NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 1, 2000

Dick Bennett

Mike Kelley

Andy Kowske

COACH BENNETT: Well, Michigan State is, you know, clearly a superior team and showed that today. We knew that we had to, you know, get back on defense and we were able to do that. We knew we had to make them earn everything they got offensively, and we did that. We knew we had to keep them off the glass, and we were unable to do that, nor were we able to break them down. So we usually look at those four particular factors and on a couple of occasions we were able to achieve three of the four, but we've never been able to break them down defensively. We couldn't score inside, and they just wouldn't give us any looks outside. So it's a tribute to one really great defensive team, Michigan State, and knowing what has to be done. They are superb.

MIKE KELLEY: Well, like coach said, I think we did stop them from getting a lot of transition baskets. They got a couple of turnovers, but other than that, we got back fairly well, and I thought we played some pretty good defense. We just couldn't, we couldn't break them down when we were on offense. So I was satisfied with the way we controlled the tempo. I think we did.

ANDY KOWSKE: I think looking back on the season, we'll be very happy to know that we came back from being down and, obviously, we're not pleased with the way we played today. But with all the guys coming back next year, we're going to use this and learn from it, and hopefully we'll get back here next year and use this to our advantage.

MIKE KELLEY: I agree. I think while we aren't happy with the way, you know, that we lost today and we weren't able to come out and get to the Championship game, by no means did we end on a down note. This team played real hard down the stretch and we accomplished a lot of things.

ANDY KOWSKE: I think he got those two threes off of double screens and we've been working all week on hedging, one of the guys that assist the screens was hedging out. I think the help wasn't there. When he got those two threes, those were a dagger in our backs, definitely. You know to comment on him, he hit the big shots and, you know, that's what put them over the edge against us.

MIKE KELLEY: Well, we didn't take care of the ball that well. That didn't help, certainly. And we also, with the physical style that they were playing, we didn't achieve some early success at that and I think we shied away, probably, too early. If we could have stuck with that, it may have helped us a little bit. But, you know, when we didn't get it going in the beginning I think we looked a little bit to the outside shot, maybe more than we needed to. And down the stretch our objective, you know, the last eight minutes was to get it back inside and so we tried our best to do that. But it's still, you know, it's still hard to do that against Michigan State.

MIKE KELLEY: It doesn't bother me, you know, we've dealt with it long enough that I was happy with the half time score. I wanted to be ahead at half time, but to be down only two and not have played our best half, by far, you know, we felt we could do some things to get us back in the ball game as long as we continued to play defense. So we've never been affected by the critics, and I think this run has showed that.

ANDY KOWSKE: I agree with Mike. We're used to people not liking our style of play. I think they understand it, but they just don't like it. People want to see teams run, you know, we don't do much of that. So the half time score, we wanted to keep the score low. That means that we were controlling the pace. Like Coach said, we were able to get back and play our pace today.

ANDY KOWSKE: Michigan State's a great rebounding team. They proved it today. We were, you know, we were boys against men out there. You know, just looking at these stats, it's pretty bad. I credit them. They just, you know, they hustled after the ball, and, you know, we didn't match their intensity today on the boards.

ANDY KOWSKE: I would say so. It's just -- it seemed like they were just so intense on defense. They just -- wouldn't let us get open. You know, I was out there setting screens and guys were just locked on to our shooters. It affected our offense, by far this is their best defensive game of the year.

COACH BENNETT: We appeared to be pretty tight offensively. And, you know, we -- we really didn't make any of those shots that did present themselves that were of an easier nature. We simply didn't finish, which has been the problem against them, you know, even the thought that we didn't go inside enough, I actually thought we did. First half, we did not go inside, and actually made a game of it. Second half we went inside a lot and ended up not really coming close. We just -- they muscled us well. Our kids, I didn't think, went up strong, particularly Vershaw, because we count on him to score. He just -- he simply couldn't finish anything. Kowske's foul trouble in the first half hurt us a lot, because he's, by far, our best rebounder. And we weren't able to use him.

COACH BENNETT: Well, I would be foolish if I even thought about that or tried to reason that out at this point in time. My wife and I are going to get away for a while, and then think about some things. My original commitment was a five-year commitment to turn the program around. I believe that has happened. There's a good nucleus returning. There's a good chance to recruit. Those are all very positive. As far as my stance on it, I have learned that -- I mean I think anyone would say the same, you don't want to make a decision when you're really elated or really depressed over a situation, you just want to keep things where they belong. And at the appropriate time I'll know. Because a commitment from me would be a long-term commitment, not a short one.

COACH BENNETT: Yes. Well, Mark and I spat often. You know, usually he's right and I'm wrong. But today I was right. He just -- I sensed that he didn't want to -- that physical play. I sensed it was bothering him. We just needed his screens to shake Jon Bryant. Jon could not shake anybody off, and he was working his tail off, and those guys needed to give him some screens. And, of course, when we lost Kowske, we lost our biggest, strongest guy, and so I told him that and he disagreed and then I told him again, I thought he was wrong. He told me he thought I was wrong. And we worked it out, but the fact of the matter is he needs to learn to play against physical people.

COACH BENNETT: Well, this team is -- will always -- will go down as one of my very favorite, because they're more like the coach than any of them in that they're very vulnerable, a lot of weaknesses, make a lot of mistakes. Sometimes they get a little frightened, you know, sometimes not sure. But with a very good heart. Always try. We were outplayed probably badly today, probably didn't look good, but I know one thing you can't say is that we were outhustled, because we played hard for 40 minutes. And I like this team because of their vulnerability, and in spite of that, they faced up to all comers and never really gave any quarter.

COACH BENNETT: Yeah, I really -- he got going in the second half and he was the difference. He posted us down, Mike got in foul trouble. But I thought defensively, we achieved most of our goals. They run great offense. They set good screens. They post hard. They don't turn it over, but I thought defensively we played well enough. It was the old story, we simply couldn't break them down. I mean we -- Roy Boone was the one guy who, perhaps, could, but that's -- that's a double-edged sword. I see he had, like, five turnovers, yet he made some excellent plays. And so you're kind of caught in between. Do you play with great aggressiveness knowing that you're probably going to turn it over and let them get going? Or do you try to control that tempo and be selective? We chose to do that, and it didn't work out.

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