NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 28, 1997

Rick Pitino

RICK PITINO: Well, we're very excited to be in this Final Four. I think it's going to be one of the more exciting ones in quite some time, because when you look at all four teams, we probably could play each other 20 times and come out winning 10 and losing 10. So I think we're all evenly matched and I think the team that executes the best at the end is going to come out the victor.

RICK PITINO: I don't think our press is as good as it was last year, because, quite frankly, we never got tired because we had so many players that we could put in and not lose anything. Our second unit, often would beat our first unit in practice. And this year's press, because we're sophomore-dominated, still is growing. But I think there's still an excellent basketball team at every level of the court defensively. When Derek went down, I think it was a day later we had to play Vanderbilt in Cincinnati, which was our home game, and I think we scored 50 points in the game. And we were conditioned to running so many offenses through him, once the players got comfortable with playing without him, they got significantly better.

RICK PITINO: I think you have four really, really good basketball teams, and I think it's more fun that way. I think they're all terrific. They do so many things well. And I think it's more fun for all of you covering it, for us playing it, for the fans who are behind it, because right now certainly I watch a lot of film and I think you studied the game leading up to this Final Four and there's no way mentally you can pick a team being better than the other. You can make a case for their strength, but there's absolutely no way when you watch four of these teams on film you can be convinced. Now, if Kansas was here, obviously you could make a case for them, because I think they were the best team in the country this year. But the other four teams have gotten hot at the right team, played their best basketball at the end of the year, and that's why we're all in this situation. But if you pick with your heart you can come up with a winner, but if you watch the films and observe it as a student of the game you can't really pick who's going to win these two games.

RICK PITINO: I think he's been the key to our team. I think we were a very good team winning, but not until we put Wayne Turner in did we add a different dimension, both offensively and defensively to our ball club. And Wayne has been someone that immediately can turn around and guard a very good point guard in the opposition, and then he can put the pressure on that point guard because he drives so well. He's a much improved shooter at 15 feet, and I think he's got a -- I think he's a future great one, not there yet, but I think he's got the potential to be a great point guard down the road.

RICK PITINO: Well, I would differ with my players. I don't think they're anything like South Carolina. South Carolina is a totally different ball club that spaces you out and looks to drive and shoot to three. This team's spacing is in tight and they physically try to overpower you. So I think what the players were meaning is they obviously drive a lot. Matter of fact, I think Derek Anderson to this day he's missed 18 games, he is still the person that has gone to the line the most on our basketball team. And I think that's 90. Harris has gone to the line 170 times -- let me get the exact number to make it correct. Jackson has gone to the foul line 148 and Harris 173. So you know they're very physical, they're very big and strong and tough. Tough minded mentally, tough minded physically. So this is a team that I think, well, maybe because they haven't been here and don't necessarily have the basketball tradition, this is the deepest, most physical team in the tournament. They're very experienced and dynamic, very well coached. This is the team when I watched them on film, I try to come away with weakness, I couldn't find it. Normally when we watch films we can find weaknesses.

RICK PITINO: He's had a storied career, because he won the state championship in high school, he was also an outstanding football player. He walks on with us, and quite frankly I thought he could be a good backup point guard that we would be happy to have. I felt he wouldn't scare away any other recruits when he chose Kentucky. And then he played with a great team last year and knew his role. This year it's a totally different role. Now he moves over to 2 guard and whatever we ask Anthony to do, he does. And he does it, I think, with great class. And he shows great character. So he's been just a joy to coach for the four years he's been here. And we're certainly going to miss him a great deal.

RICK PITINO: The thing I feared the most, what I've been pointing out to the team, I think Minnesota has it without question, I always believe you have to have a Ph.D., be poor, hungry and driven. We were last year, we were poor, hungry and driven, very talented, want to prove ourselves, wanted to be champion. And when the season started out October 15th we had four weeks of terrible practices, nowhere near the other seven years, from an execution standpoint. And I felt all along that the biggest pitfall that you have is that you can embrace a championship, still work hard, but then you get knocked out very early. And I just felt that I was going to take a psychological stand and not let that happen. And I told our team right there, that we're going to be a 500 ball club, unless we work much harder than last year. And some guys felt that couldn't be possible. I said if it's not possible, we'll be just over 500, we'll be fighting with an NCAA bid at the end of the year with the type of schedule we play. They went along and they certainly were poor, hungry and driven. And they became extra driven when Derek Anderson went down, because they realized that we could be driven and we still have Mercer and Anderson, but now we don't. I think they handled it psychologically this year as well as they could without having what they had last year.

RICK PITINO: I think it all depends on the makeup of your team. For instance, I think young people today, they come in with such bravado, they have no fear of anything, where I think a senior is a little more cautious, they watch, they're great, they do this. I think it's typical of Arizona. You listen to their comments with Kansas, oh, we felt we could win. It was no problem, and they had great bravado because they're young. When you get some juniors and seniors, you realize how good teams are, they come into this cautiously optimistic. So you have different psychological makeups, you have the young Arizona team that probably are going to come in here without any fear at the Final Four at all. It's not going to be any big deal. You have us knowing we were here, we'd like to do it again. You have Minnesota who is as tough minded as any team we faced and certainly you have North Carolina that's been on an unbelievable run. So we all have different make ups. But no one knows going into the game who's going to get the jitters, who's going to perform well and who is not. That's the beauty of our game, because it's not a series.

RICK PITINO: The Iowa press is much different, they put it on, they take it off. We play more of a matchup. That doesn't mean Minnesota is not going to handle it well, it's just different. One of the big keys, and you'll look at the Iowa team, Minnesota was up 17 at Iowa. And they wound up winning a very close ballgame, as they do most games. But I thought our region, and I listen to people on television say they didn't think the region was tough. At the end of the year Utah ends up the No. 2 ranked team in the country, thinking they're going to be a one seed. When we watched the film of Iowa, and Virginia, as an 8, 9. It's the toughest 8, 9 game I've faced since I've been a coach. I thought Iowa was absolutely fantastic. We played them the night they had a great team. Then we play St. Joe's, and if you watch St. Joe's play, they're unorthodoxed, they took 42 threes in the one game. If you don't pay attention to every detail in the perimeter you can go down with them. Then we played a Utah team that was as motivated as any team to beat us that I've ever seen, because of prior experiences. Now we go into what I think is the toughest game of the season with Minnesota because they have all the answers. Yes, they've handled pressure. They've played against good backboard teams. They've played a lot of close games. They're physically strong. They're very deep in case of foul trouble. So we have our toughest task ahead.

RICK PITINO: When we with Ron and Derek together it was two 20 point scorers, the other guys didn't pay too much attention in the box score. Since Derek has gone down, we've had four and five players in double figures, Cameron Mills, Wayne Turner, Jared Prickett, Scott Padgett, so we have much more balance, it seems, why that is I don't know, probably because we ran 80 percent of our offense to Derek and Ron. We have more balance now, but I think you're right, when the going gets tough we need Mercer. We needed him against Utah, and some of our other opponents to get this far.

RICK PITINO: Should I have doubt? I don't know. From every understanding I have, he's playing. I think Harris, you know, when you watch him play, he was the high school defensive player of the year, and when you watch both of those guys play together, you realize you have two lightning quick guards, not only with their hands, but with their feet. He is a young man who penetrates very well, runs the ball club, and the combination of both Jackson and Harris gives you a physical presence like -- and we've played great back court players this year, so I can't say we haven't faced great back court teams, but this is as good as it guess. Because they're mentally tough, physically tough. They get to the line, they make big shots. And I think we have our hands full. But I feel very comfortable with our back court right now. I think we have great experience with Anthony Epps and I think we have outstanding explosiveness with Wayne Turner. I think the back courts matchup well. We have a tough task, because Jackson rebounds so well. That's the unusual thing. He's one of the best rebounders from the guard spot in the country.