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NIT POSTSEASONMarch 28, 2006Isaiah HunterAlex LoughtonBlaine TaylorNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK BLAINE TAYLOR: As long as I do this, I'm not sure that I'll ever be equipped to really come to the realization that only two teams in the United States end the season without feeling like this. And typically what you have to do is, one, compliment your opponent. I thought that they attacked us where we were particularly weak tonight and did a good job of that. You have to look at, reflect on the whole season this group of guys I've had have really bounced back from a lot of adversity during the course of the year. And then I have to look at the game from our standpoint where I really kind of ran out of bodies. Alex sprained his ankle against Hofstra, and I don't want to make excuses but Alex did not practice at all. I asked him before the game if he would even play and I'm surprised he played as much as he did. He wasn't his old self, but he tried. We believe that Arnold may have blown his ACL, that's the doctor's analysis. We didn't want to use him, so we were missing our starting two post players and I think that's where we lost the game was in the paint. They were able to exploit us in the paint more than we're used to being exploited. We were able to break even on the glass. But I thought we did a decent job on the perimeter players. They got a few buckets late. Isaiah Hunter had a tough night. Isaiah, we would not be here, he has 28 at Colorado, 29 at Hofstra; those two programs have only lost one home game all year. We rode the horses that got us here. But some of them came up limping and lame. Q. Did you think it was their defense today that caused a couple of long shooting droughts or a bad shooting night or a combination? BLAINE TAYLOR: Without Alex being himself, we didn't have quite as much of a threat on the paint. I think you need to give them credit. I thought the length of their bodies, they blocked some shots around the basket. I think they changed some shots from time to time. Their zone is very long. Their man-to-man pressure was good. So first of all, I compliment them. But I thought we got a little bit out of character. When some of the balls rolled in and out at a couple of plays at the basket, we didn't quite make in the first half. You know, we knocked a couple of 3-pointers early in the first half and had a few looks that did not quite go in. But we came out the second half, I was really proud of the way our kids came out of the locker room. For all of the things they did good, we bounced out of the locker room and got right back in the game. Brian Henderson hit a few threes and we started guarding a little bit better and all of a sudden we came back in. Both halves, I thought we asserted ourselves early and they came back in a good way at us. Q. Can you talk about the last 12 and a half minutes or so, the first half you guys started very hot and then went into that funk. Was it shot selection, what were your thoughts on your shots not falling? ISAIAH HUNTER: Like coach said it was probably a little bit of both. We were kind of anxious to get it back up there because we felt like the next shot was going to go in and that kind of got us out of character a little bit, taking some quick shots. Just kind of hurt a little bit, credit their defense, they was playing pressure defense and forced us to take some hurried shots early. Q. Alex, you're a senior, last game, can you just reflect on ending it like this and your whole career? ALEX LOUGHTON: The game not so much, I want to hold close to my memory, but just the way we fought to get here. I think that's going to stick out in my mind more than the end result tonight. Just really proud of the boys and the way we handled ourselves this year through the ups and downs. So, you know, it's a long journey and you build sort of really special relationships with these players. There wasn't one moment where I wasn't proud to be a part of the team and proud to be one of their teammates. So, you know, just really fond memories of how hard we worked and what we achieved in four years and it's just been great. Q. Especially long journey for you being a long way away? ALEX LOUGHTON: Yeah. BLAINE TAYLOR: Alex came halfway around the world, and he's changed our lives, changed our program. I think these seniors took a program that was in a little bit of a downturn and they put it on the topside. We won 52 games the last two years, been in postseason play, conducted ourselves proudly in postseason play. So the program is very, very healthy right now, and I think that you know, this group of seniors, you know, has turned this program into something that's really followed well and held proudly by a lot of people in Hamilton Roads. Q. Can you talk about Hunter, also a senior, last game? BLAINE TAYLOR: Well, it's interesting, Alex and Isaiah come into their senior years with all of these high hopes. Isaiah has to deal with a stress fracture. Alex has his few injuries this year and a tremendous amount of expectation that surrounded him. I think they both weathered right through it and I think they are both better men for it. But I think the character of those two guys was exhibited by the character of our group. We didn't point fingers. We looked in the mirror and figured out what we needed to do to try to do good things. I think it's a measure of a man, you know, you can blame somebody else or you can fix it, and we just fixed it over and over and over. Q. You're going to miss these seniors; can you talk about going into next year without them? BLAINE TAYLOR: I don't want to pull a Roy Williams. (Laughter) God bless Roy. I have a hard time, these guys, I have a real strong personal attachment to. I've been so hard on them, it's unbelievable and they know deep down in my heart how much I love them. They have taken us places and it's been a joy to deal with them because they never once backed up. I just kept pushing them toward and they just kept coming, they kept wanting more, kept believing, kept working and we're a pretty fearless program right now, and it's because these guys, as hard as I am on them, they are not afraid of me for the most part and they are not afraid to take our program where we think it can go. Q. You guys obviously were not full strength inside, but how does Michigan compare with some of the front courts and some of the post players that you guys have gone against this year? ALEX LOUGHTON: They definitely had nice size to them and all kind of positions on the bench as well. Their constant sort of banging kind of wears down a little bit and we don't really use as many sort of players because of some of the injuries and we didn't go as deep to the bench. That's probably what they did. But they had consistent size at each sort of post play coming in. I think they just kind of wore us down, especially inside. We've seen a lot quicker guards in our other games so, that wasn't really a big difference to what we've seen. So it was mainly their inside presence and just sort of tenacity, I think, going after everything. Q. Will you walk away from here wishing you had a healthy ankle? How much did it take away from your jumper? ALEX LOUGHTON: I'm not going to make any excuses. I think where we were at, it was a long season. So I think the fatigue was sort of starting to set in any way. We would all love to be healthy and things like that, but it also makes it too easy just to point the blame at something like that. BLAINE TAYLOR: I'll address that. Alex is typically very good off the dribble and you didn't see him be able to come off the dribble. He was consistently short on his shot which I think indicated his base a little bit. Alex is a very fine defender, very good rebounder. For all of the heart he had, you know, the old hamhocks down there were not bouncing the way they usually do. Q. How important is it for your program to be able to reach Madison Square Garden and the NIT Final Four? BLAINE TAYLOR: Oh, you know, in some respects it was a dream come true. I think that particularly where we came from, to be one of the last eight teams standing in the land and then all of a sudden to land in such a magical place, I feel like Alice in Wonderland a little bit. My yearning would be that we would have been just fully sound because we played such good basketball lately. I just felt bad for my kids that we just didn't quite have all the pieces. Because when you play this time of year, you're playing against good people and they are playing at a high level. As good as Michigan's perimeter is, we've seen a lot of good perimeters. Where we got hurt was on the paint, and with all due respect, I thought we did a pretty good job on them for the most part. We got hurt on the paint and our paint players, they are weren't whole and that's a fact. Kids don't want to make excuses and I don't, but, gosh, to play a Big-10 -- put it in perspective. We played Wisconsin in the championship, they are just as big as these guys. In healthy circumstance, we're able to match up a little bit better. Now, you know, I don't know who I would say is better than the two teams right now, they are still playing right now and Wisconsin isn't, so give them that nod. One of the things I am proud of is we come in here and I think people might say, well, geez, would you be intimidated in the Garden, will you be ready to play, will you be nervous. We jumped up early, so we didn't do that. When they got us down, how we were going to come out of the locker room? Kids came out of the locker room and just like all year, they are ready to go, and they bounced back.
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