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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: SAN JOSE

March 17, 2010

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

ROGER ROSS: I would like to welcome the Vanderbilt student athletes, Jeffery Taylor, Jermaine Beal and A.J. Ogilvy. Coach will be joining us shortly, and we would open it up to questions now.

Q. Miles talked about your relationship going back to the AAU days, and can you shed light on how you guys communicate?
JERMAINE BEAL: We used to play for the Kansas City Keys. I played for team Texas, and I used to see him in the summertime. I know him pretty well. When I found out he was down the street from me we talked on and off on Facebook every now and then. Me and him pretty cool.

Q. Jeff, what was your reaction when you saw that the Lobos were at the same site that you are?
JEFFERY TAYLOR: It was a fun reaction. They've obviously had a great season. Coach Alford has done a great job with the program, and it's fun. Hopefully we will be able to watch 'em play, and I wish 'em the best of luck.

Q. What about you guys as far as your -- becoming kind of familiar with Nashville and that kinda thing, how was your transition from New Mexico to Vanderbilt?
JEFFERY TAYLOR: It was pretty easy, I'm an easy-going guy, so getting used to how life is in Nashville, pretty easy going, people are nice to you as it was in New Mexico.
So it wasn't that much of a difference, getting used to college at the beginning at the end of my sophomore year, so I made a good transition and I'm living life, really.

Q. Jermaine, can you reflect back a little bit on the '07 run and how special that was, and what you guys can use from that to trip out to California to motivate?
JERMAINE BEAL: '07 was fun. We played George Washington and then Washington State to get to the Sweet 16 in overtime. Last time we came out west we won some games, hopefully we can do it again this year and right now our main focus is Murray State.

Q. A.J. your thoughts on how glad you were to have a big game coming off of the Mississippi State game, and sizewise, you guys have an advantage over Murray State, and what you can do.
A.J. OGILVY: Obviously, we didn't play our best ball against Mississippi State, and I'm happy to come out and try and improve on that. They have a lot of ability, and we do have a size advantage, but that doesn't always work out.
So we know we're going to try and make the most of our advantages, and they're going to do the same. So we will have to wait and see how it goes.

Q. Guys, some of the national media outlets are picking Murray State as the upset of the year, how do you feel about that?
JERMAINE BEAL: It's fine, those people who say that, it's their job. We don't really pay too much attention to it. So we listen to it, say, okay, and we do everything we got to do. It's not a big deal.

Q. Jeff, your thoughts on how important it is to get the inside game goin' with A.J. and Festus in the NCAA Tournament.
JEFFERY TAYLOR: We need to get our inside game established we have two guys in Festus and A.J., and we need to make a concerted effort to get them the ball; and hopefully they can make plays with it against the smaller defenders. Him, Festus and Steve are going to mean a lot to us for us to make a run in the Tournament.

Q. In terms of game planning for that team with a handful of different guys averaging about 10 points, do you just know that they have a lot of different go-to options there?
JERMAINE BEAL: Yes, Murray State is a very balanced team. So we know any day, any night, any player can step up and have a big game. Hopefully, we can just keep each player at his average or below it and come out with a victory, but Murray State is a very balanced team so any night, any player can go off.

Q. One of Murray State players sliced his index finger cutting down the nets at the Tournament. I wonder if you guys know anybody who has gotten injured while celebrating.
JERMAINE BEAL: No. (Laughter.) I hope he's all right, though.
ROGER ROSS: Gentlemen, thank you very much. We appreciate your time.
We would like to welcome Coach Kevin Stallings. Questions, please.

Q. Coach, give me a little bit about Jeffery Taylor. He's one of our home guys.
COACH STALLINGS: Okay, Jeff has had an outstanding season for us, an outstanding two years for us at Vanderbilt, has started every game of his college career. That's a very rare thing, and it's a rare thing in our program. He has been an outstanding addition. He's a great young man, very, very talented, one of the best athletes in the Southeastern Conference which makes him one of the best athletes in the country. A kid that's going to play basketball for a long time.
He's going to make a living playing the game and make a good living playing it. Comes from a great family. His father and his uncle were both terrific players. Jeff is one of the most important contributors on our team, and he's an excellent defender. He does everything well on a basketball court, and he's a joy to coach because he's extremely competitive.
I'm a big fan of Jeff's, and like I said, it's not a surprise that he is the way he is because he comes from such a great family.

Q. Coach, A.J., how did the recruiting story go? How did you get him to come to Vanderbilt? Is he the kind of player you thought he would be?
COACH STALLINGS: We started recruiting A.J. on a tip from Ray Giacoletti who was then the University of Utah coach, and Ray had gotten a commitment from another kid, and he and I were talking at an AAU event. One thing led to another, and he gave us A.J.'s name and information and we followed up.
We started the recruiting process with him, and it became a process of we went over there to see him a few times and then he made an official visit to our place and we got him.
A.J. has been a terrific player for us really since the day he stepped on to the campus, and he was second team All League, and has had a very good year for us this year.
Again, I believe he's our second lead scorer and our leading rebounder, and I believe he's scored more points than any freshman in Vanderbilt history. He's had an excellent three-year career and it's very important for us as we make this Tournament run. His play will be one of the big keys to our level of success.

Q. I saw an interview within the last week or so where you said your team wasn't getting to the line as much as they were earlier in the season. Was that adjustments made by other teams or something your team was or was not doing?
COACH STALLINGS: Honestly, I think it's the way the game -- I think as we near Tournament time I think the game is called differently, I think more things are allowed to happen and I think that's consistent with other years as we get near Tournament time.
Our team averaged 31 free-throws a game in league play, and that's a lot and we're an excellent foul-shooting team. So we like to get to the foul line. I know that the game is going to be called the same both ways. It's just we like to throw it in there, and we like to drive it in there. Like I said, when we get to the foul line then that usually is a good thing for us.

Q. I know there is no magic words to inspire A.J., but do you get a sense before a game whether or not he's going to give you an inspirational efforts, especially coming off the Mississippi State game?
COACH STALLINGS: Not necessarily. A.J., like every player does, has had some subpar performances and certainly Mississippi State was one of them. But in some of his subpar performances, you look out on the court and you don't see the energy level at times that you want to see, or you don't see the level of physicality that you're hoping for. That was not the case against Mississippi State. It was almost like he was trying too hard.
He started the game off, got to the rim and made a good move and just missed a layup and then things never got any better for him. Obviously, with Vernardo back there, that's a problem in and of itself, although A.J. has always had success against him.
But I don't get a sense before the game of what's going to happen with him because we've seen plenty of times with him that he's not played very well in the first half and comes back and literally will have 16 or 18 or 20 in the second half. So you can never really count him out.
I think he's becoming more self-aware, and I think he's more determined not to have, you know, the dismal performance may be in the first half and try to play the complete game.

Q. How do you handle Murray State's offensive depth? How will you attack them defensively?
COACH STALLINGS: I don't know. I think that they do a number of things well. They shoot the ball well. They drive it well. They use ball screens well. They offensive rebound well. There are a number of things that they do that you have to be aware of and really at this time of the year there is not anything that you haven't seen.
They've seen everything that we do. We've seen everything that they do, probably, or at least close to it, and I think it's just a matter of playing good, solid team defense and knowing your assignments and being able to execute your assignments.
They do have a little bit of an unusual situation in that it's been two weeks since they played or almost two weeks and they could make some significant adjustments or -- they could add some new things. They could do some things differently. Whether they will or not, obviously remains to be seen.
But when you have that amount of time, you can mess around and do some things, and I know when I was in the Missouri Valley, I found that to be one of the advantages of having that have gone that length of time before you play in the NCAA Tournament, and whether Billy has done that remains to be seen, and I guess we'll find out tomorrow.
And even if they have it won't be things that we haven't seen someplace, that's the way it goes at this time of year. You rely on what we call our principles, and we play together and for each other and cover for each other and, again, carry out our assignments regardless of where the ball is or where our man is, we wear out our assignments, and we'll be okay if we do those things.

Q. It was encouraging to see Brad Tinsley knock down a couple shots against Mississippi State and wanted to see if you see him rounding back into his freshman form?
COACH STALLINGS: I think that Brad went through a stretch where he didn't shoot the ball well, but we all know Brad is a good shooter. You can look at his free-throw numbers. He's shootin' 93% from the foul line. He's not a guy that's lost his touch or anything.
But it was nice to see him make some shots. I was disappointed for him that he got injured in the South Carolina game. But nevertheless Brad is a tough kid. He's a great competitor, and you know you're going to get a great effort from him anytime he's on the court. I know that if he's left open I feel good about it. The problem in playing Murray State is getting open. They're a tough team to get open against, but hopefully we can find some open shots and make them.

Q. Can you talk about Festus' recruitment? I see he went to Jesuit high here in Northern California.
COACH STALLINGS: Festus did not play high school basketball. We saw him play on an AAU team. He was going to go to a prep school out east, and we convinced him that it would be a better option for him to come to our place and redshirt, and that's what he ultimately decided to do.
He had a will the of good programs that saw the same kind of potential that we saw, so Fest is a wonderful, wonderful kid and a pleasure to be around each day and has gotten better and better. He's one of those guys that you look at and you think his growth, if he continues progressing the way he is, he could really become a terrific player.
But he's one of those guys who he may be, you know, 26 or 27 before he really realizes all of the basketball potential that he has. Anyway, his recruitment was nothing more than in the summer what would have technically been after his senior year seeing him in an AAU Tournament, asking questions, finding out that he was going to go to a prep school, talking to his American family, if you will, and we started the recruitment then and got him in on an official visit and he came.

Q. Did he choose not to play high school basketball?
COACH STALLINGS: I don't know what all the -- what all the story is with that. I tend not to know more than I need to know. Actually, I tend not to know as much as I need to know, but I certainly don't know any more than I need to know. I'm not sure what transpired with that.

Q. Their coach had to give an injury update on B.J. Jenkins who cut his finger while cutting down the nets. Have you ever heard of that happening or do you have any quirky stories along those lines? He gashed his finger taking the nets down.
COACH STALLINGS: Really? I didn't know that. Well, no, the only -- never to my team, the only one I can tell you is my son's high school baseball team when he was a junior, they had a good team and a team that would have had a chance perhaps to play for a state championship and they won a big game at the end of the season against one of their rival teams, and the kid who is one of our best hitters came into close the game went and chest bumped with the catcher as he got the third out and suffered a severe high ankle sprain and was out for the season. That was the dumbest one I'd ever heard of. But I was not aware that B.J. Jenkins hurt his finger like that.

Q. The other day you mentioned a couple of ESPN guys picked you as an upset and Obama went against you in his bracket today, and Murray State's coach said it might have been because they had a few more people vote for the president.
COACH STALLINGS: Well, I don't know. There's -- we actually kinda feel like the underdog, because you have all of the experts saying that we're going to lose, so out of respect for the position of the president of the United States, I won't comment on his predictions.
ROGER ROSS: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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