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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2011Preston KnowlesRick PitinoNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Louisville - 81 COACH PITINO: Well, we played great defense tonight and highly, highly intelligent offense of sharing the basketball and hitting the open man. We're a pretty good basketball team even though we're small when we contain the backboard. Our bad games because we are small is what the other team offensively rebounds because we give them second shots and tonight we didn't do that. We're proud of the guys, I worry about the double bye sometimes not be prepared but our guys have been terrific and Preston shows his multitalented play because he's been getting about 5, 6, 7 assists a game. We've been using him as the back-up point and you can see tonight he had 7 assists, 1 turnover playing 31 minutes of play. He's a great leader for our team and we're proud of his effort as well as the other guys. Q. I think it's 5 out of 66 games you've held your opponents under 50 points, is this the best stretch of defense you've played all year? COACH PITINO: We played well at West Virginia in a tough environment and in this league we've won some flukes, Marquette played us well at home and we lost a fluke the other night being up with 19 seconds but it was a great learning lesson for our players to handle those situations and it's a fun group to coach, not since 1987 have I had this much fun coaching a basketball team. Q. Rick, what in particular worried you about the double bye and why were you able to overcome it tonight? COACH PITINO: I just like to play a little bit rather than sitting -- I think we did an intelligent thing, we didn't come until late Wednesday so we treated it just like a road game, and we didn't need to rest. We've had so many injuries this year, we had -- Gorgui Dieng missed a month, we had guys miss a minimum of 10 days to two weeks so I feel the more we play the better we'll get and I don't think any coach is a big proponent of the double bye. We wanted to have one bye and we got voted down. Q. Would you elaborate on why you say this is the most enjoyment you've had since 1987 coaching a team? COACH PITINO: In this day and age everybody uses cliches that sound nice but they're not necessarily true about playing for the name on the front of your chest and not playing for the name on the back of your chest. This team epitomizes that. They absolutely do not care about themselves and I think Preston starts from your best player and filters down. All of these guys care about winning, and when you get that type of attitude and it's been a long time as I've seen the players be as disappointed as the coaching staff and these guys take it just as hard as we do. Q. Rick, talk about the first half, the lift the bench gave with Marra's 3-pointers and Van Treese coming in and doing well? COACH PITINO: He did a good job. I think offensive assists have made our offense better. Here is a young man who didn't understand a pick-and-roll and now he's mastered it to where he's great at it and he's one that used the screen but he's now become a point guard what is great for his future. These guys are learning and getting better and I think passing is the key we've knocked just a few percentage points behind Pittsburgh in assists and it's been that way all season so good passing leading to good percentages. Q. Last time you played them you had to come back from behind to beat Marquette, what was the difference in the two games? PRESTON KNOWLES: There was a reason why we were behind so we made up our minds we were going to come out and be the aggressive team and not be flat. Q. Coach, the Big East was at its height in 1987 and it's back to it's prominence. Talk about the significance of this year for the conference. COACH PITINO: It's much more difficult now than it was back then because back then from a preparation standpoint you knew exactly the way Rollie Massimino was going to play and the way Carnesecca was going to play and the way John Thompson was going to play, so preparation wasn't a key. With this league it's so mentally taxing because these coaches are so outstanding in what they do. You know, Mick Cronin had a tremendous year as a coach. Buzz is one of the best young coaches in the nation and his teams always bring it. They always play hard. Villanova is in a slump now but I know they'll come back because they're a big-time character team so that's the most difficult thing you play against West Virginia and Cincinnati. If you don't strap it on you're going to get whipped physically and back then it was easier because you knew the most exciting thing was the sweater Lou was going to wear or the coat that John was -- it's very difficult I'm happy we got John Beilein out of league. Q. This is starting to feel like a walk down memory lane but in '87 does Billy Donovan and Ben Hansbrough, do you see any similarities there? COACH PITINO: Hansbrough is a deeper shooter, Billy the Kid was quicker with the ball. Their toughness is the same. He truly did deserve to be one of the premiere guards he's going to have an outstanding NBA career, he has a good first step, he runs the pick-and-roll really well. There are similarities in how they dish it at teammates, very unselfish group, Notre Dame, they're all 28 and 29 this year. Q. It's safe to say you and Mike Brey had good things to say here tonight after the games, what do you make of the match-up tomorrow? COACH PITINO: We were disappointed we lost last time because we had the ball and didn't score and it was an overtime loss but you've got to give them credit they outplayed us in overtime. I told these guys before the game than not since 1996 did I walk into a place and feel as confident as this. In '96 I had a reason to feel confident. I had eight pros. But the way these guys play with the sacrifices and the dedication, we know with we're not going to be flat, we know we could lose but we know we're not going to be flat from a standpoint and you know your team is going to bring it and Notre Dame is tough, they're skilled, they put on a passing clinic each night, but we're a good passing team as well, it will be a good match-up. Q. Preston, if you could, Mike gave you 6 of 103-point shooting off the bench. Can you talk about what a difference that made in the game because at that time when he started to get hot, offense was staggering, he came in, hit some threes, and then the rest of the team started hitting, can you talk about that? PRESTON KNOWLES: He made a big difference tonight, if he and Cal come out tonight, Mike might come in, Chris might come in and hit, and I think it's been great to see him come in and do well. That's our team, we always pass the ball great. If the man is open they're going to shoot it but tonight Mike had the hot hand so I'm glad he had it. THE MODERATOR: Louisville, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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