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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: WASHINGTON, D.C.March 22, 2008C.J. AndersonStanley BurrellJosh DuncanDrew LavenderSean MillerWASHINGTON, D.C. COACH MILLER: First, I just want to commend Purdue on not only a great season, but it's amazing what they've been able to do with that many freshmen playing the roles that they play. They had a great year. We knew going into the game it was going to be a war. Two similar teams in that we take pride in our defenses. The team that was going to make the most plays was going to win. These three seniors and C.J., I think it's ironic that they're up here together because these three seniors a year ago went through a very difficult loss in this same game. It's been a motivating factor for us all spring, summer, fall, during the year to get back to this moment and see if we could break through. I'm happy and proud of them that they've been able to do that. C.J. being the new guy to the bunch has added a great deal of toughness to what we do, and the chemistry of what we had separates us from the team we were a year ago. We're excited to be in the Sweet 16. I'm very, very happy for Xavier University and everything that they do to make our program special. Q. Stanley, you're up 60-50 and they make an 11-0 run to go up 61-60. At that point did you feel like you were experiencing your senior leadership kick in or they were going to go on and finish it? You talk about that segment in the game and how much experience plays into that. STANLEY BURRELL: Experience is everything. We could have panicked and been, oh, man, not again. We stay poised like the whole year. It's made us battle tested and ready for those situations where we stay together, and stay the course like coach always says and understand we still have times, we've got to make plays and make a couple of stops. The experience has been great for us throughout the whole year, whenever you get in tough situations just stay together and things will be fine. Q. You guys shot 54 percent against a team that led the Big Ten in field goal percentage, scored more points against them than anyone. What happened offensively that was working for you? Are you proud of that fact? JOSH DUNCAN: The same thing we try to do every day, just been confident in our offense. We try to start it with our defense, then our defense leads our offense, and just be confident and aggressive, let the game come to us. And I think we did a pretty good job of that tonight. Q. Any of the seniors, the coach mentioned it, but can we get from you guys your experience compared to last year and how that played a factor in getting to this point this year? DREW LAVENDER: Our experience, like Stan said, helped us out a lot. When they took the lead by one, we could have got rattled by everything, but we stayed together and stayed poised and came up with a victory. JOSH DUNCAN: What Drew said, really. We've been in so many tough situations, try not to get rattled and just stay under control. We're so good at staying together, because we've been through so many tough situations throughout the year, we just know how to handle those tough situations. Q. Stanley, each of the last three years you guys have taken the step from making the tournament to making the second round to now making the Sweet 16. How important is establishing Xavier as a national power? STANLEY BURRELL: It's awesome watching the program continue to grow under Coach Miller. As a freshman we were all growing. We said if we stayed the course and keep doing the right things we're eventually going to be there. Coach has gotten to get us through this. And we've grown closer and closer together. That's why I love this team. We play for each other, we don't do any individual things whatsoever, it's all about the team and how we can help Xavier get to the next level. I'm proud of the guys, and especially this guy, right here (indicating.) Q. C.J., you guys had five and ones, it's about -- you had the old-fashioned and ones. You had three of them, what created those opportunities and did you think you could get inside and draw some fouls today? C.J. ANDERSON: Coach wanted us to be aggressive and attack. He said before the game that the way that they played defense would allow us to get to the free throw line. We tried to take what coach said and take it into the game plan. Q. Drew, I know you were slowed a little bit by injury down the stretch of the season, but looking at you out there today sure seemed like you were a hundred percent. How good did you feel out there, especially you played a key roll once they got ahead 61-61. DREW LAVENDER: I'm not making any excuses. I didn't want to let my team down. I'm going to go out there and play a hundred percent, make the plays and not think about it and go for the win. Q. C.J., obviously you've had plenty of time to think about this. Can you just talk about your decision when you decided to come here? Does this kind of make it -- drive it home that this was the right decision for you? C.J. ANDERSON: Yeah, I knew the whole time, even sitting out last year, that coming to Xavier was the right choice. I know Xavier had a lot of good players, like these guys I'm sitting up here with. I knew Coach Miller was a fantastic coach and I wanted to come and be a part of something special and that's what we did. Q. If you would answer the same question I asked Stanley. Would you talk about how your kids reacted and were you eager to see how they would respond? COACH MILLER: Not really. One of the misleading things about our team this year is the very difficult non-conference schedule we played. Our experience here in Washington, D.C. was very similar to the experience we had in November in Chicago. We played Kent State. The winner advanced and we were fortunate to play Indiana who had beaten Illinois State. And we beat Indiana and came away from a 14 tournament with the championship. We knew coming down here, especially playing Georgia, when I saw that, it was going to be a tough match-up in the game for us. And knowing Purdue because of how close they are to us, and watching them quite a bit throughout the year, the way they run their motion, the way they take advantage of match-ups, their toughness on defense, we just knew it was going to be a tough two games. That's what makes getting to the Sweet 16 so special. There's no clear path, there's no easy way. Each year in the tournament different circumstances emerge. But our team has toughened itself not only through the course of this season but like Stanley had mentioned to you, these guys came in here a long time ago and Duncan and Burrell have been a part of what we do for four years. We've added Lavender and C.J., being that they're the four that were up here, and I really believe we've gotten better each year, more prepared for this moment that we just went through. Q. You talked a lot about their defense, but you've got to be proud of scoring 85 points against that team. COACH MILLER: I am. We had a tough match-up for Purdue at times. Josh Duncan is a difficult match-up for young, big guys. Drew Lavender, if you've watched him on film, he wasn't a hundred percent for a full month. I also think during that time some other players on our team really improved, like Dante Jackson. But now that Drew is back to his old self, I think from an offensive standpoint, we've regained who we were once earlier on in the year. We had a stretch this year where we scored 100 I think three straight games, two games against Kansas State, Virginia and Auburn, and I really feel like our offense was maybe not hitting on all cylinders, but to me we've regained our identity on offense now that we can trust Drew and he's able to do the things that he did earlier in the year. The other thing about our offense is we have six guys in double figures. That's really a unique team to guard. On different nights different people can beat you. I thought the question about the and one was a really good one, because C.J. Anderson can be a handful at times. B.J. Raymond made the biggest basket of the game, putting us back up when we were down. We have a number of players that can answer the bell on offense, as well. Q. Can you talk about C.J.'s offense, particularly when Josh got into foul trouble, when he had a couple of big bursts in the first half? COACH MILLER: C.J.'s style is unique. I'm not going to give a scouting report away because it's evident, he's not going to shoot past 10 feet, he just isn't. That would be obvious to anyone that watches us. He has a unique way of getting to the basket. He has a toughness about him. Because we have a big guy like Josh Duncan who is so skilled, sometimes it opens the floor up for someone like C.J. But C.J. has been a great addition to what we've done this year. Some of our biggest wins he's had a big role in. I thought his play particularly in the second half today was a big factor in us winning. Q. It seems like you've shown a lot of composure, not only today but in terms of Georgia. How much confidence does that give you going forward and playing some of the other teams? COACH MILLER: It gives us confidence. But we've had confidence going into the tournament. Sometimes you lose site of the seed teams have. When we got No. 3 seed, keep in mind the company we're keeping. I thought that was a great tribute to the season and some of the tough moments we've had and winning games. Tonight was our 29th win. We've won games throughout the course of the year like we did here tonight. We have a veteran team in that we have three seniors who have been through it, and we have balance that what we do. I can't say enough about our team's togetherness, as evidenced by six players in double figures. We've taken a team approach to a lot of things. To see it move into the Sweet 16, I think would make any coach happy. Q. What are your initial reactions about West Virginia or initial impressions? COACH MILLER: Well, I know who their coach is. We know we're going to be in for a very, very tough game and haven't really thought a lot about our next game yet. I think we now have a contract with ourselves to enjoy the moment. We've just gone through two wars and clearly the next three or four days we're going to have to prepare for an excellent team from a great conference with a coach we know well. Other than that, tonight is about meeting Purdue and focusing in on moving on in this great tournament. End of FastScripts |
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