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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: JACKSONVILLEMarch 20, 2019Alex CopelandMiye OniBlake ReynoldsJacksonville, Florida Q. For any of you that want to answer this, could you just talk a little bit, give a little bit of insight to people who don't get to see Ivy League basketball, whether on television or whatever, and there might be a perception about the skill level. Cornell came here in 2010 and got to the Sweet 16. Could you just talk a little bit about what the outside perception of Ivy League basketball may differ from the actual product? BLAKE REYNOLDS: Yeah, I mean, I think it's getting better every year. I think the athleticism and the talent in the league is getting better. Every year as we go, and I think a lot of people don't get the chance to see that. But yeah, I think we'll bring that to this first round here, just showcase that talent and athleticism that we do actually have and that high level of basketball that's in the Ivy League. Q. The Ivy League history in Jacksonville has been pretty noted over the years, Cornell getting to the Sweet 16, Harvard having a major scare to UNC a few years ago. Is that something that the guys talk about, maybe a little bit of a good-luck-charm factor with Jacksonville and maybe a chance to sort of carry a little Ivy League legacy down here? ALEX COPELAND: Not exactly, but we definitely know that teams from our conference have been able to come into the tournament, just like Blake and I did as freshmen a few years back against Baylor. Teams from our conference have been able to come here and have success. We're not afraid of anything here. We feel confident. We know the teams before us have done it. We feel like we're capable of doing it, and so we're excited to be here and get a chance to showcase that. Q. Before you even knew you were playing LSU on Sunday, how familiar were you guys with Tremont Waters and his game, him being from New Haven, getting recruited by Yale? MIYE ONI: I think we all knew who he was and some of us had played with him and played against him at different parts. He comes back home for the summer a lot. We know he's a quick point guard, really talented, and yeah. Q. You guys are three of I think four starters that average double digit points a game. What is it about you guys offensively that makes you so dangerous? BLAKE REYNOLDS: Yeah, I mean, like you said, I think we've got a really deep, deep team, especially on the offensive end. We've got a lot of guys that can contribute and a lot of guys that can put the ball in the hole. And I think it can be a different guy any given night that can hurt you. So I think that's what makes our team pretty special is that we've got seven, eight, nine different guys we can throw out there any night that can really make a big impact on the game. Q. Alex and Blake, you kind of touched on this earlier, but the 2016 experience against Baylor, how different does this feel than that? And how much more confident are you being that you've been on this stage and played two of those teams? ALEX COPELAND: Yeah, it definitely feels pretty different. I think as freshmen, I didn't actually get on the court, Blake did and he hit a three against Baylor, which was pretty awesome. I think there was definitely an element of kind of feeling like you were just along for the ride a little bit, and as much as I enjoyed that, I think I have vivid memories of being on the bus leaving March Madness and saying, okay, I've got to try to get back here before I graduate. And to be able to do that as one of the leaders of this team feels really special and just feels like a bit of a dream come true. I think that coming here and seeing it before, it kind of put that dream into your mind, and we were lucky to have really great seniors and really great leaders before us that were able to kind of bring some clarity to that vision, and I think when you can have a dream combined with a little bit of a plan and a vision and a blueprint of how to do it, I think you can try to do something really special. Q. For all three of you, could you please tell us how heavily you were recruited coming out of high school, whether you got any athletic scholarships from somebody, and if so, why did you ultimately choose Yale? MIYE ONI: So at first I didn't have any Division I offers, and then I committed to Williams College, Division III school before my senior year, played out my senior year. Then after my senior year a lot of Ivy League schools, Patriot League schools contacted me, and I committed to Yale after like June or July after my senior year. The admissions was closed, so I had to go to prep school for a year at Suffield Academy, and then I joined Yale for the 2016 class. Q. How challenging is the financial commitment for your families? Because I'm assuming that other than need-based financial aid, that not every single dollar of your education is paid for. ALEX COPELAND: I think that when you sign up to go to a school like Yale, it's one of those things where it didn't really -- even if it was just like 18-year-olds making the decision, I think something that our coaches tried to really kind of drive home with us in the recruiting process was that it wasn't a four-year decision. There were definitely sacrifices we'd have to make, whether it was financial or maybe not being like, quote-unquote, a high-major school, but we're making a 40-year decision, something that was an investment in our futures, and having an opportunity, one, to be on a stage like this but also to have like one of the best academic experiences and educations that's around. Q. Any athletic scholarships for you? ALEX COPELAND: Yeah, I had a couple. BLAKE REYNOLDS: Yeah, I mean, there was definitely other interests my junior summer. That's when I actually first started really playing summer AAU basketball and started getting some exposure. I'm a Midwestern kid, so a lot of like Missouri Valley Conference schools and schools in the Midwest area, like that. And then when Yale reached out, I thought that was just an incredible opportunity. I didn't really know much about the Ivy League or Ivy League basketball at the time, but yeah, once I got up there on campus and got to know the coaching staff and kind of what the program was about, I decided that was the right decision for me. Q. You guys are a high-scoring offense in the Ivy League. LSU is one of the most high-scoring offenses in the SEC. What is it about them that you've seen that makes them so difficult to guard, and what kind of game are you expecting? More of a shoot-out or are you going to try and make it more of a slower game? MIYE ONI: Yeah, LSU has a great offense. They have a lot of key pieces to their offense. They're pretty balanced. They're not fairly deep, but they are pretty balanced with who they play. I feel like we're kind of similar. I feel like we're a little deeper. We're also a very balanced team, and we both try to play in transition a lot but we both can slow it down to run the half-court set, so should be a fairly offensive game. Q. Alex, kind of piggy-backing on that last question, there's a school of thought in these kind of games that you slow it down to play a, quote-unquote, high-major, like you say. You all play up tempo, so are you going to run with this LSU team tomorrow? ALEX COPELAND: Yeah, definitely. We feel really confident, one, in our style of play, but also the actual talent level of the guys we have on the court. And so we're going to play our game. I think that, like any game, we're going to see how things are flowing, how things are going, if it starts to suit us better to slow it down and really kind of grind them offensively, then I think we'll try to do that in the half court, but if we're having success in transition, I feel like we have guys that can run with anyone. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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