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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2018Brad DavisonAleem FordGreg GardEthan HappNew York, New York Michigan State - 63, Wisconsin - 60 THE MODERATOR: Coach, let's start with an opening statement. COACH GARD: Obviously a tough locker room. But I couldn't be more proud of how they've grown together. I told them even before today, I don't know if there's a more improved team -- there's not a more improved team in the league. I don't know across the country if there's a team that's come as far as this group has with what they've had to overcome and work through and how they've grown. So short here today and it ends on an extremely bitter note. But proud of how they've grown. Went toe to toe the last two games with Michigan State. Credit to Tom and his group. Made enough plays when they needed to and we didn't come up with enough rebounds when we needed to. But, like I said, proud of these guys to my right and the rest of the group in the locker room as we've grown over the last 30 days or so. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Could you address, did Michigan State make any changes? It was the third time and you played them just a week ago. Did they make any changes or adjustments that you didn't see last Sunday in Madison? ETHAN HAPP: I didn't see any, no. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. I understand that there isn't a lot of silver linings at this level of basketball, but when you look at the injuries this team has endured and where they finished, can you end the season taking great pride in just how far they've come? COACH GARD: Yeah, as I mentioned in my statement, obviously with what they've overcome, obviously with what we started early in the year, you mentioned injuries. We've tried to put that behind us and grow from December on when that happened. And how they've been able to persevere and continue to get better. And from where we were in, I think those two guys went out December 4th or 5th, to where we are now, we didn't -- the problem was by the time we got out of the nest, so to speak, it was a little too late in terms of this past month. This team is kind of a microcosm of our players over the years. We've been very successful with a lot of late bloomers, guys that have really sprung into their own as juniors and seniors. We don't have any seniors and just a couple of juniors that are playing. And this team was much the same way; it was a late-blooming team. Unfortunately, like I said, December and January weren't -- early December and January weren't as kind to us. But proud of how they persevered. There's been a lot of teams across the country that would have folded up shop and quit a long time ago. And we were 3-9 in the league at one point. But this group kept persevering and battling and getting better. And unfortunately we didn't have enough today nor enough earlier in the year to be able to keep playing in the NCAA Tournament, which I know everybody in that locker room that was the goal was to try to win this thing to get there. Q. You've coached against Miles Bridges for two years now. Can you talk about the challenges he presents and how much of a handful he's going to be going forward for other teams in what it will probably be his final postseason? COACH GARD: As I've said before, when we played him his addition to the 3-point shot to his game has changed it. And it not only helps him, it helps Ward inside and other guys inside, Jackson inside, because now you've got to stretch the floor. You've got to stay with Winston and Langford and McQuaid. And it gives those guys inside a little more room to operate. And then he's added some play-making ability. His ability to change direction with the ball, some of the things he's done not only today but in other games, in the past he's been primarily a straight-line driver. And he was able to change direction. He put -- he had a good move there on Davison in the second half where he got separation and got a jump shot off. So he's becoming a much more complete player. And obviously at his size he's a matchup problem too at 6'8" with his ability to play inside and outside. And he's evolved as you would expect him to. Q. Over the past two decades, 19 straight seasons, Wisconsin has made the tournament. This is the first time in a long time you've obviously been a big part of that. Wisconsin fans have come to expect making the tournament. But can you speak to how the program has grown to this point? And then if you're going to get back next year, what philosophical changes you might tweak heading into a new season, obviously with the goal of making the Big Dance? COACH GARD: The biggest thing that will help us going into next year is get older and healthier. As I mentioned we had no seniors in the rotation. We had two guys that were out for most of the majority of the season other than 10 games. So we've got a lot of things we've got to get better at and grow. It's the youngest we've been in 20 years, since the last time it didn't happen in terms of number of freshmen in the rotation and the biological age of those playing. But that wasn't -- these guys didn't want to use it as an excuse. They thought we could get there with a bunch of young guys. Like I said, the perseverance of this group has been pretty admirable in terms of how they've continued to battle. And today was another great example of it. So we'll reflect on this and I've got a lot of things that I won't share that we'll work on and get better at, and part of it will be just health and maturity will help us a lot. Q. Above and beyond obviously disappointment that would come from any season that ends the way you don't want it to, did you have extra emotional investment in that streak? You were such a big part of it, really, and not to preempt the committee but it looks pretty jeopardized? COACH GARD: We've never talked about a streak. All the way back to 2001, we've never talked about, oh, we've been to the tournament five years in a row, ten years in a row, we've never used that. It was always about doing your best you could do to try to win the conference championship first, then come and try to win the conference tournament championship and then you try to bop until you drop in the NCAA Tournament. So we never said -- we never went through it with it being results-oriented. We always try to get better as the season went on. Mentioned earlier, this group just surged late, too late. But, so, I don't get caught up into streaks. I understand that. But how about admiring the great string that's been put together? That's pretty dang impressive. I think the next one, I know Michigan State has one, Kansas has one. Duke maybe has one. Gonzaga has one. Then I saw the next closest was seven years. After that, Iowa State and somebody else has, Cincinnati maybe that has it at seven years. How about applauding those 19 teams that were able to make it. I'll tell you what, there's a lot more that could go wrong than can go right. If you have injuries or have things happen at the wrong time to you, there's a lot of teams would have -- 400-some Division I teams and we're only one of four or five that have strings this long. I think we reflect back and admire the coaches and the players and the tradition that's been established and appreciate that. Because that's pretty special. 19 years in a row is hard. And obviously there's a few that -- Michigan State has a string that's going at 20 or something like that. But that's hard to do. And our goal will be to try to get back there next year not were the idea that we're going to start 19 in a row again. Let's just do the best we can do to get ready for next year, try to win the Big Ten Championship and take that process-oriented approach. Q. Having played them before, preparing for them, what adjustments did you make for the athleticism and length this time around? COACH GARD: Well, I think the one thing that we didn't do a good enough job especially the second half today is keep them off the glass. And that happened a little bit in Madison. That's one of their pillars. They hit the offensive glass pretty hard. I think we gave up 13 offensive rebounds in the second half on 19 missed shots. That's almost 70 percent of misses; that's too many. And that extended possessions. That allowed them to do what they do and hurt us from being able to maybe expand upon a lead we had or catch them closer. So going against them for a lot of years, the keys really haven't changed. You've got to be good in transition defensively. Gotta keep them off the glass. They're very good defensively. Jackson makes a whole difference for them compared to years past just because of his shot blocking at the rim. So, yeah, they're a pretty complete team. Q. On Jackson, the second straight game they switched to that lineup with him at the five down the stretch of the game. Just what difference does that look give them and what is the impact? COACH GARD: I think it's not only Jackson at the 5 but I think it's Bridges at the 4 because we went with our more mobile 4 down the stretch, too, and the lean forward. So they were doing some things to counter what we were doing in terms of trying to stretch the floor more with our 4-man. So I think it was more -- I don't know because I haven't asked Tom about his rotations or who he has in, but I know they were trying to match what we were doing with Ford a little bit too, and to go a little more mobile and smaller on the perimeter. They've done that before. Bridges has played the 4 a lot in the past. Q. How would you evaluate the overall strength of the Big Ten this season compared to what it's been in the three seasons since it increased to 14 teams? COACH GARD: I don't think it gets enough credit. I think obviously we've got three or four, five at the top that obviously get a lot of, but the middle -- I mean here it is. We finished in, what, ninth and we have a game, we have back-to-back games like this with the first-place team. And you've seen that across the board. Watch what Rutgers has done. Rutgers played Michigan State, tough both times. Overtime in East Lansing and what they've done here in the previous two games. So it doesn't get maybe the attention and everybody thinks the Big Ten is down. People that are saying that are the people that aren't playing in it, aren't having to coach in it every night, having to see the players -- Penn State, how Iowa played yesterday. And Michigan is playing real well right now. So, yeah, you think it's easier or not as good until you have to come play in it. Then you find out it's a little different. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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