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

March 19, 2010

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND

THE MODERATOR: We now have Game 3 winner, Ohio. Who advanced to the second round with a '97-83 win over Georgetown. Ohio will play Tennessee on Saturday. The game will start 30 minutes after the completion of game 1.
We are now joined by Ohio student-athletes Armon Bassett and D.J. Cooper.

Q. You guys looked really confident in that game last night. You didn't really look like an underdog and you didn't look as though you were fearful of Georgetown making a run, can you just address the confidence you felt in that game?
ARMON BASSETT: You know, with me, I've been playing at Cameron Indoor Stadium and been a lot of places, so to play against a team from a big conference like that, you have to go out there and play your game believing in yourself and try to get off to a good start and hope my teammates rally off that.
D.J. COOPER: I feed off him. I see him playing with a lot of energy, confidence, so I just try to do the same thing, follow his footsteps.

Q. You had some other very good choices in colleges, what was it that attracted you most to Ohio U?
D.J. COOPER: Just the opportunity that I had and knowing that Coach Groce was a good coach. And I knew he put a lot of confidence in me and a lot of trust in me. And I was going to be willing to make mistakes, and without getting yanked out of the game, just mainly that.

Q. How do you get yourself reenergized emotionally after what was probably the biggest program win just last night? How do you guys gear back up playing on a short turnaround?
ARMON BASSETT: We've just got to be grateful that we won that game, but we're over that. We obviously play a lot of minutes, both of us. But we'll be just up when the game comes around, we'll be ready to do what we have to do. So I think as a player you like playing the quick turnarounds, a day in between, not that much time in between, so we're looking forward to it.
D.J. COOPER: Just like Armon said, just we look forward to playing with a day between games, instead of having to wait a week or a couple of days in between. We just come back humble and hungry and ready to play.

Q. D.J., Armon was talking about how you came from playing in Chicago and that's why you're sort of nonplussed in this, you're used to competition. How did that get you ready playing high schools and stuff there and playing street ball and everything else there, how did it get you ready for this kind of atmosphere?
D.J. COOPER: It's like he says, great competition, night in and night out, the guys are physical, they talk trash, fast pace and just real competitive.

Q. Speaking of talking trash, if you don't mind, have you had any incidents this year, D.J., about being referred to maybe as the team manager, are people coming up to you, because you're so small? Could you talk about that, Armon, do you guys ever try to get him something to eat so he can bulk up a little bit?
D.J. COOPER: You know, I'm used to it. Like back home everybody, you know, they talk a little smack, they make a basket or two, I guess that's just how they feed off of themselves, getting energy.
ARMON BASSETT: We're not worried about Cooper's size. Whatever he doesn't have in size he definitely has in heart and confidence and that's why he's able to stand out and do what he does out there.

Q. Armon, your college career has been kind of interesting, switching schools a couple of times. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about how that experience has affected you as a player and a person and about this opportunity you have here at Ohio now?
ARMON BASSETT: Well, I had two good years playing at Indiana, got to play for one of the best college coaches of this time. I got into a little trouble along the way, kind of, and I had to go through a long while of my name, nothing but bad stuff being written about me. And it just made me stronger. And I went to UAB and had some family things going on. And I wanted to be a little closer to home. And Ohio is not what you call exactly close to home, but for me to get home for an emergency, I can get home faster than I would be able to get home from Birmingham, so I wanted to make the move.
I've got to thank God for putting me through these situations, for making me a stronger person and giving me the strength to come out of this. And thanks to Coach Groce for giving me a chance to play. I've just got to be thankful, really.

Q. It's been a very long season for you guys as a team, ups and Downs, and being down in the first game of your conference tournament. Were there times when this moment would be unimaginable, that you were going to have this kind of a team?
ARMON BASSETT: The Ball State game we did have our backs against the wall a little bit, we were down by 8 or 10 with ten minutes to go. I would say that's the closest thing. But we didn't stop believing there. We felt like we could have won a regular season championship if we get a couple of plays to go our way. We watch the TV and we see everybody make a deal about us being 7 and 9. Out of nine losses every one of them was like two or three points. We could have easily won those games. But that's what it is.
D.J. COOPER: Just like Armon say, we -- all of our games have been kind of close. We only lost one game and that was against Pittsburgh that I felt like we just kind of lost, the team kind of beat us. Every other game I felt like we were in. For us to be 7 and 9 I think we have real confidence just from the beginning and stuff like that.

Q. Do you guys think you surprised Georgetown with how good you were last night?
D.J. COOPER: I was expecting them to come out probably with a little more energy than they had. It's the team you always see on TV at Madison Square Garden and stuff like that, we just wanted to see how we matched up with it, one of the best teams in the country. We came out with our best shot, gave them our best shot.
ARMON BASSETT: I just know we came out and executed our game plan to the highest level. And we try to worry about ourselves. We put out a scouting report for the other team but we feel if we play to our strengths I think we do what we got to do. Anytime we're shooting like that we feel like we can play with a lot of teams.

Q. When a low seeded team gets going in the tournament people around the nation kind of get attracted to them and the underdog thing. Have you sensed any of that and is that something you'll be looking forward to if you guys can make a run here?
ARMON BASSETT: I think that's why you come to a mid-major school is the challenge of getting into the tournament and then to win, to advance in a tournament is another big thing. I think people are starting to like us and starting to follow us, but we've just got to keep a level head, a narrow path and stay humble and keep trying to string these W's together.
D.J. COOPER: Just like Armon said, just try to string some wins together and hopefully the country will see what we see within ourselves.

Q. Is that something you guys can feed off of as you go on?
D.J. COOPER: Yeah, we feed off of it. We look for anything just to keep us going, keep a chip on our shoulder, keep us energized.

Q. Coach Groce was talking Monday about he wasn't worried about you guys, it seemed like the bigger, the brighter the stage, the better you all bring your game. What is it about this setting that sets both you guys off?
ARMON BASSETT: Like he said it's a big stage and if you want to be labeled as a big time player, you have to step up on these occasions. You can become a household name in these type of situations. And I think we both live for this moment. It's what we've been putting all that work in when we were younger to get to this moment and play on CBS and play against these teams and we're just happy to be here.
D.J. COOPER: Exactly what he just said. You feel like it's nothing but an opportunity, especially when you get in a major school, you might not get as much TV time as another major school. So when the lights do come on, you feel like that's when the big-time players should step up and do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Q. You score 97 last night. I know coach wants you to score 80 or more. How have you done that all year and had so few turnovers, how does that work?
ARMON BASSETT: I think partly is because I play point guard my two years at Indiana, so even though I'm playing two guard for us, we have two point guards out there, and that is definitely to our advantage. And Cooper does a great job running our team and getting us into things. And I try to throw myself in there and try to play the least amount of turnovers I can.
D.J. COOPER: Just try to play patient, play poised and make smart decisions out there.

Q. D.J., Tennessee has one of the tallest back courts in the country, certainly the tallest you faced all year. What adjustments do you think you'll have to make to keep the offense running smoothly and how do you match up with guards that have a couple of inches on you?
D.J. COOPER: I don't care about that. They dribble the ball and shoot it just like us, unless they start posting up or something like that. But other than that we're not worried about no height advantage. We're going to play how we've been playing all year. Fast pace, play defense, box out, just do the things we have to do to win.
THE MODERATOR: We're pleased to be joined by Ohio Head Coach John Groce. And coach, would you mind starting off with an opening statement.
COACH GROCE: Sure. Obviously thrilled and understand what a privilege it is to be a part of the tournament and be able to advance to the round of 32. I'm excited for our guys, proud of the way that we played yesterday, but as I've told them here, as we started preparing today and learning from the tournaments of the past, how we played yesterday isn't going to earn us anything tomorrow when the balls tips. We're going to have to play well again against a very good Tennessee ball club.

Q. When did you decide you felt comfortable with giving D.J. Cooper the ball, a freshman guard and stuff? How much did he have to do to earn your trust, and what has he done to show you he deserved it since then?
COACH GROCE: Well, to be honest with you we kind of did that from jump street. I just had a lot of confidence in him when I watched him. And probably the greatest lesson for me in terms of how to coach him and approach him was, when I was at Ohio State we had Mike Conley, Junior, and we did very similar thing from the very beginning there. And I thought that allowed Michael to grow as it's allowed D.J. to grow through some adversity during the year, maybe get him to this point a little bit faster and quicker to where he has that type of confidence and swagger and ability to make decisions, like he did yesterday.
He'd be the first to tell you there were some times back in January we were involved in some close ballgames where he had the ball in his hands late game and it didn't quite go our way. We've been willing to ride with him. I hung by him during those times and just said, hey, D.J., you're our guy. And hopefully I think through all that he became not only a better player but a little bit stronger person, a better leader, better understanding of how to play the lead guard or point guard position and I think he's continued to get better as the season's progressed.

Q. You mentioned your years at Ohio State and Mike Conley, Junior, how different does this Tennessee team look than the one you eliminated a couple of years ago in the Sweet 16?
COACH GROCE: That's a great question. I think the first thing that I saw when I started really diving into the film was how aggressive, how they attack you for 40 minutes, how hard they play, how relentless they are, and those things certainly haven't changed. I think they've certainly got some guys who are capable of making shots.
I think it was four threes yesterday and really made some big plays for them. They've certainly got guys capable, Tatum is capable, Hopson is capable, they're all capable of making shots. You look at their stat sheets in those years, and they were 36 plus percent from three. This year they have not been quite as consistent a ball club, I think they're like at 31.
But other than that, I mean, not a whole lot of differences. I think they've always been very difficult to prepare for, certainly difficult to prepare for on one day.

Q. I'm wondering if you could please discuss your relationship with Armon Bassett and the ways in which you think the stuff he's gone through the last few years have affected and/or even changed him?
COACH GROCE: Well, it's definitely changed him. I think Armon has been through a lot of adversity in his life. And some of it dates back even -- I know you're alluding to probably Indiana and UAB, but even before that. I've known Armon since he was 13 years old and his mother, and from where he started to where he is now and all the different things he's been through, I'm thrilled that he's had this opportunity to grow and to improve, not only as a basketball player while he's been at Ohio but also as a person through this process.

Q. We're all talking about the back-court. How far can you possibly go if Washington can't do what he has to do against the team and all those endless collection of flying bodies that Tennessee can present?
COACH GROCE: No question, Bob, I think it's a great point. And I think really obviously Washington is our best athlete in the front court. But even Van Kempen and our two freshmen kids that have played what may seem like limited minutes, but their minutes have been very productive the last few weeks, and I'm referring to Keely and Baltic, as well as Washington, DeVaughn gets a double double last night.
You're right, Bob, he's a high flier. He can make athletic plays and make energy plays for us. And certainly over the last couple of weeks while we've played our best basketball he's done that at a very high level. And you're right, the guards got a lot of attention yesterday. They certainly played well. But I thought his 12 points and 10 rebounds and performances that have been like that a lot recently are as big a reason certainly why we're still standing.

Q. A team that struggled towards the middle of the year and the achilles heel was finishing off games. Now particularly for a young game they played with so much poise in the last month, what in your estimation has been the difference?
COACH GROCE: If I knew exactly what it was I would have tried to get that done early. But I think -- my dad used to say to me all the time, experience is the greatest teacher. As I alluded to earlier, it took us falling on our face a little bit in those situations to learn from those and grow and become a better basketball team.
I think that's been the biggest difference. And as a side to that I think the second thing would be just our chemistry, with the young team and so many different pieces here in our second year, it took an while for us to build our chemistry where it needed to be. And right now our guys are very close. And I think that's also helped us in terms of being able to finish games.

Q. When you look at Tennessee how would you characterize this team? I follow them obviously and I'm not sure if I could tell you how to characterize them after an entire season. What jumps out for you when you start preparing for Tennessee?
COACH GROCE: Well, the first thing is I have an admiration of what they went through this season and where they are now. Because we went through some similar situations ourselves. And ironically we're playing one another. But I watched that very closely. I don't get to watch a whole lot of college basketball, other than our own film and the teams that we're getting ready to play against.
But I followed it a little bit. And was just really amazed at the job that Bruce did and how competitive they continued to play, their effort, as I mentioned earlier, when you think of Tennessee you think of them attacking you for 40 minutes and you better be able to swing when the bell rings. To me that's what stands out probably more than anything.

Q. You talked about the privilege of being in the tournament and not now being one of the 32 teams still playing. Is any part of that joy or your experience being a 14th seed and being maybe the lowest seed to advance and going places where 14th seeds don't go?
COACH GROCE: I know this is a special tournament. I'm biased, but I think it's the best sporting event. Obviously I'm biased. I don't know, because obviously as a head coach it may be a little bit different. But I will tell you that I certainly -- even as an assistant coach, whenever we were able to advance in rounds didn't take those opportunities for granted. So that's why I started out by saying it is a privilege. I mean this is a really special tournament. I'm happy for our guys and how hard they've worked and that they've been able to see the fruits of not only their labor, but sometimes when you deal with adversity it can make you stronger and can make you a better team, better people, and I think our guys are living proof of that throughout what happened during the season.

Q. Obviously you're familiar with the MAC from afar, maybe through playing different times. Now you're two years in it, how would you describe your preconceived knowing about what the league is all about as opposed to what the league is all about?
COACH GROCE: It's a great question, Bob. The thing that struck me now going through -- it's amazing the number of games in our league that come down to the last five minutes. It's mind boggling. The parity in our league. I told some of my coaching colleagues, I felt like we've coached more close games in two years maybe than I did combined the entire time I was with Coach Matta at Butler, Xavier, and Ohio State. It seems like every night it comes down to the last three or four minutes. And that's made our team grow up and certainly made me grow up hopefully a little bit, too, through all that process and being able to learn and go through those different situations as a head coach.

Q. First of all, last night you got a look at the tape, the sheets, is there any go number you didn't make last night as a team. Two, talk about how your interest in numbers, efficiency, changes how you manage this team?
COACH GROCE: I am a numbers guy. I'm a math major. I used to teach high school math. And I do think numbers indicate certainly a lot. To answer your first question, offensively, we reached them all. I don't know if we could have played much better offensively.
Defensively in the first half we held our own. And then defensively in the second half we weren't maybe as good as we'd like to be. But obviously Georgetown had a lot to do with that because they're very talented. And their ability to execute offensively, and they shoot 50 percent from the field, for that's not for a game, that's for the season. That's outstanding. So we had some problems guarding them in the second half.
But we do obviously take a look at numbers and different things. I do go on feel a little bit, as well. But we certainly are looking at how efficient we are offensively and defensively with some of the numbers.

Q. Armon says that you guys go back quite a ways through various connections. When you heard he was leaving UAB, were you immediately interested and how did that process unfold?
COACH GROCE: I wouldn't say I was necessarily immediately interested. Just because I wasn't necessarily aware of it instantly. My brother coached him in AAU and was on the staff at Indiana. He called and told me, hey, he's going to leave or he's got his release. And then from there made contact and started having some dialogue to see if it made sense. And if both of us were going to be on the same page in terms of what we were trying to do and expectations and that type of thing.
Once I felt like it was a good fit then we made the decision and I think in his mind he felt like probably he would tell you, he felt like it was a great decision from the standpoint he was looking -- I was just fortunate in that I'd known him for a long time. He was looking for someone that he could trust. Like he said, have had a relationship for a long period of time.

Q. I think every team faces a moment of truth and every player where they find out what they're made of. Did you guys face that last night when it was 7 points, could have cut it to 5 and made the free throw. D.J. made the three pointer, or did you think you faced that earlier in the MAC Tournament?
COACH GROCE: We faced a lot of runs throughout the year, in answering about the MAC and the parity and all the situations that come up late in the game. We have been in those situations before, sometimes in our favor, sometimes not. But I think because of all those things our guys were able to have poise. And it's a little bit with D.J., like John Calipari, know he talks about his freshman saying sometimes they don't know any better. With D.J., he just plays. In some respects he doesn't know any better, which is a good thing.

Q. In that respect, Armon Bassett said that if you guys had won a few more of those games people might be talking about D.J., like people are talking about John Wall, in terms of production, things he's gotten done. They're obviously a little different player. Do you think he's that kind of freshman player.
COACH GROCE: Well, I think statistically, I don't have proof of this, and I don't have time to do that type of research, even though I do like numbers, but he's -- I don't know where he's at right now but he's somewhere around six rebounds a game. He's somewhere around six to seven assists a game. He's in the top 15 in the country in steals per game. He's in the top 15 in the country in assists per game. And he's averaging double figures.
I don't know -- you could say to me there's four other freshmen point guards that have those type of numbers. I believe you. I can't imagine there's very many. Obviously John Wall is a guy we're aware of. He's had a tremendous season. There could be more. But my guess is there may not be. It's a handful at most. So I think statistically he has had that type of year. I think what's happened, though, and I've kind of alluded to this is early on -- he was putting up statistics and numbers, but I think what's happened here late is he started to figure out how to play the position a little bit, how to make guys better, time and score, when poise is needed, when he needs to shoot, when he needs to pass, and I think he's balanced that really well and gotten a lot better at understanding how to play the position later in the year.

Q. You've mentioned, you referenced Bruce Pearl and the Tennessee situation and your own teams. In some ways Villanova is also going through some adjustments as the season goes along, it's that type of regional here in Providence, I guess. Was there anything you took specifically from watching the Tennessee situation? Can you address in general how difficult it is to keep remaking your team on the fly during the season?
COACH GROCE: It's not easy. I just remember when someone had told me about some of those things and then I watched Tennessee play, I can't remember what night it was, and I knew they had beaten Kansas and I watched them and just admiration for Coach and how hard he had those kids playing. And it appeared to me that they weren't deterred at all.
I thought that's maybe the thing that stood out the most. And we tried to do that with our guys. And obviously some of the results that we've experienced here later have been more favorable. We maybe turned the corner a little later than they did through some of the adverse times that they went through. Admiration is probably the word, for what they went through and where they are and what type of season they've had.

End of FastScripts

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