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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: TAMPAMarch 20, 2008Tyrone BrazeltonDarrin HornCourtney LeeTy RogersTAMPA, FLORIDA Q. Talk about, if you could, Courtney, which comes first, the three-point shooting end of your game or the ability to drive? And talk how the two help each other. COURTNEY LEE: In the game we just take what the defense gives us. We're going to come down and execute our plays. If it's an open shot and a good look, we're going to take the three. If not, we're going to try to penetrate and get to the hole. They play off each other because when you want to drive to the hole, if a person's respecting your three-point shot, they're going to be pretty much up in you, which makes your shot easy. If they're expecting you to drive, it gives you space to create the shot. Q. As you look at Drake on tape, how do you try to go about stopping a team that can put four three-point shooters out there and hurt you from deep? TY ROGERS: They just do a great job of spreading the defense, and we've just got to come out and make sure we're ready, and understand that they are great shooters and try to challenge all their shots. I think it's going to be very important not to give them open jumpshots, because they are such a great shooting team. And just try to pressure them throughout the entire game. Q. Courtney or anybody who wants to jump in, do you consider yourself underdogs at all? And do you guys know the kind of recent history of 12 seeds? COURTNEY LEE: Not at all, we don't consider ourselves underdogs. We see it as an opportunity to play another game and we're going to take it like another game on our schedule. So to go out and do all the things that we do. We pretty much know the history of the 12 seeds playing 5 seeds. We're going to come out and play as hard as we can and hopefully duplicate that. Q. For Ty and Courtney, as the season went along, did you all feel the pressure of coming all the way to get to the NCAA Tournament? You know, you hadn't done it in your careers, was there a sense of urgency because of your senior years? That would be for Tyrone, too. COURTNEY LEE: Not at all. We just want to continue playing for each other and having fun. And pressure is being asked to do something that you're not capable of doing. And we were plenty capable of going to our conference tournament and coming out as champions. So we just wanted to focus on taking care of the little things and playing the same style of play that we've been playing. TY ROGERS: Just to add on that, another thing is we believed in each other from day one. Even though we'd never made it to this tournament, we knew we were capable of getting here. Just continuing to believe in ourselves and our team. TYRONE BRAZELTON: Yeah, it definitely wasn't a sense of urgency for the simple fact we feel like we paid the price for these guys the past four years, and with me the last two years. We felt like we paid the price. So we felt like we deserved it. We put in all the hard work and effort to get here. Q. How effective do you think your guys' press can be against a team like Drake? TYRONE BRAZELTON: They like to get up and down. I mean, I think our press will be very effective, because I think we do a pretty good job of using it to our advantage. It will basically be used to slow them down. But we'll be able to see tomorrow. Q. And what is your impression of their point guard? TYRONE BRAZELTON: He's a pretty good player. He likes to get up and down the floor, find his teammates in transition. At the same time, he's capable of scoring. Q. Courtney, a personal question for you: There is a short list of players in the NCAA Tournament that are players that people need to look out for, people that in this country don't know the name of Courtney Lee yet. How do you feel about that situation? COURTNEY LEE: I mean, for the same, like I said, we just come in here to just play games. Just go out and show the world what we're capable of doing. If people come along and start to know the name, that's fine. But first of all, we'll just come out here, and play for each other and have fun and win games. Q. Did you feel that because of being sort of a mid-major that you fall into that category, if you're not playing for a mid-major, so to speak, and you, the name, Courtney Lee would be out there? COURTNEY LEE: Depending on who you ask. Some people can view it like that, but I guess people just haven't had a chance to get to come out and watch us play. Like I said, we just want to come out and have fun and play for each other and just show the world. Q. This is for any of you guys, it won't necessarily affect you, but how will moving the three-point line affect the game of college basketball do you think next year? TY ROGERS: I don't really think it will affect college basketball too much, because it's not going to be moved back that far, I don't think. It won't really affect us because we're seniors. But I think the majority of guys get the work in the summers. We'll adjust to it rather quickly, I think. COURTNEY LEE: Same as Ty said. It's just going to be an adjustment that's going to be made by the players. I feel like it's not going to be a hard adjustment. Players will just come out and work on it in practice and stuff. It's just going to come natural. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Now we welcome the head coach of Western Kentucky, Darrin Horn. COACH HORN: Just want to start by saying our team is really happy to be here and representing our program, which has a great tradition. It's our 20th NCAA Tournament appearance. Which, if you compare that to a lot of the BCS schools around the country, you're going to find that that's much more in comparison, and thrilled that our league has got two teams in as well. There's no question that the Sun Belt Conference is deserving of that, and I think one of the better leagues in the country that way. You know, it's been pointed out that the most wins in a game with two teams combined coming into the tournament, ironically enough, are our game tomorrow with Drake, who is an outstanding team and, the South Alabama game with Butler. I think that speaks volumes to the quality of our league, and the play that was in it this year. And not just those two teams, but the whole league. I think our match-up tomorrow is a great first-round match-up, and going to be one of the more exciting games in the tournament, hopefully, in the first round. Q. As you look at Drake on tape, what makes it difficult to prepare for? COACH HORN: I think the thing that impresses me most about them, outside of what they do, specifically from a basketball standpoint, is they really believe in what they're doing. I think Keno's done a phenomenal job with this group. They've got, obviously, a lot of senior veterans. But they're a group that they're going to come do what they do. And they believe it in it very strongly, and they stick to that. I think you'll find in tournament play, teams that have gotten to this point that have won 26, 27, 28 games that our teams are going to focus what they do well. And I think what is impressive about them is they've got some nice individuals, obviously, but it's some of their parts is much greater than it would appear to be. That's what makes them such a great basketball team. Q. Coach, you're a number 12 seed, you're being described as a mid-major, a sleeper team. We saw George Mason make the Final Four a few years ago, and there's been a lot more mid-majors get into the field. Has the landscape shifted? Has the so-called mid-majors pulled up closer? Are we going to see more upsets and parity in your opinion? COACH HORN: In terms of getting in the Tournament, I don't know how much that will continue to change. That's actually down in the last three years according to the numbers. But I think the biggest difference is there's a lot of people that can play. I think what's changed, and it's been going on for several years now at the lower level, is these kids are playing against each other at a much younger age across the country. From the time they're 15 and up, and in AAU basketball. So whether you come to Western Kentucky or you go to Duke, you've got a guy that's probably played against one of their guys and I thinks he's played just as well as him or as good as him. So some of that gap, I think, has been shrunk. But I just think there's a lot of teams out there that can play right now. Really, when you look at the tournament, maybe not the 15s and 16s, but 14 down anybody is capable of getting a win. Q. Courtney said that he was aware of the history the 12 seeds have had versus 5s in recent years, actually 20 years. Do you play that up, the 12-5 has been a game for the "upset "? COACH HORN: No, we don't because we're not trying to upset anybody; we're trying to win. The seed, and the match-up to us are irrelevant from the standpoint that we want to come out and find a way to win the game. We've got a group that thinks they're pretty good, and we've played a schedule over the last couple of years that, you know, they're used to playing against the best names in the country. So I don't think that we need to convince them that we're an underdog, and we can win the game. I think it's a matter of we know we're playing an outstanding basketball team that is very good and that's really well-coached. And that's the bottom line. So we've got to prepare accordingly. Q. You guys have five players who have hit at least 31 three pointers. Is that something you hone and develop with your team? Or is that just a fortunate thing you happen to have this year? COACH HORN: I think the most important thing a coach can do to make his team good is to recruit well. We put a high premium on shooting the basketball because of our style of play. So we try to recruit people that can shoot the basketball. And I think our system of play is suited well towards it as well. You know, there is a reason that Drake plays the way they do. If those big guys couldn't shoot, I doubt they'd be sticking them out on the floor 25 feet from the basket and letting them rain those threes from all over the place. We think our system is suited towards it, but we also try to recruit that way as well. Q. Wonder if you could talk a little, you mentioned some of the bigs that shoot threes. Could you talk about Drake's bigs and not just Cox and the things he can do. But Heemskerk, and the guys off the bench, in that big game against Butler? COACH HORN: Again, I think the most thing that's most impressive about them is they all seem to know their role, whether it's making shots from the perimeter or being a guy that just gets in there and rebounds. They're really good at offensive rebounding the basketball. In fact, I think that's a huge key to their three-point shooting, the way they offensive rebound the basketball and kick out for open threes. But I think it's a misnomer to think that all those guys do is shoot the basketball. You know, they pass the ball extremely well, which is a huge part of what they do. They finish around their basket when they're down there, and you know, they rebound for them as well. You know, you guys have a way of blowing things out of perspective. This is a good basketball team that we're playing. These guys are not just a bunch of shooters that are standing around jacking threes. They can play basketball, and they're very good. Q. Does it help that your team played Tennessee, a similar style of play, earlier this season as you prepare for this game? COACH HORN: I think our entire schedule helps us. People want to talk about how great Drake executes; we've played Gonzaga. They want to talk about the way they press and play underneath out of bounds and those kind of things; we played Tennessee. They want to talk about shooting 25 threes; we played Troy in our league who's going to put 30-plus up a game. They want to talk about the match-up, and how they're going to zone all game; and we've played a couple of teams in our league in Eastern Kentucky and Michigan that are going to play zone all game. So part of the goal of our challenging non-conference schedule, which when you look at it is about as good as there is in the country, coming from a non-BCS league, is to prepare you for the tournament regardless of who you play. So, you know, we feel like it won't be the first time that we've seen it. Do they do some things a little bit differently? Sure, they do. Are they outstanding at it? They're terrific at it. But I don't think that we'll be completely shocked by it, either. Q. How effective do you think your press can be against a team like Drake? COACH HORN: I wish I knew. I wish I knew. I think we come out tomorrow. The thing about tournament time is I think everybody's going to do what they do well. I don't think they're going to see something different on the film and say, man, we really need to go man-to-man, full court for the entire game. That's not what they do. Anymore than we're going to sit back in the zone for the entire game because that's not what we do. I think it's going to be interesting to see how that goes for us tomorrow without question. Q. What about Tyrone's role in a game like this especially on the defensive end? COACH HORN: Well, Tyrone's role is always huge for us. Courtney's our best player without question, but Tyrone may be our most important. I think that he's the starting point of everything that we do offensively and defensively. And he's made a huge impact on every game he's played in this year, and hopefully that can come true tomorrow as well. Q. I want to ask you about D.J. Magley, and his unique background with his athletic family and just what he brings to your basketball team. COACH HORN: Well, the main thing he brings, he brings us a huge presence, literally and figuratively. He's 6' 9", 260 pounds, that is something that we've been missing the last few years. I think he brings you great basketball talent in terms of his skill level. And probably the thing that we fell in love with him in the recruiting process is part of the package with his family and his background. This is a kid that's got unbelievable character. Has been taught a great work ethic. Knows what it means to be a great teammate. And I think is really, you know, the sky's the limit for him. WKU, I think he's going to keep getting better, and better, and better. I took a lot of heat from various people early for playing him as much as I did because I wasn't doing a whole lot in all honesty. But we just felt like if we stuck with him he could do some things that nobody else on our team could do. I think the last two to three weeks has really proven that out, especially in the conference tournament. Q. You play in a home state with Kentucky and Louisville. Drake is in with Iowa and Iowa State, obviously programs that get a lot more exposure and attention. How do you create an identity for a program when you kind of have that kind of geography? COACH HORN: You know, I think the important thing for us is we want to be the best at who we are. We're not trying to be somebody else. As I mentioned earlier, our program has great tradition. I think has a reputation over a period of 30, 40 years in college basketball. We just want to make sure that we're really good, and put forth a team that we feel like can compete with anybody in the country. You know, the only way you get real recognition in this sport is to win, and to win at the right time. So we've tried to put ourselves in a position to do that. I think that's really all you can do. End of FastScripts |
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