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NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL FOUR

March 30, 2017

Mark Few

Phoenix, Arizona

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Gonzaga head coach Mark Few.

COACH FEW: Wow, awesome, awesome week so far leading up to this. And it's just been a great experience for our players, coaches, coaches' families and staff. And I think everybody in the university and the entire city of Spokane is fired up, but now we're kind of in game mode. So it's getting serious now.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. With Przem and the injury/staph infection he went through and coming back, did you believe that there was a high probability that he would never play for Gonzaga again? And if you could just detail the regimen you put him through last summer to be able to even get at this point because he's turned out to be such a huge factor to your road to Phoenix.
COACH FEW: Yes, there was a very high probability that he was not probably going to play basketball again. I think all of us coaches, players, coaches' wives, were huge in this process, going over and kind of giving him a little TLC with his parents not being around. And we were really truly hoping, probably, December, January, February, for just a normal active life. I mean, he couldn't even get in or out of a car, or really walk, or even just kind of getting in and out of bed. And then I was really worried about depression and things like that. Emotionally he wasn't in a great place. So the fact that from going from those dark days to like right now, it literally is miraculous, and I'm not using the term lightly.

Q. How did you find Rui? Kind of what was the process of that and also what do you see as his potential?
COACH FEW: Rui's got a huge upside. He's got probably as high an upside as anybody in our program. And obviously Zach Collins has a huge upside. But Rui's right there. He's really been battling the language barrier. And now he's kind of getting a little more comfortable with that. And then he's had to adapt just to the intensity and kind of the toughness of the game. But he's going to be a very, very good player. He's going to take a big jump.

We've always had different coaches and different people come in from all over the country to watch practices and things like that. And there was a representative from Japanese basketball over there that came. I believe he stayed for almost a month, kind of observing practice, quite a ways back. And built some relationships. And then when they called and told us about him, we started watching tape, he's a prospect.

Q. Former Oregon player Greg Bell wrote a book called "Water the Bamboo," which I believe you wrote the foreword --
COACH FEW: Greg Bell was my college roomy.

Q. A couple of players said they benefited a lot from the talk he gave you guys the week before you played the Pilots. Could you talk about what you use the book for as a message for your team?
COACH FEW: I'd love to give Greg a plug here. "Water the Bamboo," and basically the whole premise and the thought and the major point behind it is bamboo, when you plant it, you water it and water it -- and I'm going to kill this -- but for four years or something, nothing happens. But then in the first year it grows -- after that, that subsequent year -- then it grows 50 feet or something.

So it's about, you know, the process of preparation and physically, mentally showing up, doing your job with practice and focusing in on the things that you can control. We call that the process. And then eventually you're going to reap the rewards of that.

Q. Has it helped your team?
COACH FEW: I would say it has. Hasn't you? We're here at the Final Four for the first time. I just want to tell everybody, I give 100 percent to "Water the Bamboo" and the book and the approach. It's a life changer.

Q. (Off microphone)?
COACH FEW: Look, to have Greg, I mean, he was in my wedding, one of my closest friends, to be able to come talk to our team in Portland and give us the book and give us the little bracelets and all that was great. And I think it resonated with them.

The thing he said that I wholeheartedly believe that we kind of used as a mantra this year was just try to get, like, one percent better each week. Just one percent better. Whatever it's at. And if you can do that every week, well, then we have something.

We had already started that. We started that back in the fall, like, it's we've got to be better this next week than we were this. And I honestly felt -- we were on a great growth plane for long periods of time this season.

Q. Everyone talks about the spectacle of this thing, and I know you haven't been here, your team hasn't been here. But you have older guys, is it less of a deal worrying about them handling all this because they're older, a little more mature?
COACH FEW: You know, yes and no. I mean, this is a first-time experience for all of us, other than the coaching staff, obviously, we've been to numerous Final Fours for the NABC, and I've been to 28 of them.

But for our guys, I mean, it is a spectacle and it's amazing and hard to not get caught up in that. So ironically I think you look at our team and there's a lot of experience there, but then even going back to that first game against South Dakota State, that was Nigel's first NCAA Tournament game. That was Nigel' first NCAA Tournament game. That was Johnanthan Williams' first NCAA Tournament game, Zach Collins, Killian Tillie. A lot of guys. They're moving through that, the fact that we have four under our belt.

But then, to your point, there's a maturity about a Nigel Williams-Goss who can really, understands how to process this stuff in a positive way. There's a maturity about a Jordan Mathews that knows how to really process things and just shrink it down to what he has to do to be successful. And then obviously Przemek's won more games than anyone in NCAA history, so he's been around the block, too.

Q. Not to -- I don't know what Zach Collins is going to do after this, but he's clearly being looked at as a guy who could get drafted. What's your general take -- you haven't built your program on one-and-dones, but what's your general feel about going after guys who could be one-and-dones?
COACH FEW: We don't ever really, are in that market just because it's kind of a select market. Obviously Zach's got great potential and he's going to have some great choices. And those are all things that will play out after we're done with all this.

But you know, there's a lot of different ways to build a program and build an elite program. And you can do it through attracting the greatest talent out there or you can do it by getting good players and develop them and get them to play together. And that's always been our deal at GU: We just try to get the best players we can; try to max out their development; and then really stress team chemistry and connection and playing together.

Q. Back when you were an assistant, the year before you made your first tournament run you guys lost to San Francisco, I think, in that game. Given the school's history at that point, did any part of you think, man, that was our chance? And then more broadly --
COACH FEW: That was our chance to go to a Final Four?

Q. I mean, to go to the tournament.
COACH FEW: Oh, yeah.

Q. And then just more broadly, could you give us your perspective on how like how much things have changed since that time?
COACH FEW: At that point it was obviously devastating. We had a great run. We won the league. And ironically, do you know who the coach was of that team that knocked us out? It was Jordan Matthew's dad, Phil, beat us that year at San Francisco. And they went.

But I think that was a great fuel for our run the following year. I think when we got in that league tournament the next year, we played lights out. And that team was very focused and driven to not let that happen again. So I think it actually happened.

I actually talk with Dana about this a week or so ago. In no way shape or form could you ever envision what we -- from that to right now. It has changed, I don't know, it's 500 percent different from the school, how we travel, how we're treated. We have a new arena. I mean, everything is -- we have expectations. We're expected to win. And we're expected to advance. Heck, we're expected to get to a Final Four, and if we don't get to a Final Four it's a disaster and we're a failure. You know? So back in those days we were innocent and foot loose and fancy free. And those were the good old days.

Q. When you were an assistant coach in 1999, your team back here in Phoenix, that was the last time you guys played a tournament.
COACH FEW: We were staying somewhere out in Mesa, minding our own business, nobody knew who we were.

Q. Do you feel this is some sort of redemption for you?
COACH FEW: No. No, I mean, I vaguely kind of remember that. I just remember, again, totally different scenario. We were just -- everything was so new to us then. The police escorts, you know, which is like one of the greatest aspects of the NCAA Tournament is getting the police escort where they shut down freeways and highways. How cool is that?

All of that. The media practice, all those kind of things. It was totally new to us and we didn't know any better. And that's what made that so special and you just didn't want it to end. I just remember you didn't want it to end.

Q. You mentioned a few answers ago that something was genuinely miraculous. And I had been looking into who Gonzaga's actually named after. I was wondering if you were at all familiar with St. Aloysius Gonzaga and his story?
COACH FEW: No, vaguely. I'm a little weak at Catholic history being that my dad's a Presbyterian minister for 50 years. I can defer that to my wife. She could probably explain it.

Q. I was wondering, you guys built this team out of a lot of transfers, a lot of international players, obviously a talented freshman in Zach Collins. How do you get a group of distinctly different guys to come so quickly and have that great run to start the year?
COACH FEW: I think that's a great question. I think that's the undervalued and undertalked-about aspect of this entire year, is when I walked out there in September, we were able to have those hour practices and even in October, it was the newest team I'd ever had as far as just -- literally Silas Melson and Perkins were the only guys out of the only top nine that had really played the year before.

Przem was coming off his deal. He hadn't played with any of these guys. And, again, we didn't know Przemek, he really didn't get clear to go full speed until into October was the first time he got cleared. But Nigel was new, and the other thing interesting about Nigel, he probably practiced 10 to 15 percent. The year before, he had ankle surgery. So we didn't have him hardly at all.

J3, Johnathan Williams, was on the red squad. Jordan Mathews just got to campus in September. Zach Collins was new. Killian Tillie was new. It was crazy. First time we'd ever -- we'd lost NBA guys before but we lost two NBA guys, Welsher is, was with the Rockets and Do is with the Thunder. So it was very eye-opening and somewhat disturbing the first week or so.

Q. With your roots in the Northwest and having recruited here as well as elsewhere (indiscernible) and Oregon, if that singles anything about talent in the West? Or has it always been about the same? And UCLA and Arizona, of course, being up this year, too.
COACH FEW: I mean, I think sometimes it's cyclical. And I think it's just, for whatever reason, maybe guys, you know, not leaving and staying at UCLA and even Arizona to a certain extent. And but certainly you could see this kind of, this big, I don't want to say -- like a funnel cloud or whatever you want to call it -- forming early in the year.

You could see Arizona was going to be really good. I was predicting that UCLA was going to be really good because I thought people didn't realize how old they were. And I thought having Lonzo was kind of the last piece.

I think everybody knew Oregon was going to have a good year. And then obviously the way it started happening for us. You got into late December/January it was, like, wow, there's some really, really good teams out West.

Q. Outside of the bubble in the Northwest, a lot people say, Gonzaga, it's cool, not a national championship contender, not a Final Four. What kept believing that this could be true?
COACH FEW: I just thought we could do it. I thought over this run of 20 years we probably had three or four -- probably three teams, maybe, I don't know, that could have made it here. And, you know, just from the luck of the draw or that particular night, or I think of Wichita that year, or the one year we had a great team with Pangos and Bell, but we just ran into Duke in Houston in the Elite Eight.

So certainly felt, my stance all along was you just gotta be good enough and then eventually it's going to happen. We wanted to stay nationally relevant. And I think we've done that year after year after year. And that's probably what I'm most proud of. And then eventually you'll kick the door down and break through, like we did this year.

Q. Taking you back to your past, to Creswell, to U of O and your time there, could you sort of --
COACH FEW: Let's not dive too deep into all that stuff.

Q. Could you sort of describe and sum up what you remember most or what stuck most with you about Creswell and about being at the U of O, considering that this is such the evidence of your history is now right here in front of you with U of O being here with you?
COACH FEW: Yeah, sure. Growing up in Creswell -- I mean, I wish I could have that for my kids. I mean, growing up in a small town is unbelievable.

I mean, it was just, you know, you just take off on your bike and go anywhere. You didn't have to tell anybody. It was Mayberry.

And playing all three sports, you know, you had to play all three sports, because they needed you to go out. And just growing up like that. I had a really cool situation, because we had a house that was next to the church. It was joined to the church. So we had access to the big church hall. We could do anything out there, play hoops, do whatever, and it was like having a rec center right next to -- joined to your house. So that was awesome.

Had great experiences there. Played on an awesome basketball team that that kind of fueled my fire, we were number one in the state my senior year. And then moved on to the U of O. It was, had some great times there. Had some great friends there, but they actually ended up in track and field.

I don't know if you knew, but two of my roommates were, one of them was in three Olympics, one was in two Olympics. Kory Tarpenning, a pole vaulter, and Tim Bright was a number one decathlete. And I traveled around with those guys in the summer to their meets over in Europe. And it's good times.

Q. I wanted to ask you, like you're sitting there in early 2000s, after you guys made the Elite Eight and you became the head coach, can you explain why you thought this was possible? I mean, no one had built a program like you've built. So why did you think it could be done?
COACH FEW: I don't know if I'm stubborn. I think probably my friends and family and fishing buddies would tell you that. I got a little bit of that. And I just had a belief that I felt we were continuing to get better and better. I thought our teams, even back to '99, had shown that they could compete if given the opportunity on the national level. And we followed up Sweet 16, Sweet 16.

Then we got Turiaf and Morrison and guys like that, and I felt we were getting the type of players that we could compete on the national level. And all that time we were staying nationally relevant. Maybe not for this particular weekend, but we were, you know, definitely first and second weekend-type of program, which is pretty good. And hey, look, probably two other aspects of this that are underrated are watch what happened to Dan Monson with his.

He left a situation and didn't turn out and then Gonzaga continued to grow and grow and grow. That's the other part of this is Gonzaga has continued to invest in a program and understand what it can do for the whole university. And they continue to this day. And that's been a huge part of this.

And the other one you probably don't want to admit, but I mean at least in my case you end up being more like your parents than you even think.

I mean, my dad was 54 years at the same church. I mean, I think it's a record. Usually those pastors move around like every five or six years. 54 years at the same little church with a congregation of 100, 125 people.

So I think that's probably instilled in my brain and soul and something and I didn't even realize it at the time. So why mess with happy. We always had a great time up there.

Q. You mentioned Dan. I was wondering if you could take us back, maybe you could paint the picture back in the days when the living situation was probably a little different, apartment living, and if you could kind of explain the Final Four message on your answering machine that you would leave?
COACH FEW: Yeah, that was way, way back. But, yeah, Dan Monson owned a house, because he was making a whopping, you know, $45,000 or something. Or 35. And then Billy Grier and I lived there. And would pay as much rent as we could afford. Those were the three -- we were the three assistants under Dan Fitzgerald.

And obviously we moved up when Muns moved up. But when we were really -- I don't know, it was like our second or third year, this was a big -- it's still a big deal for coaches to come to a Final Four. This is a big deal. Assistant coaches, everybody, they invade this place. I'm sure you guys that have come to a lot of them know and it's crazy. So Dan got the bright idea to leave on our old -- that was old school answering machine like, "Hey, we're out of here, we're going to a Final Four and we'll be back on Tuesday" or whatever. So haha. I don't know where it was, New Orleans or somewhere like that. No big deal.

So we come rolling back Tuesday, our entire place they stole everything (laughter). We left our papers on the front. We left everything. They took everything. There was nothing left. And yeah, so you can ask Dan about that. Needless to say we've learned from that.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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