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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SALT LAKE CITYMarch 20, 2019Mark FewJosh PerkinsGeno CrandallSalt Lake City, Utah THE MODERATOR: Questions for Gonzaga student-athletes, please. Q. Josh, obviously you were on the team two years ago that played in Salt Lake City and launched that run. How would you compare this year's team to that 2017 team? JOSH PERKINS: It's more similar than people would say. Defensively, you know, we can switch one through five, even though it's a deep team as far as depth goes. The swagger, the confidence level, just experience is similar. This team is a lot more versatile. More athletic, I'd say. We can get out on transition a bit better, square the ball better, but the teams are more similar than people would say. Q. Do you care to pick a winner? JOSH PERKINS: Gonzaga. (Laughter.) Q. For both guys, you probably saw a little bit of what Fairleigh Dickinson's guards did last night. What did you see? What stuck out? What do you have to do to defend those guys? Geno? GENO CRANDALL: Really talented guys, they are a good team overall. You don't make it this far, you're not playing in March if you're not a good, talented team that can play well together. So we will really emphasize locking in on defense. Our offense has taken care of itself all year minus a hiccup here or there. If we lock in to take away those guard plays, because when they are not scoring, they are the ones creating for the other guys, so if we are able to limit the looks they can get and the looks they can create for everyone else, we will be in good shape. Q. Josh? JOSH PERKINS: Those two guards are big time. It's the whole team that gets them there. But I think every time he shoots the ball it goes in. He is playing with extreme confidence right now. Jenkins was a huge part in getting over the hump. So limiting them and trusting we got help, collective team we have been doing all year, and we have one of the best defenders in the country on our team, so knowing he has our back around the rim and doing it collectively, we should be in good shape. Geno said it. Q. Can you both talk about what you have learned from this year playing together, both have a ton of experience and tournament experience, too. Josh? JOSH PERKINS: Can you say it again? Q. What have both of you learned from playing together? JOSH PERKINS: He's my guy. I have learned a lot watching him in previous years. At odd times, I'm aware of where No. 0 is. He is another guard out there who can handle the ball. Take me off the ball. Give me some open looks. And defensively, he is as solid as it gets. We play off each other and I truly believe that. Our chemistry was there from the get-go and it gets better every game. Q. Geno. GENO CRANDALL: We've got one of the more high-powered, complicated offenses in a way. It is really simple but there are a lot of reasons that you have to make, especially as a point guard being a ball-handler. He helped me out a ton with that. He is full of confidence. I feed off of that. He is a great leader. He knows how to lead the guys when they are off the court and I have been able to listen to him and fortunate to have been able to play with him this year. Q. With Virginia's loss last year, you may remember the game two years ago, 16 versus 1, can you talk about the pressure that comes with it? JOSH PERKINS: Same thing. Pressure. We have a group full of diamonds. Like you said, as the one seed, everyone is coming after you and they want to be -- they want to beat you as a team. So, they will come in here with nothing to lose, play with reckless abandon and with nothing to lose, and with being the one seed we have to know that going in and master intensity and control what we can control, that is playing for each other and taking care of the ball and, like I said, matching their intensity. Q. Josh, with you being from Denver, it is an eight-hour drive away, are you going to have a lot of family here? What following will you have here tomorrow? JOSH PERKINS: Yes, my dad will be here, my little sister, my little brother. So the clan made it out. Thankfully, we are in Utah, they could have hopped on a flight or hopped in the car. Thankfully, my family gets to see the last run in March for us. Q. Because of your ties to Gonzaga with John Stockton, do you feel like you are "the home team" here and is that anymore comfortable for you? JOSH PERKINS: I'd say so. Our fans do a great job of traveling with us wherever we go anyway. Utah, like you say, we have so many ties and being close to Washington in a way, it will feel like a home game. Two years ago, it felt like that. We fed off the crowd, and as basketball players, that is huge. At the end of the day, we are the ones on the court so we have to make it happen and bring the energy and get the crowd involved ourself, but it will help being the home team in a sense. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Mark Few, please. Q. Hey, Coach. When you win a lot and don't lose very much, how do you move on from, you know, whether it's been more than a week now, I think? Did you have to decide right away? MARK FEW: I would say that is definitely not my strong point, as an flawed human that would be an area I could work at better. (Laughter.) Yeah, I mean, we spent some time watching the film and going over it and then, you know, a couple of good days of practice and I'd say we're still in the process. It would have been nice if we could have played a game a day or two later, maybe not as much time to dwell on it. But we'll find out tomorrow night and see how they respond. Q. Mark, not that you weren't ever looking past the team in your history, but with what happened last year with UNBC and Virginia, how much different does that affect both sides -- you can't speak for the six teams -- but they are probably more like, Hey, we can do this, as well as you have to be careful? MARK FEW: I hate having this -- this will be our third one. I have watched enough over the years that, you know, I think probably reinforces the hope and the belief of the team that's in that 16 slot. Those of us that have been in the 1 slot have fully understood that it could definitely happen and, obviously, it did happen. After watching this team a lot, I'm very impressed with them. They are a legitimate team that we're going to have to play pretty darn good to move on. They got some toughness, they got some experience, some real resiliency. And obviously with everything they have been through and are on quite a roll as a team and then individually some of them were on -- they are probably playing their best basketball of the year. And the match-up, they have athletic mobile bigs kind of like we do and the guards can shoot. It will be a challenge. So you have to throw the seed out and just start game planning. Q. Mark, Brandon Clarke was born in Vancouver, didn't grow up there. He is one of more than 20 Canadians in this year's tournament. What have you seen of the growth of Canadian basketball in the last few years? MARK FEW: There have been a lot of great players. It's becoming more and more popular up there. We have been the beneficiary of some really, really good players. You think back to Kelly Olynyk, Rob Sacre, Kevin Pangos, some of the better players up there. And you have seen how well Canada has developed kind of on the world stage. To me, it is not like going overseas, like we do to Europe or with Rui with Japan. They are involved in our AAU system as much as our guys are. So, they're definitely well immersed in our system. Q. What have you seen as the biggest difference in Rui's game now from when he first arrived here? MARK FEW: I mean, enormous strides in all facets. I mean, let's start with understanding the English language. I mean, it went from zero to -- you know, it's not fully, full immersion like the rest of us who have lived here all our lives. He's done a great job with that. Learning how to kind of take control of the game a little bit and be more assertive. I think when he got here, it's very much kind of within his, the cultural norms to defer to people that are older than you, or who have been here a while, or they have seniority on you. We've had to get him to kind of work through that. Then obviously his game's really developed. He's shot the ball extremely well from three this year and, you know, his mid-range game was good when we got it, but it's improved tremendously since those first couple of months. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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