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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: ANAHEIMMarch 19, 2008Louis DaleSteve DonahueAdam GoreJason HartfordRyan WittmanANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions. Q. This is for Ryan. Just wondered if you talked to your dad at all about his experiences in the tournament, and obviously he had a lot of success, went all the way, and how maybe that might benefit you at all in this experience? RYAN WITTMAN: You know, I've talked to him a little bit, but I think this is kind of something you have to experience for yourself. There's only so much you can really say about being in the tournament and stuff. He just told me to go out and have fun and enjoy the moment. Q. This question is for Louis. Considering the difficult nature of the academics at both universities here, Stanford and in Cornell, do you feel like that helps you understand your opponent maybe a little better knowing they're going through similar things that you guys are going through? LOUIS DALE: I just think -- I don't really think that helps very much. We're going to play a basketball game, so, you know we're going to look at that, focus in on what they do, how we're going to try to beat them. So I think, you know, that's pretty much, you know, what we're focusing on. Q. Jason, it's been a long, long way for you. You're a senior now. You have battled through injuries and now you are finally here. The team has finally made it in 20 years. How are you feeling and can you describe this experience? JASON HARTFORD: It's pretty hard to describe. I mean, you can't really put it into words. I didn't even know I was going to have a chance this year to play. But now that I have, being a part of this team, it's just unreal. Q. It's a question for both Ryan and Louis. Last year when Adam got hurt, you two both had to carry much more of the burden of the scoring and leading. In what ways do you think that that is paying dividends during this season? RYAN WITTMAN: I think it gave us some experience last year, definitely. You know, going into the year, I think we were really going in planning on relying on Adam, then seeing him go down in the first game, it was tough for us. But it obviously hurt us as a team. But in terms of getting a lot more playing time, I think it gave us more time to adapt to the college game being as young as we were and everything. LOUIS DALE: You know, when Adam went down, I think my role on the team kind of changed. I felt more like, you know, I had to carry some of his slack as far as scoring. And, you know, it helped my confidence a lot. And, you know, it definitely, you know, we played a lot more minutes in the game, I did. And so, you know, that helped with the experience as well. So I think that kind of transitioned over to this year, and so, you know, becomes more confident player and just, you know, being a better college basketball player. Q. Adam, I guess how much of a concern has perhaps fallen into the trap of just being happy to be here, and what has the team done and talked about this week in terms of avoiding that trap and trying to win? ADAM GORE: I think that's something you have to worry about coming in here. A lot of teams, maybe at all levels, like you said, are kind of just happy to be in this situation. But I think Coach has done a good job of explaining to us that, you know, we're good team. We think we have a chance to win a game out here. You know, practices have been pretty intense. We've been working really hard trying to see what we can do to better our chances against Stanford. So I think the team has the right focus right now of thinking we're a good enough team to go in there and win a game. As of right now, I don't think we've fallen into that trap. So we'll see come tomorrow, I guess. Q. This is for Adam. Where do you think this team would be right now without Jeff Foote, and particularly, both the season and also this match-up in particular? ADAM GORE: I don't think we'd be sitting here talking to you, honestly. I think adding Jeff, as just one more, you know, inside presence really changed this team around. I think he came in kind of right at the beginning of our transition phase, you know, kind of in a rough point in our season. That's when you got to start playing. And the way he helped us out in the Ivy League season, creating really hard match-ups for some of the other teams, I think really maybe pushed us over the edge to get that Ivy League championship. So I think he is one of the main reasons why we're sitting here talking to you guys today. Q. What about this game? ADAM GORE: Obviously, Stanford has two seven-footers. We only have one. But, you know, it helps I guess, you know, with that match-up a little bit. I mean, he's going to have a hard job, as well as Jason Hartford and Alex Tyler, but he kind of helps. You know, that size advantage they have on a lot of teams, he helps it a little bit, not a whole lot. But as far as being able to match up with these two a little bit better, he is a really big part of that. Q. This is for Jason. Jason, what are your thoughts are going up against the Lopezes? JASON HARTFORD: We've been watching a lot of film on them and we noticed we have a couple strategies. But they're two big kids, you know, a lot bigger than what we're used to in the Ivy League. It's just going be a challenge. I think our biggest challenge, actually, is just to keep them off the glass. We have to box out, create a big umbrella, and just battle with them nonstop the whole game. Q. Louis, just wondered, what do you hope to do with your degree in policy analysis and management? LOUIS DALE: Hopefully, you know, I can -- I want to go into investment banking, you know, look at that. Policy analysis and management is sort of like a business major with, like, a little side of policy, I guess. So that's what I'm looking to do. Q. Adam, some people have called this sort of the battle of the nerds, because obviously, these are two high-quality academic institutions. What's your take on that? ADAM GORE: I've heard that a little bit, I guess, a lot of reporters asking that question. But I don't think -- I'm sure if you asked Stanford the same thing, we're not really focused on how hard Stanford's classes are or how well they're doing. I think it's more we're focusing on the athletic side of it. Obviously, they're very good team. It just so happens to be they're a pretty good institution as well. So we're not really focused on that part of the match-up. Q. Louis, with Conor Mullen, your teammate playing with Mitch Johnson in high school, have you been prying him for any strategy? LOUIS DALE: Yeah, Conor, you know, he's told me little things that Mitch might do and what moves he might like to do. And, you know, maybe that will help throughout in the game. So, you know, we'll see what happens. THE MODERATOR: Any further questions? All right, seeing none, we'll dismiss the student-athletes. Good luck tomorrow. Now we'll have Coach Steve Donahue. All right. We'll open this up with Coach Steve Donahue with a statement from Coach, then open up the floor to questions. STEVE DONAHUE: Obviously, we're honored to be here. This is an exciting time for ourselves and our league. And it just has been a pleasure coaching these guys. And we're excited about playing a team like Stanford, and obviously playing in the NCAA tournament. THE MODERATOR: All right. Open it up to questions. Q. Coach, did you guys have a little adventure coming over here on the bus today? STEVE DONAHUE: About the what? Q. You guys were running a little late today. Was there some glitch with the bus? STEVE DONAHUE: I don't want to point fingers, but a guy named Jeff Hall [] was a little late getting to the bus. The guy's suppose to be running this trip for us. I apologize. There was no real adventure. The NCAA has been unbelievable. We were actually concerned getting out of Ithaca. We don't have a real close airport that can usually handle bigger jets, so we were able to charter right out of Ithaca into -- cold weather and get to warm weather, direct flight. It's been a pleasure. And I'm pleased that the NCAA does things so nicely for us. Q. Coach, with you being the assistant head coach at Penn while they were winning the Ivy League championships, can you reflect and tell us the feels that you have now of actually being at the head of an Ivy League championship winning team? STEVE DONAHUE: Well, it's obviously been a while since a non-Penn or Princeton team has been here. So when I was at Penn, you know, I never took -- never even thought about what it would feel like to bring another team here. But now that we have, it's been a long time for me personally. It's been eight years since I remember what this felt like. Over the last couple weeks, just to see the excitement in our campus, and from our President down to the student body, as you well know, it's been so gratifying to see all that excitement on our campus at this time of year. And for us being here and just been a great ride. Obviously, we want it to continue. Q. What were the reasons as you look back on it, why Penn and Princeton had such a hammerlock on this thing? And what were the couple of key things to breaking it as far as your program was concerned? STEVE DONAHUE: I think that's a great question, Mark. People ask me that quite often, why can one league be dominated by two teams like in other leagues in the country. As I said, I was there for ten years, and I didn't realize until I went somewhere else, it's pretty simple. There's no quick fixes in our league. We don't have scholarships. So you really got to recruit kids that fit the mold of the Ivy League. And that type of kid -- and you're not going be able to do that pretty quickly. As those two teams dominate, they continue that trend of taking all the kids that are thinking about academics. And it just snowballs. And what I think has happened over the last eight years since I left, there's been way more aggressive recruiting, commitment to basketball at the other six schools. You notice it in every aspect. And now I think you'll see great parity in our league. I have great respect for the other teams. For us to go 14-0, we never have imagined we'd be able to do that. One, because of our youth, and two, because I know the balance in this league. I know it's strong and it's going to continue. Q. Steve, what do you tell your kids so that they don't get caught up in the we're just happy to be here routine that some schools who rarely appear do? STEVE DONAHUE: You know, this group has really amazed me in their levelness of their approach. Almost to -- I was upset at it, because of the lack of enthusiasm and energy sometimes these kids show. But we went to Syracuse, and I thought we played not to win, and that was disappointing. But I didn't feel a tentativeness. I just felt they didn't understand what a great opportunity it was to play the team. Ten days later, we turn around and play at Duke. Once again, I looked in the locker room and I didn't sense an excitement or nervousness. Then they go out and play and execute and do all those things that you need to and that was a game that went up and down. And we had every chance to win the game. It's just not a group that's, you know, amazingly as young as we are, they're not overwhelmed by this situation. If we lose, I feel confident that we're going to lose because Stanford's a better basketball team and not that we're overwhelmed with this stage. Q. Coach, how would you say the teams health is right now considering the long flight. Would you say they're just running on emotion now or do you feel like everybody's fully rested and back to normal? STEVE DONAHUE: I think we're in great shape. We had -- obviously, we hadn't played in about 12 days. Everybody's healthy. I think the energy level's great. Typically, this time of year, teams that played three or four games over the last weekend, we didn't. I think we're in great shape for that. I think that's an advantage. I know that the layoff -- you can say those things, but this time of year, I love that our guys are fresh, really do. Especially the way we got to play. To play a team that's as physical as Stanford we're going to need our legs. We're going to need to be able to shoot the ball from far late in the game. I think all of that is an advantage for us. Q. What was Ryan Wittman like in high school? What was the recruiting process like and who did you have to compete with to get him? STEVE DONAHUE: A lot of this stuff happens, luck, Mark. Ryan was probably a little less developed than most guys at that age. So as a Junior, he's a little frail, a little less tall than he is now. And then the key part of it is in recruitment he had an injury, his deep thigh bruise in July going into his senior year. So he just wasn't moving like a Division I player. So I think guys just moved on. We were fortunate enough that my assistant Izzie met -- saw a lot of him in his junior year, saw him playing healthy, talked to his dad and just saying how he was a late bloomer, that he's going to grow and all those things. And by the time he walked on our campus, he was already more developed than I could imagine physically and basketball-wise. And he's obviously a terrific all-around player who works extremely hard at his game. THE MODERATOR: Any further questions? All right, with that, thank you, coach. Good luck tomorrow. STEVE DONAHUE: Thanks. End of FastScripts |
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