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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: PHILADELPHIAMarch 19, 2009Jeff AdrienGeorge BlaneyA.J. PricePHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA Connecticut – 103 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Connecticut student-athletes and Coach George Blaney. Coach, we'll ask you to make an opening statement, please. COACH BLANEY: Well, I just finished telling the team that Coach Calhoun prepared them for this kind of performance. He makes them work so hard, and if you go back through his history, that's why all his players are so good. When they get to the pros, they even get better, because he teaches them how to work. Right before the game I told this team that they were prepared to play well, and that's what we kept saying during the game, that we were gonna push the ball hard, we were going to play defense, and we were going to play hard. And they did all three of those things right from the get-go. We just talked to coach on the phone. He is in the hospital. They are going to keep him overnight, but he expects to be with us very shortly. But, again, it was his preparation that allowed us to play this way. And I know we scored a hundred points, whatever we scored, but it was an unbelievable defensive display. Our hedging on the pick-and-rolls, our rebounding, and obviously our shot blocking were just absolutely sensational. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions to the student-athletes. Q. A.J. obviously you're going to face stronger competition starting a few days from now. Can you tell us what a confidence boost it is to start this way? A.J. PRICE: I think it's a great confidence boost. We heard so much about us not winning a post season game. We wanted to get the monkey off our back, perform well, the way we did today. We can move on from here. We know Saturday is going to be a tough test, and we're up for the challenge. Q. When you say, We talked to coach, was it just you? COACH BLANEY: No, we all talked to him. We had him on a speaker phone. He talked to us. Q. Did he watch the game in the hospital? COACH BLANEY: I think he kept talking to Kyle Muncy , our sports information director. I don't know if he watched it all. Q. Could you share with us what did coach share with you after the game? A.J. PRICE: He told us it was a great performance. We did a great job defensively. We scored the basketball in transition the way we should have. He was upbeat about everything, told us he couldn't wait to join us again. We can't wait to have him back. Q. A.J., stretch in the first half where you hit three-threes in a minute. Can you describe what you were thinking about at the time, if anything? A.J. PRICE: I was just thinking about getting one to go down for me. Couldn't hit one, it seemed like, to start the game. Once I got the first one, I just got into a rhythm. I'll a rhythm shooter. Got myself going after that. I think my teammates did a great job of pushing the ball in transition and getting the ball to me where I was able to make a play. The shots started going down for me. Q. A.J., when you get on a roll like that as a team, do you find yourself surprised by just how much it had gone out of control in terms of in your favor offensive-wise? A.J. PRICE: No, I mean, that's how we practice. We really do practice like that. We're able to score in spurts as a team. When we all get clicking, five guys playing as one, which has been our motto all year long, that seems to happen for us as a team when we rebound the ball, play defense the way we played defense, push it back on the offensive end, it's easy to get easy baskets. We're getting stops as well because here a good defensive team. It seems to happen like that for us. Once we get rolling, we seem to feed off each other's energy. Q. There was some question after Sunday. Do you feel justified that you guys did get the 1 seed? A.J. PRICE: We felt justified throughout the whole process. When we saw we were a 1 seed, we felt like our body of work, everything we'd done all work, we deserved to be a 1 seed. I think we answered a lot of questions today about whether we should be a 1 seed or not. Q. A.J., the release said y'all didn't find out that coach wasn't going to be there until you got here today. What was going through your mind when you found out he wouldn't be coaching today? A.J. PRICE: We were obviously surprised about it. Not thrilled that he wasn't with us. I mean, he's our leader, our general. We were just anxious to know that he was okay, going to be okay and be able to come back later in the tournament, which he is going to be with us Saturday. COACH BLANEY: A.J. was afraid I wasn't going to start him (smiling). Q. Jeff and A.J., what was it like to not have Coach Calhoun on the sidelines? JEFF ADRIEN: It was very unfortunate coach couldn't be out there. It was a little different. You usually hear somebody yelling at you, in a motivational way. But, you know, coach, he does what he does, he motivates players. But we had Coach Blaney today who did a good job of motivating us and got us really pumped up. Definitely coach prepared us very well for this game. So it was a little different. A.J. PRICE: I think we would have been more fired up if coach was here. Chattanooga actually got off easy, I think, by coach not being here today (smiling). THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. We'll continue with questions for Coach Blaney. Q. How tough is it on you when you find out just before the game that you're going to coach it? COACH BLANEY: How tough is it on me? We've got a team that's been ranked No. 1 in the country. We won 27 games. We're in a gym. We're playing a game. It's fun. Q. I know this is still a fluke situation, but do you go on right now with the idea you'll be coaching Saturday or Coach Calhoun will be back or you haven't gotten that far yet? COACH BLANEY: We haven't gotten that far. In talking to him, he just said, I'm looking forward to being back with you. So I'm assuming that he will be back with us. But, you know, we'll just take it day to day, hour by hour, uh-huh. Q. In '04 when this happened, it was kind of quirky, a sports drink. I won't say it's funny. The uncertainty of this is... COACH BLANEY: I know very little about it because he called me about 11:45. I was getting ready to come over and scout the Texas A&M game. He called me and just said, I'm not feeling well. I might not coach. And then Dr. Anderson called us back when we were driving here and said, He's not going to coach today. We're just going to keep looking at him. He just feels under the weather. So then we went and played the game. Then I talked to him just very briefly with the team. So I'm sure I'll talk to him tonight and then see where we go from there. Q. I know you're not a doctor -- COACH BLANEY: By the way, he asked for stats and everything, so... Q. That's an encouraging sign. I was wondering if you could share anything more with us about his condition? There's talk he may have been dehydrated. COACH BLANEY: I think people assume that. I have no idea. I really don't. I don't. It would be unfair to say anything without any knowledge. I mean, that's -- we'll put out a statement as soon as we find out really what's wrong. I think that's the issue. Q. Can you talk about Craig's defense on McDowell. That was a key for you going in. COACH BLANEY: You have seen coach's teams play for so many years and have witnessed, you know, great defensive players. Ricky Moore, Taliek Brown, those kind of guys. That was one of those kind of performances in my mind. I mean, he did not allow -- he did not allow McDowell any room. I mean, I've seen five games of Chattanooga. That kid can play. He's really quick. He can shoot it deep. And he takes 10 threes a game, and shoots 43 percent. So, I mean, it was an incredible job, I thought, by him. Q. Aside from a measure of confidence, did you see things today that encouraged you as you go forward to play Texas A&M? COACH BLANEY: We've been telling this team all along that they're really good. And I think they've had some trouble with that. I think they haven't believed as much as we've believed. And so I think, from a confidence standpoint, that does get a little -- the first game of the tournament, it gets that off their back a little bit and maybe we can relax and play the kind of basketball that we're really capable of playing. I thought Hasheem, I mean, he was just immense inside, and he was calm all day. He didn't get involved in a lot of things. He just played really solid, solid defense, and made the right plays almost every single time down. Q. You said you got a look at Texas A&M. What were your perceptions on them? COACH BLANEY: Really strong. Really physical. I mean, I think they made their first 10 shots of game or close to it. Good size inside. They want to run. I think they're a really good team. I think they've beaten some good people. But they certainly have physical athletes that will give us a go, for sure. Q. How does your staff handle the scouting of the next round opponents? Did your being pressed into service dictate who would be in charge of scouting the next round opponents? COACH BLANEY: I've seen both BYU and Texas A&M, again, four or five times each. But I had Pat Seller and Justin Ivanovic both scouted the first game tonight. We'll go over some of that tonight. We'll have a film clip we already have together. We'll add to that from that game and then go from there. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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