NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 30, 1998

Michael Doleac

Drew Hansen

Rick Majerus

COACH MAJERUS: I want to thank the NCAA. I thought that -- we were never in this tournament when we haven't been fairly seeded. I thought they accommodated us. The tournament was really run well. I can't say enough about our participation in it. I want to thank the people here at San Antonio. They were so nice. It was like riding in a resort where you were accommodated and cared for. I thought they treated us with tremendous respect and terrific kindness. I thank our host, the people here, and it was an honor and privilege again to play in this tournament. We lost to a terrific team. I thought that Kentucky made difficult shots, and I applaud them. I felt that we had a hand up on the shots. I thought we played with great heart, and I can't say enough about Mike on my right and Drew on my left. I think that they epitomized what the NCAA and the collegiate experience should be about. They had tremendous fun. They were great Captains. We had a wonderful team. We had a wonderful experience together as a team and coach. And, most of all, the academic endeavor was, you know, prioritized, capitalized on, and they will go on to lead sensational lives. In retrospect, they will look back with great fondness. I told them -- and I don't know -- we take our hat off to Kentucky, and I know these kids will always remember being number two out of the entire country, coming so far. Come back in the pack. That's it.

MICHAEL DOLEAC: I'm not sure if we got worn out. I was tired, but you are playing for the national championship. I think you can push yourself through that. Maybe that was it. I don't know. I mean, they made some tough shots. We didn't make them. They outplayed us down the stretch and they deserve to win the game. I take my hat off to them. They are a class bunch of guys, you know. They played very well and we didn't play our best game tonight. We did the last few games in order to get where we are. We just didn't have our best game out there tonight. We didn't play well. We played hard, but we didn't have everything clicking. So they beat us.

MICHAEL DOLEAC: They did a good job defensively. I had a hard time finding the open man. I had my shot blocked a couple of times. I knew it would happen. They are a good shot blocking team. I just tried to stick with them and go at them. They played a good game, played a good ballgame. They are a solid team and good program and well coached. Coach Smith is a great coach. I played for him my freshman year. They played a great game.

DREW HANSEN: It's tough. As Coach said, I thought I wouldn't be as bad. I just take from the last four years, and I played for the greatest program in America, the greatest Coach in America. We do things the right way. The kids have class and we played hard all the time, and Kentucky, they made a run in the last four minutes, and we were four minutes away from winning the national championship.

MICHAEL DOLEAC: I think the whole game we felt we could pull it out. I didn't think there was a time when we thought we were outmatched. When we made that run, we felt the momentum swing with us. They came out and they hit a couple of big shots, and we just made a couple of mistakes on offense. You look at the time in the game and you're up four points. I don't know. You look back and you think differently. But things just happen in a game. It didn't go our way. And so, I mean, I thought we were doing pretty good.

DREW HANSEN: After we went up four, we were really excited. I thought we had a chance to break them, and I thought I made the biggest defense mistake in my life when I let a guy go in and shoot a 3 pointer and get off a 3-point shot. All due respect to Mills, he is a great outside shot but he didn't put it on the floor that well and it ended up costing us big time.

DREW HANSEN: We knew they came back against Duke and they were down against Stanford. At half time we were just talking about staying aggressive. We were tentative and they were able to catch it, and we came out and we had two shots to take them, and we stood up initially in the run and down the stretch. They hit some tough shots and we missed some easy layups, 5 or 10 footers, and 10-foot shots that Andre was making the whole tournament. He ran out a little bit of good shooting and fell short.

COACH MAJERUS: Our goal was to try to take the threes away from Sheppard and wanted to take the threes away from Edwards, and Padgett. And we did that. Mills hit a couple of shots. He hit that shot. Andre, in the corner there, was just fatigued. He knew right away. I thought the biggest shot of the night might have been that corner jumper in the left corner where Miller -- I think it was fatigue. I think -- I credit the kid for making those shots. Then Drew blames himself there. Drew got to him. He had a hand up late. They're athletic, good, deep. Quite frankly, I think we just tired and I think that they played more players. I felt that perhaps I should have worked a couple of those kids in earlier. I take my hat off to Kentucky. They played terrific. I thought Hanno, that foul line jump shot, and I thought he was wide open for that three in the left corner. Then we got the ball to Mike, and Andre couldn't get the layup. And as that goes on, I thought we defended well. I don't know. I'm just rambling.

COACH MAJERUS: Not at all. Bill Guthridge called today, and that did not factor into the equation at all this evening.

COACH MAJERUS: I think Mike wore down. Magloire did a good job, and Mohammed, and they played him two on one. He is a big body guy. Britton Johnsen has got to lock himself in the weight room if he wants any hope of becoming a good player. Britton has heart. Britton missed the first 11 weeks of the season. That's his body build anyway. When he missed those 11 weeks, that's hard. We don't have a body. We don't have an athletic body guy other than Doleac, and I think they did a good job on wearing Mike down and banging him. I credit them with playing him two on one, so to speak.

COACH MAJERUS: They are athletic, a veteran team for the most part. We are ten freshmen and sophomores and two upperclassmen. Drew is not an athlete. He's a helluva player, not an athlete. Mike is kind of a manufactured player who is a strong big body. And he got to come into his own. Jensen started the season well over 250 coming back offer his mission and did a wonderful job getting his body in shape throughout the course of the year. So a long road back from that two-year mission. Andre, quite frankly, just got worn down. I think the fact that it was a demanding stretch in this tournament, I think Thursday's game was a very difficult game, and I think today Kentucky went after him, and I think Andre got worn down a little bit, fatigued. I just couldn't pull a trigger on McTavish. Jordie wasn't ready for it yet. We really don't have a third guy to go to one except for Drew, and when Andre got those fouls -- Andre has played sensational. We have ridden him here to a certain extent. I think I credit Kentucky for the resiliency, competitiveness, their depth. I'm very, very proud of my team, though. I couldn't really feel more honored and privileged. I mean that sincerely. They are a great group of kids. I thought they played their guts out. I thought they represented the University and the State well. You know, I can't say enough or congratulate Kentucky enough. They are the champs. They beat us. They deserve all the accolades they received.

COACH MAJERUS: I probably should have cultivated the bench more. I don't know about technically. You look at them and you say, we want to take the threes away from Padgett, number three. And then of course, Sheppard. And then, you know, I think that we got the shots inside that we would have liked. Andre is in that left corner there and he's like a punch-drunk fighter. You know, he's standing on his last legs there, but we don't get here without him. Then to credit them. They hit big slots. That three and Mills' three were tough threes. If Andre is not fatigued, I think he does a better job. He knew what he was, what we call deny back there. Britton Johnsen, I like Britton. He has come a long way. He couldn't get in the game for the most part through January, and now he has had a wonderful February, and he has really matured as a man, a person. I don't know what else I would have done. I didn't think that -- I liked Evans shooting the threes. I can live with Evans shooting his threes. We are here because we take the big gun out. We can't take everybody out. We can't go out and deny, trap you, beat you with athleticism. We have to make choices of where we are going to get beaten and by whom. Tonight, fatigue was probably the primary factor. Credit Kentucky with a terrific bench and a great effort in the second half. I don't want to credit Kentucky to the extent that I take anything away from my own players' effort because their effort was sensational. Perhaps their Coach should have cultivated the bench more. I had been doing that, but these guys are excellent athletes, Kentucky, and they play hard.

COACH MAJERUS: As I said, there are a number of may haves. I think some of our misses, we get Andre that post and then we run a play called 22. We duck Andre back in. I don't know if you remember that one. I can point to so many plays. He's got the ball right there and can't get to it go down. Then he has that drive left. Then we have Hanno with that jump shot coming off the right block at the foul line after a play called T. Hanno is wide open on that. Hanno gets the jump shot at the motion game at the top of the circle. Kentucky just wore us down. They just beat us down because, you know, I've got to do a better job. I didn't do a good job with -- we try awful damn hard, our staff does. I've got to get us some better players. I will not trade the kids that I got. I have to get us just an athlete or two, and maybe that's it. But I would not

trade -- I would rather have coached my team, and I don't mean this at all. I know what nice kids those Kentucky kids are and I know what a great program that is. But I wouldn't trade anything for my team, for my players. I mean, they're just really nice kids. I have the nicest problems any coach could ever have. I'm just going to congratulate Kentucky and go off into the night.