|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURApril 3, 2010Draymond GreenTom IzzoRaymar MorganDurrell SummersINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Butler – 52 THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you have a moment to make an opening remark or two. COACH IZZO: Well, it was one of the more physical games involved in. Playing in the Big Ten, that's a lot to say. I was really proud of my team. I don't think you know how many injuries we've had, what we've been going through. These guys for the most part did an incredible, incredible job hanging in there. I thought, you know, we played with some of the most bizarre lineups we played with all year, and yet we put ourselves in a position where I thought at the end we had a chance to take a shot and win a game. I thought we did everything in our power to do that. I felt like I guess I questioned some of the way that last shot went. But in general, I take my hat off to Butler. They play as hard as anybody we've played. They are physical. But they shoot 30%, we out-rebound them, and we just couldn't find a way to win it. I think that was a lack of productivity we had because Raymar was in foul trouble. We had a couple other guys in foul trouble the first half. But this team played, meaning Michigan State, about as hard under the circumstances as we were put in as any team I've ever coached here. So I'm pleased for Butler. It's a great story. And I'm proud of my team. And I'm a little bit ticked off. So I got all three emotions going my way. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Raymar, how disappointing is it, not only to go out with a loss but not to be able to fully contribute because of the foul situation? RAYMAR MORGAN: It's disappointing. But my teammates did a great job in trying to pick me up. Their effort was unbelievable for us to stay in the game and have a chance to win and only lose by two. I wish them the best of luck next year. Q. Draymond, could you just walk us through when you guys were down, that last shot you took, walk us through the sequence of what you were trying to do, what you felt like happened on the shot. DRAYMOND GREEN: Uhm, you know, coach and my teammates had enough confidence to come to me in the end of the game. I just felt if I went middle, you know, I had an advantage on them with strength. I felt that if I didn't make a shot, I would get fouled. Maybe I did get smacked. But on my behalf, I have to go stronger. I have to go up to finish the shot and get fouled. I mean, the refs didn't make the call. But if we were on the opposite end defending them, and they called the foul, we would be upset, as well. I mean, you just have to give credit to Butler. Give Hayward credit on that defensive play. I just have to go up stronger. Q. Durrell, if I told you they went the final 12 with only one field goal, but somehow hung onto the lead, what would you say? DURRELL SUMMERS: I would say we defended them well. Q. Draymond, what made them so good defensively? Why was it so tough for you guys, especially the last 30 minutes, to score? DRAYMOND GREEN: Uhm, I think one thing that made it tough defensively on us was not having Raymar. Raymar can cause mismatches on a lot of teams. I think he could have caused a mismatch for them. He was never able to get into a groove with the foul trouble. You have to give him credit. He still came and was aggressive when he got back in the game, aggressive, looking to score. But you got to give Butler credit as well. They played great defensively. They get their hands on a lot of balls. When you think you got a layup, Nored comes behind, makes a steal. We have to give our coaching staff credit as well. The scouting report they gave us, everything they did to a T, said they would swipe the ball, said we had to be strong with the ball. Everything they said in the scouting report is what they did. You have to give our coaching staff credit as well. But you also have to give them credit. There wasn't a lot of open lays. They were great help side defensive. They had very active hands. Q. Draymond, they got into the double bonus with just under 10 minutes left or so. How frustrating was that from your standpoint? DRAYMOND GREEN: It was very frustrating. But we have to defend better. We have to do a better job, 1 through 15, of keeping guys in front of us. And we keep guys in front of us, that eliminate a lot of that. We have to play not as much behind in the post. A lot of them getting into double bonus was our fault. I mean, you can't blame that on the refs or say the refs made any calls or whatnot because they were under double bonus. They just attacked the rim more than we did. Q. Draymond kind of took control of the locker room after the North Carolina loss. After this, where does this leave you mindset-wise for the off-season? DRAYMOND GREEN: It leaves us to work harder. We know we have to change a lot of things that we do as a team, as individuals. We have a lot of things to change. We have to go back and take a look in the mirror, realize who we are, how to do the things right that you need to do to win a championship. I mean, I just take this as a learning experience. It's going to make us work that much harder to get here and finish the deal. I still think we accomplished some amazing things. We've been through a lot of stuff not being known. But, I mean, we did great things, not exactly how we wanted to finish, but it's something that we can take a learn from it. Just have to get back and take about a week or so off and let our bodies regroup and get back to working. I think we have enough coming back, enough coming in, to where we can get back here if we do the things right, do the things we need to do to get back. Have to wish the seniors well. They gave this program everything they have. I think our three seniors where they were trying to pursue their careers, I think they have enough talent and skills, enough smarts to do whatever they want to do. You have to give them credit and wish them well. Just get back in the gym, weight room, work a lot harder. Q. Raymar, the third foul, you were up by about five minutes, in control. There was a whistle. I think the foul went on you. How much did that change what you had to do the rest of the game? Draymond, what did that change to the time in the lineup? RAYMAR MORGAN: They called the foul on me. I mean, the refereeing is out of my hands. You just got to play regardless of the calls. But I personally didn't think the foul was on me. But who knows. Maybe it was. I don't know. They seen it different. They called the game different. Like I say, we just did a great job overall, throughout all the foul trouble, playing our hardest, still having the chance to win the game. DRAYMOND GREEN: I think it did a lot for our lineup. I mean, already be missing Kalin, then to be missing Raymar for a majority part of the game due to foul trouble, it does a lot to any team. You know, that's two of your best players you're missing. Of course, it does a lot to whoever the team may be on any level whatever sport it is. But, I mean, we did a great job, like Raymar said, of staying in the game, fighting, trying to pick them up. Had a chance to win at the end of the game. That's really all you can ask for, is really have a chance to come down to it to get a win. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. We'll continue with Coach Izzo. Q. What are you ticked about? COACH IZZO: You know, I'm disappointed. I've got a lot of emotions right now. I felt like if I was not playing, I would be a Butler fan. I like the way they play. They're physical. I like their story. I like the whole thing. They do play a lot like a Big Ten team. If I believe what some of our fans think, that these things are just on the schedule, I can get it the next year, the year after. I remember something Jud Heathcote said to me when we got beat in a Sweet 16 game, at Kansas, he was so mad after the game, I thought our players played their tails off, he told them he would thank them in a week, but he couldn't thank them now because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you never know if you're ever getting back, and he never got back. I loved what we did at the end. We ham-and-egged it through. He's right. I mean, Delvon Roe is playing on one leg. He'll probably get surgery on the way home tomorrow. If I was ever prouder of a guy in my life, I don't know who it would be. You know, Chris Allen, just couldn't go. We just didn't have enough weapons left. I mean, they're a good team. Then we got into foul trouble. I was upset about a couple calls, I really was. You know, don't take that away from Butler. Don't take it whining. You asked me a question. I'm giving you a man's answer. I didn't like some of 'em, especially, you know, late. So, like I said, the gambit of emotions. Make Draymond hit the nail on the head. We started out the second half missing four free throws, a couple layups. We had our chances to win the game, no matter what circumstances, how many injuries, how many guys we had in foul trouble. If we looked a little dysfunctional out there, those two walk-ons haven't played much. We just couldn't get in rhythm with anything. That's not the team's fault. I mean, I guess if I learn something, no matter how much depth you have, you better continue to create more depth. You never know when injuries will happen. Q. Tom, it did sort of seem like the foul trouble forced you to create almost lineups that you were making up as you were going along. It didn't look a lot like Michigan State. Did you feel that way as well? COACH IZZO: I really did. You know, like I say, when I got back to my locker room, I spent some time with my president, she informed me that they shot 30%, we shot 43, there's a lot of reasons we still could have won the game. And yet, you know, hey, he's right. We should defend better without fouling. We got to do a better job of that. And yet you hate to see a game. I mean, I think we had like five fouls in the first couple minutes of the second half. It just seemed like, you know, got to all of us a little bit. That's immaturity on my part, to be very blunt about it. I think a couple players really let it get to them. Raymar did. He really let it get to him early. And that's not good. So that's something I'll learn from. We're going to do a better job next year. You think our war drill is something now. Next year it's going to be fistfighting because I'm going to make sure my guys are never, ever, ever, ever physically beaten out of a game again. And I thought tonight we were. Q. Nored and his defense on Summers, the way he trails around screens. Did you try to get an explanation on that foul call? Looked like you were trying to get an explanation? COACH IZZO: Referees shouldn't explain things to me. There weren't a lot of explanations. That's the right thing for them to do. But as far as Durrell, I thought Nored did a great job on him. I thought Durrell Summers did a great job, too. He didn't let it bother him. He kept moving. You know, Steve Smith had a good point in our locker room. Maybe Durrell should have herkey-jerkyed it a little bit it. He was right on his tail. Durrell gets ten rebounds, plays as good a defense as he did all year, he didn't force shots. You talk about why the job is worth the job. When you see guys come from here and they get to there, and they have another year left, those are good things. Those make it worthwhile. I sure was the one that, I guess -- I don't know what the better choice of words are, but I was on Durrell's case a lot of the year, and I couldn't be prouder of kid right now for what he did today. But that was a good defender. Nored is a very, very good defender, one of the best defenders I've seen in our league. More like maybe Kramer from Purdue. He's tough. He's on you. He did a great job, great job. Q. About five and a half seconds to go, you looked particularly heated. Was that back to the Draymond play or when you got awarded the timeout? COACH IZZO: Probably those two and a couple others. I mean, the timeout, yeah, I was bothered by a couple things, that's all. You know what, I told you how I felt. Not that it wouldn't be worth 10 grand, because it would be, if I really wanted to say something. But, you know what, they deserved to win. They earned the right to win. They played kind of our game, meaning the physical nature game. I don't think if you call them mid-majors, which I don't, because they were a top-10 team all year, you got to give them a lot of credit because they played smash-mouth basketball. Personally, I'm a fan of theirs in that respect. But I just didn't really feel good about a couple things, and yet we had our own chances to win it. That being said, the timeout late, rolling the ball, I just called a timeout. I didn't see why any time should have gone off. It wouldn't have made any difference in the game, don't kid yourself. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH IZZO: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|