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NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: CHARLOTTEMarch 29, 2008David PadgettRick PitinoTerrence WilliamsCHARLOTTE, SOUTH CAROLINA COACH RICK PITINO: Well, we congratulate North Carolina on making it to the Final Four, it was a much-deserved victory. Real proud of our guys. They played their hearts out, made a few turnovers down the stretch that really shot us in the foot, but I couldn't substitute as much as I wanted. And I had some guys giving everything they had, their heart and soul to try and get a victory. Tyler Hansbrough made two shots that you prayed they were going to take, and shows you what an All American he is to make those shots, because they were both challenging -- I was following the flight of the ball; he couldn't even see the basket. That's what an All American does, makes those shots and he's a heck of a basketball player. First time I've seen him up close, and some pro team is going to be very lucky. I haven't seen a guy play every possession like that in a long time. I've never seen it, actually. So we congratulate North Carolina. I'm real proud of our basketball team. They've had a very good season and I'm real proud of them. Q. For David and Terrence, if y'all could talk about Tyler Hansbrough after seeing him firsthand, because it's one thing to see a kid on TV, and you guys know better than us what it's like when you actually guard someone. DAVID PADGETT: Yeah, I mean, he deserves every accolade and all the success that he gets. Like Coach said, I've never played against somebody who plays that hard, and the kid is just absolutely determined to be a great basketball player. And big-time players make big-time plays and he made two big-time plays at the end of game. TERRENCE WILLIAMS: I agree with David. I've never been on the court where someone goes hard for every position, every rebound, dives on the floor and do whatever to make his time win. He deserves everything that he gets. Q. Where do you think things went wrong for you in the last ten minutes of the game? Because you were drawn even at 59-all. DAVID PADGETT: They hit some big shots when they counted. You got to give them credit, they're an outstanding basketball team. And they made big shots when they counted. You've got to give people credit when they make big plays, and that's what they did. TERRENCE WILLIAMS: Like he said, they made big shots, and we had a couple of key turnovers, and they got a couple more rebounds than we did. Q. What do you think went into them getting their lead, what were they doing well and you not doing well, and what went into you pulling back even with them? DAVID PADGETT: Well, they're one of the best offensive teams in the country. They played well tonight and did a good job rebounding the basketball. And we came out after halftime and I thought we dug in and slowly chipped away at the lead and tied it up, but it's tough when you dig yourself a hole like that. But I thought our guys did a good job of battling back in and not giving up and trying to get out of here with a win. They were just a better basketball team. TERRENCE WILLIAMS: Our team didn't lay down but they fought back hard. For everybody watching, that speaks volumes for their team, and they happened to make more shots than we did. Q. Guys, you got back and did a good job in transition defense a lot of the night, but they still had speed and were able to hurt you with that. Can you talk about the way they were relentless in pushing the ball? DAVID PADGETT: That's their style, but I didn't think they hurt us that bad in transition. They're going to score in transition once in a while because that's how they like to play. But like we've been saying, when it came down to it, they made big-time shots. THE MODERATOR: Guys, thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Rick, do you feel like the pace caught up with you at all? Did you guys lose your legs at the end? COACH RICK PITINO: No, I don't think when you make a post move and you get called for two travels that's losing your legs. I think they pulled the chair and played good defense on him. He learned a valuable lesson from that. He thought he was getting fouled in the beginning, and then they pulled the chair on him twice, and he had two. Turnovers hurt us down the stretch, but like I said, they made some real difficult shots. I don't think the transition game was a factor for them. I think they made some very difficult shots, made all their free-throws and we turned it over at some crucial times. But we did a lot of good things offensively tonight, really some good things, shot a good percentage, but they were a little bit better than us, and our guys hung tough in a tough environment. Q. Rick, you've seen so many great basketball players and been around so many, to say you've never seen someone play quite like Hansbrough is a little astonishing. I realize I'm getting you to talk about the same thing over again, but if you could elaborate on why he catches your eye in such a way? COACH RICK PITINO: Because I've coached against Michael in his prime, Barkley in his prime, Kareem when he left, Magic, all the great ones I've been fortunate to watch and observe those guys. Certainly he doesn't have those abilities of those superstars, but just like shooting, rebounding, playing defense, passing, skills, working hard is an acquired skill. Every NBA coach would love to have a player not only because he works hard, but he has a lot of talent. Imagine that. You know, we have an old saying as an offensive rebounder, "treat every shot as a pass to you." And it's a good saying, except most players can't do that. He does that. But the shots he made, I mean, I was right there, were unbelievable shots because they were under duress, and he had very little time to get it off, and he came up big. And obviously I don't like to lose, but you've got to give credit to a great basketball player. Q. Coach, did you change anything up at halftime to get you back in? COACH RICK PITINO: We were just turning the ball over too much and we were shooting a good percentage, we were turning it over. You know, turnovers hurt us against Tennessee and turnovers hurt us against Carolina a little bit. You can't work that hard and force turnovers. Some of my great teams would force 23 turnovers, but most of the season we would only turn it over 13, 14 times. The second half the reason we came back because we weren't turning it over. And then we got those two travel violations. And that type of turnover doesn't bother me as much because it's a great defensive play by a guy who pulls the chair on him and he traveled. The other turnovers when T Will turned it over on a pass, he was just dead on that play. When our guys did a much better job in the second half. The elements caught up with us in the second half, but our guys did a wonderful job. They're a terrific basketball team. You've got two teams going to the Final Four right now that are both great on defense, terrific on offense. Q. They were pretty much good in any style on offense whether you dropped back or pressed. How much did you weigh whether to come after them with full-court pressure or drop back? COACH RICK PITINO: We played exactly the way we needed to play to beat them. We tied it up, had a chance to win, and they overpowered us down the stretch. We played exactly the style of play we needed to win. Very difficult sometimes for people to admit when the other team is better but we're a very good basketball team this year, very good, and they were better tonight, made big shots. So we played exactly the way we needed to play, they just played better. Q. Coach, there was a time back in December where I don't know if you thought your team would get to this point. What changed from then to now? COACH RICK PITINO: You serious? Q. Yeah. COACH RICK PITINO: We got healthy, we had no Padgett, you want me to repeat all that? Q. Sure. COACH RICK PITINO: We had no Padgett, we had no Palacios, we suspended Caracter for a game against Purdue. We didn't get healthy until the first Big East game another two weeks later. I used Georgetown as an example, if you don't have Hibbert and you don't have Patrick Ewing, Jr. or you don't have Tyler Hansbrough, and you don't have one of their big guys, how good would they be? It's very simple. This is a players' game and you win with talent. The worst thing about everything that we went through and all the things we had to overcome is we had to play Walter McCarty in practice for three weeks. That was the most difficult thing. We couldn't even practice. On top of all our problems, the NCAA clearinghouse never cleared two of our freshmen. One had open heart surgery and the other was declared ineligible. So it was difficult times. So for us to get to the Elite Eight and come back and do this... What every coach wants is for their team to reach their potential, and that's when you give the players credit because they reached their potential. And they played a tough team tonight. And I'm real proud of the fact that they came back and fought in the second half. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. Congratulations on a great year. End of FastScripts |
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