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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2010Devan DowneyDarrin HornBrandis Raley-RossNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: We'll begin with Coach Horn. We'll ask Coach if he will give us an opening comment, just some thoughts on the South Carolina team headed into the Tournament. Then we'll take questions just for the two student-athletes and then excuse them back to the locker room, which is open now, by the way, and then we'll finish up with coach. Coach, if you'd begin. COACH HORN: Obviously, March is the best time of the year if you're involved in college basketball or a college basketball fan. You know, we're no different. Our guys are excited to play. We had a big road win in a game at Vandy on Saturday, where we probably played our best collective game of the year, all things considered. And we're hopeful that we can carry that momentum and that confidence into tournament action. I think our guys, especially our seniors, understand that it's a situation where you have to find a way to win to stay alive one more day. And that's kind of our focus coming in. And we're excited to play. THE MODERATOR: We'll take your questions. Q. Devan, do you feel like it's a good or bad thing that you played Alabama a week ago? I mean, how are you kind of looking at playing them again on a short turnaround? DEVAN DOWNEY: It's not really good or bad because anybody we play, we've had to play them already. It's just looking at their film and learning from the game that we played them, like you said, a week ago. Q. How much motivation is it for you guys, the way that game went? DEVAN DOWNEY: It's not really about that game. It's like I said, we're seniors, and like coach said, it's all about finding a way to win. We know this game could be our last, so that's enough motivation there. BRANDIS RALEY-ROSS: Totally agree with Devan. It's do or die. So we're approaching every game as if it's our last. Q. Brandis, you guys talked a little bit about, I guess, Georgia and Mississippi State won the last two years. Kind of a wide open event. Is that motivation -- not motivation, but is that kind of encouraging to you guys? BRANDIS RALEY-ROSS: It's not encouraging. We just know that, if we could get some wins and get some momentum, I think we'll be fine. We're just going to approach it one game at a time and try not to think about past events. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions now for Coach Horn. Q. Coach, kind of the same thing I asked the players. Do you view it positive/negative that you're playing a team you just saw a week ago? COACH HORN: I think it just is, you know. In tournament time, I don't know that that's a positive or a negative. I think you can look at that either way, and you can look at it either way depending on whether you won or lost. I think the important thing come tournament time, is your team ready to play its best basketball regardless of the opponent? If you don't do that, you're not going to give yourself much of a chance. As we've learned from our team over a period of 30 games and 16 in league play, we have to do that for us to be our best. So our focus is really more on that than worrying about who we played a week ago or who we didn't play. Q. Since we don't see you practice a whole lot, what sort of practice was that for you? Are they pretty loose but focused? That's kind of the way it looked from the sideline. COACH HORN: I think we are. I'm a big believer at tournament time, you have to go out and play. You can't be so loose that you're not focused in on the things that make you good and that you have to do well. But at the same time, you know, this is going to come down to guys making plays on both ends. It always does. I think one of the strengths we've had as a program over the years is that, because of how we play and how we approach it, our guys have done that. So I think, especially coming off the win on Saturday and how we played in that game, our guys are in a good mental state right now and they're excited to play. Q. Darrin, why do you think it all came together at Vandy last weekend? COACH HORN: You know, I think it was the first game in a while where our guys were able to go out for whatever reason and focus on bringing what they can to the table. I think any team needs everybody to do what they can do to help the team win. I think it's especially important in our situation, as we've talked about several times, because we don't have as much margin for error maybe. You know, it was a game Saturday where everybody played really well. Everybody brought to the table what they can bring. When you go through the roster, whether it was a guy who just played a few minutes in a role situation or Devan Downey here or Sam Muldrow or everybody played well. When we do that, we've showed that we can beat the best teams in this league. That was our focus on Saturday, and that's what we want our focus to be coming in for the game tomorrow. We're really trying to build, not only within our team but our program, a mentality that we don't want to live or play would have, should have, could have. You might not make your shot, or you might not play your best, but we want to know that everybody did what they could and it didn't come down to somebody making a shot or somebody not making a shot. Q. Darrin, you've mentioned building a program and that process a lot this year. Given the injuries, how do you gauge the progress so far this year? COACH HORN: I think the progress has been huge. You know, I think you look at given the adversity these guys have faced and our team has been through and what they've been able to do. We've got more wins in two years in the SEC than any two-year period since South Carolina joined the league with the exception of the '97 year when they had 15 wins. I don't know that that's been done a whole lot. Even if you count that, it's the third most ever and the third since '98. A lot of these guys have been part of the East Division Championship. These guys specifically, this year we had our first win over a number one team ever in school history. We beat the top two teams in the league, which nobody else was able to do. Given the adversity and the circumstances we faced, as we've talked about over the period of the season, with the exception of maybe a couple of games, you know, we're in position -- even if you go back to the game at Kentucky with six minutes left, that's a two-possession game. The final margin is 22. We put ourselves in a position to compete every night. Ultimately to me, that's what builds a program. As you get talent in, as you get experience, as you get depth, then some things become easier. You're never going to win big if you don't have that. I think we've made huge progress in that area. I couldn't be prouder of our guys and our team, especially our seniors. Q. Coach, looking at Jackson and Galloway, I guess a lot of people think freshmen would hit the wall maybe a certain time of year. They seem to be kind of coming on strong. Is there something specific that you've seen from them, why they've been contributing as much as they have lately? COACH HORN: I just think they're both special. Those two guys are special. If you want to win, those are the kind of guys you've got to have. They're good players, and they're terrific athletes, as they've shown. More important than that, both of them, all they've ever known is winning, and that's all they care about. You talk about building a program, and that's as important to us as anything. When you have guys that that's their main focus. I can't -- I think every other coach in our league could tell you, if they watch film closely -- I don't know how many other people notice it. There have been a couple of games where Lakeem Jackson has flat out won for us, getting key offensive rebounds at important moments. Ramon Galloway has gone to the line and hit huge free throws late as a freshman. They're just two guys, and all they care about is winning. Because of that, I think they're special. That's why they're so important in our first recruiting classes. That's the kind of mentality that we want to have. Quite honestly, that hasn't always been the case, where you expect to win at South Carolina. We're trying to build that mentality, and those two guys are going to go a long way in helping us build that. Q. Kentucky's got two, maybe three players that are going to be one and done. As a coach, if you had the opportunity, would you take a player that you knew beforehand would be one and done just because of how good he was? And what are the pros and cons of doing that? COACH HORN: To answer your first question, Joe, absolutely. I think, again, the key has to be are they guys that can come in and do what Kentucky's guys have done? By that I mean, are they going to show up for you and produce and be the kind of guys that help your program even though it might be only one year. They're doing positive things in terms of on the court, and they're not giving you issues. From all appearances, outside looking in, obviously those guys have done that, and Cal's done a great job with them. I think, if that's the case, then absolutely you take those guys. The only negative is that maybe you have to, you know, if it's a bunch of them, like it is this year -- and the thing, I think, that maybe has gotten overlooked or not talked about enough is two of those three guys -- all three of them are going to be first round draft picks if they want to be, and two of them could be the top two picks. It's rare to get three that good that are going to be one and done the same year. I don't think you're going to see a whole lot of that. That may be an unusual circumstance that Kentucky's in right now. The negative is you only have them for one year, and you have to, so-called replace them, I guess. But you have to do that for a lot of other reasons. We went into this year thinking we were going to have some guys that we didn't, and they're not in the NBA right now. To some degree, you deal with that anyway. That's where for me it goes back to the power of program, Kentucky has that. They'll get more guys that are good. Some of the guys that they have coming back are still really good. Maybe not picks number one and two, but terrific players. You know, programs sustain that kind of thing, and we want to get to the point where we can do that as well. Q. The games that Sam had in the last two regular season games are totally different. When he's going good, how much does it change what you all are able to be able to do? You talk about everybody playing well Saturday, his play, does that dictate some of that? Everybody talks about how good Devan is, but it seemed like the last two games Sam's play sort of changed a lot. COACH HORN: The thing that has made Devan special to me over two years is incredible consistency. He hasn't always been his absolute best or his dominating best as he can be some nights, but you can pretty much guarantee he's going to make quite a bit happen and get you 15 -- anywhere from 15 to 30 on a given night. I think a real difference in our team and maybe the key has been the play of Sam. When he's really good, we're really good. When he's not as good, it makes it tough for us. Again, we have nobody else that can consistently do what he does. But even that being said, when he's a big key, it still makes a big difference when all the other guys do what they can do. Q. Darrin, I'm wondering at tournament time how important it is to have a guy sort of like Devan who can create his own shot? I'm wondering if opponents are really scouting each other at this point, and does that put added importance on a guy not doing it on his own, but being able to create? COACH HORN: The most important thing at tournament time is having a great guard that can go make a play. You ask -- this is just my opinion. If I've got a choice between a Devan Downey and a dominant big man at tournament time, I'm taking Devan Downey because so many games come down to making plays and being able to go on your own. Watch our tournament here the next few days, watch the NCAA Tournament. Terrific coaching, great preparation, all of that. Even with the best executed play, somebody's got to make a shot, make a play, finish, get fouled, do something. And the best way to do that is to have a guard that can make that happen. So I think that is crucial. You know, I've said all year long, if it's close, inside four minutes, and we've played well enough to get ourselves to that point, we're going to have a chance because we've got a guy like him. It happens to be Devan Downey, who's terrific and special, of course, but I think anybody that has a guy like him, if they could keep it close down the stretch, they're going to have a chance to win the game. Q. Just going back to Sam, what do you think the differences are in those games where the light's on or the light's not on. Do you notice it very early on in the games? COACH HORN: I think it's just Sam. I think it's maturity. I think it's confidence. The way we notice it is just activity in general. You know, what he's doing on the glass. Is he blocking shots? Is he getting to the offensive glass? You know, not necessarily whether he's scoring or knocking down shots, but just the activity and the way he's going about it. You know, a lot of times it's pretty easy to see that early on. One of the things that I've been really proud of Sam with this year is that, when he hasn't played well, he's always responded the next time out and always responded to a challenge. I think that's a great quality to have as a player. I think where we're going to see huge strides is when he catches himself doing it, maybe during the course of a game, and corrects it himself. I think we're going to see that throughout this tournament, and I think we're going to see it next year for sure as a senior. Q. Coach, the events you played in back in November -- I know it was a long time ago -- does that help at all having these guys go through three games in three days potentially? Does that help for this tournament? COACH HORN: I think it's something that you can talk about and can reference. I think the bigger thing is our team, our program, the way we play, it's ultimately designed for tournament play. Whether we like it or not, success in this business and in this game is define by how you perform this time of year. So everything that we do ultimately is to put ourselves in position to be our best in March. Whether it's how we play or how we approach things, and I think that experience is something that we can talk about. But hopefully it's our mentality as a whole, and it's the way we're designed to play. Our guys know that games come down to making plays on both ends and not just what a coach calls or how something is always executed. Comes down to guys making plays and never quitting and having both the confidence and the freedom to do that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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