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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: RALEIGHMarch 23, 2008Roy HibbertJohn Thompson IIIJonathan WallaceRALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA COACH THOMPSON: It's disappointing. I guess I just want to say, I've got a very special senior class. I've got a class that is Georgetown basketball, and they have done so much for this program. They are this program. They have done so much for me. You know, I just feel like I've let them down. It's a group of guys that have done any and everything I've asked them for four years. You know, they have put this program on their back, put us in a position where we can possibly have success in the future. I just feel bad for these guys. I feel bad for these guys. You know, we lost to a terrific team today. But I can't -- I just feel bad for my seniors. Q. I know this is difficult for you, but you guys obviously threw a lot of different people at Stephen and you were able to keep him down for a while; when he got hot, did you feel that no matter what you did, it was going in? JONATHAN WALLACE: Their offense, we knew at that point in the game, everything they did was going to be good and ran through him. They set a lot of screens for him and he was in constant motions and tried to force him to make tough shots, but he makes tough shots. Q. Roy, can you talk about your early foul trouble and sort of go through the foul trouble, how you got it and how fast you got back in it, and the calls? ROY HIBBERT: You know, I went to post-up, and I had a dumb foul to start off with. I need to play smarter out there. I talked to the referees, and they told me what I was doing, and I tried not to do it but you know, they made the calls; I respect the calls. You just have to keep moving on. I think our guys -- when I was out of the game, I was really cheering them on and they was getting things done, but ultimately, Davidson pulled through. Q. Both of you, you heard Coach just say that you carried this program on your backs, and he feels like he let you down. Could you say something about what you think about that, and if you feel like he let you down at all? JONATHAN WALLACE: No, we don't think Coach let us down. Coach did everything he could to put us in a good position so we could better ourselves. It's not just me and Roy did all the work; Tyler Crawford and Patrick Ewing, Jr., all of the work they put in, it was a struggle and we were all together. ROY HIBBERT: He's the coach but ultimately we are out there playing. I just want to thank him for everything he's done for us. He brought the program back, but ultimately, you know, we lost today but he did a great job coaching today. Q. What were your thoughts when you got up 17 before Davidson put up that big run to get back in it? JONATHAN WALLACE: We just try to keep playing our style of basketball and we know it's basically a home game for them, and any spark they could provide the fans would get behind them and make it even tougher. We knew they was making a run and we tried to withstand it for a majority of the time, but once they got going as a group and made some tough plays, we were not able to recover. Q. What's the balance in your mind between how well they played and maybe what you didn't do that you wanted to do? JONATHAN WALLACE: They have been playing like they have been playing all year. This season doesn't do them justice of how good they are. We knew coming into this game is going to be tough for many different reasons. It was a hard-fought game. It was very competitive and they played up to their potential. Q. Did Steph remind you of anyone you've played, that shoots like that, such a quick release? JONATHAN WALLACE: Playing against Quincy Duby (ph) a few years ago when he was at Rutgers and when you look at this year; Scott Reynolds, a lot of different guys that are able to get the ball around quick and just run around screens and just able to make tough, deep shots. Q. How big of a factor was the crowd and do you feel like you got a raw deal with the draw to come against a lower seed in Raleigh? COACH THOMPSON: I've said all week that seeds are irrelevant. When you get to this time of year, everyone's good. Everyone's well coached. I think the public, and I guess it's driven by the media, you start looking at numbers and seeds. But every team that's still playing is a very good team, and so did we get a raw deal? No. We just played against a team that's won 23, 24 games in a row, a very well-coached team, a team with good players and a team that made plays. Q. You were real upset, the foul trouble -- COACH THOMPSON: Was foul trouble normal? I'm not going to comment on the officiating. I was upset about more than one of them. Q. Can you talk about your defensive scheme on Stephen Curry? You played a lot of different players on him today, and just your game plan coming in to try to stop him. COACH THOMPSON: I said this yesterday, that he's too good to say you're going to stop him. He has not stopped all year. No one's stopped him. You know, we wanted to give him different looks. We wanted to switch out on him at times. Wanted to keep one person with him at different times. You know, we were trying, and trying not to let him get into a rhythm, let them get into a rhythm. And we were successful for a few minutes, and most of the second half we were not successful. There are situations where he is going to score. I don't think you average 25, 26 points a game and say we are going to stop this guy. It's more important that had they score, we come down and execute at the offensive end and we come down and we keep scoring. They are going to score points. They do a terrific job -- I said this yesterday -- of helping him, of his teammates getting him the ball when they should and how they should as teammates, unselfishly setting screens for them and Jason controls every game, he makes every pass, makes every right decision. They have been consistent with that all year and they were consistent with that today. Q. When you first sat down here, you said that you felt like you let your players and your seniors down, and to hear Roy and John say that that completely wasn't the case, did your feelings change on that? COACH THOMPSON: I don't know, my point was, my senior class is special. I have never been around a collective group that cares as much as they do. I've never been around a collective group that totally understands the sacrifices that are necessary, the individual sacrifices that are necessary for the success of the group sometime. And I just wish that those guys had the opportunity to still be playing. I mean, we're in this together; they know that; I know that. You know, in some way, shape or form, everyone in that locker room is responsible for us losing together, just like everyone is responsible when we win. But that group, I just wish that group could still be playing. Q. Throughout the year you've been saying that you're going to take it one game at a time and at the end of the season, you'll pick your heads up and see how you've done. Do you think you can do that now or do you think you need a few weeks or months to shake this off? COACH THOMPSON: It's hard to digest the season 20 minutes after the season just ended. Tied in with the previous question, I hope that people don't judge this group -- and I'm thinking about my seniors -- based on this loss today, and looking at all that they have accomplished in their four years here, and looking at -- this isn't, quote unquote, upset. This loss is disappointing because of what they have done for the last four years. And so I hope that they are not looked upon or remembered just solely or primarily because of this game, because those kids -- those kids are the program. Those kids are Georgetown. Q. Just to follow on your thoughts that no one has stopped him this year. I don't know from the course of the game if you do this, but when he hit the 3 and got fouled, did a little red flag go up in the back of your head like, oh, man, this could be the start? COACH THOMPSON: No, when the second half started, the red flag goes up. He scored 30 in the second half two days ago. So whenever he -- it's more of with him, when he misses, you wonder what's wrong, than when he makes it, you wonder what's wrong. But that four-point play was big. It got him going. And then I think for the most part, I remember, one, across from their bench, I don't know how, but he ended up wide open. For the most part, he had guys all over him and the ball was going in. I think shooters shoot. He puts the ball in the basket. That's what he does. Q. Maybe you just answered the question, wondering what you thought was the turning point in the second half; was it that four-point play? COACH THOMPSON: I don't know. I've got to go back and look at the tape. I don't remember. I don't remember the specifics of what was going on when that four-point play happened. You know, it was more so at our offensive end as it was at their defensive end. You know, as I said, we did not go into this game thinking we were going to be able to stop them or stop him. We just had to make sure we scored, and we didn't do it. They did a good job of not letting us score in the second half. Q. I think there were two plays where you called, I guess it's your muscle play, where you go right inside to Hibbert and then you didn't do it anymore, it was almost like they didn't go inside anymore. Were you worried your team had stopped working for him or is that where your offense went? COACH THOMPSON: No, we didn't stop looking for him. The few times we went in -- we were worried about him fouling out. Q. Given that you had the 17-point lead, have you already thought of anything you would do differently, or is that simply not how your mind works? COACH THOMPSON: I can think every possession something I would want to do differently. End of FastScripts |
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