NIT SEASON TIP-OFF

November 28, 2003

Rick Majerus

RICH MAJERUS: Well, yeah. They are really good. We've played against them, oh, probably, I think in 15 years against Utah, we've played against 12 teams or 11 that won the National Championship. I think these guys will win it. I told the team before we played, you're playing the best team in the country. It's a combination of they are playing terrific, we are playing poor; their experience, our inexperience.

RICH MAJERUS: Yeah, it was a long day today. There's nowhere to turn to. You know, once again we're 6 for 21 from the foul line and we are playing -- we're trying to play Tim Frost into shape. We're taking a guy who has had an hour and a half of practice and saying get up now with Connecticut. It's just the way it is. I mean, we are who we are and what we are. We're young, inexperienced and, you know, people don't expect for kids to have problems. Bogut is a kid and he's got things in his life that happen. We all have human foibles. Connecticut is outstanding. I told my guys, this is the best big guy in the country. He is going to come to this block on this play. I just kind of let it happen in some ways. I told them about it but I wasn't going to change the defense to -- it was good. This could end up being good for us. You know, they are really good. Gordon and Okafor are pros, Brown is a pro. The other kid is young, Josh Boone, he plays so tough. When you get that kid sitting out back, they're a juggernaut is what they are. We got caught in that buzzsaw. We compounded our own problems. I think we are -- I think I've over practiced them. I've always done that. We've been away from home too long. It wasn't smart to come out here so early. It wasn't smart to take so many young guys away. When I booked this whole deal I didn't think we would be in the situation we're in with the upper-classmen and injuries but that's no excuse. We could have been really healthy and we would have gotten beaten by double digits. It wasn't as though -- I take my hat off to Connecticut. They are great. I mean, they are going to -- I don't know who is going to beat them for the National Championship. And I say that, having, as I said, I think in either NCAA Tournaments or during the course of seasons we've played, I don't know, at least 10, maybe 12 No. 1 teams and they are as good as any team I've seen. Okafor is a great, great college player. And Gordon is a great talent. You know, Brown was terrific tonight. So Chaney at one point in the second half, said, they have 53 points and you have 10. You gave up that corner, the hand-off, just stuff we had talked about. But he's a sophomore and these guys kind of rode in on two seniors last year, one of which was -- both played -- the Johnson kid like, I said all year long played great defense and rebounded and never got the credit for that because people are so enamored with point production. Jacobson, like today, your senior captain, sets that pick on the right elbow in front of their bench and he just gets knocked back like he's a rag doll and he just takes it. I mean, you know, when your only senior and your captain is just done with that, it's over. It's just over. It's a tribute to Connecticut. You know, Nick probably isn't tough enough to play these guys, so we've got to go back. I can hardly wait for practice. I'll give them off tomorrow and we'll practice Sunday and I'm excited about going back to practice and that's what sports are. As I said this is a terrific situation, the long road trip, the injury, the conditioning and all that, but that doesn't make Jacobson get knocked off that pick and Hawkins not blocking out. All you have to do is block out. On the block out today we had like no chance. Our ball handling isn't where it needs to be to control the tempo of the game. I take -- encouragement from Josh Olsen who got better from the first half yesterday to the second half where he had no turnovers till he played good today and he's tough. You know, Hawkins is just, you know a kid, too. And Bogut is really a kid. You know you don't want to be playing freshman unless you're playing along side upper-classmen. I'm excited about Sunday. I can't practice tomorrow. Look at the film all day tomorrow. Van Horn and Doliac waited that whole time. They knew it was going to be miserable and it's like, you know, if it's not hell, it's the lobby of hell in there right now. They waited. I talked to the kids. Doliac definitely wants to take me out. I'm going to go out with him because I think that will make me feel better about my own players. You know, come back Sunday and we practice. Honestly got to tell you this, my biggest concern is the academics with the upcoming week prior to exams coming up. But I would like to think that we could take a more manly posture and be more competitive, two simple elements of converse defense and block out, but I take nothing away from Connecticut who is a great team. Are they preseason No. 1? When they get Villanueva, they will be odds-on favorite. They have no weakness. They have no discernible weakness. They have good depth. And they have got -- geez, with those last couple of guys, walk-ons, they came in the game and I'd like to have one or two of them.

RICH MAJERUS: You know what, I only saw the game on tape. That was after I saw our game on tape and then, you know, I wasn't really studying UCONN Wednesday night. I didn't see the game. I was just trying to prepare. With the young team, one thing, we do a pretty good job of disrupting and taking them out of sets but there's no disrupting when they beat you on the floor or come over your back and rebound. Which my poor assistant, he got baited into bitching at the refs. I called the one ref over and I said you guys are doing a good job, here is the whole deal. I was apologizing over my assistant saying something to him because the referee had like no outcome on the game. But you can fall into that trap. You're looking to hang your hat on anything. Before you go, I want to thank the NIT. It's a great tournament, it's a great organization. We really felt honored to be here. Sorry that we laid such an egg and did not play competitively. It couldn't have been nicer organized and it couldn't have been more accommodating. I've always loved the NIT, matter of fact, looks like hopefully we are good enough to be in it by the end of this year. But when I have been in it, it's always been great. They do a lot for basketball, they do a lot for the student athletes. And the schools that comprise NIT, the student is not an oxymoron. It's a legitimate bonafide contingent of schools that have high academic standards and I respect that so much and I'm so proud to participate in that with my own team. My players have always gone on the NIT summer trips for 13 years, I think, and they have always been the beneficiary of that and it's been better for them. There might only be one New York guy here that I'm talking to but he'll get that word of gratitude out. If we get back here in March, I hope that we can mount a better effort.