NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 2, 2001

Richard Jefferson

Lute Olson

Loren Woods

COACH LUTE OLSON: Yeah, they, you know, I thought we battled hard down the stretch. They were just stronger than we were. It seemed like the loose balls ended up in their hands instead of in our hands. We had a number of times where we had done a good job defensively, then couldn't corral the rebound. But they played really, really hard. I think our guys played hard down the stretch. It was their ability to convert plays that made the difference. We were trying to get the ball inside more. It really hurt us with our inability to get the ball down, because we were hurting them inside, but they had just seemed like they were physically stronger and were able to move us off the block. We had a hard time getting it where we wanted it.

LOREN WOODS: I mean, you know, they did a good job defensively. You know, like you said, we were trying to get it inside in the first half; we didn't get it anywhere we wanted to down low. We made some adjustments. It seemed like it was harder to get it inside. We were being a little bit inpatient. Other than that, we played great. We played a great game. We just lost to another great team.

RICHARD JEFFERSON: Well, he did hit a couple threes in a row; and, you know, a couple times, you know, I messed up my assignment and left the side and kicked it out to him. He hit threes, then a couple of them were just scrambling, and they just knocked down big shots. I think we did a great job defending the three overall. There's going to be maybe one person -- he was the only person that shot the ball well from the three-point line well on their team. I thought we did a good job of that. We just couldn't get to him a couple of times.

LOREN WOODS: We couldn't get our run like how we usually get. Most games we're able to get that run, and, you know, 12-0, 13-0, 20-0 run. We just couldn't get it today. You know, I mean they just beat us at our own game. You know, we like to get out there and get the ball up, you know, anywhere near the rim. You know, try to get some offensive rebounds, try to shoot some threes. We were taking quick shots. They were going back on the other end, moving the ball around. They were getting wide-open shots. That's just Duke basketball. It was hard. Like Richard said, you know, we defended the three well. They just went on a streak.

RICHARD JEFFERSON: We grew up a lot this year, you know, everyone on our team. You know, the way I'm just going to look at it is we got outplayed tonight. You know, if we were playing them again tomorrow, who knows what could happen? That's never going to happen. But we're not going to take it as, "Hey, this was good enough." Of course we're never going to be satisfied. This is going to stay with us the rest of our lives. But you just have to grow from this and know that we're only the second team ever in Arizona history to make it to the championship game. So we have done something that not many other teams have done. You know, that's just something you have to grow on and build from there.

LOREN WOODS: You know, like I said, since the beginning of the tournament, or even before that, you know, like two months ago, it's really not about me. I've played within the team over the last three to four months; and, you know, that's just been great for me. You know, like two months ago, Coach Olson just said, "Do what we ask you to do, and that's it." Ever since then, I've just been trying to do what the coaches have asked of me, what my teammates have asked of me on the floor. You know, that's about all. That's not really about me; it was about the team. I think we made a great run, and we definitely had a great last two months.

LOREN WOODS: You know, it's all about growing up. All of us, seniors this year, you know, came to college as boys, and we're leaving as men. You know, Coach Olson has taught us so much since we've been in the program and, you know, we all have learned, you know, as much as we could learn from him. He's taught us courage, patience, you know, dignity for the program and dignity for yourselves and for your families. You know, that's not about, you know, Coach Olson; it's just about growing up. He's been there for us. He's been a father figure for us. It's all up to us, you know, to soak it in, and that's what we've done, especially this year.

RICHARD JEFFERSON: Family comes first, you know. He went through some very tough times this year, and his family was really there for him. You see his family and how close-knit they are. That's how you want to raise your family. That's something when you see, you're a 19-, 20-year-old boy going into the world, you need an example like that, this is how your family needs to be like, this is how you raise your kids. Of course, he's a great basketball teacher. Look at the players that have come from his program. This year I learned so much about life and so much about how I need to be for the rest of my life.

LOREN WOODS: He did what an All-American is supposed to do. When there's pressure and when the game's on the line, you know, he was there to provide his team with whatever they needed. And, you know, I mean he played great tonight. We were slowing him down in the beginning of the game; but you know, you can only hold a person or a player like that, of that caliber, you know, to a few shots or a few defensive possessions as long as you can before they just come out and just explode. And, you know, that's what he did. But a great player, a great team, and what can you say about that?

COACH LUTE OLSON: Yeah, it was -- it obviously bothered him a lot. And he worked very hard at being able to be able to play this evening. Yesterday we've, you know, it was a case of where he couldn't really get the hand above his head. But I thought he competed hard. I don't know, the depth maybe got to us. Luke Walton had to play with a fractured thumb. And this is not -- when you get to this kind of a game with these kinds of players that you're going against, you need to be fully healthy. I'm very proud of the way the guys competed. I thought Richard just, I mean, he was as aggressive as anybody on the floor. And I was really proud of the way that Loren competed. This is a huge game, and he came out and gave it a huge performance, I thought, and has for some time now. The last month and a half or two months we've seen a tremendous change in Loren in terms of his aggressiveness and competitiveness and emotional control and the rest of it. So I'm proud of their effort. We said going into the game they're an outstanding rebounding team. We've got to do a job with that. We ended up outrebounding them 45 to 42, but the big thing was off the offensive boards. We got 17 to their 11. We only turned it over nine times. So against a team that plays as aggressively as Duke does and as tough as they are on the ball and on passing lanes, you know, I really felt like we did a good job in that regard. Our inability to get the ball inside because of Boozer and Battier, the job they did, really was our undoing.

COACH LUTE OLSON: You know, the thing with Duke, you pick your poison. Sometimes it's going to be one guy, another time it's going to be somebody else. The one consistent thing, you know, is that Shane Battier is going have a great game, because he just -- he makes things happen: Six assists, no turnovers, 18 points, played the whole 40 minutes. You know, I don't think there's been any question in anyone's mind about him being the Player-of-the-Year. I mean, this is probably as unanimous as you're ever going to find anywhere. Dunleavy, I mean he's a streak shooter, and we knew that. This is something we had talked about before. Hey, if they hit a couple threes, you better make sure that they don't catch the ball without you being in their face; and he hit a couple in a row that really, really hurt us badly. And then even though we didn't have many turnovers, we had a couple in a row that they ended up with intercepts. Williams out in front on one. I forget who the other one was. But it just seemed that, you know, it's back and forth, back and forth, and all of a sudden it's ten points. But that's the way Duke plays; and, frankly, that's the way we played too, with runs that have gotten us this -- gotten us to where we were tonight. But tonight it was -- they had the runs, and we just -- we didn't have enough of them. I felt that Richard Jefferson was, I mean, I thought he was as good a player as ever. On that court with that kind of effort that he gave us, he competed and came through with some big plays for us when we needed them.

COACH LUTE OLSON: I thought they outphysicaled us inside. They got Loren moved off the block. They got better pressure on the basketball, made it tougher to get the ball in. And we had some foul problems with Michael where we had to sit him out for a while. But they just -- they got stronger pressure on the ball, and they pushed our guys -- they were just physically stronger than Loren in terms of Loren being able to hold his spot.

COACH LUTE OLSON: Well, I think I would if I didn't have the family that I have. So they'll keep me occupied. And I have some new inhabitants at the house, Christi and her four kids, who are eleven down to five, and if that's not keeping you occupied, I don't know what is. So they all make -- they'll make sure that the old man isn't by himself too much, so...

COACH LUTE OLSON: Well, I thought when, you know, when Duke gave us their best shot, we did a tremendous job of competing. You don't get to this kind of a game unless you've got -- unless you really have competitors on your team. And I thought we competed very, very hard with it. This team is not going to lay down and -- for anybody. But in the end, it was just that they kept coming with runs, and we made runs back at them. It seemed like down that stretch, I don't know how many times we forced them to miss a shot and ended up without us getting the rebound or not being strong enough to hold it. That really hurt us badly, giving them the additional opportunities after we had done a good job defensively of making them miss.

COACH LUTE OLSON: Well, some things you don't -- you know that you don't want to have to learn. But I think with the -- all of us have things happen to us that we have to be willing to accept that it's happened. I don't know how many, you know, people that I've heard from that have lost life partners. And they said it's, you know, basically the thing has been it's those memories are going to be there all your life, and the pain will start diminishing eventually, not totally, but... So it's a fact of life, so it's there. And like I've said, thank goodness for family and great friends.

COACH LUTE OLSON: Well, the team has been so resilient it's just been unbelievable. Through this whole season, they've had to react to, you know, questions about what they've had to go through. And I think their resiliency has been amazing, their patience has been amazing. And I am, you know, I hope that what Loren and Richard had to say is that those statements are true and that a lot of the guys feel the same way; that life is, you know, can be tough. It's how you get through it and how you react to it that's the important thing. And they've been a really, really good team to work with. They've been receptive. They've been coachable. They've been together. I think the adversity has made them stronger and even closer, I think, as a team.