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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: DAYTONMarch 19, 2009Tyrell BiggsJamie DixonLevance FieldsSam YoungDAYTON, OHIO THE MODERATOR: Questions for Pittsburgh student-athletes. Q. Tyrell, a senior, this is your last go-around, does this seem any different, emotions? Can you talk about how you're feeling now? TYRELL BIGGS: Yeah, it's a lot of emotions. Like you said, it's my last year. We had a very successful season this year, and we just want to go out with a big bang, you know. Q. Does it seem different than past years? TYRELL BIGGS: Yeah. Obviously because we got a No. 1 seed. But I think our work ethic is just going to stay the same, working hard and just going ahead and get this work done. Q. Levance, have you guys watched tape yet on ETSU and if so, what have you seen and what has Coach said that you need to be concerned with? LEVANCE FIELDS: One, two, three, score and drive the points, and we've got to be ready to switch. They do a lot of handoffs, a lot of ball screens. We've got to make sure that we stop their 3, their 4 and 5, are the hard-nosed, dirty work players for the most part. We've got to make sure that myself and other guards do a great job of keeping them in front and if our big men get switched on them being in gaps, ready to help "T", because like I said they're scoring majority of their points, we're able to stop them, we should be successful in the game. Q. Levance, can you tell us just where you are health-wise right now? I know you guys wanted to go deep in the Big East tournament, but getting an extra day's rest, do you think that's going to be helpful at all? LEVANCE FIELDS: I'm fine. Whenever I'm on the court I'm 100 percent. So the extra days was very helpful in getting more treatment and we just have to move on. Unfortunately, we didn't go far, but I'm good health-wise. Q. More than any of the high-seeded teams, you're known for having your situation depending on how the game is officiated. Is it ever in your heads or do you guys always, all the time just go play and whatever happens, happens? And secondly, can anybody speak presume to speak for DeJuan on this subject, does he ever change at all? Does he ever let up? SAM YOUNG: I think for the most part, like especially now, we kind of told him, reinforced that he needs to just let some of the fouls go, making sure that I think his presence in the game is more important than stopping that one play. So I think now that we've kind of reinforced that and told him about it a lot, I think he's going to kind of have that on his mind while he's playing the game. TYRELL BIGGS: Going into the game, we talk about it in practice all the time. We just gotta let stuff go. We can't worry about the fouls. We've got a lot worrying about on the court, you know, with what we have to do on the court, who we have to stop, thinking about the plays and stuff like that. We don't worry about the officiating. And as for DeJuan, we talked to him about all the silly fouls, being a little bit too physical early in the game, stuff like that. But he's just a physical guy. So it's kind of hard to calm him down, but we try to talk to him about it. Q. Obviously you guys are thinking just about your next opponent, but will you be eager or just curious to check out Louisville while you're here? SAM YOUNG: No. No, not at all. We did that way too many times. We're way too mature to make a foolish mistake like that again. I think we're going to take one game at a time, and we're going to worry about the team we play tomorrow and then the team we play the next day, and then we're going to take care of it like that. I think a lot of times people get the high seed or they live too far ahead. And making a foolish decision of overlooking another team that's going to come to play because they got the chip on their shoulder so they're going to be ready. And it's probably a rare opportunity to get to have. So I think we're going to come into this game with the mindset that we're the 16th seed and we've got the chip on our shoulder. Q. You said you've done that before, when has that happened? SAM YOUNG: Last year in the tournament. Obviously in the Big East tournament. During the regular season games, we just kind of came out and we felt we was going to win. And it hurt us in the long run. Q. Sam and Tyrell, in terms of rebounding, you guys are second in the nation in rebounding margin. How important is rebounding to your offense, transition offense and kind of getting everything going? SAM YOUNG: It's very important, because our rebounding now we get to stop other teams from getting second-chance shots. And we get to get a lot of second-chance shots. When you're rebounding and you've got great rebounders on the team, you kind of control the flow of the game. So it's going to be very important that we do that in this tournament. TYRELL BIGGS: Controlling the ball is just a major thing that we try to focus on, especially for the forwards and stuff like that, talk about it all the time, working on it in practice, gets a lot of stuff going like Sam said. Easy transition buckets. Stops on the defensive end. So it's a key part to our winning. Q. I'm going to ask a fairly weird question. You guys have been at Pitt for four years now. I think the name of the team, so to speak, has gone back and forth while you guys have been there. Do you guys consider yourself Pitt or Pittsburgh? SAM YOUNG: Pittsburgh. TYRELL BIGGS: Pittsburgh. Q. Levance, can you talk about your emotions, walking back into this building after the last time you were here? LEVANCE FIELDS: No, just thinking about my first opponent and not really thinking about what happened. That was more than a year ago. So it happened. It's over with. Q. Levance, similar question to that. How tough was it to come back from that? I know you had recovered from the one break and then it happened again, and just how tough was that whole -- that time, rehab, and wondering if you're ever going to get back out there again? LEVANCE FIELDS: Real tough. Any injury you sustain and that limits you from playing on the court and doing the things you love to do, it's always painful. So it's tough in that regard. But I got great coaches and teammates who stick behind me and did a great job in this season and preseason of continuing while I was out and last year during the games when I was out. So that makes me eager and makes me work even that much harder to get back out there with them guys. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. Coach, if you would begin with an opening statement. JAMIE DIXON: Well, just got finished with practice and got a little less than an hour's work in and now we went through a lot of East Tennessee State's sets and what they do, their tendencies and now we're getting ready to go through our shooting and get some free throws up here out in the facility. So obviously we know how good a team East Tennessee State is. We've seen what they've done their last five games, especially winning the conference, and two big wins before the conference tournament. So, again, they're playing their best basketball right now. Coach Bartow has really done a great job with them. And I don't know if there's any other team in the country that has three guys that scores at the rate that these three guys do. Very explosive group, and we know who is going to be taking the shots with this group. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Coach, in terms of the Big 3 in ETSU, who do you see in particular who gives you the biggest matchup problem, whether it's Courtney or Kevin or Mike Smith? JAMIE DIXON: You know, they're going to get shots. All three of them are going to get their opportunities. They run a lot of their stuff for them and I don't think we're going to single out any one of them. I think we have to do a great job on all three of them. I think they're unique in how they play, all three of them. Courtney can really shoot it from deep. I watched the game against Mercer where he had 10 3s and you can see the range how he shoots it off the dribble and off the catch. With Kevin, it's ability to get to the basket, get to the free-throw line, seven and a half free throw attempts a game. And Smith similar, a combination of both. And so it's an interesting thing, but I don't think we're going to single out one. We've got three guys that we've got to find a way to stop and they have really -- these are guys that are career scorers, not a one-time thing. They've been doing it their whole career. They know how to put the ball in the basket. Q. You've got three star power players in Young and Fields and Blair. Can you talk about the importance of having a role-player like Biggs to be able to complement that star power? JAMIE DIXON: He's been tremendous all year. I've been kind of really praising him all year long to other people, because everybody talks about those three guys, and Tyrell has gone through stretches where he's been as good as, as valuable as those three guys, and even more so. He defends for us. He spaces the floor. He can knock down open jump shots. He can score inside. He's a great kid. Great teammate. And everybody has a role and he's understood his role. He plays two different spots for us and he's the guy we need on the floor. I think he's the guy that has to be out there, and when he's not on the floor we're not as good a team. And that's been evident. So he does a lot of good things for us. Q. The officiating in the Big East, sometimes there's just real long whistles and they let the teams play, and I'm wondering if you have approached your team anywhere prepared differently given the fact that you'll see officials from other conferences that might have quicker whistles. JAMIE DIXON: Yeah, I don't know how that all gets translated. I don't know if each conference is told to officiate differently. I don't think that's the case. Everybody operates under the same rules and they're under the same guidance on refereeing and how they're calling things. We're all seeing the same tapes at the start of the year and what they're emphasizing. So the refereeing is consistent throughout the country, and that's how they're taught. And that's how they're supposed to be. And that's how they go by it. So that's how we do it. We always are emphasizing to limit fouls and to play with our feet and be in position always, and I think that's why we've had success over the years. Q. Along those same lines, DeJuan's foul troubles have been an issue for you guys. Are you able to get him to gear down a little bit from the physical game, or has that been an issue? JAMIE DIXON: I mean, I think every team -- I've watched teams, watching East Tennessee the last couple of games they've had guys in foul trouble. It just happens. I think it's common. It happens to different guys. I was watching Smith was in foul trouble in the game against Campbell. I watched that game. So it's common to all teams, and obviously we've talked to all of our players, and as every coach does, about you don't want to put teams to the free-throw line. And we've always been a team that gets to the free-throw line more than the other team. And that's been the strength of ours. So, obviously, that's about being in position, being aware, and anticipating what is happening next. And that's why we've been successful. So it's something that we talk about and stress throughout our program year after year. Q. Both physical point guards the last two you've had, Carl Krauser and Levance, what's the difference between the two? JAMIE DIXON: You know, both winners. They both won a lot of games. I think Levance maybe just passed up Carl's group, the most winning group of seniors. So they've both won. They both won before they got to Pitt. And they're both competitors, tough. Both were good rebounders for their size, things that make them a little bit different than point guards. Both dive on the floor after loose balls, both were New York City kids, and both have had great careers at Pitt. So I think Levance is more probably of a distributor and just an unbelievable feel for the game and delivering the ball at the right time to guys. He's always had that gift. And it's something that he came with and he's just gotten better and better, and his assisted turnover ratio speaks to that. Q. You guys have been in the Sweet 16 four times in seven years. Do you think that that has been appreciated? Have you gotten too much criticism for not getting farther? JAMIE DIXON: I think maybe that some people don't -- we've made it seem like it's a little easier than it is. Only three teams have gotten there more than we have, so that should be pointed out. But at the same time we haven't made that run for the national championship, and I think that's always going to be something that's talked about, and deservedly so. It's something. But at the same time you do have to recognize what we have done. I think as far as number of wins in the NCAA Tournament, we're up there in the top seven or eight teams. So we've had wins. We've had success in it. We haven't had the run of a Florida, a Kansas, obviously, the teams that have won the national championship. And that separates you, there's no question. We can't put ourselves into that group until we do that. So with that said, you know, our focus is solely on East Tennessee State today, and getting ready for them. Q. Small thing, you've got two No. 1s in this pod including the No. 1 overall seed. Does that help kind of deflect and spread out the attention or the distractions? JAMIE DIXON: You know, I don't know. I mean, all year one of the things we've talked about is no distractions, and so that's been an emphasis for us the entire year. And I think that's something that you have to do, talk about guys. You have to prepare them for that and you don't want anything to come up unexpectedly. And so as far as the distractions, that's something we addressed earlier in the year. We talked about preparing to be patient, grind it out on both offense and defense, and so being prepared is something we use that term all the time. And the distractions term is something that we've stressed this year as well, from the beginning. So I've been very happy with our preparation and our focus since we found out we were playing East Tennessee State. We recognize how good a team they were, and we saw -- watched plenty of film on them and know how good they are. Our guys understand that. I don't see us being distracted. Q. Your team has been with Ben and with yourself, and it has been consistent for a decade, not only in wins but the style of play. How limited, not restricted, how specific is your recruiting aim to continue to get repeatable players in the areas you have? JAMIE DIXON: It's something that continues. I mean, first thing, we want good kids, we want tough kids, we want competitive kids. We want kids from winning programs. So those are the basic things. We want kids that want to graduate, want to improve themselves as people and as students and as players. And as far as the style of play, I think sometimes we're almost pigeon-holed into a style. I mean, if we're the most -- I think we still are the most efficient team offensively in the country as far as per possession, amongst the top. And very little at times is that being discussed. I've seen guys talk about that and bring it up as saying, you know, even as good as we've been offensively, we can't seem to lose the other tag, which is fine. When you're from Pittsburgh and you have the Steelers there, we're always going to be identified as a defensive team and a team that plays hard and competes, no matter how good we are in other areas, but that's a good thing. Q. It's been a hallmark of the program that players have improved year to year almost without exception. Can you sort of maybe self-reflect a little bit six years ago how you've improved as a coach or evolved as a coach since then? JAMIE DIXON: I started drinking this Smart Water today. I saw this. They had it out there. I hope this helps out. (Smiling) I think, bottom line, you've got to have good players, and I was smart enough to figure that out when as a player and then continue on as assistant coach and a head coach. So I've been at Pitt here now 10 years and I'm striving to get better every day. That was my decision 10 years ago when I came to Pitt. Always getting better. And that's our mentality as players that we want to instill in our program. And as coaches the same thing. So we have to take responsibility. Whenever we come up short, I think the most important thing is to take responsibility as a player and as a coach, and we really try to do that. Even if it's -- we talk about even if it's not your fault, you take responsibility. And I think that's an important thing to do. That's what a great teammate is. And I think that's what a good coach is, as well. Q. ETSU, Coach Murry Bartow talked about DeJuan Blair and just how tough of a matchup he is for their team, and the team talked about it, as well. What threat does he bring to your team? JAMIE DIXON: The numbers speak for itself, his rebounding, he's a tremendous kid. He brings a lot of energy on and off the floor. He just is a great -- I think he brings a number of things to our team. But I think he brings a great amount of things to our university and to even our city. I mean, I think he's one of the few kids we've had from the western Pennsylvania Pittsburgh specifically to play for our program and he's really become a big part, a big face of our program nationally. And I think how he's represented our team and how he's represented our program has been great for the city of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh public schools, Schenley High School. He's just a very positive person, and I think he's going to have a great impact in the city with young people when he's done playing with us and when he's done playing professionally. I think he just brings a great amount of character and personality in a good way for a lot of young people to look at. Q. Can you talk about Gary's role on this team? Has he progressed where he needs to be to get some minutes? JAMIE DIXON: You know, he's playing very well. I tell you, the last month he's practiced very well. And I've talked to him about it. He hasn't played as much. At the same time DeJuan has played very well. Tyrell played very well. Sam's playing very well. So I think obviously we're in a position we are because some guys have played very well. But he's really improved in the last month and a half, and with the right matchups I really feel comfortable putting him in there. And his minutes have been obviously not been big minutes, sparingly in some games, but I have seen the improvement. He's done a much better job of finishing and running the floor. I think he's improved dramatically over his career. But, again, I think he's really the last month or two, month and a half, I would say, I think he's really taken the step and that doesn't always show in playing time because, again, that means you're taking DeJuan out or you're taking Tyrell out or sometimes Sam out. And I think we know what those guys have contributed to our program. Q. From a coaching viewpoint, in terms of playing a 16 team, would you rather be playing an unknown or have a team like East Tennessee that's had demonstrable success as a low seed, and therefore you can sell to your team as a real viable opponent? JAMIE DIXON: I think it's good that we can tell them how good a team they are and how good they've had a history of doing some things, making a name for themselves in the NCAA Tournament. It's our first time being a first No. 1 seed. So there's, I think, probably a little difference with those opponents. So we can obviously say how good a team this is. They've got guys they've put up numbers. They have a history. They've played in the NCAA Tournament. Their coach has been to the NCAA a number of times. All those things speak to their program and how good this team is. So I think in a lot of ways it's probably a positive. And I think we haven't -- as I said, we haven't been in this position before as far as a No. 1 seed. But we've been pretty 2, 3, 4 over the years. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
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