NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 1, 2005

Ellis Myles

Larry O'Bannon

Rick Pitino

COACH PITINO: We're excited to be in St. Louis. It's a great city, one that obviously will be a great host to the Final Four. Our players are very excited to be part of this. It's a dream for many of the guys. Hopefully we'll play well enough to get to the finals.

COACH PITINO: Well, I was very excited about it because I didn't feel we had a very good team, but I felt we had a very good shooting team. We had a point guard that could penetrate and find the shooters. Interesting enough, I happen to watch a lot of international basketball. I felt we could take a lot of things that they were doing internationally and put it into our system. I wanted to try and make seven, eight threes per game, take around 20 per game. And the first five Big East games - I think it was like against Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's with Louie, there wasn't one team that made a three. John and Louie and Rollie wouldn't let their teams take the three till finally everybody got used to it. I think the first five games we competed in the Big East, I don't think anybody made a three against us. We led the nation in 3-point shooting. I realized that was one of the reasons we went to a Final Four.

COACH PITINO: I think that it's made the game much better, but I think without question, I've said this now since '87, it needs to be moved back to the international distance, just from a spacing standpoint to the low post. I think it's way too close where marginal shooters take the shot. You say, "Is it going to make that much of a difference?" I believe so. The difference between the college and the pro three is incredible. I've seen some great college shooters really struggle from the three-point line at the NBA level. I think it would make a difference in our game from a spacing standpoint. It's just way too close a shot. I don't believe that you run a fast break to the three-point line. That's what happens in college ball because it's so short.

COACH PITINO: No. Believe it or not I'm just alerting the players that somebody is open in the zone. That's why I do that. If somebody is open in the zone, they hear it, they try to find the open guy. But it's just a nervous habit, I guess.

COACH PITINO: All depends on the team. I felt good about it. I benched Antoine Walker in the second half, so I wasn't too concerned with winning and losing in that game as much as I was making sure we were ready come tournament time. I was happy with the loss. The difference I think is we were winning by such substantial margins, I thought it could be fool's gold that when you think you're winning by 30 and 40 points with really good teams, our second unit could have competed for a Sweet-16, that I wanted to make sure we understood if we didn't play great defense, we could get beat that night.

COACH PITINO: I've not quite seen anything like that in my life that night. I think they shot 68% in the first half. We played a great Alabama team in the Sweet-16 at Providence where they had four first round draft picks. We were on that type of run that night. We shot 66, 67% for the game. But it was the way they were making these shots. It was from the wolf out to halfcourt, banking it in from the sideline, desperation with one second, falling out of bounds, their center was making it. Obviously, it does all the time. To make 10 threes, shooting that percentage, only being down 13, we felt great. But those shots -- four or five of the shots were not shots that you normally see in college basketball. But that's a credit to them.

COACH PITINO: It's been one of our weaknesses all year, our Achilles heel. Because of that, our players realizing it, we've been a good rebounding team. We're not overly long, overly physical, overly tall, so we realize that we have to gang rebound. Because of that, it's been a strength toward the second half of the season.

COACH PITINO: Talking about me personally?

COACH PITINO: I'm a runner, you know, a treadmill runner. I do my five miles a day, drink a glass of wine every night. That's pretty much it (smiling).

COACH PITINO: You know, I was talking about this earlier. This is the first Final Four that I'm really having fun just watching the players enjoy it. At Providence, my wife and I lost our infant son just shy of the tournament, prior to the tournament. We were just -- basketball is just a meaningful distraction for me for life. I was just so worried about her the entire time, not until years later did I enjoy what that unbelievable team accomplished. So the first time for me was just a dark time and a sad time for us. Years later I grew to appreciate the brilliance of those guys. This Final Four to me has been the most fun because I'm 52, and I just look at the guys and how happy they are, how the fans are so happy. You just witness the elation of all the people around you, friends and family. It's just really fun to be involved with.

COACH PITINO: I think the match-up problems are difficult at every position. I think they're powerful with their center, then they bring in Ingram who is a different type of player than Augustine in the way he shoots the wall. One, two, three is difficult. That's the thing about Illinois, they've been the best team in the country from start to finish. They're a little blemished, three-point shot away from being undefeated. They're great in transition, great at every phase of the game. The only thing I'm hoping for is I get a big kick out of coach's voice. I'm hoping that he just loses it completely and we have a little edge there (laughter). I think we have match-up problems with every one of their guys. I'm hoping that they have some match-up problems with us also.

COACH PITINO: No, we got here a little later than some other teams. That was just schoolwork-related things because we missed some going to Albuquerque. We treat this like a road trip, only with a few more days. We go out to dinner one night. Tonight will be in the hotel dinner. We watch a lot of film. Although it's a fun time, our guys, if I said to them, "Look, stay out till 2:00 and enjoy yourself," they'd all be in at 10:00. They're so focused on winning basketball. They're not a group that would stay out. They go to bed. They're tired. We don't have a deep bench. Even if I told them to go experience St. Louis, they wouldn't do it.

COACH PITINO: It's like the zone in the West Virginia game. We had to scrap our entire game plan at halftime, literally tear it up. We weren't even prepared to play them in man. We didn't spend much time. We weren't prepared to press them. But if you break it down, the 10 threes they made in the first half, four of them were very difficult shots that you probably don't think your kids can take but for time expiring. And then two of the other six were against man, so they made four against the zone. So you really have to understand not only the zone, but how are they attacking it. Beating it with long jump shots sometimes doesn't really kill your zone. But beating it with offensive rebounds because you don't have block out positions or with dribble penetration, that's when the zone gets hurt. Against Illinois, I don't think you can stay with one defense. I think they're too good for that. I think you have to change up, keep them off guard.

COACH PITINO: I think they're very close, very similar in the way they play. I don't think that we have a guard as fast as Dee Brown. I don't think they have a guard as long as Francisco. Francisco is a really good shot blocker on defense. I don't think they have that. I think Deron Williams, for instance, is someone who is a lot more athletic than he looks, a lot stronger than he looks. He jumps real well. He's very strong going to the basket. Larry O'Bannon is sort of that way. It's intriguing match-ups at the one, two and three. I think we'll hold our own. You never know how it's going to pan out with those guys going against each other. But I do think the four and the five is really going to tell the story in this game.

COACH PITINO: No, I really don't think it will take away from it at all. I think it's so necessary from a spacing standpoint. Forget the degree of difficulty. Everybody will adjust to that. But the spacing to the low post has to improve certainly. I've been switching off from college to pro to college, and I've never seen it like this in all the years I've been coaching. I don't know whether it's 30 or 31 years I'm coaching now. I've never seen anything like this in my life. Not only the regional games. I've seen upsets. We've all witnessed it. But I've never seen the type of basketball that's being played. I mean, when the Patriot League started, I think most of the teams were non-scholarship team. Bucknell was a non-scholarship school. They just beat Kansas, the number one RPI team in the country. Vermont, a school I competed against, just beat Syracuse. Then you have the regional games. College basketball is so staggering right now from an entertainment value, I know just as a coach who has great passion for the game, when I watch these things, I sit back. It's like, you know, you're watching a movie that's going to win an Oscar. It's just incredible how entertaining it is. To see these guys accomplish this at those levels makes you understand the parity in the game, makes you appreciate how hard these young people want to win. But it's remarkable to me. I've never seen anything like this since a long, long time, what happened this year. These regional games, these comebacks, these overtime games, the way these guys handle pressure situations, the way they don't handle pressure situations. It's intriguing.

COACH PITINO: I think it's worlds apart. I think that -- I remember so well, when I had three guys on my college team with the pros, they said, "Coach, it's never going to be the same after we won a championship. It's never going to be like that again." I said, "No, you're going to make a lot of money, you're going to enjoy it, it's a great job, but it's going to be a job." This is not a job. I think the youth in the NBA, if I was their age, I'd go pro if I had that type of ability, without question. But I think it's ultimately going to kill the NBA. And I don't mean kill it where it's not going to be existing or not be a great product. I think the best part about the NBA is the veterans who understand how to play. The constant -- the 18-, 19-year-olds taking over for the Charles Oakleys three or four years, are really going to take away from teaching the young guys who need to be taught what the NBA is all about. So for every LeBron James, there's going to be five or six situations where players don't develop, and I think personally 90% of the young guys who come out are costing themselves $30 to $40 million in the long run. They sit on the IR, they don't play, don't improve. The next contact, it's going to be large by our standards, but it's going to be relatively small to what they could make. Kwame Brown would be an example of someone in the middle. What do you pay someone like that who was the No. 1 player? If he goes to college two years, comes in and starts to dominate, then you're looking at a max guy in the second contract. It's interesting in dynamics of the whole thing. I think the NBA is getting killed by the youth, even though the young players are great. I would do the same thing they're doing. Obviously, what I'm leading to is the age thing coming in. I think it will really help the NBA and the veterans in the NBA, really help college, and really help the young people emotionally because I know what the NBA is all about.

COACH PITINO: Think about it. Sebastian I love, a great point guard. Dante Smith, junior college All-American, Brian Johnson from Oak Hill who had knee surgery was the leading rebounder in the history of Oak Hill. We may not have made the Final Four. Maybe we would have. But you never know. I think the chemistry on this basketball team is so good that we made a Final Four. You think maybe we wouldn't have. So you never know those answers. I know as I look at pro guys, I say to myself, you know, I think Jermaine O'Neal right now has become a great player, without question, Tracy McGrady. When you look back, Tracy I was traded from Toronto, didn't develop for four or five years. Jermaine spent those years in Portland not playing at all, not until he was traded. Most of the young guys who develop, unlike the LeBrons and Kobes, really go to another team and they develop. I don't know what Sebastian would have done for this basketball team, great things, as well as Dante Smith. But how much better could it get being in a Final Four with these guys? We probably appreciate it so much more with the guys we have.

COACH PITINO: Thank you.

ELLIS MYLES: It makes it very special. I mean, I was with the team last year in Orlando, and we took the defeat to Xavier in the first round. Me and coach sat there and I said I've never played in the NCAA tournament before, it's something I wanted to do. Just want to make it to a Final Four, I mean, it's just a great experience. But as I said, I mean, it's like when somebody passes in your family, it doesn't really hit you right then and there. I think it will really hit me later on tonight when I start thinking I'm actually playing in a Final Four.

ELLIS MYLES: I mean, I guess just with all the he's saying, she's saying, all the naysayers out there who said I wouldn't be here, it just made me mature more as a basketball player and as a young adult and as a father. I mean, I had no idea I wanted to be here and play for the University of Louisville. I needed to mature very quick. Me being a fifth year senior, somebody had to step up and be a vocal leader. That's what I tried to do on this basketball team.

LARRY O'BANNON: It's a great ballclub. Obviously had a great back court, have good forwards, center, Augustine, Powell, who don't get the credit they deserve. I think this game is going to come down to things that don't show up on the stat sheet, hustle stats, transition, every little thing you can do to change the game I think is going to be the deciding edge in this one.

ELLIS MYLES: Illinois is just a great basketball team. They lost one game. That was at the buzzer to Ohio State. As Larry said, I think the game is going to come into the interior with me and to Jason Allison and Augustine and Powell. I think we're up for the task. I mean, the game is going to come down to the backboard, I think.

LARRY O'BANNON: I mean, we feel we match up with anybody in the country. I mean, we've always had to overcome that challenge with everybody we play. I mean, starting with Georgia Tech, some other guards. I mean, every game we play, we have to live up to that challenge. I think we do overcome that and show that we do have great trio of guards in Dean, Garcia and O'Bannon. I just think it will be another challenge for us tomorrow. Not knocking their guards because they have great guard play with Head, Williams and Brown. But I think we're just as good, too. So I think we don't get the credit we deserve. But, you know, tomorrow will be our opportunity to show what we can do.

ELLIS MYLES: I mean, we was down early on this season in Cincinnati, down 18 on the road. Going down 20, we knew we just had to keep fighting, just had our determination that we had in the Cincinnati game. Coming away from that game gave us a lot of confidence. But you don't never want to fall down 20 points to anybody.

LARRY O'BANNON: Like Ellis said, I mean, you don't want to get in a big deficit like that. But just to have been in that experience, it does make it that much sweeter. Coach always tells you that anything worth -- anything that comes easy is not worth coming. I mean, it was great and it makes it that much sweeter when you look back upon it.

LARRY O'BANNON: We always receive attention from the community. But ever since we've been on a good run and we won I don't know how many of our last games, but the community has really stepped up and really showed their support. It's just about doubled, I mean, because everybody that you see in Freedom Hall is out in the streets. When it comes to Fourth Street, I've never been in an environment like that outside of a basketball game. So just to see the fan support like that was just amazing.

LARRY O'BANNON: No, I think they should move it in even closer (smiling). I mean, no matter how far you probably put it back, people are going to practice it and practice it and practice it till they knock it down. I think each year you see the three-point percentages get higher and higher. I think if you move it back, the percentages will drop. But eventually as people practice and practice and practice, the percentages will go up. I don't think it will really make a difference whether you scoot it back or not.

ELLIS MYLES: When coach came in, second day on the job, we got individual instruction. He wanted to see where everybody was. First thing he said to me was I was going to be on the first flight back to Compton. I didn't really know what to take from that. From that point on, my body fat was at about 18%, I knew it had to be under 10. I just had to continue to work hard and just try to get the body fat off, get underneath 10%. I just continued to get better and mature just being around a person like coach.

ELLIS MYLES: I'm about at 10 right now.

ELLIS MYLES: Well, he told us we was going to stay out. It was a great feeling just to see those guys walk out there, just the things they have done. Just for Darryl Griffin, to say what he said about the fan support, they're the No. 1 fans in the country. That means a whole lot. Our fans are the No. 1 fans in the country, just the things they did for us right before we left with Pat Ryan and everything on fourth Street live.

LARRY O'BANNON: It was great to see the legacy and the great fan support, the fans still remembered the legacy they left when they won a championship. Coach wanted us to see that and know that we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to leave our legacy, too, to be remembered at champions.

LARRY O'BANNON: I don't believe so. I think that shows from the previous years when we've always done good in the beginning of the season and then we've fallen off at the end of the season, or like last year, when we were up big against Xavier in the first round, we let the lead slip away. If we got behind in a big deficit, we would have thought the game was over. We would have probably tried to mount a comeback. I think one thing that comes with experience is mental toughness, being able to overcome obstacles at any cost, no matter how tired you are or what's going on. I think that's what comes with age and maturity, being juniors and seniors.

ELLIS MYLES: As Larry said, I mean, just the age and being mature has a lot to do with it. I think every team in the Final Four just has seniors and juniors on their team. They play a whole lot. Just being mature, just having that senior leadership, it just helps you a whole lot because you've been through the wars, the ups and downs.

ELLIS MYLES: Thank you.

LARRY O'BANNON: Thank you.