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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: RALEIGHMarch 21, 2008Armon BassettDan DakicLance StemlerRALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA COACH DAKICH: Well, I just thought that Sonny Weems was really good tonight. Sonny Weems played like an All-American. It was interesting to watch them for the past week; the more you watched him, the more competitive you saw he was. You know, some kids are supposed to be great players. Other kids, you know -- well, Weems was a highly a recruited kid, so he was supposed to be a great player out of junior college. And I tell what you he is, he's a hard-working kid who lives up to what he is because of how hard he plays. He has a great motive for playing; watching him play Vanderbilt, watching him play Georgia, watching him playing Tennessee, just has a great motive for playing, and we didn't have an answer for him. I thought these two kids here competed very hard and I thought Armon Bassett gave it everything he had; D.J. has IVs. I just thought they athletically were superior to us. Q. Do you think the team ever really got over the lost of Coach Sampson? LANCE STEMLER: I don't think that really had nothing to do with it. We've been working hard in practice the last couple of weeks and have been playing good defense. We've been working hard towards this, and we really were not thinking about it. We were focusing on this game, and just couldn't get it done. ARMON BASSETT: Yeah, it's like Lance said, everybody was still practicing hard. We relied on the 3 a lot, and I just think our defense was good in that stretch, even though we lost the game, just couldn't get certain shots to fall for us that we were used to hitting. Q. You guys were playing from behind most of the night, but you got it to 49-47 and then Arkansas took control; what was happening in that stretch in your minds? LANCE STEMLER: We missed a few shots and let them get a few loose balls, and I think they got a couple offensive rebounds and D.J. got a foul in there and we blocked it, and we didn't come up with it. It seem like we were just so close but just couldn't get over that hump. ARMON BASSETT: I just thought collectively they played harder than we were. Q. I know you've said you were not going to think about next year until the end of the season; have you thought about it at all, and if not, what's that process going to be like in terms of your future? ARMON BASSETT: , I'm not going to think about it. I'm just going to take the next week or so to reminisce of playing with two NBA players and a good group of seniors and finish out the school year strong. Q. What did you get the technical for? COACH DAKICH: I shot a jumpshot from the right-hand corner, and I think he gave me the technical because how poorly I shot it. (Laughing). I talked about how much I wanted to play in this game and I was looking to do anything to give our team a spark. So the ball came to me, and I just shot it. I wore my cheap suit tonight because I was 1-0 in it and it's a little too tight and I didn't get a good stroke on the ball, so I think he felt like it was such a bad shot, he just had to give me a technical for a bad effort. Q. Obviously a tough night for Eric Gordon. Just talk about his game, what Arkansas was doing to hold him down. COACH DAKICH: I think they were doing a good job in their zone of locating and squaring up on Eric. Eric has struggled a little bit with his shot, but he's so explosive; I really should stop right there. They did a good job of staying square with him and not keeping him in front. That's how they play their zone. That was the frustrating part of the first half, when we didn't get a zone. We worked all week on getting somebody into the middle of the zone and I think you saw in the second half, we didn't have much trouble with the zone once we got the ball to the middle. Eric struggled down the stretch with his shooting, but he's the kid that put Indiana back relevant, back in the upper Top-25 of basketball by coming to IU. He had a great year, a great year. Q. At the beginning of the season, did you have any idea everything the team would have to endure and how surprised are you, just everything that's happened this season? COACH DAKICH: I've never seen anything like it. And probably not ever, to tell you the truth. The season's over, the games are over, but a lot of things that have to occur with Indiana basketball, or a lot of things are going to occur with Indiana basketball that need to occur here in the springtime. So it's far from over. Q. With such an unusual situation, how do you approach the off-season now, because of all the uncertainty? COACH DAKICH: You know, I haven't really thought about it. The way I'm going to approach it is until they tell me I'm not coaching, I'm going to do the things that are necessary within this program, and I'm going to make the decisions that are necessary and the accountability that is necessary within the culture of the basketball program to ensure that whomever, me, anybody else, that becomes the basketball coach here, has a good culture. And that's something that has to happen, and it's going to take a little bit of work. Q. Besides Sonny Weems, what impressed you about Arkansas tonight? COACH DAKICH: I thought that Beverley and Ervin were in control Ervin didn't get a basket, but you know what, he was in control; he was in control of his team. He was a pure point guard that was in control of the situation I thought at all times. And Beverley, that's the kind of player he is. And then, and this is something that struck me as I was looking, they came very, very close to having an unbelievable year if you look at their road losses, I think it was five at Kentucky, maybe three at Alabama. There's another one, Mississippi beat them maybe eight or nine. This team is a veteran group. They have been to the NCAA Tournament. Stan Heat did a great job starting and they are good friends of mine and they told me they left a good team at Arkansas, and they did. Q. With so many guys on the team who have not been through an NCAA Tournament experience before, how much impact do you think that had on the play tonight? COACH DAKICH: I really don't think it did, I really don't. I think by this time when you've played so many games, so many environments, things like that, I don't think it did. I don't think it did one bit. I think that's a good question, but I think they were just better tonight. It kills me to say that. I mean, I'm trying to act calm up here, but I thought they were just better tonight. In that position in particular, they were very, very good. I don't think the experience factor factored into this. By this time of year, people have played in so many games and so many environments, I don't think that mattered. Q. Can you talk briefly about what D.J. gave you, not only tonight, but through this last stretch? COACH DAKICH: You know, I think D.J. -- this is my, what, sixth or seventh game, and D.J. is on his third game with IVs. D.J. has been a warrior. Like I said at our team banquet, D.J. has done what seniors are supposed to do. Player of the Year is not uncommon at Indiana University with seniors and All-American is not uncommon at Indiana University with your seniors. And I think D.J. White made him into that, which in my opinion is what you're supposed to do at Indiana University. He goes down, like I've said numerous times, I've never seen a reception like D.J.'s got being introduced at home games, and I think it's well deserved. I think D.J. has given everything he has to Indiana University, just like a lot of guys that are seniors have. It's what you're supposed to do at IU, academically, socially, obviously athletically. It's what you're supposed to do at an Indiana, Duke, a North Carolina and Kentucky, and that's what's going to be expected of the people that remain in the basketball program here. Q. What are your thoughts about Eric's future and his decisions to make? COACH DAKICH: I think Eric is going to be able to buy and sell all of us, and I don't even know how wealthy you guys are, but I'm betting Eric is going to make more money than God, because of a variety of factors, one of which is his ability, and the other of which is his work ethic, and the other of which is his personality. I'll take his future and he can have mine; let's put it that way. (Smiling) I got a chuckle from the boys in the back. Thanks, man, because I don't want to do what I've got to do, so keep asking questions. Q. Can you lobby why you should be permanent head coach at IU? COACH DAKICH: There's no question I should be. I understand there's a culture at Indiana, given the timing of all this. There's a lot of things transpiring behind the scenes with where the program has to go, and it has to be somebody that understands it. Or else, you're going to get yourself in a situation, just like we are. You know, the basketball part of this, this was a difficult situation to be in in the basketball part of it. But then you know what, that's life. People are in far more difficult situations than I am. And just because you understand the culture doesn't mean that you should be the head coach at Indiana University, but the passion, the desire to do things right, academically, socially, on the court, style of play, are all things that are absolutely what would happen if I become the head basketball coach at Indiana over the course of time. It's just the way it is. When I was at Bowling Green, we won more in my first four years than since the guy they named the gym after was playing triple headers in the same day I think against two women's team and a CYO team; and then injury, variety of things kind of curtailed things. But that's what needs to happen here. This needs to be built. This needs to be built with a foundation of discipline and accountability. This needs to be built back to where there is a real pride among the people that know everything that's going on in the basketball program; where there are players that are former players that come and have pride in what is happening here in the program. And that can certainly happen with a lot of people, but I'm just telling you, given the climate, the culture, what's happening right now, it has to be somebody that understands it, or else you're going to face -- I'm just telling you. And this is I don't think; this is something I don't wonder about. This is something I know, period. I mean, there's different times in different programs, but at this particular time, there's a lot of things that need to be done to make Indiana an elite basketball program in all areas. And that has begun. I mean, a lot of that has begun right now over the last three weeks, and it's going to continue as long as I'm the basketball coach. And I'm sure people can write a thousand reasons given our record here over the last month why there's something else that -- somebody else, biggest name, whatever. But what I'm telling you is a fact. I mean, it's not conjecture. It's not something drawn up by somebody that doesn't know. I'm just telling you the culture right now lends itself to exactly what is going on here to get this right for the way Indiana people, Indiana fans, the Indiana nation wants it done right; where there's no embarrassment; there's nothing but pride in all areas. And that's something that has to happen at IU. It doesn't have to happen everywhere, but it has to happen at Indiana University. That's how Indiana University conducts its business, especially in the basketball program. Criticize it, say it's wrong, criticize individuals, say it's wrong all you want, but that's certainly part of being an Indiana coach and an Indiana basketball player. But I'm just telling you, there is a pride and a way that is bigger than whether you win or lose games, and that takes care of itself at IU but you have to do things in a certain way, you have to do them right and you have to do them with people that care and you have to bring former players into the former -- not the former, but the whole environment of what made it great, whether it was the '40 National Championship, the '53 National Championship, the '76 National Championship, but this is one of the programs where it absolutely has to be. It's not a program where, maybe yes, maybe no; it has to be here at Indiana, and that's what makes it great. I don't know if that answers your question. End of FastScripts |
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