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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: JACKSONVILLEMarch 20, 2019Rick ByrdDylan WindlerKevin McClainNick MuszynskiJacksonville, Florida Q. Nick, how have you prepared for the match-up with Bruno Fernando and Jalen Smith and just the physicality that bigs from the Big Ten bring to the game? NICK MUSZYNSKI: That's kind of an everyday thing, that coaches are trying to get me to play more physical, play tougher, play more active, so I think that presents an awesome challenge. They're both really talented, great players, but that's something I need to work on this whole season. I think I've gotten better at it, but I still need to continue to work on it. So I think they just present even more challenge for me to just up my physicality and my activity defensively." Q. Dylan, if a recruit is coming for a visit on your campus and that recruit asks you, "Tell me about Coach Byrd," what are you probably going to be telling him? DYLAN WINDLER: I would just say he's one of the most down-to-earth guys I've met. You know, in recruiting, he's not throwing out this and that trying to get you to come. He wants to talk to you about your life and he wants to get to know more about you. He's a very personable man, very honest, and he teaches you life skills that you're going to take on with you for the rest of your life, something that you can't really take into account when you're picking a school. Those things really do matter, things off the floor as well as on the floor. Q. As a follow-up, for Kevin, about 14 minutes to go in that game last night, and the TV cameras are catching Coach Byrd losing his mind. He is on you guys. Obviously Coach can't do that like all the time, but did you feel like in that moment that his outburst did anything to provide a spark, because it did seem like for a few minutes there you guys really got out of kilter? KEVIN McCLAIN: Yeah, definitely him just getting on to us really put us back into gear and just it helped us to get ready to fight for the last 14 minutes. Q. Kevin, this is an experience pretty close to home for you. First of all, how many times have you been able to see games here? Have you ever had a game you've been able to see here at the arena in Jacksonville? KEVIN McCLAIN: No, I haven't. I came here a couple high school games and had little tournaments during the summer, but that's about it. Q. No college games here? KEVIN McCLAIN: No college games. Q. What's it like to have I guess the closest thing to a home away from home college setting and being here in the NCAA Tournament? KEVIN McCLAIN: I think it's great, just to be back home, and hopefully some of my family and friends get to come to the game and support me. Q. What kind of whirlwind has it been, and what's the schedule been like the last 12, 16 hours for you guys? Anybody feeling any kind of tired legs or anything? DYLAN WINDLER: Yeah, it's definitely been a big whirlwind, very quick turnaround, dealt with media after the game and then straight to the hotel, had about 20 minutes to pack our bags, got on the bus, hopped right on a flight, got back to the hotel about 4:00, 4:30 a.m., got to sleep at 5:00, woke up at noon, got about seven hours of sleep, had breakfast, did a little treatment, trying to keep our bodies right, and now we're already over here ready for another shootaround. Very quick turnaround. It's definitely something that can be hard to manage, especially with your body. I think a lot of guys experienced tired legs playing 35-plus minutes. We're trying to do just everything we can to keep our bodies right and keep our legs fresh, but it's definitely very hard. I think I drank five full bottles of water on the flight last night. Q. Coach Calipari just a few minutes ago called you guys the most dangerous team in America. A bunch of people including Jay Bilas have picked you to beat Maryland. Does this sort of ruin you being the underdogs and sneaking up on people? DYLAN WINDLER: It can for sure. A lot of people have us winning a few games here, so I mean, obviously we're the higher seed as far as a Cinderella, but I guess it can take away from that a little bit. But we know ultimately we're still the underdog, and we're just going to do everything we can to win. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. Q. Kevin or Nick, do you take anything the last few years from what VCU did, what Butler did, and say, I think VCU was an 11 seed and they went to the Final Four; do you look at the recent history of mid-majors making that kind of run? KEVIN McCLAIN: Definitely. That just shows like questions like why not, why not us? Q. Question for Nick: The game last night, 14-2 run by Temple in the first half, 21-5 run in the second half. What does it kind of say about you guys' collective mindsets that you didn't let a really bad spell get worse? NICK MUSZYNSKI: Yeah, I mean, basketball is a game of runs, and we've been playing the game for a long time now. We understand that. I think this group is really tightly knit. We love to play. We love to play together. So we have to understand to weather that storm and to come back with an even bigger run or just settling that run is critical, and just not letting it get out of hand, playing within ourselves, and sometimes we don't do that, we get outside the offense or something like that, but Coach Byrd does a really good job of reining us back and making sure we're all playing together and making sure we're getting it done, going on and playing Belmont basketball. Q. In any kind of a lighthearted moment that you might have with Coach Byrd, do any of you try to encourage him to expand on his wardrobe beyond the sleeveless sweaters? DYLAN WINDLER: You know, he sticks to it. I think he's had a lot of success with it, so that's him, and I'm all for it. Q. Really just for any of you, what does it mean to be able to have two teams from your conference in the tournament this year and have a bit more mid-major schools in the field this year? KEVIN McCLAIN: It just proves that mid-majors belong in the tournament and further on in the history of the NCAA that mid-majors can make a big push in the tournament. Q. Nick, I know you guys have played Purdue early in the year, which obviously Maryland plays them on a regular basis, and you played UCLA, beat UCLA. Is Maryland in your eyes what you see on tape, are they maybe the most physically gifted or talented team potentially that you've played? NICK MUSZYNSKI: If I'm being completely honest with you, we actually haven't watched tape yet. We're probably going to do that after we shoot around or walk through their stuff, then we're going to actually go watch it to get a good visual concept of what they do. But from what I've seen, yeah, they are. They're long, they're physical, they're athletic, they're well-coached. They're really good defensively. So those things can make it difficult. But I think there's a lot of similarities between teams like them and UCLA and Purdue just with the way they defend, especially on the defensive end, and it's kind of the way we have to attack that. So yes and no, they're definitely up there. I don't know how they rank against UCLA or Purdue, but they definitely have their own strengths that make them a difficult match-up. Q. Dylan, when you're not having a good scoring game like what was happening last night, how cognizant are you of that in the moment, and are you at least mindful, hey, if I'm not scoring, I've got to get rebounds, I've got to get a steal, I've got to do something to positively impact? And how comforting was it that Kevin picked that night to really go off and sort of make up for the void that you had from a scoring standpoint? DYLAN WINDLER: Yeah, it just shows how dangerous this team is. You know, basketball is just like any other sport, you're going to have off-days. The ball is not always going to go in when you shoot. It's just one game, and just knowing that you have other teammates around you that can pick you up and score the ball when one of us isn't scoring it well. It happens to all of us, so you know. I always try to do anything I can to help my team win, whether that's getting rebounds, deflections, steals, anything that I can do, I'm always trying to help this team win. It's a team effort and that's the beauty of basketball; it's a team sport. THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could start us off with a statement, the whirlwind for your team to be here in Jacksonville today. RICK BYRD: Yeah, it's been nonstop, really, since we were selected, and obviously it starts before then. We lose a championship game to Murray State, and it's a week long of speculation. As I've said a couple of times, I wouldn't ever choose it. We would like to beat Murray State every time we play them, but as it just turns out, that loss to Murray State has been a good thing for Belmont. I mean, the week-long talk about whether we should be in and a lot of notable basketball analysts really making a case for us, so the attention that Belmont University and our basketball program got all week and then got again when we were selected, and then had we won that championship, we would not be playing last night, and we'd have had a tough game right off the bat, and who knows if we'd have ever won our first NCAA Tournament. In an odd way, losing a game, which is never something that I like in the least, turned out to be a good thing. Q. John Calipari earlier called you guys the most dangerous team in America. How would you assess that? RICK BYRD: (Laughing.) Sometimes I think they're the most dangerous team to me. Last night there was about three or four times when I was really disappointed with the way that we were playing. You think John's got a little hyperbole in him every now and then maybe. He's a great guy. I'll tell you, he's been a wonderful friend, for no reason, to me and our program. I think our team is at a point where there's probably not a whole lot of people that want to play us. But I'm sure Maryland is not really very scared right now. I mean, they've got plenty of good basketball players that we don't -- the kind that we don't face, the length and the size and athleticism. We just don't face that but maybe once or twice a year. Q. And just to follow up on that, a lot of people are picking you guys to win, Jay Bilas, a number of national typewriters and broadcasters. Does that sort of take the surprise factor out of it or in this day and age are there no more surprise teams? RICK BYRD: You know, I didn't -- the only person I would have heard pick us was the Selection Show I heard Seth Davis say that. He's picked us before and been wrong. Don't you think those guys have to pick a few upsets just to -- that's what they've got to do? Otherwise they wouldn't have shows. They'd just go by the seeds and that's who they'd have. I'd like to think we're in the discussion, but they're a 6 and we're an 11 and they deserve that. They play in a rugged league, and they've been tested time and time and time again. We would be legitimately the underdog, but hopefully an underdog with a chance to win the game if we play well and they miss a few shots. Q. What is the concern with the short turnaround from a tired legs standpoint, all that? RICK BYRD: Yeah, that's a good question, and I don't have an answer for it. All these kids on both teams have played summer basketball, and they've played sometimes maybe even three games in a day and then turned around and played two the next day and all of that. I hope that -- when we go, we'll go out here and do shootaround stuff and then we'll go try to prepare after that, and we will do nothing with speed, running, and hopefully we find -- I think there's going to be a little adrenaline going. But we had some tired guys last night. There's no question about that. It's also a little tougher on the other end of the quick turnaround to play on a Saturday and then wait until middle of the next week after that to play. You're trying to keep them in shape but trying not to wear them out. I don't know, it's not optimal. Nobody would choose it. But we would choose it rather than be on the bus back to Nashville right now, which is where we'd be if we'd have lost last night. Q. There have been reports in the past that you've had a flirtation at one time with Tennessee or at least discussions about that job. When you look back on your career, is there a comfort and satisfaction in having taken Belmont's program through NAIA, through the D-I independents to where it is now as opposed to maybe having had an opportunity to coach at a Power Five school or at a higher level? RICK BYRD: Well, by the time that I was -- let's say we made the tournament in '06, '07 and '08, and in '08 I would have been 55 years old, and any job I would have got at that level would have been one that you've got to start over maybe, probably. And by the time you're that age, if you're at a place like Belmont and live in a city like Nashville and quality of life is not more important to you than whatever level somebody thinks you coach at, then I don't think your priorities are very straight. So yeah, I do feel a lot of satisfaction for what's happened with this program. I mean, 20-plus years ago Dr. Bill Troutt decided to take Belmont Division I. A lot of people thought that was not a very smart decision. And I think as we sit here today, it turned out to be a really good one, and I am thankful that I got to be part of that. Q. If you were just another basketball fan looking at your team and trying to figure out the bracket, would you pick Belmont to win? RICK BYRD: In this game coming up? Q. In this game or just in general. RICK BYRD: I mean, I thought the Temple game was pretty much a toss-up kind of game. But in this game, I wouldn't pick Belmont to win. I mean, again, they're a 6 seed. The committee spent a whole lot more time than I have thinking about which team is better. It's not easy -- we have to overcome a lot to beat a team, again, with the length and the athleticism and the physical size and get good shots and keep them off the boards. There's a lot of extra kind of easy points that they can get on us that it's hard for us to get on them. It can happen, and we've had a lot of good big-name wins over the years, just not in this tournament. Gun to my head, I would pick Maryland. Q. You played Purdue earlier in the year, does that give you a comfort that you've played a team with that kind of physicality or does that give you concern? RICK BYRD: You know, we went to UCLA and won, and before that UCLA had had a couple of -- they'd had a loss or two, but they'd beaten Notre Dame. They weren't falling apart at that point. And after us, they went to Cincinnati and Ohio State maybe and got beat pretty bad, and then they were going downhill quick. But they have the kind of size, athleticism -- they've got very good players. I think that helps our team know they can belong in a game. Purdue, Purdue defended us really well, and if we hadn't made a little unbelievable 12 or 13-point run with seven or eight minutes to go in the game and cut it to six or seven, then it would have looked like a lot worse game than it was. They outplayed us. But it makes you better when you play good people, and that's why we've always been unafraid to schedule that way. I think by the time we get to January, we're tested and ready to play in the OVC. Q. Mark Turgeon said that he goes back with you quite a ways, I guess Belmont was about to join the Atlantic Sun. RICK BYRD: Right. Q. The fact that he knows where you came from, in terms of preparation from a coaching standpoint, do you think he can get that message across knowing where this team and where you sort of evolved from? RICK BYRD: Yeah, I don't think -- I think that our program is at a point where you don't have to talk too much to your guys when you're a Power Five team and say this team can do something, because this is our eighth trip since '06, and we've had some high-profile wins during regular seasons. But he knows his team, and he knows how to do this, and this is the NCAA Tournament, and if Maryland is not ready to play tomorrow because they're playing Belmont, then I'd be totally surprised, and just like him, disappointed. When you get here, this is what you try to do your whole life. They're young, really young. These guys are getting a chance. We had nobody that had played in an NCAA Tournament game last night. It was huge for our guys to be in that game and have a chance. They'll be the same way. Q. Coach Calipari talked about how you had a meeting with him last summer, just a visit about, he just wanted to get some information and advice about offense from you. You did the same thing in 2012 with UNF when Coach Driscoll and his staff came up there. How often have you had these types of meetings with other programs who just kind of want to kind of glean some insight from your experiences at Belmont? RICK BYRD: You know, without naming names, I'd say that over the years we've probably had -- over the last seven, eight years, eight or nine or ten coaches come in from different level schools. We had one that came in and wanted to know how we defended, and I thought, this is the first time anybody has asked me that. You can come back any time you want to if you think we defend good. Everybody else wants to talk offense. John is just being kind. He knows what he's doing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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