level of mental and physical fatigue. And first thing I asked the guys this morning at breakfast, hey, how do you feel? Man, my legs are killing me, I'm tired. And I'm sure South Carolina feels that way as well. Our game was a little bit different, of course, and our guys got to sleep a little bit later. And that's what's going on in their head today. So, rest today, hydration, we'll -- our guys will do massages, our support staff's off the charts. We'll get at their legs a bit and try to get that lactic acid out. We can't do a ton physically. The goal will be by tomorrow morning to have some normalcy with that mental and physical fatigue. But it started on the bus last night. As soon as we pulled up to the hotel, guys we're not going to go watch film right now, we're not going to meet, I want you in bed as soon as possible. I don't want to threaten you to take your cell phones away, but we got to turn them off. We all have a couple hundred texts, let's return them on Sunday night. Let's go to sleep. And if you keep your phone on, you're not going to go to sleep. That was the message and our guys have had a business-like approach we have had a lot of success outside of home this year with our unique schedule and I'm sure we did a pretty good job of trying to lay it down as much as possible last night.

Q. I think a lot of people would look at this as a unlikely or an improbable matchup here in this situation I think people were parsing through their brackets and perhaps didn't pencil you or South Carolina in. Do you use that all as a motivation or can you not, since they're even maybe less likely to be here than you are?
MIKE WHITE: Yeah, not with this one. In the first couple rounds when everybody picked us to be upset, of course, in the first one, and I don't think many people picked us -- and forgive me if I'm speaking to guys that actually did pick us, guys and gals, in the second round against Virginia. It's probably not much of a factor, but as we have talked about it, I've answered the question, that it's a bolt in the chamber, why not use it. Even if it's .001 percent of the motivational factor to help you prepare for these guys. So, we used some of that some of the film, some newspaper headlines, what have you, in those first couple, but not in this past one. Not against Wisconsin and obviously not tomorrow. It doesn't, we're kind of beyond that.

Q. Going into your first season at Florida and throughout that first year, so many questions about following Billy Donovan. What does it mean to you and what has this been like to go on a run like this for you at Florida and even if you've changed the culture or gotten your guys in and kind of you feel like it is your program, but for the outside world to see Florida make this run without Billy?
MIKE WHITE: Oh, I just haven't given it any thought. Just dead honest with you. It's about this team developing and getting better. I'm so happy for our guys. It doesn't, the external stuff just doesn't matter to me. It's a Florida job, I'm blessed to be here, it's a great job, it's a great opportunity, got a great group that I'm proud of working with every day and we want to keep playing together. I do find it very, very rewarding that we're having success and that the buy-in level has increased immensely with the coaching staff, with each other, the togetherness is off the charts, the fight, the toughness has been effect. All those things are really, really rewarding. But in terms of the other stuff, it's just not much thought's gone into it really.

Q. How would you describe your sideline demeanor?
MIKE WHITE: Oh, a tough one. I guess in recruiting you talk about Low Majors and Mid Majors and not at this level but when we were, I've been at some Low Majors and some Mid Majors and High Majors, so some times we just refer to middle of the road stuff as Mid Major, so I would say Mid Major. I don't know if I get too animated, I don't know if I'm too calm. I don't know how people would characterize me. And it doesn't really matter to me. I will tell you that I try to be as calm as I can and I'm not always calm. Sometimes I have success revving our guys up when they need it a little bit, but sometimes I get them a little bit too revved up. And that's, it's always, you're always searching, you're always evaluating how you're pressing buttons correctly and incorrectly and with which guy and not with another guy and all those type things. I've been asked about officials a bunch, I think I've been told through by third parties that some of our fans wonder why I'm not, why I don't ride the officials more. Some of the officials say I ride them too much. So who know, I don't know. I do know though as a young coach I did realize Mark Whitehead who now does a great job for our league, he gave me great advice in fact when he was doing one of our games at Louisiana Tech as a first year head coach I was consumed with the officials. It was all about, I'm getting disrespected, we're getting disrespected, they're picking on the young guy. They're just doing the game. They're human beings, they're good officials. And he put his arm around my neck during a timeout and he said, the more you're consumed with us, the less you're consumed with your team. Help your team. And it really hit home. I try to do that. I don't always do a very good job of that.

Q. You talked about the toughness. Last year when you came in, did you find a team that wasn't tough and did you have a hard time getting them to be tougher, obviously through a season that was not exactly what you would want it to be.
MIKE WHITE: Yeah, good question. I want to be careful and I know you know how I feel about this already, but I don't want to be -- I don't want the context to be, we weren't very tough, I inherited an un-tough group, I inherited a group that, that struggled under a Hall of Famer. That Coach Donovan struggled with. And told me that I would struggle with, in terms of some entitlement and some immaturity. And great group of guys. I remember I talked to Coach Donovan before my press conference and he told me, he said, yeah, you're going to love these guys, they're great kids, and here's some things that you're going to struggle with that we struggled with last year, you're going to struggle with it, here's how you got to get at them. And obviously I was hanging on every word that he said. And that's, they have come a long way. I mean, we have developed, our guys have developed, they have really matured, some of it is natural, some of it is just natural maturity because sophomores are juniors now and juniors are seniors and then we added a couple guys, of course. I think Justin Leon rubbed off on some guys. Kevarrius Hayes has rubbed off on some guys. Kasey Hill has made a huge jump, just later in his career, I think a sense of urgency has kicked in with his toughness level. Chris Chiozza for whatever reason as a freshman just isn't what he is now and some of that is natural and then some of it is a little bit abnormal. I mean, the jump that Devin Robinson has made with his toughness, I hadn't seen much like that. He's a guy that, he wasn't making a lot of hustle plays early last year, practice or games. He wasn't, wasn't taking charges, he wasn't flying around the court, blocking shots. He's a completely different dude and that's not, we're not taking credit for that, that's Devin Robinson.

Q. Have you had any conversations with Mike Tranghese since he became the sort of basketball consultant in the SEC and what commissioner Sankey was talking about, just an added commitment to basketball in the SEC. Have you seen that?
MIKE WHITE: I have had minimal conversation with Mike at SEC meetings. We texted, actually, a little bit back and forth, just small talk. I know that he's a tremendous addition to the SEC staff. And I don't even understand all of the ways, but I know that he's had incredible success in college basketball, of course. He's been a great leader, he's got an incredible reputation. Have they enhanced the brand, Greg and Mike and those guys was the second question?

Q. Yeah, do you notice more of a commitment, I don't know how would you notice that, but?
MIKE WHITE: Oh, I imagine there's been, there's been a lot of talk of it. I think our staff is really talented right now. Again, Mark Whitehead is really terrific. I said this to Mark, and not so he would help me with a couple calls or assigning the right guys to me, when I was a young head coach, not knowing what the heck's going on, still learning on the fly, of course, I thought Mark Whitehead was the best official in the country. I thought he was off the charts. He didn't miss a call, his demeanor was incredible, and now he's heading these officials and mentoring them and educating them. So, I don't know how that hurts. I think it's got to really help. Dan Leibovitz has been incredible, too, Mike and Greg, I mean I think that there's a strong commitment, I really do, there's a been an -- I had a lot of conversation with Greg, I had a lot of conversation with Dan, he's been on campus a bunch, Greg's been at a bunch of our games. So I think that their, it's in their best interests to do whatever they have got to do to figure this thing out to help the SEC become the best basketball league in the country.

Q. Coach, first time you played South Carolina, no points for the first four minutes. Couple SEC coaches have compared it to, honestly, playing a football game in terms of their physicality is that an accurate report and secondly when was the last time you talked to Coach Martin just in general?
MIKE WHITE: I talked to Coach Martin briefly at the SEC tournament, ran into him in the hallway, we had nice 15-minute conversation. He's, I've always admired the job that's done. I'm sorry, I'm trying to get through this thing. Limited sleep. What was the first question? Help me out.

Q. About their physicality. Like a football team.
MIKE WHITE: You talked about the first matchup. Yeah, I mean, the first media, 0-0. I remember talking to our guys, looked up at the scoreboard, and I turned around to one of my assistants and said, is the score right? Has no one scored yet? Incredible. We were 0-17 from three and shot 50 from the foul line and had a chance. We actually defended better at their place. And then at our place we just made shots. We made shots. We struggled to guard Thornwell and in both games, their physicality, it's similar to Virginia and Wisconsin. Now they're quicker and faster, they throw more guys at you, there's more athleticism, they pressure the ball more, it's a different brand of defense. It's unique. They overplay everything. Everyone knows that. I'm not giving away any secrets. You can't run offense against South Carolina, against Frank Martin. You can't. They take you out of everything that you want to do. They make basketball players make basketball plays. We got to play with poise, we have got to play within credible mental toughness offensively, which is a little bit different than most defenses that you see, to give ourselves a chance.

Q. How do you account for the discrepancy on the offensive end, other than the fact that one game's at your place and the other one's on the road, how do you account for why your offense just was so much more consistent in Gainesville?
MIKE WHITE: That's a great question. We didn't do a lot different. We really didn't. We added a couple little wrinkles, neither worked. I thought our guards played with good poise the. I think we had four charges at their place but we got, we had two again in Gainesville. So, we still played out of control at times, but over the course of the 40, more so under control, shared the ball, we had a little bit better ball movement, probably had to do with the fact that we had however many thousand people screaming at us in Columbia. We just seemed a little bit rattled offensively at their place. Sometimes you know how it is, even if you get a few or a couple open looks and you start 0-7, that thing can just, you know, that thing can just keep going on you. At our place it probably helped just making a couple early and settling in. I remember KeVaughn hit a transition three really quick in the game and any time KeVaughn is hitting shots for us, our guys can take a deep breath.

Q. You had a great moment last night with your dad. Incredibly connected and obviously in college athletics. At the highest level. How critical was it for you to create your own path your own identity by going to Louisiana Tech and finding your own way without relying on him?
MIKE WHITE: Oh, good question. First off, for those that know my dad really well, they tell you he's a much better guy than he is an administrator and networked guy and things like that, he's accomplished a ton. But as family member, as a father, as a brother, that's where I'm most proud of him. He's just been an incredible example and I could give you a hundred different examples on why he's a great example. But I don't know that it was overly important for me to do something different. It is a little bit rewarding though. There were times when I thought high school, college, I may go work for him, I might become an athletic director, I might be selling tickets at Tulane or Arizona State and figuring that thing out. And it would have been great. It would have been really, really neat. And my brothers are, they're experiencing the administrative side of things and both doing really well.

I just loved the game and I couldn't leave the game alone. There were a few times as a young assistant that I actually considered going that other way. I don't know if I can -- I don't know if I'll have an opportunity to be a head coach as far as what I really want to do, and I just did my best to stay the course. And then comes a call from Bruce Van De Velde at Louisiana Tech and I was really, really fortunate. It's not like we were coming off a Sweet 16 run at Ole Miss. When he called and said, would you have any interest, I said, I'll start running to town right now. I've never been there, I don't care, I want to be a head coach, I want to run my own program. And I just have been really, really fortunate. Of course, I had an unbelievable group at Louisiana Tech, loved those kids to death. And obviously, Mike and Jeremy extended the opportunity here in Gainesville and it's been a whirlwind.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: NEW YORK

March 25, 2017

Mike White

Kasey Hill

Kevarrius Hayes

Chris Chiozza

Justin Leon

Devin Robinson