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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2010Wayne ChismBruce PearlJ.P. PrinceNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: We're ready to continue with Tennessee. We'll ask coach Pearl for his thoughts on the Tennessee team headed into the Tournament. And we'll take your questions first just for the two student-athletes. So coach. COACH PEARL: Thank you. We're excited about being in Nashville for the tournament. It's a festival of the regular season. I think all the teams coming together and being in one venue, the fans, the media that follows them, just everybody, you know, in the SEC family coming together. And competing and coming out with a tournament champion. So we're very excited about being in Nashville, Tennessee, for this. Probably for the first time all season, I would say that we -- one of the things that we've been dealing with is how are we dealing with success in the sense that we've won five out of our last six games. We defended pretty well. We rebounded pretty well. And we shared the ball. We feel good. Our kids do feel good about the way they're playing and how we've played as a team. And so now we have, you know, LSU obviously tomorrow, and we know the road ahead if we're fortunate enough to advance. THE MODERATOR: We'll take your questions for either of the two student-athletes first. Q. This is for both players. Compared to last year going through a tournament at this time, do you feel that you have a better chemistry and a better sense of who you are and how you need to play? WAYNE CHISM: Last year we had a lot of chemistry last year. The team was still the same this year, but we just had some mishaps around the team. But we're still the same, and nothing changed about this team. J.P. PRINCE: I just had -- I think we just matured as a team. I think the chemistry has always there. I think now we're just a year older, and some of the freshmen, they got to see a lot of things they didn't see last year. It was their first time seeing it. It's not the new factor anymore. We're ready to come here and handle business. We know what it takes to win here, and that's all we're trying to do this weekend. Q. Wayne, how do you judge the importance of this tournament? I know another program in the conference kind of downplayed the importance of the SEC compared to the NCAA. Where does it stand for you? WAYNE CHISM: It stands to be -- it's real good to be in this tournament. Making it -- being in it four years in a row, not making it, it's a great tournament to play in. You play in it so long that you know what it takes to come to the championship game. You've just got to have a lot of focus, and that's what our team is doing. We're focusing a lot this time. J.P. PRINCE: It's just the grind. It's a long weekend. I think it's different because, you know, five games in four straight days. It's just a new challenge. But I think coach has prepared us well. We've done good in practices. I think we're ready. Q. For both players, you guys had a close game in Baton Rouge earlier this year. Can you talk a little bit about what you remember about that night, what didn't go well, what did go well, and how you guys have changed since the first meeting with LSU. WAYNE CHISM: Playing at LSU was a close game. They always play good at home, and it's always a close game when you play LSU at home. In that game, we played very good defense against their team, and they did a great job of shooting the ball, but especially in that game. So this game we're coming out being very focused, and we can't come out like we did in that game and be like that type of game. We've just got to come out and be ready to play against those guys. J.P. PRINCE: They're a well-coached team, they always play us well. They do a great job of slowing the game down and getting the shots that they want to take. I think it just comes down to our defense is the most important thing. Q. You all have gone through a season where you had some suspensions, a dismissal, and all that. What's it like now to be -- to have virtually everybody back and make the adjustments? WAYNE CHISM: It's just the same. I mean, we know sometimes you have to go through a lot of things in your career that a lot of people get dismissed. But at the same time, you learn to grow from that, and this team did a great job of that, they grew from it. But at the same time, when they came back, we added some more weapons back to the team, and it turned out to be a very good thing. We did a great job playing without those guys too, and we're doing a good job playing with them. J.P. PRINCE: It was just a learning experience. It was something that taught us a lot. It tested our character as a team. I think it brought us closer together as a family. Something like Wayne said, we grew from it, we matured from it. Coach did a good job of keeping our focus from that instance on, and I think we've done a great job of building on that. Q. J.P., Coach Pearl has made it a priority to play in Nashville every year since you've been in Tennessee. Is there a comfort level in this building now after having played here a number of times? J.P. PRINCE: Most definitely. We're confident in this building, we've played here before. So it's not a new arena to us since we played here the past three years. You know, it's not like a home away from home, but we enjoy our fans can come. It's not far from Knoxville. Just to have the Tournament in Tennessee is a big thing for us because it's someplace our fans can come, and they're not far away, from both sides of the state. Q. J.P., with you're so close and your fans being here, do you think you can have more of your fans than Kentucky has of theirs? J.P. PRINCE: I'm not sure. I hope -- our fans are pretty competitive. I'm sure they'll try to outdo Kentucky in whatever they do. I'm waiting to see. We won't know until game time. WAYNE CHISM: What J.P. said. I mean, Kentucky, the way their team is playing right now, there's going to be a lot of Kentucky fans right now. And the way they're ranked right now, it's going to be packed. So even though our fans are not even far from here, it's going to be a good time for us. COACH PEARL: I don't remember seeing Kentucky on the schedule. I think we've got LSU on Thursday. THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse Wayne and J.P. back to the locker room. And we'll continue on with questions for Coach Pearl. Q. Bruce, everybody talks about changing a culture when they take over a losing program. Do you feel that's mission accomplished for you, that you have completely changed the culture now? COACH PEARL: I think -- I don't think the word would be changed, I think the word would be returned to, restore. Tennessee had a culture and a tradition and a history and a swagger about its men's basketball program for a long time: Stokely, Ray Mears and Don DeVoe. I do think mission accomplished in at least returning it to a competitive program consistently. We are proud of that. And part of it has to do with, you know, being competitive in the league, and part it has to do with creating a home-court advantage, getting fans to travel with you on the road, being somebody that national television wants to match up against other regional opponents, things like that have been restored. Q. Bruce, can you talk about the right things need to happen here for maximum number of bids for the SEC to get in the NCAA Tournament. After last year when only two, and then three because Mississippi State won, how important it is to get the maximum number into the Tournament. COACH PEARL: I think it's important to get a maximum number, but I also think it's important to get those numbers the right seeds. One of the things that we lost sight of, I think, a little bit is how important seeding is in advancing to the NCAA Tournament. And how important it is for Kentucky to remain a number one seed. That gives them a really good chance to get to the Final Four. You know, last year Tennessee and LSU were 8-9, and Mississippi State was 11 or 12 or something like that maybe. So there weren't a lot of good seeds for opportunities to advance. So things need to happen. There are some teams that need to win to get in, and there are some teams that need to win to improve their seeding and have a better chance to advance. Q. Coach, you've obviously been at this a while, but this has kind of been a unique season. Can you say this is your best coaching job after everything you've been through? COACH PEARL: Have I been at this a while? Obviously, because of the number of years I've been coaching or because of all the gray hair or the weight gained? Obviously, I've been in it a while. This has been a good year. It's been a -- I've enjoyed coaching this team. I look back at all the things that we've gone through, and I admire their resiliency and the way they've grounded out. We won in a period of time early January with six scholarship players, and then the guys, when they came back, were lack welcomed back by our fans, by the other players on the team. So there's been -- there have been a lot of positives. I would certainly love to see some more consistency from my basketball team; every coach would. I think overall we've guarded well, we've rebounded pretty well, and we've shared the ball offensively. Those things are good formulas for success. Q. Coach, you're 11-5 and playing tomorrow. There are 9-7 teams who get a bye. What's your thoughts on the format and the divisional thing? COACH PEARL: The only point is we play LSU at 2:15 tomorrow. That's the only answer I have as it relates to the format today. In the off-season, I'll comment on how conference tournaments should, you know, how we think their formats can be improved. But right now we play LSU tomorrow at 2:15. It's a fair question. I just don't want to answer it right now. Q. Is that one of the challenges with your players is to make sure that they don't look past this game? Is that a challenge to not take these guys lightly? COACH PEARL: It's not a huge challenge because LSU is good. They've got some good personnel. They've won a couple games here down the stretch. They played us to a very tight game at LSU. They beat us two years ago in an East three, West six matchup, there's plenty of motivation for us. Our focus is there. We need to -- we've worked real hard this week to prepare for LSU and LSU only. The one thing we don't have an advantage on our side of the bracket would be the revenge factors. This season we beat LSU. If we beat LSU, we played Ole Miss, and we beat them. The last time we played the teams Alabama, South Carolina, and Kentucky, we beat them. So you don't have that last time we played you we lost factor. And I think that would be the only factor that wouldn't be something that we have to point to. Last year heading into the SEC Tournament, I don't know that we were playing -- you know what, Sam, we weren't playing as well. We had beat Mississippi State at Florida, at South Carolina to win the SEC East and went into the Tournament last year playing pretty well. We played Alabama first. We had lost to them the last time we had played them. We played Auburn second. We had lost to them the last time we played them. We played Mississippi State in the Championship Game. We had beaten them the last time we played them. That would be the only factor, I would say, not overlooking LSU. Q. Bruce, last year the SEC got three bids and the league was down. People thought. People said, well, when Kentucky's down, the perception in the league is down. This year Kentucky's a lot better, yet there's still talk there's only three bids that are solid at this point. So what's going on? COACH PEARL: I don't know how Florida's considered not solid. You know, I understand that there can be things happening throughout this week that maybe could put some teams that aren't supposed to be in, but there haven't been a ton of upsets yet. Kentucky has a terrific nonconference schedule. Their strength of schedule is way up; they beat Florida State, they beat Michigan state. They got nine conference wins and the teams that they did lose to in the conferences in places and lost to them are places where a lot of folks are going to lose. I think we've got four, and we're looking for more. Q. Bruce, Kentucky's got two, probably three one and dones. As a coach, talk about the pros and cons of taking those kind of players, knowing that they're going to be out of there in one year. COACH PEARL: Well, I think in Kentucky's case, I don't know that that may have been thought to be the case when some of those guys got there, but those guys perhaps have played their way into that situation. It's one thing to say it, it's another thing to actually do it. You know, depending upon how things work out, the way they've matured and progressed and improved and grown, if what's being said is accurate about where they could potentially go in the draft, you've got to give them credit for doing what they were said to possibly be able to do and not leave very many doubters out there. You know, that said, we would love to be in a position to be able to recruit and have guys be able to come and play for you, do great, and then leave your university, even though it's after a year, but move on to professional basketball. Hope they'll come back and finish their degrees at some point. I think that Ohio State would look back at the time that Greg Oden and Michael Conley were there and say, pretty good run at the Final Four. If we had a chance to do it again, would we do it again? You bet you would. Q. The top four teams in the East are 24-0 against the West this year. Is the gap that big between the divisions? Is it that big of an imbalance? COACH PEARL: I think, if you go back, I've been in the league five years, and mathematically it's never been quite like it is this year. But with the exception of just in the SEC Tournament, where I think it kind of has been fairly even at tournament time, during the course of the regular season, I think the East has been ahead of the West every year I've been in the league. The one thing that I would point to with great consistency is currently, I'd say, there are -- we played on the road in the SEC in five sellouts; Georgia was sold out, South Carolina was close to being sold out, Kentucky, of course, was sold out, Vanderbilt was sold out, Florida was close to being sold out. I mean, we played in front of -- and I think right now that's the difference between the East and the West is they've got great home-court advantages in the East, and the West, you know, we -- there were a few places we went to where there wasn't -- the crowds weren't quite the same. That opens the door, you know, for road teams to be able to come in there and win. I think what's as impressive about being 24-0 is being however many games, 12-0, I guess, on the road. Q. Bruce, an aspect of Tennessee's negative history before your game was failure in the SEC Tournament. Is that something that you looked at and said, this is an area we need to get better to affect our overall image? COACH PEARL: I'm a huge regular season, grind 'em out guy. The body of work all season long to me is what I look at. And as far as respecting different programs and what they do, the Tournament is a festival. It's exciting. It's great to come together. It's great to be able to crowned a tournament champion, and maybe that champion wouldn't have gone had they not won it. But for me, if you could offer me a choice between the tournament champion and the regular season championship, I'd take the regular season championship every time and not even blink. That said, we've not -- you know, we've -- the last two years we got to a Saturday a couple years ago in Atlanta and that was progress. Last year we got to the championship game, that was progress. But, I mean, overall I don't have a winning record in the SEC Tournament. I'm aware of that. I'd like to try to improve on that if we can. And I would say that our road to advance, if we do have the opportunity, is more difficult this year than it's been in a number of years. As I look at LSU, and then we know it's going to be Ole Miss for the winner, and then you're looking at the number one seed in the Tournament and the number two ranked team in the country sitting there potentially for Saturday. So it will be a hard road for us to improve on our tournament record. But, yes, I am aware that Tennessee basketball has not had great, great success in the SEC Tournament, and, yes, I would like to improve on that. Q. Coach, given the suspensions and the dismissal and how the players have come back, you know, in increments as the year's gone on, are you as where a team would normally be in the postseason, or are you still more of a work in progress? You know getting players back and getting your rotation changed and all that. COACH PEARL: I think right now we're comfortable where we are. We've been back for a while. We've been together. It's been a long time since the roster's been -- had the adjustments. So we're -- this is who we are. We've played with this group now for a few weeks, and so it is what it is. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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