	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: ANAHEIM

March 27, 2019

Anaheim, California

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Gonzaga student-athletes, Josh Perkins, Geno Crandall and Brandon Clarke. We will open it up for questions.

Q. Josh, of the three guys on the podium, obviously you're the only one that was on the court last year against these guys. Is it anything personal, considering how last season ended?
JOSH PERKINS: Obviously, I think about that game to this day, but nothing personal. It's a new team, new year. But, yeah, it's hard for me not to think about that. We owe 'em something but nothing personal at all.

Q. Brandon, I know Geno you weren't with the team, Brandon you were watching from the sidelines or back in Spokane. One, impressions, memories from last season; and two, how much better is it to be on the court as opposed to last year watching?
BRANDON CLARKE: I was back home watching that one, watching the game they were physical against us, and I feel like we struggled with that. I feel like we were just content to make it go there last year. But this year I feel like we have bigger goals. I feel like this team is kind of built better to play teams that are more physical and with bigger size than we were last year probably. So, you know, just looking forward to playing their size and that physicality.

Q. Josh, you guys had so many blowout games this year. I know coaches always practice late game situations. Did you end up doing a lot more of that this year just to make sure that you would be prepared for the tournament when you do you have a close game coming up?
JOSH PERKINS: Yeah, we do a lot of late game stuff scenarios and practices and we've had some close games this year. Just being poised and composed in times like that is huge. We've had some games that we lost, too, and just learning from that and we've done that. The coaches do a good job of putting us through scenarios as you said. Hopefully we don't have anything like that anytime soon, but if we do we're ready for it.

Q. To follow up, it was a long time since you had lost prior to that Saint Mary's game, I'll start with Josh. You never want to lose, we get it, you guys are competitors. Do you think that the loss to Saint Mary's allowed you to focus on what's ahead coming up?
JOSH PERKINS: Yeah, like you said, we won a lot of games before that Saint Mary's game and when you win you don't really learn a lot, it hides a lot of things. But when you lose, the truth comes out and there was stuff that we could fix as a team and as individuals as well. With that loss, a lot of things came to light that we needed to work on.

So we learned from that, watched the film and we played better the game after that. In a way, I'm not glad we lost, but I think that loss definitely helped this team, for sure.

GENO CRANDALL: Yeah, you know, I think we talk about we're a results-oriented group so not getting the result we wanted in that particular contest shed light on some of the things that we were getting away with, that we were able to win and succeed with some of the mistakes we had made. So not getting the result we wanted in that instance I think opened our guys to some of the stuff we had to be better at and work on and I think we focused on working all of those things and improving and making some of our weaknesses into strengths, in a sense. Ever since then just focused on the next one and how we can be the best every time we step out on the court.

Q. This program has been known as a place where players develop, where they spend a lot of time working on individual skills and getting players better. You went through that process, you transferred and you redshirted and now this. What was that process like in terms of the things that they singled out that you needed to get better at and how much working time is entailed in doing that?
BRANDON CLARKE: It was something that was actually really, really tough on me. Obviously not playing games and just having to sit on the bench every game and watch was something I don't really like. With that being said, I had lots of days where I was just training, lifting every day, shooting every day, I would still practice every day. I got lots of reps during practice just always, you know, like versus Rui and J3 and Killian Tillie and that was good for my game, too. It was also nice because I could learn Gonzaga's system more, but it was lots of, you know, days where I couldn't travel so I would just be back at home working out.

It was something I didn't like doing, really. But it was something that was huge for me. I wouldn't change it for anything.

Q. Guys, I know your assistant Coach, Donny Daniels had a long year over at Cal State Fullerton, did he tell you anything about Southern California?
JOSH PERKINS: He didn't, but now that you said that we have to pick his brain a little bit and see if he has any secrets for us.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen.

We are joined by Gonzaga Coach, Mark Few. We're going to open it up for a statement from Coach.

MARK FEW: Obviously it is a great honor and we're very excited to be here again for the fifth straight time. In the Sweet 16 which is just kind of an incredible streak that the players at Gonzaga have been able to accomplish.

It's not easy getting through that first weekend and couldn't be more proud of this group, how they kind of managed and navigated their way through it. Especially in lieu of we weren't feeling great about how we played in our conference tournament. It was great to see us get through that.

Looking forward to playing Florida State, but also understanding, man oh man, they are a very, very good basketball team. They do a great job defensively taking you out of what you want to do. Offensively, just coming at you with just a bunch of bodies, coming and coming and coming both on the glass and in transition and when they're making threes like they did last game, very impressive.

Q. Mark, last year you mentioned in your postgame remarks that Leonard playing so many guys that many minutes is a really hard thing for a coach to do. In general, what are the worries about that? Maybe like envy among players, flow, what would be the worries that they've clearly overcome?
MARK FEW: I would say that. Most of these guys want to play forty minutes and don't ever want to come out. My guys don't like coming out of games. It's just great job by he and his staff, setting the culture that, A, when you're out there you're going to play crazy hard and give it everything you've got; and, B, you're passing the baton to the next guy and he's fine with that.

I think that's probably the most difficult thing is that. Then they obviously do a wonderful job in explaining that in recruiting, too, because usually when you are recruiting, everybody wants to start and wants to shoot and wants to play forty minutes a game. I tip my hat to what they've been able to do there, and it's a system that certainly has worked and worked very well.

Q. I know you've done this before, but describe Brandon's development through the redshirt year, through the transfers and I'm sure he's better at a lot of things than he was then, but what are the biggest things that you guys have developed?
MARK FEW: To be honest, he has developed himself. He's done a great job actually from the time he decided to transfer, before he got up to Gonzaga, because the clips that I watched him when he was at San Jose State when my assistant Brian Michaelson brought him to me, he said, Coach, he's athletic. He has a knack for making stuff happen around the rim, but this shot is broken and it cannot be fixed. By the time he got to Gonzaga I was like, I don't know about that. I think it may be okay. And he worked extremely hard on it. Brandon did and the staff did, and now it's to the point where he can shoot the ball out at the three, and I think he's grown with a feel for the game. When you play in our system as a big, if you look over the history of the Olynyks and Sabonises and Collinses and Karnowskis and guys like that, we want our bigs to initiate a lot of our offensive action and Brandon has really grown in the last couple of months with that. I mean, I thought he was going to be really, really good for us. But, I mean, not even I predicted that he would be this good and he's been phenomenal a lot of nights.

Guys, I had no idea when somebody threw out the stat that he has more blocks than he has misses on the year. That is just an unbelievable statistic at this point in the year.

Q. Leonard was sitting in that chair about an hour ago and said you were the John Wooden of this generation when it comes to west coast basketball. Thoughts?
MARK FEW: That might be the greatest exaggeration of all time. Nobody can hold up to John Wooden, and he's obviously one of my heros and I've read ever possible book written about him.

Q. Maybe just as a follow-up, the pyramid and everything he was about. Is there anything you liked the most from his messages?
MARK FEW: There's a bunch. He's a man who had great faith and was able to keep his faith during and throughout his whole career in this crazy profession. I always loved the way his teams played. He had an unselfishness about them, even though they had great players. I think that's something we really try, and I think we've done a nice job with that at Gonzaga.

Again, anything I could take out and try to apply both to my team and my own personal life I did, because he's definitely one of my heroes in life.

Q. Mark, you had a lot of decisive wins as you've had in other years, but when you have a lot of decisive wins do you spend a lot of time in practice going over the late game close games that you might run into?
MARK FEW: That's a great question, Mark, and I think our team would tell you we've spent a lot of time playing three-minute games, two-minute games, one-minute, 30-second scenarios, and you get a rhythm to your practices and we probably do those at least twice a week throughout our league schedule, which was Thursday, Saturday. Try to vary it, send my main crew out there and make 'em down seven with three to go or down seven with two to go. But to be honest with you, nothing simulates game-type scenarios and action. To play Florida State it's literally impossible to simulate the length and the size and the athleticism that they come at you with.

You just do the best job that you can. It's obviously a blessing to be able to win all those games by that many points. It's a lot easier on the stomach and a lot easier on the heart, but I guess if there is a downside to something like that it would be not getting in-game work on the end of game stuff.

Q. You were talking about preparing for Florida State. Just those numbers, does that make the tape study, all the combos and everything more complicated?
MARK FEW: I mean, we've tried to simplify it for our guys, actually, and if you just look at it from kind of a guard position and then a big position, that's how we've broken it down for our guys.

Obviously, when Kabengele is on the floor it's different than what the big guys are on the floor, so break it down to make it easier to assimilate for the guys.

Actually, playing them last year, I think, really helps us at least at this point in the preparation. We will find out more tomorrow night. But it helps that we experienced that last year when we were trying to tell these guys what it's going to be like.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297