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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2006Jim BoeheimGerry McNamaraDemetris NicholsTerrence RobertsNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Both teams gave everything they had tonight. I thought for the fourth game in four days, the quality of play was tremendous. I think, you know, the last few plays that both teams made, there was just a lot of tired plays that guys just couldn't finish. You had to understand that that could happen. But this team showed more heart and guts than any team I've ever coached. Gerry had as good a four days here as anybody that I've ever seen since I've been coming here. He just wanted to win. We really played great early, got control of the game early. Demetris was huge. Our big guys really played well. We played as well early as we can play. I knew Pittsburgh was going to come back. They were getting inside. We were blocking a lot early. Sooner or later we're just going to run out of gas, not be able to block all those and they're going to be able to get some inside plays. We had just enough kind of to hang on. Eric struggled, but he's a gamer. He made that shot. Try to screw it up by trying to draw a charge, whatever he was trying to do there, I'm not sure, but that's sometimes what he does, sometimes he gets a little bit exuberant. But for Josh Wright, he hadn't played, he is a good free-throw shooter, that's why we put him in that situation. He's quick to the ball. But for him to make all four, and we needed all four, we needed the first two for sure because Krauser is going to go down and make that three, you know, but to make all four, I mean, that's a lot of - a lot of - guts, to make those four free throws. I'm not sure Gerry would have, as tired as Gerry was. He probably would have found a way, too. But these four games, probably the best of anything I've ever been around and certainly in this tournament we've been fortunate to play well here and win some tournaments here. But it's always been three games and there's always been an easy game in there. To have these four games... and all of them were tied or we were behind late, in every one of them. To make those kind of plays down the stretch, we made a couple great defensive plays when they were going to the basket, a couple deflections, a couple blocks. Mooky got a couple just huge rebounds down there. But it was a great, great tournament. I'm really glad for Gerry. He started his career a little bit, probably a little bit too good, and where are you going to go after that? But he's come back and had four great years for us. He's got unbelievable heart; he really does. THE MODERATOR: Joined by Terrence Roberts and Demetris Nichols. Questions, please. Q. You talked yesterday about how the line between winning, one shot, once you do win, does it become contagious? COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Well, we had a lot of confidence. But we've had confidence. We've been good in close games, we just didn't have enough close games (smiling). We got beat too bad. I think we're 12-3 now or something in close games. We couldn't get in close games. But, yeah, I think you get some. But these guys have a lot of confidence and they step up and make plays. Q. You sure you don't want to reconsider him being "overrated"? COACH JIM BOEHEIM: I think we answered -- well, it never really was something that was seriously considered by anybody other than somebody that knows zero. The only reason I reacted to it is I don't like people talking about my people, and I really don't like somebody in my hometown talking about people. Somebody in New York wants to talk about him, you know, I guess I can't control that too much, you know. If I didn't speak to somebody in New York, they'd probably think that was good. If I threaten not to talk to you anymore, that would be a good thing, wouldn't it (smiling)? But, yeah, I mean, yeah, that's over. Q. Terrence, talk about the energy of you guys after three unbelievably tough games. You came out with a lot of energy to start the game. COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Terrence had a lot of energy because he didn't really expend too much last night (laughter). Q. Especially on defense early. TERRENCE ROBERTS: Definitely. I think what Coach said had a lot to do with it. I didn't do much last night so I thought I had a lot to prove tonight. I had to do a really good job for my team to win this game. I just went out there and gave it my all. I just tried to keep my guys energetic. When they took a lead late in the game, I just tried to keep them energetic and keep them going and let them know the game was far from over. Q. What did you need to do that you hadn't been doing coming in here? COACH JIM BOEHEIM: We got everybody involved, that's all. Gerry has played pretty well all year. In spite of the rumors that he hasn't, he's been pretty good. He made shots here, but he didn't, you know, have 28-, 29-point games here. I thought he passed better, he penetrated better. But the big difference were, you know, were Terrence and Mooky inside. And then when D steps up like he did tonight, we really become a dangerous team. He struggled a little bit in some of our games, but when he steps up like tonight, he was a force in the game tonight, especially early, to get us established. And when he steps up like that, and our big guys contribute, that's why we can do what we did here. And I think actually coming out of this tournament this year we're better than we were coming out last year. We relied on Hakim and Gerry a little bit too much last year. I really felt that. We could never quite -- it was working, you know. This year, what we were doing wasn't working this year. Now I think we're playing actually much better - even though we won last year - we're playing much better now. What does that mean about the next game? Nothing. This means something. Q. The conference was deep coming into this tournament. What do you think the tournament says about the conference? What's your feeling on how many bids you will have? COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Well, the eighth seed got to the finals last year and got to the finals of the regionals last year, West Virginia. Ninth seed won it this year. You know, Notre Dame and Louisville are really good basketball teams. Rutgers finished. I mean, we said the league turned out -- we thought it would be good, I think it even turned out better because we had the top teams and we had, I think as of today, Pitt was probably 10 in the RPI. I know Connecticut and Villanova are 2, 3. Georgetown and Marquette and us, you know, Top 20 now probably. I mean, but the bottom teams are good. I mean, South Florida gave six or seven or eight teams very difficult games. They beat Georgetown. Georgetown comes in here and could have been in the finals very easily. Q. Coach, you've had a lot of great moments here and a lot of great teams. Where does this rank? COACH JIM BOEHEIM: This is the best, by far. By far, this is the best (applause). THE MODERATOR: Please hold your applause. This is the media room. COACH JIM BOEHEIM: That's why I can curse in here, because it's supposed to be a press room. There's supposed to be adults here. Q. Right after Pittsburgh took that lead just for a second, Gerry comes back and nails his three. Can you tell me, how significant a three is that? How big a shot was that? What did it do? TERRENCE ROBERTS: I mean, really wasn't a surprise. He's been doing it all week long. We didn't expect him not to do it. I mean, we were very confident. All we had to do was play defense. If we played defense, got key stops and rebounds, even if they did take the lead late in the game, we'd still be able to pull away from it. Q. What did it do for you guys? TERRENCE ROBERTS: Gave us an emotional lift. Some guys were down. They were hitting tough shots, getting a lot of calls and stuff like that. For him to hit that shot in the situation we were in was key for us. Q. This year the guys cut down the nets. COACH JIM BOEHEIM: They do what they want to do after the game. If they want to cut down the nets, that's good. They earned it. They deserved it. Q. Gerry, these last four days, the way you started them, the way you finished them, does it quite feel the way you expected it to feel? GERRY MCNAMARA: Does what feel? Q. The feeling you have right now, the crowd just yelling your name right at the end of the game, all the adulation, everything surrounding the victory? GERRY MCNAMARA: We always have great support in the city. It's great for us to play here, come down here because of the support we have. All week long they've been great to me, great to the team. I think they did help us this week. You know, I don't know how much of a difference it makes, but it certainly does help. It doesn't hurt. So, you know, for us to come down here in the situation we were in and to win it is pretty impressive. Q. I know you probably have been asked this a million times, Gerry, how motivated were you here? Can you reflect at all on what you accomplished over these four days? Did you want to prove something to people? GERRY MCNAMARA: Well, we won it, so I guess I was pretty motivated. I think we all were. You know, you can't really say enough about my teammates and Coach and all the coaching staff really throughout the year. This is the toughest year I've played, and for these guys to battle and to come down here and fight and to do this is, like Coach said, it's one of the greatest. We won this last year, but it was a different story. We had a great regular season. We came down here with a team that was polished, a team that was experienced, and this year we're new. We're new to each other, and we couldn't get it going for a while. We come down here and just get it going. When Terrence and Mooky play big for us inside, and Demetris is hitting shots, we're pretty tough to beat. That was the case down here. They played great, and the rest is history. Q. If you could speak about just anything more personally for you. I mean, you are the leader of this team. To be able to help what wasn't a polished team win a title. Coach said it was the best tournament ever. Does it feel more special to you? GERRY MCNAMARA: Absolutely. I'm the lone senior. Obviously, this week was emotional for me because of the press and what happened. For us to come down here and do this is a great thing. We were on the outside looking in coming down here, and now there's a lot of teams looking at us. So we're happy with what we accomplished. You know, we're moving on and we're proud of that. Q. Coach, you mentioned last night, obviously without Gerry's shot against Cincinnati on Thursday, this wasn't possible. (Inaudible) Can you talk about all the shots he made throughout the tournament. COACH JIM BOEHEIM: First of all, the first one, we wouldn't have been playing. Then the next one, we wouldn't have been playing anymore. The play on the fast break, the shot before that, last night's game, and then this shot. So, you know, pick your -- some guys win one game once in a while, in a year or two. I don't think anybody's ever won four games in a row by making "the" play of the game. That's pretty special. And the biggest thing is Gerry had a lot of help here, and that's what I'm happiest about when it comes for next week, which is what everybody knows, is what people remember. There's only one thing people remember about last year with our team, and if I hear Tom Brennan mention it one more freakin' time - is that a curse word? No? That's okay. Every time I turn on the television, they're talking about upsets. I love Tommy, he's a great guy. Whoever's with him says, "You know all about upsets." That was like four times today. Let's get over it. I'm going to pay him not to work so... This could be at least two, three, four more years this is gonna, you know... He should send me like a check, shouldn't he, or something (laughter)? Q. Gerry, two-part question for you. You walked towards the Syracuse bench. You were walking towards where we sit. Tell me what was going through your mind. Was it exhaustion? What was going through your head? GERRY MCNAMARA: At the end, you mean? Q. Yes. GERRY MCNAMARA: Well, I kind of stay away from the pile. I'm not the biggest guy, so half the time I'm getting run over. I kind of go to the side a little bit and a couple guys will come over. But that's the way I like it. I was on a big pile one time and I got kicked in the face. That was after we won the championship, so... COACH JIM BOEHEIM: That was worth it, though. GERRY MCNAMARA: Yeah, I didn't mind it. COACH JIM BOEHEIM: We'll get in a pile one more time. GERRY MCNAMARA: If we won the National Championship, I'd lie on the ground and the whole team could kick me in the face (laughter). Q. What was said was said earlier in the week. You heard the way Jim reacted. Were you surprised by how strongly he reacted? You heard what he said, the way he said it. Did you say, "Whoa"? GERRY MCNAMARA: I was more proud than surprised. It's a great thing when your coach goes to bat for you and protects one of his guys. I took that as a compliment. I'm proud to say that, I'm proud to say I have a coach that will go to bat for his kids. That's what it's all about. We have to protect each other. When you play on a team, you're family. You have to back each other up and stay on each other's side. If you don't do that, you're not going to accomplish much. I was just proud to say he did that for me. Q. When that kind of press comes around, does it stay with you or do you dismiss it, Gerry? GERRY MCNAMARA: Well, yeah, I mean, it's tough when people call you "overrated." I mean, there's no question about that. But, you know, you can't go too far into it. You know, half the people that said that never picked up a basketball in their life, you know. The Daily Orange at our school, those guys, you know what I mean? COACH JIM BOEHEIM: They must be here, aren't you guys? Huh? GERRY MCNAMARA: Yeah, they're probably here. COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Is he still "overrated"? Q. I didn't call him "overrated." GERRY MCNAMARA: It was Ethan Ramsay (phonetic spelling). I know who he is (laughter). He's not here, is he? Q. Not tonight. GERRY MCNAMARA: He was probably at all the losses we had. Q. How does it feel, Coach? Obviously it was different this year having to go through the four games. But still two BIG EAST Championships in a row. COACH JIM BOEHEIM: This is still a great feeling. This is still a great league. To win it is a great feeling. The unfortunate thing is that in college basketball, for a program like ours, the only thing that matters is what starts next week. Shouldn't be that way, but that's life. That's the way it is. You have to accept it. I accepted it a long time ago. We just got to get ready for next week. This will help us. This is a good experience for our guys. Q. Coach, saw John Wallace out there. How much does this team kind of remind you of that team ten years ago that didn't have the highest expectations and went all the way to the NCAA final? COACH JIM BOEHEIM: That's a fair question. That team got together near the end really, and we had a great senior point guard - of course, John. Things came together for that team. It can happen. College basketball, anything can happen. We all know that it's more open now than it's ever been. The tournament's more open now than it's ever been. You can see that by watching these tournaments unfold today and what's happening. There's some great teams out there. I mean, I've seen a couple teams in the last couple days that really impress me with how they played. It's just going to be a great tournament. It will be a great tournament to watch. It's always been good, but it's never been this good. It's never been this good, this much balance. There will be some unbelievable games in the next few weeks. Q. Demetris, everybody else seems to be talking, you're quiet but having a good time up there. What are your thoughts on this week? DEMETRIS NICHOLS: It's been a great four days, you know. We came in here confident. A lot of people really didn't have faith in us. We had to kind of like -- we had a chip on our shoulder, you know. We felt like we had a lot to prove to ourselves and to you guys. It's a great feeling. It's a great feeling. Q. Jim, you've had quite a few guys that have played well. Can you compare their play with the tournament Gerry has had. COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Well, he's had an unbelievable tournament. Sherman had a couple down here, too, and Pearl had the best game I've ever seen played by a player against the best defense that I've ever seen. But this performance was four days in a row. I haven't seen anyone - anyone on any team. I'm sure I haven't seen every game -- well, I have seen every game, I haven't seen them all in person, but I have seen them played. I haven't seen any one guy do what Gerry did here this week. Not even close. Q. Terrence, after last night, can you talk about the first five minutes of today's game and the two dunks early. TERRENCE ROBERTS: I had a lot of guys on my side and backing me and just letting me know that last night was over. I mean, yeah, I played hard yesterday but, you know what, Matt Gorman stepped in, made big plays for us. That's all that really matters. All my coaches had faith and said I'm due for a good game today. I just wanted to come out and give my all. That's what I did. Q. Demetris, had a lot of stops last three minutes of the game. You hit a three from the corner. How big was that? COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Big. Big. That was big. I can answer that. I'll answer that one. DEMETRIS NICHOLS: Okay, go ahead, Coach. COACH JIM BOEHEIM: It was big.
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