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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: JACKSONVILLEMarch 18, 2010Noah DahlmanJunior SaltersMike YoungJACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA THE MODERATOR: Questions for the Wofford student-athletes. Q. Noah, you're a Minnesota guy. Wisconsin has some Minnesota guys on there. Talk about -- I guess some of you guys played on AAU teams together and that connection and sort of bragging rights, I guess, during the summertime when you have to go up and see these guys again. NOAH DALMAN: I'm real familiar with the guys, Jared Berggren, Jordan Taylor both, spent the summer with them, my junior summer with the Howard Pulley Panthers. Good friends with them, know them well, have the utmost respect for them. I don't get too many bragging rights because I don't go home in the summer, but I'm sure Cam and Jamar will brag if the game goes either way. You know, nothing but respect for those guys. I'm looking forward to getting on the court with them tomorrow and going at it. Q. You mentioned the summer. I understand you work as the grounds keeper for the Carolina Panthers during the summer. Could you tell me a little bit about that, whether you've got to know any of the players fairly well? And then also, how did they get you from Minnesota down to South Carolina? NOAH DALMAN: A little bit about my summer job. I mow grass in the summer on a mower, a big one, for about two, three hours a day in the blistering South Carolina heat. At night I do security in the Panthers' locker room, just clean their locker room, vacuum, take out the trash, a lot of -- it's pretty similar to my work on the court, nothing pretty, get it done. Getting down to Wofford, Coach Young saw me at the Peach Jam in Augusta, I think, and he liked my game a lot, gave me a call, and I wasn't too set on the idea of coming down to Wofford as a visit until my final week of setting up visits, I decided to take a trip down to Wofford just to compare it to other colleges, and came down here and absolutely loved it. You know, couldn't ask for a better place to end up. Q. Junior, this is I guess regarding the size issue. Wisconsin has got some big men. You have three players listed at 6'9", but as far as the match-up is concerned, this Wisconsin team pretty much oversizes you, but I guess you guys have faced that quite a bit this season? JUNIOR SALTERS: Yeah, pretty much in our conference we're an undersized team with our star forward being 6'4", 6' 5" and a half. We know coming in undersized that that means we're going to have to guard them -- the guards are going to have to help the big men out when they're in the post, and it's going to be more of an effort on defense with their size and our under size, so we'll have more guard play than them, so that's going to have to play a big part. Q. If I could follow up, you guys have experience against Big Ten teams, though, this year. You've played Illinois, played Michigan State. You lost both games, but as far as that size issue, do you think you'll be able to handle the bigs of Wisconsin with Jon Leuer and things like that? Do you think this team is capable of handling those guys? JUNIOR SALTERS: I think with the experience that we had playing Michigan State and Illinois and those other Big Ten teams will assist in us trying to slow down them. Jon Leuer is a great player. Been watching him all year even throughout the injury, and without him they're still pretty good. I think it's going to be a pretty tough game having to guard him. He's a pro league player, as coach as told us many times. I think it's going to come down to us not so much stopping him but just trying to slow him down. Q. Noah, can you talk about your grandfather and what effect he had on your basketball career? NOAH DALMAN: My grandfather is really in the shadows. He never wanted to be out front and tell me what to do. He'd always pull me aside and give me little pointers. He loved watching games, but at his age, you know, he'd just get so nervous, especially in high school, it was tough on him. He's been through it so many times, and I don't know his heart can take it anymore. But still, I talked to my aunt the other night, and he was listening on the radio on our championship game against App State, and he was just so excited. His mind is still there. His body is failing him. But he loves it more than ever, so it's great to know that he's supporting me 100 percent. Q. For either of you guys or both, did you back in November think you could be here in the tournament, and could you describe what it's been like on your campus since you won the conference championship and clinched the bid? JUNIOR SALTERS: Back in November we were going through a tough period after we lost a couple games, won a couple. So we still knew that we were able to -- we would be able to have a chance to win the tournament. But as coach said, after the regular season championship that was never really one goals, so that was just a blessing that we came together in the middle of the season and just got things rolling them. I think that really propelled us into the tournament to give us a good chance to win, and luckily we were able to do that. So far since we've won, the campus has just been going crazy really just with the support they give us and everyone has been congratulating us. I think coach has done a really good job of just keeping us level headed and not letting that get to us knowing that we still have more games to play. That's just the conference tournament, so.... Q. Noah, your dad describes your home town as Minnesota's version of Hoosiers, and he said you guys threw out the TV a few years ago. Is he exaggerating, or is this what it's like growing up back there, and I guess him being a basketball coach and having all your siblings play, what's that kind of like if? NOAH DALMAN: In my family, it's different than most families. Like you say, he threw out the TV. We don't have internet anymore at the house. There's nothing else you can do except play basketball, really. You're not going to want to go outside in the cold Minnesota winter, so your choices are pretty limited. The great thing about growing up in Braham, Minnesota, everybody supports the basketball program. It's the thing that do once you're a little kid. You go up on Saturday mornings to the gym, and you just play. That's one of my fond he's memories as a kid, going up on Saturday morning, playing Saturday morning basketball, and that just translated throughout my high school career, the constant support, winning state championships, and just building a program. You know, it's so similar to what we have at Wofford now; great support, building the program and winning championships. Q. Is it disappointing being so far from home that they're not going to be able to see you play in person? NOAH DALMAN: I like getting away from home. Nothing against the town of Braham or my family, I just felt like I could accomplish everything I could accomplish in Minnesota. I know my family is going to support me 100 percent whatever I do, and I know they're going to be watching or listening somehow, even though they don't have a TV. I'm not worried about them not watching the game because I know I'm just a quick plane ride away or a phone call away. Q. Can both of you kind of address the layoff, 11 days? That's the longest layoff since the beginning of the season. Or has it been so crazy that you haven't thought about the layoff? JUNIOR SALTERS: I don't think we really thought much about it, just being off 11 days. Every day we're still all together or we're all shooting in the gym together or practicing. So I don't think the 11 days will affect us as much as it probably should have just with, like you said, all the buzz that we've experienced on campus. We haven't really had a day to ourselves, so it's really stayed, maintained and been a team thing throughout this whole week. So I think it's been an okay experience that we haven't been able to definitely delve away from the actual basketball experience. Q. Talk about being a guy that came into this year as one of the key scoring options, as one of the key guys on this team, and as the season has developed you've accepted maybe a little bit of a lesser role. But has it been balanced out by the fact that you're winning basketball games and has that made it easier for your senior year to maybe except a little bit less of a role? JUNIOR SALTERS: I'll trade an all-conference plaque for a championship ring any date. It's never been about me. Last year I had to score because that was what was going to help us win. This year it was score and defensive rebounding, and that's just what I had to do to help us win. And anything that that took to help us get to the top was what I would have done. If I had to just tie Noah's shoes every day, that's what I would have done to get the championship ring. Noah doesn't score because he wants to score; he scores because that's how we're going to win the game. Taking on less of a role wasn't that big of a deal. I think the hardest thing was having people coming at me and say I'm having a bad senior year, when I've never thought that because we've won 22 games. I don't understand how that translated into me having a bad senior year. I think I've played more of a role in my community because I'm from Spartanburg, but it's been a blessing in guys knowing I don't have to be that person to score 20 points every night because we have so many weapons. Q. Can you talk about being here representing Wofford and also representing Spartanburg? What does that mean to you? JUNIOR SALTERS: I mean, to me it means a lot just because -- Spartanburg is not much bigger than Braham, minus the cold winters. But coming from Spartanburg, it's really been me having to stand out a little bit more than usual because I'm the one that everyone recognizes because I'm from the home town. So I think it's put more of a burden -- not a burden, but more of me having to exemplify what it means to be from Spartanburg and also to be a well-coached basketball player. I think that's what it is. Q. For Noah, can you just talk about the fact that you guys have a lot of players back, may have a chance to get back here, but just taking advantage of being here and not taking that for granted this trip? NOAH DALMAN: I mean, we're going to have a lot of players back next year. But obviously we're not going to focus on that right now. You know, you've got to live in the moment, and you've got to take advantage of the opportunity given to you right now. A chance to make some noise in the NCAA tournament is a great opportunity, and you know, we're not going to think about next year right now. Q. Noah, you talked about making some noise in the NCAA tournament. Obviously you guys will be looked at as the underdog. Do you watch the television shows when everybody is picking their brackets and all the experts and even President Obama picking his brackets, and to see you guys are never picked, it seems, to beat Wisconsin. Do you enjoy that? That's what March is all about if you guys can knock off a team like Wisconsin? NOAH DALMAN: I've got to be honest, when I saw the president's pick yesterday, Wisconsin over Wofford, I was a little bit bummed. But what can you do? It's all -- this is what the tournament is about, having just that anticipation of people picking you, not picking you. It's all in good fun, so I mean, just to have the opportunity to be here and try to knock off the big dog is going to be fun. Q. Noah, is Braham nearly as big as Spartanburg, like Junior said? NOAH DALMAN: Population 1,062, I believe, so we just recently got a grocery store in the town. That's the big news. Still no stoplight. We're trying to move up in the world. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. That is it for the student-athletes. We're here with Head Coach Mike Young for Wofford. If you could give us an opening statement about the tournament overall and then we'll take questions. COACH YOUNG: Well, we've certainly been impressed to this point. I hope that our team can impress folks tomorrow. We're thrilled to be here, needless to say, but beyond that, we've got -- we've got a darned good basketball team. They've been consistent for quite some time in a great league, the Southern Conference. We're excited to be here to represent our great college and our really fond league in a class fashion, and we'll do everything we can to give ourselves a chance to win. Q. I was wondering if you could talk about Noah, and first of all, what makes him such a fantastic player for you guys, and then how did you get so many guys from Minnesota down to South Carolina? COACH YOUNG: Dahlman is a real -- he's a case study. There's so many things that go into this recruiting, running fast and big and hands and can they shoot it and can they defend. Probably the most important ingredient is the most difficult to gauge, and that's a guy's heart. That's his toughness. Most high school teams are going to tell you that they love playing tough guys. But he's got a motor like no other. At 6'6", it's amazing what he accomplishes. I can't begin to tell you as a fan of basketball, to watch him play every day, that's the most fun. He is the toughest, toughest guy on the floor. Off the floor he's a sweetheart. He's a tough guy. He's going to get a couple of baskets tomorrow -- may typically, going to outrun his opponent, his defender in transition. We'll get him the ball. He's going to come up with three, three, four offensive rebounds. He's going to get fouled, I hope. He's just a special -- he's a program changer. I've said that a couple of times over the past couple of weeks. He has been a program changer for us. Now, there are a couple of other program changers in that locker room wearing a Wofford uniform, but he has been a program changer for our team. Your other question, I'm sorry? Q. Minnesota. COACH YOUNG: Have no connection to Minnesota. I had an assistant Dustin Kerns who's now at Santa Clara who did a fabulous job for me, and he recruited Noah during his junior year, one call a month, as much as we could. He wanted me to see him prior to his senior year in July during the recruiting period. I saw him and really liked him. Dustin wanted me to make plans to go up and see him in September. I said it's too far from home, I don't know anybody up there, I'm wasting time, wasting money, and we're not going to do it. The very next day, the kid called and said he wanted to visit. He visited us, Green Bay State, Wright State, North Dakota State and Naval Academy, I believe. So here I go to beautiful Braham, Minnesota. He played football, went up and saw him play football once, and loved his family. He came down, and it was that glorious South Carolina fall afternoon, late October, mid-70s not a loud in the sky, came down with his dad, fell in love with the place and we got him, and because of Noah -- you know, Rundles was at Montana and going through a coaching change, and he got some things turned around. I'm not really sure of the story to be frank, but he and Noah were close, and we had him out, had a good experience, and he wanted to come. And then Diggs followed suit. He wanted to come. I do know Diggs' and Rundles' high school coach well, and I think a lot of him. Boy, they've been great for us. We'll go back to Minnesota, you can rest assured. Q. On being here for the first time, a lot of people will be in awe of the lights and the stage and the scene, but every time your guys have done something they haven't done before, they've been comfortable. They've felt comfortable on the stage even though they've never been there before. How has this team been able to do that? COACH YOUNG: I think it speaks to the core toughness of this team. This team is not going to blink tomorrow. We may not win. We're playing a really good team in Wisconsin, but I'm telling you, they're going to play. They're going to play really hard. Just so much fun to be a small part of this thing. That's what they do. Yesterday in practice we're trying to back off a little bit, getting down here, and we've got guys walking out with their mouth busted and they've got no filter. They don't take it easy here, just go at it. They've never blinked. They've never taken a step back. I said it a couple times, at Davidson with a first round bout on the line on the road and maybe played our most complete game of the year. Charleston at home, regular season championship, assured of a postseason berth, packed house, and they -- full blast, played really well and beat a really good college of Charleston team. And then to march through the tournament last week, culminating on Monday night against a very fine Appalachian State team, this is for everything -- this is for the opportunity to play in this tournament, the greatest tournament on earth in my opinion, and didn't hesitate, didn't blink, played. Played really well and won the whole thing. Won the regular season, won the conference tournament, and here we are in Jacksonville. You know, again, we're going to play well, I just know it. This environment and all that, not going to phase them. They're goofy like that. Q. You've got a smaller team. When you're playing a team like Wisconsin who's got some talented young men, how much more difficult does that make this game for your players? COACH YOUNG: A lot. A lot. Dahlman is going to do what he does, but Nankivil -- am I pronouncing that right? I hope I am. Nankivil's size, it -- it was a concern. Jon's size, Leuer's size is a concern. This isn't our first rodeo. You know, we've played Tisdale and Davis at Illinois and we've played Morgan and those big guys at Michigan State. But we certainly do like to have the thing in the post. We may not take six three-point shots or may have to take more than that because of how they're going to guard us. We like having the ball in the post, and Wisconsin's superior size does create problems for us. We'll see if we can't negate the size difference with some things offensively. But I would be less than honest if I told you that that wasn't a concern. Q. You played Wisconsin a couple of years ago. What do you remember about that game, and does it look like a similar Wisconsin team now to then? COACH YOUNG: I can remember I was never so happy to get out of a town in all my life. I joked with a couple of friends this week, it's true, scoring a basket against that Wisconsin team, I wanted to jump in the air like we'd scored a touchdown. Call me stupid. I went back and watched that game, just how we guarded, some things. As I suspected, we didn't guard them very well. How we guarded some things, how they played and so on. That was a really good team. Coach Ryan could go with Krabbenhoft at the two and Landry at the three and Brian Butch at the four and Stiemsma at the five. Good luck. What am I going to do about it? Forget it, you know? And they were far superior, and they whipped us. This team is really good, as well. Aren't all of his teams really good? This is a different team. They're different -- playing Jason and playing Bohannon and Trevon Hughes who's exceptional, gets a shot any time he wants to, and Taylor. So three-guard lineup, which his teams are typically really big, but they're still huge along the front line. So the teams are different, but both awfully, awfully good. Q. As good as you feel about your basketball team, were you to win tomorrow, would you call it a huge upset? COACH YOUNG: You know, I think that's fair. We're playing Wisconsin. We're playing a Bo Ryan coached team, the Wisconsin Badgers. I don't care what you call it if we win it; you can call it whatever you want. But yeah, it would be a huge upset if we were to beat them. Let's be honest. But I can tell you this: I know my team. They're a little crazy in a great way, in a wonderful way. They are convinced, they are convinced that they're going to come in here and play well and give themselves a chance to win, and you're not going to convince them that it's a huge upset if we kick a couple in or maybe crush them by one point. They're not going to be surprised. Their coach will be, but those guys will not be. Q. You've got a semi-local kid for us on your team, Corey Godzinski. Can you talk about what he's meant to this program and how great it is for him to go out with this? COACH YOUNG: His high school coach, 25-year friend Mike Clutter, he gave me a call at the CGs last year. Corey Godzinksi is -- I'll look back on his career as one that had a huge part, a huge role in us getting the thing flipped. He is an exceptional student. He is a really fine basketball player and has been -- he's had a heck of a career for us. High basketball IQ, a team guy. Of all the contributions he's made, his contributions as a team captain this year may be most significant. He's a team guy. He communicates the right message to those guys in that locker room, and boy, I'll look back on his career with a great deal of fondness. He's a big time guy. He's going to go on and do great things, too. Q. Is Wisconsin the kind of team that maybe a coach appreciates maybe say more than the general public or even some media? COACH YOUNG: I don't think there's any question. You know, you read things that they're slow and they don't do -- gah, everybody talks about guarding the swing and guarding Trevon Hughes off the dribble and this and that. My greatest concern might be scoring enough points to win. They're phenomenal defensively. They're just -- everything is contested. They don't beat themselves on either end. They don't beat themselves -- they're not going to jump up in the passing lanes. You can make any pass you want. Good luck getting to the paint; that's a big deal for us. That's like an impenetrable area on the floor for their defense. I'm an old Division III guy, as Coach Ryan is. I admire his teams from Platteville to Milwaukee to the state University greatly. He's a classic. He is just exceptional. Q. Talk about your seniors this year and how when they have their opportunity in their senior year to shine and take the spotlight, it's kind of been the opposite. They've kind of taken a step back. Junior is not scoring as many points, but you're winning more basketball games and he's been able to embrace that. He hasn't let that be a rift and he's kind of let that motivate him. COACH YOUNG: You know, here we are in this setting. It's such a fitting tribute to this team, certainly Howard and Corey. You know, we've got a lot of good players in that locker room, and when they came to Wofford, we weren't very good to be frank. And those guys bought into something that -- working on their dream, if you will, an opportunity to get to this point at some time. And Howard and Corey's contributions to that, you know, progress, are quite obvious. It's across the board with their selflessness, and it is such a pleasure in this day and age in such tough times to be a part of a group. They don't care -- do not care who scores. The only thing that matters to them -- two things: They want to see one another succeed and ultimately they want to win. That's all that matters. Salters has been a great scorer. He's been a great player for us. The kid scored 1,300, 1,400 points, and his scoring average is down to 7, but he's a better player, better team player for us this year because he's a better defender. His turnover ratio is a positive one. He's been a great leader in our locker room. People make a big deal or have made a big deal -- you've only got one guy in double figures or that has averaged in double figures. So what? Diggs can come in here tomorrow and score 16 and help us immensely. Salters can make four threes and give you problems, Rundles, Dahlman, Dawson. It's a heck of a team, and I don't know what I've done to deserve such a good group of boys. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. End of FastScripts |
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