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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2006Alonzo GeeMark GottfriedRonald SteeleNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: Okay. We're ready to begin with Alabama. We'll begin and ask Coach Gottfried for some general comments, remarks on the game, and then we'll take questions for the two student athletes. COACH MARK GOTTFRIED: Well, we're disappointed, obviously. I thought our players and our team played their absolute hearts out. I thought Kentucky did as well. I thought that was two very good basketball teams, slugging it out, making some great plays, one after another. We came up a little short. We missed a few late. They made a few late, and, you know, that's the difference in the game. I couldn't be more proud of my team. I couldn't be more proud of their effort, their toughness, and the way they kept fighting. So even though we're disappointed, I'm very, very proud of them, and I've been proud of them all year long. We've had a lot of things to overcome, and they've just been phenomenal. So today is disappointing, but, at the same time, I got a great group of guys. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for a Alonzo or Ronald. If you have a question for either, please raise your hand and we'll get a microphone to you. We'll start on this side. Q. Ron, Kentucky scored an their last 11 possession. Could you talk about what was happening defensively that y'all could just not get a stop in the last six minutes.RONALD STEELE: It was a combination probably of our defensive lapses, and they made some plays down the stretch. So you got to give them all the credit, you know. They did what they had to do to win the game, and we didn't. THE MODERATOR: Hands up, other questions. For either? Let's go to the middle. Q. This is for Alonzo. Can you just talk about what you provided the team during that stretch when y'all got a 10, 11 point lead, what you were wanting to do there?ALONZO GEE: Well, coach just told us to come automatic and play hard, and that's what we did as a team. We just played hard. THE MODERATOR: Hands up, other questions? Any others for either one. Okay. On the aisle, go ahead. Steve. Q. Ron, this is for you. You guys were up 11 with six minutes left. Kentucky had, you know, tons of fans here and so forth. Did you feel like there was a run-in them left, and did you -- six minutes, 11 point lead, what were your thoughts at that time?RONALD STEELE: Well, you know, like I said, they did what they had to do to win. I don't think the fans had anything to do with it. That's a good team. They played hard, and they were disciplined, more disciplined than we were down the stretch. They made some big shots, and we missed shots we normally make so, you know, you got to give them credit. THE MODERATOR: Other questions? Okay. Go ahead. Q. This is actually for Ronald, and this is also for coach. I guess we're done with players at this point. I just wanted to ask you with the quality wins you guys have had, Tennessee, Florida, do you feel like you've made your statement into getting into the NCAA Tournament. There's still a lot of basketball left to be played. Let's face it, anything can happen in the next two days.RONALD STEELE: Well, hopefully we have. We won some big games and big some quality opponents. We had a tough non-conference schedule. Hopefully, we've done enough to get in the tournament, but it's out of our hands right now. Hopefully, the committee will look at, you know, our record and who we played, put us in. THE MODERATOR: To the middle. We get you with coach in just a minute. Go ahead. Q. There is for Ron. The defense you guys had on Rondo and Sparks, they didn't score in the first half, did you feel like at some point that one of them would get loose a little bit like Sparks did at the end?RONALD STEELE: Yeah. We talked about that. You know, he's a good shooter. He's not going to miss shots all game. I think we did a good job in the first half of not giving him open looks. In the second half we gave him a couple looks, defensive lapses, but we knew he was going to make shots, and he did what a good player does and knockdown shots for his team. You have to give him credit. THE MODERATOR: Got time for one or two more for players, anybody? Okay. Fellas, we'll excuse you to return to the locker room. Thank you. And we'll continue with Coach Gottfried. And, Mark, would you respond to this last question here on what in NCAA Tournament situation.COACH MARK GOTTFRIED: Well, that's the question everybody wants to answer, and I would be unbelievably frustrated and disappointed if Alabama is not in the field. When you go 10 and 6 in the league and you look closely at where our 10 wins came from and who we beat, the only thing that our team hasn't done is we don't have three, four more wins to make our overall schedule look real glamorous, and that's because we played a great schedule. We did what we were asked to do by the NCAA Tournament. In 2001 I was right here in Nashville. We were 8 and 8 in the league that year, and we were the national example, and I look at other people's schedules. I look at our schedule. I look at the teams that we've beaten. When you beat Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, LSU, and play the schedule we played, I will be completely miffed if this team hasn't done everything that we've been asked to do. You know, I think Ron said it best. It's out of our hands. I think the committee does a great job of evaluating everything. When you finish second in the West and have a bye in this league tournament, you've done something, done something well. Hopefully that will register with those making the decisions. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Question in the back. Q. Mark, your team didn't score a point in the last four minutes of either the first half or the second half. Anything, any pressing, any explanation about that?COACH MARK GOTTFRIED: No. I'll tell you, to be honest, I think Kentucky's depth, you know, probably wore us down a little bit. I sensed we got a little tired. They have a lot more bodies to play. I think they were a little fresher than we were, and that's just -- that's who we are right now. There's nothing we can do about that. We've got 7 scholarship players, and that's all we play and that's -- you know, kind of who we are right now, but I thought late in the game defensively we had some breakdowns and, you know, again, that could have been because of fatigue. I think Kentucky did a nice job of running fresh bodies in and out of there all night long. THE MODERATOR: Hands up, other questions. Go ahead. Q. Mark, with 37 seconds left Felix followed Sparks in the middle of that run. You guys had fallen down 2. Was that something --COACH MARK GOTTFRIED: We wanted to foul Rondo. We needed to foul somebody. You know, that happens. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Q. Coach, I know you obviously want to win every game that you play in, but with your lack of depth, obviously, if you're not heading into the NCAA Tournament. I'll be mortified, too. I think you have done enough to get in the NCAA Tournament. Is there some part of you that is -- I don't want to say happy, but with only six players on your team, the team needs rest, obviously.COACH MARK GOTTFRIED: We came up here wanting to win the championship regardless of the tournament and, you know, the ramifications of one game, two games. We wanted to win this tournament. That's where our guys' mindset was. We didn't win the regular season championship, and so we wanted -- we talked the last three, four days in practice about hanging a banner. We want to hang one. Let's see if we can go up there and win. That's where our mindset was. Now that we have some rest, you know, hopefully on Sunday we get good news, and the rest helps us, but it's kind of tough right now because you know everybody thinks of the NCAA Tournament so much, but our mindset was on winning this tournament. That's where we were. We didn't talk about the NCAA tournament. That's not, you know, something we talked about. We're disappointed that we don't have a chance to play for the championship here. THE MODERATOR: Question down on the aisle. Let's go to the aisle. You still waiting. Go ahead. Q. Mark, as you make your case for the tournament and your conviction that y'all should make it, is it still going to be a long time until 5:00 Sunday afternoon. Will there be some nervous moments for you?COACH MARK GOTTFRIED: There's no question it will be nervous. In 2001 I walked out that door right over there guys. I had 25 people tell you, "You're a lock, you're in, you're this, you're that," you know. And so, you know, when you've been shunned like that, you're a little nervous. I would say this time around five years later, really in the last two, three, four, years, we have been as aggressive as anybody in the country with our non-conference schedule and, you know, I hope that doesn't hurt us, you know, I hope that, you know, that's all of a sudden used against you because we could have played three easier teams in December, and right now you'd be 20 and 9 and everybody would be, you know, celebrating, and you know all that. I hope that our aggressiveness doesn't come back to haunt us. I think again what's important with this team is when you go 10 and 6 in the league, sometimes, it's important to evaluate who your 10 wins came against and when you look at us against the other teams that are being considered in the group from our conference, we've done as well as anybody against the top six, seven teams in this conference. You know, again -- and I think it's important to note what a remarkable job these young guys did after losing a John Wooden Award Candidate, you're talking about a potential SEC Player of the Year. If we have a great year, Chuck Davis is going to be in the running for the SEC Player of the Year. So I'm so proud of them. It's unbelievable for what they've done, and hopefully we'll get a chance to keep playing. THE MODERATOR: Question in the middle. Go ahead. Q. What gave you in the little streak where you took the lead. After that it seemed like he didn't get any touches or shots for awhile.COACH MARK GOTTFRIED: He did a really good job. Really, to be honest, both Gee and Felix have done -- Felix struggled today. He was 1 for 9. He had great looks at the basket, couldn't knock one down, but, you know, Gee was really good. Alonzo played terrific. I thought late in the game we got good looks. Got the ball to Richard inside. Ron laid a good shot at the top of the key. We had some good looks. Sometimes it comes down to the very end of the game, it's one team is making some shots, you're not making some shots and the outcome it is what it is. I think a lot of times it's just that simple. They made some plays there late. Give them the credit. Great job. We didn't. THE MODERATOR: Go ahead. Q. (Inaudible) about that coming in the last two games. Any explanation for his problems offensively?COACH MARK GOTTFRIED: I thought he had some good looks in the basket. Just didn't knock it down. You look at the combination with he and Felix, they're 4 for 24 and we still got a chance to win. We're still right there with a chance to win on top of that. You're going to have some days like that. THE MODERATOR: Got time for one more. Anybody? Alright. Let's goat right down the aisle. At that time last question. Q. Just kind of to finish the regular season with a loss and you lost in the first game of tournament. It's not the way you want to go in post-season. Kind of talk about where you think your team is and how much is left in the tank right now.COACH MARK GOTTFRIED: I think our tank will be full. If you get to play in the NCAA Tournament, everything is wiped away. It's 0-0. I've studied that tournament. I've been such a fan of college basketball since I was growing up. I can take you through teams like Villanova and where they finished in their league, UCLA with Larry Brown, where they finished fifth. Lute Olson's team finished fifth in the Pac Ten, won a national championship. Everybody is 0-0. It's time to play some basketball. Hopefully, we get that opportunity.
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