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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2008Dennis FeltonZac SwanseyATLANTA, GEORGIA Q. Can you just walk us through what the last 15 hours has been like for your team? COACH FELTON: Well, we showed up -- we spent four hours at the Dome last night, showed up ahead of time to get ready to play the game, and obviously, you know, a major event happened that affected everything. We've just been trying to go with the flow and make the best of the situation ever since. I'm certainly pleased that we've taken the safest route in terms of, you know, thinking about all the participants and fans' safety by clearing out of the Dome when we couldn't be sure that that would be safe for everybody. I really thought that had to be the first concern. We got back to the hotel, had to actually walk part of the way, right smack through the Kentucky hotel because the police wouldn't allow our bus to get close enough to the hotel to drop us off on the curb. So we got off at the Hilton or Hyatt or whatever that hotel is and walked through there. But anyway, by the time we got to our hotel it was about, I think, 1:30, and we had a quick meal and guys went back to their rooms. Later when we finally got news of what the schedule was going to be to resume playing today, we got them back together and let them know what was going on and encouraged them to just stay very, very focused and not allow themselves to be distracted. We got up this morning just in time enough to have breakfast, watch film again and head over here and get to the gym about 100 minutes before the tip-off like we would normally do. Q. How much did you sleep last night? COACH FELTON: I actually slept more last night than I did the night before. The night before I didn't get to bed until about 6:00 and got up about 9:30, but last night I was -- I was spending all that time getting prepared for the Kentucky game. Last night there wasn't a lot more that I could do to keep me awake for the same opponent. THE MODERATOR: We've been joined by Zac Swansey who hit the three-point shot. Can we take questions just for him? Q. Can you talk about playing in that environment, 1,000 fans, about 100 Georgia fans and how strange it was? ZAC SWANSEY: It was different, not really your typical SEC Tournament game. This whole thing has gone on these past couple days. We didn't let that affect us. We came in a mindset it's just us against everybody. We were going to find a way to get a win anyway, and that's what we did. Q. When was the last time you played in front of that few people? Was it like senior year of high school? ZAC SWANSEY: Yeah, probably in high school when you play teams that aren't as good as you go to that place there's not many people. It's something we haven't done in a while, but it really didn't affect us. Q. Can you just describe like the last 15 hours and how you guys had to change your plans and stay focused and just what it's been like the last 15 hours? ZAC SWANSEY: Like I said, it's not really your typical time, especially playing two games today. You really don't hardly ever see that. But we came together with ourselves. We're going to find a way to make this work. We haven't been given the best circumstances, so we know we're going to find a way. We're going to go back and get some rest night now and come back and try to do it again in a few hours. Q. What were your marching orders coming out of the time-out? What was supposed to happen on that play and kind of describe how it ended up like it did? ZAC SWANSEY: I think it was about eight or nine seconds to go and Coach drew it up. We were going to push it and have Billy come off a screen. Billy was open for a second, but I think my man kind of saw Billy as open and that kind of gave me the chance to spin back and hit, and I just knocked it down. Q. Were you surprised at how outnumbered the Georgia fans were by the blue in the arena? ZAC SWANSEY: Not really. Kentucky, they've always been known to travel deep. We had good fan support. I appreciate all the Georgia fans who came out. But we looked at it as you know there's no way that we can let anything like that bother us. We have to come out and get a win anyway possible, some way, somehow. Q. Can you talk about filling in for Gaines and stepping up in a big situation where normally he excels? ZAC SWANSEY: It was huge. Coach called upon me to come in. I told Yata I was going to find a way for him to have another game. I wasn't going to let his career end with him fouling out and us losing. You know, I found him, and he came and told me he loved me afterwards (laughter). Q. How many spinning three-pointers have you shot? ZAC SWANSEY: (Laughing) not many. I think the only time you do that is in a gym shooting by yourself. You work on stuff like that. Not really a typical game shot. But I came back and I guess you could say it helped me a little bit. Q. Where on the list of options in your mind was "I'm going to take this shot" as you got the ball there? ZAC SWANSEY: If Billy wasn't open I was going to find a way for me to get a shot. It's eight seconds which is an eternity, especially at the end of the game like that. Once Bill wasn't open I looked for my shot and if I wasn't there I was going to try to get in the lane and get a shot for someone else. THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse you. You can go back to the locker room. We'll continue on with Coach Felton. Q. Riding back on the bus last night, you guys had to see obviously the war zone that it was out there. Was it shocking to you after what you'd experienced? COACH FELTON: No, it wasn't. Most of the time when we were in the bowels of the Dome we were, you know, trying to keep up with what might happen by watching the TV telecast, especially before the Alabama-Mississippi State game ended. And they took some shots and went out and got some shots of some damage and debris in the streets. And I'm certain that the path that we took back to our hotel, that we didn't see the worst of it, because also we had some people call and report as to how bad it was in some areas like around the CNN Center. So I was kind of expecting the worst. But on the path that we took, we didn't see the worst. Q. Talk about you've had two games now in this tournament, two overtime games. Is this something magical? Do you think this is something special Georgia is doing here? COACH FELTON: Well, I think it's a lot more grit and toughness and sweat than anything about Magic. You know, I think the story line of both games, and especially this game, was just how tough we were to stop Kentucky enough to have a chance to win. You know, in the latter stages of the game getting back to what we wanted to do offensively, and that was pound the ball inside more and play in the paint more. But you still -- players have to step up and make plays, and we have had some players step up and make some -- if you want to call it magical plays, which you have to have to win games like these. So there have been some terrific individual plays made by players. Q. What about having to play now two games in such a short period of time, and what steps -- have you kind of thought this out to make sure your team is not dead at the end of the night? COACH FELTON: Well, I don't think there's anyway to avoid that. This is the hand we've been dealt. We just have to give everything we've got. I talked about it leading into this game. You know, our players would like to keep their season alive just as much as anybody else in this tournament, especially our two seniors, because their next loss is their last game. I wanted to be certain that we didn't get caught up in trying to pace ourselves thinking about having to play again tonight because if we did that, you know, we certainly weren't going to win this game. We came out just the way we wanted to come out, but in the latter half of that first half, we stopped playing as hard, and I felt like we started pacing ourselves. Fortunately we found out that we can't win that way without losing control of the game. We still were able to go into halftime a one-possession game. So I just reminded all of them that if they wanted to pace themselves, if they wanted to try to be solid, then they were going to have a whole lot time to rest (laughter). So we have to leave it all out there on the floor, and now we have to come back and find out how much harder we can play against a team that hasn't been made to play two games in a row. Q. Do you know if anybody from Georgia objected to this format, or what are your thoughts on the format? COACH FELTON: I objected vehemently, but I wasn't involved in the dialogue. I felt like the -- and again, I understand that there's so much that goes into the decision, and because I wasn't in the dialogue, I can't tell you that I know everything that goes into the decision. But I think at the end of the day, what's fair and what's best for the welfare of our student athletes is what should be the overriding concern. My suggestion, and nobody has told me why we couldn't do it, but I don't see why we couldn't have played a game -- a semifinal game at 9:00, another one at 11:30 and the championship at 3:00. So now whoever is playing two games in a row, it's fair, because both teams have played two games in a row. And if the teams involved in that last game didn't feel like they wanted to play it or needed to play it, like I heard there was some sentiment, then they could choose not to play a championship game, a second game for a championship and have co-champions. I very, very respectfully take great exception to the decision to make a team play two games in a row in games that are so important. I think everybody understands that this tournament is our only chance to make it to the National Tournament. I can't help but feel that when that decision was made, they made it knowing well that they were basically eliminating our chances of winning the tournament, making us play two games within hours against a team that's only going to play one game. But again, I wasn't involved in the dialogue. I did make my opinion and my feelings known to our administration. But I don't know where it went from there. But here we are, having to play the most important game of our season, the most important game to some guys' careers so far, after having just played hours earlier against a Mississippi State team that hasn't had to do so. Q. Can you just comment on the irony of playing the SEC Tournament, your in-state rifles, SEC and then ACC? COACH FELTON: I don't get caught up in that story line stuff. I know you guys love to try to bring interest to the stories, but it just is what it is. I think the bigger story is that we've had to adjust because of the storm and the damage that it did to the Dome. You know, I'm grateful to Georgia Tech that we were able to use their facility and move on with the tournament. It's just pretty simple; it is what it is. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Kentucky will be in momentarily.
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