NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 31, 2000

Mateen Cleaves

A.J. Granger

Morris Peterson

MATEEN CLEAVES: Well, one thing about them, I mean that's one thing you have to be prepared for and to know when you're going to go in and play Wisconsin that it's going to be a slow-up game, it's going to be physical. We know they play very hard. They do a great job of playing defense. So, you know, I think a lot of teams get frustrated by that but you shouldn't get frustrated by that if you know going into the game what type of game it's going to be. Teams like Wisconsin, you don't enjoy to play but unfortunately you have to play them. You know, I was just joking with a guy outside. He asked me a question, he said did I think -- did I figure I was finished with them in the Big Ten Tournament. You think you're finished with a team like that, when you get done playing them, next thing you know, you're playing them again. It's like oh, my God. You know the type of defense they play, the type of team they are, you should be ready to expect how the game's going to go when you play them.

MATEEN CLEAVES: Well, you know, that was a long time ago. Going back to that game, you know, I think a lot of guys were very disappointed in how we play, you know. We went out to play a good team, and we were very disappointed with the lost, you know, a lot of guys kind of took that loss and were mad about it. And we want to do something about it. The next thing we did when we got back to practice, you saw a lot of guys that was there an hour before practice working out, a lot of guys staying after, watching film to see what we needed to do to get better. One thing we want to do, our plans were to win the National Championship this year. We knew if we played like that, you know, against some other good teams that we wouldn't be able to win. We wanted to just capitalize and learn from our mistakes and get better on it.

MORRIS PETERSON: I think a lot of coaches, they, you know, they really don't let their players get involved with some of their plays. I think that's what kind of separates Coach Izzo. He can really relate to his players. He's always willing to, you know, listen to them and get some of their input. I think, you know, as Coach is about to draw up a play, I just thought about that, because -- I thought about that play because they were overplaying us a lot during the game. Thankfully it worked. Mateen did a great job of throwing the ball up. He kind of made it easy for me.

MATEEN CLEAVES: Yeah, one thing we have here with Coach Izzo, as far as player-coach, we have a great player-coach relationship. You know, he lets his players have input on what we need to do, you know, he's not one of them coaches that think it's just -- it's gonna be his way or the highway. He lets his player, you know, he loves to have your input, you know, and as far as on the court, if you see something out there or if you need to, you know -- if you think you see something different, you can tell him that. That's on the court or off the court. You can go in his office, his door's always open for us, he's always available for us. If you have any suggestions or anything like that, he lets you have your input on that.

MORRIS PETERSON: A.J.... (Laughing)-- A.J. has been an integral part of our success this year. One thing I like about A.J. is that he's gotten a lot better every year. He's learning. You know, he's a great shooter, a great guy. Not only on the court but off the court. You know, he has just been somebody I can go up to and talk to, you know, about anything. He's always willing to listen to you. And I think A.J. has really done a great job this year of becoming more of a leader and stepping up and making big plays for us because without A.J., or this year or even in the tournament, we wouldn't even be in the position that we are in now.

MATEEN CLEAVES: That's the main thing about him. If A.J. wouldn't play like he played last year or if A.J. didn't play like he played this year, we wouldn't be in this situation. A.J. has stepped his game up to a whole other level. It's not just by, look, you know, A.J. is a guy you see out before practice shooting, a guy that stays after practice to work out. He's been doing a great job for us. One thing he's been great to our freshmen, you know, guys like Anagonye and Adam Wolfe. A.J. has -- every time he's always stopping practice and showing those guys what they're doing wrong and what they need to do to get it right. He's been great to those guys. A.J. has been more of a leader this year for us. He's been the guy that wants to take big shots for us. Every time in a huddle or something, A.J. is like somebody set a screen for me and Mateen you get me the ball and I'll knock it down. He's been very inspirational to our team, a big help for our freshmen and he's a big reason why we're sitting here today.

MORRIS PETERSON: It's been like an emotional roller coaster. I think about the game, my family, my grandmother. I got a chance to see my family yesterday, spent some time with them. I went to my grandmother's funeral. I talked to my family a lot yesterday, they told me to go out there and concentrate on the game because, you know, my grandmother she's going to be here in spirit. I think actually she's going to have the best seat in the house. She's going to be sitting right there watching over the team and guiding us. Hopefully we can make something happen for her.

MATEEN CLEAVES: Well, you know, last year, you know, it was a lot of hype about me coming out or whatever. One thing, me personally I never thought about coming out. You know, Coach Izzo was the guy saying we need to see where you're going when you leave, but I was never a guy that thought about coming out. And, you know, I think I made the best decision in my life, you know, if I was coming back this year. That's not because we won Championships and that's not because we're back in the Final Four. That's just the relationship I've had with the guys, you know, the fun I've had this year. I'm on schedule to get my degree. I mean it's been key. A lot of people thought when I got hurt, you know, when I hurt my foot, that I had regrets about coming back. I didn't. It was an unfortunate incident with my foot. One thing I was still able to get to class, you know, I got to class on my crutches, I am still on schedule to get my degree. And like I said, this has been the best year, one of the best years of my life as far as just, you know, hanging out with the guys and being around the guys for another year.

MORRIS PETERSON: Well, I probably couldn't beat them now still. But it's tough, I mean it was tough growing up with my sisters. We were very competitive with everything, not just basketball. I think that's kind of where I got to be competitive. We would challenge each other, seeing who could roll up the window the fastest or something. Or, you know, who can drink their juice the fastest, just stuff like that. But my mother, you know, she's been my biggest fan. She's also been my worst critic. Sometimes I might think I had a good game, she'll come back and say, "You missed two free throws, Son, you need to work on that. You're not getting enough lift on your jump shot." Stuff like that. She's done a great job of being there for me not only on the court but off the court.

A.J. GRANGER: They really slow the game down, you know, they really put an emphasis on that, and, you know, that's what they rely on to kind of win their games and keep them in ball games. You always have to be on your best offensive, whatever you want to call it, when you're down there running things just because they're so tenacious. They run through picks, they always got their hands active, trying to swipe at the ball their post players are always banging you around. We faced them three times already this year, we know what to expect from them, we're going to try to come out and take care of business.

A.J. GRANGER: I mean I think it has to. You can't kind of overlook that. We know this is a new game and we know we can't rely on those wins to kind of get us a win here. It's a whole different ball game. They've been playing better basketball. I think they're really starting to gel as a team and playing the type of basketball they wanted to play all year. It looked like they were kind of out of sync earlier in the year, I think that's all come around for them. We'll have to play our best basketball game to try to get a win.

MATEEN CLEAVES: I've been doing that probably since I've been a kid. I've always been a silly guy, you know, somewhat silly. I always just like to have fun, you know, and it just happens now. I guess it just became a habit since I've been a kid. You know, from playing around, even not playing basketball, I stuck my tongue out at people as a kid. So, you know, that's something I do. I enjoy myself doing it. I'm not going to stick my tongue out to the other team or embarrass them or nothing, but that's something I do when I'm feeling good, having fun out there.

A.J. GRANGER: I really have to credit my teammates for that one. Like Mateen said, you know, I've kind of been trying to get open more, trying to do some things that help the team out. I think they've really done a nice job of getting me open in the offense. Mateen's been looking for me more. When those things happen, you're naturally going to play better. I have to give all the credit to them, and, you know, I've just tried to -- I think you can attribute to, that we're not conference play anymore. You have some teams out there that don't really know your face or aren't, like we've had problems with other teams where we haven't known their face and, you know, I think you can kind of attribute it to that, too.

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