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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2007Lukasz ObrzutBobby PerryTubby SmithATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: We're ready to go with Kentucky. We'll ask Coach Smith and then take some questions. Coach? TUBBY SMITH: Well, we're happy to be here. Certainly you don't want to be playing on the first day, but you're glad to be participating in such a prestigious tournament. This tournament is one that we've had success in the past. We feel very confident and feel prepared as we come into this venue. It's always a good venue to play in here at the Dome. Alabama will be a formidable opponent. So we're looking forward to it. THE MODERATOR: Okay, let's go to the student-athletes. Wu (Obrzut), your thoughts on the tournament, please. LUKASZ OBRZUT: As Coach said, we feel good about coming here and playing our best. It's not good to play the first day, but we have to, and we're going to take one game at a time, and we're going to move on from there. BOBBY PERRY: Definitely, it's an honor to be participating in my fourth SEC tournament. As for Wu and Sheray, the seniors, it is truly a blessing to be a part of this. And we feel we can be part of something special this week. Just very happy that we're here. THE MODERATOR: Okay, we'll take questions for Coach or either of the players. Q. Tubby, everybody says the SEC is one of the best conferences in the country, yet you see these projections about the SEC possibly only having four teams in the NCAA Tournament. What do you make of that? TUBBY SMITH: I don't know whose projecting it. We've had one of the strongest, if not the strongest RPI, you know. It's one thing to project it, but I know I guess when the committee gets together, that's the deal. You just hope that that's not influencing the decision makers, because I believe we have at least six or seven teams that are -- you know, when you have teams that, we have seven teams with -- everybody has a winning record in our league. When you look at the East, certainly we've got five teams that could possibly be in it, and then the West has, you know, two or three teams that are capable of playing in it. There is so much balance in this league, and people beat up on each other, but I don't think that's a reason to keep, you know, probably the best conference in America from having as many teams as possible in the NCAA Tournament. Q. Tubby, I wondered what happened this year the East and the West? Whether you have any opinion on the possibility, though I know it hasn't been discussed a lot, of a 1 through 12 seeding of teams, 1 through 12 for the tournament? TUBBY SMITH: That's something that I'm sure will be discussed. Looking at the, I guess, how it ended up in the Eastern Division with teams with only -- well, in the Western Division with only two teams 8-8 in their conference. We had five of our six teams in the East. I'm sure it will be addressed at the level it needs to be addressed at. I don't know what it means to seed them, but it probably would be beneficial to evaluate and see if that's possible, if it would be beneficial to do it that way. Q. Bobby, I'm wondering if can you address it, Kentucky's used to coming in here, I've heard it called "Catlanta," and all of those things, the domination you guys have had in the SEC Tournament. Is there any different feeling this year since you didn't get the first round bye? Are you just as confident as you always are coming into the SEC Tournament? BOBBY PERRY: This year has, you know, been a tough year for us obviously in the league, but it's no different from any other year. You know, the teams in the past they've come here and realized that they had work to do, and it was going to be a tough task to get through the tournament, And we feel the same way. We feel very capable and I'm very confident that we can achieve what teams in the past have. Q. This is for Coach: Mark Gottfried was here a moment ago and revealed that Jermareo Davidson had a back problem, I wondered if you were aware of that. And just the match-ups you've had with Davidson in the past, what you've seen from that? TUBBY SMITH: Well, he's an outstanding player, and he would be -- and you want every player to be at 100%, you want every athlete, not only on our team, and on any other, these kids work extremely hard. They make a lot of sacrifice, and it's a long season. Hopefully his back will be healthy and ready to play tomorrow. But he's always a tough match-up because he's so versatile. He's long, he's quick. They do a lost isolations for him to go one-on-one. He's very aggressive. He does a lot of things well. If you don't box him out, he gets to the boards. He's just got a complete game. I think it gives him a lot of freedom when they have another post player on the other side like Hendrix who can do so much damage as well. Q. This is for Tubby: Patrick Beverley from Arkansas is a Freshman of the Year in the league. Just wondering, I think he had a pregame against you, what your thoughts are on him being Freshman of the Year? TUBBY SMITH: I'm very impressed with him. Not just as a player, but his attitude. Really, his demeanor, you know, for him to come up and introduce himself to me before the game and say how much it was an honor after the game to play against Kentucky and against me, it was really -- he's a special kid. Not just from a talent standpoint, but they've got -- Stan has a remarkable young man there who will be probably an All American before he leaves Arkansas. His energy level, he plays hard. We've got a couple on our team like that, like Jodie Meeks, that brings a lot of energy. But he seems to have a real passion for the game. When you can come into this league as a freshman and do what he's done, it's outstanding. Q. Can you think of other players that have come up and introduced themselves like he did to you? TUBBY SMITH: No, that's why I say he's a special kid. Q. Did he say that in warm-ups or something? TUBBY SMITH: As soon as we walked into the building he did. He was walking to their locker room, and I was walking in. Kind of makes you feel good. But it was good to see the young man has that type of respect for our program and for the game. Q. Tubby, what's life for you like away from basketball, 365 days a year in a state so consumed with your program? TUBBY SMITH: Well, there is, you know, I get a chance to unwind. You know, basketball is obviously pretty important to me. And it's a big part of my livelihood and my family has been in it forever, as most athletes and coaches that participate in this great game. You know, it's just, you know, I'm like everybody else involved with Kentucky basketball; it's all consuming and you know, I enjoy it. You have to embrace it. There's a love and a passion for it. Certainly as a coach, you know, that's what you want. You want everybody to appreciate and care as much as you do. I think that's why we've had such success. Why we've had so much consistent success over the years because of that passion by all of our Wildcat fans. So me personally, I've got family, plenty of people, I can get away from it and go play golf, or go somewhere else. But, you know, you're never away from it because it's like any other business. I mean, if you have a business or a writer, a doctor, you're probably consumed with it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year as well. So that's the way it is with me. Q. Tubby, you guys don't want to be here playing on Thursday. Your fans want to be here, your players don't want to be here. How do you get in the mindset of playing on Thursday? TUBBY SMITH: Well, it's not that we don't want to be here, that's for sure, it's just you want to be the bye, and finish high in your league. No, we're very excited about being here. It's not a matter of getting excited. No, we're very excited about being here. That's kind of -- I think everybody that plays want to be one of the top four teams to get the bye. That's about the extent of that statement. Q. Talking about mindsets, you had a pretty good first half against Florida and kind of a letdown. What have you got to do to get 40 minutes out of your team tomorrow? TUBBY SMITH: Well, again, we've got to remain and sustain our focus, obviously, for the duration of the game from start to finish. You know, I think we've got to play smarter than we did in that second half. You know, I liked our effort throughout the game. But we ran into a pretty good Florida team that is playing on Senior Night. They raised their level of energy and their level of play. And we had some foul issues there that I thought really kind of took the wind out of our sails. But otherwise, you know, I think we're ready. We've been playing better over the last two weeks, so I've been pleased with that. That's given me a lot of -- I've gotten excited about where we can go. Q. Tubby, I was curious, how well do you get to follow Brian's career at Ole Miss, the situation being different than your other sons? Was there ever any consideration particularly after the coaching change, that he may want to transfer to UK? TUBBY SMITH: Absolutely. We discussed that and certainly could probably use him right now. They're having a great year. My hat's off to Andy Kennedy and his staff and those players to get a bye and be playing and do what they've done. I guess tie for that Western Division championship. That's quite an honor. Quite an accomplishment for a first-year coach. But Brian, he talks to his mom more than he talks to me. We really -- you know, again, he's excited like everybody, all Ole Miss Rebel fans are. They've had the year that they've had. He's been very instrumental and very helpful in that. I think that's when you go off to college, you know, you develop those relationships with teammates and others. That's why he wanted to stay there. It's been good for him. Q. Bobby, you had a good tournament last year and a pretty good game against Florida. Is that something that you, of course, you tune-up for tournament time, getting back into that rhythm a little bit, your shot's coming back. What do you have to say about your mindset coming into this tournament after the success you had last year in the Florida game? BOBBY PERRY: You know, obviously I'm shooting the ball well right now. But it just comes from, you know, again, open looks and my teammates finding me and being ready to shoot the ball. It's nothing new that I've changed, you know, around tournament time to, you know, magically start shooting the ball better. I've just been focusing more on the rim, and just been ready to shoot the ball. I'm looking to carry it over into the tournament and postseason play. Q. Joe is a smaller three, you're a smaller four. If they have an advantage it's inside. Do you feel that kind of pressure to get in there and rebound? And Lukasz, you might answer that also? BOBBY PERRY: No, I mean we've been playing and preparing against teams that's been, you know, I guess they're bigger than us down low. We play Alabama in the regular season, play teams like Florida, Arkansas; they've all had strong front lines. So we feel that we're well prepared, and you know, just looking forward to the challenge. THE MODERATOR: Same for Wu. LUKASZ OBRZUT: I think that we prepare physically for all the games that we have been playing in the preseason. And we carry the physicality throughout the season. And we've got a lot of excellent big men in the post like Randolph Morris, and Perry Stevenson, who is a young shot blocker, who can block shots. He's always great to play, as whole team, and just be ready. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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