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NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURApril 2, 2010Matt HowardRonald NoredBrad StevensINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: We'll start here with questions for Coach Stevens. Q. My question is about former Coach Todd Lickliter. What role did he have in forming you as a coach and to the Butler program itself? COACH STEVENS: He's an incredibly big part of this. One of the first things, I got a chance to see him already this week, talk to him quite a bit. He's just one of the best people to be around. He treats his players right. He treats coaches right. He lets you develop as a coach. You know, one of the things I truly believe, everybody that's worked and played for him will be better off because of it. I think that's a great legacy to have as a coach. I know this: he's one of the best people and coaches I've ever been around. Q. Talk about how important it was to have your guys shoot in a big dome like this with the backdrop and so many people all around. COACH STEVENS: You know, I do think -- yesterday I didn't think it was a big deal to shoot in the dome. Bottom line is you're shooting on 10-foot goals, all the lines are the same and everything else. We tell our guys and talked to our guys, If you ever shot outside, there's a bigger backdrop than this, so it's not a big deal. But that being said, I do think it was probably pretty good to get out here with all these people in here. It was neat. Our guys loved it. But just like everybody else, they're pretty wide-eyed when they walked in, as was I, as was all our staff. One of the things we try to do is do the exact same routine we did in San Jose and Salt Lake. We didn't want to change it. We didn't want to become something now that we haven't been. I thought our guys did a pretty good job of just kind of staying focused and going through a 50-minute shooting workout. There was nothing technical bit. I thought they got a good workout in. Q. Obvious it's become an era of the one-and-done player. We're seeing teams that have started three and four year starters. Can you talk about the process of recruiting these types of guys and how you bring them into your style of play, what makes it work in this tournament? COACH STEVENS: Well, I can't speak for the other teams. Very rarely does the NBA come up in the discussion in recruiting, in part because some of these guys probably won't be able to play there eventually. It does sometimes. There are certain things that have been pretty well-documented, certain players where you see they have a pretty good chance because physically they have a lot of tools on top of everything else. The most important thing in our recruiting is identifying character and the way that people like them and how they represent their schools, you know, beyond the minimum level of basketball ability. Q. You talked about your guys being wide-eyed. There's a girl carrying a sign saying, Gordon Lee, you go to prom with me. You have all the Butler fans. How do you keep your guys grounded and not get caught up in this? COACH STEVENS: Well, I don't know. They're pretty humble guys. They're pretty down-to-earth people. This is unique. Indianapolis, most of us, they've all been here for a little bit of time, some of them for a long time, and I've been here almost my whole life. It certainly is a different level of energy and enthusiasm for Butler than ever before. But I think our guys will do a pretty good job of managing that. Right next to my hotel room, I will say I can hear one shining moment played by the Butler fight song, it's like on repeat. Something has it going. I don't know if it's in the streets, whatever the case may be. You take more pride, get more excited about that than anything else. Q. It's an era of coaches where a lot of coaches are animated on the sideline. You are not. You're pretty calm. Where does that come from? Are you as calm inside? Where did you get the style of just being very relaxed or reserved? COACH STEVENS: You know what, I think I'm probably not as calm as everybody thinks. Maybe the TV has caught me at the right time. There's probably an official or two out there that's like, Calm? He's not calm. But I try to maintain some sense of even keel because one of my first games as a head coach, I felt like I was on edge. I felt like our team played on edge. From that point on, I said, I don't want to lose a game because of my approach. I probably overprepared. We probably focused too much on the other team, everything else. From that point on, I've tried to stay even-keeled. I think I had a great leader in Todd. Todd was always that way. I worked with him for six years. Can't tell you how many times he turned to the bench and said, We need to be the face of calm. I think that is a huge, huge thing, especially with a young team. I was an a flight from Orlando back to Indianapolis at the end of the July recruiting period two years ago. We hit some turbulence. It just bounced all over the place. We were probably on there with 30 kids who had all been to Disneyworld. I swear to you, 20 of them just raised their hands in the air and screamed like they were on a rollercoaster. It was a great reminder to me that attitude is everything, outlook is everything, and move on to the next play. Every time I've hit turbulence since then, I've been pretty excited. Q. Which game were you tight at? COACH STEVENS: At Wright State. Q. You have a lot of time to fill between now and the game tomorrow. What kinds of things have you planned? Will you make Shelvin Mack watch Hoosiers? COACH STEVENS: I'm not going to make them do anything out of the norm. We're going to go over to another site, go through what our plans are offensively and defensively from a technical standpoint. We have a Butler alum coming to spend some time with our guys for a little bit. Then our guys will take the rest of the afternoon off. We'll get back together at night and watch some film. They'll go to dinner together. Actually I'll be at, for at least an hour, an event that my wife has planned for a long time, a "Coaches versus Cancer" event here. Q. There are two coaches obviously in this Final Four who have stamped their names on it already. You get misidentified for a player yesterday. How in the coaching evolution did you learn to block out whoever the guy is on the other bench and be you? COACH STEVENS: When I first got the job at Butler, one of the best pieces of advice I got was from Sean Miller, now who is the head coach at Arizona, a good friend. He said it's hard when you take over a program that has always been successful because you're always thinking about ways that it has been done. He said, The most important thing you can do is be yourself. So I am who I am. My age is what it is. My age has no factor on how our team plays. So my job is just to try to get them to play as well as we can. Q. You talk about being wide-eyed yourself. Is there a moment this week, Tuesday you're still in your home gym, where you have to step back? COACH STEVENS: There probably hasn't been. We've maintained a pretty good normalcy to the week. It's actually been nice to check into the hotel, to kind of just isolate ourselves that way a little bit. I will say that I go to this little spot for lunch once a week, plan practice, kind of get away. I've always gone there. They usually have the back to myself. I looked up on the TV. One of them is breaking down Butler's offense, one is breaking down Michigan State's offense, and another is interviewing Bobby Plump. Wow, there's a lot of people talking about this. Q. Is the alum who is coming to talk, is it Bobby Plump? COACH STEVENS: No. It's a person who's been around our team in the past that we really feel strongly about. Q. But you're not going to let the cat out of the bag? COACH STEVENS: I'll ask him, and then if it's okay, I'll let everybody know. Q. You have five players who are not from Indiana on the roster now. How did you sell them on Butler or did they already know about Butler and had preferences towards Butler already? COACH STEVENS: Well, I think, first of all, Butler sells itself. Once they're able to come to campus, our players sell the program better than anybody else. We always say, Come and spend time with our guys because, you know, it's just a tremendous group to be around. A lot of those kids that came from out of state had previous Indiana links, whether it be high school coaches from the state or whatever the case may be. Willie and Shelvin probably the exception to that, but they're both within a pretty reasonable distance. Q. When you were in the business world, were you always thinking about getting back into basketball, getting into coaching? COACH STEVENS: Yes. But I didn't care what level. I don't think. I wanted to be around really good students who could challenge for championships. I don't know that in my wildest dreams we would have been sitting here, even when I started at Butler. One of the things that struck me when I first started at Butler, is those kids really believed - they're not kids any more - those guys really believed they could win the next game. They didn't care who they were playing. My first year at Butler, we played Wake Forest in the NCAA tournament. We were up 43-10 at halftime, because they just played with such a chip on their shoulder. They were always the underdog. They were so tough. A lot of those guys have gone on to become coaches. It's been a fun group to look back on as one of the groups that helped start to establish this. Q. Back to the selling part of this. How much do you have to sell guys on the style that you play or do you just not recruit guys that want to play that kind of style? COACH STEVENS: Don't have to sell it at all. Never comes up in the discussion. One of the things that I remember seeing when I first got there and we talked about a lot, was style of play is winning. So if that means that you have an advantage somewhere and you're able to push the tempo, you're able to trap, increase turnover, whatever the case may be. Based on who you're playing, we'll try to do those things. If you're playing a team like Syracuse, you're not going to be able to do some of those things against then. We don't want to be one-dimensional that we can't adjust if we're playing really good teams. We just want to try to win. Style of play is a little bit overblown, tempo is a little bit overblown. At the end of the day, it's who you're playing and what you think you can be advantageous in attacking them. Q. As you came over on the bus, going through the multitudes, what went through your mind? What did you hear on the bus? Where exactly do you go to lunch every week? COACH STEVENS: I go sit at the Broad Ripple Tavern right there on Broad Ripple Avenue. It's got a great little back eating area. Get the same thing every week. Pretty boring. But it was unbelievable. My first thought was, How in the heck are we going to get to Lucas Oil Stadium? The cars were lined up, people were walking in the streets. It was fun to see the Butler gear. We got a couple scowls and bad looks from Michigan State and Duke fans. Other than that, it was all cheering and happy from what we could tell on the outside. Q. I read in one of the clippings exactly what your title was at Eli Lilly. I don't remember because I couldn't understand it. What was it and what did you do there? COACH STEVENS: I was a marketing associate. My main role was metrics and incentives for one of their sales groups. Q. What the heck is that? COACH STEVENS: It's when you come up with measurements that they try to achieve to be incentivized to reach sales goals and ultimately are rewarded either financially, or whatever the case may be, by reaching those sales goals. Q. During practice, you exuded the look of a Final Four veteran. Your team looked like it expected to be playing for the national championship this weekend. Given the success you've had this year, how would you define a successful season moving forward and can you have a successful season without making the Final Four? COACH STEVENS: Oh, yeah. There's no question about it. You know, what you do in the four games in March, we're fortunate. We're fortunate to beat Murray State. If we would have lost to Murray State, it would have been a successful year. You get a chance to play in the NCAA tournament from a non-BCS league, I think that's a heck of an accomplishment because you've either played near to perfection during your conference season or you've won your conference tournament. So right then and there, that's a success. There's no question about it. This is all icing on the cake. But the neat part is, it's the guys. As far as exuding the confidence, the only thing I will say, it's not a usual practice. So you're not going through anything technically. We're not doing anything defensively. I want these guys to enjoy it while at the same time getting some shots up, just get used to the building, if anything else. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH STEVENS: Thank you. THE MODERATOR: We can go ahead and get started with the student-athletes. Q. What was it like shooting in the dome with the backdrop, with all the people around? RONALD NORED: Uhm, I think it was pretty cool. It wasn't a big deal shooting with the backdrop. You know, coach has been saying the whole time since we've gotten here that it's just like shooting outside. We've all grown up shooting outside, whether it's an infinite backdrop. So I think it was fine. The atmosphere was awesome. The people in Indianapolis are definitely ones to thank for this. Q. As this week has gone on, there's been such a Butler buzz, have you become more calm as the week progressed or does it become more nerve-wracking? MATT HOWARD: Uhm, I wouldn't say that it, you know, becomes more nerve-wracking. For us, our coaches do a great job of keeping us focused. Whatever these distractions may be, I don't think it's going to get us off the task at hand and what we need to do. RONALD NORED: I agree with Matt. You know, we're basketball players. We're here to play a basketball game. There's great things going on around us. Yes, it's the Final Four. When it comes down to it, we're here to play a basketball game. We've been doing that for 36 games already. No need to change or get nervous now. Q. We've heard the phrase 'Butler Way' about 300 times the last week. What does that mean? RONALD NORED: For me, it means you can see with our team, sacrificing yourself for one another. There's 15 guys on the team, five coaches, four managers, athletic trainers, doctors. We're all sacrificing for each other. We're doing it together. It's not about the name on the back of your jersey. It's not about what you can do or getting your name out there. It's about Butler and it's about promoting our university and promoting ourselves as a team. MATT HOWARD: The word we use a lot in correspondence with the 'Butler Way' is accountability. That goes into what Ron said. You know, if you're accountable for yourself, you're not going to do something that's going to hurt your team, your university, anything like that. That comes from having a bunch of selfless guys. I think that's exactly what this team is. Q. Ronald, when you look at tape of Michigan State, what do you see in terms of defensive play and toughness and rebounding? Do they look a little bit like yourselves? RONALD NORED: They're no doubt one of the best rebounding teams in the country. That's offensively and defensively. They play hard. They're very physical. It's going to be, for us, about executing with toughness against them. They might disrupt some cuts. They might be tough down low with Matt. Avery and Andrew and those guys. We're going to have to match that. We're going to have to execute despite what they're doing. They're very good at what they do. We're very good at what we do. It's just going to be about us versus them and who can execute the best. Q. What is the most unusual or most surprising thing that you've seen or heard in terms of fan interest, the frenzy that's been generated or surrounding Butler? RONALD NORED: Interesting or surprising thing. MATT HOWARD: I guess you can start. I'm not sure. RONALD NORED: Interesting or surprising thing. I got one. Our president crowd surfed. I don't know how many president of universities you see trusting their students enough to be in their hands enough with the chance of falling and breaking a few bones. That was pretty interesting (smiling). MATT HOWARD: I don't know if I can top that. I forgot all about that. Man, I don't know, beyond that. That was quite shocking, I guess, to say the least. But that sort of shows the level of excitement on our campus and for our whole Butler community, you know, how excited they are, you know, really proud of us, to be in this point, hopefully to continue. Q. Matt, the last eight teams to play their first Final Four games, seven of the eight have lost. Curious why you're so confident you'll be different? MATT HOWARD: You know, I don't see why we can't be that one team and do what they did. You know, our confidence starts with our coach. When they work as hard as they do to draw up a game plan, to scout and do all those things, you know, I don't see why they wouldn't be confident in what we can do. You know, it starts with them. Then, you know, our floor general is unbelievable, the guy sitting to my left. He's constantly on us, saying, Hey, this is still our game, no matter what the circumstance. You know, that plays a big part in it. RONALD NORED: I agree with Matt. You know, I think it definitely starts with our coaches. You know, that's not to say other coaches don't do it, but I think the hours and hours of preparation that they do for us. I think our focus in the film room and our focus when we're on the court, translating that focus from the film room to the court is just unbelievable. I think what we do, you know, sometimes is different from others. I think we play so well together, you know. We have so much confidence in each other and our abilities offensively and defensively, we have no reason to not be confident. Q. What was it like when you were on the bus coming into Lucas Oil? MATT HOWARD: You know, it's sort of awesome to see all the support. I think, you know, it translates over into what we saw walking out there for a shoot-around, for a practice. You know, how many people are going to come watch a practice. There were so many people out there that wanted to come out and support us. It's sort of overwhelming, sort of awesome to see so many people come out just to support us. On the way, people just waving, saying, Thumbs up, keep it going. The city's been awesome. RONALD NORED: Same for me. You know, just turning every corner and seeing Butler, you know, shirts, Butler jerseys, Butler hats, whatever, any kind of Butler apparel on every corner, I don't think it gets much better than that. I think that could be the case if we were playing anywhere, but for it to be here in Indianapolis makes it even more special. Q. Ronald, you talked a few minutes ago about representing Butler University. Have you gained a sense of what making the Final Four means not just to the basketball fans on campus but to the entire university? RONALD NORED: Yeah, there's no doubt. I think it's awesome what people are doing for us, the way people are supporting us. I don't think it's just about basketball. I think we got 15 guys in our locker room who are just great people. The thing that makes our campus unique compared to other schools, the bigger schools, we only have 4,000 people. So everyone knows everyone. The support for us is unreal. I think people are just excited that Butler is all over TV, Butler is in the newspaper. People can see that. Alumni who open the paper and see the school that they went to in the paper just on a random day that they didn't expect. That makes them feel good and that makes this whole thing special. Q. You have a coach who has become rather renowned for becoming calm on the sideline. Does he lose it in practice? What's the quickest way to get him mad? RONALD NORED: Me. I'm a pretty quick way to get him fired up. If I get back cut in practice or if I don't trail a screen hard enough, he's going to let me and he's going to let the rest of the team and the coaches know about it. So sometimes he can get fired up. He'll tell you if I do something wrong in practice. He'll get on me. You know, he might like Matt a little bit more than me because Matt can mess up and get away with it. I can't do that (smiling). Q. Matt, if you win two more games, are you stuck with the moustache for life? MATT HOWARD: Absolutely not. Tuesday night's the plan -- Tuesday morning or Monday night is the plan to get rid of it. Q. Could you talk about Avery, what kind of person he is, his foundation. MATT HOWARD: You know, I think it's pretty incredible what Avery's doing. To see a need and to be willing to put in a lot of time and effort to address that need, especially for people, you know, that need something so much. You know, we've talked about before, you know, the idea that to whom much is given much is required. I think Avery, you know, he's seen that, and he's embraced that. Really incredible what he's doing for the people over there, to give back so much. Q. Coach Stevens is pretty calm on the sideline. He's not a screamer. Can you talk about the confidence that maybe, the way he carries himself, the preparation he puts in, helps you, that kind of positive reinforcement way. RONALD NORED: I think that's what makes it easy to play because, you know, if you think of the opposite, you're playing for a coach who, when you turn it over, you're coming out, or you miss a shot, you're coming out, you take a bad shot, you're coming out. You're always tense. You're not going to take that next shot because you're scared you're going to come out, or you might not try to make a play because you're sure you're going to turn it over and come out. I think he allows us to play a little bit more loose, a little bit more free. It's fun. It makes it a lot more fun to play with each other and play for a coach like that. MATT HOWARD: Yeah, you know, pretty loose reins. He's not looking at one particular person and saying, you know, This is what you're going to do, and if not, you're coming out. It makes all 15 guys play more freely. You know, he has a belief in all of our guys. You know, it doesn't matter. The last game when I go out, 16 minutes to go in the first half, there's a belief that whoever comes in is going to do the job, and they did. I think that's a big part of why they're able to do what they do. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. End of FastScripts |
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