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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2008Michael FlowersJoe KrabbenhoftBo RyanINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: We'll have Coach Ryan make a couple of quick opening comments then we'll take questions for Michael or Joe. And then we'll finish up with questions for Coach Ryan. Go ahead, Coach. COACH RYAN: I'm impressed with the way our guys just hung in there trying to get acclimated to playing here and the noon game and the whole thing. We had the energy. We just weren't executing as well as I thought we could have. And then they caught themselves. They got the free throw line. They did some very good things defensively picking up for one another. And hit some shots when we needed them. So I think it was a great effort by the entire team and all the guys picked up Brian Butch in the locker room, and told him he'll be okay tomorrow, right guys? THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Michael Flowers or Joe Krabbenhoft. Q. Guys, talk about your defense. You held Michigan to 20 percent shooting for the entire game. Just talk about the defense? MICHAEL FLOWERS: The scout team did a great job of preparing us for this game. Last game we played them at home they outrebounded us, they were physically more dominant than we were. So we wanted to come out here and put our foot down and play Wisconsin basketball. And that's hard, in-your-face defense. Q. You talk about Marcus Landry, the way he played in the second half and what he's meant to this team? MICHAEL FLOWERS: Marcus Landry is an underrated ABA player. He can score with his back to the basket. He can take you off the dribble. He showed his athleticism or some drives to the lane. I mean, he's an all-around player. He causes some matchups. So to our benefit. And we give him the ball down low so he can do his things. He also has good court awareness and sees the open man and passes the ball really well. COACH RYAN: Mike saw a lot of the ABA stuff on the way down. If he saw the corridor here -- there's some people here (laughter). Q. Specifically you said Harris caused you a lot of trouble in Madison, specifically defensive player of the year. Did that give you motivation today or can you talk about that? MICHAEL FLOWERS: Pretty much winning is my motivation. I go out there, work hard just like everybody else. I do things. I get on the floor. I take charges for my teammates. You know, nobody ever wants to get scored on, and that's what I pride myself on is really stopping my opponent and causing him havoc and just disrupting the flow of his game. Doing that ultimately benefits my team. Q. Joe, you led the team in points, but you had five scores -- you had five players score seven points or more. Could you talk about the total team effort today just to get the ball in the hoop? JOE KRABBENHOFT: I think that's the way it's been all year. If you've been watching us, that this team is so versatile, everybody can put it in the hoop. We're not worried about who goes out and is the leading scorer. We're just worried about the team being up at the end of the game. So it's been like that all year. Great contributions from everybody. The starting five, everybody who played today did a great job. The guys coming in at the end. So another team victory for Wisconsin. Q. Joe, since Michigan played yesterday you guys obviously didn't. That said, can you talk about the importance of the start you guys had to the game today? JOE KRABBENHOFT: Yeah, I mean, it's very important to come out in every game and try to get, build some momentum, get an early lead, whatnot. I thought we did a good job of that today. Michigan stayed in it, but our defense, what we've been hanging our hat on, you know, since the beginning of the year, took us all the way to this one. So credit to our defense and everybody stepping up and playing really hard. Q. Mike, just talk about your defense on Manny Harris. What did you do differently this time? Were you a little bit more physical with him this time than you were at the Kohl Center? MICHAEL FLOWERS: I started focusing on the little things, making sure I got over to the screens, and if he did -- caught the ball, it was more towards half court. Away from the basket. We took care of the ball, which eliminated any transition points that they could possibly have. I know at the Kohl Center they had a good amount of transition points. So we took care of the ball, had good shots and rebounded it throughout the game really well. Q. Joe, you've played with Mike for three years now. Have you seen him more focused maybe defensively than he was today? JOE KRABBENHOFT: Mike's been focused since the day I stepped on campus. He's the most intense player, whether it be in the weight room, up in the practice facility, just shooting around, playing pickup ball when we're in practice and especially out on the floor. He gives it 110 percent every time. I admire him. I respect him. And obviously he's a lot quicker and more athletic than I am, but hopefully some day I can keep on trying to play defense like Mike. We all look up to him. And he does a great job of leading this team and teaching the younger guys how to play with your heart and play hard, and it's just a joy for me to play with Mike. Q. Joe, you mentioned it didn't matter how many points you scored, just that the team won. Can you remember, though, the last time you led the team in scoring in a game and does this mean you can lobby for more shots now? JOE KRABBENHOFT: In high school, maybe. It really doesn't -- you can ask anybody on this team the same question. We really don't care. You're not going to get anything out of us because this is a total team effort. Every time we go out. And we're just focused on winning. Whatever. I'm not trying to get more shots. I miss too many. (Laughter). THE MODERATOR: Thanks, fellas. We'll finish up with questions for Coach Ryan. Q. Coach, I asked these guys the same question, but if you can talk about Marcus Landry, the way he played the second half of the day and what he's meant to the team overall? COACH RYAN: Well, his presence, again, Michael said it better than I could, is that he is an inside and an outside player who has gotten better in his all-around game. That does cause some problems for the other team. Not that the other teams don't have guys that are similar. But I like what Marcus is getting out of his opportunities. So I love coaching guys that are opportunistic. And he's one of them. Q. Bo, yesterday Michigan really packed it in the lane keeping Iowa on the perimeter. Were you guys more conscientious of trying to get inside early and just open that up for your outside shooters? COACH RYAN: Well, in 1972 the junior high school team I put out on the court, I told them we had to touch the post. What is this? 2008. Before this game, we have to touch the post. That never changes. Q. From your experience, the Big Ten tournament, what impact does it generally have on the NCAA tournaments, tend to help you, hurt you, or what do you think? COACH RYAN: Now that I've been around a little bit, when you guys used to ask me that question the first couple of years, it was, well, we got beat the first game both times. So we were home getting rest and getting ready for the NCAA tournament. So we went 1-2 and then 2-1, those two years. And then in the next year, we play in the championship game, a very physical, tough game against Illinois in '05 -- no, '04, we end up playing in the championship. And we lose to Pitt, very good, probably the best 3 seed that ever played in the NCAA tournament by a lot of the experts. The following year we go in and we get to the finals again. We get beat by Illinois, and so we go 2-1 and then we go in the NCAA tournament and lose to Carolina in the last minute. Want me to take you through the other two? So I did this. I went all right in '06 we were just, you know, we played well enough to make the NCAA tournament because of our strength of schedule, the RPI, winning record in the Big Ten that year. And then we lose in the first round to an Arizona team that gets their best player back after being suspended for some incident. So Arizona was the better team. Last year, I felt -- I can't really give you an estimate because Brian Butch goes down and it's very hard to say. But what I like is every time you get a chance to play a game, I think it's good. But if you get the opportunity to play on Sunday, you just hope you're not playing Thursday. A lot of coaches in the league before, they're not in the Big Ten anymore, guys say they hope that if they get into the Sunday game, the first game's Friday. For obvious reasons. These are tough, physical games. Q. What explanation did you get on the technical foul? Looked like you were yelling just at the fact that the layup was missed. Is that what happened and what was -- COACH RYAN: That was frustration at a player. But maybe it's an age discrimination thing, because I don't think officials think I can move as quickly as I do. I think I fool 'em (flinching), because they catch me out of the corner of their eye. I don't know. I really don't know. But I wasn't real happy that we didn't finish on the play, but it had to do with my player that I was frustrated with. It didn't have anything to do with anything else. Q. How do you continually get kids to buy into the defensive mind-set that you have, because it doesn't always lead to pretty games or gaudy offensive stats? COACH RYAN: Well, I think Michigan spent more time running the shot clock down than we did. So that's an unfair statement. Michigan wanted that type of game. They felt they could win that game. So if we play good defense and the other team's taking a lot of time off the shot clock, what's that have to do with our offense? I kind of like Jason Bohannon behind the back pass and Marcus Landry filling in the middle. We can do that when we get opportunities. In the Big Ten how many easy shots do you get at the other end? It is so hard. It's hard. Try it sometime. It's hard. Q. Michael didn't get Big Ten player of the year. Harris scored 26 on you guys up at -- COACH RYAN: Didn't get Big Ten player of the year. Q. On defense. Harris got 26 up in Madison on your team. Do you think Michael took the challenge today, maybe had a little bit extra motivation? COACH RYAN: You know, Mike played hard at our place. I looked at the film a couple times. And Manny just made some really tough shots and in transition sometimes when Mike was helping out protecting the rim, Harris was able to get the ball and make some things happen offensively. So it wasn't always a one-on-one matchup. The other thing is a couple of rebounds that came off, Manny got -- surprisingly so, not because he can't go get 'em, but just the luck of the bounce, Manny Harris got two or three baskets off of offensive rebounds that are very rare for Michael to ever give up. You could just tell on tape he was just caught off guard. But did he handle this any differently? No. His teammates helped him recover. And I think in all fairness Michigan was trying to use some of their other weapons, which they've had some success with, obviously. And to Manny's credit, I can't say that he forced -- what, he's 1 for 12. I don't think he forced a lot. Maybe one or two. Excuse me. But I don't catch the other team so you'll have to ask them. But he had some looks. He just didn't knock them down. But Michael plays hard all the time. I've never worried about that. Joe was correct in his assessment of Michael Flowers. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. End of FastScripts |
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