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March 29, 2008
HOUSTON, TEXAS
Q. You've been getting a lot out of your bench, the young big guys lately. Was there ever a point in the season where you thought maybe they wouldn't get ready quickly enough for you to be able to do this?
COACH BARNES: No, again, I think they have probably come along the way you would expect, even though at times probably me more than anyone probably -- I would say I was probably a little bit impatient, because with the things that had transpired prior to the season with Gary's situation and Matt's situation, guys that we figured would be prominent in what we were doing, we knew we would have to rely on young post players, and sometimes it's really hard to try to get guys to come along quicker than they probably are ready to do.
But looking back on it, they have done a great job for us, and the fact that they are helping us at the right time, it's really -- I think all of us have appreciated the work they have put into it.
Q. D.J., a little earlier Derrick talked about that AU camp that you matched up with in New Orleans over the summer. What do you remember about that particular camp, matching up with him and where do you feel like he's progressed?
D.J. AUGUSTIN: It was a great opportunity for us to play against each other, and everybody played with a lot of competitiveness. It was a great opportunity for us to get better as players, and he's a great player and he's gotten better as the year went on. He's a freshman and basically now he's a sophomore now that the season is halfway through. So he's a great player.
Q. For A.J. and Connor, the Memphis players talked at this point about being the last two years in the Elite 8, and you were here in 2006. What do you take from that experience, if anything, that you will apply to tomorrow?
A.J. ABRAMS: Like the last time we were here in the Elite 8 it was a great opportunity for us. Me and Connor got a lot of experience in those game. I just hope to pass down, just try to relax everybody; it's just another game, but at the same time we know what we're playing for and what we're up against.
COACH BARNES: You also weighed 140 pounds.
A.J. ABRAMS: That's true.
CONNOR ATCHLEY: Yeah, have to agree with A.J. what he's saying. It was a learning experience for us, as younger players just learning what was going on and just pretending like it's another game, because that's what it is about what we do between the lines and play how we've been playing all year. I think it's about talking to the younger guys and telling them not to get too excited about it, but just play like how we've been playing all year.
Q. Can you talk about Memphis's length and athleticism and how do you think -- what kind of challenge is that for you and have you seen that before this year with other teams, maybe Kansas?
COACH BARNES: Well, I think at this point in time, yeah, we've seen length and athleticism. I don't know if anything needs to be said about Memphis other than the fact that three years, they have lost nine games and this year they have lost one, and people can try to -- again, I don't think anything else needs to be said, they have got one loss this year, and three-year run that they have put together here is really remarkable.
CONNOR ATCHLEY: I have to agree with what Coach Barnes said. (Laughter).
Q. About the guard matchup, you guys have really run well off your screen and roles and what you do, and this time and this game you're playing against some bigger guards. A little bit about playing against bigger guards, which you've done all year but about playing against the guys from Memphis.
D.J. AUGUSTIN: Like you say, we've played against bigger guards the whole year and we just have to go out and play with the same heart and intensity we all play with. They are a great team, they have great players and great guards and we just have to play with heart like we always play.
A.J. ABRAMS: Like he said, they have some great guards over there. We have played against bigger guards all year. We are not the biggest guards in the country so we are going to have our hands full.
At the same time, we know what we have to do, how to read the screens, and we'll be fine.
Q. A little while ago, Coach Calipari said if you want to run with them, the score might be 106-102. Wonder if you would care to reveal whether you do want to run with them, and if so, do you think that it could be that high-scoring, and would you guys like it that way?
COACH BARNES: Who did he say was going to win? (Laughter) Did he say?
Well, I don't know. We're going to play the way we've played. I think that at this point in time, I think teams are who they are, and both teams -- Stanford, they ran last night.
We knew they were going to run. I think every team that we've played all year has had the attitude that you have to get out and try to get easy baskets; I think so much depends on how you take care of the ball. What you don't want to do is to allow teams to get out from your turnovers, but we are going to run. There's no doubt they are going to run and they are not going to change what they do and we are not going to change what we do.
In terms of a score, I don't know. But like our guys were saying, we've got to this point playing a certain way, and we are going to continue to do that.
D.J. AUGUSTIN: Like Coach said, we are not going to change anything we have been doing all year, we are going to push the ball up and down and we have to do the same thing in defense. It's going to be an up-and-down game but we are just going to play our game.
Q. Can you talk about adding the mid-range game to your arsenal and how that has helped you combat the matchups against the bigger guards?
A.J. ABRAMS: At the end of last season, Coach stressed that I needed to get a mid-range game, because people were just going to try to, you know, kinds of run me off the line and not stand and shoot 3s. I understood what he was talking about, so I just worked in the preseason and in the summer trying to get better at mid-range floaters and pull-ups. It's kind of paid off against the bigger defenders, just getting around them and having a quick shot and getting it off.
D.J. AUGUSTIN: I just worked on just pulling up sometimes because I tend to go deep a lot and get beat up a lot, so just try to save my body and pull up into easy jumpers.
Q. Coach Calipari was complimenting you on how you've revamped the team so quickly and well after Kevin left, obviously. Can you talk about that process; did you change the team or your approach as much as he seemed to think but and what was that process like this year?
COACH BARNES: A year ago when we had Kevin, we all appreciated and understood how good a player that he was and he is. But there were other things, too, that made that team successful, and it's right here.
You go back and this is pretty much the team that we've had for the last two years. I think that we knew we had more than just Kevin. I had been asked a question all year about where would we be with him. We would be a better team because he would have gotten better, too. But the fact is, this team is so much better and so different than that team a year ago, because these guys here made up their mind last spring that they were going to work hard, improve, and they have all improved.
They set a great standard for the younger guys that have come in to understand, hey, this is what's expected here. But in terms of how we're playing, where we probably had to make the biggest adjustment is what I was alluding to earlier. We were counting on Matt Hill and Gary early and that's where we had to ride those guys until the younger guys got where they are today.
These guys have played probably as many minutes as any starting five in the country this year and they have embraced it. We have never looked back. From the time that Kevin left, they knew that we had something going and they just wanted to make it better, and they have done that.
Q. For any of the players, did you all see the way Memphis stormed out last night, in person or on TV, the highlights, just talk about your impressions of the way they came out last night.
A.J. ABRAMS: We watched some film on them. They are a good team. They get up-and-down. They are aggressive on defense and on offense, and we saw what they did last night and we are going to have our hands full, but we know what we have to do, we have to be solid on defense and I think we're up for the challenge.
Q. Would you talk about what Justin has meant to this team the whole year, and D.J., would you talk about what he has done especially in the postseason?
A.J. ABRAMS: Mason is pretty much our glue guy. He keeps everything going on defense and on offense. You know, on the defensive end, y'all have seen what he has done, he guards the best defender and gets rebounds and he pretty much starts his fast break with his rebounding and on the offensive ends, he gets possessions where he kicks it out to us and gets more easy shots.
Without him, I don't think we would be as good, because he makes our team.
D.J. AUGUSTIN: Like A.J. said, he's done it all for us. As far as rebounding, he gives us extra possessions on defense and offense, and you know, offense, he gives me a break. He takes the one, and I'm able to get some rest. He's been doing a great job of everything he's done.
Q. Kind of the same question, what has Justin meant to your team and the success he's had?
COACH BARNES: Well, I can probably make a case that he's as valuable as anybody that we have, because I think that with any team, you've got to have somebody that, you know, you can use words like backbone, heart, whatever you want to do. I mean, he is going to do the dirty work. He is going to do whatever it takes.
And Justin coming in, he was the guy that scored points, and I think the first thing that he did was he was willing to give up some things with his own game until established what he had to do on this team and what he does is maybe as hard as anything to do. He plays really, really hard, as hard as anybody we have ever had at the University of Texas.
He's going to do the things that don't always show up in the stat sheet, and I think these guys would agree with him, when we sit down as a team and we watch tape together, he's probably complimented probably more than anybody on our team, would you agree with that? Because he does the things that -- and that's talent, now. Playing hard is a talent, and doing the things that he does, and he does it day-in and day-out.
That's really one of the hardest things to do when you know people are counting on you to do that, and a lot of people probably don't talk about it, I think it comes from his own personal pride and says a lot about who he is that he's willing to go out and do those things for us, flying around and just throwing his body around and doing whatever he has to do.
Q. For the big guys, Connor and Damion, you guys had a good matchup against Stanford. They were a bigger team but you had better athletes than they did basically. Talk about battling underneath against the Tigers' front line.
CONNOR ATCHLEY: Obviously they have some great players, Memphis, and I think a lot of it just has to do with what we've been doing all year when we play teams is just play team defense and play our principals. We have a lot of young guys that we try to get in there and just try to throw some bodies at them.
DAMION JAMES: We know they are athletic just like we are and we just have to put a body on them had they are going to the glass and just continue to play the game that we play.
Q. John said when he first met you, he was at a camp and he was a camper and you were the counselor. Wondering which camp that was and he said you had long hair, kind of in a ponytail. Were you a hippy back then or what was the deal?
COACH BARNES: Whatever I was doing, I could promise you, it was in style, okay. (Laughter).
But I did -- I guess John and I have known each other now 30 years, because that was the University of Pittsburgh camp. It was the first year I was trying to get into coaching. I had a chance to work two weeks at the Davidson College camp which the head coach was Eddy Beatenbach (ph) who is a Pittsburgh guy and said I could go up there and stay with a friend of his and work with the camp that was at the time ran by Tim Grgich, and I think John at the time was at UNC Wilmington getting ready to transfer back to Clarion State; and I had graduated from college and he still had a couple years ago.
What I remember about that camp most of all is I was put in charge of the ball-handling station, which is probably the easiest thing to teach at the camp. We had the groups rotating through and the youngest group came through, I think they were probably seven or eight years old and I started doing these ball-handling drills and I was amazed at how well they picked it up. And then I started doing some more things and making it a little bit harder and they amazed me. I started thinking, boy, I'm going to be a pretty good coach here.
Then I find out there's a group called the Little Panthers that had been performing before the Pitt guys for a couple years and the lead guy was Shawn Miller. That's why I remember that more than I remember John. (Laughter).
But it's a good day when a guy are Hickory and a guy from Moon, Pennsylvania get to be where we are today. We've both been very blessed and John has done a great job, he really has, but I do remember, and we've got a couple mutual friends, and he's done a great job throughout his career.
Q. How do you guys approach this thing tomorrow? They are the one seed and they have got one loss; is the pressure on them tomorrow?
DAMION JAMES: I just know we are going to come out and continue to play the game that has got us to where we are right now. We are not going to change anything like the coach said. We're going to play Texas Longhorns basketball and see where it goes.
Q. Another Justin question. We have talked about all the little things that he does. Can you talk about the value that you have gotten about the setup where he handles the ball and you can move D.J. out and let him run the floor, how valuable that's been to you throughout the -- especially I guess the second half of the season?
COACH BARNES: Well, again, I think it goes back. You know, we really have always felt that we've got three point guards. It goes back -- or the reason it works is that Justin can handle the ball, he's fast, and he can finish obviously at the rim. It's also because D.J. moves so well without the ball so now when you get he and A.J. down there working the way they can work, they both read defenses very, very well and because of Mason's vision and the fact that the other guys set screens for him, it's pretty hard to guard.
Again, it just goes back to I think the versatility of our guards. They can all do a little bit of everything. But Justin, again, it goes back -- he's continued to grow as a player where even in high school he could score and he always had the ball. I think over the last couple weeks, he's really gotten back to being aggressive and doing the things that he's always been capable of. He's been terrific really the last month of the season, especially what he's done on the offensive end.
Q. The sort of the thing of this program has been is player development, and that seems simple enough, if the parts get better, the whole will get better; can you talk about the challenge of executing it year after year and what goes into it?
COACH BARNES: Ten years ago when we started, we wanted to be consistent with our program. And we've always felt the way to do that was through player development, and we felt as we built the program that we would be able to eventually attract the kind of players that would obviously leave early, but we always felt the foundation had to be built from work ethic, and we had it really going.
Then, was it three years ago, we lost everybody. We had four guys in the spring, A.J. and Connor and I think D.J. and Moony, that's who it was. We had four players. We had four players left in our program, and we signed seven, and the biggest concern we had at that time was we knew we had established, and I think A.J. and Connor would tell you what had happened for him, how the older players really demanded work ethic from the younger guys. Now we had these guys that had only been around one year and we actually had told him, you guys have got to step up and show these guys, and he did a great job.
But from the time that D.J. and Justin and Damion stepped on campus, for whatever reason, and again, I think it's a talent. They bought into it. They like each other. They work really, really hard.
So it goes back to them. I think you've got to have it, and as much as we'd like -- and I think they would tell you, we have got -- I think I have got the best staff in the country, not only what my assistants do, but it goes off the report with what Randy Ryan does. We've got a program in place and we believe in it.
The players deserve the credit because they are the ones that have to make it go. We've told them, they have to create their identity and they have worked hard as doing that.
Q. When you played Michigan State in 2003 in the regional final, there was a thought by you and some others that that could be kind of a landmark, watershed-type of game in terms of program visibility and fan support. Has that game meant what you hoped it would mean?
COACH BARNES: Yeah, I think that was a big day for us. I remember, there were about 32,000 people there and about 30 of them were wearing burnt orange. As a staff we felt that day, no question, this proves that if you have something good going at Texas in terms of basketball, that people will get with it. That day was a great day.
Since that time I do think our program has grown. As you know we have one of the largest buildings or the largest building in the Big 12. I do think that our administration has tried to really help us work hard to fill it, to continue to put this program where we all want it to be.
But I do think that was a big day, I really do, because that's kind of what we were building towards with that group that came in, they were really the ones that kind of really laid the foundation to get us where we've been.
Q. I wonder if you can give any thought to how you're going to defense Rose, and what he means to the Memphis team.
COACH BARNES: We talked and asked the players last night and we thought Dexter Pittman would be a good matchup. (Laughter).
You know, Derrick Rose obviously is a tremendous player, talent, and the system fits him really well. Everything we do will be done as a team. You know, we are going to -- we get into some situations where if these guys switched sometimes, that happens, and depending on, again, how it's going to play out, whether we are man/zone, we have to know where he is. But as a team, like I said, they have got one loss this year and it's not just one person. We have to be able to have a great team effort against a team that's outstanding.
But again, we respect not just him, but everyone they can throw out there because they can all present problems to you.
Q. How would you describe Justin Mason in one word?
A.J. ABRAMS: Can I say hard-working? Does that count as one word? I'll hyphenate it; hard-working.
CONNOR ATCHLEY: I would say he's relentless.
D.J. AUGUSTIN: I would say he's tough.
DAMION JAMES: Tough.
Q. On Derrick Rose, he's been pretty widely projected as a top-two NBA draft pick. But looking at him from what you see, what makes him that?
COACH BARNES: Great size. He's got a great size. First time I think I had really seen him really up close, we had passed in the hallway in Little Rock. I was really impressed with his size. He obviously has great balance.
Again, what I like about players, I like the way guys improve, and I think from where he started, and where he is right now, he's really made some great strides this year.
Q. Can you compare Memphis to any team you've played, and obviously their won/loss was to Tennessee and you guys beat them by 19. Can you take anything from that game, and how do you compare Memphis to any team you've played?
A.J. ABRAMS: I would have to compare them to Tennessee. They are an up-and-down team like Tennessee is. You know, we played them early in the season, played Tennessee early in the season, which can't really look at that because Memphis is Memphis. They are going to have their up-and-down game and play aggressive defense. We are going to have to play hard and try to out-compete them.
Q. With the history of upsets in this tournament, are you surprised that the top seeds are still hanging?
COACH BARNES: I don't know if you're ever surprised with anything in the tournament, I really don't. I think that they have all -- I haven't really watched that many games. I know that for the most part, and I've said this, I think once you get started and if you're a 1-seed, those 8,9 games are not fun. Like UCLA had to go up against A&M and they were picked second or third in preseason in our league, so those games are really, really hard.
It's a real compliment to the 1-seeds or higher seeds when they advance through, because we know that this tournament, everybody is pulling for the lower seeds, so when they are able to advance through, I think it really speaks volumes about those teams.
Q. You talked about the landmark win in 2003. What would another win, another trip to the Final Four, two in five years, that's another statement for the program and another level that you're at, could you just address that?
COACH BARNES: Well, again, like all these teams that are left now, and the teams that started, that's the ultimate goal is to try to get there and have a chance to play in the last game and try to win it. We are all chasing it. Really, I don't know if I'm into landmark games and all that, because I think what we have always talked about is being consistent.
First, we don't ever take this tournament for granted, being in it. I think that's something that every year you're working towards in terms of trying to say, we have got to be a part of the tournament. Then you get in it. I don't know that there's any more pressure in that sporting event than the first-round games for teams.
Again, I think like every team left, we want to win the whole thing. Obviously you can do that, it puts you in elite company, and so that's something that, again, we are all chasing it.
Q. Coach Calipari also mentioned that you were driving a VW at that point. Do you remember what that was? And what is it about towns like Hickory and Moon that produce coaches obviously that go on to great success?
COACH BARNES: I did. I drove a 1959 Volkswagen Bug that had a sunroof, and often times, I just had the hand brake, but it got me where I needed to go. And I drove it, that's what I drove.
You know, I don't know about -- again, I think that when you grow up in a small town, there's an innocence about you that people tell you, if you set your dreams and you go after it, you know, it can happen. So sometimes you're a little bit probably naive in terms of just, hey, this is what I want to try to do.
But along the way as you look back, you realized how lucky and blessed you've been with the people that you come in contact with, and how it takes so many people to help you. And John, again, I know the areas he's from, and I know obviously his relationship with the Millers, and I also know how hard he's worked. I know he's been willing to travel. He's been willing to get out of the box and go do things. That's what it took for him obviously to be where he is today.
But I just think it's a matter of -- and sometimes we're lucky. If at an early age, if you realize what you want to do and if you could figure that out, I think you're, again, really lucky when you can do that, and I know in John's situation, I don't think there's any question that he wanted to be part of basketball. And I was lucky enough to figure out in the eighth or ninth grade that I would like to be a coach and teacher. Again, it's just a blessing.
Q. Can you talk about Damion in terms of his improvement the last couple years, the versatility he brings, and also the matchup problems he creates?
COACH BARNES: Damion really has improved. Again, could I talk about all of them, how they have improved, but Damion really has. And the thing that I like about him, we watched some tape this morning, and again, from what we did last night in our game, and talked about some things we've got to do better obviously, and the one thing he said as we were walking out of the film room, I said, "What do you think, Mo?"
And he said, "Coach, I think I have a long way to go."
I think when you have that kind of attitude and you're willing to work -- he's a great kid. And I think again, you ask our players, they would probably tell you that early in the year was probably as hard on Damion as anybody.
The one thing we know about him is he really wants to please, and we were playing at Oklahoma, and he was struggling. You could tell he really had the weight of the world on him and I brought him into the coach's locker room before the Oklahoma game, and just sat and talked to him for a little bit and just tried to get him to relax for a little bit and he played pretty well in that game.
The next day we go into practice and as soon as I walked into the court, he's always at the same basket and shooting free throws. And I looked at him and I could tell he wanted to talk. We made the eye contact and he walked over to me and said, "Coach, I really want to thank you for being positive with me tonight." I thought to myself, how could you ever not want to be positive with this guy?
He's such a great kid, and you could tell he meant it from his heart. That one exchange probably helped me more than it helped him, because it made me realize that, you know what, these guys are young and they do need us to be more positive with him. Not that he still doesn't make mistakes, but that's the way we all as coaches talk to him. And the one thing we know is that he appreciates is, but he wants to be good. He's willing to do whatever we asked him to do.
Like today we finished up early and some of the guys came back, and Damion was one of the last guys to leave the court and is like that every day.
Q. What ways has D.J. improved in the last two years, and can you also speak to what he does off the court academically, as well?
COACH BARNES: Again, academically, Ryan planted the seed that you can be an academic All-American, and there's only been one at Texas, and for whatever reason, it was something that got him really motivated. And he told his mom and dad, and he said, "I really want to do this."
And when I called them and told them how proud they were and what they said was, "We are not surprised, because when D.J. sets his mind to something like that, normally he'll get it done."
Basketball-wise, the biggest thing he's done, he's quiet and shy, you'd think he's anything but that. With the players, he's always got the needle out and picking at them and messing with them.
Where he's really improved is he's been able to really talk more on the court. He's really worked hard at continuing to understand the game and not just playing in it, but trying to really get his teammates involved and he's versatile. He can do a lot of different things.
Again I think the biggest thing is the fact that he understands now what that position really calls for. He does have work to do there but he really does want to be on outstanding player.
Q. Assuming Memphis is not going to change who they are between now and tomorrow, from a coaching standpoint, how much fun is it to be able to go out and just play that style of basketball?
COACH BARNES: Well, I think first of all, I've got a lot of respect for John, because that goes against everything he used to do. It's unbelievably hard as a coach to change what works, because when things don't go well, you have to -- or you'll have a tendency to go back to what you are, what you've been. I think for him to realize that the situation that he was in, and the kind of players he wanted to recruit and play that style; and I will tell you, playing fast is much harder to teach than playing slow. And especially playing with the organization and they played with concepts. Teaching concepts are very, very hard, and obviously we somewhat do the same thing, and allowing players and trusting players to do the right thing, but I have a lot of respect for him for doing that.
And again, what they do, some people look at and ask what they are doing, but I can only tell you, when you watch them and you know it, they are an extremely well-coached team. Again, that shows up in what they have done.
Again, I mentioned the last three years but it's been longer than that; the fact that they are sitting here at this time with one loss, that tells you they would not be here if they did not have a great coach, talented players, and guys that have bought into a system.
Q. You know John pretty well, he was in here laughing, and you seem pretty relaxed, but what's it going to be like a half hour before that game? Do you block everything out? What does a coach feel like in this situation where you're one game from the Final Four?
COACH BARNES: Well, again, we've both been doing it a long time, and we all know, not just us, that everybody else that plays today and tomorrow, what we are playing for. And I think the key is that you'll feel it. But maybe in a good way. And I guess the day that it got -- if I didn't get a little bit, the word is nervous or, again, I don't like to use the word uptight; I like butterfly because it makes you keen and aware.
Once the game starts, believe me, you get lost in the game, you do. I think that's what he feels, the same way. We all feel the same way. We all feel the pressure of that first-round game, you feel it. And you have to work at what works best for your team. I've had teams in the past, I thought responded better to if I were really intense, and some teams respond better if you relax. And so you've got to work with whatever works for your team.
Q. Does it bother you when the public and media fixate on the theory that you have to win a National Championship to validate your coaching career?
COACH BARNES: Yeah, I don't think that a hundred years from now, who knows.
I just think as coaches, I guess that's what the public and everybody is looking at. I can tell you this; there's a lot of coaches out there, and I'm really happy for Bob McKillop at Davidson College. Looking at what he's done this year, he's done a great job of coaching his entire life.
I look at how he helped me in 1978 when we are were on the staff together at Davidson College, he and I ran every day, and the lessons he taught me were remarkable in terms of, I had never left the State of North Carolina and he had come back from recruiting and told me story after story and story. I felt I knew what New York City was like before I had ever gotten there for the first time. And to tell you how naive I was, he used to talk about the Bagel Knosh on Long Island, so I would drive there and know the exit I'm supposed to get off and I am expecting the one Bagel Knosh there's more than one.
Bobby has been a great, great coach for a long, long time but maybe he has not had the platform. So you're really happy for a guy like that, and I think there's coaches out there that have not always had the platform to win a National Championship. In my eyes, it makes him no less a great coach.
Again, I've been extremely blessed to have the opportunities that I've had, but I can't tell you, again, how much -- I've told people forever that Bob McKillop is one of the best coaches in the country, and he's a perfect example of a guy that's a great basketball coach and has done a great job throughout his career, but he just has not had the platform, and there's more guys like that than there are guys that have won National Championships, guys that made the business better and have affected the lives of so many young people.
So that's what the business is about, even though maybe you're asking that the public doesn't see it that way, but if you've been in the business a long time and you love your job, that's what you realize is most important.
Q. What was it in eighth or ninth grade that steered you towards coaching? Was there someone that influenced you or just what you picked up?
COACH BARNES: No, I had gone through a tough time. I had lost my sister to a car accident and she was very important to me, obviously, and I didn't understand. It was the first time I had probably ever stared death or looked at death that way, and I couldn't understand it, how an 18-year-old person you love could be gone. I went off the deep end and I was very lucky I had a group of teachers in junior high that Lord knows, for whatever reason, they took me under their wing, and they were hard at times. One thing they did, was they loved me, and after they got me turned around, because they were such strong role models, I said, you know, if I can't be a professional athlete, this is what I want to do.
So this day, those people are -- they are the reason that so many wonderful things have happened to me from teaching me, you know, about tough love and discipline and hard work. They were the first ones that also as I alluded to earlier about being from any town -- I don't know if it's small town, they said, hey, you can do anything you want to do if you're willing to work at it.
Again, that was some wonderful people, and I can't tell you, to this day, why me, but I just know that I really appreciate them.
Q. What was her name?
COACH BARNES: Sandy. I was going into the eighth grade and should have been going into the ninth grade.
End of FastScripts
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