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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2006

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

THE MODERATOR: Coach Jamie Dixon, Carl Krauser, Aaron Gray.
COACH JAMIE DIXON: First off, congratulations to Syracuse and the win. They played well. It was a great game. Two great teams going at it. A great BIG EAST final for us. At this point, obviously disappointed for us, but congratulations to them and how they played and how they performed. They should be very proud of their team and their players.
I'm especially proud of my players and how we battled back, played through some things and put ourselves in a good position at the end of the game.
But came up a little bit short, but I'm so proud of how we battled. This was a good week for us. We got better. We're going to build off of this.
Thank you.
Q. The fact that you were able to take the lead with eight and a half to go, came right off the time-out, Gerry hit the three, did that pop the balloon on you guys?
COACH JAMIE DIXON: I mean, that's what's going to happen with good teams playing. It's going to be -- you know, we were down, got good shots right after that, we had a transition, couple opportunities, came up a little bit short, went to the basket a couple times. So, I mean, it was just they made some shots. I thought they shot the ball well tonight. I thought we could have shot it better, but, you know, we played well. I thought we did a good job getting good shots all the way through, and around the basket we got the ball inside like we wanted to do.
So it was just a good game that came down to a couple of close plays at the end, which we kind of thought it would going into it.
Q. Carl, did you feel like you got fouled on that pump fake with about 25 seconds left?
CARL KRAUSER: Not to be disrespectful, but I don't think it really matters at this point what I thought because obviously the refs didn't think that. I was just trying to draw a foul and get a shot, or else I could get to the line and make three shots. But the foul wasn't called, and we just had to continue to play and just find a way to win.
Q. You talked about controlling the boards, rebounding in the games you won. It was a standoff tonight. Was that key tonight?
COACH JAMIE DIXON: Yeah, it was. We felt we had to win the battle. We lost by one. That's a big key for us. We got up at half time and didn't finish it off in the second half.
But, you know, a lot of things come into it. Our guys played hard. They battled all the way through. We got after it, some long rebounds, some balls that went out of bounds. Those things, that's a big goal for us and one of the things we want to do and we came up a little bit short. But it wasn't for lack of effort. It wasn't for intensity, the guys were getting after it. Sometimes we just got to do it the same way, do it again next game.
Q. Carl, I know you're disappointed, obviously. But as a competitor, do you appreciate what Gerry did this week?
CARL KRAUSER: I could definitely appreciate that, you know. He's a great player, he's a competitor also. Our respect goes past basketball. You know, we respect each other as people.
I'm happy for him, you know. He battled. He quieted all the naysayers, and he made a tough shot and he led his team the way he was supposed to.
Congratulations, Syracuse.
Q. Coach, your thoughts on Syracuse coming into this tournament and your thoughts on Syracuse now.
COACH JAMIE DIXON: Well, you know, I didn't see too many differences. I mean, they made some shots tonight, from the previous time we played them, two-three zones. It was the same things. I thought their big guys finished plays well tonight. Did a good job in some areas. The rebounding was there but that had something to do with us missing some shots, too.
They're a good team. They've had -- I look at their schedule and our conference, you see who they played and who they lost to, I mean, they lost to good people. I think maybe they got some bounces tonight that they didn't get maybe in the preseason, in the conference season, I should say.
So, you know, I mean, they won four close games and ended up losing some. In my minds, they were an NCAA team coming into this team and they're definitely, everybody knows now, an NCAA team.
Q. You guys weren't expected to get to this point. How will this run you made bolster you going into the NCAAs?
AARON GRAY: We learned a lot from this week. Even as disappointed as we are as a team, you know, from just tonight's effort, you know, we definitely learned so much. One of the biggest things we can take away from tonight is we got to bring it every night.
We started off real slow, and the guys did a great job of playing so hard and coming back. Our team was almost, like, determined at one point. We just didn't make the final plays to come down the stretch. But, I mean, there's so many positives that we can take out of this week. We're real confident going into the NCAA tournament. I mean, we've beaten really good teams the last three nights, you know. To come up short to another very good team, you know, like I said, it's all positive at this point going into the NCAA tournament.
Q. Coach, can you talk about adjustments you made. They were defending high post real well. You made adjustments. The zone looked more intense out there.
COACH JAMIE DIXON: I mean, you know, we didn't shoot it great tonight. That has a lot to do with the zone. I thought we got the ball inside when we wanted to. I think second half we got a little bit -- used shot fakes around the basket, got some finishes too, as well. I thought we did a good job attacking. I don't think it was any different than what we've seen in the past against them. We've always been pretty good against the zone.
I thought our defense, they shot the ball well. It's, again, it was close. We want to really overanalyze this thing, it was a close game coming down to one or two plays. Don't read too much into it. Two teams battles, two teams playing hard, and came up a little bit short on a shot or two and a rebound or two or deflection. It's two teams that battled and played their hearts out.
Q. Aaron, in the second half, did you do a better job of finding the soft spots in the zone?
AARON GRAY: We came out real tentative, you know. They got great shot-blockers in the middle. The best way to attack a shot-blocker is go right at him and we weren't doing that. That was allowing us to get our shot blocked. Obviously, we changed that.
You know, we were going right at them, drawing contact. You know, the ball was fortunate to go in sometimes.
Also, you know, I thought our rotation was a lot better so we had the defense kind of guessing where the ball was going to go instead of in the first half, you know, they kind of knew where it was going to be. They could set themselves up to block the shot. The guards did a great job, and they found us real well, you know, put us in a position where we wanted to be. You know, things started to drop for us.
Q. Is this tournament indicative of how fine a line there is between winning and losing? One shot doesn't go in for Syracuse, they're in the NIT next week. Talk about the appreciation you have for that fine line as a coach.
COACH JAMIE DIXON: I think I said from the beginning of this tournament that the seedings and how teams ended up in this season, you really can't, as much as any league in history, when you have teams that aren't playing once and when they're playing at home, so many good teams, so many teams, that where you end up, you have a good game every night, a tough team every night, you're going to have close games every single night and things are going to happen. This is a team Syracuse, I think were 7 and 9 in conference, and they won four close games in this tournament.
So it's, it's what it was. I mean, this was a reflection of the whole conference season. Ended up here tonight, as well as the last four nights.
Q. There's a lot of talk about you guys, both teams had to play four nights in a row. Does fatigue become a factor? How do you work around it?
COACH JAMIE DIXON: I'm sure these guys would like to play tomorrow night. I don't think it does. I mean, I think that gets overrated. I said it before the game, before the tournament started, I wasn't too worried about not having a bye in the first round. I wasn't concerned.
We kept our guys fresh going into this tournament, knowing what we had to face. We -- wasn't really surprised. I knew we'd battled. We battled again tonight.
Q. Carl, as much as this building means to you, having grown up in the area, I imagine it's pretty disappointing after a loss. Can you be bolstered at all by the fact that you at least made this run and got here?
CARL KRAUSER: I'm not satisfied. I'm never satisfied to get all the way to the championship and lose, you know.
I'm a tough competitor and everybody on my team is a tough competitor, as well as the coaches. We're not satisfied, you know.
But at the same time, like you said, we have a lot to learn from this and we're going to take a lot of positive out of this and we're going to get ready for the tournament, you know. We're going to get ready for Selection Sunday and find out who we play, get in good preparation, just rest our bodies and get ready to go to work.
Q. Carl, are you going to walk out of this thinking you should have won this game?
CARL KRAUSER: (Laughing). Yeah. Yeah, we'll walk out of here thinking, "We should have won this game," of course.
Q. Why?
CARL KRAUSER: Because, you know, I feel that we're tough competitors, you know. Everything just felt right at the same time coming into the second half. We had the momentum and everything like that. Both teams are great, great competitive teams in the BIG EAST. I just always tip my hat to the other team and Syracuse did a great job.
Q. Coach, when you guys took the lead, McNamara hit the three right away. After the time-out, you got four or five stops in a row. Did you say anything special?
COACH JAMIE DIXON: I thought our defense got better. Like you said, we did what we wanted to do defensively. We had a couple transition attempts that we had, a good look to the basket. You know, we put ourselves in a position. We just came up a little bit short on a couple shots, open looks, free throw. I mean, it was, you know -- it comes down, it's a fine line, as we know. I thought we put ourselves -- that was probably the best -- I'm glad you brought that up. I thought that was the thing we were most proud of, when we really had to lock it down defensively, we did at that point. We got steals and really took them out of some of the things they were trying to do and they didn't get really good shots. That was a big part.
I don't think Carl has ever been in a game that he didn't think we were going to win, going back to what you said earlier.
Q. "Should have won."
COACH JAMIE DIXON: Same one with that one, too.
Q. Coach, what are your expectations going into tomorrow?
COACH JAMIE DIXON: As far as...?
Q. Just as far as how you think things are going to play out with the BIG EAST in general, and even just with your team after such a close game tonight.
COACH JAMIE DIXON: I think we should have nine teams in the NCAA tournament. I think we should set a record. I think our conference, we talked about how great this conference was going into this season. And the conference, just like our guys tonight stepped up, our conference stepped up. We deserve nine bids. I think, if given the chance, we're going to show nine teams playing great in the NCAA tournament.

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