NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 31, 2001

Charlie Bell

Andre Hutson

Tom Izzo

David Thomas

TOM IZZO: First, I'd like to give a lot of credit to Arizona. I thought they really played well. They played hard. They played good defense. They got their fast break going off of turnovers, and our No. 1 key today I think was points off turnovers. I guess we didn't handle it very well. And yet I'd like to say that these three guys in our senior classes had an incredible journey, and I do not want one game to mar that. I do give Arizona a lot of credit. And yet you're talking to a guy who's totally confused on what happened to us today as far as the turnovers we had, how we had them, and what we did. It was just one of those games, and it snowballed. I thought we didn't play great the first half, (inaudible) maybe that was encouraging. We just turned it over the second half. The better team won, yet I don't want it to destroy what these guys have accomplished over their four-year career.

CHARLIE BELL: I mean, they were very, very quick. They were strong on the boards. You have to give them a lot of credit. They came to play, and they really took it to us.

ANDRE HUTSON: Well, I mean it's tough for anybody to, you know, go out losing, especially after all we've accomplished. But we just have to take it like that. We were out there, we just didn't give it our best effort. And Arizona played tremendous tonight. They were quick and just made a lot of right decisions, and we made a lot of wrong decisions. So it's tough to go out like this, but, you know, it happens.

CHARLIE BELL: It's hard to say, I think. They're, like I said, they were very quick today. I think things looked open. Once the ball was in there, they did a great job reacting to the ball. Arenas was great at it; Jefferson was great at it. They got some great athletes. Just didn't do the job today.

ANDRE HUTSON: I couldn't hear you. Could you say that again?

ANDRE HUTSON: I just think I got a few more touches. They were doing a good job of pressuring us on the wings in the first half; and, you know, I didn't really get a chance to speak up till half time. I was up and down, some other guys pointed out. I just got the ball a little more in the second half and got some more opportunities to score.

CHARLIE BELL: Like I said, they were just one step quicker to the board than we were, I think. Like I say, some of the passes looked open. You know, like I said, they did a great job reacting to the ball no matter what they were in, either man or zone.

DAVID THOMAS: I think for the most part I've grown a lot. I've had to face adversity and still try to get the task at hand done. I've learned it from the coaching staff, you know. In my five years they've taught me how to -- they've basically made me grow up and then taught me a lot of life lessons. It definitely helped me face the problems I'm dealing with back home right now.

TOM IZZO: I think the hardest part about being in a press conference is, you know, I'm a pretty much tell-it-like-it-is guy. Anything you say -- I don't want to take anything away from what Arizona did, but what I meant by "confused," it wasn't with their offense or defense. I felt the first half, you know, was one of those games where we didn't play very well. We missed five free throws out of ten. We missed three front ends of a one-and-one. We're down one or two points, and you kind of think you can come back, and those passes the second half, they looked like they were right to them. We just haven't played like that. I do give Arizona a lot of credit for it, but for some reason, we just seemed not with it all day long. And I told the guys after, you know, that it happens now and then. It happens, and it just seemed like -- I don't remember those guys playing like that in four years. That's the only part that's disappointing to me. I think we got beat by the better team, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. But I don't think we played at all like we've played for four years, much less this year.

TOM IZZO: Well, like I said, I was honest with you that we are -- our biggest key, and I think I told CBS before the game, that it was turnovers and their ability to score off turnovers. And as Lute said, you know, that was a big key to the game. They did it. They deserved it. Arenas was incredible. I think he said it, and I definitely would concur with it, of their twelve steals, I'm not sure ten of them didn't lead to dunks. So, you know, half-court defense, you know, wasn't great but wasn't awful. We just threw it away so many times in a row, I think three times in a row for dunks. That's hard to do.

TOM IZZO: I think to win big games your best players have to play well, and those two guys have done it for us a lot, and they struggled tonight. I think they struggled because they struggled -- I think they struggled because of the good defense Arizona played. Arizona looked like they were on a mission, and for that I give them a lot of credit. Yet, for some reason, like I said, don't mind me for being this confused. Maybe they were even better than I thought. I thought they were very good, but we just did some things tonight that we haven't done. I don't really have a good answer why.

TOM IZZO: I thought we had a couple guys that played well. I thought Zach played extremely well. It wasn't just what he did, it was what he said, it was how he came along. Zach might have grown more than any player on our team today. I thought Andre was, you know, very good, and the question was asked of him 'what was the difference.' We hammered on it at half time - he's got to have more touches. Marcus did, he came in and played very well the first half and struggled a little bit the second half, but I think he's made great progress in this tournament. This tournament has been great for both Marcus and Zach, and I think you're going to see them explode into the college basketball world next year as maybe two of the better players in the country.

TOM IZZO: Well, when you lose guys like Bell and Thomas and Chappell and Smith and of course Hutson, those guys don't come around all the time. They've done it, like I said, in the classroom, they've done it off the court, and they've done it on the court. And they've done it for four years, which means they withstood the test of time a little bit. I couldn't say in words how much I appreciate what they've done for our program, for our university, or for me personally. We're going to miss them. It's not going to be the same without them, but as everything else, life goes on. And I think that, like I said, even though a lot of those guys didn't have their best games tonight, you know, I wish we could have had a better game for the stage we were on. But Arizona is really a good basketball team, and they really deserve to move on. With all that's happened, how can you not kind of pull for them? And I'm happy for Lute; I'm happy for his team; I'm happy for our seniors because of what they accomplished. And we'll get through today, and better times will come.