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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: MILWAUKEE

March 18, 2010

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

DENNIS KRAUSE: Good morning, and welcome to Milwaukee's Bradley Center. Joining us in a few minutes will be Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith, but first Minnesota student-athletes Lawrence Westbrook and Damian Johnson.

Q. Guys, could you just talk about the value of the sophomores, Ralph and Colton and Devoe, and just them stepping up and what that meant for your season?
LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: It means a lot because in order for us to get to where we need to go we need everybody playing at their highest level, especially Colton. He's been playing very well at practice. He's playing well in the game. So I'm happy that he has his confidence going, and I look for him to have a big game tomorrow.

Q. Describe what Tubby Smith's style of play is, Tubby Smith basketball. Seemed like there was a time in the season where you got away from that, and you seemed to be getting back to it right now.
LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: Coach Smith is an intense coach. He likes to play pressure defense basically the whole game. He likes to get out in transition, just play hard-nosed defense. And he really puts the emphasis on rebounding. So that's what we're going to try to focus and do tomorrow, limit their transition baskets and easy layups and try to win the rebounding margin.

Q. What can you do to try to counter and slow down Jordan Crawford tomorrow?
DAMIAN JOHNSON: Jordan Crawford is a good player. We're kind of familiar with him. He was at Indiana his freshman year. He really gets open. He's a very athletic guy. Gets on transitions. We need to slow him down. We played a couple of players similar to him during the Big Ten Conference. Hopefully, we can slow him down and try to limit the amount of good looks he gets.

Q. Were you fans of this tournament growing up, and how far back do you remember watching this tournament on TV, and do you have a favorite moment in the NCAA tournament history?
DAMIAN JOHNSON: My family's a whole bunch of basketball addicts, my mom, dad, brother and sister. So the first NCAA tournament I remember is the national championship game with Chris Webber calling the timeout. I was a big Michigan fan that year. Ever since then I've been watching the tournament. I used to skip class in high school to watch the NCAA games, but I used to try to get home early to watch these games.
LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: To be honest, I always watched professional basketball with my dad. We never really started watching college until I was in high school. So, I don't know, but I watched the game that he was talking about with the Fab 5 that was pretty crazy, and I try to watch every game now since I'm in college. But I always watch the NBA.

Q. Just a little bit about when you lose guys on the team mid-season, how difficult was that to overcome, and what sort of things did you do off the court to bond and bring this run that you've had?
DAMIAN JOHNSON: I think once we lost some of the guys, I mean, it was kind of difficult from a mental standpoint, but I think guys, it was just an adjustment we had to make because it was a different style of play. Al is a different kind of point guard than Devoe and other guys we never really had. But once we got the use of -- we got comfortable with each other, I think the team became a better team and I think guys really understand each other more now.

Q. Lawrence, can you elaborate more on what you've seen from Xavier from film and what concerns you most about them heading into tomorrow's game?
LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: They like to push the ball in transition. They're an up-tempo team. They've got like start three guards and they're all capable scorers and stuff like that. We can't let them get into a rhythm. We have to play pressure defense, which is what we're known for, and make them uncomfortable in the half court setting, and limit their easy buckets. And I think that we'll be all right.

Q. Can you both talk about just what Tubby's meant to you, just playing under him at Minnesota, and obviously this is your last year, and obviously you're hoping that he coaches at Minnesota as long as he can.
DAMIAN JOHNSON: Coach Smith, he gave me and Lawrence a chance the year before. We really didn't play as much as we wanted to. We rarely had seen game time, and Coach Smith gave us a chance and an opportunity to showcase our skills.
Coach Smith is a great coach. He does a lot of things to help guys out on and off the court. And I thank Coach Smith a lot for the opportunity he presented to me.
LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: I remember as a freshman me and him didn't play a lot. When Coach Smith came here, we all got an equal opportunity to play. And he's just teaching you the game. I like him because he's a competitive coach. Like he wants to win just as much as the team does.
And he helps guys on and off the court. And he really has a good name. So he knows what it takes to play at the next level, and just all around he's a good coach.

Q. How has he helped you as far as your NBA aspirations? Has he talked about what you guys can do in the offseason to prepare for that?
LAWRENCE WESTBROOK: Coach Smith has coached a lot of NBA players so he knows the route that you have to go. But it comes down to me and Damian how we perform. Coach Smith can't get you anywhere. He can guide you a certain way, but you have to make it happen for yourself. But if you definitely need an advisor, if you need to turn to him for anything, he'll definitely be there for you because he's been through it a lot of times.

Q. Damian, what do you expect with the crowd being so close to Minneapolis, and then what was the bus ride like coming down?
DAMIAN JOHNSON: The bus ride was very long. I didn't think it was going to -- I thought Milwaukee was a little closer than that. But it was kind of painful. But our hope is a home game, we hope we have as many fans as possible. We have a lot of Wisconsin students who are home for break. So I hope it's full of gold in the crowd.

Q. Damian, you mentioned that Crawford was similar to some of the guys you faced in Big Ten play. Who would those guys be and what are the similarities?
DAMIAN JOHNSON: Crawford is kind of like -- he's like a Kalin Lucas, guy that comes off a lot of plays. Comes off screens. He makes different moves. And he has the ball in his hand a lot and he knows when to shoot and he takes advantage of any mistake you make on defense, he takes advantage of.
So you've got a player like that, you've just got to remain fundamentally sound and stay in your stance and don't let up.

Q. Damian, you were talking about the Chris Webber timeout and your memories. Did you know at the time that they didn't have a timeout, and has it had an effect on you in the way you play in remembering how many timeouts there are?
DAMIAN JOHNSON: I just know at the time I was like three or four at the time. So I wasn't -- I didn't know all the rules. But I mean, that's something you see a lot on TV and stuff. And you are kind of conscious about it. Was it Michigan State or one of the games recently we ran out of timeouts and I was thinking, make sure I don't make the same mistake during the game. It's something you don't -- something that's going to be remembered forever when you do make that mistake in a critical game.
DENNIS KRAUSE: Thank you.
Questions for coach.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about Jordan Crawford's game and what you guys can do to try to slow him down a little bit tomorrow?
COACH SMITH: Well, first, Jordan is a very talented player. I had a chance watching him when he was very young, when he signed Joe Crawford, his. Brother played for us at Kentucky. And we've seen what Jordan can do firsthand.
He beat us at our place two years ago, three years ago, as a freshman. He was -- you knew he had the talent to play and make big shots.
And when you're player of the year in any conference, you're pretty talented. I don't know that there's anything that we can do to -- you don't stop great players. Good players like Jordan, you just have to try to contain them and hope that you can keep the ball off him as much as possible, make it tough to get his shots, make him work both ends of the court. But he's a long athletic guy.
One of the problems we have is guarding perimeter players that are long and athletic like Jordan.

Q. What worked so well for you in the first three games defensively, the Big Ten tournament, and from your experience, do you feel that a good defense can carry you and advance you while into the NCAA tournament?
COACH SMITH: First, I believe defense is going to win you championships. If you don't play defense, because everybody at this stage can score, their execution is refined, and they've perfected their offense.
So you've got to just not make many mistakes, just try to limit your mistakes defensively. I thought in the Ohio State game we gave up too many baskets and runouts and breakaways and transition. That's one thing we have to do against them.
But that's what we did better in the first three games. We had a problem with that early in the season, throughout the season we had a problem with it. But we backed off of our pressure, full-court pressure. So that helped us to set our defense and not give up many easy baskets. That's how we're able to get a good win against Penn State, Michigan State, and Purdue. Purdue is a situation where they had good looks, but we really were challenging shots. Our guys really came ready to play and focused. And they were inspired to prove that we were a better team than people were giving us credit for.
And that's what we're going to have against a very good Xavier team.

Q. Can you talk about -- you talked a little bit about the defense that you play. Can you talk about your style of play and what that is? And seemed like at a point during the season maybe the team got away from that a little bit, and it's gotten back to that at this point.
COACH SMITH: I don't know that we got away from it. It's just that you have -- we had some personnel changes, and we had to make the adjustments there. We play a lot of guys -- I thought it took us a while, really, for us, for everybody to accept what their role was and how they fit in with the offense. But everybody can play defense.
That's one of the things we've stressed over the years, is playing, staying between the ball and the basket. Pretty basic, pretty simple. And now that we've got better play from our interior -- I thought the big key midway through our second part of the season was Devoe Joseph's emergence as a lead guard, taking over the role of directing the team versus -- and he created -- it caused us to space the floor better because he can score.
You've got to guard him on the perimeter. And I don't know that people really guarded Al on the perimeter. So I think that really helped us a lot. I don't know if that answered your question or not. But that's our style of defense.
To really challenge every shot when the ball is in the post area, try to get it out as quick as possible by trapping or doing whatever we can. We blocked a lot of shots, but I think that's because of our lack of -- our perimeter defense has got to be better. A team like Xavier can really take you off the dribble, much like Ohio State did. And we've ended up having to block a lot of shots at the basket.
But then there are guys like Damian Johnson who is an outstanding defender, probably as good as a defender as I've ever coached. So he creates a lot of problems for a lot of people.
And he helps -- when there is a breakdown, he's always in the right spot defensively. I mean, I can't say always, but pretty much most of the time.

Q. Coach, this style of play in the Big Ten is a little different than maybe a lot of teams are used to, more physical, rugged. Sometimes you guys can win ugly. But how is that to your advantage when you come to the NCAA tournament?
COACH SMITH: You know, I contend that you want to play -- people may perceive us as a physical team or a physical league. But we're pretty athletic. I thought this year was a -- when you get to the tournament here, there's -- usually the officiating and everything else is the same, but it gets a little tighter.
I think to guard a team like Xavier, because they have such good size and physical post players, that we've got to do a better job of keeping the ball out of the post. And our post players and Ralph, he's more of a finesse post player, where he's got to use his length and quickness to get around people. When he doesn't, he's got to try to block the shot.
Colton gives us -- is probably our most physical player along with Lawrence Westbrook. But the league, you're right, I think the Big Ten overall is a physical team. Teams like Wisconsin and Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State, you're right, they're very -- that's because we have very good athletes and big athletes in our league.

Q. What was the most important thing you think you did to keep this team from not only keeping it from coming unhinged but moving forward to the NCAA tournament and making it, but is this your most trying or unusual season in terms of what you've gone through?
COACH SMITH: It's been a different season. I don't think we've had some of the issues. I don't think we've ever had the issues we've had. But every team has adversity that you have to overcome. I guarantee you any coach that sits up here that's in this NCAA tournament, coaching has. It's just not as public and there may not be legal issues in terms of some of the ones we've had.
So as far as that's concerned, yes, it was the most trying season. But it's also the most gratifying season, because these young men have been able to stay composed, stay poised. They haven't allowed the external distractions to be an issue.
We really haven't had many internal issues, and that's the beauty of it, because, you know, we have good people and good players that have done the things we've asked them to do. But usually the perception is that there may be something else wrong, and -- when something happens with one or two players.
But I'm really proud of how our coaching staff has really worked with our players. We've had sessions to let them know that, hey, fellows, everything is going to be all right. Just stay focused on our goals. And so we've been able to do that.
And I think resolving some of the issues midway of league play was a help. I mentioned earlier, now that we've got -- our point guard position was resolved and we knew that certain players weren't going to be a part of -- they may have been in practice but they weren't going to play. There's always that thought, that maybe some -- you know, like a Trevor Mbakwe may end up playing, or Royce. Now, once that gets resolved I think -- and those external distractions are gone, you can focus in on just playing.
And I thought that was important for us. But for me personally, you get at my age, nothing seems to bother you much.

Q. You've got to be flattered by the number of young men who have followed in your footsteps and coached themselves, who played for you. One just won a high school championship in Oklahoma. If you're looking for evidence that you impact the lives of young men, there you go.
COACH SMITH: Shea, I'm so proud of him, and guys like Alvin Poole Williamson, interim coach at Tulsa, and Lou Dawkins has won three state championships in Michigan at Saginaw High School. And I know Tulsa, Booker T. Washington, we have Cordell Love at McClain High School. And those are just guys -- that's the most gratifying part is knowing that these young men have reached their dreams and that we've had a positive influence on their lives. And they're doing the same with their players and with the programs that they're leading, at whatever level they're leading their programs. You're right, I do take a lot of pride in that. Thank you for bringing that up, because those are -- and we have kids on this team that will -- not to mention players that don't play them, managers on our team that over the years that have gone on to coach and they weren't as -- they didn't have the notoriety or weren't Chase Seals, freshman of the year, or player of the year in the Missouri Valley Conference. He's a local home grown kid in Tulsa. But there's a lot of other kids that we're proud of as well.

Q. Could you just talk about the sophomore class and the way they stepped up down the stretch and how important it's going to be to have those guys against Xavier?
COACH SMITH: They're the first, I guess, recruiting class that we've brought in. Ralph Sampson, Colton Iverson, Devoe Joseph, and we knew they would be the backbone of the program. And if they continued to develop and listen and do the things we asked them to do, that we could develop some consistency and some continuity in our program.
And they're the guys that have really -- even though we put a lot of stock and we've asked a lot out of them, and they've done a lot for us. And Damian Johnson and Lawrence Westbrook, Devron Bostick, tri-captains, that's the other thing I want to commend, is that our leadership within our team has been good. That's been a big key to our success this year. Guys like Lawrence Westbrook and Damian have kept things together. Because they've seen a lot. They've gone through a coaching change. They've seen a lot.
And I'm happy for them that they've made this journey and they all have graduated. Damian's already graduated. Devron will graduate. Lawrence Westbrook will graduate. So we're really proud of that. But going back to the sophomores, they're the kids that sell your program. And Devoe, he's a very upbeat, very charismatic -- if you get a chance to interview him, I wish I could do interviews as well as he does. He's really talented in that area, as well as a talented basketball player.
Colton Iverson has played as well as anybody on our team in the last month or two. He's really outstanding. His ability, now that he's able to score inside, he makes -- he adds another dimension to his game and to our program, to our team.
Ralph, he's been as consistent as anybody all year long. Sometimes he may not -- he looks emotionless, and sometimes we want him to be more emotional. But I'm not sure that's part of his whole persona, his whole game face, to be stoic and go out there. He's been pretty consistent.
You're right, those guys are well on their way to having very successful careers here at the U.

Q. What's it like to have a fresh start, take a deep breath, clear the air, knowing that you have a reservoir of experience and growth and maturation since October?
COACH SMITH: Repeat that again.

Q. What's it like knowing that you have a fresh start, and that yet you have better players than when you had your last fresh start?
COACH SMITH: It's always refreshing. Every year in this business -- because the good thing about coaching is that you have a new team. It's not like you have a new set of circumstances, new issues, new personalities. And each team takes on a different personality. Some of them are looser, some of them more serious minded. But this group, they are always having a good time. So the fresh start for me starts with the leadership within our university from Dr. Bruininks and Joel Maturi and our administrators, Regina Sullivan. They're the people that know what we need and providing the resources, whether it's through the academic counseling or travel. Whatever we have to have, we have available to us to be successful.
So each year you get renewed and rejuvenated, and each season -- because it brings new challenges. Certainly we had our challenges this year. So adversity, sometimes it can break some men, and other men break records. This group, I think, is in a position to break some records, doing some firsts.
And we've had some firsts with this group, and I think that's how we've kind of approached it for me. It's a great place to live. We enjoy Minnesota. My prayers are for the people in Fargo because I know the river, the Mississippi, the tributaries, they're all starting to swell as the snow melts which we're very happy about.
It's an exciting time for Minnesota and Gopher basketball, for me, and for our players as well.

Q. Do you have a favorite moment in the NCAA tournament after all the years you've been in the tournament?
COACH SMITH: It's been some good moments. You always go back to your first time coaching in this wonderful tournament, which is the greatest sporting event, probably, in America.
I've got to go back to my days at Tulsa where we had a great run there, and that was a great group of kids. We played right in Oklahoma City. Beat a very good UCLA team. We were a 12 seed and they were a 5 seed. And look up at halftime and the score was -- I think we were up 27 or 30. Unbelievable run. Beat a good Oklahoma State team with Big Country, and teams that were right there down the road from beating us during the season. Oklahoma State had beaten us pretty bad.
That was probably as much fun as I've had in college basketball, when you talk about the experiences in the NCAA. Now, obviously winning a national championship is pretty -- it's hard to top.

Q. Did you find any tangible results in terms of recruiting after last year's appearance, and do you still find these appearances important in that area?
COACH SMITH: Absolutely. It's always important when you can stay in the limelight or stay on people's radar, because kids are watching the NCAA. They're seeing your name, Minnesota, come up.
I noticed we've gotten good responses even this year and last year. We felt it was a big help to us. We've got some kids like Justin Cobbs and Rodney Williams. We had one of the top recruiting classes in the country coming in. So I think they were -- although we had gotten that done early, but it still is a big help in landing the players we landed this season early on, and we're really happy with the young men that we've signed back in November.
So it does -- it means a lot in a lot of different areas; not just from a basketball recruiting standpoint, but from the U itself. I know our program has -- the Director's Cup, Athletic Director's Cup, finished twelfth or fourteenth last year. About as high as we finished. So there was a lot to contribute. The U is academically, but it's good to have positive things. That's a great recruiting tool, not just for our basketball program but for many of our academic programs, I would hope, as well.

Q. My question has to do with experience coaching. Your 43rd game in the tournament, your counterpart has not coached a game in the NCAA tournament. Does that experience play at all in the way you prepare your team?
COACH SMITH: I don't know. Probably coach, he's done a great job with that group. You can see what he's done already. I've been impressed with the way he's conducted himself. They've been through a tournament. And Coach Mack had his players. It's not so much -- like taking over at Kentucky, the players have been there before. And he's been there before as an assistant. So he knows this experience and what it's all about, and I'm sure they're hungry like we're hungry to -- usually it comes down to your players, are they inspired or motivated enough, have they limited their distractions, limited their turnovers and the team that has the best players and plays the best at that time is going to win.
So I'm not sure that the experience, all the experience that I have is going to trump the inexperience that Coach Mack has. It's about who is going to, how we perform between the lines.

Q. Devron, he's a local boy. First of all, can that be may be a distraction, and how are you going to use him against the smaller guards?
COACH SMITH: Devon, I've got to commend him, because he really didn't get a lot of playing time this year. He went through suspension earlier in the year. But he hung in there and stayed the course and did what we asked him to do and is doing extremely well academically. Going to graduate on time and all those good things. But I noticed down at Racine, played on a excellent high school team. Won a state championship. He's a guy that could help us. He helped us a lot in the last few games, especially in the Big Ten tournament. And he is a match-up problem.
He's a good defensive -- he gives us lift because we're not that long with Westbrook at six feet tall, 6-1 and Blake at 6-3 and 6-1 and Devoe at 6-4. We could use his 6-4, 6-5 defensive reach as well as his offense.
And we expect him to play and contribute a lot. I think he's fired up about being here. I don't think it's a distraction for him. He's been around the block now. This is his second time in the NCAA tournament. So I think he's ready to -- I think he showed that in the Big Ten tournament, that he's ready to step up and perform well.

Q. Back to back NCAA tournaments, the success you've had, some teams might look to your staff for a coach, future coach, Vince Taylor was a guy who helped you out in recruiting, and I know last year he interviewed for a job. What do you think about his future as a head coach?
COACH SMITH: He's outstanding. Vince, you're right, I've been so -- Vince is one of my heros, the way he conducts himself and the way he's held himself as a father, as a coach. He's learned from some outstanding fosters like Bill Foster and Mike Krzyewski and Denny Crum, Rick Pitino, he's got the pedigree and ready to run his own program. I'm glad you brought that up. Because we do have an outstanding staff, Ron Jirsa, head coach, Saul Smith, but he's capable and I'm sure he'll, if there's a program out there that's a good fit. That's what it's got to be. And you're right, he came up -- he was close on a couple last year, and I think it's time. I know he's ready. I know he's not anxious but he's ready to make that move. And certainly want the ADs and presidents out there know we've got a very good staff. And they've done an outstanding job, because they've learned how to handle a lot of different situations and done extremely well for us.
DENNIS KRAUSE: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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