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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: BIRMINGHAMMarch 23, 2008Jeff CapelDavid GodboldTaylor GriffinBIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with the Oklahoma news conference. We'll take an opening statement by Coach Capel and then take questions for the student-athletes. COACH CAPEL: First of all, congrats to Louisville, they were very, very good today. They were very good on Friday as well. They're playing at an extremely high level and they shot it well today. They defended really well, which they have been doing all year. So first of all, I want to congratulate them. It's disappointing today, I was really proud of our team for our season. This won't diminish the body of work that we have done all year. And it's been a group that's been great to coach. We fought through all kind of different types of adversity, and these guys just kept giving you the honest effort every day. And these two guys beside me are a big part of that. David being a four year guy, and really going through a lot during his time here. But to stick it through and to get this program to be a big part of getting this program back to somewhat of a level of where it was when he first got here I think speaks volumes about him and Longar. Taylor being his third year, I thought that he helped us have a really good season this year. So we're proud of that, this hurts, it's disappointing, but like I said, that's not going to diminish everything that we have done this year and all that we have accomplished. So I'm sure after a few days and we'll get this taste out of our mouth as we get this taste out of our mouth, we'll be able to reflect back even more on the season that we had and I hope these guys are as proud as I am of what we have accomplished this season. THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student-athletes. Q. Guys, if you will address the defensive pressure that they put on you, because I know you played some teams that played good defense, but that was pretty intense, wasn't it, what they did defensively. DAVID GODBOLD: Yeah, they stayed really active, they didn't back off at all. And I congratulate them on that. They even when we broke it a couple times to get a score, they kept with it and I know their coach was really pleased with that. They just kept a lot of energy and they did a good job today. TAYLOR GRIFFIN: They did an excellent job pressuring us, especially in the back court. When a team does that, it makes it a little bit harder to get into your offense and it slows you down, so by the time you cross half court, you hardly got seven, eight seconds, knocked off the shot clock. So they did an excellent job defending us that way and we just got to be able to handle it better. Q. Taylor, I know you're coming off a tough loss right now, but I was wondering if you could talk about David and what he's meant to this team, especially these last two days, the way that he played and just throughout his senior year for you guys? TAYLOR GRIFFIN: Yeah, David and Longar both are really the only two guys on this team that experienced a win in the NCAA tournament, as far as players go. The way he played yesterday, and just different moments throughout the season, when he stepped up and hit a big shot or had a big game, it speaks volumes. He's, David's kind of, he's a leader, undoubtedly, but he leads more by example I think than anything. And the example that he kind of laid the foundation for guys like Cade and Tony, guards that their first year here, they kind of have a role model or an example to look up to and kind of model their work ethic or their game after. Q. David, what will you take for your OU career and how this program has grown under you and under your new head coach Jeff Capel here? DAVID GODBOLD: I'm really proud of just this season how we bounced back from a very, I say just not good season the previous one, and I know Coach Capel's going to bring in guys and the guys he still has here, hopefully they see what happened this season and hopefully take another step further than what we got. We kind of got the bumps and bruises this year and kind of set the foundation for hopefully putting Oklahoma back to where it used to be before I got here and before any of those guys used to watch OU basketball. I'm just really proud of my career here and I'm sad it had to go, but it had to go sometime, either I would have won the last game or I would have lost the last game. So I have no regrets about the season and, no, I just look forward to having Taylor and Austin stepping up next year, along with Omar being those seniors and I hope they have a good season. Q. David, you hit three three's in the span of a little more than two minutes. Shortly after that's there was a TV time out. It seemed like it was really hard for you to get another open look it seemed like they were trying to lock you down after that happened. DAVID GODBOLD: Yeah, they, I heard Coach Pitino calling out, "Shooter, shooter", every time I caught it and the guys responded by getting out to me, but once they did that, I had no hesitation about throwing it inside to the big guys. I know they can hold their own with anybody in the country and unfortunately it just got a little out of hand and they made a big run and we couldn't really respond to that. But I give all the credit to Louisville, they played a really good game. They had a great leader ship out there, they played as a team, and they came out with a victory today. Q. Taylor, I wonder what kind of advice you're going to give your brother as he thinks about his options. TAYLOR GRIFFIN: One thing we agreed on was not to talk about it until the season was over and obviously we're to that point now. You know, I'm kind of split just because as a brother you want what's best for him. As a teammate, I would want what's best for this team. Ultimately, the brother comes out more than the teammate. We're going to talk about it as a family. He's been, he'll talk about it with my parents, Coach Capel, some of the people that are really close. I really can't tell you anything about what I think he's going to do or whatever, but I want him to do what's best for him. As we get closer to figuring out what that is, we'll see what happens. But as of right now, I'm behind his decision as long as I think it's what's best for him. THE MODERATOR: Thank you guys. Head back to your locker room, if you would like. Take questions for coach. Q. Jeff, it seemed like it was whether it was their zone that pressure, it was tough for Blake just to even get shots of the he only took six shots for game three in each half? COACH CAPEL: Yeah, it was tough. Blake sometimes has a hard time against zones. Because he doesn't really shoot the ball outside of the paint or around the block area. Their zone really pressured our guards. One of the things we didn't get, we didn't get any penetration against it for awhile there in the first half. All we did was just settle for 3's. It was almost like the 3's that we hit early were a little bit of fools gold. And I thought we settled sometimes when we had opportunities to drive and we also had opportunities to flash. We didn't do that. But as much as you go over stuff in practice, you watch tape, a short amount of time to prepare, when you get out there and that pressure hits you, and that speed and that athleticism and the length that Louisville constantly throws at you, it becomes more difficult to do what you know you're supposed to do. Sometimes it becomes a little bit more difficult to think because you're trying to figure out how to get, you know, how to get out of this pressure that you're in. And give them credit, they keep the pressure up, they have the bodies and athleticism and the length. Those guys are in really good shape and they can keep it up. Q. We asked coach Pitino about his style and of playing all over the court and the pressuring and then playing up and down. And he attributed being able to do that to having players who could do that. As you get better players, will your style of ball change any? Will it be more to what this style that Louisville had? COACH CAPEL: We went to play a style that's going to win. First of all. I think we did that this year. As we continue to build our program and add through recruiting, and then hopefully our guys get better. That's a big thing. When you look at Louisville, when you can bring a guy like Earl Clark off the bench, Earl Clark's a pro. When you can bring a guy like that off the bench, that speaks for the talent that you have in your program. Caracter was a Top-5, Top-10 player coming out of high school. He was a guy that played 11 minutes tonight. So they had big bodies, long, athletic bodies so they can do that. Hopefully as we continue to build and add we will be able to do those things more. You have to coach what you have and I think our staff and our players did a great job of that this year of playing a style that was conducive for us winning this year. As we continue to add -- you know, every team is different. If you watch Coach Pitino's teams when he was at Kentucky, I don't think they ever played zone. They just pressured you throughout man, things like that. They're primarily a zone defensive team now. They get back in man after misses. They didn't miss a lot tonight, so they were in zone a lot. But that's what they are. So he's changed as his personnel has changed. And they do different types of pressure now. It's a zone press, back to a zone, off of free throw throws or dead balls they will go to a man press, back into a man at times, or they may fall back in zone. Q. You only had 16 turnovers I say only people probably think you had more. But was this a game where that pressure those numbers don't really tell because it looked like they just disrupted you so much you didn't even really run your offense at times or you just barely got it over half court. COACH CAPEL: Bad shots are in my mind turnovers too. They don't show up, but bad shots or hurried shots or rushed shots those are turnovers. When you look at opportunities, the few that we had, in transition, where we don't convert, they may show up as a missed field goal attempt, but when you don't convert them in my mind those are turnovers as well. So I don't think the 16 probably tells the story. We were just rushed and hurried all night. And we talked about since we found out we were playing Louisville, we talked about our guys having poise. And really having poise. And being confident and playing strong. Unfortunately, we didn't do that today. And like I say, you give all the credit to Louisville, because they made us play at their pace. And we couldn't keep up. Q. What did you learn from this year's second season about this team and what's the next step for your Oklahoma program? COACH CAPEL: Well, first of all I learned that these guys are kids of great character. And we over came a lot this year from injuries, to losing guys, before the season getting rid of guys, during the season losing a guy. Guys missing games because of injuries, missing practices because of injuries. But yet this team always found a way to respond. We were counted out and kind of left for dead whether it was at the Stephen F. Austin, after Colorado, after Nebraska, this team responded and so I think they showed a lot as young men growing and becoming men, because you can do that and learn that lesson and in college, especially through there you through athletics, I think that bodes well for them for the rest of their lives. With me, I think this is a really big step for us. To get to the NCAA tournament, to get to the second round of the NCAA tournament, obviously today is really disappointing, but like I said, earlier, when you look back on our body of work and what we have done all year, I'm really proud of our guys. I'm really excited about our future. I think we have a good class coming in. With the four young men that we have signed. I think we have some guys coming back that are good players. And we'll figure out what Blake wants to do. And I'm like Taylor, whatever he wants to do is fine with me. It's his decision. His family's decision. I'll help them as much as they want me to. But I'm excited about the future of our program and where we go from here. Q. I know you talked about it locally, but you're up here on the big stage so I'll ask, is there any chance you listen to South Carolina and any chance you won't be at Oklahoma next year? COACH CAPEL: You know what? I don't think so. We just lost by 30. So I don't really want to entertain questions about anything except for our program and I just talked about our future, so obviously I'm planning on being here hopefully for a long time. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you, coach. COACH CAPEL: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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