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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2006Jeff LeboRonny LemelleFrank TolbertNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: Ask Coach to give some opening remarks, what his thoughts are going into the tournament and his first game, and we'll go to the first question. COACH JEFF LEBO: Well, we've had a little bit of back luck on the draw, having to play Vanderbilt in Nashville, but, you know, I think right now everybody is healthy, I think. We've had a little bit of injuries, had some guys miss some practice the last couples days. Ronny with his toe and one with a knee. Everybody was able to go today. I think we're healthy and ready to go to war at 6:30 tomorrow night. THE MODERATOR: Okay. We'll take questions for the two student athletes first. First a question for either of them. Raise your hand, and we'll get a floor microphone to you. Questions for either of the players. Hands up? Q. Ronnie, the game against Vanderbilt was in early January. Is there any carryover at all between that game and this game, or do you basically have to start from much scratch when you're look at them at they will? RONNY LEMELLE: Back then we're the like two different teams. Back then we weren't setting screens, we weren't executing, struggling offensively a lot. Now we've got more chemistry altogether and been playing better ball going into this game. It's going to be tough to come in here in Nashville and play against them in Nashville, but it's a challenge that we're going to have to step up to. THE MODERATOR: Questions for either one of the players, raise your hands up. Any other questions for either. All right. Let's go right here to Philip. Go ahead, Philip. Q. Frank, having been through the tournament and won a game here last year, what do you come in here hoping to accomplish. Obviously you would like to win the tournament. What would it take to make you feel good leaving here? FRANK TOLBERT: Just come out and play to the best of our ability. If you win some, you lose some. You've got to go out and play to the best of your ability. What happens, happens. THE MODERATOR: Other questions? Hands up? Alright. Go ahead. Q. Frank, I know there still is some ball left to play, but just at the halfway point in your career now, what are you looking forward to in the off-season? What are kind of your goals and your points of emphasis? FRANK TOLBERT: Just continue working on my game, try to get better, you know, working on my jumper, little things like that, try to help myself get better. THE MODERATOR: Other questions? Alright. Go ahead. Q. Ronnie, this is your last year to play in the SEC Tournament. Do you feel like you're going to have any extra pressure on yourself to perform better, maybe get y'all through the next round? RONNY LEMELLE: Not really. I think most of my pressure has been earlier in the year, trying to keep everybody together and keep everybody focused. Now that we are playing good, playing -- or I shouldn't say -- I should say playing better, I don't feel any pressure. I just look at it as another game. Knowing that it could possibly be my last one, I'm going out there and leave it all out on the floor. THE MODERATOR: Other questions for either of the players, raise your hand. Okay. Fellas, we'll excuse you. Back to the locker room, and we'll continue on with questions for coach. Anybody has a question for coach, please raise your hand. Hands up. Alright. Philip. Q. Jeff, kind of the same question, just talk about obviously you're getting close to the off-season. Short of winning the tournament, what would make you feel like this was a success this weekend? COACH JEFF LEBO: Well, I mean obviously winning helps that, but I want to play well. I want to play good basketball. I think all year our kids have competed hard every game, and I don't think that's going to be a question. I want to play better. I want to take care of the basketball. I want to look like a basketball team out there, and if we could do that for 40 minutes, which we haven't done consistently this year, I would be happy. And I think that, you know, tournament-type situations, you know, I've got a young team. You never really know how they're going to respond. Last year I had a fairly small team but a veteran team. We played very loose in this game last year and shot the ball well in the first game, but, you know, you never know what's going to happen when you have freshmen out in this kind of environment. THE MODERATOR: Other questions, raise your hand. Alright. Go ahead. Q. Coach Lebo, last year you had a veteran team. You had a better record. This year you came in -- you come in a younger team with only 12 wins. Do you feel like you have progressed even though you have less wins this year? COACH JEFF LEBO: We went to a tournament. We played in San Juan. We got a win in a tournament. I think I feel better. I think our RPI is higher than it was last year. Our Strength of Schedule this year is going to be probably end up in the Top 20. We're 16 I think right now, so we've challenged a very young group. We've had some adversity. We lost a player who has played a lot for us in Josh Dollard here down the stretch. We've learned a lot as a group. I think we have progressed. Last year we may have won some more games, but we also got really blown out in a few games, too, and I think we've been more competitive for longer periods everytime this year, it's just -- I said before the season we may have been a better basketball team. I think we will be a better basketball team and may not come in the form of more W's than we had last year. THE MODERATOR: Question in the back; go ahead. Q. Hi, coach. How concerned are you that Vanderbilt is almost like a caged animal. They've got to probably win this tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament. They're probably going to be playing with a lot of motivation. Does that concern you? COACH JEFF LEBO: I think they're the one team here left -- I think there's been a separation in the league. I think there's probably six that I think are probably going to be in and then Vanderbilt -- of the other ones, they're the one that has a chance. We played them in the same scenario last year, and they didn't play great. We played probably for 30 minutes our best basketball of the season in that game so you always worry about it, but they've got good experienced players. They're well coached. They're playing at home. But sometimes that can bring some added pressure to them because they're expected to play well in the City of Nashville, and they'll be favored in this game tomorrow. So, you know, I know they need to win some games if they want to go on and play in post-season. They probably -- they're probably looking at trying to get to the finals to have a shot. THE MODERATOR: Other questions, raise your hand. Any others for coach? Okay. Thank you very much.
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