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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: JACKSONVILLEMarch 18, 2010Lavoy AllenRyan BrooksFran DunphyLuis GuzmanJACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Lavoy, when you look back on the last two tournament games, do you use them as motivation or do you just try not to think about them? LAVOY ALLEN: No, we definitely try and learn from our past experiences. I think we're a more mature team, and we're experienced guys who have been here before, and that will help us in the long run. Q. Ryan, a lot is being made about Cornell's ability to shoot the three and Temple's ability to take it away. What does Temple need to do to win that battle tomorrow, and can you talk a bit about the challenge of defending a guy like wit man? RYAN BROOKS: Well, definitely one of the things we focused on coming into this game was that they have a multiple number of players that can come out and shoot the three and shoot the three well. You mentioned Wittman, but he's not the only guy that's deadly from three. I believe they have four or five guys that shoot in the 40 percent range and above in three-point field goals. We're just going to definitely have to be aware of all those players are on the court at all times, do a great job of communicating and just help one another. Q. Luis, you look like you have your game face on already. Is that true? LUIS GUZMAN: Yeah, I'm just excited to be. I'm ready to go, and I can't wait for tomorrow? Q. What do you think the key thing for you all is when you have the ball? LUIS GUZMAN: Just basically do the same thing we've been doing all year, taking good shots, playing good defense, and everything should work out in our favor. Q. How do you look at this match-up in terms of what happens down low because obviously your ability to contain Jeff Foote is going to depend on how the rest of your teammates are able to stop that three-pointer. How critical is that match-up down low for you? LAVOY ALLEN: I was going to -- there's a handful of shooters out on the court, it's definitely going to be one-on-one. We're not going to be able to help off the post like we do, like we've been doing all year long. It's going to be either me or Mike Eric who are guarding Jeff Foote, we're going to have to find a way to stop him. Q. Ryan, Cornell is No. 1 in the nation in three-point, so they're in a class by themselves so to speak, but what other team have you all faced where you've had to contend with a good three-point shooting team? Anybody you can compare them to? RYAN BROOKS: I think that's the thing that separates them from so many teams is they have, like I said before, four or five guys out there, four possibly at the same time that shoot in the mid-40s, and I don't know if we've faced another team like that. They're in a class of their own shooting the three. I think it's definitely going to be a new challenge for us, but we're battle tested. We've been through a lot of different experiences this season, and this is just going to be another test for us to overcome. Q. For all three guys, this is your third year for all of you in a row to make it to the tournament. Two years ago you lost in the first round, as well. Could all of you address what's different this year or what's the difference mindset wise? LAVOY ALLEN: I think this year we're more of a team oriented -- the last couple years we had great scorers in Mark Tyndale and Dionte Christmas who were able to take over the game whenever. But this year we know we're going to have to depend on each other more. And also defensively I think we're better this year than we have been the past couple years. That's one of our strong suits is our defense, and we're going to need to pick that up tomorrow. RYAN BROOKS: I think the last two years were definitely different compared to this one because we unfortunately weren't put in a position where we knew we had a very good shot at getting into the tournament around the conference tournament. We knew we had to win those past two tournaments to really definitely get in. And this year with the season that we had, we knew that even if we didn't win the conference tournament, we had a good shot of going in, and I think that prepared us mentally and just made us even more focused to go in and just try to get better going into this particular part of the season. We know this is the third time around, and we're an experienced team. We know what to make of this game now, what to expect from different distractions that can be out there. I think we're all just ready to go, ready to get to playing. LUIS GUZMAN: To add to these guys, basically this is our third year, and we learned from mistakes from Michigan State and Arizona State, like what to do and not to do. But I think this team, everybody has a role and we fulfill the role, and just as a group, we're ready to go? Q. You guys all know that your coach has a long-standing friendship with Steve Donahue. Lavoy, has he talked to you guys about that or mentioned it at all this week, and does he seem any different? LAVOY ALLEN: I think I heard him, he said something about he learned a lot from Steve Donahue when he was the assistant for Coach Dunphy over at Penn. They learned a lot from each other, so it's definitely going to be a tough match-up for both of us. Q. Luis, sometimes the Ivy League can be overlooked, so to speak, in terms when they compare Ivy League to various other conferences. I know that's not in y'all's mindset, but speak to facing this team and your respect for them? LUIS GUZMAN: Yeah, they're a great three-point time. The Ivy League is a great league. This year we played Penn, and they gave us a hard-fought game, and credit to those guys. Q. Lavoy and Ryan, can you guys -- when you play a team like Cornell, it's kind of like they play a bunch of different sets on offense and defensively. Is there a danger of watching them a little bit instead of just playing your game and kind of getting caught up in their game? Can you talk about that and what you have to do to avoid getting caught up playing their game? LAVOY ALLEN: You know, definitely tomorrow when we play Cornell, we can't fall asleep. They run great offense, and whether your guy has the ball or not, you can't fall asleep, and we've got to help each other out a lot tomorrow. RYAN BROOKS: Yeah, and just to add on Lavoy, they're a team that capitalizes on mistakes. If we get caught falling asleep then it definitely can burn us. So we're going to have to just stick to our defensive principles we focused on all year, just go out and compete, fight hard, play smart and tough, and we're a very confident team coming into this game, and if we just stick to our principles, then we feel pretty good. Q. Ryan, with the length that Wittman has at 6'7", do you think that causes any problems for you guys on the perimeter with that type of length shooting the three? RYAN BROOKS: Well, you know, we've faced some pretty good-sized guards throughout the season that have played well against us, and we've done well against them, as well. So I think he definitely will pose a different threat with his three-point shooting ability and his aggressiveness. He's a very aggressive guard, looks to make plays for himself and others, as well. We're just going to have to know where he is at all times on the court. If one person gets behind, we're going to have to help -- rely on some help, and it's going to take a collective effort, and I think we're definitely up for the challenge. THE MODERATOR: We have Temple head Coach Fran Dunphy with us. If you would give us an opening statement. COACH DUNPHY: Well, we're excited to be here, Jacksonville, Florida. We have a very difficult first-round match-up with Cornell. I know them well, know their coach very well, would rather have not had this as our first-round trip, but that's what our assignment is. And once the ball goes up, I'm sure Steve will feel the same way that I do, that we're just coaching our guys, and we'll probably have little to do with the outcome of the games. Our teams will make shots, they'll make plays, they'll make rebounds, they'll defend, and it'll be a great game. Q. You've been here the last two previous seasons. I was wondering what you hope your players will bring to this third opportunity here to go into this game. COACH DUNPHY: Well, I think you hope that they will be less in awe of the moment. After having been here the last couple of years, we have a lot of veteran guys who have been around a little bit. The unfortunate part is Cornell is the same way. They've been here for the last two years, so they won't be in awe either, and they have a great veteran group. You're just hoping that they will be poised and confident as they go out on the court and that they start the game in a -- really in a fashion that you'll be proud of and that they'll be proud of. Q. Drawing from your years in the Ivy League, how unique of a skill set does Jeff Foote have, and can you just talk about the rare nature of having a kid like him on an Ivy League team. COACH DUNPHY: Yeah, I'll be honest with you, he's a really good basketball player, so he's a Division I, outstanding talent. He poses different issues for us, and I wish he wasn't such a good passer out of there, if we went to double him. I wish he wasn't equally adept on right hand and left hand. I wish his corresponding group wasn't as efficient as they are in making threes. It's just a perfect complement to your team to have that kind of inside presence. And then that's just on the offensive end. On the defensive end, that size is really changing a lot of shots. Not only does he block shots but he changes many, many more. He's a formidable foe for us tomorrow, and really the more film I watch, the more respect I get for his game. Q. Why are some teams better at defending the three-point line than others? Is it a mindset? Is it a skill set among the players? Is it just you're demanding that they do it? What is it? COACH DUNPHY: Yeah, I think really you are good at what you emphasize, and I would think that most teams that are good at defending the three really talk about it greatly. I think there's another piece to this, though, and that is how you run your offense, set up how your defense is played. If you are a fast-paced run the up and down the floor, kind of crazed at all costs kind of offense, then you're probably going to get caught in transition defensively and give up easy looks at specifically the three ball. So for us we think we do a good job on the offensive end where we have good spacing. As a result we have good floor balance. We don't turn it over much so we get good shots. We're in balance as we get back. Now, we may have mismatches when we're in transition, we may have a big match to a guard and vice-versa. But the important thing for us is not to give up any easy looks, and especially if you look at a team like Cornell who shoots it so well from the perimeter. We've talked about a lot over the last couple days. If we're in transition a lot, we're either going to need to match up greatly as soon as they come down the floor. But I think the bottom line is you're good at what you emphasize, and I'd like to think that for us we're good at emphasizing defending the three. If they get a lot of good looks and start knocking them out, they don't need a lot of time or space. That's what makes them difficult to defend. Q. With as much experience as you've had in the Ivy League, why do you think it's been since '98 that an Ivy League team has won a tournament game? COACH DUNPHY: Well, I think the competition has been fantastic, that all of the Ivy teams have played. I would say to you that from my experience in it, and I know our games, we did not do very well against Boston College one year in Cleveland, but in every other year, we felt like we were competing up until the last moment, and I think Steve will probably tell you the same thing. I'm sure that the Princeton coaches will tell you the same thing. It's just the competition is unbelievable how good these teams are, so even for us now, we have a tough game tomorrow coming up here. We're going to have to play our very best basketball, and I'm hoping that we can come out on top. But I'm sure Steve and his team will have a lot to say about that. Q. Not just you and Steve, but I think there's seven Philly coaches in the tournament this year, which is a fairly typical number. Why do you think so many coaches come out of Philly? COACH DUNPHY: Can't do anything else maybe? That's a good question. You know, I think we're crazed basketball-wise. If you look at all the guys that are from Philly, and we all grow up going to these games as kids, then we play basketball and we think we're better than we are. Then the competition gets to the point where we can't compete anymore, and the only way we can find to compete is to coach. It's just been a -- I think Philadelphia is a fantastic college basketball town. We think it's the best. We're obviously biased and prejudiced toward that end, but we think it's the best. We have six Division I schools. We all play each other, and I think we think it's an important piece to our city, and we want to represent it well. But why do we get into it? I guess because we just love it. The passion is there, and the desire to, again, still compete is there. I think you grow up with that in Philadelphia. Q. What were your thoughts when you saw the draw and it would be Steve's team? What were your initial thoughts? He had some pretty interesting things to say. COACH DUNPHY: Say your last comment again. Q. He said he had some pretty interesting things to say. He said he kind of fell back in his chair when he saw. COACH DUNPHY: Well, I had a little different reaction. My physical reaction was probably different, but my emotional reaction was probably the same. I typically don't sit there and watch the draws as they come up, and we've been fortunate enough to be in it a couple times. So I kind of hang out in the outer rooms and somebody -- it might have been my son came to me and said, you're a 5 seed. I said, okay, and we're playing Cornell, right? He said, yeah, how did you know? I said, well, that's just the way it was going to work. Again, I don't think disappointment is the right word. We were going to play a really good basketball team, but you would rather -- there's so many emotions that go on in this tournament, I'd rather not have the extra layer of emotion, competing against a guy that you were hoping to root for as he played his first-round game. So it's just that. But you get over it in a little bit, and now we're -- as I said before, when the ball goes up, you're not going to think about that at all. You really don't even think about the other bench and what they're doing down there, you're just so engrossed in what your guys are doing and trying to compete. It's not an easy thing, to be honest with you. I love Steve Donahue. He's a terrific, terrific basketball coach. He meant a lot to me as a guy that I coached with, and as I said many, many times, I learned a lot of basketball from him as we went about our ten years together. THE MODERATOR: Coach, I think you're good to go. End of FastScripts |
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