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NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: MINNEAPOLISMarch 23, 2006Randy FoyeAllan RayWill SheridanJay WrightMINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA JAY WRIGHT: It's very nice to be here in Minneapolis, great hotel, great trip. It is new for us, practice site is two minutes from the hotel. I hope our game goes this well. We have had good practices here. Playing big BC is interesting because we played them twice last year. A lot of times when you get deep in the tournament playing somebody you haven't seen, I don't know if that is any type of advantage because they know us also, but it kind of feels like a conference game. You know each other. You know what you have to do. You just have to go play the game. That's the way we look at it. They are tough. They are really tough. It's going to be a great game. Questions? Q. Just wanted to ask you: What was your initial reaction when you saw them advance and they are sitting there in your bracket, and you knew if you won, you would be matched up against them? Was it a sense of not relief but maybe some sense of familiarity with this team? JAY WRIGHT: Honestly, the only relief was just that I will spend a little more time this week, I won't have to watch as much fulfillment. We coached Craig Smith so I just watched him this year a lot because I like to watch Craig. I also got to Jared Dudley when he tried out for the other 21 team with Allan. I got to talk to him down there a lot. I really like that kid a lot. They are the kind of guys when you play against them, it is tough to like them, but when you get to know them, they are great kids. You hate playing against them because they kill you, they beat you up. So I just knew a lot about them from playing against them and watching them this year. I just thought I am not excited about playing them, but I won't have to watch as much film. Q. You were kind of, because of personnel issues, kind of forced into this four-guard line-up. Was there a particular point this year or maybe a particular game where it kind of dawned on you it might work out real well? JAY WRIGHT: There was a couple. When we played Oklahoma early in the year, that was just, for us, just a test. We just thought, all right, we are going to have to do this now because we don't have anybody else ready. We could get hammered and we will see where we are. Then we won and we were pretty surprised, to be honest. Then our first Big East game was at Louisville. At the time Louisville was undefeated, went to a sold-out Freedom Hall, and they were a tough team. We played very well on the road. That was our first Big East game. So after that we said, all right, we can do this. We still didn't -- if you watch us play, we go back and forth. We got comfortable so we stick with it. That was the time we said we are definitely going to use this all year. Q. (Inaudible.) JAY WRIGHT: I know that voice. Where are you? How are you, Bud? Q. The whole thing about the match-up, the size match-up. Does size matter with you or what? JAY WRIGHT: No. You did that to me. I used to work with that 120 years ago. He is doing this to me. Oh, man. No, it doesn't. It really doesn't. That's why we were able to do this, in that if a guy -- if a player takes pride in doing the things that a bigger player has to do, no matter what his size is, a lot of time bigger players have to bang inside, do dirty work, have to screen, they have defending the post, they have to post up. If a smaller guy doesn't mind doing that, actually enjoys it, he can play that position and that's what we have. We have guys that actually enjoy that and that's why we were able to play four guards. A lot of time Allan Ray is guarding a small forward and Randy Foye is guarding a power forward. They enjoy it. That's why we can do it. Are you and I going to get a part in Vince's movie? Q. I am in. JAY WRIGHT: That means I am out. Q. You are in a sequel. Hey, Coach, Randy was saying that he and Allan bring to Villanova what Craig Smith and Jared Dudley bring to BC. Can you just talk about the similarities you see, not just in their leadership, maybe even their skill set, even though they are different sizes of players? JAY WRIGHT: Yeah, you know, that is a very good comparison because Jared and Craig, now that I have got to know them, are really great representatives of the University like Allan and Randy are. Both of them are very bright guys, very bright basketball players, and they bring the toughness and competitiveness and the unselfishness to play off of one another. There is a lot of times Craig Smith is on the perimeter Jared Dudley. It's like Allan Ray being a great scorer passing up a shot to feed Randy Foye, and that happens a lot. That is really good comparison. I think they do compare favorably. Q. Coach, I was wondering if you could talk about what advantage you found that you guys have with the four-guard lineup? What advantage that gives you and did you see that coming? JAY WRIGHT: We were hoping. We sometimes say let small and quick go after big and strong. Sometimes our speed and quickness can be an advantage when we have the four guards out there. When it's an advantage, we like to stick with it. Now, there are times when that becomes a disadvantage and then we have to get away from it. But we can spread people out. We can press people and that's when the four guards are effective. Q. Kind of a two-part regarding Dudley. Last time BC won a game, he went on for 36, which was a career high for himself. He described the match-up problems he poses by himself, and were you as shocked as anyone that Phil Martelli cut him from the under 21 team? JAY WRIGHT: Part one, that game he had against us at Boston College was unbelievable. That was an amazing performance. He shot threes. He beat a press, posted us up, offensive rebounded. There was a play at the end of the half where we were starting to get back in the end of the first half, and he got an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and scored. He did everything. I wasn't that surprised because they had a lot of guys like him on that team. I was hoping I was coaching the World University team. I was hoping that he was going to come and I wanted him on that team. I was hoping he would come and try out. What happened with some of those guys was they spent two weeks in Dallas training, two-a-days, and then he was one of the last cuts. All the guys from that team that got cut were supposed to come with us to Colorado Springs, but they were exhausted. We were going to go through a two-week training session. So I think those kids all looked at it like I just went through two weeks of two-days and I have to do it again, and still not guaranteed to make the team. So he would have been on our team. Q. Jay, the fact that this is not a conference game is still a matter of some contention, I think, in the Big East. Do you get any sense at all that the rest of the Big East this is not just another Big East versus ACC game? JAY WRIGHT: You know, that's the first time anyone has mentioned it that way. I haven't heard anything from anybody in the Big East or any other Big East teams, you know, amongst the coaches and players. Al Skinner is a -- some coaches are real competitive guys. Even outside of the game. So there is a little -- there can be some hard feelings, and then if something like this happens, it is kind of like good riddance, whereas, Al Skinner, everybody likes Al and gets along with Al. So I don't think anybody ever thought of it that way. I do kind of look, this seems like a Big East game to me, though. I just -- it is really straight. I don't know if it's going to turn out to be a positive or negative for us. I think the gentleman from The Globe asked me what did I think when I saw them in the bracket. It's -- I feel like we are in the middle of January and we have BC next, you know. It's really strange. It feels like we just played Syracuse and U-Conn, now we have BC. Q. Jay, Kyle has a pretty big decision to make, I guess, at the end of the season once everything is done here. Can you talk a bit about how he has been able to put that aside during the course of the season? Have you talked to him at all about the need to concentrate and focus on the season and leave future decisions to the future? JAY WRIGHT: I only talked about it once. I told him this is all we are going to do, discuss this one time, and I know you are going to handle this like a man and a good teammate, and he has. I said to him, look, play the way you are playing, the way you are playing has gotten you this attention, and just keep playing that way. Don't change anything. Then we will sit down when the season is over and we will gather all the information, and there is no one that wants what's best for him more than any of us. I have been incredibly impressed with the way he has handled this, a great example is Wachovia Center and Philadelphia, one of the headlines were Philly guards go against each other. As you know, if you are a Philadelphia kid and you grew up in Philly, it is the head of the Inquirer or Bucks Times, that's the front page, you know it has an effect. Even if you say it doesn't, it does. Kyle played that game so intelligently and with no -- there was no individual competition with Shakur. The better that Shakur played, the more points he scored, the more Kyle just stuck to our game plan and made sure we won the game. I was really impressed with that. I was very impressed. Q. Jay, congratulations for getting this far. JAY WRIGHT: Thank you. Q. I think a lot of people that haven't seen you a lot wonder about with the size disadvantage you guys have, how do you play defense? How do you defend major college teams with 6'3" guys? You mentioned it before, but could you elaborate on it? JAY WRIGHT: Sometimes we don't do it real well, sometimes. We do get in trouble with that. We score so well with that group. Sometimes we outscore people. But we really play when we are playing well, we play very good team defense. We can't -- some teams can just match up one-on-one, not help in the post, guard the guy one-on-one in the perimeter and just say "I am going to take you mono mono." We can't do that. We are undersized in every position. We have to play as a team. We always have one guy on the ball, four guys guarding the ball. That's our philosophy when we are small like that, that everybody is responsible for the ball, and then when they shoot, we have to rebound five guys. If you notice, we can never release anybody. We never get any easy baskets that way. But it's work because our guys are committed to it and they are pretty tough kids. Q. Jay, you talked about this seemed like a conference game, and yet you beat BC, Georgetown all playing in Minneapolis. After being in Philadelphia, could there be anything more neutral? JAY WRIGHT: I know. It's amazing. Again, you have got two teams basically Big East teams, they have played against each other. Florida we played last year. Billy Donovan, he is a Providence guy. He is a Rockville Center guy. It's pretty cool, and there is a style of play there, I think that all of us are pretty familiar with each other. I think you are going to see some great basketball, some great basketball. Really, if you think about it, there is four teams that probably couldn't have more diverse styles of play, even though we all kind of come from the Northeast, the Big East, there is really four unique styles of play there and we are going to see some match-ups. I think we are going to see some teams have to adjust throughout the game. I think even our game, there are times they are going to have to adjust to us and times we will adjust to them. I think Florida and Georgetown will be the same thing. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. We are joined by Villanova student athletes, Randy Foye, Allan Ray and Will Sheridan. Q. For Randy and Allan, just wanted to ask you guys about Kyle Lowry. When he first came in, he needed a little attitude adjustment per se. Did you address that with him at all? RANDY FOYE: When Kyle came in, he was like all freshman, young, a little bit immature. Me, I was trying to show him the way, how the upper classmen showed us as we were coming up as freshman. We had to talk to him, stay on him and be sure he could follow the team rules. ALLAN RAY: That was the most important, Kyle, stay on the same page with us. We needed him to get on board, like Randy said, like all freshmen come in, a little immature and needed a little guidance. Q. Randy, back in October you said you had watched this team grow from boys to men. What happened to cause that growth and what changes did that growth cause? RANDY FOYE: Just being together. I think as a team as you grow together, you are always together. You seem to grow in different areas, and I think one of the areas that we needed to grow in is just being mature like basketball players and not worrying about anything else. Q. For Randy and Allan: You guys, being shorter than probably everybody you play, and certainly Boston College, what are the keys, the things that you have to watch out the most in order to stay with bigger teams and be successful against them? ALLAN RAY: We just have to do a good job defending. That is most important with our program, is defend the rebound. When you go against Boston College, you have to keep them off the offensive glass. I feel that that's most important with us when we go against bigger teams, keeping off the offensive glass and being able to defend well against them. RANDY FOYE: I think that is the biggest thing, too, keep the bigger teams off the glass and being able to defend them, being smart when you defend them. Don't pick up stupid fouls. Q. Question is for Will. Along those same lines, so much is made of the four guards on your team and you are kind of the lone big guy in the middle. I think it seems against a team like BC that is so big, how do you view your role and what you need to do against those guys? WILL SHERIDAN: Definitely be an inside presence. It is important to our program that we defend every rebound. I definitely want to be on the boards, but it's not just me. Other forwards are going to come into the game and rebound and play defense and our guards do a great job rebounding, too. Q. This question is for Allan and Randy. What about Kyle this season do you think has enabled him to take over primarily the point guard duties as opposed to -- as a freshman? RANDY FOYE: I just think when Kyle was out there, he is our point guard. I just think that he is never trying to do too much, like whenever the shots come to him, he is going to take them. He is always following me and Allan and Mike in the right spots. ALLAN RAY: I think Kyle does a great job of finding the guys that know how to score and finding us in the right places. You know, he definitely developed that over this season, and then he just finds his own way to score at times when he can't find nobody. He knows that everyone else is being denied. He will find little opportunities to get in there and score and make plays. Q. Can you compare the way Smith and Dudley were playing the last time you guys faced them as opposed to what you see now? ALLAN RAY: I just remember, you know, we played against them last year. They were mostly inside, and they were pounding the ball inside and grabbing offensive rebounds and getting a lot put back. Just watching them this year, I see Dudley stepping out a little bit, hitting threes now. So that always makes him more dangerous when he can step out on the perimeter and then as well as play inside. Q. Randy, how much do you think about last year, how close you were with North Carolina? Does that stick in your mind at all going into this one and, also, what that experience has done for you preparing this year? RANDY FOYE: Well, last year, the North Carolina game, after the game pretty much I put that game out of our heads and tried to move forward. But last year we just was losing Curtis the first half of the Florida game, and we didn't know if he was going to be able to come back. We didn't know what was going on during the Florida game. We didn't know if we were going to win without them or what. The coach put the four guards in there and saw what to do with the four guards. Just having Curtis on our mind going into the North Carolina game, it took a toll on us that probably didn't show, but it took a toll from everybody from the coaches to the players. But coming into this year, I think we just are a year older, much more mature, and we just know that we have a job to do out there. Q. I just wanted to ask you guys, why do you feel like your four-guard lineup, why is it so effective? RANDY FOYE: A lot of people make a big deal about the four-guard offense, but we really don't -- we play the four guards like probably just in the beginning of the game and probably at the end if we have the lead, but it is mostly like our big guys, they don't get recognized enough, and they do all the little things to make the guards look good, like Will Sheridan, Chris Charles, Jason Fraser. They set the screens and rebound and everything to help us get our points. I want to say, the four guards is like doing so much. Randy played for six minutes with the four guards. It is the little things that make the four guards look good. THE MODERATOR: Allan or Will? WILL SHERIDAN: I think it works because our four guards are good. I couldn't pick another guard in the country I would want to play with. They dominate. It's the truth. RANDY FOYE: Thanks. I appreciate it. ALLAN RAY: Like what Randy said, the forwards do a lot of dirty work, and a lot of little things that don't show up in the stat sheets that a lot of people don't know about, so they definitely help us out. And make the four-guard offense look real good. Q. Allan, Randy was saying last week that you and he bring to Villanova what Craig Smith and Jared bring to BC. Do you see similarities in what you do for your team and what Jared and Craig do for theirs? ALLAN RAY: Me and Randy bring leadership to the team. I am pretty sure that Jared and Craig did do the same thing for BC. You know, they bring toughness, me and Ray bring toughness to the team. We are the primary scorers, and Craig and Jared are primary scorers. It is a lot of similarities there. The only difference is just height with Jared and Craig and me and Randy. So definitely there is a lot of similarities along the line. Q. This is for Will. Will, can you talk about your confidence level, where it is now in terms of your play and considering what you are going up against in terms of Craig and Dudley and those guys, do you see yourself as a key in this game? WILL SHERIDAN: Well, first, my confidence is, obviously, high. I feel like our forwards in general are contributing a lot more on the defensive end getting rebounds, and offensively you can tell in practice our forwards have a lot of confidence. They are tight in the basket, aggressive. As far as me being a big part of this game, I think I am a big part of the team, so I think it is quite natural for me to be a big part of this game. I feel like it's not just one person, though. It is not me versus any person on our team. It is all five of us, or our team versus their team. Q. For any of you guys, did you miss Boston College not being in the Big East and if you did, what did you miss? If you didn't, what didn't you miss? RANDY FOYE: Well, we missed them being in the Big East because they were like a big part of like what the Big East is all about. It is all physical, showing big plays on the inside. One thing I didn't miss about them, that we have to go against them. I am happy that they were in the ACC this year so I wouldn't have to play against them this year. Q. Coach Skinner said calling you smaller isn't correct because of your strength. Do you think that strength is taking teams by surprise this year, and how much of an advantage is it for you guys? RANDY FOYE: I think when people watch us on tape, the coaches and scouting reports, I think they probably look at us and say they are small, they are not strong enough, we are going -- we will overpower them and rebound over them, but I think you can't really judge a book by its cover until you play against us. A lot of the teams are shocked when they first play against us. They realize how strong me, Allan, Calvin, Mike are with each other, post up or try to rebound over us. The main thing is if we are going to box out, our man is not going to get it. Like everybody else on the team is going to go for the rebound. They don't really see it until they play against us. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, student athletes.
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