BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2005

Aaron Bruce

Scott Drew

Ryan Pryor

COACH SCOTT DREW: We have had to finish a year on a losing streak, but from a coaching staff's standpoint I think if you have only seen us play one time today, it was a perfect example when we got down, it could have easily been a game with only one senior and game in which we weren't going to win in that second half to give up and lose by 40 and our coaching staff really felt pleased with the effort we have gotten all year from our team. We're undermanned, don't have the experience and some of the talent that everyone else has, but very excited about how we have fought through this, no one looks losing and no one likes a losing streak. It's tough to go through that, but to credit the players they never gave up and I think from here on the future looks a lot brighter as we have now got some experience and we are bringing in some players and get up to 12 scholarship players

AARON BRUCE: That was a big factor in the outcome of game, they jumped out on that run and they seemed to feel invincible from that. I think it was true that just having such a young team, I think a lot of guys were nervous or flustered and even the guys that were older hadn't been in that situation because we couldn't go to the tournament last year, so I guess it was new playing under the lights and in a big situation for some of the guys.

AARON BRUCE: I can't speak highly enough about the league, for starters and can't speak highly enough about our coaching staff and program here at Baylor. That's the reason I came, the positivity and the fact that they have that vision for the next two or three years is great and that's what drove me here.

RYAN PRYOR: Last game I guess disappointing getting a loss, especially coming in we felt we could compete and hopefully come down to the wire, may be a closer game, but just thank the coaching staff for giving me the opportunity to getting there and wrapping up my career in the Big 12 tournament at Baylor and positive note personally, but it's still disappointing to end in such a down note on the team-Wise.

AARON BRUCE: Yeah, I mean, they pressed the whole game, so I sort of had the ball in my hands and to break the press and once it was broken the ball was out of my hands, so they stretched their zone as well which is a smart move. Credit them just with playing great defense; having a great defensive game plan. They took the ball out of my hands.

AARON BRUCE: I am really excited. I am excited to go and work hard during the summer and come back in and get a fresh bunch of guys. I think we'll have 12 players, so the skies the limit, we have got to come in and see how those guys can impact and gel. We're going to start again as far as gelling as a team, very young group still, so I think that will be up to me and a couple of the older guys. I say that as a sophomore next year, but to let them know how it is on the road; how it is in the Big 12 and help them to sort of adapt early.

COACH SCOTT DREW: We knew that before this last game ended but again, we wanted to make sure that we controlled what we could control and that was that we played hard, competed, Iowa State we thought we had a good game plan going into it and when you get down like that it changes what you are trying to do. And again credit them for putting us in that situation. As far as what we have to do I think it easy to see from an outsider's point of view when you -- as your talent level improves and depth improves your program is going to improve. Obviously that happens for us next year. So we're very excited about that. But we'll still be young and inexperienced, but when your talent level improves and your depth improves things get better.

COACH SCOTT DREW: You look at it no one has been in the Big 12 Conference tournament and Tommy is the only player that was here before but he was the last man on the bench, so it's a situation it was new to everybody, and credit Iowa State again, they hit the shots in the beginning of the game and people that don't make a lot of threes made some of them early on. From there they really got there momentum and juices flowing and we just weren't ever able to recover. We made that one run, cut it to 12, but when you exert so much energy, to come back you tend to run out of gas from a comeback like that and you can't just go to the bench and bring in fresh guys, it makes it tough

COACH SCOTT DREW: I think the biggest thing from our coaching staff standpoint I think we want to be remembered as a team that represented Baylor the right way. We didn't have the wins and losses that everybody would have liked including ourselves but at the same time we had the best fall GPA of any men's basketball team, we have good kids. Everywhere we go just a hostess -- he has been a hostess before, came up and said you got the best group of guys and coaching staff, I have ever been around and I am a Baylor fan for life. We get that compliment so often because of the type of guys that are on the team now. I think that's the first step in building a program and we have taken that first step.