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NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURApril 4, 2010Zach HahnGordon HaywardShelvin MackRonald NoredBrad StevensWillie VeasleyINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions for the five individuals up here now from Butler. Q. Gordon, with all the NBA talk, it seems like you stayed humble. Can you talk about how you've remained humble throughout your team's success. GORDON HAYWARD: It's pretty easy with all these guys up here 'cause I know that my individual success wouldn't have happened without them. That's the biggest thing for me. So right now it's just all about Butler basketball. Like I said, just with these teammates, they sure do make me look good, so... Q. Brad, can you give us an update on what's going on with Matt Howard? Shelvin, how do you feel at this point? SHELVIN MACK: I feel good. Just struggling a little bit yesterday. I've been sick a couple days. I'll be ready for tomorrow. COACH STEVENS: Matt banged his head. We're just keeping him under observation today. Probably won't practice today. Will be a day-of-game decision, it sounds like. Q. Brad, you've beaten Jim Boeheim and Tom Izzo in this tournament. Talk about taking out legendary coaches like that, then facing another one tomorrow. COACH STEVENS: Well, if it's just me against them, we're in trouble. So it's not the case. It's Butler has beaten those teams. And, you know, we just have to all work together. We've been fortunate to win those games. It has nothing -- it has very little to do with me. It has a lot to do with these guys going out there and giving it everything they have. Q. Ronald and Zach, when you first really started getting into basketball, what was your first impressions of what Duke basketball was? RONALD NORED: Well, when I was little, I went to North Carolina basketball camp. So I wasn't really high on Duke just because I had so much fun there. That was in sixth grade. That's changed since then. Just focused on what we got next. ZACH HAHN: From when I can remember, Duke has always been a powerhouse program. For us, you know, we're on a big stage now playing against the best teams in the country. That's something we've always wanted our whole lives. I think we're prepared for it. Q. Brad, do you have a practice facility special for basketball, and an athletic dorm for your players, and how much do you charter as opposed to take buses? COACH STEVENS: I might miss something, but I think we chartered, before the NCAA tournament, three times this year. We feel very fortunate to be able to do that when we can. We don't have an athletic dorm. There's a freshman dorm, a sophomore dorm, an all-female dorm, junior apartments, and seniors can live off campus. And then from a practice facility standpoint, we've done some nice minor tweaks to our auxiliary gym that is in the inside of Hinkle, but there is no real practice facility. We practice on the floor at Hinkle Fieldhouse 99.9% of the time. Q. Did you see on the film how Matt got hurt? Did he bang it on the floor? COACH STEVENS: I did not see the film of it, but I saw it from my angle. I thought he banged it on the floor when he fell. So, again, we're hoping he's okay. He did have a good night's sleep. He's feeling a little bit better. One thing is, his health is numero uno. If he can't play, he can't play. Q. Would you go as far to say this is a concussion? COACH STEVENS: I don't want to say. It's obviously enough that he's not going to practice today. Q. Ron, we see your coach as being pretty calm and cool under a lot of pressure. How does that move over to you guys? RONALD NORED: I think it affects us directly. We see him like that, and he's our leader, he's our example, so I think under any circumstance, any situation, we're the same way because he trusts in us, believes in us. No need to get rattled in certain situations. I think that translates directly to us. Q. Gordon, I'm seeing Singler, 6'8", 330, reminds me of anybody else. Any comparisons between you and him? Would you like to match up with that guy? GORDON HAYWARD: I think we do some similar things. He's obviously a great player. For me, I don't know if it's me matching up versus him; I think it's our team matches up versus them. We're going to have to try to take away what he likes to do. That's going to be a team effort. Q. Gordon and Shelvin, you were laughing when somebody asked about a separate practice facility. What about playing in a school like Butler attracted you? How much pride are you taking in the fact that people across the country, when they hear Butler, they're going to know what it is as opposed to saying, Where is that? What is that? SHELVIN MACK: I think it's a great example of a school of everyone getting treated equally. We have no special needs that any other student doesn't get. I'm grateful to be a part of something special like that. GORDON HAYWARD: For me it was a program that wins, tradition of winning. That's what I went to, when I play basketball in college, was win. And so ever since I've been starting to watch Butler, they've had such a good tradition of success, and so that attracted me a lot. Then obviously just the people at Butler, how they conduct themselves and everything about that and the coaches. So that's probably what attracted me. Q. Gordon and Willie, obviously Brian Zoubek has been a major factor for Duke inside. If Matt cannot go, how does that change it for you guys? GORDON HAYWARD: I mean, I think you saw yesterday Matt went down, people were able to step up. For us it's going to be next person's going to step up, whether it's Avery or Garrett or Andrew or anyone else on the team. I think they're going to come in and do their job just like Matt would do the job. We found ways to win all year. For us it's just going to be next person is going to step up. Q. How does it specifically change without him? GORDON HAYWARD: Specifically, I don't know how it's going to change. We're just going to have to change a little bit what we do. I guess this is contradictory, but we're going to stick to what we do, too. Coach is going to draw up a game plan no matter what. We'll be ready to go. Next person will step up. It won't faze us. Q. I assume you watched the game last night, or at least you saw the stat sheet. Duke made 13 three-pointers. Can you talk about their perimeter shooters, what that dimension is different than what you saw from Michigan State. RONALD NORED: Yeah, you know, obviously you've been here hearing the big three from Duke. They're three great players. They can all shoot it. I think for us, it's just going to be about making them uncomfortable. I think those three guys, compared to Michigan State's guys, they contribute as far as shots a little more than the Michigan State guards. Michigan State has some great bigs, as well, and Duke does, too. But Michigan State' bigs shot a higher percentage of shots than the Duke's bigs. I think we're going to have to be really focused against those three, be physical with them, get them out of what they like to do. Q. Brad, I know it's not you out there beating the opposing coaches, but is there something personally for you to see guys like Jim Boeheim and Tom Izzo on the opposite end? COACH STEVENS: Uhm, you know, certainly it's humbling to be standing there with people like that. And not just for their excellence in coaching, I've said this before, but for what they give back to the game. Coach Krzyzewski is the same way. For them to even come over and shake my hand, they don't need to do that. They've earned all that they have achieved. They're guys that you look up to. I think best way I can put it is they write books and I get to read 'em. But, again, I don't focus on it. You know, I appreciate what they've done. My job is to try to prepare our team well. They're stuck with me, unfortunately. Q. How many of you all are college football fans? If you are, can you talk to the uniqueness of the fact that this championship setup could never happen in college football? RONALD NORED: They all looked at me because I'm from Alabama. Big-time Alabama football fan. But, you know, I think this is what makes college basketball great. You know, we can recruit guys, we can get guys just like any other university. We can come and compete for guys like any other university. I think it's tough for football because of the size and the physicalness and sometimes the skill can be such a difference between a team like Alabama and another team. Saying that Alabama almost got beat, Alabama got beat by, like, Louisiana Lafayette two years ago and I almost cried to death. It was tough for me. I really do, I think this is what makes college basketball great. I honestly believe on any night, five guys can beat five guys. It's about going out there and competing, sticking to your system and doing what you do. Q. Gordon, a lot of us in this room are going to write about how this is the 'David and Goliath' story. Obviously you deserve to be here, it's not really that. Is that something that you embrace and want to play up or would you rather distance yourself from that whole thing? GORDON HAYWARD: Uhm, I mean, I think we embrace it. If that's what the story is going to be, we'll accept that. We're up for that challenge. I don't know if we think of ourselves like that. Obviously coach has believed in us, and we believe in ourselves. I've said this before. We've played other opponents like this. Once the ball goes up in the air, all that's going to disappear and it's just five-on-five. We view them as another opponent, someone we're going to play and try to beat. Q. Gordon and Shelvin, what did you gain from last summer as experienced in the world under-19s? RONALD NORED: We gained a lot, dealing with different coaches. Also in the summer, being able to work with college coaches, I know there's not a lot of guys that got the opportunity in the summer to work with coaches. Playing with different players every day, playing with great players from around the country, playing against Da'Sean Butler every day in practice, humbles. Just evaluate your game each time you go out and play. Q. Gordon, there's been some things written on your tennis past. Talk about the dynamics in team and individual sports. Do you like a dependence on others as opposed to being out there by yourself? GORDON HAYWARD: I think, I mean, for me personally, I like different aspects of both. Tennis, when you're out there alone, it's kind of like you against the world. That's always a great feeling, to feel that you're in control and you hold your own destiny and you're the one making all the plays. Then at the same time, there's no one else out there if you ever get stressed or you need someone there for you. That's what's so great about basketball. What's so great about our team is we always seem to stay together. If one person gets rattled, all 14 other guys pull 'em together and set him straight as we're moving on to the next play. That's what I love about basketball. Q. Coach and Willie, Butler has often gone kind of small when Matt has been in foul trouble offensively and defensively. Do you think that's something that's plausible against a Duke team that has so much size if you don't have Matt? COACH STEVENS: I think we're going to be small either way. I think we're going to be smaller than them no matter what we do. We'll see. Judge it how the game is going. You have to make those calls on the fly sometimes. You know, I think certainly that if Matt's unavailable, then we'll probably start a guy with size in his place. WILLIE VEASLEY: I think if that does happen, we've had smaller guys who have come in and who have guarded the posts like Shawn. To be 6', 6'1", Shawn does a great job when he does end up getting stuck on a bigger guy. But even if Matt can't go with their size and stuff, we've got other big guys who can fill in. Q. Brad, how often do you get carded? COACH STEVENS: I said this the other day. I don't have time to go anyplace that cards you (smiling). Q. I know obviously your team did what it took to beat Murray State and Michigan State, but how much better do you think you need to play tomorrow? COACH STEVENS: We need to play better. I mean, you go 15 for 49 tomorrow, you're not winning. That being said, I thought our guys found a way. One thing our guys have tried to do all year, they found a way. They care about winning. We're playing a program and a culture that cares about winning. They've set a standard in college basketball. If these two teams we've played back to back in the Final Four, with a couple of other programs, have raised the bar for us in college basketball. Certainly everybody on the court is a winner and everybody on the court is going to do everything they can to win. Hopefully we can shoot it a little better. But as far as playing better, I thought we played pretty well. We just missed some shots. Hopefully that will change. Q. You talked about the calmness of your coach. I know he can't be calm all the time. What would be him getting after you? Does he ever explode? Do you have an example or two? GORDON HAYWARD: I think the most that I've ever seen him angry is if someone is late to some film or something like that. I mean, it just seems like he's always calm out there. Obviously if you miss a block-out or something that's on the scout, I think he's going to get upset. I think all our coaches will get upset. Ron has yelled at me one time pretty good, too. For the most part, I mean, it's just that calmness. It really helps you to move on to the next play. RONALD NORED: I've gotten yelled at pretty often. I got yelled at in practice last week for getting back-cut. Things like when you're supposed to trail a guy, you go up through the middle, things like that, he'll jump on you pretty quickly. Don't let him fool you. I'm just kidding (laughter). He's pretty calm all the time. But usually when you do something defensively, he gets up in you. Q. Coach, back to Singler and Hayward, can you speak to the dynamic of the 6'8" guy that can shoot the three, specifically how tough that is to defend? Do you have an advantage because you have a guy like that? COACH STEVENS: Well, I think there's a lot of 6'8" guys that can shoot the three now, a lot of 'em. The difference between most of those guys and Singler and Gordon are they can floor it and they can go either direction. They can get by guys on the bounce, they can post, they can just play. They play like 6'1" guys. They've got great, great ability. I say that as a compliment as far as being able to get by people. One thing that impresses me so much about Singler is we don't know if we've seen anybody on film that plays harder than Singler. Then you add in all of the skill set, and he's really impressive. But, you know, obviously that's what separates those two in my mind, is those guys are guards in 6'8" bodies. Q. Brad, how significant is it to you that we're here one year after Dr. Brand's death? In the NCAA final, we have two programs with well over 90% graduation rates? COACH STEVENS: I think it's outstanding. You know, I didn't know Dr. Brand well personally. But certainly the academic reform that he's helped push through in the NCAA, it's something that as a coach, and I don't want to speak for everybody, and I'm certainly speaking my own opinion here, I think when guys leave Butler, the most important thing they can do is leave with a degree, prepared to tackle the next step. We always say that whatever happens on the basketball court, we don't want it to be the highlight of your life. So, you know, this will be a big highlight, but I want these guys to be able to move on and do bigger and better things when they're done. It is obviously very sad with his passing. But, you know, I think it's neat that both teams have excelled in the classroom, as well. Q. Ron, you said you played in UNC camp when you were in sixth grade. Did any of you other guys go to a Duke camp or play against any of the Duke players? Is there any connection at all? COACH STEVENS: I watched Scheyer put up 50 in a high school game once. That's my connection. I sat there in amazement. Q. Brad, whether mid-major is the right label or however people characterize you guys, if you would win Monday night, what do you think that would do for college basketball, for college basketball fans? We've seen Davidson or George Mason, other teams who have maybe gotten close. If this would really happen, what would it do? COACH STEVENS: Well, I don't know. I have no idea how to answer that question. I've been asked a lot, How is this going to impact Butler? I have no idea. I know this week I've seen more Butler T-shirts than I've seen in my life before this weekend. It's been great for our school. As far as impacts college basketball on the whole, I think every year you get inspired by groups that come together that are certainly willing to put aside their individual talent for the betterment of the team. That doesn't mean they don't utilize their individual talent, but certainly they put their team above self. If that can be the inspiration, then we are really honored to carry that flag. But if not, I think there's a lot of teams capable of doing this, I really do. We play great teams all year that nobody talks about. I think that certainly that's one of the reasons why I think these guys have had success is because they don't pay a whole lot of attention to what is being said. We've been talked about like we're supposed to win, we've been talked about like we're supposed to lose. It's more about preparing and trying to do your very best. Q. Coach and Gordon, when you hear players on other teams described as other than athletic, what goes through your mind? Also, do you catch other teams off guard when they look at, say, Gordon, and don't think that he's 'athletic enough' to do the things he does? COACH STEVENS: The only way I can answer that, I watch Singler on tape, he seems to be very athletic to me. He's able to put the ball on the floor going both directions. He's an outstanding rebounding. When he makes contact with people, they usually move. He certainly seems to be a very good athlete. I've watched Gordon for a long, long time. Ever since I remember seeing him late in his junior year, it's been obvious he's a very good athlete, as well. GORDON HAYWARD: What was the question again? Q. The fact that you don't always get described as athletic. Do you ever find it a surprise at how 'athletic' you are? GORDON HAYWARD: I don't really know how to describe athleticism. What defines what makes someone athletic? So for me, I just go out there and try to play the game I've played my whole life. Sometimes you're in situations where sometimes maybe I don't know if I look back and think, I don't know how I did that. Like I said, it's out there in the moment playing the game. Q. Brad, can you say, did Matt Howard have a concussion or not? COACH STEVENS: I have not been told one way or another if it for sure was a concussion. The way I've been told, he banged his head pretty good. We're just making sure that he's going to be okay, first and foremost. Q. You've said other coaches write books, you read them. Have you read any of Krzyzewski's books? COACH STEVENS: Sure. On our way to Italy, I read, The Gold Standard, the one he wrote about the Olympic experience. Yeah, absolutely. As a coach, you're always studying other coaches, trying to find something that you can take and utilize within your own program, or add something, or tweak something. It's usually things that are more holistic in approach rather than X's or O's, anything like that. Q. On the last foul play, do you practice what teams are going to do in a situation where you know they're going to try to miss the free throw? Gordon, I noticed you moved from the inside position to the back position. Did that change what you were supposed to do on that play? GORDON HAYWARD: For me personally, my position changed. I was just trying to do my job. My job when I moved up on the free throw position was to go and clean up above the rim. We really got that rebound where the two guys underneath who blocked their guys out. So if they didn't block their guys out, I wouldn't have got that rebound. For me, it was just doing my job and cleaning up. Q. Brad, when you spoke about academics before, you had your guys go to class last week. Are you going to have them go to class tomorrow? If, yes, how do you feel about that, guys? COACH STEVENS: They don't have a choice how they feel about it. But I have no idea what our schedule is tomorrow, what's mandatory, what's not. I haven't actually even talked about it with anybody yet. Surely if they can go, we'd like for them to go. At the same time, we want to make sure that we're meeting all our requirements down here. GORDON HAYWARD: I know I have four classes tomorrow. I don't know what we're going to do about that. But, yeah, just for us, just try to keep it normal. If he wants us to go, we'll go. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. We'll continue with questions for Coach Stevens. Q. Have you gone out here with a tape measure, done the rim, free-throw line? Obviously it's a joke. But in going on what Gordon was talking about, do you embrace the whole 'David and Goliath, we're the underdogs, the whole world loves us' kind of thing, or do you want to dismiss yourself from that and make sure everybody knows how good this program really is? COACH STEVENS: It's great. It's absolutely fine. We embrace that. I think it's a wonderful things. You know, it makes me feel good. David won. I think certainly Duke is Goliath. When you look at college basketball, again, they've set a standard for everyone else over the last really 25 plus years. Ever since I've been watching basketball, Coach Krzyzewski and Duke have been one of the preeminent programs in the country. So they certainly have earned that reputation as a giant. You know, we're continuing to build and we're continuing to try to get better, and we're going to continue to do that regardless of the outcome tomorrow. Yeah, we embrace that. That's fine with me. Q. Brad, I'm wondering if there was a point where you had to make any conscious decision about what your demeanor as a coach would be, and if so how you went about that process. Beyond that also, where does your apparently natural calm come from? COACH STEVENS: Well, that's a great question. I don't know. I do think I've had great mentorship. Todd Lickliter had a great demeanor. I remember him many times turning to the bench and demanding that the assistants remain a face of calm when things weren't going well in tough situations. I think that's a great lesson to learn. One of the other things I think is very important is, hey, you're going to prepare and prepare and prepare, and really at the end of the day, your guys need to know what's going on before you hit the floor. You're going to have to make adjustments, play calls, you're going to have to do things on the fly. But, you know, if you're just going in there and you haven't done anything, then you're not going to feel good and you'll be a little bit on edge. Where it came from, the only thing - and I haven't studied the poem as much as I probably should - I remember when I was a kid, my mom sharing with me the poem If, but Rudyard Kipling. It stuck with me. I certainly believe if you can keep your head about you while all those are losing theirs, it's a good thing. Q. We talk about you grew up as a football fan. Do you remember Villanova/Georgetown, '85? COACH STEVENS: Supposedly I was watching tapes before that. That's what my mom and dad tell me. You grew up in an era where the year before Indiana beats North Carolina when Coach Dakich guarded Jordan. And then, you know, the next year, the first game I vividly remember watching, I was at my grandparents' in Tucson, Arizona, was Villanova beat Georgetown. Q. Anything specific you recall from that? Can you project forward to tomorrow from that? COACH STEVENS: I guess if we shoot 78%, we'll have a better chance than if we shoot 15 for 49 (laughter). Q. 20 years ago Vegas beat Duke. In that game, Duke was somewhat how you are now, America loved Duke, they were the team that people followed, and hated Vegas. It appears tomorrow night the roles will be reversed. Did you watch that game? Who did you root for? Do you find it ironic now that Duke people want to lose? COACH STEVENS: I did watch that game. I remember it vividly. What I remember more was for Duke to beat them here in Indianapolis the next year. Just like everybody else, I enjoyed the underdog. I was rooting for the underdog. I think was that Coach Krzyzewski's first championship that year? What a remarkable run. I remember that. '91, that is correct, here in Indy? So, yeah, I remember both of those. Q. Can you go through the short version of what happens when you're playing career ends, you figure you're done with basketball, you go into the marketing department. Do you sit there one day and suddenly go, I think I'm going to be a coach? COACH STEVENS: I think I knew my whole senior year. I accepted that job right before my senior year. When you're offered a job your senior year with a place like Lilly, it's hard to turn it down. I started to realize during my senior and then early on in my career at Lilly, coaching was something I would like to try to pursue. I didn't have a teaching license, because I wasn't an education major. High school was out of the equation, especially in Indiana. I'm very fortunate to end up where I did. The rest is history. Q. Was there one moment when you're sitting at your desk, looking out the window? COACH STEVENS: No, not really. I just enjoyed being around the game. I was helping coach some young summer teams. I had worked camps forever. I just think it was something that you missed the game more than anything. I don't remember a single moment. Q. You were talking about the holistic approach, looking for things. When you look at Duke, which is private, academically rigorous, graduates a lot of people, do you see anything there specifically that you want to be like? COACH STEVENS: Well, everybody wants to be like 'em. I don't think there's any question. I'm speaking for Butler. We have a tremendous program, but we're not near what Duke has accomplished over the last certainly 30-plus years. But, you know, they've set a standard. They've done a great job. What stands out to me with Coach Krzyzewski is his ability to create an environment of team, an environment of oneness, playing together. When they decided that he was going to be the Olympic coach, that was thrilling for me because you knew that he was going to get guys to all play together and really care about one another. I think he's one of the best, if not the best, in this entire industry at doing that. Q. With the arms race that's going on in D1 basketball with the practice facilities, coaches make three or four million dollars, if you guys would win, will it or should it cause people to maybe pause and think about where things are going? COACH STEVENS: I understand why people build practice facilities. I understand why you want to try to be able to compete with who you're recruiting against. What Butler is, Butler is a great school. We're in a great city. We have a niche from the standpoint of basketball with a good tradition of basketball and a fieldhouse that really embraces the history of the game. So we're very unique. I think being unique is a good thing, too. I think Butler, certainly you always want to improve the facilities you have. We need to do that. There's no question about that. But we also need to remember who we are. I think that's why we're here, because we've got unselfish guys. They have a great passion for history, tradition, team, things like that. So we've been able to recruit to that. We've been fortunate to get a couple of guys that could probably play anywhere in the country. Obviously that helps you out in a lot of ways. Q. Duke does a great job of offensive rebounding, then kicking it out. Usually offensive rebounds go right back up. Have you seen a team like this? Specifically what can you do to defend that? COACH STEVENS: I have. Teams we used to have in the early 2000s did that terrific. 2007, we did it pretty well. But we did it because we could not finish down there. We were about 6'6" in the post. When we got an offensive rebound, you got to kick it out, otherwise you're going to get it blocked out. They look. If Zoubek doesn't get a quick finish, he looks. What makes it very hard, it's very simple on paper, simple to think about, you have guys like Singler, Zoubek, Thomas, and Plumlees, they go so hard to the glass. The guys that have to go clean the ball up are the guys that are leaving the shooters. When they get the ball, shooters are open. It's a Catch-22. There's no doubt about it. Q. I suppose this question could be about the whole 'Butler Way', but I'm speaking specifically to the defensive aptitude and performance we saw last night. Do you tend to bring in guys that are prewired for that or is there an indoctrination? COACH STEVENS: You know, I think this team's a better defensive team than we've had before. Those other teams were good. But they were more -- the guys that were our best five together in the past, oftentimes were more skilled than great defenders. Our best five together now are great defenders. Our opportunity to win has to be focused on what we're best at. We have to soar with something. We have to soar with our strength there. I do think this, I think there's a contagiousness that comes from Ron and Willie. Not that those other guys aren't very good defenders, Gordon, Shelvin, Matt, they are great defenders. Ron and Willie have really said, That's my role, that's the way I want to lead. You listen to Ron speak. You know Willie's story. Willie's a senior with 118 wins. Guys are going to follow those guys. Q. You've been asked about are you going to measure the rims, that sort of thing. There are great stories in NCAA history of coaches who have said something to their team the night before the game. Is there anything you want to impart to them, anything that you're thinking about? COACH STEVENS: Well, my mind will go through a million thoughts between now, tonight, tomorrow night, and everything else. What I want to do is figure out what the right thing to say is because I don't want to make it so big that you go out and play tense with the world on your shoulders. At the same time, you don't want to underestimate where you are and what you're playing for. But one thing that you can rest assured, and this is the case for us, the case for Duke, the kids that are out there aren't going to need any motivation from a Knute Rockne speech, that's for sure. Q. This is probably the last NCAA tournament as we know it, with 64, 65 teams, whatnot. Being an Indiana kid, what were your thoughts when they switched the class format and the high school thing? Is the ferocity of the debate about the tournament expanding, did it match here what the debate was like for all class? COACH STEVENS: It did match it. At first I was against it. I was a kid that grew up in a smaller school. We won our sectional on a bigger school's home floor my senior year. That was everything I shot for as a kid. We go, we play in the regional in front of 7,000 people. We get beat by Gordon's high school, Brownsburg High School in the regional, who had a great team. But I understand how valuable it is now. So I don't really have an opinion either way now. And I am for expansion here. I think it's different. I think that's different because you're still all playing for one championship. At the end of the day, you know, the very best teams aren't always the ones playing for it. But at the end of the day, good teams are going to be playing for it. The thing that I really, really believe, we're the most fortunate program in the world as far as the point that every guy on our team has played in nothing but an NCAA tournament. We played four straight years. They've had unbelievable experiences, 118 wins for our seniors. It is the best experience you can have as a college basketball player. So if more kids get to experience that, I am all for that. Q. Can you talk about Gordon's demeanor. Doesn't seem like he's got caught up in all the NBA talk. Have you had any conversations with him about the next level and his potential to play there? COACH STEVENS: I met, we and his family, before he went out to Colorado Springs last year. You knew once everybody was out there in one spot, they'd see what we see every day. So we went out, he played great. His, whatever, stock rose, whatever the case may be. He didn't change as a person at all. I remember traveling through Italy talking, What did you learn on the trip? I think, anything, he learned, Hey, we can go after and try to win this thing. That was neat to hear because he was thinking about his team. He's a humble guy. He's an easy guy to coach. What we talk about now with regard to that is, Are you doing all right? Do you need to talk about anything? Other than that, you know, we'll talk about it after the season's over. He's a great kid. He's made a huge imprint on Butler. Obviously, we'd love for him to be at Butler. At the same time, Gordon Hayward will be the priority and whatever he decides, I'll support him a hundred percent. Q. When you were growing up, things weren't so rosy around here. There's a long victory drought. What was your impression of Butler basketball as you were growing up? Was there the slightest chance of you being recruited by them? COACH STEVENS: I said this the other day. Now that I am in coaching, they made a great decision not to recruit me. I would not have helped them win (laughter). You know, it's one of those things where I thought certainly I could play or fit a role or whatever the case may be, but I wouldn't have helped them get where they got. I think Barry Collier did a terrific job. When he took the job in '89, he really got the program moving in a great direction. In the early '90s, they were starting to compete for post-season play. When they first got to the NCAA tournament in the spring of 1997, you know, certainly the buzz was around town that this was really a program moving in the right direction, in a fun direction. I felt that way from the early '90s. That's really the time where I remember starting to follow and paying more attention to Butler. I will say I did have an interest in Butler prior to that because my mom taught shorthand there when we first moved to Indianapolis in the early '80s. Q. Along the lines of the program, I know the journey is not complete yet, but have you allowed yourself to take a moment to appreciate what you have accomplished to this point and what you may accomplish tomorrow night? COACH STEVENS: You know what, I haven't. I know I should. I've been told by everybody in coaching that, you know, You need to take 15 minutes and slow down and recognize what's going on. I did go back to my hotel room last night. My wife stayed in there, and she actually stayed just waiting for me to come back, then she took my kids home. She was just kind of staring at the wall when I walked in. She kind of stared at me like, You guys are playing for the national championship. I said, Yeah, but we're playing Duke (smiling). So I didn't think about anything but Duke last night. You know, we got plenty of time. Our season's over tomorrow night, which is a little bit hard for me to wrap my arms around because I've really enjoyed this group. Really, really enjoyed our seniors. They've all gotten a lot better. They've left a great mark on our program. Q. Duke shot great last night, but they've had a number of games where they didn't shoot so well. We saw what your perimeter defenders did last night. What do you think they can do with that big three with Duke on the perimeter, and how do you make Duke -- make it realistic that you can beat them? COACH STEVENS: You know, our guys believe in each other. They believe in what we're trying to do. They're going to go out and give it everything they have. I don't think there's going to be necessarily -- don't get this wrong, they have great respect for Duke. If you don't, then you need your humility checked. Again, they're one of the best programs in the country. But they haven't played with an awe factor this whole year. We've played some pretty good programs and very good players. I don't know how we're going to guard those guys. I think certainly those three guys, the thing that stands out to me, and Ron said this, very intuitive that he picked up on this, that those three guys all attempt roughly the same amount of shots, and all score roughly the same amount of points. Incredibly unique. Very often you see somebody gets to the line a lot, doesn't attempt as many field goals. Somebody that shoots a high volume of field goals, doesn't shoot a good field goal percentage; somebody that shoots a low volume of field goals, shoots a great field goal percentage. Not the case. Those guys, all three, are very much sharing the scoring load for Duke. Q. How important do you think the trip to Italy was for this team? Also how important, when you were there, was it for it to be a cultural experience for you, too? COACH STEVENS: We didn't play well at the beginning of this year. We got beat twice over there. It's not like we were playing great basketball. It's not like we really improved as a basketball team. So what we went over there for was because I went over in 1996 when I played at DePauw, not to Italy, but to Europe, just the educational experience of going abroad was unbelievable, something I'll never forget. I want all of our players to have that opportunity . I'm really excited that the NCAA is continuing to allow those foreign trips. I think they're very important. For us to be able to take our guys into the Vatican City, to see the Sistine Chapel, to see the Coliseum, to walk through those things, to see the dedication and amount of detail that must have gone into building those things that are still standing today. Can't put a price on that. That's a lifetime experience. What all of them will tell you is, I want to take my family there someday. That's pretty cool. That's when you know you have a group that appreciates something and you know you've done something pretty unique. Q. I wanted to ask you about experience. Coach K emphasizes this is the first Final Four for his kids, too. In terms of player experience in the Final Four atmosphere, it's the same. The difference is obviously this is his 11th, your first. Is that any kind of advantage? Do you have any resources in terms of mentors or somebody to talk to that maybe can help you offset that somehow? COACH STEVENS: Nobody with his experience. But certainly a lot of people that have been through it before, I've just asked basically how to manage the week, handle the week. You know, obviously Coach Matta coached here in 2007 in the national championship game. All of our conversations had to do directly with, How do you handle tickets, how do you handle all the media requests, and everything else. But as far as experience goes, it is what it is. You know, like I said the other day, we're just going to have to hope that being naïve, there's some good in being naïve and not knowing what the heck is going on. Q. How much of Duke's defensive toughness comes from Zoubek, the way he sets screens, rebounds, playing elbows out all the time? COACH STEVENS: I think he's an outstanding player. I'll tell you one thing that we're going to do is we're really going to study and document the road that he's traveled from freshman to senior year because he's a great example, for a lot of young kids that aren't playing a lot as freshman, about embracing your role, getting better, doing whatever the team needs to do. Now you see what a powerful figure he is on that team. He certainly has great toughness. I think they all play with toughness. I think that's bigger than one player. I think it's a culture. It's a tradition. It starts at the top with their coach. Q. Talk about Duke's three. Is there a balance in worrying about them and then worrying too much about them and not worrying about the other guys? COACH STEVENS: Yeah, sure, sure. What happens is when you put all the attention -- the real concern when we played Kansas State, they had two guys you really had to focus a lot of our attention on, not three, but you were really concerned about rebounding because you're giving them so much attention that you're late in rotations, you don't finish plays. That's certainly a concern. Those are guys, and I looked at our staff today, yeah, they don't have the same stats that the guards do. If they would have all called Butler, any of 'em, we would have loved to have had 'em come and recruit 'em. There's plenty of good talent on their frontline. Lance Thomas is outstanding. He does everything that makes them go. He probably is as much a force in that defensive toughness as Zoubek. Then the Plumlee brothers, Indiana kids, very familiar with. Kelly, on down the road, they're very, very good up front. Q. We've heard through so much about the 'Butler Way'. There have been coaches at Butler that have gone on to BCS-type programs where varying degrees of success, talking about the 'Butler Way'. I guess my question is, there's no guarantee of success anyway. What are the characteristics about the 'Butler Way' that would work anywhere? COACH STEVENS: Well, you know, I think we don't talk about it a lot, to be honest, as a team. We get asked about it a lot because it's a slogan and a phrase that certainly is embraced by not only our program but the university. I think it's a great thing with regard to, you know, the definition of it: somebody that is a team-first person, that accepts responsibility, accountable for their actions. I think those are all things that lend to a successful program. I think sometimes it's misconstrued or miscommunicated as a style of play. I don't think that's really the case. Sometimes your style of play is dictated on who you're playing, what gives you the best chance of winning. We all know we can't run up and down with Syracuse and let them get transition points and win the game. There are games where we have to extend and have to push the tempo more. So that's kind of off the topic. I think the bottom line is, with the 'Butler Way', it's more a concept of how to act, how to be a great teammate. Q. You talked about what Coach Krzyzewski does with his program, but what are your thoughts about had he manages the game strategically and are you worried about that at all tomorrow night? COACH STEVENS: I can't do anything about that. I think that certainly he's a great game coach. Again, he's a national champion. He's 11 Final Fours. He's an Olympic gold medalist. He's the best of the best. What I need to do is be as good as I can during that game. That's the only thing that I can control. Our players being ready and just being as focused and prepared as I can. I'm going to give it my very best. Q. You had two players go play for that under-19 team for Coach Dixon last summer. Can you talk about, A, how that transformed them, what they learned from that experience? Could you tell they were different players when they came back? And, B, are you familiar with Coach Dixon at all? COACH STEVENS: You know, I didn't know Coach Dixon before that. I knew Coach Painter and Coach Lowery really well, the assistants. All three of those guys, great basketball coaches. They really helped those two grow. They really did a great job. More than anything that those guys brought back to Butler, a lot of people were telling me to be concerned about all the travel, because they went to New Zealand, and we went to Italy as a team soon thereafter, but more than anything they came back with a belief, they came back with a belief that, hey, if we all do our jobs, we have a chance to be successful. They played Evan Turner every day with the World University games, they played against Robbie Hummel, Da'Sean Butler, Deon Thompson, down the list. Not only held their own, but did really well. I think that that belief became contagious. You know, anybody from Butler that ever has a chance to play for USA Basketball, I am going to strongly recommend that they go and try out for that team. Q. How would you describe your defensive philosophy and how did you develop it over the years? COACH STEVENS: Well, I don't think it's something that is all that unique. We have a system that has been tweaked over time to match your personnel. Certainly we feel very good about our halfcourt defense. One of the things that we have now are guys that can really excel within that system defensively. Certainly, you know, we have different strengths offensively and guys have to soar with those strengths some of those times. When you're playing undersized, which we often are, versatility is a big deal, being able to guard multiple positions is a big deal. Q. You mentioned earlier that the guys have never really had an awe factor this year, no matter who the players were on the other side. Have you ever had to deal with the awe factor with a different coach looking down the sideline? Have the last three weeks changed you in any way? COACH STEVENS: I don't know. Part of me, I'm a pretty quiet guy. You know, when I go to my coffee shop that I like to go to or go out to lunch, you know, one of the things that's great about living in Indy, working at Butler, certainly everybody is just a fan and just been so great to us. Regardless of what happens, regardless of results, I hope it doesn't change anybody on this team. Part of the reason we're where we are is because our players are humble guys for the most part. You know, certainly we're 18 to 22 years old and they read the paper and they turn on the TV and now they're on every station all the time. But they've been able to maintain some normalcy, maintain that throughout time. You know, I think I've never really had an awe factor looking down the sidelines because I thought it was really important to just try to be good for my team. You do think about it. When we played Coach Knight, that was really meaningful to me, not because of me coaching against him, but because I grew up watching him. I grew up in an era where I loved basketball. And he and Coach Keady were the people that were leading the basketball in the state of Indiana. So that was a big deal. That was the biggest deal for me. I have a great deal of respect for a lot of coaches at a lot of different levels. Certainly we're aware we're playing if not the best, one of the best, tomorrow. Q. Your defenders seem to have a whole bunch of detail infused into them. It's like they understand a lot of nuances and tendencies of the other guys. They're just 18 to 22. Is there a limit to what they can understand? They don't seem to have a limit. They seem to understand a whole bunch about the other team. COACH STEVENS: I think you have to keep it as simple as possible because these guys have a lot going on. They're students first. There's only so many hours in the day. We practice at 6:30 in the morning. Sometimes our scouting reports are done by 7:45. One of the things we try to do is recruit guys who care about winning. Again, those guys that care about winning will try to learn how to do and execute the little things. This group has been great at that. They've really embraced that. Our hope of advancing was to be a good halfcourt defensive team. At the end of the day, we're small for the most part. We haven't shot it great all year. So our hope for advancing was to be a great halfcourt defensive team. We weren't, and we haven't been. I'm going to tell them we aren't. We are only if we play that way tomorrow. I think that's something these guys have embraced. Earlier this year we were close to atrocious. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the trust that you have in Matthew Graves as a scout, what he's been able to do. I understand he's got a pretty good record this year. COACH STEVENS: They all do. They've all done a great job. I have a great staff. Matthew has done a wonderful job. He always is well-prepared. He's always very organized. Coach Shrewsberry does an outstanding job scouting, does an outstanding job communicating. Terry Johnson has done an outstanding job in all those areas, as well. One thing I do hope comes out of this is that people look at this and say, There are some very good assistants out there, people that can help your program. Those guys, if they want to, and they love being at Butler, but if there are people that are looking at different people around, I can't imagine better guys to run programs than the guys I've got. They keep me afloat, I know that. Q. In looking at your schedule, you must have the highest ranked non-conference schedule that I can ever recall, and you have nothing of what Vitale would call a cupcake. What is your scheduling philosophy as far as non-conference games? COACH STEVENS: Say yes to everything, then cry between July and November. That's usually what we've done. We've said, Yeah, we'll play that, that sounds good for Butler. Then you look at it and say, Oh, my goodness, what have I done? How about this, the first two games we played this year, Andrew Smith, our freshman, we played Davidson, who is one of the most complex, well-coached teams in the country, just outstanding, who had mostly all seniors, who literally ran us in circles for 25 minutes. We looked so out of sorts, it was unbelievable. Then we went to Northwestern the next game, who is back-cutting us and handing off against us to death. To have to be able to do those things right out of the gate, and then go to Evansville, go to Anaheim, play Georgetown, on down the road, play all those teams, we had a real sense. What I've learned from that, I don't know if it's a good idea all the time, but what I've learned from that this year is we had a real sense of how good we were at some things and how bad we were at some things right at Christmas. When we came back from break, we were 8-4. I thought our guys made a commitment. We wrote it down on their lockers. Need two more stops a game to go from a 46% field goal percentage defense to 40% field goal percentage defense. When you look at it that way, it sounds doable. Can you be two stops better as we're walking through things, and then can we make two more field goals to go from a 41%, whatever we were, to a 46% field goal? Well, that may mean making the extra pass one more time, maybe finding the guy that needs to be the guy shooting the shot, getting it inside more. Our guys really committed to that. The schedule allowed us to honestly assess ourselves, figure out what we needed to work on, and go from there. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH STEVENS: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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