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

March 19, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

MODERATOR: We're joined on the dais by Robert Morris student-athletes. From my far left, Rob Robinson, Jimmy Langhurst, and Jeremy Chappell. We'll go ahead and start taking questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Jeremy, if you can just tell those of us who don't know Robert Morris very well what it's like playing there. From what I understand, you're a little bit in Pittsburgh's shadow. And are you looking forward to this? Is it finally an opportunity to put some attention on your school and the program?
JEREMY CHAPPELL: I think this is going to give the school a lot of attention. We are playing under Pitt and Duquesne's shadow, but in the same sense we are giving Robert Morris a name nationally.
And, you know, this is a great opportunity for us. And, I mean, we have been working hard all season just for this opportunity just to give Robert Morris a name. And I think this is going to help us out a lot.

Q. Jeremy, when you look at Michigan State and how fast they play, how big of a challenge is that, particularly with Kalin Lucas?
JEREMY CHAPPELL: We know that they are a particularly fast team, a fast-breaking team, so we'll have to run back on every possession. Transition D is a must, so after every shot we'll have to sprint back. So it's going to be a big task, but we have to in order to win.

Q. Jimmy, we were talking to Raymar who said that you guys were AAU teammates together. And Raymar says he has nothing but love and we respect for you. Can you talk a little bit about Raymar and what he has gone through this year as far as all the illnesses and really not having the season that we thought he was going to have?
JIMMY LANGHURST: The same way, mutual respect. In high school, yeah, we played together for two years, and he's just a great athlete. I mean he's 6-8, athletic, cat-quick.
He was our center, so, you know, we played against a seven-footer and he had the advantage of taking them outside on the perimeter. And I think that's what worked well with him right now at Michigan State where he can play the 3, the 4, even the 2, and he can guard all of those positions.
And him being sick and everything, I think that -- I mean, he's trying to get in the groove now. I mean, late in the season, as to what he was last year, so I think they're looking for him to do a little more this year.

Q. What was the name of the AAU team?
JIMMY LANGHURST: The King James Shooting Stars.

Q. I hate to tell you this, but he said this in jest. He said he was the best player on the team. Do you have a reply for that?
JIMMY LANGHURST: He was. I am not going to argue, he was (laughter).

Q. Jeremy, you look at these 2-15 games, is the heat really on the No. 2 team? If they win by 20, they are supposed to; if they lose, they kind of look bad. And, also, have you looked back at any of those at Hampton or Santa Clara or any of those other 15 seeds that have won and derived any motivation from that?
JEREMY CHAPPELL: I've heard of Hampton -- 15 seed beat a 2 seed, so it is possible. And in the sense that the 2 seed does have a lot of pressure because they're supposed to win. So it is kind of looked upon if they lose, it was bad. They played bad. And if they win, they were supposed to win.
But, you know, we're playing to win, so, you know, the 15 seed, we win, and it is not because they played bad; it is because we played good. And, you know, in the same sense, the 15 seed beat a 2, it is not looked bad upon by them, the 15 seed played really well.

Q. How about the other guys, same question?
JIMMY LANGHURST: Yeah, I think the 15-2, those are just numbers. Like Jeremy said, this is our business trip. We're going to treat it like any other game. And I think yeah, yeah, obviously the 2 seed is supposed to win, but there has been upsets.
ROB ROBINSON: I feel the same way. Like we are playing to win. We didn't come here to just have fun, we're trying to win. And there has been upsets, and we're just trying to make another one.

Q. Yeah, Rob, how has Coach Rice prepared you for the size that you're going to face underneath and the bulk of the Michigan State players?
ROB ROBINSON: He prepared us the best way he could, like just going to have to fight, fight as much as we can. It's going to take all five of us, like a team be silent, but it's going to take all five of us at all times.

Q. Is this also a game that you can show the world that, you know, how far you've come as a D-I player?
ROB ROBINSON: Definitely. Definitely. Like our whole team probably like not recruited by the top teams, so this is our time to make our national name.

Q. Jimmy, as you've been playing at Robert Morris, it is a commuter school and so you probably don't get as many fans as you like. Has there been times where you thought to yourself, jeez, when are these guys going to come out, and it certainly would be nice to be playing in front of a lot more? And I guess as a follow-up to that, do you think that a good performance tomorrow could help kind of get those guys out a little bit more?
JIMMY LANGHURST: Yeah, definitely every year it's like that. Like you say, it is a commuter school. We have late games, so some of those kids go home.
But, you know, as the season goes on, we get more and more fans. If you get wins, I think people are going to come. So I think, you know, that's how it's been the last two years. And once we started getting into the tournament, we had a lot of fans and it was our spring break at school, and it was like, man, we just hope people come out and we actually had the best crowd that we ever had in like my three years there. So, yeah, it was good.

Q. Transition has been one of the things you do well. That's what Michigan State does well. Do you mind if this gets into a running game? Or is that not in your best interest?
JIMMY LANGHURST: Yeah, we know it's going to be a transition game. We like to get up and down. And they do too at times. And I think that was one of our keys, probably going to have to contain Lucas, you know, on the fast-break. And we won't mind if it's an up-and-down game. That's the way we like it.
ROB ROBINSON: Yeah, our coach prepared us for a transition game. That's one of the biggest keys to the game. We started off practice the other day, had to do transition defense. And we never did that at the start of practice before, and it is just one of the biggest keys right now.

Q. Jeremy, when you accomplish things that you do at a lower level that Robert Morris is, do you ever think of how it would translate to a Big Ten school or an ACC school or Big East school? And when you've played -- I know you played Pitt and schools like that, do you ever think how you would blend in to play a whole year of that schedule?
JEREMY CHAPPELL: No, it wouldn't happen, so I didn't get recruited by a big school, so I chose Robert Morris. That was a perfect fit for me. So, you know, I did what I did in my career, and, you know, it was the best for the team. And, you know, I just played my hardest every game. It doesn't matter who we play. So whatever I've got to do for the team to win is what I...
MODERATOR: Okay, guys. Thank you very much. We'll excuse you back to your locker room.
Joined on the dais by Robert Morris head coach, Mike Rice. We will begin with questions.

Q. Mike, can you just talk a little bit about what it means to this program to be here and to maybe have a chance at least to get a little bit of attention on yourselves and step out of Duquesne-Pittsburgh kind of shadow?
COACH RICE: Sure. It means everything to low- to mid-major schools. The success and publicity we had for the last seven days, you can't buy that press and publicity.
Again, the positive light in and around western Pennsylvania. You know, you have the Steelers and then you have Pitt basketball which has been so dominating, you know, this season. To get publicity, and you know, around, to build a program.
And that's what -- I heard the question about our fans. It's going to take a while. We haven't won here in 18 years -- excuse me, we've won, we just haven't made postseason tournaments in about 18 years here. So I just think there's a process of building. And to be in the spotlight, to be on the board, so to speak, on Sunday.
We were just thrilled and excited, even though you know, the opponent happened to be Michigan State, you are still just excited about being a part of it all. Being a part of the tradition and how enormous this thing has become.

Q. Mike, for those of us who haven't seen Jeremy play, can you talk about his game and what he has meant to your program?
COACH RICE: He does it all. He is one of those guys who is just versatility you may not find in the Big Ten or a Big East because he's our leading rebounder, our leading assists, our leading scorer. He does everything for me. He guards 1 through 4 defensively.
You know, at a time where you have the point guard and he's going to make all the assists and you have a lockdown defender or a post player, you have a spot-up shooter, he's versatile. He does it all. He can score from the perimeter. He can go and take guys down in the paint.
So he's pretty much, again, besides the scoring, he's our best defender. And does all the little things for us.
So, yeah, he's pretty valuable. He's been -- his maturation, how his game has developed over the last two years has been incredible.
He became -- he went from just a good athlete who can shoot the ball to an all-around player who's developed a winning edge, and that's certainly rubbed off on our players. And that's why I'm sitting up here speaking to you today, because he has really willed us to win.

Q. Mike, at a school like Robert Morris, you are probably not going to be able to get a lot of the, you know, one-and-done kids, the really upper-echelon kids --
COACH RICE: We're working on that, but finish your statement.

Q. When you are out on the recruiting trail, particularly a school that is kind of overshadowed in Pittsburgh obviously by Pitt, what kind of kids are you looking for and how do you go about selling them on Robert Morris?
COACH RICE: Ones that will chew off their arm for a victory, a win, and we look for guys who are basketball junkies who just want to get better and understand that it takes hard work. Look for talent. Look for an aggressive type of player.
And how we sell them is on success. We talk about, you know, off-court success, academic success. And then what most importantly what the young student-athletes want to hear is about how they are going to develop their games.
And, again, my first line to a lot of our prospective student-athletes, you didn't dream about coming to Robert Morris University. It's not your dream to be called into the starting lineup and hear Robert Morris. But, that being said, we can make you successful. We can do this for you and develop you. And not only academically, but on the basketball floor, too.
So having this success helps us in cities like your city, New York City and Philadelphia, New Jersey, North Jersey. And we've done very well the last two years because of people want to go and play against the big-time because they think they were -- everyone thinks they were under-recruited. And to show themselves what they can do against them.
So, yeah, I think this will help recruiting considerably next couple of years.

Q. Do you talk about -- the pressure is, you would think, on Tom and on his team because they are --
COACH RICE: Really? Interesting theory there.

Q. Do you talk about the 15 seeds who have won in the past? Hampton and Santa Clara and those?
COACH RICE: They know it because it's on TV every day. No, I don't talk about beating Michigan State. I really don't. I didn't talk about the upset. And I don't talk about out-rebounding them because -- are you kidding me? I talk about playing every four minutes as if it were your last four minutes. I talk about every time a shot goes up, rebounding and giving an effort like you have never given before.
We are going to play in four-minute segments. When you're in the NCAA tournament, you get like a half hour every four minutes for the TV timeouts, so we are going to discuss that kind of focus. And those five guys are on the floor, whatever they need to do at that four minutes to compete, to take care of the ball, to execute, to rebound, to transition defense. They have to do it as hard and as focused as they have ever done in their lives.
And if we can compete enough four minutes or happen to win a couple of four minutes, then yes, then I think later on in the second half somewhere if we're in shot of the mighty Spartans, then I think the pressure does fall back on Michigan State being a higher seed.

Q. You have been with Pitt at neutral sites and you have been with St. Joe's. Do you find that people who don't have a vested interest will cling to a team that they may have not heard of? Or a team that they are not accustomed to? Do you think that you can sway people who just show up to watch basketball if you keep it close?
COACH RICE: I know we are going to get to USC and Boston College fans certainly cheering for us. But, no, it happened to us when I was at Pitt when VCU came back. We were up 19 and they came storming back to force an overtime, and Levance Fields was on the free-throw line to win the game and all of a sudden it felt like a VCU home court because of all of the fans just rooting for the underdog.
And hopefully, again, if we can keep it close and compete and do all of the little things that we will have to do to just compete with Michigan State, that, yeah, I would hope that I know the rest of the schools would surely rather see Robert Morris than Michigan State opposite them.

Q. Hey, look into the future. Can you predict, or do you have a sense of feeling how your team's going to play tomorrow from this past week of practice?
COACH RICE: Certainly not from today's practice I can't, no. They will be flying around. They will be energetic. There will be an intensity about them. Do I think that they're going to have the jitters and nervous energy? Sure I do. I just hope it doesn't cost us transition, easy buckets the other way. I hope it doesn't cost us, you know, unnecessary fouls or quick shots.
They're going to do it just because of the moment, how big the game is. And hopefully the name Michigan State or Big Ten doesn't have that big of an effect on them. Just because they have done -- you have been in University of Pittsburgh at Miami, at Xavier.
So, no, I don't. Because this is a loose bunch and I like them loose. Because that's the way we play. We play with a freedom. We play with an intensity and energy. But if I could have a forecast -- no, I don't. Because this group is a very interesting group.

Q. Mike, what are your impressions of Raymar Morgan from watching some film?
COACH RICE: What a beast. Unbelievable. It's unfair that he can be that athletic, that quick, and that skilled with that body. It's just, you know -- and watching him last year. Again, I am a college basketball fan, so I watched Raymar Morgan last year and did expect probably more of a breakout year, and really didn't follow why he wasn't as good as he was this year.
And, again, watching eight or ten films that we did, understand about the walking pneumonia, the sicknesses, all the type of stuff that kind of slowed him down. I think he's a young man who, boy, plays the game the right way. The intensity that he plays with, the unselfishness. He'll get it back, and hopefully it's not Friday night, because he certainly has every advantage over every single player we put on him.
Again, it can't be a matchup with Jeremy Chappell versus Raymar Morgan. It has to be Raymar has to go through three guys if he wants to get to the rim if we are going to be successful on somebody like Raymar Morgan.

Q. So, Coach, this practice tonight, what do you want your players to get out of this environment right now in about five or ten minutes?
COACH RICE: The same thing -- I practiced at the Palace of Auburn Hills before we played Central Michigan. I never go to a shoot-around, and we don't shoot-around in the morning. We are actually tomorrow morning where no one else in this whole field is. Hopefully we get the nervous energy out. Hopefully we get -- stop looking around at this is where the Vikings play, the Steelers, whatever it is, could be any number of interesting things popping through an 18- to 22-year-old brain.
Hopefully they calm down and understand why they are there. We talk about it is a business trip and to focus on what you have to do to be successful during that trip.

Q. Since you identified yourself as a college basketball fan, only four at-larges from the non-big six schools I guess this year. A couple of them are out already with BYU and Butler. Do you fear a little bit now that you're out of the big six, that the tournament will lose a little bit of its charm with fewer teams from a different level or, you know, that have less acclaim getting a chance to play in the NCAA tournament? And does the performance today hurt the cause for the future?
COACH RICE: You would think it does. I just think it's -- it goes year by year. I just think it was a down year kind of for that team. Whether it's balance in the Missouri Valley or the Colonial or whatever league you want to label a mid-major. I just think it was one of those years where you didn't have, you know, those four, five number of teams that usually get in.
And hopefully, again, because I do think it is a better tournament when you see those teams and you see those teams, they make the runs. The George Masons. Last year was Kentucky, whatever you have it. I think it makes for a better tournament, a tournament now people can -- just the general sports fan. Somebody who doesn't maybe follow a BCS conference and just wants to -- really pays attention to college basketball for one month out of the year, they get behind those stories and I just think it's important not to lose touch and not to have, you know, a BCS-type of tournament. This is a tournament where 347 teams have a possibility of making it, and I think, you know, it was a little down year.
MODERATOR: Okay, if there are no more questions, thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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