NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 2, 2005

Ellis Myles

Larry O'Bannon

Rick Pitino

COACH PITINO: Well, we lost to a better team tonight. Illinois was a better basketball team than us. We fought as hard as we could fight. They made some big plays down the stretch. We unfortunately tried to go man-to-man in the first half on the underneath-out-of-bound plays and a few other situations. They had too many open looks. It was going our way with the zone because they shot 37%. We weren't turning it over. Be that as it may, it's not a game of statistics right now because we lost. It was a game of Illinois being better. We told our team after the game that, you know, if you're even a little bit disappointed, obviously everybody wants to win a championship, but right now, for these two guys, Ellis working five years, Larry working four years, it's like training for the Olympics, and suddenly you're on the podium and you realize your dream comes true and you won a bronze medal. You wanted the gold badly, but you won a bronze. All our dreams, our bronze, is our NCAA Final Four ring. So representing your school instead of your country, you cannot be a bit disappointed. Being disappointed is when you get knocked out in the first round. When you go to a Final Four, if there's any disappointment, then you can't appreciate the game as you should. So I'm real proud of these two young men to my left. We fought as hard as we could. Illinois was the better basketball team. They're a great team. Three-point shot away from being without blemishes. They truly are a great team. I don't know if they necessarily had the greatest talent I've seen from a Final Four, but they're the best team I've seen in some time. I'm real proud of our guys. Illinois did a fabulous job tonight.

LARRY O'BANNON: No. We didn't see anything that our coaches hadn't prepared us for. They jumped out a lot on the screens, were hedging a lot, trying to get the ball out of our wing players' hands, but nothing we hadn't seen.

ELLIS MYLES: Roger Powell, the whole first set, he just caught fire in the second half. That really was the difference in the game. I think when he caught fire, Luther Head caught fire, him sitting in the first half, I mean, they really didn't have any inside presence. Then he stepped to the outside the second half and made big shots.

ELLIS MYLES: We have great underclassmen in Lorrenzo Wade, Brandon Jenkins has shown everybody he can play, play big minutes. This program is on an uprise right now. We're leaving, coming to a Final Four. We have young guys willing to work hard and get better every day. I feel good about this program on the uprise.

LARRY O'BANNON: It feels great, man, just to be a part of it. I mean, from the time I first got here, I was able to watch it from the year before Coach Pitino got here, just the complete 180 that it's done, to go from winning 19 games our first year to winning the conference tournament, then going to the Final Four. So the program is definitely headed in the right direction. With coach bringing in the talented players that are coming in, the work ethic that he's established, just the seniors this year and the people that are leaving, showing the example, showing them the right thing to do, I think the program is definitely going to be heading in the right direction. The young guys got a taste of what it is. I think they'll be back here next year or in future years.

LARRY O'BANNON: It's tough, man. I mean, like coach said, they're a great team. Their overall talent is what kill's you, but their teamwork. When other players don't step up, other players do. Luther Head made some tough shots, Roger Powell made some tough shots. We knew he had good touch, but he came up and knocked about three in a row down at the top of the key and it really hurt us. They just play well, execute well, and they're just a great team.

COACH PITINO: Well, I think Francisco early on didn't let the game come to him, got caught taking some very difficult shots, then it mushroomed that he wasn't. He was concerned about being off. If he would have just relaxed a little bit, let the game come to him. Most teams say, "You got to stop Francisco Garcia." We were stopping their guys, we were playing good defense. The tempo was our way. It was only three points at halftime. We felt great at halftime. But he was concerned that he wasn't contributing enough. That was the only problem with it.

COACH PITINO: Well, we knew we'd have a very difficult time guarding their inside people man-to-man. We elected to go zone primarily because we have a very limited bench up front. We need Ellis in the game, and we get into foul trouble quite a bit when we try to go man. So we tried to pick our poisons. We played about seven, eight possessions in the first half, including underneath-out-of-bound plays. We knew we were having a difficult time inside playing man-to-man. The zone was very effective for us. Even the shots they make sometimes, you get guys to take shots and make five feet past the line, the clock is winding down, you can't complain sometimes by making a what are desperate shots. This is a team a lot different than most teams. When you've got to switch on to them, they can really hurt you with their man penetration, and they do. This is a terrific basketball team. Very, very gifted.

COACH PITINO: Well, you know, it's just like I said, it's all this hard work gave us an NCAA Final Four ring for the guys here. They're very proud of that. And the way we had to play to get it, you know, to beat Washington, to beat Georgia Tech, to beat Louisiana Lafayette, to beat West Virginia who was on fire, was an enormous accomplishment. I believe if we played this team 10 times, they'd beat us eight or nine out of the 10. They're very, very good, very talented. So many times in this sport, you'll sit back, watch a film, say, "What if we did this? We didn't block out down one, then we ran the floor incorrectly in transition defense, they made a three." We said it beforehand, that was really two big plays in the game. We had to pitch a Pedro Martinez game where we don't make any mistakes and don't put it down the middle and give a home run. Those two plays where we could have taken the lead gave them that homerun pitch and started to ignite that rally. It was difficult. We didn't pitch a perfect game, but we hung in there as long as we could. We faulted to a better basketball team.

COACH PITINO: I told him this. I said, "Look, Francisco, you're going to be a first-round draft choice. Here is what you have to figure out in this whole equation. In other years, you'd be a lottery pick." He's got enormous talent. Obviously, he didn't show it tonight, but he's got enormous talent for what he can do. But now every high school that shouldn't even consider going to the pros is because of the 20 age rule. Every college player who is young is considering going. They're being told this, obviously, because they think the 20 age rule is going to come in. I believe it's going to come in. If you wait, next year, the possibility, I'm sure Sean May is thinking the same way, you come back, you're probably the eighth or ninth pick in the draft. So what he's going to do, he's going to take a loan out, go travel around and visit some teams and showcase his skills and pay for it himself, not sign with an agent, and then he'll make his decision late. If he's a 26 pick in the draft, I would recommend coming back. If he's the 18th pick in the draft, I'd recommend going. So I just don't want it to slip in that area. I told him to leave his options open. We'll talk later on. He's a brilliant basketball player, trust me. He's going to be a great pro. It may be in his best interest, if the rule comes in, to stay.

COACH PITINO: You're right. We're playing zone. The thing about zone, in transition, you've got to make sure you take great shots because if you take a bad shot, Illinois makes you play in transition. Unfortunately, we got caught -- one of our players got caught running the wrong side of the floor. We're in a zone. You've got to run your correct defensive lanes. He got caught in the right corner offensively and he had to run to the left wing. Sometimes it is difficult. It's not like you can pick up the nearest man playing man to man. But they do this every night. They do it all the time. It's a very interesting basketball team.

COACH PITINO: I do. I feel it right now. I mean, we wanted to win a championship badly. We brought a Louisville March to the Arch, we had it in our locker room the whole season, just like when Notre Dame touches the helmet, we were touching it. That was our goal, to get to St. Louis and win a championship. We touched it every time out, every time we went out leaving our locker room. We wanted to get here badly, we wanted to win a championship badly. Our effort was there. Our desire was there. But Illinois was better. So now you look back, and it goes back to my Olympic analogy. You know, you can't stand on that podium and not feel but great pride. I think when you have a bronze medal after working for four years, you don't go home and put it in your drawer and say it's nothing. It's the Final Four. I would be very upset, and I don't think I'd sleep too many nights if you lose in the first round and you played selfishly. For me to see Ellis Myles coming off a patellar separation, Larry O'Bannon was a career 38% shooter, to have the year he had, I'm amazed at these young men, I'm proud of them. I'm proud as hell to be a Final Four coach, and wish Illinois nothing but the best.

COACH PITINO: I think we got some good shots that didn't go down, some penetration that didn't go down. I thought Ellis Myles played brilliantly most of the game. But, you know, we're playing a freshman, a power forward, another young man with a stress fracture. They have a senior who is a heck of a ball player. That was the one area of concern, is could we stop him as well as stop the other three. We did not. But, you know, I felt that we could have probably - we do some different things - made it a closer game, maybe get lucky down the stretch and win it. But I think they were the better basketball team. I think we're one of the best teams in college basketball, and you got to give credit where credit is due.

COACH PITINO: Well, I think if you play man -- I do think zone is the way to play them, but mixing it up. I think if you play man, you've got to stop them from penetrating. They do an awesome job of using the clock, running their staggers, running their offense. They come off, get in the middle, and find their big people for wide open. They shoot more eight to 10, 12-foot shots with their big men off the dribble penetration than any team I've ever seen. That's their guards finding those open guys. We felt we kept them out of transition most of the time, which is good. You have to slow down the pace. I love the pace of the game. I think if we had to run with them, we'd be in for a very difficult night. Although we're a running team, I don't think we can run with them. The pace was great. They do a fabulous job. When you play them man-to-man or get them used to anything, they are hell. Arizona did a great job, but Arizona has different type of talent than we do.

COACH PITINO: Thank you. Thanks for your coverage this year.