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NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: ATLANTAMarch 24, 2006John BradyGlen DavisDarrel MitchellGarett TempleTyrus ThomasATLANTA, GEORGIA MODERATOR: We have Coach Brady, and players here. We'll start with an opening statement from the coach. COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, I can't wait to see where this goes with this crew. We're excited about where we are and looking forward to the game tomorrow night. I think they're extremely talented athletically. I think they mirror us in some ways. Some of the things we like to do, they do. So sometimes when we're watching tape of them, we're similar in some areas. So I think it may be a case of which team can do what they do the best for the longest period of time will have an opportunity to win that game. They're well coached. But I was proud of our team last night and one of the things that I told the guys coming in here, only thing -- I don't dislike this press conference, I really enjoy it, because it's better than not having one when you're going home. But we're going to have to talk about the Duke game again. I know we'll have some questions about last night and I would just as soon move on and leave that game where it was. Because that does no good for us to keep talking about it. But this is an obligation we have and we will cooperate in any way that we need to. But I told our guys, answer any questions about whatever they ask you, but remember when we walk out of this room, last night's over. And we need to give all of our attention to Texas and understand the next game is the most important game and that's tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow evening. MODERATOR: Questions for Coach or players. Q. I have nothing to ask about Duke. But this is a question for Coach and for the several players who are from Baton Rouge. Is there an extra feeling of satisfaction that you've put this team together from so many local guys and for the guys who are from Baton Rouge, what made you stay home to play for LSU? COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, that's a great question. I think -- and I think when you see Tasmin Mitchell here from Denham Springs that's ten miles down the road, and Darrel is 45 miles in St. Martinville, so I think it's unique in college basketball to have a starting five -- and then Darnell Lazare from Baton Rouge comes off the bench and I think it's unique. Maybe not as unique as it would be for New York City or Chicago where you have millions of people in a small area. We don't have millions of people in our state. So I think to have this type of team and the quality of the players that we have from the area, from the city and 50 miles around the city, our top six players, is unique. These guys grew up together. Garrett and Glen and Tyrus and Tasmin have known each other and played against each other all of their lives, really. And Darnell Lazare is in that group too as a junior. And they have their own way of communicating, their own language, that I'm not privy to, and their own way of doing things. And they're great to be around. And I would say that, I don't say that because they're here, and I hate to see that in front of them sometimes, because I want them to stay humble and hungry. But they have helped me be a better coach. Not because they're talented players, but because of their approach to the game and approach to one another and their response to me. There's been many times in coming off of the floor when things aren't going as well as we would have liked, where Glen or Tasmin come off the bench or Garrett and say, Okay, coach, be positive, we know, we know, be positive. And that's good stuff. Because I've had a tendency to fly off and be confrontational at times. And this group has helped me approach it better. They may be laughing, but it's the truth. And I appreciate that from these guys. GARRETT TEMPLE: Oh, you know, my thoughts? Oh, I guess it is a little more special than the usual because we are all from Baton Rouge. Me, having known Tyrus since we were about four years old and I knew Glen since the age of nine or ten, and I been battling with Tasmin since 12, you know. And I guess it is a little more special than usual. But we're just another college basketball team trying to win. TYRUS THOMAS: You know, like Garrett said, we have been knowing each other since we were four and Glen, since we were ten, Tasmin. I think they knew Tasmin a little bit before me. But it's just -- it's good to have local guys playing at the college level together. It draws a great fan base and a great camaraderie with the team that we have. So I'm just happy to be playing. We're just trying to win games. GLEN DAVIS: It's a great feeling to play with guys you know and guys you already have established a relationship with off the court also. I'm so sorry. I was distracted from a teammate. See like that. Stuff like that, it's just some things that you can't teach that. You can't. You just got to have that. It's just an understanding that we have. Not just coming from the same city, it's because we know each other and we enjoy each other's presence and it make as good feeling when we can all be from the same city and same state and come here and compete on a national level. It makes it even better. So it's a great feeling to be at one and to share this with these guys. Q. Follow-up question to that is, do you think that some is made too much of the fact that these guys have known each other for so long, is it really such a huge benefit on the court and conversely, is there any negative of having guys that have known each other for so many years, they're so tight, trying to mix them in with other players? COACH JOHN BRADY: I don't think so. To answer your second question first, Magnum Rolle, they have been great with him and he's from the Bahamas, and Ben Voogd from Oregon, he's mixed in well. And this isn't something that we planned, it just happened that all of these players came along at this particular time. It's a circumstance that I had no control over. But with Butch Pierre, who has known all of these guys forever, recruited them and I helped a little bit and we did have to work -- there was nothing taken for granted. All these guys were recruited by everybody in the country and I think we did a nice recruiting job on them. And we did have the advantage of them wanting to stay home and play. And knowing what they could do collectively and the statement that they could make, I think it is an advantage. Particularly when you have tough times. Anybody can get along with things are going great. But the test of true friendship and concern and care for one another is when have you difficult times. And we have had some of those. But we have always tried to remain positive this year with one another and with this team to get ourselves through those early bumps, when we gave away a couple of games against quality competition. We kind of gave them away. But we were able to work through all of that. And to get to this point I think it shows the character of the team, but I think it also shows the concern that this team has for each other. And I think that the base of it is from these guys knowing each other for as long as they have. Q. I understand your desire to move on from yesterday's game, you guys made such a big deal out of wanting to beat Duke and having that opportunity, are you at all concerned that it's going to be difficult to turn the page as quickly as you have to do it? How do you do that? COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, I thought that -- I talked to someone last night after the game they said what's your biggest challenge, I said the biggest challenge for us right now is to calm our team down, get them back to the hotel, settle them down and get some rest. And worry about our preparation for Texas today. And our team did well. We had a meal in the hotel last night, we talked a little bit at the meal. They went straight to their rooms. We had no family, no friends up there. We had we had the floor monitored and we brought a campus security officer with us and our strength coach, they monitored the floor. And our players controlled themselves pretty well. And I think they're focused on tomorrow's game. I think they feel good about what they were able to do last night and how they did it, not only -- it wasn't a fluke where we hit a shot from half court to win the game. It was a 40 minute complete defensive effort that our team gave. They feel good about that and hopefully that gives them more confidence going into a game tomorrow. They know that the game tomorrow is a chance to go to the Final Four. One more win, you're in the Final Four. And I told Darrel Mitchell today at the workout this morning, that we just completed, I said, Darrel, let's go win, win one more. And Darrel Mitchell said, let's go win three more. So I think the planning ahead is there and I think our team's responded to that pretty well right now. Q. Coach, can you talk about the defensive adjustments you made from the Iona game going through a zone, forcing them to shoot three pointers to the Texas A&M game and now to Duke? Just three different adjustments and how defense has really kind of helped you guys ride this win streak? COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, I think that we're basically a man to man defensive team that puts a premium on rebounding the ball. I think that's always how I've tried to build every team that I've ever had, regardless of its talent level or its -- or the things that it can do well in terms of scoring the ball or driving it, whatever the case may be offensively. But Iona presented a different challenge because their two guards combined for almost 50 points a game. And although they shot a good percentage from the three point line, they didn't shoot a lot of three pointers. So our attitude particularly the second half was to take away their penetration and let them shoot some threes and when we went to a zone in that game it really kind of helped us out. After we got a little lead we went to a zone and made them shoot balls over us. Which helped us, it took away their dribble penetration and changed the game. Texas A&M, there was nothing tricky about Texas A&M, what they run is pretty simple, straightforward kind of basketball team, but extremely well disciplined defensively, very, very tough for 40 minutes. That was a good preparation game for us coming into the Duke game because of the defense that Texas A&M played, the overplay, the denials, the physicalness of it. And Duke likes to cover and get out on first and second pass. So it was a good preparation game for us, playing A&M coming into Duke. Duke presented a pretty straightforward challenge too, because you had J.J. Redick and Williams, making and shooting over half their free throws, free throw attempts, making and shooting over half their field goals, averaging over half of the points that the team scores. So it's like I said earlier, doesn't take a mathematician to figure out, if you slow both those guys down or stop one or whatever the case may be, you may enhance your chances to win the game. And that was our plan. To not let J.J. Redick shoot any ball in rhythm. I can only remember one rhythm three that he made and it was in the second half and I'm not singling out Tyrus, because without Tyrus Thomas we certainly wouldn't have been able to win the game. It was a down screen on Garrett and I know Garrett remembers it, he got hung up and Tyrus was laying off of his screener, and he broke free and shot it in rhythm and he made it. And when you let Redick shoot in rhythm, it's in every time. And our rule was, if we're in doubt, defender leave the screener and both of you run at Redick and leave the other guy open. And we didn't do that and he made it. But I -- but that's the only one that I can remember off the top of my head where we didn't double J.J. on every ball screen or hedge him big or help Garrett every way we possibly could to keep him off a rhythm of scoring. But still, even tomorrow's game against Texas is still -- it's a base defense of solid, aggressive, man to man defense that doesn't foul carelessly or needlessly. And that's what we try to do is defend aggressively without fouling. And there's a discipline that comes with that. And I think our team has shown it in this tournament to this point. Q. Darrel, Coach talked about it a while ago how he's less confrontational than he used to be and so forth. You being the only senior on the team how have you seen him change in four years and can you kind of lets us know what makes him a good coach? Maybe something that we don't get to see or know about? DARREL MITCHELL: He's made a drastic change since my freshman year. My freshman year he was a tough cookie, you know. He would say things you wouldn't expect him to say and with me playing for my dad, he was a different, it was different out look for me. So I would just sit back and watch him and laugh and sometimes and I didn't think he would like that, but he would get on me and I was so used to playing for my dad and I think it would kind of -- it would kind of get on him a little bit because it didn't bother me. Because he was used to guys getting pissed off and stuff. But with this team, he had to have his patience. I think he did a tremendous job with being patient with these young guys and working with them from day one and I think that with him being patient that it let guys show that he does wants us to have a great season and he wants us to do special things. For him to be that calm with a lot of young guys, it just shows the respect he had for us and the respect he had for the other coaches. But from my first year, to my second year, to my third year to this year, he's improved each and every year. He's done a tremendous job with us this season and I'm real proud of him. COACH JOHN BRADY: I need a hanky. (Laughter.) DARREL MITCHELL: But he has made a drastic change from my first year. Q. Coach or Glen, I'll give Coach a chance to pass the hanky down. Can you talk about what Darrel has meant both on and off the court this year? COACH JOHN BRADY: This sounds like the banquet material. The only senior on the team, I credit Darrel Mitchell, the way he is, by the way he was raised. I can't eliminate his mother and father and the close knit family that he has in St. Martinville Louisiana. That's what Darrel Mitchell is. He's a family guy, he understands team, he understands sharing, he understands getting along, he understands you can't always have your way. That's been instilled in him since he was growing up in St. Martinville. He had a tremendous benefit that a lot of young people don't have, his father was his high school coach. So not only did he get it on the practice floor, he took it home and he heard it in the kitchen and in the den and in the bedroom, he was around it all the time. The character that he brings to the team is as important for this particular team as his talent. We have asked Darrel Mitchell to play the point this year when he's had really been a three year two guard who ran around receiving screens and without the ball. Now he's learned how to score with the ball in his hands the majority of the time. So he's had to change his approach his senior year, he's handled it beautifully, he's responded just like we thought he would as a mature senior. He's provided great leadership as a senior. And I know our players respect him a great deal. Certainly we will never be able to replace him on this team next year. And other teams, to Darrel's credit, have tried to take him out. Duke last night, we inbound the ball, they put two people on Darrel and not let him get the ball and Garrett and Tasmin brought it up a few times. Which was very critical for us in that game. But Darrel handles it the way he handles everything, he doesn't get too excited, he doesn't get too down when it's not going his way, or when it is going his way he handles everything on a level even keel. And I'm a better coach for having had the opportunity to coach him. Q. Could you talk a little bit about the importance of bench play and production and particularly what you got against Duke with Darnell and Magnum coming off the bench and their contributions? COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, Darnell Lazare is as valuable to our team as any one of these guys sitting here. Without Darnell's play off bench and his play positive attitude about coming off the bench and his leadership that he provides as a junior, we certainly wouldn't have been able to have the success that we have had. I also said this about make Magnum Rolle, he's on the same path as Tyrus Thomas. The difference is we didn't notice Tyrus Thomas last year, I say we, you know, the fans and the media, because he redshirt Ted and he didn't play. We noticed Magnum Rolle because he's playing 10 or 12 minutes a game, but certainly that the improvement and the ascending rise as a player Magnum's on the same path as Tyrus. Things you can't rush with young players is strength and weight gain. Magnum didn't have the benefit of coming in in the summertime, he didn't get to our campus until school started at the end of August. But this spring and this summer Magnum Rolle will put 15 to 18 pounds on his frame, and he will be the same type of exciting, explosive player that Tyrus has been for us this year when he shows up and puts on a uniform again next year. Q. Coach, two questions, do you expect a bunch of 2-3 zone from Texas, and can you tell us an interesting story about Tyrus Thomas for those of us who haven't had the chance to cover him? COACH JOHN BRADY: I think Texas will play man and zone against us. I think when Texas plays exclusive zone, you know, some early times in the season, when I don't think they feel -- they were feeling like their man was as good as it needed to be, but since that time their man defense has certainly improved and they played majority of man I think lately in the last several games. But they're going to play us some zone. And we are expecting them to do that. I don't think there's any question. It's a long zone with some athletes that are quick and rangey and they have length that we have to negotiate with. Tyrus Thomas, you know, I'm asked that about several players and when I'm put on the spot I can't remember much. But I know this: I will say this about Tyrus Thomas, when he came to LSU, and I'm not trying to embarrass him in any way because I think he's the greatest, but when he came to LSU, when he came on our campus, he was a little suspicious about a lot of things. You got to prove to Tyrus a little bit that you're for real. He doesn't just walk up to you and embrace you, you got to proffer yourself to him. And after he was at LSU for awhile and went through the academic center and met the people there and got to working with them on a daily basis, got around me on a daily base, our assistants on a daily basis, he accepted and he found out that we really cared about his development and he's just blossomed since then. He's relaxed, he doesn't walk around hesitant or suspicious of anyone. He knows we're all there to try to make him a better person, a better basketball player. And I want him to achieve every goal that he has set for himself. And we have provided an environment for him now to grow and flourish in and I think that's what you're seeing now is a player and as a young more maturing young person. TYRUS THOMAS: I need a hanky now. (Laughter.) Q. Question for you, Coach, and then one for all of the players. First, their inherent chemistry edge from having played together for so long, that's a positive, how much do you think that particular positive compensates for the negative of them being perhaps the youngest team in the NCAA tournament now? And for the players, how much -- how many of you are still influenced strongly by going through the adversity of Hurricane Katrina? COACH JOHN BRADY: It's like I said earlier, I think the care that these guys and concern that they have for one another because of how long they have known each other and known each other's families and their backgrounds, I think all of that make as difference. Particularly in adverse times. And we hit a couple of those early in the season. We have picked each other up, we picked up each other out of that and I think our team has benefited from that. I was asked earlier about -- there are some drawbacks being from Baton Rouge and everybody knowing you and they watch you play. Tyrus had a poor game one time early in the year and I called him on the phone and asked him how he was doing and just to check on him after the game, wanted to make sure he was okay, that he didn't jump off the Mississippi River bridge, you know, because we have a tendency to do that sometimes. And he said, wow, Coach, he said everybody's a basketball coach. And I told him, I said, you're right. And being from Baton Rouge, they all can tell you what you should have done or what you could have done or what the coach should have done or how the coach isn't doing you right. And I said what we need to do is trust each other and listen to one another and everybody else can move along. And those are things that you have to deal with being local from Baton Rouge or Denham Springs, because you can't escape it. All your friends, your parents, everyone can tell you what you should have, could have, would have, and they can also tell them what the coach should have done. So it's something that we have to deal with. I think because of their friendship and their trust in one another and I'm thankful for their belief in me and our other coaches on the coaching staff, that it's worked out in a positive way for us this year. TYRUS THOMAS: Oh, Katrina didn't directly me or any of my family. I don't think it did the team as well. Although we helped out on at the P-MAC when the evacuees came through. And I think that was one of the times that the team began to really pull together because we realized that at any point that could have been our campus that was hit. And we helped out and a couple of us shared tears and we just pulled together a lot after that. And it was an eye opening experience for us. DARREL MITCHELL: Well, like Tyrus said, it didn't directly affect any of my family, but I had a couple of friends from up there and it was pretty emotional for them. But like he said, we helped out with some of the evacuees and I think it did bring our team together and made us realize that we are in a good position and we can't take any regrets for anything that we have done, because like he said, anything could happen. But I think that really it did bring us closer together and made us realize that at any given time point in the day something could happen to you and for us to be together at that point in time, we was with each other that whole time. We were off of school, we pretty much hung around each other every day during that time. So I think it did bring us together. GARRETT TEMPLE: Along with what they said, it didn't really affect me personally, but I had a couple of family members from New Orleans that moved in with my mom and my dad. And I stayed with them a couple of times. My lights and stuff went out. I actually stayed at Darrel's and Darnell's apartment for a couple of days when my lights went out at my house. But like Tyrus said, and Darrel said, we went out and helped out at the center for a couple of days and I saw some things that you really wouldn't experience anywhere else. And it was a very eye opening experience for us and it brought us together. TASMIN MITCHELL: Well that was a bad experience, but it really allowed us to come together as a team as we went over there. And we helped at the center like we say. We went and helped and we saw some things that we never seen before. And we really thought that we were really grateful for not being in the midst of that and that it really skipped over us. But during that particular time it really brought us together and like I said, we was all together eating together and all that stuff. So it really brought us together. GLEN DAVIS: It really touched me from a mental aspect as far as my purpose in life to sit there and see a patient sitting there and everything they went through. So me being there and through the midst of all of that they still know who I am at this present moment. They're still enlightened about my presence, so that kind of showed me on what kind of impact I had on people and basically what's my purpose in life, to portray a positive and a good image for those who, in the event, you know, to rely on and for me to for me it's basketball. So it really changed my life and gave me a purpose to strive for and something to look for and to also to help others. MODERATOR: We'll excuse our student-athletes to the breakout rooms and we'll continue with Coach Brady. Questions for Coach? Q. I was going to ask you about all the Baton Rouge boys, you said they have this way of communicating that you're not really privy to. What do you mean, is it hand signals? Is it words you hadn't heard before? Is it body language? COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, it's all of that, really. A few weeks ago or, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago we were in the locker room, or they were in the locker room and I thought they were angry at one another. I thought that we were about to have some kind of meltdown, for what reason I had no idea. So I walked in the locker room and I said, hey, hey, guys, knock all that off. And they looked at me and said, what do you mean? I said, knock that off guys, what you all are doing. He says, oh, Coach, we have been doing this since we were kids, you don't know what you're talking about. I said, okay. Then they started laughing. So I said, okay, maybe, I don't. So I left. Whatever that means, I mean that's the way to communicate that I don't know what they're talking about. I thought they were angry and about to have a meltdown in the locker room. So I went in there to try to stop something and get to the bottom of it and there was nothing to do. I was intruding on their conversation. Q. They were raising their voices or? COACH JOHN BRADY: Oh, yeah. Yeah. It was -- it was an argument. I thought it was an argument. But it was just the way they like to debate with one another and I just didn't like it. I thought it was negativity going on. And I wanted to keep everything kind of positive because our team was flowing pretty good at the moment. And so I just excused myself and went on about my business and we came out to practice and everything was fine. But I will say this. Let me say this about that. I was telling somebody earlier, if I ever want to have the practice really meltdown into a competitive angry practice, sometimes you need to let your team get uncomfortable with where it is. And you need to shake it up every now and then. If I put Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas on an opposing team, as close as they are, it becomes like two brothers in a fist fight. Our practice goes straight to meltdown mode. It becomes serious because as friendly as they are, when they play against one another, they become that competitive. And we hadn't done that in a while. Because we hadn't needed to, because Tyrus had been injured and all. But when I really want to get their attention and have the practice breakdown to where it was just not a lot of -- not anything but a real competitive sort of practice where the players really wanted to win, split those two up and balance out the teams, then it was on. And I think that relates to how close they are. Even though they're friends, they're extremely competitive with one another. And I think when they play together, it shows on the court. Q. Two part question. How hard is it to get incoming freshmen to play defense, the college brand of defense, that you want them to play? And given what y'all did last night, do you feel that it validated what you've been trying to teach basing what you teach on defense first? What happened last night did. COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, I don't think we all of a sudden became a good defensive team last night. I think that it's like I answered the question last night, I think that if anybody -- not a lot of people have followed my career at LSU, but the ones that have, I think that's always been a staple of our team, defending and rebounding. And I think we were on a stage last night where everybody got -- they took notice of what we did against the number one ranked team in America against a player like J.J. that will probably be the most outstanding player in the United States this year. And we were able to hold him to probably his worst scoring night of his career at Duke. And that's pretty significant. And it's nothing that we wouldn't have done in the SEC against someone else, it just never does get the recognition. And it's like anything else, sometimes you're fortunate when you have the opportunity to show what you can do, sometimes it works. Last night it worked. I feel fortunate for it to have worked last night in the stage that we were on. But it's an approach that we have always used and it's nothing that really shocked our team in terms of the plan for how we were going to guard a great player. It was no shock to our team that the last 10 minutes of the game when Glen had four fouls, and they threw the ball to Williams, that we had Tyrus go double team Shelden Williams. Jim, you've seen us do that for years. But now all of a sudden it's pretty good stuff because of the stage that it was done on. So like Mark wrote the article about it's a validation game for John Brady, it was not, in my mind. I had no question in my mind that everything we had done to this point was sound, solid, good basketball, a good way to play the game. Not the only way, but the way I thought was appropriate. And it showed up last night with good players. There's no coach that can say it's all about him. He is setting himself up for ridicule and failure, I think. It's about a combination of talented athletes, which we have been able to recruit, along with the coach getting them to do what he thinks is the best thing for that particular collection of players. We were able to do it last night. And I'm, I feel good for our team and I feel fortunate that it happened the way it did. Q. How hard is it to get players to play defense? COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, I think that you get what you emphasize as a coach. I've always thought that. If you emphasize offense, then you're team's probably going to play good offense. If your emphasis is rebounding, you're probably going to rebound the ball. I really think the most difficult thing for players to get players to do is, like I said a day or so ago, is to get players to think defensively. Most players when they say they're going to work on their game, they take their ball, they go in the gym and they start firing balls at the basket. They work on their game from an offensive stand point. What we try to do from day one when they come in to LSU is we talk about defending, rebounding, getting in a stance, staying committed to a stance and guarding. Our first three or four days of practice the only time we use a basketball is for our defensive drill purpose. We never play much offense at all. And I think that it's -- and now since I've been there for a number of years, freshmen coming in are told by the upperclassmen, that you better defend or you're not going to make it here. And I think that now it's kind of a situation where freshmen know that, they know the first three or four days of our practice every year is based on upon two and a half hours of defending and rebounding. And we get them thinking defensively because I think by nature I think they think offense anyway. Q. Did you see the shot go in last night, the Texas shot, when you were -- COACH JOHN BRADY: Yes, I did. I was in the room. Q. What was your reaction? Your immediate reaction? COACH JOHN BRADY: Wow. I thought it was going to overtime. But Rick Barnes did a smart thing. If you reflect back to our game against A&M, Darrel Mitchell scored, they called timeout, and we were able to set our defense to not let A.C. Law get the ball. I had thought that if A&M would not have called timeout they could have I know bounded the ball to A.C. Law and he could have probably made a play on the fly and maybe they could have got a shot up to possible beat us. Last night Rick Barnes did a smart thing, the ball went in, and West Virginia is kind of jumping up and down and then they get the ball in quickly, advance up the floor and get a decent shot, not a great shot, but a decent shot. I thought that was a great no-call timeout in that particular situation to attack a retreating defense as opposed to calling timeout and then West Virginia would have been allowed to set their defense. But if the question is -- I had no preference on who to play, it didn't matter to me. At this stage of the game you're going to play a good basketball team with different characteristics of positive, of strengths of their team, depending upon who it is, so it really didn't matter. But it was a great finish. I thought it was going to overtime. Texas made a great shot at the end to win it. And now we're playing the Longhorns. Q. Do you believe in destiny? Is there such a thing as destiny? COACH JOHN BRADY: I don't know if I think that deep. I'm -- I don't know. I'm so focused on the now I don't know. Dale Brown did call me this morning, and -- Q. That's destiny. COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, I don't know if that's destiny, but I'm just talking about, he was talking about the similarities between the '86 team and our team now and how it came through Atlanta and all those kinds of things. Almost 20 years ago to the day. That really is -- and only Dale thinks that way, I don't think that way and he was very complimentary in the call, but I don't know about destiny. I do know this: That if you don't take care of things you need to take care of tomorrow in that game, and focus on the moment, you got no chance for another day. To fulfill your destiny. So I think our focus is on what we have been talking about defending and rebounding and maybe that will give us an opportunity to fulfill the destiny, whatever it is, for this team, if we can do those things tomorrow in that game. Q. Considering what Glen Davis went through, I guess, and witnessed as a young guy growing up, with a troubled mom, is it, I mean for those of us who don't know him and didn't see him grow up, is it surprising that he is as bubbling and I don't know, sunny? COACH JOHN BRADY: Positive. Q. Positive, uplifted, etcetera. Because some kids might have sort of withdrawn and hidden inside themselves through all that. COACH JOHN BRADY: That's a difficult question to answer because I don't want to reveal too much or sound like I'm being critical of anyone, because I'm not. Glen Davis loves his mother and she loves him. Trust me. I know them both well. Glen Davis's mother, if you meet her, in fact she's here, by the way, she is as positive and as fun and you can tell exactly where Glen Davis gets his personality, there's no question, when you're around his mom. But everybody has their shortcomings and we all carry our different -- we all have our crosses to bear, I guess. But Glen loves his mother and his mother loves him tremendously. When you meet his mom and you're around her, with whatever has gone on with her, you can tell exactly Glen, why Glen Davis is like he is. But to Glen's credit, in the character that he has developed, I don't think he did that on his own either. There's been a lot of other people in Glen's life that has helped him have the outlook that he has. And he works hard at it to this day. He could be, he could go another way, he has every reason to do that. But he chooses to be this way, the way he is now, because that's produced benefits for him. And he sees the benefit of being like he is. But it's a unique story, and it's why I respect Glen so much. Because of what he's been through, what he's witnessed, and all of that though has helped him be the kind of young person that he is today. Going through what he's gone through. Q. Could you elaborate a little bit more on what the guys did to help people when the hurricane hit and also has there been any sort of rally I think in the state for your success that people said that you're kind of a beacon to us, we have had some hard times, have you heard from anybody? Do you get any mail like that, has that happened at all? COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, our guys, they went over and they unloaded cots and they helped with the critical care unit that was established at Assembly Center. Glen held IV's when they were working on a patient because they didn't have the stands to hang them on. So Glen stuck his arms out and they hung some IV's on Glen's arms. I think they were doing a tracheotomy on someone, it was a -- and you know, all of the players were around that sort of emergency care, MASH unit sort of situation that they threw together. Our players stayed up all night and most of the day doing whatever they could to help. The other question, the governor called me last night, governor called me last night on the cell phone and she watched the game and she related an enormous amount of pride she had for our team and our state because LSU is unique in some areas -- Louisiana is a unique in a lot of areas, honestly, but LSU is the only school in Louisiana. We have some other schools there, but the other schools, LSU fans go to those schools, but they're really LSU fans. They're spread out all over different little colleges and some universities, but they're all really LSU fans. And the governor was relating to me how much pride she has for the way we have played and that the whole nation watched the game. And she indicated to me that Louisiana needed a positive image and we're helping with that in some way, in our own little way. I certainly would never sit here and say we're the flag bearer for our state now. I mean I think that's a little taking it way out of proportion. But athletics in Louisiana, particularly the play of our football team this year, has given people some hope and made them a little more, have a little more pride in the fact that they're from our state. And I think our basketball has helped do that also. And it's an escape and it's a positive thing and for the governor to call and indicate that to me, I know she sees it and I'm sure if she did, that's what a lot of our fans and a lot of people of Louisiana saw too. And it's really humbling and I'm very appreciative that they would say that about us. Q. Could you talk a little bit about the inside matchup with Texas and I think Randy was saying that they might compare a little bit with Florida, I don't know what you would compare them to. COACH JOHN BRADY: A little bit. I don't know if they score quite as good as Florida or I don't know if Aldridge, he probably, he may turn around and just wear us out. But I don't know if he'll, he's as physical as Noah and Richard and Moss and Horford, those four players at Florida are as good as anybody in the country. And don't anybody underestimate how talented Florida is and how easily they can score the ball. They're really good and Billy Donovan is an outstanding coach, as is Rick Barnes, but the team tomorrow, Buckman, Aldridge, Williams played well last night. He's playing 13 minutes a game, but last night I thought he was awful good. Those three guys are going to create some problems for us. Tucker is maybe a key to their team in terms of the toughness that he brings to them. He's very good. But difficult guard for us. I think that -- I think we're fine around the goal. I respect Texas's inside players and the talent of their team, but I think our perimeter needs to hold up again. And I always said this whole year, if our perimeter can hold up and make a few baskets, then I think we'll be fine. Because around the goal we have been consistently pretty good all year long. But Tucker's a matchup for us that we got to be considered concern. Dan Gibson is a matchup we got to be concerned with. And hopefully we can find a way to not let Aldridge just turn around and shoot jump shots on us. But we can put Tyrus in there with him and bother him, maybe even Glen to lean on him a little bit, and then make sure we pay attention to Williams when he comes off the bench. But I don't know if they're scoring is as spread out as the Florida team, but certainly Texas has the quality of athlete as Florida and the quality of athlete that we do, so it should be an interesting game and a fun game to watch. Q. How did you tell Darnell that he was going to be coming off the bench again and what is it about him that enabled him to accept it and do what he did last night? COACH JOHN BRADY: Well, we started Darnell the first seven or eight games of the year and then when we didn't start him I brought him in and explained to him that we thought Tyrus Thomas deserved to start by the way he played, and although Darnell didn't like it, which he shouldn't like it, he came off the bench and handled it well. Then when Tyrus got hurt it was obvious it was the right thing to do to have Darnell start. But when Tyrus got back and started practicing with us, I started, we started Darnell in the SEC tournament, even though Tyrus came off the bench those couple of games. Then when we got back to campus, it was time to put our best players on the floor. And I didn't say anything to Darnell this particular time, because in his mind he knew because we came back to practice on that Monday, and I called the first five out and Tyrus was the name I called and not Darnell and the purple jerseys came out and Darnell put a shirt on for the white team and stepped out there and never said a word. Never said a word. Has never even broke stride on it. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and how he's handled the whole situation. He's great in the time outs. He's positive. When we break, when we huddle up in practice, because Darrel Mitchell doesn't say much, Darnell Lazare is always the guy that's telling our team what to say, what to do, always encouraging. Last night he was great during the game when he was in the game, when he was out of the game, the second half. And he's handled it extremely well and that's why he'll always be a special guy to me. Guys who start all the time don't need any help too much. Because they know what's going to happen with them. The guys that come off your bench are the guys that need to be talked to from time to time and be encouraged that their important to the team. And he knows that. And he has a comfort zone in that and I appreciate that in him. MODERATOR: Okay. That will do it. Thank you very much, Coach.
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