NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 28, 1997

A.J. Bramlett

Michael Dickerson

Miles Simon

Michael Welch

MILES SIMON: I got it, you know, in probably the spring of my junior year, and it just told me that he wished me the best in my college career, he was sure that it was going to be successful, but at that point in time they had Donald Williams and Dante Calabria at the two spot. They weren't recruiting anymore two guards. And I still have the letter up on my bulletin board in my bedroom right now.

A.J. BRAMLETT: Obviously we have a sense of confidence since we beat them earlier in the year. But they're a totally different team than they were the first game. And they're playing a lot better and doing a lot of things they weren't doing in that game. And so are we. Both teams have come a long way since that first game. We can look back at some stuff on the tape and see what we did successfully. And use our quickness and running game again, but both teams have changed a lot since then and are playing a lot better basketball, so it's going to be a different matchup.

MILES SIMON: Basically, when I found out I wasn't going to play, I still went back there, because there was a possibility that I could play, that I could have been cleared the day of the game. So I went back there basically thinking I was going to play. But when it didn't happen I was still happy to just be there for my teammates and see how well they played. And they didn't let my adversity get them down.

MILES SIMON: Since the first game, I don't know, I think obviously I wasn't playing, and the team, you know, we didn't have any return to starters, no seniors to look to. I think since then we struggled a little bit on the road in the PAC-10. But I don't think we lost a game by anymore than six points, and I think a lot of people overlooked that fact. But towards the end of the PAC-10 season our team just -- we started playing so well. They look at the two losses in the; Bay area, but they were by one and two points. And we had a chance to win the Cal game with a shot at the buzzer and we missed and Stanford beat us with five seconds left. We've grown-up a lot. I don't think we can be looked upon as juniors and sophomores and freshmen anymore. After you've played 30 or so games you basically have moved on to another year.

MICHAEL WELCH: Like Miles said we've come I long way. In the beginning we didn't have Miles. But now we have him. I think he brings another dimension to the team. Our big man has stepped up incredibly. In the beginning of the season they were labeled, they didn't have the bringing names, but now they're playing now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party. Now they're playing exceptionally well, AJ Bramlett, Bennett Davison, I think our big man can match any big man in the country right now, that adds another dimension to our team right now.

MICHAEL DICKERSON: I think our quickness. Miles is quick and Mike Dickerson is quick, and myself is quick. We bring a lot to our game, because of the penetration. If a guy comes up on us we can also shoot the ball. Our big men create the screens and that's how we get a lot of big shots.

MILES SIMON: I still planned to be here all along. We set goals at the beginning of the year, one was to try to go through undefeated, all those tough preseason games. We had two losses. Next was PAC-10. That goal was not achieved. And we entered the tournament thinking we could fulfill each one of our goals. And so far we've achieved it. There's no doubt in our players minds that once we got our bracket that we could be here. We felt with our guard play we could matchup with Kansas, everyone had Kansas being here. But we felt they were going to have trouble guarding us.

A.J. BRAMLETT: My development has come along all year. I've just been working hard. A lot of things didn't go my way in the beginning of the season and in the middle we were having some tough times. But my teammates kept confidence as well as Coach Olson. And when you confidence level starts rising and your teammates look to you, that gives you a special feeling. And I think that's what I've done in terms of elevating my play. I knew I had to step up if we wanted to do what we had to do in the tournament. I took it on my shoulders, to step our game up until the tournament. And our quickness causes a lot of problems for a lot of bigger guys. But we've never had really a height advantage or a big weight advantage over any of the teams we've played all year. And we've been able to use our quickness and foot speed and hand speed to cause problems for the bigger guys. Most of our inside guys are as quick as most of the guards out there and we can use our quickness to divert the size of other people, and that's what we've been able to do.

A.J. BRAMLETT: I don't know if I can point to that, but that was a funny time. But since then my play has gone up since then. But I think was towards the end of the season and I knew I had to start stepping up if we were going to accomplish some of our goals we needed to fulfill. So I just tried to keep working hard and be confident tout there. When you have confidence it's tough for other people to matchup with you.

MILES SIMON: It's great. To play against Coach Smith, probably the greatest coach, to coach college basketball. It's going to be a great honor to say I played against Dean Smith in the Final Four, the year that he broke Adolph Rupp's record. I think it's going to be a great challenge to play against him, just because he can probably make so many adjustments so quickly. But hopefully we made enough changes that we can come around with some new stuff tomorrow night.

MILES SIMON: Just North Carolina has almost always been my favorite school. I wanted to go there, I was a kid growing up, Carolina blue, you know, anytime I could buy a hat or shirt or whatever that said North Carolina, I was going to get it. And just having something from Dean Smith personalized signature, you get a lot of letters from coaches and it has their stamped signature on there. And he wrote a little note on the bottom to me, and it was just something that I can treasure.

MICHAEL DICKERSON: Some times you make them, sometimes you don't. In the beginning I started out well, and I hit 7 at least against North Carolina, I fell into a small slump. But it's getting better. Now we have Miles Simon on the team, you can't concentrate on me, because he can line them up for three, also and AJ Bramlett can, too. I was in a slump, but I think I'm going to break out of the slump Saturday night.

A.J. BRAMLETT: It was a month ago, right before we went on our Oregon trip for the PAC-10, in practice, just freak accident.

A.J. BRAMLETT: No.

MICHAEL DICKERSON: No.

MILES SIMON: No.

MILES SIMON: Oh, definitely, because I think basketball was definitely first and foremost on my list, and it just got taken away in a matter of just a blink of an eye. And it just made you realize, try to appreciate other things in life more, because I had to sit back and take just a long look at this year and if I was going to come back or not and watch how my teammates were doing so well. And there was always the thought in the back of my mind do they really need me or do they want me back, because they were playing so well at the time. But one thing, my teammates just supported me tremendously and I give thanks to them.

MICHAEL DICKERSON: Obviously we needed Miles. Miles was our leader. After he got ineligible, we didn't even know if we could compete. But we did, and we came out and played as a team and we all believed in each other. But we're very happy to have Miles back.

A.J. BRAMLETT: I think when Miles came back at first it was tough a little bit. Obviously when a person comes back, right away when we've been playing as a team together, it's tough when you add another person in there, but Miles is a great player, he's an all around player, he place defense, he's a great offensive scorer, and he does the little things you need someone to do. Once we got Miles in the flow and he started playing great basketball, that made our team more dangerous, nobody could focus just on Michael Dickerson as our scorer, Miles came out and lighted up and did the things he was doing all along. When he came back it added a more new dimension to our team, and look where we are now.