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NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURApril 4, 2008Wayne EllingtonTy LawsonRoy WilliamsSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We're joined by North Carolina student-athletes. Questions, please. Q. Wayne, everybody talks about the way you've expanded your offensive game. What kind of defender were you when you got to school and how have you improved to this point? WAYNE ELLINGTON: Yeah, when I got to North Carolina, I wasn't, you know, the best defender. I didn't understand all the principles as well as I do now. I think defense at the college level is totally different than high school or any other level because, you know, it takes a lot of assertiveness, understanding where to be at certain times. I think Coach Williams has helped me become a way better defensive player than I was. Now that I'm a sophomore -- this is another year of experience, has helped me improve in many years on defense. Q. Wayne, what about your offense? What area do you think you've improved the most? WAYNE ELLINGTON: I just got stronger basically. I think that helped me a lot, you know. It helped me finish a lot better at the rim. It helped me get in the lane and create plays for my teammates a lot better, as well as get on the foul line. That's something that, you know, I think I've done a way better job at this year than last year. Q. Wayne, what are your opinions of Mario Chalmers and what he brings to the Jayhawks? WAYNE ELLINGTON: Mario, he's a great perimeter player. I've gotten a chance to play against him a couple times in high school, AAU and things like that. He's a great guard that can knock down the jump shot and get in the lane and create plays. You know, it's going to be a tough challenge. We're all looking forward to, you know, taking on that challenge and having a big-time game tomorrow night. Q. I know you play with him all the time, but do you ever watch Tyler and his will to get the ball and score and make things happen? Do you ever sometimes sit back and be amazed by the way he goes at things and does things on the court? TY LAWSON: Yeah, I mean, he's like probably the hardest worker I've seen, played with or played against. I mean, he's a different person on the court. He's an animal. He goes hard for the ball. I mean, it's amazing how hard he plays. He never gives up a play. He does it every play down the court. He's just a tough player, a tough-minded player. WAYNE ELLINGTON: Yeah, I mean, he's just tenacious. I think that's the word that describes him best. He's just after it all the time. He doesn't take any plays off. He's going to give it his all all the time. Q. Talking about the depth perception of playing in the dome, is it any different than the Smith Center? If so, how do you prepare for it? TY LAWSON: We haven't been in the dome yet. We'll probably check it out. The depth perception, if it's different, it will probably be tough to get adjusted to. We haven't practiced in it yet, so we don't really know. WAYNE ELLINGTON: Yeah, I mean, I've heard that it's a little different. But, you know, as a shooter, it's something to get used to. We'll get a chance to go out there and practice. I'm sure we'll be fine adjusting to it. Q. You talk about Tyler, but how has Tyler helped you with your game during a game and how have you helped him do what he does? TY LAWSON: He's probably helped us 'cause he attracts a lot of attention. So, I mean, take pressure off him, he's not always going to be open, be ready to knock down open shots, he gets a lot of shooting opportunities when he gets doubled and things like that, just his attention. Us helping him is basically giving him the ball, getting him in spots where he can score, and also just the threat of us knocking down shots, they won't be as quick to double sometimes. They worry if we going to hit the open shots. WAYNE ELLINGTON: He opens up a lot of things for our perimeter, attracts so much attention. Teams have to go down and double him. That opens up so much. I think for us, we just complement him. When he's doubled, you know, he can throw it out, you know, rely on us to knock down those open shots. I think it opens up a lot for him inside, as well. Q. Does Kansas remind you of anybody you've played? What do they bring to the table that other teams may not have brought? TY LAWSON: They don't really remind us of a team we played. Maybe they remind us of ourselves because they're so deep and they have balanced scoring. They're just a good team overall. There's no other team that we played against that's like them. I feel like this is probably the best team we played against all year. WAYNE ELLINGTON: Yeah, I think it's definitely the best team we played all year, the fact that they're so deep, have so much talent coming off the bench. I think, you know, just the transition and the way they like to get up and down the court is similar to us. Q. Obviously people have been trying to slow you up all year. Do you really embrace the challenge of playing a team that's going to try to go up and down the court with you guys? TY LAWSON: Yeah, because that's the way we like to play, get up and down the court, high scoring. I mean, that's just like the way we like to play, get up and down. For a team to try to run us, I mean, it's good for us. That plays into our style of play. No contrasting style. We're looking forward to this game. WAYNE ELLINGTON: Yeah, like Ty say, when teams feel like they can run with us, we feel great about it. We feel like we're the best running team in the country. For a team to come out and run with us, you know, somebody's going to give in, and we're pretty sure it's not going to be us. Q. Ty, how long before you trusted the ankle again? Is it the same strength as before you got hurt? TY LAWSON: I'm just now starting to trust it. Probably after the Washington State game, that's probably when I started trusting it more and more. I mean, I feel like I got the same strength. I feel like I'm a hundred percent now and I can take off on it. The only part I'm worried about is landing on it after jumping. Other than that, everything is good right now. Q. Ty, to what extent have you talked as a team about the fact that you're playing Kansas of all teams as opposed to UCLA or Memphis first and that your coach previously coached at Kansas? Has that been a factor at all? Is this the team you wanted to play or the team you least wanted to play? TY LAWSON: We haven't really talked about playing Kansas at all. Maybe before, like when they was playing Davidson, it would have been cool to see Davidson upset them. Other than that, we haven't really talked about it. Whoever we play, I mean, we're going to take it right at them. Just got to get prepared for them. We really don't worry about who is going to play or the Kansas situation with our coach. Coach talked about it. He said probably people will try to blow it up more than it really is. Other than that, we haven't talked about it. Q. Has coach acted any differently this year, this week, more fired up, more determined? Has his demeanor been pretty much the same? TY LAWSON: Coach has been more fired up. I mean, you see a little fire in his eye. He's getting goosebumps. He showed us two or three time he's getting goosebumps before practice, how excited he is. This is the Final Four. Biggest stage. Two games away. So, I mean, he's real fired up, ready to get this started. WAYNE ELLINGTON: Yeah, he's definitely gotten a lot more fired up these past couple weeks. He sent us a message right before the ACC tournament, you know, when it's post-season play, that practice, he got on us. You know, we all understood from there. I think that set the tone for our team this post-season. I think that's why we've been so successful so far. Q. Could you elaborate a little more on what you just said as far as what exactly did Roy say? Was it something he said or did at practice to try to set the tone for the post-season? WAYNE ELLINGTON: Basically he just wanted us to sharpen things up. We were making minor mistakes. He just got on us. He told us that, you know, now is not the time for us -- just things that throughout the season, you know, we kind of repeatedly did, he just got on us a little more. He just picked up the tempo. He was fired up. We all fed off of that. TY LAWSON: Yeah, just basically getting on us for little things, because he says every play is important. So even in the Final Four, it's that much more important. So, I mean, things like rebounding, teams -- our second team getting offensive rebounds, things like that, not getting a steal in passing lanes, he just wants everything to be perfect. He's been getting on us, yelling. I mean, if I was in his position, I'd be the same way. I mean, we're in the Final Four. He just wants everything to be good, be ready for it. THE MODERATOR: We're joined by North Carolina coach Roy Williams. Questions, please. Q. Could you tell me how much of a focus Kevin Love was in your recruiting a couple years ago? Have you ever put that much influence on one guy? How disappointed were you when you lost him? COACH WILLIAMS: I think it probably is true that we've never put that kind of focus on one guy 'cause he's the only guy we offered a scholarship to. We had one scholarship to give. There were a couple other guys that we really wanted to be involved with a little more heavily than we were, like Kyle Singler, for example. But with only one scholarship available, we thought there could be one of our guys leave, so it would be a really important spot for us to fill. Spent a lot of time. I think, oh, three trips probably to Portland myself, much less the rest of the staff. But a great youngster who has shown that all that interest was well-deserved. Q. Do you see this coming down as a defensive game? And if so, what about stopping Kansas? What areas are you most challenged with? COACH WILLIAMS: You never know what these kind of games are going to be like. Could be that everybody is hitting on all cylinders, going up and down and it's pretty. But it can also be an ugly game because of how effective the defenses are. For us, Kansas presents more problems for us than anybody we've faced all year by far. I think they're the most balanced team we've played all year. They have tremendous perimeter players who can score and who can defend. They have tremendous post players who can score, who can defend, who can rebound. The problems that they pose for us is that we really have to play our best defensive game of the year, and it's not focused on just one guy. You know, I think Stephen Curry, for example, was a marvelous player. You had to focus on, Okay. Let's give help. Even the last play, Kansas had two or three guys run at him, had to give the ball up. When you're playing Kansas, you can't do that. You've got to play your man and be aware of what is going on, but you can't ignore your man. I've always felt like when the other team has those five guys who can score at any time, that's the most difficult defensive assignment. Q. Just curious, a couple of things. Talk about Tyler's desire and his will to make every play and never gives up. Also we hear about his nickname as Psycho T, but why don't we hear about his other nickname of "Spaz-Brough"? COACH WILLIAMS: Probably the guy that gave him the "Spaz-Brough" thing really didn't think, because if you look at him, he is far, far from spaz. Even in the tournament last week, we come down the court, Ty makes a pass to him on the left wing, the guy stands up to take a charge, and he actually looks like Twinkle Toes, but he goes right by the guys. He is not spastic by any means. There's no way that one would stick. The only real way that one will stick is if someone is trying to be cute or harmful. But he is the most focused, driven individual I've ever been around. The Psycho T is whatever you give him to do, he's going to try to do it to the best of his ability. Q. What kind of defender was Wayne Ellington when you got him and where is he now? COACH WILLIAMS: Let's start today. He's really a good defender. He's gotten so much better. His freshman year, there were a few times I had to take him out of the game for defensive reasons, and our conversations last year after the season when we discussed what each individual should try to improve after the off-season, I said, You should take it as an insult if I have to take you out of the game for defensive reasons this year. There hasn't been one single game this year that I've taken him out for a defensive reason. He's emphasized on it, focused on it, tried to get better in the individual skills of sliding your feet. He worked hard in the weight room to get stronger, that would help him defensively. He really works at it each and every day, tries to get better. He's a far, far, far better defensive player now than he was two years ago or even a year ago. Q. You came in talking about defense. We know about defense wins championships. If you look at the teams that have kind of won this thing in recent years, they've been teams that could throw a knock-out punch on offense. What do you think about that balance? COACH WILLIAMS: I think there's a little bit of both. I think you used the best word, 'cause you said "balance." I don't think that you can live and die just on one. But if I had to say the one that's the most constant is the defensive end of the floor. The four teams that are here right now, Kansas and UCLA, are fantastic defensively. They just undress you. Memphis and North Carolina, Memphis plays so hard and athletically, they block a lot of shots, they intimidate you around the basket. We're somewhere in between those. We haven't done it exactly like we wanted to by any means. But teams can score. When you get to this level, the teams that are here most of the time are gonna be those most gifted players that carry us coaches along. It's not just us that put them here, it's those gifted players. I want to be able to score on people and I want to be able to do it really quickly. That's just the way I am. But at the same time I don't want somebody else to be able to score on me easily. But I think you have to have the balance to win the whole thing. But I have. I've said this before. I have never seen a bad defensive team in the Final Four. Q. Five years ago you dealt with your share of distractions, to say the least. Coach Self from Kansas has some this time around. How difficult are those to deal with and what kind of advice would you give someone? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, Bill doesn't need my advice. He does a great job with what he's doing. I'll tell you this, it's more of a distraction on the outside. Those people that are your friends, they think about it. I didn't really feel that it was a distraction to me. I bet that Bill doesn't feel it's a distraction to him. I was only focused on Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich, Wayne Simien, Aaron Miles, Keith Langford, those kind of guys, trying to do everything I could. I was not going to cheat them. I really believe that that's probably the way Bill was handling it, too. You can't control what other people want to talk about or other people want to insinuate. I'm probably the worst at worrying about those kind of things because my skin is still so thin about little things like that. But it was never even a problem for me during that time period because there was no way that I was going to cheat Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison because they gave me the belief in college basketball in recruiting, that you could do it the right way, and I'm sure Bill is the same way. Q. How would you compare this team to your championship team from a couple years back? What coaching strategies are you doing similarly or differently from that team? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, the teams are similar. They're both very good teams. We have good balance. We have a point guard who drives the whole thing. We had a post player in Sean May who just dominated the inside the whole last of the season, like Tyler has right now. So there are some similarities. But they're different personalities. That team had really gone through quite a bit of adversity and some turmoil. You know, this team, it's been Mr. Rogers every afternoon for a lot of that time because things have been so much fun. But different strategies? It depends on what you might be talking about. I've just tried to make sure that this team has stayed fresh. That team was a little bit of that, but that team wanted to win it so badly that I had to make sure that they understood, Hey, let's just relax and not overstress ourselves. But, you know, there are different ways that I coached this team from Wednesday to Thursday, much less a team from 2005 to now. Q. You've been very good about dealing with these Kansas questions all week. Are you glad that this is the final big press conference? Are you glad it's behind you now? COACH WILLIAMS: I'm glad that Wayne Duke can come in and sit down. Last time I saw Wayne Duke, he had to have cheerleaders helping him off the court in Maui. How you doing? Having to be helped off the court. I congratulated him. You know, there's no question that I am tired of it. I hope I didn't really insult somebody. But there was a camera that was in front of me on Wednesday night as soon as we got off the bus. The first question was, Coach, what about this Kansas thing? I said, You got to be more original than that. I've only answered that about 700 times. But I am glad that not only is that question over with, I'm glad that we can get to coaching and getting ready to play the game. This practice this afternoon is not my idea of a practice, but I'm glad to be able to get out there on the court with the kids. We practiced at 11:00 this morning and had a good workout. With only 50 minutes, I don't think there's a lot we can do. We'll shoot around a little bit. But, you know, to me, it hasn't been a very big distraction. To me, you know, if I go out there, 37 people throw tomatoes at me, that will bother me a little bit. But I've been hit by a rotten grapefruit at Duke. I knew they weren't throwing it at me, they were throwing it at Coach Smith. They were bad throwers. You can imagine, a bad grapefruit. 1979. I mean, score was seven to nothing at halftime. Why are they mad at me? That kind of thing. I've handled anything, if you can handle that. That would probably disappoint me, but at least we'll be out practicing. Q. I'm going to try to be original with this question. You gave 15 years of yourself to Kansas. I know you want to have a great legacy there. How do you think the result of tomorrow's game will impact that legacy? COACH WILLIAMS: Somebody said the other day that, you know, if Kansas wins, they're gonna forgive you (laughter). Guys, I'd rather them not forgive me. That's just the bottom line. But how the game itself will have an impact on that, I really don't know. I think time is a good thing. There's no question, I mean, I've said it, 15 years, I gave my heart, my body, my soul. Last night I was thrilled four of their players asked to have a picture made with me. You know, Jeremy, I recruited, okay. Brady, I've known forever. Brandon, I've known for a long, long time. Russell Robinson I think is the most important seven points a game scorer in all of college basketball. But that's the way I feel towards Kansas. That's not going to change. The fact that some people will say some things or do some things, that hurts. There's no question. You guys, if you see a bathroom, instead of saying men's room, it says "Roy's Room," that doesn't make you feel good. Let's be honest. If somebody puts your picture up over the commode, that doesn't make you feel good. But you wouldn't do it in my house, I can tell you that. Let's just make sure we all understand that. But, you know, I've got some friends in Kansas that will be the best friends that I'm going to have for a long, long time. I've got three really, really good friends. I said, Don't come to the game. Wait and see. Monday night come and see me. If my team is playing, you can cheer. If Kansas is playing, you can cheer, too. Some things hurt, but you just got to go along. I can't dominate (sic) what everybody else is going to do. Q. What are the things you remember most about the two times when you played Carolina in the Final Four when you were at Kansas? COACH WILLIAMS: '91, I didn't think coach was dealt with fairly at the end of the game. I was so disappointed because I thought it was to get more attention than how well my team had played. I didn't think it was fair for my kids. '93, Adonis Jordan and Rex Walters walking off that court, knowing that was going to be the last time I was going to get to coach those two kids and how much they meant to our program. Adonis, my first recruit at Kansas, starting at the point for us three years, two Final Fours. You know, I'm corny. You just got to live with that. So both thoughts were about the kids that I had playing for me. Q. You mentioned during the week how, when you won it in '05, you didn't get to celebrate for quite some time. Can you talk about you recruiting the first couple, three days after that, how you got people that brought you here today? COACH WILLIAMS: Well, the finals was April 4th. Needless to say, it was a wonderful night. April 5th, we go back to Chapel Hill, have a wonderful celebration at the Smith Center, take the staff and wives out to dinner. By 10:00, half the wives and half my staff have their faces down on the table because nobody had slept. The next morning at 6 a.m., I meet Joe in the parking lot at the Smith Center, we go to Oak Hill Academy to see Tywon Lawson. One of the best trips I've ever made. Easy to evaluate. I knew we were going to lose a lot of those players. That Wednesday night when I got home, Sean May called. After that call, I knew I was going to lose him, too. That was one that was a little bit of a surprise at that time. He had the right ideas, so I supported him. But that recruiting during that spring and summer was really something that we wanted to make sure that we touched every base and we emphasized that. And we got really lucky because Marcus Ginyard, Danny Green, Bobby Frasor, Mike Copeland, Tyler Hansbrough had already decided to come with us, even knowing that those guys may not leave. So I was very lucky. Q. You coached Michael Jordan back in the day. Now you coach Tyler, two of the great competitors in sport. Can you compare their desire? COACH WILLIAMS: Very similar on the court. Michael wanted to win every drill. He wanted to beat you, then he was going to tell you about it in the locker room, okay? Tyler just wants to beat you. During practice, they were both very similar because they wanted to win every drill, didn't want to lose, didn't want to miss a shot, didn't want to make a mistake, really hurt them, they took it personally when they made a mistake. Michael Jordan was the best winner I've ever seen in big games. He focused so much throughout his NBA career, the greatest player that ever lived. Tyler even surpasses Michael off the court in his focus and his discipline at the same stage. Now, Michael later on, his last year, next to the last year with the Bulls when they won the championship, they were doing the Breakfast Club, he and Scottie and Ron Harper were doing the Breakfast Club, you know, weightlifting the day of games. Well, Michael's rookie year, he didn't do those kinds of things. In college, I still remember him trying to sneak around in the weight room. Michael, you haven't done. Yeah, I did. Michael, do that. Tyler, if you can say go in there and do anything, he was the most focused individual I've ever been around. And he's the biggest kid. I mean, I go over the schedule with him last night, I say we have to leave at 8:45. You have the United States Basketball Writers Award at such-and-such. You have the Associated Press Award at such-and-such. You'll get back here, we'll have about 20 minutes, we'll get to change. He said, Coach, what about breakfast? That young man's a special young man. Q. Could I ask you a bit about the high echelon of the Final Four teams. You have three teams ranked No. 1 during the year, Kansas was No. 2. Obviously we know we've never had four No. 1 seeds, the history of these programs. Does this make this Final Four special just looking on paper in your mind? COACH WILLIAMS: I think it makes it special looking at it on paper, but not just for that. I mean, the quality of the programs and what they accomplished to get here. You know, it's hard when you're expected to be there because that other team is even more focused and your kids -- Bill, Kansas was the fourth team. I think there was a little bit of pressure there to say, Oh, gosh, the other three have made it, we have to make it, too. But the quality of the programs is extremely important. But the quality of this year's teams is so impressive. I do believe it's the greatest gathering of any four teams at a Final Four. I think the record will substantiate that. Q. Coach, you said the other day about your staff. I think four Final Fours in the last seven years. Talk how unique it is to have basically your entire staff for that entire time. Then also if you could talk about the confidence level of this team compared to maybe some other teams you brought to the Final Four. Seems they've been very, very confident the last month of the season. COACH WILLIAMS: They have been a confident team. They've been a focused team. They're tough-minded individuals. But the bad thing is, so are those other three teams that are here. We're not playing Alvamar Tech or anything like that. I think it is a very, very confident team. I've been very fortunate with Joe, Steve, Jerod, CB, they've been with me so long. They're comfortable in the way we run our program. They're comfortable in the amount of responsibility that I give them. They're comfortable with the kind of student-athletes that we recruit. And all that makes old Roy a heck of a lot more comfortable, too. When you hire somebody as your assistant coach, you're putting a lot of your professional life in their hands. And nobody can feel as comfortable as doing that as I do with those guys. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH WILLIAMS: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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