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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: RALEIGHMarch 20, 2008Matt BouldinMark FewJeremy PargoDavid PendergraftRALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA Q. A lot of talk about Curry, just want to get your impressions of him as a player and also perhaps defending him. JEREMY PARGO: He's a great player. I've seen him several times. He makes some tough shots. We've got to slow him down if we really want to get a win out here in Raleigh and that's one of the things we look to do with him and the other guard, Richards, being the leading assist guy in the country is going to be tough. We have to come out and be focused and do the best we can on those guys. Q. For David, since you're a senior, Davidson, if you have not seen, has been another one of those mid-major teams to play a really tough non-Conference schedule and you have been doing that for quite some years. How much does that get you guys ready for this tournament? DAVID PENDERGRAFT: Well, our coaches do a tremendous job of getting us ready for the preseason and really putting us in situations like playing at St. Joe's and pretty much at UCONN for NCAA Tournament games and obviously with our schedule at UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, it's gotten them ready, as well. So I thought they have done a tremendous job as well. Q. Jeremy, how well do you know Jason? He's a Chicago with you, did you play with him? JEREMY PARGO: Jason? He's from Chicago? I didn't know that actually. I didn't at all. (Laughing). You know, I'm going to look at him like any other great guard that we have played against, the A.J. Prices and things like that, the guys that can make shots and get other guys great shots and things like that. You have to slow a guy like that down to get a win. Q. Can you tell me a little bit about traveling across the country and just the effect it's had on you or are you tired at all? MATT BOULDIN: No, the coaches have been preparing us pretty well for this. We have been getting up early, having breakfast in Spokane, having breakfast with the team and getting up as early as possible. We have been traveling all season and it really has not been affecting us that bad. Q. The fact that you are the higher seed and you have to travel across the country and face a team in it's home state, were you surprised when you saw the brackets come out as they did in? DAVID PENDERGRAFT: Not really because the NCAA's committee's job is to protect the Top-4 seeds. We have to accept where we are and just go out and play the game. We are obviously not a top-four seed and we are not protected. You have to win six games to win the Championship and every game is going to be tough. That's why there's the best 64 teams, so got to go out there and play. Q. Picking up that you're the talker of the group, I'll ask you again. This has kind of come full circle for you guys, you're lovable Gonzaga and became one of the better teams in the country and now you're back in the underdog role again; how do you feel about that? DAVID PENDERGRAFT: As a team I think we are kind of embracing that role. A lot of people are picking us to get upset by Davidson especially coming down here to NC and pretty much being a home game for them. We are just ready to go and ready to prove everyone wrong. Again, it's not about the media or the crowd, sorry to say. It's about us and our goals as a team to go out there and win one game at a time, that old cliché, and get as far as we can. Q. You were a roommate of Stephen Curry at the Under 19 World were championships, what's your relationship like with him? He said you guys communicate through Facebook and that kind of thing. MATT BOULDIN: Yeah, he's probably my closest friends on the U.S. team and he was my roommate and we got along really well. Over the course of the year we see each other playing TV all the time and you text and Facebook like you said. It's going to be fun. He's a terrific player and we're going to have our hands full with him. Q. With what you guys have done over the last ten years and trying to kind of erase what happened last year, how important is this game for you guys in terms of a legacy of the program? DAVID PENDERGRAFT: For me, especially, it's my senior year, and so I'll probably be remembered for this team more than any other team because it is my last year, so obviously I'm going to go as far as possible. And a first-round exit is not acceptable. We have to go out there and listen to the coaches and what they have prepared us for and go out and get the job done. Q. Not trying to be facetious about this but when you started rooming with him, did you know Davidson? Did you know where it was, what it was all about or did he have to explain it to you? DAVID BOULDIN: Actually, yeah, I think he did. I have heard stuff about them. They have always had great times, kind of on the rise. Kind of a lot like Gonzaga was back in the day. Yeah, I did have to ask him about it and I did have to ask him specifics about his teammates. I had not heard of anybody else on Davidson besides him. It's nice, because we are both from smaller schools that are on the rise, and it was a good experience. He's a good guy. Q. Wanted to ask you about being named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year and being one of the eight Gonzaga players to get that in the last eight seasons or so, and just about your confidence in general what that's been like with three teams in the tournament, and do you see that as good for the West Coast Conference getting more teams out there in the tournament? JEREMY PARGO: As far as get Conference play and getting teams in the Conference, it's a great job. Our coach left us a year ago and went down there and made a tournament team out of those guys and St. Mary's they made a great run and they are in the tournament now. For us we've been here the last seven years so a lot of people expect we are going to make it. You have to be able to deal with a lot of adversity on the road and road games and we have handled that pretty well. We are here and in front you guys, and hopefully we'll be here for a while. Q. When Stephen told you about his teammates at Davidson, do you remember anything he said about the point guard Jason Richards? MATT BOULDIN: Yeah, we have been watching a lot of film on him and he is probably leading the country in assists. Yeah, that is actually the first player he told me about. He said a bunch of great shooters and their point guard is really tough, is what he told me. Q. I'm curious if you've heard a lot of what people say about your stare; do you think you've got a stare in do you think it's better than Gruden's stare, not as good? COACH FEW: I was unaware that I had a stare. I don't think I have one. I think it must be a vicious rumor. Q. We know a lot about Stephen Curry but you have a pretty good guard in Jeremy, can you talk about what he does best and what you like about his game? COACH FEW: The best thing he does is he plays with a lot of heart, and he's a warrior. Usually throughout his career, the bigger the game, the better he is, or has been. He's one of those special kind of competitors. He can even be playing poorly for stretches of a game and when his back is pinned against the wall, he can fight his way through it, and it's hard. It's hard sometimes when it's going back to get back playing good. Jeremy is one of those guys that he's done that time and time again. You know he and David Pendergraft are pretty much the heart and soul on this team and the leaders on this team. Q. Will he guard Curry? COACH FEW: There will be times when he's guarding Curry. He usually guards all three perimeters. You know, we switch things around a lot. Q. Obviously what you guys have done at Gonzaga has become the blueprint for a lot of other programs and you know what it was like to be this tournament when you were the underdog, etc., and what you guys were able to use as motivation. Have you told your guys what Davidson -- or will you tell them what Davidson is thinking? COACH FEW: Well, we have talked at length about, hey, this is basically a road game and this is a team very much like us that they have been here. They have played in very big games against great opponents year-in and year-out like Coach McKillop's schedule is like the way we like to schedule. There's not going to be an awe factor; in fact, we told everybody, it seems like across America is picking Davidson. So they know what they are getting into. Q. What was the adjustment like for Jeremy at first? I understand that he had to put in a lot of hard work just academically and getting used to things there. COACH FEW: Yeah, you know, we were able to catch Jeremy early enough in his high school career to explain to him, if he wanted to play Division I, he was going to have to put in a lot of extra time outside of school. He had night school and summer school and all those kind of things. And when he got to Spokane, I think there was still a huge adjustment for him, just the time demands that the school puts on you and the responsibilities of, you know, of hitting all the meetings and things like that. And then you also have to adjust obviously socially and geographically and everything, and his personality is so engaging and so strong, I think that was probably the easiest. He endeared himself to his teammates, you know, those first couple of days, and I'm sure you guys remember, we had a pretty strong-willed -- or he had a pretty strong-willed teammate at that time in Adam Morrison. So he kind of had to stand up to him. Q. When you looked at film of Davidson and as far as Curry, what jumped out at you right away? COACH FEW: Well, probably what jumped out at me right away is it isn't just Curry. They are just a great team. You know, they play the way we like to play. They pushed ball up the floor. They share the ball. All their guys have a very, very good feel for the game. You know, if you show a little bit too much on a screen, they hit the slip guy. Their point guard has phenomenal vision. I don't know this year if we have played a better guard with that kind of vision. And then, you know, they are so opportunistic, and you know, scrappy on the defensive end, and I think they have a tendency to frustrate people with their defense, too. They attempt to take a lot of charges down there and sometimes I think that can frustrate their opponents. Q. Your matchup is one of a couple pitting mid-majors against each other. What are your thoughts on that and would you like to see maybe the committee separate the mid-majors when bracketing the tournament? COACH FEW: No, I mean, I just look at it differently. I just look at teams so I don't really try to put descriptors on them. I just look at teams and I think you see the best team and you start at the top and go to the bottom and seed them and match them up. Obviously you can't deny, we are disappointed we got sent across the country to play in their backyard, but that's just the way it goes. Butler is going through the same thing. But we have had to deal with, you know, seeds and this and that, and we always tell our guys, control what you can control. You can't control any of that. We knew we were going to play a really, really good team, because we were not going to be, you know, No. 1 seed or anything and a prohibitive favorite. We knew we were going to have our work cut out for us, and we do. Q. If I can just sort of follow that a little, the NCAA has said one of the reasons they try to keep the No. 1 seeds closer to home is to cut back on travel costs and they are trying to do that across the board. North Carolina gets two games in Raleigh and if they are fortunate enough to win, two games in Charlotte, yet if you look at the women's draw no one has that kind of advantage. Do you think it's too much of a disadvantage for other teams to have to go through a region where a Carolina has that kind of advantage? COACH FEW: Last thing I think they need to worry about is costs, if you look at the contracts we have been signing with CBS. I was under the impression that, you know, as a 1, 2, a 3, or a 4, you deserve some reward for that season and you shouldn't have to just go play near somebody else's home area or travel all the way across the country. You should logistically and regionally be put somewhere where your fans can get to and you can receive some sort of support. That's what I thought the pod system was all about. Q. But is it too much? What if they put them in Washington? The fans can get to Washington. COACH FEW: I don't think it's too much. They deserve it. I think they deserve it. You get through the year and you get to that No. 1 line or No. 2 line or even No. 3 or No. 4, you deserve at least somewhat of a break I think instead of just a neutral or even -- we are fully aware this is not going to be neutral here tomorrow. You certainly would not want to put a 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the position that we are going to be in tomorrow, which they have in the past. End of FastScripts |
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