NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 29, 1996

Lazarus Sims

John Wallace

JOHN WALLACE: We were in the preliminary game last week, supposedly, in the Arizona, Kansas region, and we came off victorious. We're not worried about that at all, we're just worried about how we play the game.

LAZARUS SIMS: Basically what he said. We're worried about winning the game, not about what people think of the game. No matter what we do, people are going to have speculation. We're just going to play the game and play hard.

JOHN WALLACE: We're very big inside, and Kansas is just as big as them, maybe not just as physical, but as big. We worked our way around that. We're not going to let them dictate our game. We're going to do what we have to do. As long as we play Syracuse basketball we'll be okay.

JOHN WALLACE: This isn't a role that you assume, it's sort of lead by example, only a few times I really get vocal with some of my teammates. Other than that, it's lead by example type of thing. I'm a senior, and I've been there, so they know I wouldn't lead them astray or whatever. And that hasn't been a problem all year nor has it been an issue.

LAZARUS SIMS: I guess it's just the way we play. We try to play as hard as we can, and try to spread teams out, try to disorient them. I don't think it's different from anybody else I've seen. I guess you can give the credit to us for that, we're doing something right.

LAZARUS SIMS: Basically we really want to play. We're so enthused on playing and getting started. It feels eerie to sit around waiting for the games to come. We wish it was going on right now and we could be playing.

JOHN WALLACE: You really don't get into it right now. Usually it starts to hit you a little bit more tonight when you're trying to lay down and your mind gets to racing about things, about the game. But as of right now as I'm sitting, I'm just thinking about going out there and having a good practice.

LAZARUS SIMS: That's been the question all year, has it been a payoff. I think the years before doesn't matter to what we're doing now. We're doing positive things right now, I think that's the big focus, not really what happened to us in the past. If we start thinking about that, that causes a lot of frustration and a lot of thoughts we don't need right now.

JOHN WALLACE: For me, as far as coming back, I thought it was the best thing for me to do. And I talked to Lazarus about it on the phone a couple of times before I made my decision. And at the same time he was thinking about leaving, so if he had left I probably would have left and been gone. But because we're so close, we've been playing together for so long, it just seemed to work out for the best and we both decided to stay.

JOHN WALLACE: Yeah. I went back to school two days before the draft, two days before the deadline, actually. And it was a very trying time, very stressful. But once I made my decision to come back, I felt very good, felt like I picked a thousand pounds up off my shoulders.

LAZARUS SIMS: We've been playing different defenses all year. And basically they have good guards and smart guards and they're very strong in what they do. We're not focused on playing the 2-3 zone, we're going to play the game as it comes and do what we need to win it.

JOHN WALLACE: I think he gives you a lot of freedom in offense. I think he prepares you for the next level. If you're going to get to that level you're going to compete under his type of system and his program, which is a lot of -- it's a lot of screens and stuff, but for the most part you've got to know how to create some of your own offense. And that only helps you in the future. For all you guys trying to downplay him in everything, he produces many players on a regular basis. Obviously the system works and his coaching style works. And he suits you for the next level. All you guys seem to think he can't coach and I don't know why.

JOHN WALLACE: We don't care less about what people say. I mean we're here, who cares how we got here, all the other little things about the situation we're in. We're here and we're not here just to play games, we're here to win. So they can talk about all the re-seeding they want. It really doesn't matter.

JOHN WALLACE: They're pretty much similar type players. Dampier is a little bit bigger. Their game is a little similar. I don't like to get into comparing players. They both do what they have to do for their respective teams. And I just hope he doesn't do too well tomorrow.

JOHN WALLACE: If we're in our zone it's going to be hard to set a lot of screens, which they like to do. They set a lot of screens for Wilson and Bullard and even Jones. So, you know, it's just a matter of you've got to fight through those screens when we do the man-to-man, and we have to try and stay in their face as much as possible.

JOHN WALLACE: Those two events are very separate, it really has no meaning, has no bearing on one another. Right now I'm ready to play games. And when I come back here, hopefully in June it will be sit down and lounge. Right now is a very -- is a time when you're here and when you come back here you have no control over what's going to happen.

JOHN WALLACE: I knew I was a top 15 pick. You guys didn't know. I talked to certain teams, I'm not going to name teams, I knew I could have been a definite top 15 from talking to certain coaches and general managers. I knew exactly where I was going to go. I just felt I could go even higher than that. Just because you guys don't know, doesn't mean that that wasn't actually going to happen.

JOHN WALLACE: We're only an underdog in your guys' eyes. Within our locker room, within our realm, we know what we're capable of doing. We should have even had a better season than we did have. We lost to a lot of, like three or four teams, that we shouldn't have lost to. But that's life, that's basketball. But the only ones who see us as the underdogs are you media people.

JOHN WALLACE: I just felt the need to just keep that within ourselves, not express as much to you guys, because you guys blow up everything. So we kept it between ourselves and within our locker room and you tell a guy, don't talk about that to them, don't talk about this to them, because you guys seem to take everything out of proportion.

JOHN WALLACE: There's no animosity. Like I said before, if you're not wearing an orange jersey or white jersey or not affiliated with Syracuse basketball right now, it doesn't matter to us right now. The only thing that matters is the next two games. We're not going to let anything get in the way of our focus, whether you think we're the underdogs, or there should be a re-seeding, we don't care, we're here to play basketball.