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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2008Dave BlissDennis FeltonSundiata GainesATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach to begin and give us some opening thoughts on the tournament and Georgia's first game and then we'll take questions for the two student athletes and then we'll excuse them to the locker room and finish up with questions for Coach. COACH FELTON: We're excited to be here and excited about our match-up with Mississippi. We didn't -- it's not too difficult to get ready for a team that you just played, and they didn't have anybody to play in between, either. So we've got some real concrete evidence to work off of in terms of not only knowing them well but knowing them against us well. So we've had a good week of preparation, and we're looking forward to playing. Q. Talking about playing the same team twice, do you think that you guys have the advantage because you lost and you can make certain adjustments, or I guess who has the advantage in this situation? And what have been some of the things that you guys have adjusted, I guess, in this past week? SUNDIATA GAINES: Personally I believe we have the advantage because necessarily we lost the game. So we know we've got to do a whole lot more to win a game. And pretty much when you play a team, sometimes the other team may come out not as strong because they may feel they have you as an opponent. But I think personally we have an advantage. DAVE BLISS: I would say it doesn't really give either team the advantage. I think both coaching staffs are going to go back and look at what worked well, what didn't work, make changes appropriately. So I think that whoever can adjust ends up having the advantage, not necessarily the winner or loser. Q. This is for Dave. Last game Ole Miss Jermey Parnell, Kenny Williams, and Dwayne Curtis had big games against y'all in the post. What are you guys going to do to try to counteract that a second time around? DAVE BLISS: I think first of all try to get a little more production out of our front line, make them work defensively, something we didn't do enough of last game, I think. We definitely need to do a better job. I think we've done a pretty good job all season inside, and they got the best of us last game, so we're going to look to turn that around. Q. You guys have had a lot of time to review. Specifically what was going on in there in about a ten-minute stretch toward the end of the game where they were able to score I think it was 19 points inside the paint? What were they doing? DAVE BLISS: You're never doing a good job of executing what they wanted to do as far as penetration from some of the guards and getting some dump offs that way, also using the ball screen and roll and replacing with the other low guy. We had a little bit of trouble with that. We've been working on that in practice these past few days, so hopefully we've got -- we'll be a little bit more prepared for that action this time around. Q. This is a little off the beat, but can you talk about the challenges in trying to perform academically with all the demands that basketball presents? DAVE BLISS: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a big challenge, just because basketball is such a big-time commitment, especially when you're trying to rebuild a program that was in a really bad situation. I think Coach Felton has put a big emphasis on academics from day one, and that's helped me a lot. Some of the other guys who have stuck around have done well, as well, and Sundiata is on pace to graduate in the spring, as well. So we're really excited about kind of being able to do both. Q. You talked about where the program was when you guys came in. Is there disappointment that there hasn't been more progress? How do you assess the state from where it was when you got here and where it is now? SUNDIATA GAINES: I think the program came a long way. Every year gradually the team got better, as a coaching staff, academically and on the court. But we had some little let-downs, little moments throughout our careers, but from an overall standpoint, I think the team has came a long way in the program. I think it's just maybe just a little fixing up here and there with a couple of things, and I think that the program will be going in the right direction. DAVE BLISS: Yeah, I mean, I think that we were on pace going into this year to really get something special going. Obviously the things that happened this year hasn't worked out that way, and that's been well-covered by you guys. But I think like Yata said, we're only a few areas off in terms of getting where we want to be as a program. I think we've built up a lot of the things that are needed in order to have success on this level. THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse you. You can return to the locker room. Appreciate you coming down. We'll continue on with questions for Coach Felton. Q. In a tournament like this when you finish the season the way you finished, do you spend time trying to talk to your players and convincing them that they have a shot to do something here, or do you think that just kind of comes naturally? COACH FELTON: A little of both. I think our players are looking forward to this opportunity. As a matter of fact, I know they are. I've heard our two seniors, Sundiata, talk about -- down the stretch of the season, talk about the tournament being a place where we can really do something special. I've heard David talking about, we have a lot more basketball to play. And at the same time I've talked about -- obviously we've focused most of our attention on winning the first game and beating Mississippi in order to advance. But we've talked about that within the context of what we need to do to prevail and win the tournament. Q. What is your opinion on playing the same team twice in such a short span? Is there an advantage one way or the other? COACH FELTON: I don't think either team -- I think both teams are going to take good advantage of the fresh experience. I'm certain that Coach Kennedy is going to -- the idea of them being content because they were able to beat us last Saturday, that's certainly not going to occur. Mississippi is a team that's battling to get into the NCAA Tournament, so they have a tremendous amount of motivation to play for. All of us want to win the tournament, but they also know that they don't necessarily have to win the tournament as much as they just have to win as many games as they can to enhance their opportunity to go to the national tournament. But both staffs are going to -- their staff is going to do the same thing we've done, and that's dissect the first game that we've played and figure out what we can do better to be better in the second game we play. I don't see that either team has an advantage. I think both teams are going to make good use of the experience last Saturday to get ready for tomorrow's game. Q. Coach, the last time you guys played it was close until they went on a run in the middle of the second half, and you talked about looking for areas where you can improve. What is it that you need to do differently to beat them this time? COACH FELTON: Well, we certainly want to be better defensively against the ball screen. A good, significant chunk of their post production was a product of their pick-and-roll game, and that is -- that's a team issue. The entire team has to defend pick-and-roll because whenever you set a ball screen, you have to commit two defenders to some degree to the ball, and then that means that the three other defenders have to guard four momentarily. So our alertness, our cohesiveness, it's got to be good. It's something that Mississippi has done with a good deal of success. They're one of the highest scoring teams in the league all season long. But that's an area that we've got to get better at so that the post players don't get quite as many of the high-percentage opportunities as they did. We want to rebound better, too. We don't ever want to be out-rebounded, and it was a competitive game on the glass. They didn't do to us on the offensive glass what they routinely do to teams, but we still got out-rebounded by three. I think part of that is the fact that they shot 48 percent and we shot 31 percent, so it -- we competed on the glass, but when there's such a big separation in shooting percentages, it's hard to win the glass in that circumstance. We were solid on the glass against the best rebounding team in the league, but we want to be even better because we don't want to get out-rebounded. Q. Do you think Ole Miss is an NCAA worthy team, and if so, why? COACH FELTON: I do. I think they have accomplished -- based on their accomplishments, they're worthy of being included in the NCAA Tournament, and I also believe they pass the look test, just simply looking at them and watching them play, relative to all the other teams from around the country. So yeah, I do think Mississippi is an NCAA Tournament worthy team. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. End of FastScripts |
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