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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: MINNEAPOLIS

March 19, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

MODERATOR: We are joined by North Dakota State student-athletes. From my far left, Mike Nelson, Lucas Moormann, Brett Winkelman and Ben Woodside. We will go ahead and begin with questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Ben, how much have you seen of Sherron Collins and how do you think you guys are alike and how are you different as athletes?
BEN WOODSIDE: I have watched him plenty on ESPN, I know that. He is a great player. He can do it all. He's tough at getting in the paint. He can shoot the ball. But yeah, he's a great player.
And similarities, you know, we might be able to shoot the ball the same, but he's going to be a tough matchup for me and I am looking forward to it.

Q. In preparing for Kansas, can you just talk about what stand out most to you? Maybe what impresses you most or concerns you heading into this matchup?
BEN WOODSIDE: They get the ball in transition and they push it up the floor in a quicker hurry. And, you know, if they can force some turnovers, some bad shots, they can get the ball in the open court in a quicker, and they can definitely hurt you.
There are a number of ways that Kansas can hurt ya. That's one thing that we've been practicing again, is the transition. Their transition is unbelievable.

Q. Ben, can you talk just a little bit more about the matchup that you have with Sherron Collins. You said it's going to be a different matchup. Why do you think so? And for any of the other players, how do you expect Ben to put himself in that matchup?
BEN WOODSIDE: I think he's one of the top guards in the nation. You know, he's so good at creating for himself, creating for his teammates. And, you know, he is great. They have the ball in his hands all the time. And good things happen all the time when the ball is in his hands.
It's going to be a tough matchup for me. Like I said, he's a great shooter. He can get in the paint and he distributes the ball really well. So yeah, it's going to be a tough matchup.

Q. For some other players to talk about the matchup?
BRETT WINKELMAN: I know Ben worked hard last season and preseason to work on the defense. He has always been a great offensive player, but this year we all focused on defense so I think he will be up for the challenge. It will obviously be a tough challenge, but he'll come ready.

Q. Mike, you guys got a lot of national attention this week that some experts have gone out and picked you guys to pull an upset. Do you prefer that? Would you rather keep going under the radar and maybe sneak up on Kansas tomorrow?
MIKE NELSON: Definitely. I think we fit well with the underdog role. I don't think there's really any pressure on us coming into this game, I think. It is more pressure on the higher seeds.
So, you know, as far as, you know, anxiety coming in, I don't think we have much. I think we just come out and play our game and play with a lot of energy, a lot of fire, a lot of passion. And I think, you know, it will be a good ball game.

Q. Brett, can you tell us how this game with Kansas compares with other high majors that you played?
BRETT WINKELMAN: Yeah, we've had our experience playing against high majors. Obviously we had some success with that, too. And we know coming in that we're just going to have to play a solid game.
Whenever you have a tough opponent like a Kansas you can't give them points in transition off our turnovers or taking bad shots like Ben said earlier. We have to play a solid game in order to compete and think we are capable of that. But obviously we can't give them any points because we have enough tough shots the way it is.

Q. Lucas, talk about the matchup with Cole Aldrich and have you faced a guy that size this season?
LUCAS MOORMANN: Yeah, he is a great player. We started watching film on that and we watched him on TV quite a bit, too. But as far as guys, you know, his size, his length, we haven't played a ton of guys like that. But, you know, he's a good player. He bangs down there and he finishes well, so we're just going to have to play good defense and try to keep it out of his hands down in the block.

Q. Ben, you come into a situation like this, is all the heat really on the bigger school? You look at Robert Morris is here as well, and smaller schools like that. In that sort of matchup, is all the pressure on the bigger school?
BEN WOODSIDE: I agree with what Mike said, I think so. You know, we're not expected to win this game. It's not like people across the country are putting us over Kansas.
So, you know, overall I think there's more pressure on the bigger school. Obviously, you know, we're happy to be here and we're excited. But I think overall I don't think there is much pressure on us at all.

Q. What about any of you other guys? Do you feel the same way?
BRETT WINKELMAN: This obviously is the one shot for us seniors to be in the NCAA tournament, so there's a little bit of an excitement and maybe want to go out, this is our one shot, so it is our one opportunity to play well here. Maybe a little pressure.
But to be honest, like everybody is saying, the top seed is expected to win, we're not. We're going to go in and have fun and play a good game and make it a close one down the stretch.
LUCAS MOORMANN: I would say the same thing. Two goals at the beginning of the year: to win the conference and to make it to the dance here. And we accomplished both those. Now it's just having fun, I believe.

Q. This year, guys, Kansas has held every one of its opponents under 50 percent shooting from the field. Have you guys been working on anything this week to get better looks to try to make sure you guys get it, have your usual high field goal percentage?
BEN WOODSIDE: We have been doing the same thing the entire year, and we're approaching this just like we would any other game. We're not changing anything, and we're approaching this like other game.
Yeah, they are a great defensive team, but hopefully we can counter that by shooting well and, you know, we are approaching it the same as we would any other game.

Q. I know you guys have talked a lot about this. But the decision to red-shirt and the payoff now, can you just kind of put that into perspective for a lot of people who have never really heard your story?
BRETT WINKELMAN: Yeah. In the transitional year we all came in and decided to red-shirt so that are fifth year we would be eligible for the post-season. And like I said before, it was our one chance, our one opportunity for us seniors to make the dance. And so we took advantage of it and we're here.
Obviously we know that it was a great decision for us to red-shirt. All of us played every year, started basically the whole way through. And we're just excited that we took advantage of the opportunity and we made the dance.

Q. Mike and anybody else, how has this week been for you guys being on the big stage? Fargo is a pretty quiet place and now you are all over the national sports news. How has this week been?
MIKE NELSON: It has just been extremely exciting for not only us, but just Fargo and the community. Like I said, people don't really talk about Fargo too much, so it was just, you know, a great opportunity to put Fargo on the map. And, you know, we've been, you know, soaking it all up this last week. And hopefully we can -- we don't want it to end, so hopefully we can keep it going.
LUCAS MOORMANN: I think it explains it pretty well when you are watching the Selection Show and you see North Dakota State show up and you have a lot more fans than a lot of other teams by far, so that just shows you how much Fargo is behind us and the support we have and it has been great to be in the city of Fargo these past weeks.

Q. Woody, do you feel that maybe the experience factor is one of the things in your corner based on the fact that the Kansas team is talented but you are starting four fifth-year seniors?
BEN WOODSIDE: We played a lot of high majors throughout our entire career. Each year we played a number of different high majors and hopefully that can prepare us for a game like this. I look at USC, they are very similar. They are a very athletic team. Kansas is a very athletic team. Their length, both of the seems have length. It is nice to be able to play a team like that this year.
I think obviously it's going to benefit us. There is no way it can harm us in playing other high majors and I think that experience will definitely help us out.

Q. To the two Minnesota kids, are you expecting a lot of local support for these games?
BEN WOODSIDE: Yeah, I have quite a few fans coming from my hometown. I have a lot of buddies that, you know, have told me they're coming to the game. So I expect a lot of support from people throughout Minnesota and, yeah, there's a lot of friends and family that will be coming.
BRETT WINKELMAN: Yeah. I got a lot of emails this past week saying good luck and we'll be down there supporting you. Some of my friends from high school and around the community that I haven't seen for four or five years that are just excited about it and will come down and support us.

Q. Ticket requests?
BRETT WINKELMAN: Quite a few. A few more than we're allowed. I had to pick and choose. Family first.

Q. Lucas, you mentioned Fargo is behind you. Is the entire state of North Dakota behind you? And would it surprise you if you guys had like 20,000 in the stands rooting for you? What number could you put on that realistically do you think?
LUCAS MOORMANN: Yeah, it's hard to imagine us having 20,000 fans there. With the home games we draw about 4,000, 5,000. But I think the state is definitely behind us. It's kind of the one team they have in the state, there are no pro teams or anything like that. So this is the one team they are always watching.
And yeah, I have heard from a lot of people back home in Dickinson for me, and making their way all the way over to Fargo and then up that are coming to the game and already have tickets, so they are pretty excited.
You know, a lot of people had tickets before we made the tournament, they were going to go down here for a little vacation. Now that we made it, it made it that much better for them.

Q. Talk to me about you guys coming to the Dome after the Bison football team last time here was pretty successful. How can you build off of that and maybe the experience of that trip?
BRETT WINKELMAN: Yeah, that's a nice little fun fact that the last time the Bison played here we got the win, the football team obviously.
But you know, especially for us Minnesota boys, we have been in the Metrodome a lot of times. It's a dream come true on Selection Sunday when they picked us to play in Minneapolis, to play in front of our hometown, and a place that we've came and watched quite a few games. But, we're just looking forward to be being here in front of the home-town crowd.

Q. For Ben. You mentioned seeing Sherron Collins on ESPN. Have you gotten used to seeing yourself on there the last couple of weeks?
BEN WOODSIDE: It's kind of funny that after that Oakland game we saw ourselves on ESPN. And most high majors, you know, they probably turn the channel because they see themselves so many times. I think myself and our teammates, we watched it a couple of extra times just to get a good look at it.
But yeah, it was nice being on there, but it was a little different being on ESPN and some national coverage.

Q. For any of you guys, you've talked about the significance of playing high majors. Is there any special connotation to playing the defending national champions?
BRETT WINKELMAN: Yeah, definitely. Obviously that makes it a little more special if we did pull the upset. We played a defending national champ before, played Florida, and had a pretty decent game down there. This is the second time we will be able to go up against the defending national champ.
And any time you can go against the best, you're excited and it's exactly what you want, to be able to go up against the best and hopefully compete against the best, so we're excited.

Q. Mike, do you want to add to that?
MIKE NELSON: Yeah, they are the defending champs. You know, they are pretty much a whole new ball club than they had last year, but they have a bunch of young, new talent and they have some -- Collins and Aldrich that have been there before.
And we are looking forward to the opportunity to playing such a high-caliber team such as Kansas in the first round.

Q. Mike, when you guys were playing Stephen F. Austin and the game's finally over and you're disappointed about losing, but did you have any idea at that point how many points Ben had? Or would you have any clue that he had 60 points?
MIKE NELSON: I think it was the second overtime I fouled out, and I was able to look up at the scoreboard and see Wood, he was up in the upper 50s I think. So at that point, I realized that he was -- could possibly get into the 60s.
But throughout the game, I had no clue that he had that much. But in the overtimes it seemed like he was getting to the foul line every time he got the ball. So, you know, I knew once I looked at the scoreboard he could very well have 60 and he did.

Q. How does he draw so many fouls?
MIKE NELSON: I think he has an unbelievable first step. He gets in the lane and gets his defender off balance. And, you know, he causes the defense to rotate over. And yet he can also finish at the hoop. And he's got great body control. And I think he does a great job of using his body to block the ball from the defender and he ends up getting a lot of fouls in the lane.

Q. For anyone other than Ben, the coach the other day was talking about just how tough he is and I believe a black belt? Is that correct?
BEN WOODSIDE: That was a long time ago. I couldn't even tell you the first move, how to do that anymore. That was years ago.

Q. Okay. But that being said, your coach was talking about how tough he is. Can you guys talk about his toughness?
BEN WOODSIDE: I guess I'm not that tough, am I? My teammates can't even comment on me (laughter).
MODERATOR: Lucas.
LUCAS MOORMANN: Just not toughness but leadership. He has been a great leader since our freshman year. As a freshman we came in and he tried to bully us around and I guess that's when we really figured it out.
No, he has been a great kid. He takes any challenge. The big guys in the paint, he just goes right in there with them. And he finishes so well with guys with a seven-foot wingspan, it is unbelievable.
Like Mike said, his body control and his ability to finish defines his toughness right there.
BRETT WINKELMAN: To add to that, I have been playing with him six, seven years. We played in the summer league in high school. Whenever he would get a sprained ankle or banged up knee he would go offer to play and say, Coach, I'm ready.
He is always ready to go. He just lives on the floor and always want to be there. So no matter what kind of adversity he faces, he is a tough guy and always wants to play.
MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. We're going to excuse the student-athletes back to the locker room.
Joining us now is North Dakota State head coach, Saul Phillips. Coach, we will go ahead and begin with an opening comment and then take questions.
COACH PHILLIPS: I've talked to just about every media outlet in the country at this point this week. And one of the reoccurring questions I've gotten is what has changed since you have gotten your NCAA bid. And I've had a hard time verbalizing how things have been different since we've gotten the bid.
But I've got something quantifiable now and I want to share this with you. This was my dry-erase board before we made the tournament. You can draw plays up, it works great. This is now. Huh? There is no way I draw up a play on here and it doesn't work (laughter).

Q. It's only half-court, though.
COACH PHILLIPS: Checkmate. Yeah.
MODERATOR: With that, we'll take questions.

Q. A lot of your players talked about not feeling any pressure coming here, all the pressure's on Kansas. Do you get that sense, too?
COACH PHILLIPS: Well, certainly I can tell you right now I was a lot more jumpy heading into the Summit League tournament than I am here. There is a feeling of underlying accomplishment that you bring into this for us, because it is, you know, and we made history. Getting here.
At the same time, you know, we aren't here as tourists. And we're here to play basketball. And I have a lot of confidence in my team. But as far as pressure goes, no, that's long gone.
I just witnessed it a little while ago as we walked out onto the Metrodome floor and saw our guys as cool as they try to be, there was a little wide-eye in there and hopefully that wears off before tomorrow. Certainly seeing Kansas on the front of their jerseys will provide a little bit of a spike in the heart rate as well.
But all that stuff is pretty fun to us at this point. We've had a great time with it to this point, and we just want to keep playing games.

Q. You talked about that you talked to every media outlet in the country the last week and are on the big stage now. Have you enjoyed it? Has it been a pain? How have you looked at it?
COACH PHILLIPS: I had an absolute blast. You know, it's a story at North Dakota State right now that is worth telling. I mean, I think this is a group that has earned every bit of attention they have gotten out of this.
First semester we had a 3.2 GPA as team. They have done things the right way off the court, in the community. And obviously things have gone pretty well on the court as well. So I don't get sick of talking about this team. Anybody that knows me knows that I tend to be a little bit verbal anyway. So this is great.

Q. Coach, the national media's really picked up on you guys over the last few days, some have been brave enough to go out and pick you guys. Would you prefer to stay under the radar until Friday morning? Or would you like all this attention on you?
COACH PHILLIPS: Bring it on. We'll take everything that comes our way. There is zero chance that a team coached as well as Kansas is going to overlook us anyway, it's just not happening. We're going to have to play very, very well. People -- the more -- I was gravely disappointed that President Obama didn't pick us in the brackets, but everything else is fine.

Q. Do you look at any teams that have won in the past? Hampton, Santa Clara, teams that had upsets in the past, do you put your finger on any of those or use those as your examples?
COACH PHILLIPS: Yeah. You know, I've watched this tournament. This is darn near a religious experience for me being here and I've watched as much NCAA tournament basketball as anybody my age in the country, I promise you that. And you look at a situation like Valpo with Bryce Drew. At that time they were in this league, and you look at a player like Bryce Drew and a player like Ben Woodside and I see similarities there as well.
Tony Bennett at UW Green Bay coming from this league and the amazing stories that they made, making runs to the tournament, giving people big scares.
The biggest thing you want to make sure of is that you don't get caught up in changing everything to fit a certain mold. We've gotten so far. We've gotten here doing things a certain way. We can tweak that a little bit, but we can't get too far away from our formula in an effort to trying to emulate one of the great upsets of the past.

Q. Coach, you kind of talked about the national exposure and you have been everywhere this week. And you know, you mentioned earlier in the week your sleep schedule was kind of off. I am wondering how this week is affecting you personally? Are you tired? Holding up?
COACH PHILLIPS: I already made a doctor's appointment for when this thing is over with. There is going to be a week of prolonged illness of flu or cold or something. The heck with sheep. We don't need it now. I hope the guys are handling it a little more normally than I am. And it has been a whirlwind and I love every second of it I wouldn't change it for the world.

Q. Saul, can you compare Kansas to other high majors you played, specifically a USC and Florida?
COACH PHILLIPS: I think you probably have to go this year with USC is probably the most similar that we've seen. Taj Gibson is a dominant center and Cole Aldrich, all their different types of centers. Both teams are capable of putting on defensive pressure that will take you out of what you are trying to do.
Yeah, the biggest thing is when you're playing a high major, there's a length on that court. They're longer, they're maybe a little bit quicker to the ball, and that's hard to simulate in practice. You know, we do things like go against six defenders or shooting drills where you're very heavily contested the best we can. But we don't look like these teams physically, so it's hard for us to simulate what they do.
USC is probably the closest we can come this year. We played at a pretty high level and had a chance, didn't quite get it done. Hopefully we fair a little better this time.

Q. Coach, being that your team does shoot the ball so well and you're playing in a big open space like the Metrodome, how concerned are you? How do you adjust to that, playing in an environment where there is a lot of open space for shooters out there?
COACH PHILLIPS: The original plan was to have them go out to a park outside where there is no background, but you can freeze your hands off this time of year in Fargo doing that, so we decided not to.
You know, these guys played indifferent venues. Nothing that even vaguely resembled this.
Again, I go back to when I was a kid, I shot outside all the time. There's a breeze outside just like the Metrodome when you open up the door, that's good. And certainly the background is different.
So yeah, we'll see. We are did to hit the floor and shoot around a little bit. We can't to get them acclimated as soon as we can. But there isn't anything -- even the Fargo Dome doesn't even begin to simulate the space behind the basket here.

Q. Saul, Collins is going to prove an interesting defensive challenge for you guys. How does he compare with some of the other players that you guys have faced this year? And is this going to be Ben's responsibility or teamwork? Or how is it going to go?
COACH PHILLIPS: It is certainly about team work. You will not stop them one on one. It's not going to happen. Ironically, the guy he reminds me of the most that we have been around this year is Woodside. They do have similar games in a lot of ways.
It has been a real thrill watching Kansas tape over the course of the year to watch him evolve and take control of this team. He is the leader. And you see it on tape. He's the guy that is going to make the play when it matters with and because of that, we have to have more than just one guy ready to guard him individually, we also have to have other people on the court ready to help. Because he is a difference-maker. He is a big-time guard.
And like I say, he reminds me a lot -- he plays a similar role on his team to the role that Woodside plays on our team.
MODERATOR: If there are no more questions, we will excuse Coach. Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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