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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: DAYTONMarch 19, 2009Kenny HasbrouckFran McCafferyRonald MooreRyan RossiterDAYTON, OHIO THE MODERATOR: Joining us today are Siena student-athletes Ryan Rossiter, Kenny Hasbrouck and Ronald Moore. Questions, please. Q. All you guys, what was your first reaction when you saw you were going to play Ohio State in their own backyard? RYAN ROSSITER: You know, I thought it was going to be a tough matchup. They have a lot of fans coming close around here. They're going to have a lot of support, and it's going to be just like any other game, so it should be a lot of fun. KENNY HASBROUCK: Honestly, I still see it as a road game for both of us because it's not their home floor. We're not used to the court yet, either one of us. They'll just have more fans than us. RONALD MOORE: They're going to have a large fan base coming out to support them. We played a lot of tough teams on the road this year, and I definitely think that going through that during the regular season we'll be ready for it come tomorrow. Q. Ronald, talk about the importance of dictating tempo in this game and how Siena will want to keep it an up-tempo game? RONALD MOORE: Definitely will be very important. It's something that we really look to do every game, not just for this game, but really want to control the tempo, make it a fast game and getting out in the floor and easy buckets, just only limiting them to one shot on the offensive end. Q. Kenny, what have you guys seen from Evan Turner that makes him a tough guard? KENNY HASBROUCK: He's a great driver. He has a lot of moves. He's 6-7 with a strong build. He's just a legit scorer. But if somebody helps up, he knows how to pass very well, too. So he's just an all-around player that we've seen on film so far. Q. Kenny, you hear a lot about experience in the tournament, being a great benefit. How has last year's experience helped this year's team not just getting here but now that you're here? KENNY HASBROUCK: I think we're going to be more focused than we were last year. We won't be worried about the excitement of the first time being in the NCAA Tournament; more just me trying to handle business and making it further than we did last year. We're just going to need to take it one game at a time and understand every possession is a very big possession for us. And I think this group knows that going from last year when we lost to Villanova. Q. Ryan, what do you guys have to do against their size inside, and specifically Mullens when he's in there, and in general, what do you have to do when you're facing a 7-footer who is clearly taller than you are? RYAN ROSSITER: He's a great player. Seen a lot of him on film. And Lauderdale is also a great player. Main thing is to keep him as far away from the basket as possible. Keep them off the glass. They're good rebounders, stay between them and the basket, and try to get the rebound before they do and we should be successful. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. Coach, if you would please begin with an opening statement. COACH McCAFFERY: This is a very exciting time for our players to have this opportunity to represent Siena in the NCAA Tournament. Obviously we're facing a very, very good team with great tradition. And I feel like we're prepared, we're ready, and we're excited. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. Does their zone remind you of anything you've seen this year and what kind of things do you have to do to counteract that? COACH McCAFFERY: It's different than any we've seen. The only other one like it was Holy Cross. Holy Cross plays a similar matchup, but this is -- it's really active and obviously they've got a lot of size, size that we don't typically see in our league, so that presents other problems when you think about Lauderdale and Mullens in particular, and how much bigger they are than our post players. The other thing that's different is their wing people are long and 6-6 and 6-5 and 6-7, and that's the power forwards in our league. So when you go up against that for the first time, sometimes the length can be problematic. You think you're open or you think you can get the shot off or you can get into a gap and then it's harder because of how hard they play and how well they play it, and then because of the size of the players. So hopefully we'll do a good job attacking it. Q. Can there be such a thing as an upset in an 8/9 game? COACH McCAFFERY: I suppose, if the 9 beats the 8, I guess. I found it interesting that when you look at what a lot of people are saying about this game and if you think here we are getting ready to play Ohio State University, one of the best programs in the country annually and had a phenomenal season. But everybody seems to think we have a really good chance. And I think that's great. But at the same time we recognize just how hard that's going to be. We know what we're going up against. I've watched a ton of film these last couple of days, and it's a team that started out the season young and they don't play that way now. They are really playing well. I think you saw it clearly in the Big Ten Tournament. A lot of players doing some amazing things, and they play together. They share the ball. And I think that's why they're winning. So we have our hands full. But I think we'll have a solid game plan, and I think we'll come out ready, having been through it last year, I think we'll be under control and we'll try to do what we need to do to win the game. Q. I don't know how much tape you've seen of Turner, but what are your impressions of him? He's really stepped up his game here the last couple of weeks. COACH McCAFFERY: You look at his numbers and you say, boy, he's a good player, and you watch him. I think the thing that's impressed me about him is he's really a good late-game player. He is one of those guys that he can be quiet for a while and then just take the game over in the last seven minutes, six minutes. Because he does so many things. He's not shooting the ball that much, then all of a sudden he'll hit three jumpers on you. He gets to the rim. He can offensive rebound and put it back in for you. But he also does a great job of finding his teammates. So even if they give him the ball because he doesn't usually start with the ball in his hands but he usually ends up with the ball in his hands, he makes plays for other people. They're the toughest kind of guys to stop. He's clearly multi-dimensional. When you have a guy like that, then you surround him with the shooters they have. It makes it hard to guard this team. Q. People talk about Turner a lot, but how much is Diebler going to present a problem for you guys because he's making 43 percent from 3 and he's 6-6? COACH McCAFFERY: He's really an amazing player when you watch him because he never stops moving. And he's one of those guys, he's way more athletic than he first looks. He's quick, and he's got -- he may have the quickest release that I've ever seen. You think you're on him and it's gone in your face. And he's also got range. I think the thing that helps him is they don't have one shooter -- a lot of times no matter how good a shooter you are it's easy to stop a team that has one shooter. This team doesn't have one shooter. Buford can really shoot the ball, and Simmons can really shoot the ball. And Turner is a scorer, and Hill's playing real well, and they can pound it in if they have to, and they may do it a little more against us than they may against Michigan State. So that gives them another option maybe that they wouldn't utilize at the Big Ten as much. So they have your defense spread out because they have so many different weapons. And Diebler is a concern because not only is he one of those guys that can put up a big number, he can put three or four in a row on you in a minute twenty and blow a game open. He can also be off for 18, 20 minutes and then hit four in a row and blow the game open. So you always have to pay attention to where he is. Q. Have you seen any signs from your players, especially since you guys have gotten here, that they've been to the tournament before that maybe you didn't see last year when it was their first experience going into the Vanderbilt game? COACH McCAFFERY: I haven't seen a lot of difference in terms of how they've approached it. Pretty much the same. Q. Similar to that, though, Coach what kind of confidence carry-over did you see maybe heading into the season versus what the guys were able to do last year in the tournament? COACH McCAFFERY: I do think we came into the season as a confident team by virtue of how our season ended last year with the success we had and then we took a trip overseas in August and played together for a while. So we sort of had this unit together for five games, and had some practices in the summer. And then had, I think, a focus that was necessary because you look at our schedule and you say, wow, that's a pretty tough schedule. The reason for that was I felt like we needed that to challenge this team on a daily basis. We didn't have one game this year that we could sort of mail it in. So I think that helped our focus and it made us a tough road team and we lost those three games down in Orlando, but they were two very good teams and we benefited from that even though we lost those games. So I think this year with the so-called target on our backs every night, they were able to focus and do the things necessary to win in terms of preparation and playing well, especially at the end of the game. And obviously that's what you need in this environment. The game's close, you have to maintain your composure and make plays down the stretch. Q. How important will it be for your team to be able to dictate the tempo in this game? COACH McCAFFERY: I think it's important in every game. We're going to try to push the ball as best we can. Now, that puts pressure on our defense. We have to get stops. We could run on makes and misses, but it's much better to run on misses. If we can get some stops and goes, that would be great. There's no secret in terms of how we play. I would say this against the matchup, I don't think you really want to quick-shoot the ball. You've got to work the ball a little more. So whereas we might try to up-tempo the game as best we can, sometimes you have to take longer to attack the matchup and the score may end up being down in the 50s or 60s just by virtue of how they defend. So it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Q. You just mentioned your team is a good road team. What kind of environment do you expect to see here tomorrow night? As a No. 9 seed did you maybe expect something different from the committee as far as playing Ohio State in their own backyard? COACH McCAFFERY: Well, you know, last year playing Vanderbilt in Tampa, that was one thing. And because we were heavy underdog, I think a lot of people kind of got behind us, and we recognize that will not be the case tomorrow night. There will be a lot of red. Hopefully maybe some of the Louisville people will jump towards us, but you don't know that. Our fans travel extremely well. We'll have a lot of people here in green and they'll be making a lot of noise. But as you look at the building you're kind of expecting it to be essentially a road game for us. That's kind of how we're looking at it, that it's a road game and it's going to be loud. You're not going to be able to make play calls from the bench. Stand up and say something, it's going to be so loud in there that you're going to have to really think and react on the court. And hopefully our experience throughout the year has prepared us for that type of situation. We'll see. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
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