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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2008Jamie DixonSam YoungNEW YORK, NEW YORK COACH DIXON: Thank you. This obviously is a great win, great performance, and great effort by our guys. First of all, I'd like to praise Georgetown and their university and their basketball program and Coach Thompson, who is first of all a great coach and a classy, classy person. We beat a very good team, and we understand that and we knew we had to play well, so I can't say enough about our effort, but I also can't say enough that we beat a quality program run by a quality person in Coach Thompson. As far as our guys, every guy stepped up. Every guy made plays. And I don't know where to start. We could probably start with the guy next to me, who did it for all four games, and he's been doing it all year, and he's getting better and better. So I'm proud of him and how he's gotten better and better. And the defensive guys and offensively. But I'm just more proud of him how he's become a leader, and I think it's a great testament to his team work and belief, and willingness to take on extra and want to do more. So I can't say enough about Sam and how he's played. It is well deserved. Q. Talk about the aggressiveness that you had tonight, on the line 44 times, and just as important, outrebounding this team? COACH DIXON: Well, we had to do that. We had to outrebound them. We talked about it. For whatever reason, I didn't think we were playing as aggressive as we needed to, say, ten games ago. And I don't know what it was. Maybe it was the numbers, maybe it was the practices that we were unable to do. But when we got all our guys back and we were able to get back into it and do the things we do, we have just been more physical, more aggressive, and just more like we normally are, I mean, more like Pitt. It just carried over throughout this whole tournament. And the rebounding was obviously a key factor again tonight. The fouls, obviously, it seemed like those were the longest two and a half minutes in history. If we could have made a few more, I think they would have stopped fouling, but we kept them in it a little bit. But, again, we were attacking off the dribble, which is something we wanted to do as well. Q. Knowing everything you've been through this year, how sweet is this because you've managed to survive so much? COACH DIXON: I don't know if it makes it any more sweeter, but it doesn't take away from what our guys have been through. When I see a Mike Cook out there celebrating, and I see Austin Wallace out there celebrating, and Cassin Diggs, and it makes me think how many guys have stepped forward to help our program in a time when people were talking about us being an NIT team or whatever. Whatever. And I don't fault people for that. I completely understand what happened to us, losing four guys for nearly the season in about a space of a couple of weeks is really unheard of. But everybody hears about the certain guys, and Sam getting better and better, and Levance coming back. Taking a couple of weeks to get back into his groove. But we had guys like Maurice Polen out there practicing every day, Tim Frye, we picked up a guy, Ryan Tisi who made our practices better and joined our team in January, so we were able to practice. We don't get to this point without those guys. Cassin Diggs even gave us some practice, even though he probably needs surgery. We have a number of guys that need surgery at the end of the year, and they were able to give these guys what they needed in practice. Sam, Levance, Ronald and the rest. So I guess I'm thinking more about those guys, a lot about those guys, because I really appreciate it and we couldn't have done it without them. Q. Can you just talk about your seniors. I think it's a hundred wins right now for the senior class. The leadership your seniors provided. COACH DIXON: It's something that I hope it's a continuation of year to year. Our seniors, every year we're talking about our seniors, how many wins they've had, what they did. And every year it's -- I hope it's and I think it is something that's being passed on, and it is taken as a source of pride to step up as far as leaders, and to do the things right and to show our freshmen. We had a young group, and our guys improved throughout the year, our freshmen improved throughout the year. Ronald Ramon, Keith Benjamin and Mike Cook were still there all through the end. Just continuing to lead and play their best basketball for Ronald and Keith here at the end. So that's what it really comes down to. That's really senior leadership. Q. A little while ago you talked about how the measure of an elite program is a national title, and you haven't won one. Now that you've achieved here in a championship game where you've sometimes faltered, is your team ready to overachieve or achieve greater things in the next tournament? COACH DIXON: Well, I don't know of the sign of it. But what we've done over the seven years, national championship teams haven't done what we've done over seven years as far as the consistency and what we've done year after year. I'm just saying what I mentioned was a national championship from 30 years ago, a Villanova national championship, that's remembered forever. That's not forgotten. So that carries a lot of weight down the road. But it doesn't take away from what our team has done over the last seven years, and having, I think, the second best record in the country, second highest RPI, best record in the Big East, all of those things. But at the same time, that is our ultimate goal. And we don't have problems discussing that. But it doesn't take away from what we've done. Q. What are you capable of this year? COACH DIXON: I've always felt that we're capable of beating anybody we play, and I'm sure our players feel the same way. I know Sam feels that way, I would say. So I think you should really talk to Sam. He's the guy that made all the shots, made the plays. I just make sure that he's in the game there, that's all I do. Q. You said yesterday when you asked about the four games in four days that you guys would show up. Did you ever feel tonight that they even looked the slightest bit tired? COACH DIXON: No, I didn't. And I think I was talking about four games in four days, I mean, we've been through a lot more than that this year. We lost four guys in two weeks for the year. So, you know, and other guys coming down with injuries right after that, that would have been out for games, but played because we were low on numbers. So I really didn't give -- I mean, if we had only played three games, these guys would have gone. Sam would have found a place to play a pick-up game today in the gym somewhere. They would have gone somewhere anyways. So it's better that we're playing here in the Garden. Q. Sam, did you ever get a sense that you guys were tired at any point? SAM YOUNG: I think to be tired is a mental mindset. When you go to bed and you're just about to get up and you say oh, I'm tired. But when you're out here and you have a guy trying to take the ball from you, that's a challenge. And you want to take on that challenge. I don't think tiredness or fatigue come into play when you've got so much on the line, and so much emotion involved. Q. You seem to have almost a sixth sense tonight about exactly when Hibbert would release the ball. Can you just describe for us what you were seeing? SAM YOUNG: I noticed, not only in this game but in previous games, that he likes to take the one-two jump hook. And I always said he'd get it to two, and jump as high as I can. Hopefully I'd get it. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't. I pretty much got it at the right times tonight, and that's how that went. Q. You're the one team in the Big East that Georgetown wasn't able to beat this year. What is it specifically about your team that presented challenges that Georgetown couldn't figure out a way to solve? COACH DIXON: Well, I think today they caught us playing our best basketball, that was part of it. You know, this team is a team that's better now than it was earlier in the year, and we didn't play at their place. We got them at our place, and we tend to beat people at a pretty good high rate at our place. If you're looking for a weakness in Georgetown's game, there isn't one. They're very good. They're very experienced. They're very well-coached. And I would dare to say that they're going to be a very high seed and do very well in the NCAA Tournament. So I don't think it says anything about Georgetown. They are one of the best programs, one of the best teams in the country. Q. You seemed surprisingly calm even relaxed as the game was ending. You just kind of strolled up to the court after everyone else went nuts. What was going through your mind? SAM YOUNG: I think in moments like that, I probably take quite a while for things to register because it's just so much of a big goal. A big tribute. Once you get there, you think did this really happen? I can't believe such good things have happened in a short period of time. Sometimes you sit back and think, and you never would think -- I mean, things are such, I guess, a prestigious tournament like this that we'd come out, I mean, come out and do the thing that's we did this whole weekend. Q. How does this change your outlook and expectations for the NCAA Tournament now that you've won this tournament? SAM YOUNG: It kind of do, and it kind of don't. My expectations are still the same. It definitely gives us a confidence booster going in. It definitely gives us a lot of motivation going in. And I felt like right now with us playing, like Coach said, our best basketball, I feel like a lot of guys know what role they need to take on for us to be a great team. Q. Can you just talk about doing this for the seniors. SAM YOUNG: What can I say? I'm happy that we were able to do this today. I've been through this, this is my third year at the Garden, and I'm finally able to win one. Ronald, they've been here four years, and the last three years they couldn't win it. So I was really feeling it for them for that, because I think they lost to Georgetown, I think, twice. And they lost to Syracuse once. But to come out and to do such a thing for them, and to let them go out with a bang like that, I mean, it shows a lot for the team. It shows a lot. And I'm just glad I can send them more with memories like this. Q. Growing up in the D.C. area, were you a Georgetown fan or a Maryland fan? SAM YOUNG: To be honest, I didn't even watch basketball (laughing). Q. At the end of the game at one end the guys were going crazy, and you had to go to the other end to do a TV interview and you were drinking your water. Can you describe what you're feeling there as you're watching your guys? COACH DIXON: Yeah, I guess you coach a long time, you've got a lot of ups and downs and different things that happen. But to be able to sit there for me and watch our team, and watch the players celebrate with their families, I can't think of a more gratifying moment. I could have sat there all day and just watched them. That, to me, was fun and rewarding. To see Sam with his mom, who has meant so much to him and inspired him with her work ethic, you know, seeing them together, that was fun. I remember seeing that vision when I was sitting on the side. That was special. I remember Keith Benjamin, seeing him with his mom there, too. I guess that was probably the best thing I've had happen to me this year. Q. Was this moment much better for you than winning the state championship in high school? SAM YOUNG: Definitely. Definitely. It just means so much more. You're on a higher level, a greater level not to say college is a high level, but you're playing in the Big East. That is the best conference in college basketball. To be in the Big East, and to be a Big East champion says a lot. I just feel like a won a million dollars. I can't say how proud I am of myself and my team.
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