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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: HARTFORD

March 20, 2019

Leonard Hamilton

Hartford, Connecticut

COACH LEONARD HAMILTON: Our team has kind of been on a journey from the beginning of the year. We've had an awful lot of adjustments that we've had to make. We start the season off with our lead returning scorer, Phil Cofer, dealing with a stress fracture, which I thought really challenged our players somewhat to make adjustments to our rotation. Guys had to accept different roles.

Once we got into the season, we started off 1-4. That was another challenge that I thought that was unexpected. But it was challenging, and I thought through those challenges that we've had to overcome, our team has grown stronger, they've become more of a unit, trying to adjust to the different challenges that we had. And I think that we hit a point there during the season where I thought that we were growing in confidence, togetherness, and unity. And that allowed us to sometimes win close games, overcome deficits in games. And I think we've grown to be a team that played with a lot of confidence.

The best thing about our team, I still feel that we have not played our best basketball, and I think that as we -- I'm hopeful, that once we get into the NCAA Tournament, we can hid a stride similar to where we were last year, and hopefully that will give us the confidence to be extremely competitive in the tournament.

Q. Coach, it's been a little while, but you have some familiarity around here. You've coached in the building, coached against UConn, any favorite memories? Nice to be back a little bit?
COACH LEONARD HAMILTON: I can remember Ray Allen hitting six threes from that deep left corner in transition, and I got introduced to the league. I thought we were playing really, really well. And each time we would score, Ray Allen would streak down the left side of the court and seemed like they'd throw the ball from out of bounds and he'd hit a three. I looked at my assistant coach and said, you didn't tell me that was part of the challenge that we had to overcome.

But no, we enjoyed -- the people in Connecticut really are basketball fans, extremely knowledgeable, very supportive of the local teams. We always -- you always knew when you came to Connecticut, you're going to be in a tremendous atmosphere. I loved playing down at Gampel. We got invited to Gampel once. We got a little more competitive. UConn would always bring the teams they knew they were going to beat easily to Hartford. And once we got more competitive, it was a compliment that we had an opportunity to play on campus.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, give us a brief scout on Vermont, what you know so far.

COACH LEONARD HAMILTON: I've watched Vermont play and I'm extremely impressed with how well they execute. They seem to always be in control. They play to their strengths. They have great spacing, they move the ball well, they shoot the ball well from perimeter. They have a go-to guy that they keep the ball in his hands as much as possible. One of the radio announcers interviewed me and asked me what we thought would be the keys to the game.

And as I look at them, I think they execute very well. I think the team that's going to be successful will be the team that come closest to playing up to who they are. We have a system offensively and defensively. They have a system offensively and defensively. The team that's going to be successful is the team who executes who they are the best.

I think both teams are extremely competitive and been very successful. If you look back over the years, Vermont has a risk tradition. They are in the party of the country opposite from Florida. They are at the top of the USA, and we are at the bottom, so we probably don't know that much about each other. But I have a tremendous amount of respect for the tradition that they have been establishing. I'm not surprised at all. They've been one of the winningest programs in college basketball that nobody really knows a whole lot about.

But we have a tremendous amount of respect for them in the tournament. Hopefully our players' response will be a direct reflection of how much respect we have for their program.

Q. What do you think this game, especially up in Hartford means to Terance Mann? He's a New England kid and gets to come home for a few games.
COACH LEONARD HAMILTON: I think philosophically, this means a lot to him, being in an area where people are familiar with you. Once they throw the ball up, Terance won't be thinking about anything other than competing. He's extremely competitive. He has a high basketball IQ, he's a team player. He's a leader of our team in the locker room, on the basketball court. I think it will mean an awful lot to him to have an opportunity to go and play in advance. And I think that's what he's going to be talking about.

He has the ability -- he's a mature guy. He won't allow himself to be distracted, I'm sure. He'll probably have a few more people asking him for tickets. Other than that, I think he'll be old Terance and that's who we've grown to love.

Q. There's been a lot of comparisons with the ACC this year to the old Big East, three number one seeds and all of that. Can you compare what it's like to have leagues that strong and how did that prepare you guys? How does it prepare a team for this tournament to be from a league that's that strong?
COACH LEONARD HAMILTON: Well, there's no doubt that the competitiveness of our league is extremely challenging. Every night out in the ACC, if you're not at your best, you can have -- something bad can happen. If you're on the road, they can give you a hat and show you the door real quick.

This is a league that, it doesn't seem to matter whether you're ranked number one or you're at 15. You're in a competitive game. You have to end up respecting the name on the front of your jersey and not worry about who you're playing. Because if you allow yourself to be affected by the name on your opponents jersey, you have too many highs and lows. If you are very focused about representing who you are, and you have to be in that frame of mind. Because it doesn't seem to matter who you're playing.

You turn the TV on and you -- the number one and two ranked team in the league can be playing a team that's 13 or 14 in our league and it's a three or four point game. 70 percent of all of the games in the ACC are decided by four points or less. That means that this league is competitive. And so I think once we get into a tournament like this, because of the competitive nature of our league and the challenges we've had all year long, I think we'll be well-prepared.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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