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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: WICHITAMarch 16, 2018Kevin WillardWichita, Kansas THE MODERATOR: Can we just get your assessment of the challenges that Kansas presents to the team. COACH WILLARD: Yes. There's a lot of challenges. They're extremely impressive. They're balanced. Devonte' Graham is as good as any guard I've seen in college basketball. Reminds me a lot of what Jalen Brunson does for Villanova. Kind of can score the ball anytime. Runs the team extremely well. They're excellent in transition. And I think what I'm most impressed about is if you stop them in transition, how good they are in the half court executing, an extremely tough style. So big challenge, but obviously excited to still be playing. Q. When these seniors came four years ago, they kind of helped you save your job at Seton Hall. You hadn't won yet and there was talk of how long could you last. I asked Ish about that and he said Coach saved his own job because he put them in position to be successful. I just wonder your response to that. COACH WILLARD: I think players always save coaches' jobs, don't they? You have good players that win games. You know, I think this group, I challenged this group as freshmen to become better as players, to become better as a team. And I think that's something that, you know, I've learned is you get the right type of kids who want to work, you can be successful. And these guys, I've said it 8 million times, they've worked so hard. You know, success was going to happen just because of how hard they worked. Q. Do you feel like that 2014 class just kind of -- how much do you think getting those guys and what's happened here as changed things for you? COACH WILLARD: Oh, yeah. It was a huge class. And I think the biggest thing was it was a great mix of -- it was a great mix of -- obviously Isaiah was extremely talented. Ish was our guy that was going to be our defensive guy. Angel was going to be the rebounder. I think the biggest piece, though, was probably Khadeen, because everybody -- everybody talked about Khadeen, but no one -- everyone kind of said he was coming in a little bit over his head, he wasn't good enough. And I think the way he developed his freshmen year, and really his sophomore year, he had such a huge year his sophomore year. The way he transformed into such a good player, I think he was a huge piece of what happened with that 2014 class. Which should make his mom happy. Q. Coach, rebounding has not been one of KU's strengths, something you do very well, and when Kansas has been beaten, they've allowed a lot of offensive rebounds, something you do well. Can you talk about taking advantage of that matchup? COACH WILLARD: Yeah, I think that's something you gotta balance with Kansas, because they're so good in transition. It's something that one of our philosophies is the best way to -- the best transition defense is the offensive rebound, because if you get second-chance points it stops teams from leaking out a little bit. It puts a little more pressure on them staying in and not getting out so quick. But you still, with Kansas you really gotta be careful sending three guys to the glass just because of how good Newman gets out, how good Devonte' is going. And again, it's not like I don't know his name, but I love No. 10. He's phenomenal. I just can't say his name. I have a player who I can't say his name either, so I don't want him to think I'm not trying -- I don't know. I can't say Sandro's last name. But I think he is -- you have Newman, No. 10, and Devonte' Graham out there. You gotta be really careful getting back in transition because they can put up a lot of points quickly if you're sending too many guys to the glass. We're still going to go. It's just how we play. Q. Kevin, Khadeen was zero for a reason he says because people have always doubted him. How big of a motivational thing will this be for him Saturday? He's played great players before, but he'll be the other guy there. Graham's a Naismith finalist, what do you expect out of Khadeen in that matchup and how excited are you for him to get that kind of challenge? COACH WILLARD: Yeah. I think he's answered the bell really well. He's played well against Jalen. He's one of those kids, because of his personality, it doesn't seem like he gets pumped up for games, he doesn't seem like he gets -- he's not a rah rah type kid. He's Mr. Smooth. But deep down he understands the challenge. He'll be ready for the challenge. And I look forward to that. I think it's going to be a great matchup between those two. Q. Coach, going up against like one of the blue bloods in college basketball tomorrow, how would you describe like the mood around the team? Is it excitement, is it nervousness? How would you describe the mood around the team? COACH WILLARD: Well, right now they're not happy with me. So I would say they're a little grumpy. I would expect by tomorrow they'll be excited just for the fact that we could be playing anybody. I think they're excited about still playing. Again, this is for the senior class, every game could be their last game. So obviously playing against one of the great traditions in Kansas, one of probably the all-time best college basketball coaches that will go down in Bill Self, I think that, in itself, is really exciting. I think playing Wichita in Kansas gives us a great challenge. I think the people here in Wichita and the fans have been great. I think you throw all the factors in, I think by the time they get over being mad at me, they're going to be really excited about playing Kansas. Q. Why are they mad at you? COACH WILLARD: I woke them up a little bit early. We've already had a walk through. We've already had two film sessions. So they're a little grumpy at the fact that before -- I usually have to feed them before I do something. And so if I do something before I feed them, then I get a grumpy older group. So I woke them up early. We had a walk-through in the hotel. We watched film. We ate breakfast, we watched film and had another walk-through, and now we're at practice. So hopefully if I get them a good meal tonight, I'll get them back on my good side. It's always a balancing act. Just like dealing with Zach. Even my guy here is like, he's asking another question? MODERATOR: He has a passion. Q. Kevin, how important is Ish to this team and how much do you think maybe other teams, does he fall in the cracks in other teams' game planning because of the other more well-known weapons that you have? COACH WILLARD: Yeah. It really didn't get talked about that much last night, how well he played. When I went back and watched the film, he obviously everyone looked at his points. He hit a three, had some great put-backs, but he really did a great job in the second half of helping on pick and roll defense, switching out. He's one of those guys that in five or six years you're going to see probably playing in the NBA as a guy because he's 6 foot 8. He can defend every position. He's gonna get better offensively. He's a hard worker. He's a terrific kid. He falls through the cracks because he doesn't do anything fancy. There's nothing flashy about his game. He's one of those -- I call him an old-school Charles Oakley type player. He's just one of those guys that shows up every day, works really hard, plays as hard as anybody out there. You know, of all the -- I'm going to miss all these guys, but next year game planning without him, today I was already, I said Ish, you're going to guard him, Ish, you're going to guard Devonte'. You're going to guard No. 10. I said when you switch out on him this is who -- it's such a luxury to have a guy that can guard four positions. It's something that I think I've taken for granted at times and probably other teams just don't game plan for him because we don't run stuff for him. But defensively he is a different maker. Q. Kevin, on a personal note, how have you grown as a coach in the four years that you've had these guys? COACH WILLARD: Oh, man. I think the biggest thing, you know, I've probably mellowed out tremendously. I think I've come to realize when you have a group and you put a group together and you enjoy being around them and they work hard to kind of let them be them and not so much impose my will, I've kind of let these guys -- I've let these guys' personalities and their work ethic kind of form their own identity for this team. And instead of me trying to be, well, this is how we're going to be, I think the biggest difference what I've learned is I'm going to let them be them, and I need to adapt to how they want to be a little bit. They're still in my framework. They're still in what I wanted to do offensively and defensively, but from a standpoint of who we are and what we are, it's much more their personality than it is mine. I've kind of sat back and let them grow as men and grow as a team because I think it's been very important to let them take ownership in this program. And I think that's something that I've really focused on is letting them take ownership in the program and letting them kind of be the ones who are leading. Q. Kevin, the waking them up early, getting all this film session done, is it kind of you want to send a message to them of how big an opportunity this is they have in front of them? And Seton Hall hasn't made the Sweet 16 since 2000. You have the No. 1 seed. It's a huge national game. I mean what this win would mean? COACH WILLARD: No. I think the biggest thing is, because we're doing the same thing we did when we won the Big East Championship, and last year in the Big East tournament. I'm trying to get them back in that mode, because we -- like I said, even though the Butler loss really hurt, it kind of helped us get healthy a little bit, kind of helped us get reenergized and refocused. So I'm trying to just get them back into that quick turnaround mode, because preparation is really important for us. It's something I believe in tremendously in putting in the work and scouting and being prepared. And when you're playing as good a basketball team as you are in Kansas, you need -- you need to do all the little extra things to try to give yourself a chance to win. You just can't treat it like you're playing any other team. They're just too good. They're too well-coached. They have too good of players. So for me it's getting them back in that mode that you're playing arguably the best team in the country and that you gotta put your work in and you gotta put a lot of work in to give yourself the best chance to win. Q. How early did you wake them? COACH WILLARD: I mean I didn't think it was that early. It was 9 am. But for Angel, that might as well have been 6:30. The big fellow needs his sleep. Q. Can you speak to the unique challenge of prepping for Kansas while not knowing how much or how effective Udoka will be able to play? And if he is able to be turned loose, what do you anticipate with him? COACH WILLARD: Yeah, it's amazing when he's not in there how well they space you out, how much they drive, kick, rely on the three-point shot. And then when he comes in the game, you know, Bill goes to the high-low package. It's almost automatic. And he is -- you know, obviously he's not moving great laterally, but he's moving pretty good up-and-down, but he's a monster of a man, and they do a great job of working their high-low package when he's in the game. So it's amazing they play such a different style when he's in the game than when he's out of the game. So I think it's -- obviously we're preparing more for when he's out, because I don't know how much he's going to be able to play, but we're also getting ready for the fact if he does play 10 to 15 minutes, that's a huge 10 to 15 minutes, because they can really go inside when he's in the game. Q. Coach, the Big East to the Big 12 both have reason to believe that maybe the best conferences in college basketball this year? COACH WILLARD: I would agree with that. Q. Can you talk about the style, how much different it is and then how much conference pride, I know the two conferences match up tonight, but how much is that a part of this? COACH WILLARD: Yeah. The Big 12 has 10 teams; correct? Yeah. We have 10 teams. We each play a true round Robin, and it makes for equal scheduling. So no one can say, hey, well, I got to play the four worst teams, I only played the two best teams, which happens in the big 10, it happens in the ACC a lot. We played Texas Tech this year in the Garden, and I remember walking away saying man anybody that's gotta play those guys twice, good luck to them. I think when you play an equal schedule and you have as good of coaches and good of players as you do in the Big 12 and the Big East, you really get a true effect of who you are and what you are, and you beat up on each other. And I think Texas Tech ended up 11 and 7 in the Big 12, if I'm not -- I think I'm somewhere. And they had a shot to win the Big 12, and when you have a shot to win the Big 12 and you're 11 and 7, it just shows you what -- when you have an equal schedule how much you beat each other up. And as coaches in the Big East, we always say when you -- a 10 and 8 Big East team is really, really good, because we've played against -- I mean we've played four No. 1 seeds already twice. Went into over time with Villanova, lost in a dog fight at Villanova, lost in a tough one against Xavier at home and lost a really tough one -- we've already played four No. 1 seeds already. And all the Big 12 teams have done pretty much the same thing. Texas Tech is a three seed. Kansas obviously a one seed. I just think it's -- you create a really good, tough basketball mindset when you play an equal schedule. And that's one thing I respect about the Big 12 and I watch their games and I watch their teams and their players is that it's like blood rebounding, it's good old-fashioned hard-nosed basketball, and I respect the Big 12 because I think their coaches and their players play a good hard-nosed basketball just like the Big East does. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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