NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 29, 1996

Richard Williams

COACH WILLIAMS: This is pretty neat. They gave me a shirt for doing a press conference. I guess they thought I needed to be bribed. We're happy to be here, and probably a better description would be ecstatic to be here. It is something we did not anticipate going into the season. We thought we would be a good basketball team, but I think it's probably unrealistic for most teams in the country to anticipate being at the pinnacle of college basketball, and that's the Final Four. So we plan to enjoy the experience. We plan to take in all of the things that go with the Final Four, but at the same time as cliche-ish as it might sound, we want to focus on winning basketball games and that's the major thing we're concerned about, the Syracuse basketball team, and being prepared for this team tomorrow.

COACH WILLIAMS: I think on the offensive end for us we have to be concerned about the 2-3 zone, which is a defense we don't see often. It's certainly something we practice against, but practicing against it and playing against it in real life is different. And it's something that I don't think anybody in our league uses as a primary defense, so I think one of the keys is how well we can shoot against their defense and try to get them to extend in our defense so we can then throw the ball inside to Erick. On the defensive end for us, I think we certainly have to be aware of John Wallace, and some other good players, but he's the focus of their offense. And I'm not sure we have anyone who can guard him inside and outside. So that's going to be a very difficult matchup for us.

COACH WILLIAMS: I think it was a gradual process. We started out winning games, but not playing as well as we needed to play, later on in the season. We were winning games early in the season simply because we had better players than some of the teams we played against. And then we got into league play, and it's very difficult to get players to listen to the coaches when they're winning, because they think that they're doing everything right when they're winning. So it's very difficult to get their attention. After we lost to Kentucky early in the season, that kind of got our players' attention and they thought that maybe we're not quite as good as what we think we are. We actually, and some of the guys here from Mississippi State have heard me say it, early in the season it was very hard for me to get our players to respect their opponents. They read so much about how good and talented we were. They didn't have the respect they needed to have for some of the opponents they played. After the Kentucky loss it started turning a little bit and we lost to Alabama and I think the Kentucky loss had a huge effect on us the next day. We had to go to Arkansas and South Carolina back-to-back on the road, and those are difficult places to play on the road and we lost those two games. And then we came back, I think we played Tennessee the next game, and we kind of squeaked by Tennessee and regained a little confidence. But from that point on we started playing better, and it just became a gradual process that the players improved, the players accepted their roles, not necessarily liked the roles, but accepted their roles on the team. And Dontae' improved tremendously as an offensive player. But I think the key player was Marcus Bullard and the way we improved as the season progressed in his point guard play. And as he improved, the team played better.

COACH WILLIAMS: They did send us new caps. We kept the other ones, those guys weren't going to give up the caps, they didn't care whose name was on it. They did give us new caps we got to the players. And I think anybody that has any idea at all about college basketball knows that it's not a JV game. We're certainly not the marquee matchup. You have the No. 1 and 2 team in the country playing the other game. I'm anxious to see what happens, I want to see that game. But I think both we and Syracuse deserve to be here. You don't get through the bracket if you're not good and don't deserve to be here. And Dontae', sometimes you have to be -- he doesn't know what he's saying sometimes, he's perpetual motion with his jaws.

COACH WILLIAMS: He actually played Junior College Basketball from Mississippi, so he has a Mississippi tie, also. We've recruited other areas. This team happens to be made up of a majority of Mississippi players, but we've had good luck in Georgia in the past. And we've had some players from Louisiana in the past that have helped. But I think it's very important that we are careful in where we recruit and what kind of person we recruit because of the size of our town, the location of our town. It's certainly, for those of you who haven't been there, it's a small Mississippi town located in the Northeast portion of the state and there's nothing around it. There are no major highways, no major airports, and so for a youngster to come to Mississippi State thinking he's coming to the city would be a mistake. And we try to point that out in the recruiting process. So we try to recruit players we think will be comfortable with Mississippi and comfortable with our University.

COACH WILLIAMS: I'm not concerned about who is in the other game. I'm concerned about our winning the first game. If we're able to do that, then we'll be more than happy to line up and play whoever wins that second game.

COACH WILLIAMS: You're probably incorrect in that perception. ( Laughter). Is it possible that a coach can grow during these tournaments as well as a player? I didn't hear the last part.

COACH WILLIAMS: I don't know. I think sometimes I get mislabeled as irritable. And when people say that I try to be just so they know I can be. In Lexington we talked a lot about -- the media talked a lot about the lack of respect and how I whined about lack of respect. And this is the first time I've brought it up. I've always answered a question about respect. The problem is when it appears in print or on television nobody ever sees the question, they see the answers. So it appears I bring it up. And I don't. I think our opponents respect us. I know the teams in our league do. They know we're a good team with good players. And I think sometimes people get confused between lack of respect and lack of recognition. And I think there's a difference. And we understand, there's not a lot of publicity in Starkville and in our area. We're not in a major media market. And I choose to live in Starkville. I enjoy Starkville and I enjoy that life-style. I'm not nearly as concerned about lack of respect as some others appear to be.

COACH WILLIAMS: I think he's a key for us in every game. It's very important for him to shoot well. But we've been able to have different players have big offensive games for us during this season. Dontae' has had some really big games and he shoots it well from the perimeter, when he doesn't fall in love with the three point shot. We have to make sure that Dontae' understands that everything can't be a three point shot. He needs to play off the dribble some. Marcus Bullard is a tremendous three point shooter, he can shoot as well as Darryl, and Bart Hyche is an excellent three point shooter. Even if we're shooting well behind the three point line we can't just take three point shots. The ball has to go inside to Erick for us to be successful. And when the ball goes inside, it tends to collapse that zone defense and they'll surround him and then our perimeter shooters can step into the shot from passes on Erick in double team plays. We need a mix of inside, outside game.