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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: PROVIDENCEMarch 17, 2010Karon AbrahamDallas GreenMezie NwigweMike RiceRob RobinsonPROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND THE MODERATOR: It's a pleasure to welcome you all to the NCAA first and second round. We're joined now by Robert Morris student athletes. And in order, Mezie Nwigwe, Karon Abraham, Dallas Green, and Rob Robinson. If you have any questions for the student athletes, please direct them to an individual as opposed to the group. If you do address the group, then we'll kind of go one by one. Q. Dallas, could you just talk about four years ago, maybe the dreams you guys had of ever getting here? DALLAS GREEN: Yeah, when I was young I always had a dream to go to an NCAA tournament. When I was in 12th grade I went to see Georgetown play in date on and I felt like, man, I can't wait to have that dream. So it's a great experience. I'm glad, this is my second time going to the NCAA tournament. Most people only go one time or not at all, so it's a good experience. ROB ROBINSON: Same thing he said, every kid, coming up they dream about going to the NCAA tournament. That was one of my biggest dreams when I came up and I've got to do it twice, so I'm just happy to be here. Q. Just curious, the practices leading up to this weekend, how different they were from last year in terms of the expectations from Coach Rice and maybe the expectations from you guys? DALLAS GREEN: I think last year we were just glad to make it, and I think this year we're more like trying to go to the next round. So the focus is really different. I'm not sure Coach Rice and I knew how to prepare, because this is the first time going as a team. But now he can see what we did last year, and now we can do things differently to prepare. MEZIE NWIGWE: Just like Dallas said, this year seems like we're more detailed into everything that we're doing and we're more focused getting to the next round as last year we were just happy that we made it, you know. So this year we're more focused. Q. How did playing in the tournament last year help you adjust to play this year? Last year first time, bright lights, all the attention, how has that helped you get ready for this year? DALLAS GREEN: I think it was really good playing Michigan State last year. I don't think it's so much precious as the team, but I think it's more pressure on Villanova. KARON ABRAHAM: This will be my first year. I'm just following my senior leaders and just listening to them and taking advice from them from last year and their experience. Q. Coach Rice on Selection Sunday talked about how his freshmen, including you, said that you guys weren't afraid of the chaos that surrounded that game. Chaos is probably going to be a part of this game, as your seniors have probably told you. Now that the stage is even bigger, how do you continue to prepare yourself to handle that? KARON ABRAHAM: Just continue to do what we've been doing all season and stick together. I feel if we're together there's no worries. I have no worries to worry about anything outside of the team. If we're together, we're family, there's no worries, nothing to be afraid of. Q. I know you played with Dominic Cheek from Villanova on the Players Basketball Team, can you talk a little bit about have you said anything to him, here? Have you said hello, what was it like playing with Dominic and Tamir Jackson on the team. Do you think playing with the players helped you get where you are now? KARON ABRAHAM: I haven't talked to Cheeks at all. But when it comes time to game time he'll probably say a few words to me. I think playing with them players and Cheeks -- Dom is all American, and Jackson being a nice point guard that he is, they helped me out a lot. Watching them play and getting a chance to play in Las Vegas and being a part of that team and helping that team out a lot built my confidence up and now I carried it over to college as a freshman. Q. Are you looking forward to playing against him? KARON ABRAHAM: Yes, I do, I played against him in the Ken Griffey Challenge in Philadelphia, so it's going to be a good experience. Q. Have any of you ever seen when you were coming along as you were basketball players, see a 15 versus 2 upsets on television, do you have any sense of the history of them and how does that impact on you at all? ROB ROBINSON: The coach has been telling us, they told us the 15th seed won, and they want us to be part of that list, and trying us to work hard enough to prepare to win the game and make history. DALLAS GREEN: Like he said, Coach gave us an article before we came up here about how Hampton beat Ohio State and it shows any given day anyone can be beat, no matter what conference they're from, no matter how many all Americans they have, anybody can be beat. KARON ABRAHAM: It's about whoever comes and bring their all down the court for 40 minutes. MEZIE NWIGWE: The same thing they say, you've got to come out with toughness. And like Dallas said, any given day anybody can win. We can't be scared, we just have to come out and play. Q. Can you talk about, you guys helped Quinnipiac to 6 field goals in the second half of that game. Can you talk about the defensive philosophy of that game, and what you think will be necessary against Villanova? DALLAS GREEN: We knew we had to play defense and have to box out. Coach came in at halftime and told us we needed to step up the defense in order to win. I figure as a team for us to beat Villanova we have to play as a team. We have to -- Scottie Reynolds he has to go against five players, not one player. He's got four people he has to face. So I think that's the main reason. Q. What are the realistic expectations as a 15 seed? MEZIE NWIGWE: Well, a lot of people don't have us as winning, because 15th seeds usually don't win. But for us it's another game to us. We work to improve every day. And we feel we have a good chance of winning this game. KARON ABRAHAM: It's an opportunity to make history, have our names out there for the rest of our lives, and something to look back on. We're going to go out like it's a championship game and do whatever we have to do to win the game. DALLAS GREEN: In reality the only people we have to win is for our family and the people at Robert Morris. But we're still going to go out and try to win the game. ROB ROBINSON: The same thing Dallas said, I don't think too many people picked us to win, but we've got faith in ourselves and that's pretty much all we need, ourselves and all our staff and friends and family. Q. Mezie, Dallas and Rob, as seniors, you guys have a chance to experience Velton Jones coming along last year as a redshirt at point guard. How has he progressed and become sort of a floor general for you guys at this point in the year? MEZIE NWIGWE: Velton really stepped it up. He came in as a freshman and being a point guard in D1 is tough, because you're like the leader, the general. I think he's done a great job in handling the point guard position. And he just helps us out a lot. DALLAS GREEN: In the beginning V. Jones couldn't handle criticism. But as the season is going along, he became a better point guard and helped us out tremendously. ROB ROBINSON: Pretty much the same thing. He watched Jimmy Langhurst do it last year. He came this year, stepped in and filled the gap we needed. And he's been doing a great job at it. COACH RICE: It was a team that maybe wasn't expected to be where it is right now with five seniors and five freshmen on the roster. Earlier we talked about for us to have any chance, in the Northeast Conference, our younger players had to play more mature beyond their years, and Velton Jones, Karon Abraham and Russell Johnson have stepped up with our senior leader, Jimmy Langhurst going down kind of at the beginning of the year, we were kind of thrown into a situation where we had to play our, what I thought, was going to be our spark off the bench, Karon Abraham, and certainly he's turned out to be a blessing, stepping up, being our leader scorer. And so the season I give our players tremendous credit overcoming some injuries, overcoming some in experience and overcoming some of their coaching to be successful this year. Q. You mentioned two freshmen, Johnson and Jones, both being from Philadelphia. What characteristics do you find in the Philadelphia players that have helped you succeed this season? COACH RICE: Besides a number of players, again, Western Pennsylvania, not the numbers of Division 1 athletes, especially going to college basketball, their toughness, their ability to kind of rise to the challenge. Both of those individuals seem to play better in bigger games. Being at St. Joe's and being a director of the Hoop Group and understanding a lot of the Philadelphia area, yeah, they're tough competitors, and I certainly -- that reflects in their play and that's kind of what I want to reflect as my team. Q. How differently are Mezie and Dallas and Rob and your seniors handling the lead up to this as opposed to Karon and Velton and Russell and your younger players who haven't been here before? COACH RICE: There's more talk, it's not exactly -- this is an interesting group -- but there are some talk about, you know, the preparation to the first round. Again, last year we were just so excited to be in the tournament, you know, the practices didn't have the same edge to them, the same urgency. And again our seniors not exactly the most vocal group, but, you know, they've had two very good practices with much more intensity and urgency than last year's practices. And talking about maybe, you know, just the NCAA not being the final prize, upsetting and kind of putting your name on that list. We repeated to our guys the list everybody says, the No. 15 seeds beating No. 2. There's four of them. And we have the list and they'd like to join that list. Just a little bit about that stuff. But it's more -- not a lot of the vocal stuff, just how urgent they are in practice. Q. Dallas commented earlier that if Scottie Reynolds beats his man there will be four guys there ready to help out. Is he commanding that kind of respect from you guys? COACH RICE: Sure. And that's the way -- actually I think that's the way both of our defenses are predicated. We are a pressure defense, but we really like to make sure there's help under pressure and a lot of it. We can't go in thinking we're going to guard one-on-one. You can't rebound one-on-one. Whether it's genetics, talent, BCS to small -- to low major, we have to be there for one another. And that's all we talk about is team work over talent. If we have that, we have a chance. Again, when we're going one-on-one, we have no chance. There has to be -- you have to be unselfish in this and have to be urgent with your decisions as far as helping your teammates. I think Dallas is correct. I don't know about four guys, I think there will be three shooters left on the perimeter, but I'd like to have two and a half guys help Dallas. Q. There's talk about expanding the NCAA Tournament to 96. I wonder about that. You have a No. 15 versus No. 2 angle, and if you got into a tournament, you might be playing somebody that's not No. 2 without the same attention. How do you feel about that? COACH RICE: It's different. In the NEC, our guys were just happy not to be in the playing game. If it moved to 96, would all the low to mids that first weekend, would it feel just like a giant playing game. It would worry me that the upset and the true tournament feel would be taken away from the low to mids. And so from a low to mid, you know, I don't mind it. Now, if I was the five or six coaches who were let go the last three days, there's no question, I want 96. If I'm in a bigger BCS Conference, a multiple big conference, I'm going 96 because it's better for coaches. The more people in the NCAA, and that's what we're judged by, especially, again, bigger leagues are judged by, did you get your team in the NCAA Tournament. So, yes and no, I want it bigger, but, no, I don't want that first week and the feel of you guys aren't really in this tournament, you're just in a big playing weekend to get to the big guys, to get to the Villanova's and the Big East teams. So an interesting team. Q. So just on a follow-up, so do you think that coaches would be judged by getting into the 66 through 96 variety that their school, their Conference would say that's cool you got into the NCAA, where previously they wouldn't have gotten in? COACH RICE: I'm not real sure about that one. But depending on what the AD and the alumni base is. But it still states on your résumé NCAA Tournament. I think it would save some coaches and maybe make some more -- you always see the six or eight teams after the selection show complaining and all the things that go on, and it kind of takes that away a little bit. Q. Can you talk about your time in the Big East and has that helped you prepare this team for Villanova? What from the Big East do you bring to this game to your team? COACH RICE: I think my last two experiences, again, being with Phil Martelli at St. Joe's, being part of the holy war, the intensity and the understanding, and just watching Villanova. If anybody was in Philadelphia, I lived down the street from Jay, I know what kind of a coach he is. In the Big East, my year there, the level of urgency of winning games, the level of focus, it's like no other. And you take a possession off, that could hurt you and just the outcome of gyms. So I just try to explain to them that no matter who it is, 1 through 13 coming off the bench, and no matter if it's the 1st minute or the 39th minute, they're going to continue to come at you. They're going to be attacking, not feeling sorry for anybody, they're just there to win a game and the amount of intensity that you have to have in each -- not just possessions, cuts, post touches, rebounds, it's just -- it's like it is on TV, it's unbelievably intense. Our guys, again, we've played Syracuse, we've played Pitt, we've played Big East school throughout, think keep putting pressure on you. We have to be one on two and a half type of situations the whole game. Q. There are quite a few New Jersey guards, Karon, Corey Stokes, Corey Fisher, can you talk about what it is about guards from that area, St. Anthony's, and Karon specifically, five-nine, 150, what has he had to overcome? COACH RICE: It's more like five-six, 135. It's the same New York/New Jersey mentality. Karon is not afraid. Karon has no fear. When I watch him -- my assistant coach Andy Toole brought me to a game in Las Vegas, I was watching somebody else and saw a five-six, five-seven kid score, and he just never kept backing down. He just kept attacking. And, you know there's not a big market for five-six, two-guards in the ACC, Big East, Atlantic 10, so he's a perfect conference player. Even Velton Jones from Philadelphia. They don't back down. I love that mentality. They certainly, if they miss one or two shots or have a critical turnover, I'm going to be critical at times and I'm going to have a sense of urgency in my discussion with them. And they don't bat an eye. They're not feeling sorry for themselves. They don't pout, they just come back and keep fighting. That's what I love about, whether it's the New Jersey kids I have or my Philadelphia guys. It's the same intensity and toughness that you find. Q. The flip side of Joe's question from a while ago, and kind of along the coaching track is I get a sense that now more than ever having a Philadelphia coaching background, as an assistant, going there, to a school, seems to have some cache when you guys go out? COACH RICE: As far as recruiting grass roots in the City of Philadelphia? Q. Or getting hired yourselves? COACH RICE: It's such a unique experience, you know, whether it's a Big 5 and Drexel. It's the high school coaching, they all tend to have just a bond between them. And whether Phil Martelli and Fran Dunphy or Jay Wright, when you're on the road, there's the Philly group, and every time you watch an AAU group, there's all the Philly coaches watching, hanging out together, there's a bond. And I think it's the same thing when you're dealing with the high school coaches. A lot of people don't go in the City of Philadelphia and recruit, oh, you won't get that kid or you don't have a connection, here and there, but to be there and to coach there and to really build that relationship up is, yeah, it's going to be a lasting positive as far as whether it's me, Andy Toole who played at Penn, we all have pretty good connections to the city. Q. Does it make you more attractive as candidates, particularly as assistants? COACH RICE: Yeah, I would think so. North jersey, Philly and New York City is a hot bed of recruiting. It was when I was hired away from St. Joe's to Pitt. They wanted somebody that did North Jersey to Philadelphia. Besides my experience at the Hoop Group, I had my St. Joe's ties and Philly ties. Q. Coach, I was wondering if winning the tournament, is that a realistic expectation for you or any of the other bottom four seeds? COACH RICE: My daughter doesn't even have us winning this game. No, you know what? I told somebody I think on my 15th talk radio show that I'm going to cut down the nets if we win this game and they'd have to delay the game and there's security. But that's the mentality. Again, we understand just how difficult a 15-2 is. There's only four of them. I didn't do that much research, but I know it's not a very good percentage. You understand where you're at, how hard it was to get here. The level of intensity and urgency and energy that like every single day to improve just to win the Northeast Conference championship. And so we've won part of our National Championship and now to go on to the NCAA Tournament and maybe pull an upset, no, I don't think any of our guys are thinking -- Indianapolis, no, they're not thinking about that, but it's just being part of it all. Being your name on Selection Sunday. Doing their interviews, doing things that maybe -- low to mid-major players never thought they were going to do but it was always a dream and fulfilling that dream. 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