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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2008Joe AlexanderDa'Sean ButlerBob HugginsNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Q. Last year in the NIT final you don't score a point in the same arena, how have you made this? It's like you grew up shooting, pretty much? JOE ALEXANDER: The adjustment has come for me, better shape physically. Lifting more throughout the entire season. I feel like I have my legs underneath me as opposed to last year when I lost a lot of weight at this point. Q. Was that as difficult to coach as it was to watch? COACH HUGGINS: Yeah. Two years ago I'd have been sitting in front of the TV with a cold beverage and some popcorn, watching everybody else sweat. These guys, they did a great job. We rebounded the ball. We struggled a bit against our pressure and we kind of got that straightened out. They did a great job. Q. The West Virginia guys outrebounded UCONN 42-26 so, pretty much that was the deciding factor for the victory today? DA'SEAN BUTLER: Yeah, you know, Coach talked to us a lot about for us to win this game we have to get back on defense and then transition, and stop them in transition. And us outrebounding them or keep them in close with the rebounds. And we, obviously, we had a little bit of trouble in the beginning of the game as far as transition, but we kind of buckled down on that. But for us, our rebounding that much, it just shows how much work everybody else is doing as a team. We did great, and everybody else helped in the rebounds. Q. Over the last five games Joe's averaged about 30 points a game. What's going on in particular over the last week, week and a half. And how important is his play going to continue to be as you go on through March? COACH HUGGINS: I wanted him to do it the whole year, I couldn't get him to cooperate. No, he's slowed down. He's slowed down. He's doing a much better job of reading the defense. He's such a hard match-up, because if you put a bigger guy on him, he can take him out on the floor and beat him off the dribble and get him to the basket, hit pull-up jumpshots. If you put a smaller guy on him, he can go down in the post and put people on his back. That's kind of what we talked about early on was let's make you the most difficult match-up in the league because he hadn't spent a lot of time playing in the post. He's really done a great job of listening and learning and being a heck of a post player. But we can also get him out on the floor whenever he's got a big on him. And he shoots it well enough out there that you can't play off of him, which makes him a pretty hard guard. Q. You said last night that this hasn't been a challenge for you, that it's been a pleasure to work with these guys. That said, are you ahead of the curve where you thought you would be at this point one year in with this thing? COACH HUGGINS: I didn't know. I don't come in and watch tape because I don't want to have preconceived ideas. People try to tell me this about Da'Sean, and this about Joe, and I didn't want to hear it. I wanted to come in fresh. I wanted them to come in fresh, and not come in saying this guy can do this or this guy can do this. Because we play so much different than what they played a year ago. You know, it's been good really good for some guys because of the freedom, and because we've spread it so much. I had no idea where we'd be. Q. Has this been an enjoyable year coaching? COACH HUGGINS: I thought it was pretty fun being number one in the country a couple of times. I kind of enjoyed that. They've been good. All you ask is that guys come in every day and they listen and they work, and for the most part these guys have done that. Q. Where would you say Joe ranks among the other best players in the country? COACH HUGGINS: We're a work in progress. But he's a hard guard. You know, he's just such a hard guard. He's not a post guy, he's not a perimeter guy. I told him early on that probably in our best interest to win more games, we ought to stick him in the post and teach him how to win in the post. But that's not where his future is. And that's not where I thought he could really blossom, so we have him out on the wing. He's out on the wing every day guarding. He's out on the wing playing offense every day on the wing. He's playing off the dribble. The great thing about Joe and Da'Sean as well, they want to be good. They really want to be good. I probably had a couple more talks with Joe than Da'Sean about - probably a month ago, right, Joe? - that it's going to get worse before it got better, and it did. I think what people don't realize is he was slowed by a groin for a long time. I mean, and probably played in some games that he probably shouldn't have played in just because he wants to play so bad. So that kind of retarded his progress as well. But it's fun coaching guys that want to learn. It's fun coaching guys that want to be good. And these two guys really want to be good players. Q. Can you talk about the quick turnaround after this emotional win going into tomorrow? COACH HUGGINS: We packed for the week. This is for us a four-game tournament, we knew that coming in. Q. Can I get you to comment on how well you've been playing lately? You've had a solid season, but it's like you've taken it to another level in the last few weeks or so. Are you just feeling it right now? What's going on? JOE ALEXANDER: The number one difference is I just slowed down, whereas in the past I would grab the ball and try to move really fast and do everything in my repertoire all at once. But now the coach has got me to recognize that it's actually better to move slower on the court, so that's the difference. Q. Is it more difficult to win four games in four days mentally or physically? COACH HUGGINS: I feel pretty fresh (smiling). I don't know. We spend a lot of energy because we try to guard so hard. I think our mental approach is pretty good. We're running out of people today. We were about as deep on the bench as I wanted to go. I think as I tell them, we're going back to the hotel. They're going to get off their feet. They're going to rest, they're going to relax. And these guys are pretty good athletes, so they'll bounce back. I tell them all the time, everybody that wants to play in the NBA, those guys play a hundred games. They don't get to rest very much. They can play a hundred, we ought to be able to play whatever it is, what are we on, 33 now? They're a third of the way through an NBA season. Q. Da'Sean, obviously, the last time you guys played Georgetown, it ended up a little messy with you and Patrick at the buzzer. The rematch now, what do you think? DA'SEAN BUTLER: I'm just looking forward to playing them again. They're a very good team. We did very well against them last time, just came up short. It should be a good game. Q. Did you do anything specific to diminish A.J. Price's effectiveness? COACH HUGGINS: We put a 2-3 zone in last night in the ballroom. We haven't played 2-3 zone all year. We just wanted to try to keep him in front of us. He just got on such a role when we played them at Hartford. He's a great player. There's not a lot of guys that shoot it off the catch, and shoot it off the dribble, and have the ability to get to the basket like he does. So we just want to try to keep him in front of us as much as we possibly could. End of FastScripts |
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