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

March 19, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

MODERATOR: Joining us are the Dayton student-athletes. From my far left, Charles Little, Marcus Johnson and Chris Wright.

Q. Charles, I want to ask you a quick question if I could. What is your guys' impression so far of West Virginia, watching them on film and what do you see?
CHARLES LITTLE: They are a really good team. They are actually similar to us in that they base themselves a lot on defense, rebounding. One of the better defensive teams in the country, rebounding teams in the country.
So we match up. We're pretty -- our focuses are in common.

Q. This is kind of for all of you. I noticed that you guys have a really good record in close games this year. And it seems like most NCAA tournament games are close. What what's enabled you to have success when it's like that, and why do you have so much success with that?
MARCUS JOHNSON: That is just concentration down the stretch. Focusing more, putting the right guys together, getting everybody on one page, you know. That's just a big key, and, you know, big games and games down the stretch.
CHRIS WRIGHT: I think it is key with big games and close games. You know, just down the stretch just making the extra play. Getting the extra rebound in the first half. If you don't go out of bounds, you can save it, get an extra possession.
And taking care of the ball down the stretch and making the extra plays, the hustle plays and getting the extra rebounds down the stretch can help you out a lot.
CHARLES LITTLE: Basically down the stretch, those are the times of the game when you've got to focus on your core principles of what your team's based on. And ours is defensive rebounding. Those are the times when I think our defensive rebounding are at the best, when we get a stop or a rebound.

Q. Marcus, how much of the fact you played 11, 12 guys, how much of an advantage is that as far as wearing teams down and also, staying fresh?
MARCUS JOHNSON: That's a big advantage. We're one of the only teams that play 12 guys. And more recently we got a couple of players down. But, you know, that is just sending, you know, new guys, players that play usually 35, 40 minutes a game. You know, it's just hard on the other team.
Especially playing the defense that we play, the full-court pressure, pressuring the ball on every catch, so it tends to wear teams down a lot faster.

Q. This is for all the players. West Virginia has had a freshman really emerge recently in Devin Ebanks. Do you guys know anything about him?
CHARLES LITTLE: He's a good player. He's really long and lanky. He's really good going through the offensive boards, and we have to put a body on him. He played really well in the Big East tournament. He is playing good ball right now. We have to go out and make sure we can neutralize him.
CHRIS WRIGHT: And he's a real great athlete. He is long and gets on the board. And if you don't cut him out, he can really be dangerous and really hurt you.

Q. Chris, were you recruited by Huggins at all?
CHRIS WRIGHT: Maybe at Cincinnati he came to a few open gyms, but never heavy recruiting. He came to a few open gyms and I remember seeing him there.

Q. When you think of Bob Huggins, what comes to your mind? And the same question for Marcus and Charles?
CHRIS WRIGHT: He is a really good coach. And he gets his players to play really hard. And, you know, I just think he is an all-around great coach. And he had some great players over the past years, even at Cincinnati and at Kansas State, a great coach.
MARCUS JOHNSON: Yeah, to piggy-back on what Chris said, he's a great coach. He has had some pretty successful teams. And that's what I remember from Cincinnati and, you know, good teams that they had there.
CHARLES LITTLE: Piggy-back on both of them. He is a great coach. Actually one of my favorite teams growing up is the one with Kenyon Martin at Cincinnati. That was one of my favorite teams growing up. A great coach. Obviously he has a lot of talent. Michael Beasley at Kansas State, a good coach.

Q. Charles, is Ebanks more effective? Are you going to try to push him away from the bucket and make him catch it squaring up? What do you do from a technical standpoint with him, with 3?
CHARLES LITTLE: He is a lot longer and taller than me. I think I'm stronger, so I will have to try to use my strength on him and not let him use his length to work around me. He is really good at passing because he's so tall. He is good at throwing over his defenders and using his length to tip and rebound. I have to use my strength and body to move him around a little bit.

Q. (Question off microphone)?
CHARLES LITTLE: He is built like Derek Brown. They don't play similar, but he is kind of built like him.
CHRIS WRIGHT: And he is similar to Derek Brown around the basket, keeping balls alive and getting a lot of tips and taps around the rim because he is so long and athletic. If you don't put a body on him, like I say, it will be real dangerous around the rim.
MODERATOR: Marcus?
MARCUS JOHNSON: I don't have anything.

Q. Marcus, getting back to the close games thing again. The fact that you had the success in the games, does it give you confidence every time you get down to the wire and you are within two, three, four points that you guys can pull it off?
MARCUS JOHNSON: Yeah, it gives on our team great confidence that in close games we have, you know, a big game-winning margin. And I think it helps, you know, not only me, but everyone else.

Q. Marcus, you mentioned going deep on the bench to execute the press. What game films have you watched of West Virginia where they were pressed? What kind of effectiveness do you think your press can have against them?
MARCUS JOHNSON: You know, we watched the game with, you know, Cincinnati. They had played Cincinnati and Cincinnati did a real good job of being physical, and, you know, being there on the catch and basically, you know, pushing them out. And not letting them get to the glass.

Q. Would you say your press is similar? You are going to try to deny the ball, those type of things? Can you kind of characterize your press a little bit?
MARCUS JOHNSON: We are not really going to deny the ball. We just want to have every man on the ball, on the catch, just being shallow and trying stuff like that, basically just looking to help out the other teammate.

Q. What have you guys -- you don't get many opportunities at Big East teams or BCS teams and I am wondering if that's a motivation for you going into this game?
CHRIS WRIGHT: I would just say any game is really motivation, you know. Just being able to play the game. But it really doesn't matter the conference. I mean, it's how you play the game. The Big East schools, they was arguably the best conference this year with the teams they had and three number one seeds.
And going into the game, you prepare like you do for any other games. You stay up watching films because it is the NCAA tournament and you have to play your best game in March, but it is just motivation to be able to play in the NCAA tournament and playing against a team like, you know, West Virginia is a good test for us, our defense. And it is a good test for them because it is the NCAA tournament and you have to be on your best game in March.

Q. How does this coming into the NCAA tournament feel than going into the A-10 tournament?
CHRIS WRIGHT: I mean, it's different. In the A-10 tournament is local really. Not everybody is watching it. Now it is the NCAA tournament and one game and you're done for the rest of the season. And the A-10 you might have a chance if your record is good enough to make it to the NCAA tournament. And pretty much the whole nation is watching you, so you have to be on top of your game.

Q. Guys, you've had such a great season, but how much in wanting to build this program as a regular NCAA participant, have you guys talked about what it would mean to get a victory here and to take the next step for Dayton?
MARCUS JOHNSON: No, I mean, we really haven't talked about it much. But we know this is a big thing for our program. Just being in the NCAA tournament. And, you know, tomorrow we're just going to go out there and show the world Dayton basketball.
CHARLES LITTLE: Yeah, I mean, really, like he said, we haven't put too much thought into it. I don't think we get caught up too much into it and worry about it. We need to focus on tomorrow and handle our business and see what happens.

Q. I just wondered, if you guys -- has it felt like an NCAA tournament environment to you or just feel like a typical road trip for you or have you noticed any difference in being the NCAA?
CHRIS WRIGHT: I noticed the difference. When we got on the bus, you know, we came, we flew here. When we got off the bus to come to the hotel and they greeted us right at the door. We had red, white and blue balloons and the experience is different already. You come in and you say welcome, the big NCAA sign. It is the kind of stuff you dream of all the time. And it's different already.
MARCUS JOHNSON: And piggy-back what Chris said, I mean, it's a lot different. You know, during the regular season, you know, even the Atlantic 10 Conference you go to another city and it's kind of different going there, but like Chris said, they have people welcoming you and you have media day and stuff like that. So it's a big difference.
CHARLES LITTLE: It's a lot different just, you know, we are -- we're so used to watching it on TV and just to be a part of that and know that, you know, we're going to get our chance finally. It's a lot different and a lot of fun to be part of. It's crazy. I can't believe we're here. But we have to get over that hopefully by tomorrow.

Q. Just wanted to ask you a quick question about the seeding. You are the lower-seeded, rated 11th. But do you guys view yourselves as underdogs in this role?
CHRIS WRIGHT: I mean yeah, the lower seed, the 11 seed. And West Virginia is the 6th seed, but we don't worry about that stuff.
We don't worry about things we can't control; we just worry about the game and going out and playing the game. If we are the underdogs, so be it. We just have to go out and play.
CHARLES LITTLE: I think our RPIs are about the same. On paper they are not so much higher than us. All that matters tomorrow is us playing 40 minutes, so the seeding really doesn't matter.
MODERATOR: Okay, guys, we'll go ahead and excuse you. We will be joined by head coach Brian Gregory in just a couple of minutes.
We are joined by Dayton head coach, Brian Gregory. We will begin with an opening statement by Coach and take questions.
COACH GREGORY: Obviously, very excited about being here and, you know, we've had three days of really good preparation. And it's just I know our guys are excited about it. We've had a great year so far. Now we are just ready to get out there and compete and play.
This time of the year you have 40 minutes, and that's all you're promised and you just have to make the most of it.
So it's been a good week, and obviously this is, you know -- you talk about a first-class atmosphere. Minnesota does a great job of this. I was here in 2001 in the Final Four, and I told our guys you're going to see what playing in the tournament is all about. That's exactly what we got.

Q. Brian, I was wondering how the Lowery injury has affected your team this year and where are you on that right now?
COACH GREGORY: With his injury and all that, yeah, obviously it's impacted our team. I think this year's team is different than last year. When we had those injuries, it took a month to figure out and the guys were kind of shell-shocked by it a little bit.
This year, our guys responded much differently and just kind of, you know, went back to work and we tried to figure out a couple of different things. How to handle it and do some different things with that point guard position. You know, and I think we've been able to weather that storm.
We still played extremely well defensively. We may not be able to pressure the ball as much as we had in the past, but we have been able to do some different things.
And so to our guys' credit, they saw another challenge come up and I think they handled it extremely well. Obviously it's tough on Rob. He came to the University of Dayton with the idea of helping us get to this spot right now. And not to be part of it is difficult for a young man who's been through so much to get to this point. But he will bounce back. He has been great with our guys. He has been doing a good job of encouraging.
I actually showed him some clips of -- when I was at Michigan State of Mateen Cleaves on the bench when he was hurt during his senior year to show him how much you can still make an impact even without playing. So he should be throwing and waving that towel around on Friday afternoon as long as we play well.

Q. Brian, talk about what Ebanks has given them the past few weeks. And, also, how difficult it is for you to simulate a long athlete like that in practice.
COACH GREGORY: You know, he's a quality freshman that has gotten better. You know, we watched some tapes early in the year just to kind of get a feel for it, because there has been some common opponents. And then obviously the last seven or eight games, you talk about making great improvements as a freshman. He's done a great job.
And you give Coach Huggins credit, because he has let him grow during the year. You cannot -- what we've done is we've used Devin Searcy sometimes to kind of simulate that length and that athletic ability. Obviously Devin plays the 5 for us and Ebanks plays the 4 and the 3 and sometimes the point for them.
And defensively you think you have a layup and he comes out of nowhere and gets a block. And obviously the thing he is tremendous at is offensive rebounding. To be as effective on the offensive glass as he has been this year in that league is incredible. As a freshman, 205 pounds, averaging over three offensive rebounds a game. And it is tough to have our guys understand just how effective he is.
But we've done some different things this week to hopefully get our guys accustomed to how they're going to attack the glass and defend and so forth.

Q. Can you expound on your relationship with Tom Izzo and maybe how much of being around him has impacted the way you run your program?
COACH GREGORY: Well, there is hardly a day that goes by that we don't talk or whatever. I mean, I talked to him last night, talked to him this morning as well.
And, you know, first started out we were assistants together. So you go through some, you know -- you're in that foxhole together working 20 hours a day and stuff like that. And everything we do in our program he's had an impact on, from our defensive philosophy to our offense to our rebounding.
And then, you know, how to run a successful program where academics is important. We're bringing in quality players that are high-character kids is important.
He is never worried about wins and losses. What he's worried about is building the right type of program and the wins and losses take care of themselves. More the process than the results. And I think over the last six years that's kind of what we've tried to do. And we're in a position now where it's starting to take hold.
So, you know, he's just a great -- he is an unbelievable guy. He is an unbelievable teacher, and he's been a great mentor to me.

Q. Brian, you -- how well do you know Bob Huggins? And what are the things that stand out about his, you know -- kind of the tenets of his coaching?
COACH GREGORY: Well, obviously I have a great amount of respect for Coach Huggins. I got to know him a little better when he was at Cincinnati. He was very good friends with Kevin O'Neal who I worked for for two years. So during the summer circuits when I was at Northwestern I got to know him pretty well then as well.
And the most important thing for me in coaching is to get your guys to play hard every single day. And if you do that, you're going to be fairly successful, you know. And that's exactly what Coach Huggins has done.
You know, I look at that team, and people ask what is the difference between the West Virginia teams and the Cincinnati teams? There are some difference in the type of, you know, players obviously. But, they still -- they play hard. They play as hard as anybody around. They pound the -- you know, both sides of the glass. And they share the ball. Really, really unselfish.
You can't do those three things unless they are emphasized every single day and it has to be done by the head coach. So he has put his stamp already on that program.
And, you know, I said it before, I think he takes even more pride in West Virginia being -- of being from there. And I think he really enjoys the fact that when people watch that team play now they say that's a Bobby Huggins' team.

Q. Coach, I noticed that your record in close games is pretty good this year. What do you attribute that to? Does it give this team confidence that in an NCAA tournament, where a lot of the games come down to the wire, you have some sort of advantage there?
COACH GREGORY: Coaching (laughter). That ain't it.
We do have a great toughness with this team and a great confidence. You know, we don't get rattled very easily. So, in those games we've been able to keep our composure.
And a lot of times we won those close games because of our defensive stops, being able to get key defensive stops and rebounds. And then when we needed a basket, we figured out a way to get it. Who is our go-to guy, I don't know. It has been a different guy every game. One game Rob Lowery goes the length of the court. One time Marcus Johnson tips the ball in. One time a freshman, Chris Johnson, buries the 3. It has been different guys, but we always figure out a way to make the plays that need to be made.
Our guys have a little bit of an edge about them, that they, you know, in those situations just compete. And sometimes when you do that, good things happen.

Q. What kind of luxury does it give you to be able to play so many guys? Does it enable you to keep that kind of defensive pressure throughout the game?
COACH GREGORY: No question about it. Playing the 12 guys, as I said from day one, I don't think this is what we planned on doing. It's kind of evolved. And it's been successful. When you lose one like Rob Lowery, and, you know, we lost in a three-game stretch, we lost two out of three at Rhode Island at St. Louis without Chris Johnson, but we were still able to compete and play well during those games.
And going into the A-10 tournament, Devin Searcy wasn't available, Stephen Thomas wasn't available. Those Nicks and knacks that you get when you lose a guy for a game or two hasn't maybe had the impact that it could have if we didn't. That has been one result.
And the other one is we haven't become very good defensively with our pressure because we are fresh usually out there on the court. And it's helped in other areas, too. Our practices, the best practice team I've ever been around because we are so competitive, you know. And we've cut them down and they're shorter now and all that, but the energy level is still very high in practice because of the competitiveness because of everybody fighting.
And to play those guys, you have to have an unbelievable unselfish group. And we have had that where guys have sacrificed maybe a point or two a game for themselves on their scoring average for what's best for the team. That's why I was so pleased when our name was called on Sunday. Because in this day and age, what our guys did this year, you don't see very often, where they do put the team completely in front of themselves.
Two things happened that made it a little easier at the end of the year. We had the most post-season awards in the Atlantic 10 than any team at Dayton with All-Conference Players and All-Freshman and All-Defensive Players. And then you get to tournament bid as well. One of the only four at-large non-BCS schools, now the stuff that you have been preaching pays off. And there's some tangible evidence that what you have been saying does work.
I wouldn't like to be in a position that what we have done and the way we played that there wasn't some tangible evidence that said hey, what you are doing will work and be rewarded. You know, you can keep pushing guys, but if they never get rewarded for it as a unit or individuals, that's tough sometimes.

Q. Coach, could you talk -- I know you talked a little bit about composure. Can you talk about composure for the players since it's their first NCAA appearance for all of them?
COACH GREGORY: Well, you know, I think a couple of things will help. We have a pretty good amount of guys coming back from last year's NIT team where there was the disappointment of being the highest-ranked RPI team that didn't make the tournament, and then making a little bit of a run in the NIT and playing at a couple of different places, going to Illinois state and then Ohio state. I think that might help us a little bit.
You know, and hey, there's going to be some butterflies come Friday afternoon. But I can tell you one thing, the first time one of those guys in -- what color are they going to wear, white or yellow? Anybody know? The minute the first shot goes up and they hit us and we hit them, then they will know it's time to go.
So hopefully we've handled that stuff pretty well so far and hopefully we'll do the same thing Friday.

Q. Do you feel like your players -- you don't get many shots at BCS schools and Big East schools. Do you sense from them relishing this opportunity going into this game?
COACH GREGORY: Yeah. I mean, I think that just adds to playing in this tournament and knowing how difficult it is to get into this tournament now. When you get that opportunity to play, you know, someone from the Big East or the Big Ten or the Big 12, it adds to it. There's no question about that.
I think one of the reasons we've had some success, is just our guys, you know, I think they really respect the teams that we've been able to play. But there's been no fear factor involved at all.
So, it's amazing nowadays with AAU and the summer stuff, all of the guys know each other. Every single one of them played against each other in the past. Now you just go out there and compete and see what happens.

Q. Coach, there was a report that you've agreed to an extension with the school. Can you confirm that and what it does to help you build on, you know, the success that you've had already this season?
COACH GREGORY: We're going to, you know, figure everything out once the season is over. But yeah, we've sat down and I'm just really pleased that the administration feels that, you know, that the way the program is moving forward and the best thing for the program would be to extend that contract out another five years.
And I'm really excited about it. I've said all along this is the place I want to be. This is the perfect fit for me. And now the opportunity to make that type of commitment means a lot to me as a coach, because I do think with the process that -- the progress that we're making, that with that commitment and that continuity we're going to be able to continue to move forward. I think that's really important in a program.
I'm just really pleased that they feel confident in what we're doing, and so yeah, I mean it's great for me. It's great for our program. And I couldn't be happier.
MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
COACH GREGORY: All right, thanks, guys.

End of FastScripts

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