NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 27, 1998

Antawn Jamison

Shammond Williams

SHAMMOND WILLIAMS: Throughout that situation with the tournament last year, I just dealt with it by myself. Nobody else helped me shoot one for 13. So I think the most important thing for me at that time was to deal with it as much as possible. Being mature about it and putting it in its own perspective to where if I had an opportunity to come back again, I wouldn't be too eager to try to perform, but I would understand what had happened to me the year before.

ANTAWN JAMISON: It is the most important thing that I look at because it is probably the most important thing to anybody's team. He makes the guys around him play better, steps up our team game, also and one of those guys that's very unselfish and will give the ball to anybody at a particular time. His situation, he has just been giving it to myself, Shammond, the rest of those guys but when it is time for Ed to step up, he definitely steps up. He makes everybody on the court on his team better.

SHAMMOND WILLIAMS: After we had lost Arizona, I went to the gym and worked out. It was just a way of me getting over what had happened. When I have problems or I feel like I have extra time on my hands, I just go to the gym and just shoot or work on my game. That's just a way of me relaxing and putting things into perspective. Getting back here to the Final Four is a great thing for myself. I've never said it to anyone but I felt like I let my team down last year. A lot of things that I did on the court I felt like if I would have done different, we could have won. So this year I really pressed a lot and played the best that I could do to get guys the opportunity to be in the same situation. The situation is to win a national championship. It's a lot of relief off my shoulders to be back here because now we can have an opportunity to do it again. Hopefully this time we can pull it out.

SHAMMON WILLIAMS: Well, Utah did a great job of running the junk defense, boxing them into, things like that. But with us, I don't consider any of our guards comparable to the guards that Arizona had. I think those guys have a different style of play as well as we do. And more or less we have a lot of threats on the court. If you try to concentrate on two of them, the other two will get you or the other three will get you. If you concentrate on one, you have four you have to stop. So we look at a team effort and hopefully if they do it to each other defense, it will be on him, not on me. Whatever they do, I think we will be prepared and we will just go out there and do the best that we can do. That's all we can ask of ourselves.

ANTAWN JAMISON: This is a looser team because I think we have played so many games together. We have been in a whole lot of different situations together. We experienced a whole lot together. I think that's why we are a lot more looser. I think it would be a different story if we had a couple of freshmen in the starting lineup or a couple of freshmen who are not used to the system and trying to step outside basketball. But you got six guys who experienced a 0-3 start, went to the Final Four and lost in the first game last year and went through this whole season playing together and made it back to the Final Four. I think you can be more relaxed out there on the court because, like I said, you have been in a whole lot of different situations and you experience a lot. But still again, we are smart and realize we have to stay focused to achieve what we want to do. Like I said, it has been successful that we can enjoy every game and different opportunities and things like that. When it is time for us to stay focused, we get back to that point in time where we can be focused on what we need to do.

SHAMMON WILLIAMS: I said I think -- I think you heard me wrong. I said I want to be eager to perform, not too eager and show people that I am capable of making shots in the big game. Tomorrow's game is going to be approached as another big basketball game for us. Throughout this year we have had an opportunity to play many big basketball games. It's a tough situation just being the last four teams in the country to had have an opportunity to win a national championship. This is what we worked for all year and been focusing on trying to attain. I think every individual on this team tomorrow will go out and give the best effort and hopefully not let tempers get away.

ANTAWN JAMISON: It is kind of difficult to really absorb everything, because it's not to get Player of the Year and something that I dreamed about all my life, but this goal right here is the most important thing to me, and that's to win a national championship. There are a lot of mixed emotions going through my mind but I still got to stay focused. Like I said, this is the most important thing to me because this opportunity might never come again. So after this season is overwith, that's when I can give you comments about how I feel and things like that. But right now this is a prestigious award and very happy that I have received the award. I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates and my coaching staff. Right now the most important thing on my mind right now is playing basketball.

SHAMMON WILLIAMS: The first question. I am very appreciative to have played in three Final Four. I've been in college for four years and three the Final Four. I'm not conceited but it kind of gets old to be in the situation and not winning the national championship. As a freshmen, I had the opportunity to experience and it was more or less a learning experience for me and we didn't win the national championship. I really wanted an opportunity to help the team in that situation. But given time, it wasn't asked of me. As a junior, I had the opportunity to go back, and this time I was asked to contribute, and I did come through at the right time. So that's a thing that I put in perspective, also. So this time, as a senior, this is my last time, my last Final Four, and I have a great opportunity to win a national championship as the other two times. I have a great basketball team, great coaching staff, and hopefully this time we can take care of business while we are here. As much as the sites, Seattle was a great site. Being a freshman, being in the Final Four atmosphere, it was great. Indianapolis, it was more business like. To try to get out there and take care of business and win a national championship. This year is a tough situation, but a great situation. Real focus, real eager to just try to get a national championship back at Chapel Hill. A great place, San Antonio is. I have a little brother here, hadn't seen him in a year. I had an opportunity to visit with him. But my main focus right now and my team's focus is playing the best basketball that we are capable of playing and trying to get a national championship.

ANTAWN JAMISON: I would because with the coach, a lot being said about us, we celebrate too much, this is not the same Carolina team as in the past, and just to prove them wrong and make it to the Final Four. It was a little bit sigh of relief. We all huddled after the first practice, and last year we made it to the Final Four. This year we said we would like to make it to the Final Four but win a national championship. This has been our goal all year. For us not to win a national championship, it would be a disappointing year for me because all the stuff that we had been through, and all the high expectations and things like that, and plus to come up short, it would be disappointing for me.

ANTAWN JAMISON: I don't think it is a big difference. Most people give Utah a lot of the stuff about being so big and being slow and things like that. But the guys can run up and down the court. He is a big old guy but he can run down the Court, and Andre Miller can push the ball up. They have a couple of guys with speed but the biggest difference between us and them is, I think our whole team effort, our whole team speed has overwhelmed their team speed. Not to say they don't have guys that can run up and down the court. We have five or six guys that can run all day and they probably got three or four guys who can really keep up with us. So if there was a difference, that would be the difference right there.

SHAMMOND WILLIAMS: Honestly, no. Kentucky is a good basketball team and all, but I didn't even give any thought about them while I've been here. If we don't win on Saturday, we don't get to play Kentucky or whoever wins the other game. We are not going past Utah. We only have one basketball game to play and that's the thing that we have been able to do all year. We take it one game at a time. In the NCAA we have taken it one game at a time. When you look past an opponent, that's when they are most definitely going to hurt you, and we understand that. That's a good thing about this team and its maturity. We understand that every team is capable. By far, if they aren't here and a lot of things didn't go their way. Utah is a great basketball team. Somebody said they weren't quick. Every team has to be quick to be successful. As you see, Utah is a successful team and they are in the Final Four. It shows they are one of the elite teams in the country. We are ready to play basketball.