NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL FOUR: FLORIDA ATLANTIC VS SAN DIEGO STATE

March 30, 2023

Darrion Trammell

Matt Bradley

Keshad Johnson

Adam Seiko

Nathan Mensah

Lamont Butler

NRG Stadium

San Diego State Aztecs

Semi-Finals Pregame Media Conference

Q. You guys have this vibe around you. When people talk about you, they say they are grown men; they're just tough as nails. Can you take us through what a San Diego State Aztecs practice looks like?

DARRION TRAMMELL: Our practices are intense. It started in the summer. We first got to campus, and everyone was really excited about the year, and we all were battling. We just didn't know about play time, our depth, we didn't know anything, everyone was out there battling.

That carried throughout the entire season. Each practice we know what's at stake. We have opportunities ahead of us. Each game wins -- each time or moment in the game matters. So we're just very, very intent on what we do at practice, just because we know anything can lead to a loss. So we're all locked in at all times.

MATT BRADLEY: For us I'd say the competitive nature is high. For Coach Dutch, the biggest thing he relies on is trust, and that's gained in practice. So when somebody's having a bad game or their minutes start to go down, their intensity definitely picks up in practice due to wanting to get that spot back or wanting to get more chances or touches.

So everything starts in practice, with defense, offense, our competitive nature, our intensity.

KESHAD JOHNSON: Practice is really dialed in. You feel it when somebody gets like a little bit lost and Coach Dutch do a good job bringing everybody back. We focus on the little things and try to stay dialed in as long as possible because one thing could save a whole game. And in practice we get that one thing done that's going to lead to future success.

Q. Matt and Darrion, you guys both transferred. I wonder if there's a different level of physicality in practice that you guys had to adjust to.

MATT BRADLEY: Coming here, I've always been a bigger guard, more aggressive, that's something -- at my last school, I was throwing my weight around and thinking I could just bully everybody, but coming here, there's a bunch of other grown men. They put me in check instantly, coming to play against guys like Keshad and Nate and Darrion, we get into little tie-ups here and there.

So transferring here was an adjustment as far as physicality and understanding nothing is personal, just trying to get better at the end of the day.

DARRION TRAMMELL: Yeah, I think that was a big part. Nothing was personal. We're all in it together, and we're all just going to go at each other. Our practices are more physical, on the more physical side. That's what carries over to the game. That's where I feel we have the advantage on a lot of teams. It all starts in practice.

Q. To kind of follow up on that, and any of you guys can answer, do you think, when you get on the court with teams, they're surprised by your physicality? Even going back to the Alabama game last week, I don't think they knew what was quite coming or that was the perception from the outside. Do you feel like teams from outside the Mountain West that don't know you, that they're surprised at how tough and how physical you can be? And maybe, Keshad, you could start.

KESHAD JOHNSON: I start by saying the other coaches, they do their scouting report. So they know what we're about. But it's different being a player on an opponent's team. Once you actually get into the game and it's actually a battle, it's pretty much different.

So, it's not just like they don't know what we're about. They see it on film. But it's also a different feeling when it's live and actually a physical game, in person.

MATT BRADLEY: We faced a lot of adversity in practice just battling with each other, trying to get each other better. When it does come to game time, we're all teaming up, we're going against the other team, it's like we even go so much harder because it's an opponent we don't necessarily have to hang out afterwards or be friends with.

Definitely we go out and play other teams, I think they definitely feel that physicality, our maturity, everything that comes with San Diego State.

DARRION TRAMMELL: I don't think they're surprised much, but like I said, like Keshad said, once it's in the game -- it's kind of hard to have that type of simulation in practice. So when we are in the games, it's not really surprise, but it's really not much you can do about it if you're not used to it.

Q. With the transfer portal, the FAU coach and some of their players said they were being recruited to transfer right now, while they're in the tournament, like other schools reached out to their families or them or whatever. I'm wondering, has that happened to any of you guys? And just what do you think about the portal and guys moving around and total free agency for the players, any downside to it, or is it all good for the players and for college basketball?

DARRION TRAMMELL: Evolution for college basketball. Personally, I don't know any schools that reached out. But just the evolution. The transfer portal is a big thing now. San Diego State, me and Matt came here out of the transfer portal. It's a big thing in the game. I think it's pretty much the power of the players, giving the power back to the players and the players have somewhat of the power now.

MATT BRADLEY: With the one-time transfer rule, NIL, all these things coming about right now, it's a crazy time. This is my last week of college basketball. I wish I had more time to play to experience everything going on. But just to be able to watch from the outside, I'm just really interested to see all the guys going and how basketball's going to change, hopefully for the better. That's just my take on it.

KESHAD JOHNSON: The transfer portal, the transfer culture, there's this evolution right now. I just pray that all the college athletes use it to their advantage because it can be a curse to people that don't really know how to use it, coming up with NIL and other things like that.

So I just hope we can all just use it to our advantage and put ourselves in better positions than we were before. That's what I want to say, pretty much.

Q. Unrelated to what I already asked, there's this perception from the outside that this is kind of a, quote/unquote, boring Final Four, there's not like the traditional names. You guys have been awesome as a program for a decade-plus. Do you find that narrative insulting when people say there aren't the big names in Final Four like most years?

KESHAD JOHNSON: I mean, you understand what they're saying, like, so you could take the message personal or you could not understand where they're coming from. We understand where they're coming from. No Blue Bloods in here or anything like that, mid-majors in here. So it's not really -- it's nothing really crazy about it. We understand what they mean.

And it's a chip on our shoulder. We're used to it. We're used to mid-majors. People not expecting mid-majors to be on a stage like this. I wouldn't really take it personal. I take it with a grain of salt and stay focused and get it done.

MATT BRADLEY: For somebody to make that statement, you can't be a true March Madness fan, you can't be a true basketball fan, because at the end of the day everybody has a chance to be here. Those teams they wanted here, they're not.

So we got here fair and square. We beat some really good teams. So have the other teams in the Final Four. Everybody had a chance to participate in Final Four. And if they didn't make it, better luck next year. And you've got to keep moving forward.

DARRION TRAMMELL: I think it's the evolution I was talking about earlier, the game as a whole. Mid-majors have some good players. So I think we're just representing that. And a lot of teams here have a chance to make history for their schools and for the city they come from. Kind of have to respect that. It's a blessing for us to be here. That's all I have to say about that.

Q. Matt, it struck me when you said this is my last week of college basketball. You couldn't have picked a better way to spend it.

MATT BRADLEY: Right.

Q. What do you hope that America says about San Diego State University basketball after everything we've witnessed?

MATT BRADLEY: I hope people of America, everybody watching San Diego State, sees how resilient we are. We came through a lot of adversity, having down points in the season. Losing games we should have won. Having some weird tough wins that people didn't necessarily like. And you never know what type of team we're going to be throughout the season.

We stuck to the game plan. We stuck to each other. We stuck to the coach's plan, and we just stayed resilient and we didn't let the outside noise really bother us.

And we're not a bunch of five stars up here. We're just a bunch of hard-nosed dudes that like to play basketball and play for each other and win games. The Final Four teams that are right here, looks like that's the makeup of a lot of these teams. I hope they see that.

Q. Darrion, what's the plan for your family? And are they all going to be able to be here to watch you play?

DARRION TRAMMELL: Yeah, definitely. They're making their way down. I'm excited for them to get here. It's a blessing to be here, and for them to come out and see me have the opportunity to perform on this stage and have the opportunity to win a national championship and them being here, just being one of the first, ever, from where I come from, for them just to witness that, it's a blessing. I'm really excited for that.

Q. Take us all the way back to memory lane here because the whole identity of your program is physicality, toughness, defense. What was your first San Diego State practice like?

ADAM SEIKO: That's a good question. I got here a while ago. And I can tell you my first practice was stressful, hard. I mean, practicing for two and a half hours, I think, and nowadays we only practice for about an hour and a half.

But when I first got to this school, you could tell that the message was defense, physicality and toughness, like you said. And from day one, when we started the preseason, that's our identity. And so ever since I've been here, it's been that all along. And it gets you really prepared for the games.

NATHAN MENSAH: I would say I came my year, we were four freshmen. So when we first came in, we were told you guys have practice at 12. So we had 30 minutes of defensive practice before the seniors joined us, which I felt like are we going to do this the whole day? Just defense? Lo and behold, we did only 90 minutes on defense, and I was like, I've signed up to something different.

LAMONT BUTLER: My first practice was different because I came in after the COVID years. We all had masks on. Could barely see each other's faces, hard to breathe in the mask. But from day one it was competition. It was competition, everybody was fighting hard. It was a great atmosphere. It was actually pretty fun to me, for sure.

Q. Lamont and Adam, could you each summarize the impact on your defense that Nathan makes every game?

LAMONT BUTLER: The impact Nathan has is extreme. He allows for us guards to pressure up a little bit more because if we get beat, we know he's going to have our back. He's going to clean it up at the glass. And also he can guard guards. We can switch, and he can stay in front. He can guard them, make them shoot tough shots. And he's just a huge impact for us.

ADAM SEIKO: He's been great. Back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year. Two of these guys were great at defense, but Nate has been our anchor down there for as long as he's been here. Switch 5. He can guard guards. When he's able to do that, it doesn't make us help as much. We can get back to shooters.

His presence at the rim, especially this tournament, has been unbelievable. It's won us games for sure. Having him down here, he trusts us, we trust him. He's a very coachable guy. That's the best thing you can ask for out of a player.

Q. With the transfer portal, some of the FAU players and coaches said that other schools had reached out to them now during the tournament to try to get them to transfer or contacted their families or whatever. I'm wondering if that's happened to any of you guys, and just your thoughts in general on the portal and all the player movement and player empowerment. Is that all good for college basketball? Is there any downside to it?

ADAM SEIKO: Yeah, the transfer portal has been a big thing the past few years. It's getting pretty crazy. But at the same time it's good to go where you feel you fit. There's a lot of good players out there. There's a lot of schools that want players. And at the end of the day you make your own decision because it's your future. And whatever you want to do is best for your future, you make that decision.

NATHAN MENSAH: I'm an international student. So this doesn't benefit me. It's like I'm going to where I feel like I see myself to build a relationship not only with the team but also with the environment and the community. That's why I chose San Diego State.

LAMONT BUTLER: The transfer portal has ups and downs. It's helped a lot of people. It's helped us. We got Matt, Darrion, in the past Yanni and Malachi Flynn. It's just kind of a personal decision, wherever you feel you fit, like Adam says.

Q. (Off microphone.)

LAMONT BUTLER: Haven't been reached out to anyone.

ADAM SEIKO: I'm done, so...

Q. Nathan and Adam, you guys were both part of that 2020 team that obviously never got a chance to compete for a national championship. What was that moment like finding out the season obviously was not -- you weren't going to be able to play a tournament, but then how fulfilling is it to see the process through and be here representing San Diego State for the first time?

ADAM SEIKO: It was extremely devastating when we got that news. I was at home watching ESPN when they canceled the season. I had no words. I was speechless. All the work we put in, for it to come to an end there. Potentially we felt we were going to win it all. Especially for the guys, KJ, Malachi, Yanni, all the seniors, guys who were going to have big games in the tournament to help their future. It was devastating.

But now to be here three years later, time flies. It was such a blessing. We're doing it for those guys. I'm constantly talking to them, telling them how much I love them, how much I wish they could be here with us in this position. But they're so happy for us. And we're just blessed to be here.

NATHAN MENSAH: For me, personally, that year I only played 13 games because I had some issue with my health, and the day it got canceled, I just got cleared to play basketball again. So I was unaware. I texted Malachi, Hey, I've been cleared.

And he responded by saying, Haven't you heard?

I was like, Heard what?

He was like, It got canceled.

I was kind of like shocked and I was in disbelief, and I was like maybe they might let us play without fans because March Madness is not just big thing for us, but it's a big thing for like the whole nation.

And I feel bad for the seniors that didn't get an opportunity to play in this event. I hope that our success is giving them a sense of joy and happiness and some kind of fulfillment. So that's one thing I hope we're able to do for them.

Q. Lamont, you get this one off -- I'm going to ask Nathan and Adam one -- you just said we did 90 minutes of defense. All this defense, defense, what kept you from maybe saying, man, it's all defense, we're not scoring, this is kind of -- that stinks, but this is really hard? What kind of kept you buying into all that? And my question for you, is you said about feeling you could win the national championship a couple years ago. When did you feel that this year that you could do what you're doing right now?

ADAM SEIKO: I felt that from the preseason, back in July and August, when this team came together. We knew we were going to be really deep. We had guys, guards, bigs, so deep in every position. And this team could go as far as we could take ourselves and as connected as we can be.

And throughout the year, and the mid-year, we had a player-only meeting, which I'm sure people have read about, which really changed our season. Something small. And at that time we were still first in the Mountain West, in the standings. And we just came off a loss and we felt like we had to have a player meeting and just get more connected.

And after that, the sky was the limit for us. And winning regular season title, winning the conference title, we knew we could be really, really dangerous coming into the tournament.

NATHAN MENSAH: For me the reason I say that -- you kind of are happy with something that you're good at, as a person. So when I felt, got there, I picked up some of the principles that the older guys were sharing, and I really excelled in defense easily, like my early stages of college.

So I kind of fell in love with it. As Coach Dutch always says, if you play defense, if you're a freshman and you play defense, you're going to be on the floor. I wanted to be on the floor. So I made sure I excelled in that point.