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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2007Dennis FeltonSundiata GainesSteve NewmanATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: Coach, would you begin? DENNIS FELTON: We're just excited about being here, and excited about this time of year, the postseason. We're looking forward to a very, very challenging competitive opening game with Auburn. We're limping into the final stretch here a little bit, with some of the injuries and things. But we're fighting hard to keep our season going as long as we can and with as much success as we can. THE MODERATOR: Steve, your thoughts on the team coming into the tournament? STEVE NEWMAN: It's my senior year, I'm really excited for the progress we've made this season. We've been fighting really hard these last come games. We just want to come in, try to play our best and try to stay here all weekend if we can. THE MODERATOR: Same for Sundiata. SUNDIATA GAINES: Just pretty much looking forward to a good SEC Tournament. Good chance to see how really good we are. Teams are going to come with their best, And I think this is a good opportunity for us to prepare, and hopefully get some wins. Q. Coach, do you have any feeling at all about where you stand in terms of what you need to do or what you feel like you need to do to get into the NCAA Tournament, that's one. And two, would the NIT be something that would be exciting, if you don't get in? DENNIS FELTON: I'm just like everyone else; I don't know. There's a lot of so-called experts that write and talk on the television and radio broadcasts all the time and pass themselves off as some sort of insider that knows what can be expected. And I would even go so far as saying the people in the committee don't even know yet, because there is still information that, I think, they consider very valuable to be learned over this weekend. I find it a little hard to believe that we could win some of the games that we've won, that we can have one of the top 20 toughest schedules in the country, that we can finish with a fourth best record in the toughest division of the best conference in the country and be out of the conversation coming into this tournament. But the truth of the matter is I don't know. Nobody really knows, because those folks on the committee will go into that room and shut the doors and make all their decisions amongst themselves and we'll just have to wait on the results. So I'd like to probably add that I'd like to feel very confident that if we could manage to win two games, especially when you consider that second game would be against somebody the caliber of Florida, that that would, you know, guarantee our invitation to the NCAA Tournament. But, again, the truth of the matter is I don't know. Also, I have not had the time to look and analyze our position, relative to all of the other programs or teams that warrant the same level of consideration that we do, so I've seen a lot of good things happen in terms of the right teams win their conference tournaments and those conferences that are most likely one-bid conferences. So that's helpful to teams like us. But I don't know. And as far as if we don't quite make it to the NCAA Tournament, I would be very, very excited about and really proud of making it to the NIT tournament. It's not nearly as easy for teams like us to make it to the NIT tournament, as it was before the NCAA took it over last year, because now you have a lot of subtle spots in the NIT tournament taken up by automatic berths, by teams from smaller conferences that realistically don't play at the same level that we do, but they've won their regular season title, yet came up short in their tournament. So they've got the free invitation to the NIT tournament. So the spots in the NIT are even harder to come by than they were just a year ago. Q. Coach, you spoke about injuries and limping into the tournament, can you expand on that? And then how that might affect you in the first round and through that bracket? DENNIS FELTON: Well, we're a lot thinner than we'd like to be if we had our way right now. Losing Mike Mercer about six games ago was something we've had to work through. Mike led us in a lot of categories and was a very, very important part of our team. Losing David Bliss, another starter, there for a couple of games and having him not quite 100% is another issue. Albert Jackson, losing him to his shoulder injury is another blow to our depth. So these last couple of weeks we've had to revert to, you know, many times guys playing anywhere between 37 and 40 minutes a game. That impacts things, and you just have to -- there's nothing to do about it other than to be tough and just fight and do everything you can and control what you can control. It affects the quality of practices, but it also affects the way I can approach practice in terms of our energy level and trying to be as prepared as we can, but also be as fresh as we can in order to compete as hard as we have to in this league and lay it all out there during game time. Q. Steve, can you talk a little bit about, you're the first signee in the Dennis Felton era, and what it took for him to get you come to Georgia, and your experience over the last four years of this program. DENNIS FELTON: He paid me (laughter). STEVE NEWMAN: Growing up, I was always a big fan of the SEC, if not the best, one of the best basketball conferences in the country. And being recruited out of high school, I was recruited by a lot of schools on the west coast. So when I got the opportunity to play for a school in the SEC, a lot closer to home, it just definitely piqued my interest. And also Georgia with the academic reputation that it has, you know, that was very important to me and, you know, my career here, you know, my freshman year came in and had a group of four great seniors, kind of paved the way to how I need to end up leading the team. And after that year, we've had our ups and downs. You know, had one of the worst seasons in Georgia's history, and then we turned that around to one of the best turnarounds, almost doubling the win total this year, coming in, having a chance to play in the postseason. So the program's going nowhere but up, and I like to think I took a big part of that. So hopefully it will just keep rising after I go. DENNIS FELTON: I would like to quickly add that Steve has certainly been a big, big part of the equation in terms of the rebuilding of Georgia basketball, and the resurgence of the program. And I'm just really, really thankful to him and very proud of him for all the effort he's put into this program and continues to put into this program. Q. For Coach Felton, if you could update us on David and Albert's availability for first the Auburn game, and this tournament if they're going to be able to contribute. And for the players, if you could, after he answers, if you could just, could you talk about what exactly you think it will take to win this tournament, what you guys could do to possibly make it all the way through? DENNIS FELTON: Well, first of all, David is doing better. And the last two days he's been able to get a good amount of reps in in practice. So it looks like we'll have him back. And Albert, he's out right now, and looking towards having surgery to repair his shoulder as soon as possible. STEVE NEWMAN: To give yourself the best chance to make it to the championship game and win the whole thing, you know, first of all, you have to start off and get that first win. You know, everybody comes in ready to play for that first game. You know, you have a lot of time to prepare for your opponent, and you know, we come in prepared. As prepared or more prepared than the team we play every time. We do a really good job with scattering court and those type of things. So as long as we stick to our game plan, and don't make the mental mistakes, you know, we should be in a position to have a chance to win that first game. Then after that, you know, that's when you start facing the challenges of playing back-to-back games. You know, unfortunately, if we make it to the second round, Florida's going to be fresh and we're going to have to play two nights in a row. So not only them being, you know, the No. 1 team in our conference, but us having to play back-to-back, that would be a real challenging game. And, you know, we've got to come in and play our best. And, you know, have a defensive game that we know we're capable of playing, and hopefully we can get our shots to fall. Then after that, you know, it's just, can you fight through fatigue more than the teams you're playing? You know, us being shorthanded, it might be difficult for us. But I think we have the willpower to try to do that. So hopefully, you know, just win that first one and see where you can go from there. SUNDIATA GAINES: I think as a team we need to take care of our first opponent, which is Auburn. And pretty much we've just got to go out there and play hard. You can't worry about the NCAA and making the tournament if we can't win our first game. So we've just got to take our time, and take care of Auburn. Hopefully just take it step by step. Not really try to look over the whole tournament. Our ultimate goal is to win the tournament, we should be great as a team and a program, but pretty much just want to take our time and take care of Auburn first? Q. Coach, is it somewhat odd to come into this tournament, to see some of the teams that are playing that first day with Kentucky, and you know they came very highly ranked in the beginning of the year? Also, do you think it hurts the conference that some of these prominent schools have fallen off a little bit in terms of how many NCAA bids this conference might get? DENNIS FELTON: Well, first of all, no, it's not odd to me. You could see it coming from the standpoint of, you know, there was a time when Kentucky was the only school in the conference that really invested in men's basketball, so Kentucky dominated men's basketball. But over the past 20 years that has really evolved. The SEC has experienced so much success as a conference, that we've had the ability, and the ability with revenue to be able to invest in our entire athletic department. So I believe the SEC is the best athletic conference in the country, in terms of facilities, resources, fan support, and championships won. So with the growth of the conference as a whole, everyone has invested more in their basketball programs than they ever have before. It's been happening over the past 20 years. The SEC has been a very strong, arguably right there, as the best basketball conference in the country now. So with that the competition has just become more fierce. So you're not so much seeing teams fall back as you're seeing teams catch up. Then that leads me to your next question. I think it would be wrong and tragic to underestimate our conference, and to penalize our conference for our strength top to bottom. The fact that we have no poor teams in the league. So you have a lot of teams, you know, there's really only one team with somewhat of a sterling conference record. Everyone else -- and even that team, Florida, is head and shoulders above everyone in the country, but they've been beaten several times in this league. Then as you go on down the line, all the rest of us have been beaten, and it's not because we're not good. It's just because there are so many strong teams, and there's no weak teams. And I think we're the only conference in the country at this level, anyway, that has that sort of strength from top to bottom. So we've proven how strong we are as a conference with our success out of the conference, you know, with the things that we've done to earn the RPI numbers that we've earned. So you can't ignore that and say well, because somebody lost eight games in their conference, that they're not good. So I think it would be -- I think it would be tragically wrong if you have the strongest conference in the country, yet we may have a limited, you know, such as four or five schools, teams invited to the NCAA Tournament, just because just about all our teams have taken a significant number of losses. Q. Sundiata, let's get you involved a little more here. You were chosen on the Second Team, All American or all SEC. How big of an honor is that? And how have the players around you catapulted you to that level? SUNDIATA GAINES: I think pretty much it starts with my teammates. They take a lot of roles on the team, and leave my job, make it easier as a point guard on the team. It's pretty much just being a leader on the court. Taking my time, trying to get my teammates involved and making them as good players as they can be. I think it's an honor. It's good for me to get on the SEC Second Team. I think for the most part, it's just my hard work paying off. But my ultimate goal is to see my teammates get better. I'll try to do whatever I can that is possible to try to put our team in an elite level, playing with other teams in the country. Pretty much trying to take it game by game and making everybody better. Q. Dennis, how important do you think it is for you guys to make some noise in the postseason, this tournament, whatever the next tournament is, just for where the program is right now? DENNIS FELTON: You've asked the question relative to where we're at now. I just don't think you can put any relativity to the importance of doing well in the postseason. Think about it, if you go into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed and you get knocked out in the second round, it's disappointing. If you go into the tournament as -- it carries the same importance with every team. You know, when you advance, it's a powerful thing in terms of, you know, the growth and exposure of your program, versus when you don't advance, and I don't think where we're at with the growth of our program or anything else changes that. It's always really, really, you know, it's really exciting. It's really does dramatic things when you can -- it does dramatic things for everybody involved when you just win two games in the NCAA Tournament. You get to that second weekend. So it's really important, and it's really important to us. I think all the success that we have as a team right now while we grow, I think it's very momentous. You know, we've had those kind of moments several times this year already. But it would be -- it's magical when you advance in tournaments. It's the same for everyone involved. THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you. End of FastScripts |
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