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NIT POSTSEASONMarch 28, 2006Tommy AmakerGraham BrownDaniel HortonNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Q. Can you address the defense, can you talk about obviously they didn't shoot very well; were you guys getting into them a little bit more? Were they not used to the physicality? DANIEL HORTON: They played pretty physical, too, so I would not say they were not used to the physicality, but I think the way we stepped up the defense it was great by the team. I would not say we stepped up the physicality, I just think we gave more effort and it paid off. Q. Can you talk about this team now and the one that lost nine regular season games, what the difference is? DANIEL HORTON: We're back to the three "H's" that coach talked about, when we have those three things, it allows us to be a better team. We've also been sharing the ball a lot these last few games and that's really been going well for us? Q. What are the three "H's"? TOMMY AMAKER: We talk about healthy, we hope we're going to be happy and we'd better be hungry, so happy, healthy, hungry, and it's nice when you have seniors here that remember those things and internalize those things that we talk about at the beginning of the season. Having players back I think with Abram and Hunter, that made our team a much deeper team, experienced players but certainly having those kids back, the health of those kids. It just makes us a different ballclub. But these two kids right now have been the pillars of our team. There's no question that Graham Brown has been the front line for us in so many different ways. He's led our team, he's rebounded for us, and he's been as valuable as anyone, and I think it goes without saying, the effort and the play of Daniel Horton, I think he's been the catalyst for us all season, and certainly nice when you can rely on a senior point guard that can play the way he does and lead your team in so many different ways and moments. Q. Graham, what were you guys doing defensively, they went into an awful shooting slump at the end of the first half? GRAHAM BROWN: In the first half we didn't come out as strong on defense as we expected to. They hit a couple open shots and that's the same thing that happened at the beginning of the second half also, they had three 3s in a row and we just tried to lock them down on defense. We tried to not let them get any open shots, tried to deter the ball from getting into the post and just tried to do whatever we can to lock down on defense and I think that really helped us out. Even on the glass, I think that if we locked it down and knew our man was on defense it really helped us out on the glass getting those rebounds also. Q. You went to the bench with a third foul and your team was only up by four and they stretched the lead a little bit, can you talk about the foul and your team increasing it's lead with you on the bench? DANIEL HORTON: On the foul I just tried to make a play off the ball, he beat me off the dribble and I saw I didn't have any help. I just made the play, I wasn't trying to foul him that hard. I apologized if he took offense to it. When I went out I had confidence in my teammates. Like coach said we're back to being healthy so anybody you put out there is capable of playing well and so I was confident coming out of the week. Q. Did you apologize? DANIEL HORTON: I apologized to him during the game and apologize to him now, I don't know if he'll hear this. I wasn't trying to foul him that hard and I wasn't trying to hurt him. Q. How does this compare with getting The Finals two years ago when you were just a sophomore? Is there a different feeling because this is your last time? DANIEL HORTON: It's a different feeling because I think we've had to overcome a lot more things that year than to be here at this point. We had to battle through some injuries and some tough breaks that didn't go our way through the Conference season. For us to be here and battle through the adversity it means a lot to me and we want to end the season right? Q. Can you guys talk about the play of Courtney Sims today? GRAHAM BROWN: Courtney Sims was phenomenal tonight. Sometimes he doesn't have his best game, he doesn't play the best out there but I think tonight he was the difference-maker for us. He was the one that, you know, stretched out our leads, he was our power down low, he was everything for us. I mean, he was getting rebounds, he was getting put-backs, he was a strong guy down low and he even came out and shot the 19-footer or 18-footer for us tonight. He didn't show much of that all season. He's got a great upside and he's a great player for us. He has a lot of upside and he has the ability to do that. Q. Can you talk about Courtney Sims and that 18-foot jumpshot? TOMMY AMAKER: You know, certainly I thought that one of the differences for us throughout this whole tournament thus far, and I don't know if it's going to be a factor Thursday, but you know, we've been able to play -- we've been able to go ten players deep, and I think at times, different combinations of players, different opportunities for players in the course of a game presented themselves. I thought Courtney did what he's capable of doing around the goal. He finished well. That's what we do in terms of having our post players trail, if it's an opportunity to trail in our secondary block, Coach (Andrew) Moore is our big man coach and we work on that for those guys to shoot that 16 to 17-foot jumpshot. Chris will probably stop and shoot the 3 but the other guys are allowed to do that when it's wide open. I'm happy that those are the things that we've drilled and it's paying off for our team. I was very pleased for Courtney. I thought his presence was a huge difference for our team. When you get those interior shots like that, and he was able to finish them, that's a nice weapon to have. Q. Can you talk about your defense on Hunter? TOMMY AMAKER: Our kids were saying that we certainly tried to turn it up. Let's give them some credit, they probably missed some shots that they ordinarily would make. I thought we definitely didn't break down as much as we did but I certainly thought we just tried to challenge them, contest shots and not give them second shots. They really were aggressive on the offensive glass. Could you see that they had 12 offensive rebounds, and I think they had maybe 8 in the first half, if I remember correctly. So, you know, they were really aggressive on the glass, as well, and so we were very concerned with that. But I thought we kind of brought our defense together where we were able to defend and not break down and not bail them out. They missed some shots and we were fortunate for that and certainly I thought we did a better job on the defensive glass. Q. Did you have somebody shadowing Henderson after he hit the three straight 3s? TOMMY AMAKER: We just wanted our kids to know that, you know, here is a good shooter and a good player and he certainly was open. He had another one that I think was three quarters of the way down and came out after he made the three in a row so we were fortunate on that one. Certainly we needed to have an awareness that he was on the floor. I think they got two of those in a transition situation where we were not able to sprint back and find people and talk and lack of communication on our part. But they certainly took advantage of it. Q. Were you concerned though when you took Horton out with his third foul and put him on the bench, because Old Dominion was making a run then? TOMMY AMAKER: They were making a run. I was not thinking along the lines of being concerned. There was not a lot of time left. If we didn't extend the lead maybe the way we did, I probably would have put him back in. As you mentioned, they were playing well and we weren't at that moment. I give credit to our kids and the kids that came off the bench. I thought Smith, the freshman point guard really gave us some quality minutes there and dishing the ball and making some good decisions for our offense. That was the difference. Ron Coleman, offensive rebound baskets for us, sometimes you can run great offense and the ball doesn't go in. But if you can get on the offensive glass and clean things up, that's kind of a demoralizing play for the defense, and we had a couple of those that I thought really gave us energy and probably sucked some of the life out of Old Dominion. Q. I know there's probably a tendency to respect every opponent, but because of what the other team from that Conference is doing in the NCAAs, was there less of a tendency to underestimate this team? TOMMY AMAKER: You know, in all honesty, we've tried to go game by game with our players and our kids and prepare the same way. You know, we recognize how good the Colonial Conference is and has been. I'm from the University of Virginia and I've seen Old Dominion basketball over the years I'm very familiar with George Mason University and the history there and former coaches and players, I went to high school in Fairfax. I made sure our kids know those things as well. We have the kind of kids who are going to respect our opponents and try to prepare the right way. I love that about our kids and our program and that's the kind of thing that you're saying in the way that they are playing and competing.
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