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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: ANAHEIMMarch 21, 2008Taj FingerAnthony GoodsTrent JohnsonANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: So open the floor to questions. Q. This is for either of you. Just wondering what the difference is between the Lopez brothers. How would you describe the differences between them, their personalities, either? TAJ FINGER: Off the basketball court? Q. Yeah. TAJ FINGER: Um, I'd say maybe Brook is a little bit more laid back off the court, and Robin can definitely be more intense. And, you know, they're both goof balls, you know. But I guess that's really it. ANTHONY GOODS: I think everything Taj said is pretty much correct. They're funny guys. They're characters. Q. Can you give me an example of something. ANTHONY GOODS: I mean, everything's real serious with Robin off the court. Anything like competitionwise is real serious with Robin. He's a competitor. And, you know, Brook, he's kind of laid back, has a little more fun. But, you know -- TAJ FINGER: Robin also loves to sing off the court. ANTHONY GOODS: Yeah, he does. Robin loves to sing. Brook loves to tell Robin to shut up. (Laughing). Q. What do you think of the singing? TAJ FINGER: Pretty good. ANTHONY GOODS: It's an acquired taste. (Laughing). Q. What does he sing? ANTHONY GOODS: Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, just, you know, just depends on what he feels like at that time. Q. Anthony, what are your impressions of Dominic James? I'm sure you probably watched some game film of him since last night. ANTHONY GOODS: He is definitely one of the most explosive players I've seen on tape. Looks like his second and third step is just as quick as his first. Really, he can jump; he can get off the floor, and he finishes well. It's going be tough to try to keep him out of the lane. Q. Does he remind you of anyone you guys have faced this season? ANTHONY GOODS: I would probably say he's got like a -- his handle kind of reminds me of like a Tajuan Porter a little bit. You know, like he's got like a -- he's real athletic. He's kind of like, I don't know, maybe -- I really can't describe it. The way he dribbles, it reminds me a lot of Tajuan Porter. Obviously he is a little bigger and can finish a little better around the basket. He is something like Tajuan. Q. Anthony, can you talk about what it's like as a guard to play defense and have the twins playing behind you, I guess what liberties that affords you? ANTHONY GOODS: I mean, you know, it's kind of a luxury. It's kind of like, you know, going into a fight with your older brothers behind you, you know. Usually we try to pressure the guards and, you know, if they happen to get by us, it's definitely a luxury to know you got 14 feet in the paint willing to, you know, come and help and block shots and what not. It's definitely a blessing for our team to have two of them out there. Q. Marquette's almost certainly going to try to, you know, force the tempo and run up and down the court on you guys and try to get some easy transition baskets. Anthony, can you talk a little bit about, you know, are you going to try to play that style with them and try to slow the game down? Are you going to try to do anything in terms of what you want the tempo to be? ANTHONY GOODS: I think we'll probably end up trying to slow the game down. Because, you know, they excel in transition, so I think we're going to have our perimeters get back and try to stop them from getting a full head of steam, and getting those transition baskets and playing slower is going be to our benefit because we have size and we have strength down low. So we're going to try to slow the game down and pound it in the post. THE MODERATOR: Do you have any further questions? All right, seeing none, good luck tomorrow, gentlemen. Coach, whenever you're ready. COACH JOHNSON: Glad to still be playing, that's for sure. We have a very, very tough match-up tomorrow for us. Marquette is extremely explosive, and one of the better teams coming out of the Big East, so I know our guys are looking forward the challenge. Q. Trent, obviously, I'm sure about 80% of your questions almost center on the Lopez twins. What do you think are some of the key areas that are not being asked about with your team and some of the secrets of the success this year that have not been about the Lopezes? COACH JOHNSON: Probably one of the most important things is our ability to take care of the ball, which is going to be a key tomorrow for us. The play of Mitch Johnson at the point. The selflessness of Lawrence Hill being an all-league player last year and now deferring and trying to do other things better, whether it be rebounding or defensively. [Fred] Washington's ability to take care of the ball and defend, Taj Finger coming on the off the bench and probably one of our better defensive players. Again, for us you can pick a number of guys. For the most part this has been a very, very good basketball team. I made the comment, I want to say about a month ago, in the PAC-10 statistics we had 6 guys in the top 20 in rebounding, and we didn't have one guy in the top 20 in minutes played, so that speaks volumes to how balanced the team is and how solid a team I think we have. Q. Trent, you mentioned yesterday that Dominic James was a special player. What about him do you think is most special? Why do you respect him so much? COACH JOHNSON: Well, number one he is probably one of the more explosive guards in the country, and he's extremely difficult to guard, and I haven't been seen anybody able to keep him out of the lane and where we wants to go with the basketball. Then his demeanor on the floor; he is very competitive but always under control, so he is a catalyst for their basketball team. I think the number one ingredient is he is an extension of Tom on the floor. Q. You mentioned Mitch kind of coming out of his shell this year. What do you think were some of the steps for that happening? Was it just a matter of time and experience? Or was there more to it, kind of an Eureka moment? COACH JOHNSON: I don't think Mitch came out of his shell. I just think last year what we saw was a very inexperienced team, and we saw a very competitive individual, and Mitch Johnson is a winner trying to do too much at times. Mitch Johnson has never lost confidence. The bottom line was he is trusting more in what we're asking him to do. And us as a staff, and me as the head coach, we put him in a better situation where he can manage our team and be more effective. So there's a lot of trust from me and from our staff in making sure he's capable and he runs that team and is running the game and managing the game. Q. Just to go a little further on Mitch. Obviously last year's tournament game was tough for him. What was that like for you? Because you obviously put a lot of faith and responsibility in his hands? COACH JOHNSON: Well, it was extremely tough. I mean, I think I made the comment on the podium at this time last year that I didn't feel like I did my job in getting those guys put in a situation where they could be successful. And so during the spring, during the summer there was a lot of emphasis put on ball handling, skill development and understanding the type of situations we were going to put in, multiple types of pressure, our ability to handle the ball, our ability to make good decisions and our ability just to stay relaxed and play within ourselves. I mean, we are who we are; make no mistake about it. We have to play on the half court to be effective. We're not as explosive as a lot of teams in the post. We're not as explosive as a lot of teams on the perimeter, but we do have size and we do have strength and we do have some strength on the perimeter, so our ability to wear people down has been effective for us this year. Q. Notice you and Tar are friendly. Just wonder what that relationship is like. Does it mean something to you? Probably not going to a Bruce Pearl moment but to be that close to a women's program like that? COACH JOHNSON: I'm glad you mentioned Bruce Pearl, because I don't need any color. For the most part Tar has been great to me, and I respect her in every fashion. She's probably one of the best coaches I've been around, regardless of a female or male, and I just like watching good basketball, always have. I have a daughter who was very competitive, ran track and field at Arizona State, so I know what it's like. I just think she's been very good to me. We talk a lot, and we're each other's best supporter, no question. Q. Does that date back to when you were an assistant at Stanford? COACH JOHNSON: No. When I was an assistant I was too busy trying to do my job, which was recruit, but I was always observant, always respected her from afar. She is a very good coach, but she is a very tough-minded person. She is also -- she's what this game is about. She pays attention to detail and her team has the utmost respect for her. She is a team person. Q. You mentioned Hill as a guy who is selfless this year. A lot of stuff you hear written, he's fallen off from being a star player last year to being kind of in the background and maybe losing some of his confidence. Do you disagree with that? Do you feel like he hasn't fallen off? COACH JOHNSON: When you say, fallen off, he hasn't made the shots that he made last year. He is shooting the same shots. He is taking better shots. The ball is not going down for him. But we're 27-7. Lawrence is a winner. He tried to do other things; he came off the bench yesterday and had ten rebounds. He improved his ability to defend, he improved his ability to make good decisions and handle the ball better. I think sometimes for me personally we put too much emphasis on scoring points and all the other things. Lawrence is becoming a better and more complete player. Most important thing is he understands the team and he understands winning. THE MODERATOR: Any further questions? All right. Thank you very much, Coach. Good luck tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
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