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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: MIAMIMarch 20, 2009Dino GaudioJames JohnsonIshmael SmithMIAMI, FLORIDA Cleveland State 84 LARRY WAHL: Coach Gaudio with Ishmael Smith and James Johnson. We will open it up and allow Coach Gaudio to have some remarks about tonight's game, and then open it up again for questions for the student-athletes. COACH DINO GAUDIO: I want to congratulate Cleveland State. I thought they played very, very well. We have an incredibly disappointed locker room right now. I thought a big difference in the game was Cleveland State's points off our turnovers with 25 for them, and we only turned them over six times, and I think that was a big, big difference in the game. We congratulate them, wish them the best of luck on Sunday, and hopefully we learned from this experience. We have a young basketball team. We started two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior tonight, and I think we look back on this entire season, these kids won 24 games, finished I think it was 11th in the country, USA Today final poll, and I'm proud of them. We have a bright future. We all understand what we need to do in the off-season. We had a little bit of a taste of the NCAA Tournament and a chance to come back again if we have the right mindset. Q. For one or both of the players: Can you just talk about were you surprised at the way they came out tonight and how you all feel as you reflect on what happened? ISHMAEL SMITH: We weren't surprised at all. They had a really good team. They didn't win the Horizon League Tournament for nothing. We knew the problems they posed to us, and they just played very hard. We played hard. It was a tough loss. I've never felt this way in my life. It's a tough feeling. I hate losing more than anything, and to taste this, it hurts. But I think it's a learning experience. I know as a team what we have to do to get better and I know individually what I have to do to get better. I just think Jackson, he's a heck of a player, and he really had me on my heels the whole time. You learn from things like this. Hopefully I don't make the same mistake the next year. Q. Ish, you guys definitely like to play fast, but did Cleveland State almost make you play too fast tonight at times? ISHMAEL SMITH: I don't think so. I hope the NCAA Tournament on this stage can get us all geeked up and excited to get us going. I didn't do my job, or you've got to push the basketball if you don't have it, then you have to know, we've got to execute and get into something. I didn't do a good job of that. I think I just wanted to play fast, fast, fast, and before we realized we were down too far to kind of run some sets and things like that. Like I said, it's a learning experience, and I'm going to look back at the tape and see what I have to do to get better as a point guard and as a player. Q. Coach, could you speak to the way the season ended as compared to the way it began for your team? I mean, it's not been the kind of ending I'm sure you wanted, not tonight only but coming down the stretch, as well? COACH DINO GAUDIO: Yeah, like I said, we have a very disappointed locker room. We wish we would have done a little bit better in the tournament. We knew Cleveland State was a terrific team. Like I said, we're disappointed. I thought that our kids really played hard. I thought James Johnson did a terrific job of keeping us in the game. He made big shots, he made some big plays for us defensively, he blocked four shots. I think without James, we wouldn't have been in the game. I thought, what was it in the second half, was it six? We cut it to six on Weaver's free throw? And then we got within striking distance, I think Dave made the free throw, cut it to six, and then they went down and hit a three, and then they might have went on another little run there. But give them credit; they made shots, made some tough shots. But like I said, I'm really proud of these kids. We had a very good year. We're 6-1 against Top 50 teams, 3-1 against Top 10 teams. We finished the regular season 6 of 7 wins, our only loss at Duke, start the year 16-0. I'm proud of these kids. I'm really, really proud of them. There's so much for this program to build on. We had 17 wins last year, 24 wins this year. We lose one senior who's a terrific, terrific, four-year player for us, Harvey Hale, and a couple of walk-ons that have done a fabulous job, Bobby Hoekstra and Mike Lepore. The future of this program is incredibly bright because of the guys sitting next to me and in that locker room. Q. They came out and hit all those shots right off the bat, and you guys had said earlier, we don't want to give them any confidence by letting them get off early, and that's exactly what happened. How hard was it to tell yourself, we can get back in this, and they just kept pouring back in? JAMES JOHNSON: Our team always does a great job of keeping each other happy, cheering for one another, and just being on each other's side, so when they went on the big run and there was a little time-out, we stuck by each other, we knew we could climb back in possession after possession. But they were just knocking down big shots. They found a way to get open and hit shots. That was just that. We had the team to get back in the game, and we have the team to come back off 20 deficit, 15 deficit, but they were hitting big shots. We'd make a little climb and they'd make a big shot, we'd make a little climb and they'd hit a big shot. Just all credit to Cleveland State. Q. Cleveland State played a great game, but how stunning is it that your season is over given the kind of regular season that you did have? JAMES JOHNSON: For me to stop playing basketball is never stunning. I'm never happy about not playing basketball. I love these guys as my teammates. I love them like brothers, so going to practice is always fun. Playing in these big-time games is always fun. The season ending is never good. I mean, I play basketball every day of my life, and I'm sure everyone in our locker room would, too. For our season to be over, it's not over. It's what we do in the off-season that's going to help us build this program and make it as strong as we can. Q. Ish, both Cole and Jackson had big games. What was your impressions of their backcourt? And how do you think they got the best of you tonight? ISHMAEL SMITH: They won the game, so I guess they did. We played some really good guards this year, and it's kind of disappointing, for me to play the way I did. I think they did a great job, when we would get rebounds and push the basketball, they really jammed me when I was trying to push it and try to change my direction instead of allowing me to go north and south, and I knocked the ball on my foot a couple times, but they're good players. No one in this tournament is bad players. But like I said, you learn from a lot -- you learn from this. Obviously I started off slow with a foot injury, and I can't be any happier the way we ended. But winning the last six out of seven games, but it's really disappointing to lose these last two. Those two guys are really good players. I wouldn't be surprised if they give Arizona a run. I don't know, but it's really disappointing. They got the best of us, and we came up short tonight. LARRY WAHL: If anybody at this point has questions for Coach Gaudio. Q. Coach, could you speak a little bit about Farouq's game tonight? He made some big plays when you guys needed him to. COACH DINO GAUDIO: He played really well in the second half. I mean, I think he made the adjustment that he needed to make, you know what I mean? I told him at halftime he needs to step up, and he did. I think he made some big plays for us. We just couldn't get stops when we needed them, and our turnovers were so critical to their success. Like I said, we're really disappointed, but I'm really pleased with -- when we look back on the entire season, what we were able to accomplish with a really young group, and like I said, without being too redundant, the future for this program is incredibly bright. Q. The turnovers, you talked about the turnovers a little bit, that 16, 17 a game is pretty normal for you guys. Is that one of the big concerns coming into next season? COACH DINO GAUDIO: Say it again, please? Q. Sure. Another big game turnover-wise. You guys averaged 16 or 17 a game. Is that going to be one of the focus points coming into next season? COACH DINO GAUDIO: I'm sorry, yeah, there's no question we've got to take better care of the ball, no question. Is that what you're referring to, our turnovers? Q. Yeah. COACH DINO GAUDIO: Absolutely. We've got to do a better job at taking care of the basketball. What we're not doing a good job of, and that's on me, that's my fault, is we want to play fast. We want to push the ball. But we've got to have recognition of when we don't have the break, then understanding what we have, and if it's not there, pulling it out and running good a half-court offense. That's a big thing. That's something we have to get better at. That's something I have to do a better job of coaching, and that's on me. But there's no question. To play the way we want to play and to beat who we need to beat, we do need to do a much better job at taking care of the ball. Q. When you guys got on track a little bit in the second half, you looked a lot better, more in rhythm offensively, they kept scoring. How were they able to get in your defense like that? COACH DINO GAUDIO: Like I said, they did a great job of scoring the ball. When we cut it to six, then they went on another little run. I don't know whether it was 11-2, they cut it to six -- Dave hit the free throw, they went right down the floor and hit a three. I thought the kid Jackson was terrific. I thought he was terrific. And we had, trust me, a healthy respect for him. Two-year starter in the Big East, then sits a year, we knew the kind of player he was. He was outstanding tonight. He was outstanding. Everybody that we had talked to and the tapes we had seen on him, the book on him was he was more of a driver than a shooter, he wasn't a good shooter, and he bangs 3-for-4 for threes. We go for the 1-3-1 trap, and he bangs a three. He played really, really well. He had an outstanding game. Q. Do you think people across the country who might not know a whole lot about Cleveland State would be surprised to know the talent level just of the kids on their team? COACH DINO GAUDIO: You know what, I think they got some tough hard-nosed kids. Like I said, Cedric Jackson, we told our kids, he could start for anybody in the ACC. I mean, he started for the Big East for two years. Bullock is a terrific player where he can shoot the three and he can bounce it and put it on the floor. Tandy jumps well, and they have really good players. You know, you beat Butler at Butler, and they maybe should have beat them twice at Butler. They beat Syracuse in the Carrier Dome, go down to WVU and lose by ten in Morgantown. Trust me, we have a tremendous amount of respect for them. Q. It looked like Cole got into Teague pretty well. It looked like he was primarily the defender on Teague. Teague scored ten points and didn't take a lot of shots. COACH DINO GAUDIO: Yeah, he had seven shots and he only took four free throws. He might have taken nine shots, obviously he got fouled on two of them to go to the line. He did a great job. Their ball screen defense was very good. Their ball screen defense was very good, and it bothered us a little bit. It bothered us. LARRY WAHL: Thank you, coach. Good night from Miami. End of FastScripts |
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