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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2009Malik BootheSean EvansNorm RobertsNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK St. John's 64 JOHN PAQUETTE: Coach Norm Roberts, Sean, Malik Boothe. COACH NORM ROBERTS: I thought it was a terrific basketball game, two teams battling every possession. We knew even when we got up there that Georgetown would make another run. I thought our guys hung in there, did some toughness things, made some tough plays and I'm really proud of my team because they really fought through it the whole time. JOHN PAQUETTE: Questions, please. Q. Coach, how satisfying is this considering a year ago this game would not have been played? Was it on your mind going in here? COACH NORM ROBERTS: No. No. We were happy to be here in the tournament. I think it's right that all 16 teams go to the tournament. If you're in the league, everybody should be in the tournament, but it's just like I said earlier in the year, that, you know, anybody can beat anybody in this league. It's the -- the league is so good, there's so much good coaching and everything and we were fortunate tonight to win. Q. You guys talked a little yesterday about St. John's not having been here and not having won a game in a long time. When the clock finally went zero you guys had the win. Tell me the first gut thought you had. MALIK BOOTHE: The first thought, I said I thought it was a great team victory. There were some moments in our game we could have hung our heads because Georgetown could have got it. We pulled out a win. That was great for the whole team. SEAN EVANS: I thought a lot of hard work is paying off, you know. Some teams if they got off to a start like us would have put their head down but I think we kept fighting and it just shows the character that we got on the team and how much the coaches believe in us to keep pushing and I was just real proud and happy that we got the win. Q. How is it for you guys to defend at home? COACH NORM ROBERTS: Obviously we play our home games here and this is our home. I think that gives us familiarity with the place. We played pretty well at home. We've had some games we didn't play very well but most of the time we played well and I thought our guys were really excited about today's game and just the opportunity of playing in the tournament and playing in Madison Square Garden again. Q. Both players, do you think the fact that you guys beat them a week ago, does that give you a little bit of an edge knowing you've already done it once? MALIK BOOTHE: It doesn't give us an edge because we go into every game thinking we can win. We just knew that coming into the game we were going to have to play 40 minutes. We couldn't let little things affect us. SEAN EVANS: Kind of like Coach always says, anybody can beat any team in this league on any given day, so we knew it was our day, that game and maybe it could be their game this game. We've got the mindset we've got to limit our turnovers, our mistakes and execute. Q. Coach, can you talk about Paris Horne playing, the 3-point play and the 3-pointer? COACH NORM ROBERTS: Paris has done this pretty much all year because our quarterback, Malik Boothe, knows how to get him the ball. We ran a play called "Four Up" for us. Even before he shot, Malik is jumping around going, "It's good, it's good." When your point guard feels that way about you, that gives you a lot of confidence. Q. Both players again, I don't think either one of you were at the point yet but did you notice the coaches behind the bench? MALIK BOOTHE: I noticed during the game but I didn't pay any mind. We had the task at game. Q. When you noticed Coach Carnesecca, did you think about the tradition of this program and how you guys might do? MALIK BOOTHE: I knew the tradition before the game started. I wanted to come out here. Q. Sean, did you notice it? SEAN EVANS: I have tunnel vision. Q. Norm, when you guys beat Georgetown last week, you described it as one of the best wins you've been around as a coach, maybe the best win you've been around as a coach. Does winning a conference tournament game top that? COACH NORM ROBERTS: I think it's a great victory today and every win is something that you got to savor and enjoy. I'm really happy for our kids, our hard work is paying off. We weren't dealt some very good cards throughout the year with (Anthony) Mason going down, losing our point guard (Malik Boothe) for nine games, then Justin Burrell having to wear a mask the whole year. We haven't been dealt great cards but these kids fight and do what I ask them to do. I think we're coming together as a family and they just worked really hard. I'm happy that we're able to get this victory and we're going to the next round. Q. All three of you guys, it's great to get into this thing but what do you think about an empty feeling of not winning? COACH NORM ROBERTS: I think the tournament is run terrifically and -- but I said to them that the bottom line is, here's the moment, you're going to either define your moment or let the moment define you, and I've been telling you that for the last three weeks do not let the moment define you. People think that this is what's supposed to happen. That's not always true and you can define the moment and these kids today defined the moment. Q. I used that quote already. MALIK BOOTHE: I don't think it would have an empty feeling that we came out here and competed and lost. But if we lost without giving it our all, it wouldn't have been good. SEAN EVANS: I think that just being in the tournament is a big opportunity. We come into the tournament like any game, trying to win and we got the best of both worlds today. Q. Guys, less than 24 hours you guys have to come out here and do this again. Are you physically up to this? Sean, looks like you're about to die up there? SEAN EVANS: I've been sick for a couple days. Just a cold. I'll get over it. Conditional page break: 2 JOHN PAQUETTE: Any other questions? Thank you, St. John's. End of FastScripts |
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