|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: SPOKANEMarch 16, 2007Michael BramosCharlie ColesNathan PeavyTim PollitzSPOKANE, WASHINGTON THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get an opening statement from Coach Coles and then we'll have questions for the players today, Tim Pollitz, Michael Bramos and Nathan Peavy so start us off, coach. COACH CHARLIE COLES: Well, we're officially out of the tournament now. I thought that the game was -- that we played a good ball game. I thought it was a good ball game. We came out on the short end of it, and I thought it was a game that we had a chance to win at different times. And definitely I thought that the last five, six minutes of the game we had enough energy, had we made a few more plays, that maybe we could have came out victorious. Brooks made, stepped up to the plate and made some plays for them. Then the rest of their guys did a real good job. So it was a game that we, I kind of felt coming into the game that we were going to be okay. I was checking things out and everybody was -- I timed them in -- I, you couldn't time them in the hundred, everybody's talking about their great speed, and I got my stop watch out and I can only time them what, how long is the basketball court? How long is it? And I didn't see any Jesse Owens' and I thought, boy, if Jesse is not there, then we ought to be able to keep up with them a little bit. And so we did. And so I think that they played more of our game than we played more of their game. And so when that happens, you got a shot at it. But I give them credit, good ball club. A good leadership from their players. Great, great gentlemen on the court. This was one of the better games that I think I've coached in in terms of ref'ing the opposing player, players, and our players and their coaches. I mean, it was almost like, hey, guys, how y'all doing. And so I had no complaints, none whatsoever. I thought that the officials were phenomenal. They stayed out of the way, they made great calls. And, hey, we just came up short. And we're -- you but we appreciate the opportunity to be here. We really, really do. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Nathan, this is your last game, I just wonder how you feel. You guys won on a shot, a last second shot to hit here and then you hit a shot that could have taken it to overtime today. Just what are you really feeling right now? NATHAN PEAVY: Being the last game as a senior, you know, it hurts. It's bitter sweet. Knowing that I won't be able to be with my teammates any more. So it's just a feeling that I thought we had a very good season, happy for that, we played very well as a team today. And that's what it's best been the case this whole season and I'm just going to truly miss all my teammates and the program and everybody that was involved with us. And it's just, I thought we played a good game and that's all I have to say. Q. Their coach said that they were nervous and jittery out of the gate, did you guys get a sense at all that that was going on or did you feel more frustration from them? MICHAEL BRAMOS: Well, I thought they came out man-to-man and I thought we executed our offense very well. I don't know if they were jittery, but I think that our execution was just that good in the beginning with the man offense. And I think after that I don't know if it woke them up, but they went into their zone and they started playing a little better. So I don't know if -- they might have been a little jittery but I think it has to do with a little but bit of us on our offensive execution too. So that's all. TIM POLLITZ: I don't know if they were jittery, I just think we came out real strong and from the start, because they started, they played man-to-man at the start. Then once they put in that zone we kind of, they started to sink down and kind of get some steals here and there and they started to play their type of game. But I just thought it was a good game overall. Hats off to the Oregon because they came down the stretch and in the second half and made a couple more plays than we did. But that's all right though. NATHAN PEAVY: No, I really think they weren't that jittery. We came out to a good start and I think that them going to the zone kind of slowed us down a little bit. Then our turnovers kind of got them going. In that first half. But overall you think that we gave them a good run and we just had to make a couple more big plays at the end to beat them. Q. You guys talked yesterday about how you had seen, you had played teams similar to this but none as fast as these guy, actually playing against them were they as fast as you thought or not? TIM POLLITZ: I don't really know. They were being hyped up as being such a fast team and I wouldn't -- I'm in the trying to compare them, but like you compare them to like Toledo or anything, I don't know if they were that much faster than Toledo. At least tonight I don't think they were that much faster than like a Toledo ball club. Because they're very fast too. But nothing taken away against them. Obviously there's games that they're more faster on the fast break than other games. So it all depends upon who you're playing against. And obviously when you play against us, we're trying to get back on transition defense a lot. So that obviously counteracts what they're trying to do on offense. So makes it look real slow. So I think that's kind of how it played out. NATHAN PEAVY: I was just going to say they were quick, but I think our schedule prepared us enough for, there's a lot of quick basketball players out there in our league and it prepared us for it. I, you wouldn't -- they're a quick team, but I wouldn't say they were overwhelmingly quick. We were out there, we got back on defense. I don't think you saw too many fast break opportunities for them. We just got back and they got back and I think that it just came down to the they got a couple plays at the end. So I don't think their speed really blew us away that much. THE MODERATOR: Okay. We'll excuse the players and take questions for the coach. Q. Obviously frustrating when they had that 20-0 run. But what goes through your mind when you can't score and they keep going on and scoring? COACH CHARLIE COLES: We'll be back. We'll be back. I mean, we have had more runs on us this year and one thing I learned as a coach that we'll be back. At some point we'll meet again. That's just kind of the ball club we have. And our kids played enough great defense over the season that they would, you know, we kind of used to joke around with them early in the year that, hey, we don't think we're a very good, we're playing with a freshman guard at point guard who you have seen shot the ball with six seconds left to go in the half, he shot it, and the kid's played all year. And he's done pretty good job. But he's had moments like that. And then we play him with a converted forward at point guard. So we knew that at some point that that would be a weakness for us. And we identified it, on, and said, hey, let's, it's like a person with a bad leg, let's compensate for this bad leg and let's go. And when the score was 20-9 the guys will tell you exactly what I told them. I told them I said, hey, let's hit a lucky one. That's all we need. Can somebody throw one up? Bank it or something. Because we try to run four or five sets and couldn't get that going. Tried to keep it light because the one thing we don't want to do -- the one thing we didn't want to do with our guys, and I learned this about January of this season, is, hey, these kids have really, this is something we don't do well, but we do like seven other things well. And they're tough mentally. When we had our scoring droughts, if you check our season, when we beat Kent at home, Ohio at home, Akron at home, we were known for some tremendous driving. We had a scoring drought in Kentucky, which didn't seem that strange to me in Rupp Arena, you know what I mean, we played down there early on and one of the, one of the headlines said, Miami goes into nine minute drought or whatever. And we still played them well. And in the end we had a chance to, that if we hit some shots the last three minutes we might could have won that ball game. So that was something that we didn't do well but we weren't going to highlight it. 20-9, for our guys, that didn't mean a hell of a lot. Because we felt like even with a team as good as Oregon, that we're coming back. And we did. We got some movement going. And we came back. Q. Are you surprised that they didn't try to make it a full court game with all the talk about their quickness, that they really kind of played into your hands with the half court game? COACH CHARLIE COLES: No, I hadn't seen them play much of a full court game. So teams are creatures of habit. And/or people of habit. And I didn't think they would be very good at a full court game. I was hoping for a full court game. Because I don't think they do that real well. If you would have said Toledo, I would of said, whoa, whoa, you know, because that is what they do well. They pick up three quarter court. But I think that Oregon is just fast. They get the rebound and go. And then they will put a little pressure on you. But I wasn't worried about their pressure because I thought their pressure would have gave us some open shots, would have allowed us to pass the ball better. And score would have been a little bit higher, but we would have been fine had they don't that. So it didn't surprise me at all that they didn't do that. I knew once the game, once I could judge the tempo, I wrote down on the board before the game, when, with our players, I just said, be in charge of the game. No matter what. We're in charge of the game. We want to establish some rules, boundaries and limitations out there, for Oregon to understand. And I think we did it. I think we did it. We didn't necessarily want it to be a 50 point ball game, but it was. That didn't hurt us none. So but it didn't surprise me, no. Because I don't think -- I don't think they would do that real well over a course of a game. That's just me judging from watching a bunch of tape on Oregon. Q. Down three there, Mike's shot at the top of the key that's about as good of a look as you could get there? COACH CHARLIE COLES: Mike Bramos? Yeah, it was. But you know, gosh, boy, did I want that to go in. You know what I mean. Q. Did you think it was going in? COACH CHARLIE COLES: No. I wanted it to go in. You know what I mean. I looked and said, please go in. Please go in. And it didn't. But, you know how that goes. I thought they did a decent job on trying to -- I think that they got that game, when a team doesn't beat another team quite as, by as much as they want to, I think that there's a tendency for a team to think that, boy, I don't think we played well. So if that's the case, I think that they kind of got that game maybe where they know now that they can play that game and then when they play Winthrop, Winthrop is much faster, they will feel more comfortable with that. So maybe our game may help them out a game or two from now. I don't know. Q. Obviously their talent disparity on the court for an outsider was large. Did you ever at any point of the game look down the other side and say, man, I wish I had a couple of those guys? COACH CHARLIE COLES: Oh, yeah. (Laughter.) COACH CHARLIE COLES: I did that before the game. (Laughter.) COACH CHARLIE COLES: But you know what? I'll take Big Red though. I'll take Tim Pollitz. And I'll take Mike Bramos. And then I'm wishing for some of their guys, see. My two guys, a friend of mine told me early in the year, he said, you're two, three, and four men can play, should be able to play with most people in the country. And I feel that way. Michael Bramos kind of we played him on the outside this year, but he's six-five, and he presents a physical presence there. That, boy, in those kind of games, when you play the Kentucky and Oregons, he looks pretty good. And then Tim Pollitz, you know, it's hard to figure out how he looks, except God, how, you know, you don't know kind of how to -- I think people don't guard him very well because they don't know how to get him, you know. Got kind of a big butt and he reminds me of two players who played in the past, not as good, but he reminds me of Adrian Dantley and Mark Aguirre. Two guys that were undersized, that could post you and they could post six-eight guys. And so, but, after those two, there was a lot of, oh, I wish I had him, now I'll take him, I'll take one of their centers. I don't even need to have Taylor and those guys, I'll take one of those centers, big strong kids. Can get him to chopping some wood, find some trees and stuff in Ohio like they got in Oregon, keep him working hard, and if we had something like that, we would really be out of sight. Yeah. Yeah, I did. Yes, I did. Thank you so much. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|