NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - VERMONT VS MARQUETTE

March 16, 2023

Dylan Penn

Robin Duncan

Finn Sullivan

Nationwide Arena

Vermont Catamounts

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Vermont.

Q. Robin, this is obviously your third go-around. Have you kind of told any of the other guys how important this opening practice is, just to get comfortable in this sort of setting, especially when in conference play you aren't playing in these sorts of venues?

ROBIN DUNCAN: I haven't really addressed it personally. I mentioned how great it's going to be playing in a big arena like my past two years have been. But we're all really excited to play in a venue like this with a big crowd. So I know it's going to be a lot of fun.

Q. Dylan, you transferred to Vermont for this after what happened at Bellarmine last year. How excited are you to be here and to kind of experience everything you wanted with the tournament?

DYLAN PENN: It's really been a fun, exciting experience just to go from winning it in a different conference to coming here and winning.

And now this is where I wanted to be and just to see March Madness everywhere, it's been exciting and fun to kind of take it in before we get ready to play.

Q. Robin and Dylan, I know you're both local to this area to an extent, Midwest. How does it feel to get to play in the first round here in a place closer to home than Vermont?

ROBIN DUNCAN: There's going to be a lot of friends and families and coaches in the stands tomorrow. And it's going to be a really cool experience knowing how we got here. And I've had a couple of AAU tournaments here in Columbus. And getting to play on the big stage is going to be an awesome experience, and for Dylan as well.

DYLAN PENN: Just excited to have an opportunity to play closer to family and have them come out and support me and the team.

Q. Finn, now that you guys have had the opportunity to watch a little more tape on Marquette, how are you feeling potentially with a potential matchup with Tyler Kolek, the Big East Player of the Year?

FINN SULLIVAN: We got some different looks, some different actions to kind of surprise them or give them different types of looks. It's not going to be easy playing them man on man the whole time.

We've got some different defenses for them. But if I guard him I'll be ready to guard him. If Rob guards him, he's going to be ready to guard him. If Dylan guards him he'll be ready to guard him. Doesn't matter, we'll be ready to play.

Q. Marquette poses a unique challenge with Oso Ighodaro and Tyler Kolek as the playmakers. What's been the focus in practice to handle that? And have you faced players like those throughout the season in the America East?

ROBIN DUNCAN: He's a really good player. And at the end of the day we want to play our Vermont defense and making sure we're following our principles and stuff we worked on in practice. We'll have to rebound the ball like any other team. We're a little bit smaller team.

But, yeah, at the end of the day we've got to guard man-to-man and really match up to those guys.

Q. Finn, you've won 15 straight. Does that momentum carry over to this, or does it feel like it resets once the tournament ends?

FINN SULLIVAN: It definitely carries over. 15 wins in a row is not easy. We feel that for sure. So it carries over.

Q. Vermont has not won a round of 64 games since 2005, with the shot against Syracuse. And it seems like every time you guys make the tournament that gets brought up and you come close. How much have you guys been thinking about the fact that you guys have gotten close in recent years, especially under Coach Becker, but haven't been able to get the big upset yet and put yourselves out there on the national stage?

ROBIN DUNCAN: There's never a better time than now. You can't really look at the past too much. And really want to be in the moment right now. And when we get in a game we really want to take it possession by possession, make sure we're doing the right things and executing. And if we come out with a win, we come out with a win, we'll be happy with that.

Q. Finn, you guys had a slow start to the season. You played a really tough non-conference, a lot of travel. How did that challenging start kind of prepare you guys for now, what's going to be happening with travel and a tough team in this one?

FINN SULLIVAN: For sure. A lot of travel beginning the season. A lot of playing good teams at their place. And that's definitely going to help us now. Helped us in the playoffs for sure. It's going to help us now for sure.

Q. What does it mean for you guys to be here on the national stage? Obviously Vermont is a small state, small everything. So this is obviously a big stage. What's that mean for you guys?

DYLAN PENN: It gives us an opportunity to play in front of more people. And we feel like we do things the right way and we play really good basketball in Vermont. So it's just going to give us an opportunity to play in front of a national stage and really get eyes on Vermont.