NIT SEASON TIP-OFF

November 27, 2002

Matt Doherty

COACH DOHERTY: Well, I don't know where to start. I don't know if I've ever been more proud of a group of young men than I am with that group in the locker room right now. I've been fortunate to be around a lot of great teams, great wins, teams that may not have been great, but we had big wins. It was just a special night. The kids trusted, they believed, they went out and executed with great poise and confidence. I thought our defense was very good, and obviously, it was not Kansas's best night. I think they were a little out of sync. It's easy to play when you're the underdog and when you have that No. 2 tag on you, that's tough. Kansas is a great team and have great players. We are fortunate that their big three, which scared the mess out of me, Hinrich, Collison and Simien were a little out of sync. I will tell you this: When I walked out on the floor and I heard the crowd respond to seeing Carolina blue, I realized that New York is a Carolina town, always has been since Frank MacGwire, (ph) Tommy Kerns, (ph) Lenny Rosenbooth, (ph) all of those guys on the '57 team all the way to the great players who have come from New York City and the great area, like Michael Corn (ph), Sam Perkins, it's neat to bring my team back to Madison Square Garden.

COACH DOHERTY: They are a confident group. They are a very poised group. Rashad said one time that, I think being a freshman is just a label, and that they are very poised and confident and talented.

COACH DOHERTY: I didn't think we could beat them as a team and I think some guys can really run. Jackie and Raymond can really run, but I was concerned about their five guys. I don't think there's a faster unit than Kansas. So we made some adjustments and tried to control the tempo a little bit, and then also, we usually send four guys to the boards. We just sent three guys to the boards because I did not want them getting baskets in transition and they hurt us a couple of times. But I thought we made some pretty darned good defensive plays a couple of times, too.

COACH DOHERTY: Well, it's a big win. One game, four games don't make a season. Coaching is very fragile thing, knock on wood. So I'm not ready to anoint this team as, you know, national champion and not handing out rings tonight. I don't think Jack Powers doesn't have any National Championship rings to hand out tonight. We are fortunate, very fortunate to beat a very, very talented, well-coached Kansas team. But now, if we don't get our minds right, get them to one o'clock to enjoy this game, if they don't get their minds right for Stanford, we'll be in here saying, okay, well, you didn't play well against Stanford. And there are match-ups, too. Sometimes you matchup better against a certain team than you do another. So, you know, we played well tonight. We'll see how we play Friday.

COACH DOHERTY: One AM. Wise guy from the Post. (Laughter).

COACH DOHERTY: It's uncomfortable after the game is over. You don't know what to say, how to act. But he's been through it. His first game, he coached against Coach Smith, his team beat Coach Smith's team. I know he's happy for me and proud for me because there's no one more that hurt more than myself and my wife last year than -- besides myself and my wife, hurt more than Roy Williams. I know Coach Williams is happy for me. He's won a lot of games. As we move forward, this will just be one game on that record, but he's got so many W's and just a few L's, that I think he's just proud and happy for me. I know that's how he feels in his heart.

COACH DOHERTY: I think I knew that they were gamers. I think the Rutgers game showed that. I knew they were poised. I think the biggest thing is they trusted. We made some adjustments tonight and they believed in those adjustments. Sometimes that's not easy. Some teams don't like to make adjustments, they don't trust, they don't believe. These kids believed. They went out and executed and showed extreme poise.

COACH DOHERTY: Yeah, the back doors -- back door plays are hard to make because they are timing. They are timing-based. If you put pressure on the ball, they are not always going to work, but Kansas has probably some of the best back door plays in the country besides, like, Princeton. We got used on a couple. But I didn't want to back off our defense. I think we can be pretty good defensively. I wanted to try to get it to them and guard them and I thought we did a pretty good job. Again, I think they were a little out of sync. They had a couple of walking calls. They had a couple where guys jumped in the air and then decided to pass it. They will work those kinks out quickly. Again, it's an easy game for us to play because they are the ones that are No. 2 in the country. They are the ones with the expectations; and I've been there as a player, I've been there as a coach. You know, it's easy to come in, we have nothing to lose. Some people say, hey, we just need to get to New York and that would be a great statement for our team. We didn't want to just get to New York. We wanted to have a good showing. Hopefully, we'll play well again on Friday.

COACH DOHERTY: I have so much respect for Mike Montgomery, what he's done at Stanford, in a tough league, going to the Final Four, coaching guys to the NBA, his style of play. I'm concerned about their power. They have got some beef up front with Rob Little and Justin Davis. So I'm concerned about that just like every game because we are not as beefy up front. So we'll have to be very active on defense. They run a lot of plays, they run a lot of set plays. It's funny how when you talk about basketball, it comes down to fundamental things. We have to take care of the basketball, make some good shots, make shots, make them turn the ball over, make difficult shots and then we have to box out and rebound. Tonight we got outrebounded again and that's a concern of mine. We'll just have to keep battling.

COACH DOHERTY: Really? He's sharp. (Laughter).

COACH DOHERTY: Well, again, as a coach, I don't think coaches ever kickback -- not good ones, that kickback, put their feet up on the chair, put their arms behind their head and a, we've arrived. We are all paranoid. We are all thinking we are going to, the world is going to end tomorrow. We have got to be prepared for Stanford. I don't allow myself to -- maybe this is a sad comment, but I don't allow myself to enjoy wins real long. I mean, there's great satisfaction , there's great satisfaction of doing that with my staff. I enjoy that more than anything, is sitting there after a great win and grading tape with my staff. We played Seton Hall at Notre Dame and we beat Seton Hall at Notre Dame and we had to fly out the next morning and we graded film in the hotel room. Those are the bonding experiences with your staff that you never forget, but immediately I am going to turn to Stanford. Because now you guys think we're so great, you're going to say, well, what happened against Stanford? I mean , I know you guys. That's what you'll say. I don't want you to say that Friday. I want to come out and play well.