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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2008Dave BlissCorey ButlerDennis FeltonATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: We will begin and ask Coach Felton for some overall thoughts on the game, then we'll take questions just for the two student athletes and then finish up with Coach. COACH FELTON: Well, I can just hardly describe how proud I am of our players. Just the idea of winning -- just the idea of playing two games within hours of each other against such heated competition and against such good competition is -- that's pretty -- that can be overpowering. But to be able to find a way to win and seemed like we played about 35 minutes of tonight's game in severe adversity with the foul trouble and then some injuries started kicking in, and for our players to be tough enough and good enough and step up the way they did to win the game over-- I think Mississippi State is a great team. I'm just really, really proud right now of our players, that we're also determined to come back and play with the same kind of conviction tomorrow. Q. Dave and Corey, can you kind of give us a perspective of what today was like, playing two games, how you guys regrouped in the middle of the day and then just how you've gotten to this point despite Yata going down and things like that? DAVE BLISS: Yeah, I guess it kind of started last night with the uncertainty of what exactly was going to be the schedule. But we got up at about 8:00 this morning, got some breakfast and started preparing for Kentucky. Obviously we were able to win that game in overtime. Went back, got a little bit to eat, got about an hour nap in, and real short scouting report on Mississippi State and then came in and played the second game. COREY BUTLER: I mean, it was a pretty troublesome day. The weekend has been pretty crazy, and overall I think I was just pretty disappointed I didn't get my pregame nap for the second game. But we still came out here and played well. We played as a team. I'm just real excited for our players, and we haven't been in this situation in quite a while. Q. For both of the players, can you describe how physically draining it became in game two of the day? DAVE BLISS: I mean, it was definitely a grind. But it's something we haven't done -- I've played probably 120 games and never two in one day. You know, it was just one of those things where we kept looking at each other and just not letting that be a factor. This team has really come together over the past few days, but even going back further than that. I was just really happy with the way that we rallied around each other. COREY BUTLER: It was really draining. I mean, the fact that it feels like it's AAU all over again where you're playing two games in one day, and the guys, they were pretty tired, but our trainers, they took really good care of us, and our doctors and the other staff, they took pretty good care of us, so we were definitely prepared to play. The trainer, he did an awesome job. Q. Corey, after Sundiata went out, did it give you guys any kind of emotional lift just to see your team mate -- we don't know how badly he's hurt, but did you guys kind of rally around that? COREY BUTLER: Well, he fouled out of the first game against Kentucky, too, but he fouled out with seven, eight minutes in this game. It was really just Zac Swansey stepping up and taking control of the point, controlling the game. We knew we would have to buckle down on defense, rebounding, do everything he does. So we took care of that, and lo and behold, we're on our way to The Finals. Q. There's only been one other team to go from the 6 seed to win the tournament. What was you guys' motivation? This is an incredible feat if you do it. DAVE BLISS: I mean, I'm not really sure what motivation you need besides that automatic bid that lies at the end of the fourth game. That's something that for me, and I'm sure for everybody, has been a goal since day one. We haven't gotten there yet, and we've still got some work to do tomorrow in order to do that, and hopefully we can get it done. COREY BUTLER: Well, my parents always say when you're at the bottom the only place to go is up. So we had nothing to lose and we just came out here and gave our all. Our coaches definitely inspired us, and we just fought the entire tournament and we're going to continue to fight. Q. When you left here today you sounded pretty convinced that the SEC had not done you any favors by making you play two games in one day. You sounded very -- seemed pessimistic about your chances to come back and win. COACH FELTON: No, it didn't have anything to do with pessimism about our chances or about the kind of effort we were going to put into it. Again, I just respectfully disagreed with the decision to make Kentucky or ourselves have to do such a thing in such important games. Q. What is the status of Sundiata? Did he have a concussion or did he hit his head or what happened on that play? COACH FELTON: He hurt his hip. That's all I know. Q. You don't know if it will be okay tomorrow? COACH FELTON: I just don't know. I haven't had a chance to visit with him or our medical staff yet. Q. When he fouled out, how concerned were you with your team, how they would respond to their leading scorer being out of the game? COACH FELTON: Obviously very concerned because he's probably the last player that we can do without, so I was very concerned. But we did have to -- I mean, earlier today -- was it earlier today that he fouled out? Yeah (laughter). He had fouled out earlier today with a lot of time left in the game. You know, there's nothing I can do about it, but I think the fact that we had gone through that experience and came out victorious in the prior game that it gave the players an opportunity to be more confident that we could do it again. Q. Can you give us as best as you can a timeline from when you left Game 1, the victory over Kentucky, what transpired in the interim, and then about what time you brought the ballclub back to the Coliseum? COACH FELTON: I had the team leave me so they could get back to the hotel as soon as possible. We had food for them as soon as they got back. Then we told them that we would come back together at 5:45 for our pregame meal. We explained to them that they were going to give them two meals so that they needed to use their own judgment as to how much they want to eat in either of the meals. And we were going to eat at 5:45, meet for scouting report at 6:15 and leave the hotel at 7:00 to get here at about 7:15. Q. What about after the game against Kentucky? Take me from there when you went back to the hotel. COACH FELTON: The Kentucky game was today, right (laughter)? That was it, what I just described. Q. I'm thinking in terms of the game is over about 12:00 to 2:30 or so, so you headed back to the hotel about 3:30? COACH FELTON: We finished playing about -- THE MODERATOR: It was right about a two-hour game. COACH FELTON: So we probably got out of here in about 30 minutes. I wanted to get them back as soon as possible, so I had the bus going to take the guys back. So that must have been around between 2:30 and 3:00. Like I said, they could eat as soon as they got back, and then we wanted them to get plenty of fluids in. We had five or six guys take IVs, not right at that moment but later, leading into the second meal, because we didn't just want to go to the bathroom and urinate it out. So we waited a while, and like I said, five or six guys did that. We just wanted to do everything possible that we could think of to help them replenish. Q. Billy Humphrey, I think I counted, he missed his first 12 field goals from the first game into the second game. The last couple that he missed, they rimmed out. Did you tell him anything when he was going through that dry spell? COACH FELTON: Yes. When I put him -- it was either right when I put him back in later in the game -- no, I think it was shortly after I put him back in later in the game, he made an aggressive first-step move with the ball off the dribble, and he passed up a shot. He made an aggressive move but still didn't really look interested in scoring. So I just tried to, in as casual way as I could tell him, just to be more aggressive, you know, be more aggressive offensively. And he did; obviously he made a huge shot, and the drive in transition was momentous. But the step-back, that had a whole lot to do with us winning the game. Q. Did you do anything strategy-wise to guard against fatigue in the second game, anything you might have done differently? COACH FELTON: Yeah, we planned -- I went into the game knowing in my mind that we were going to need to play a lot of zone, and I didn't -- and I was afraid that we didn't have a fall-back plan if we couldn't get it done with a lot of zone. And fortunately we did. But I knew that zone was going to be a big part of tonight's game, for fatigue definitely, but also more the match-up. Mississippi State is the most athletic team in our league, so they're hard to handle, especially if you're on weary legs. And you know, Alabama had some good success with two-three zone against them and that didn't go unnoticed. But that was the main thing was to try to play -- hope to play a good bit of zone. And then I just reminded the players -- the last thing I told them before we left the locker room to take the court, I promised them that their bodies had more to give than they know and just to -- because I had to remind them in the first game this afternoon not to pace themselves because if they did, it wouldn't matter, we wouldn't be playing anymore, regardless. So I just tried to convince them that their bodies were capable of doing more than they've actually ever done for them in their young lives, to just lay it all out and give it all up, and we'll find a way. Q. You just mentioned that you believe Mississippi State is the most athletic team in the conference. Did you expect them to do anything differently, defensive pressure-wise, whether it be trapping or full-court pressure, anything of a wrinkle in that sort? COACH FELTON: At this point in the season you would be a little surprised if somebody jumped up and did something that they hadn't been doing all year. Mississippi State is one of the best defensive teams in the country, and the way they do it is they guard the goal extremely well because of their athleticism, guys like Varnardo, and because they're so good at guarding the goal, when you drive or post it, they don't have the same need to help as most teams. So they guard the three-point line well because when you throw it in there and you drive it, instead of helping, and that creates pull-and-kick opportunities, they instead stay with their men on the perimeter and just let guys like Varnardo and Rhodes take care of it. It was a good sign when we were able to aggressively attack inside with some success early in the game. That was really good for our confidence because I believe they blocked 13 or 14 of our shots in the first game. Q. Even under these circumstances, though, with them knowing that you would be fatigued? These are special circumstances; it would be pretty rare for somebody to do something different. COACH FELTON: I did expect them to be very, very aggressive about pushing tempo offensively. Mississippi State doesn't always do that, but I expected them to be more aggressive with fast breaking, and I thought they did that the whole game long. And again, the zone helped us some there because it allowed us to keep from being in open court with creases to find, with Gordon's relentless push up the floor. Q. What do you think is more difficult, playing two games in one day or coming back the day after and playing again after playing two in one day? COACH FELTON: Playing two in one day, without a doubt. Q. Why is that? COACH FELTON: Number one, the fatigue; and number two, the lack of preparation, the time to spend focused on this team, filling in your players on what they do and how we've got to guard it, and even coming up with any kind of strategy and game plan. Q. Understanding fully how you feel about this format, after such a rocky season you already own a piece of basketball history in a sense, and you can make even bigger history tomorrow with another win. What are your comments on that, on just being part of a run like this? COACH FELTON: Sure. Well, championships are really, really hard to win, all of them, regular season championships and tournament championships. You know, I've been coaching for over 20 years now, and I've coached a lot of successful teams, as an assistant and as a head coach. But as an assistant, I don't know how many years, 12, 15 years, whatever, I've only been part of one tournament championship, even though I've been part of a lot of good, successful teams. I'm about to contradict myself, but as a head coach I've won three tournament championships. But still, I don't take for granted how difficult they are to win. So I guess I'd go back to my original statement, I'm just busting at the seams with pride right now in our players and in our team. And of course it makes it more special when we're able to do it under extreme circumstances like this. You know, first time ever. Hopefully last time ever (laughter). But it does make it more prideful. Q. Y'all are 3 and 0 in the last three days. What's different in these three days compared to the 4 and 12? COACH FELTON: Yeah, that's pretty simple. I kept talking about the fact that I've felt like outside of the Mississippi States, Tennessees, I've felt like we were as competitive as any team in the league this year. You know, we just -- we rarely lost control of a game. We were always right there. Most of our losses went into the last 90 seconds with a chance to win, and we lost more of them than we won. Yet we always came back with great attitude, fighting back and kept coming at it. So the difference has been we've had players step up and make some timely plays. That has made the difference between winning or losing one-possession games. So that's been the difference. We've fought hard and competed extremely well in this league all season long, including in the vast majority of our losses. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.
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