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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2011

Levi Knutson

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Kansas Â– 90
Colorado - 83

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Colorado Buffaloes, coach Tad Boyle and student-athletes Alec Burks and Levi Knutson. Coach, your comments.
COACH BOYLE: Obviously we're not real happy with the outcome. But, I'll tell you what, with our basketball team, I think we really took some big-time strides this weekend in Kansas City.
And I'm very, very proud of our resiliency and our toughness to come back in the second half the way we did against a good team.
But we're not happy with the result. We came here to win this tournament, and I know these guys in the locker room are disappointed, and we'll never be happy with this result.
But, you know, as a coach, you gotta look at the amount of effort that your guys put out on the floor. And we gave it great effort tonight.
And I thought we played well enough in the first half, especially the first 15 minutes, it showed. But we hit some speed bumps. We had some unconventional lineups, that foul trouble, especially late in the first half kind of caught up with us a little bit. And the second half we came back on a very, very, very good team and cut it to a two-possession game. Just didn't have enough juice and gas in our tanks to get over the hump.
So turned up a little short, but I can't fault these guys with their heart and their effort and their toughness, and as their coach I'm proud of that.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Alec, tell us about when you took the fall and how you're feeling.
ALEC BURKS: I'm good now. I hurt my wrist a little bit, I've got some ice on me. I'm good. I'll bounce back.

Q. What happened?
ALEC BURKS: I mean, he fouled me. I didn't know I had both of my feet in the air, and I fell on my back.

Q. Levi, the past three years you've been through a lot of rebuilding and some tough times. I know you wanted to win this tournament, but what does it mean to you to fly home from this tournament where your season ended the past three years knowing you're probably going to go to the NCAA Tournament?
LEVI KNUTSON: Definitely a different feeling. We've made great strides as a team. Obviously we're never satisfied after a loss. But I think we took some big steps this week and I think we're playing the best basketball we've played since I've been here.
So that's something that we can take into whatever postseason tournament we're in. It's something I'm proud of, definitely proud of the guys on this team, and hopefully we can keep playing good basketball in postseason play.

Q. Either of you, the team had a couple of air balls. Cory had a tough night shooting. Do you think fatigue was a factor at all in this game for you guys?
LEVI KNUTSON: I don't think so. Both teams had to play yesterday. So it was a pretty even playing field. And obviously the three games in three nights can take a toll on you, but I don't think that's why we lost the game.
We needed to battle on the boards, and I think rebounding the ball is where they got us tonight, and that's where the difference in the game was. So I don't think that really had anything to do with fatigue.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Tad, KU's going to be measured first by its offense and probably will be again tonight. But can you kind of talk about the job they did against Cory Higgins?
COACH BOYLE: Yeah, I thought they did a great job on Cory. KU, what makes them so good, 31 and 2, I mean, not a lot of teams in the country have that record. But you have to be good on both sides of the ball to have that kind of record. They're capable defensively and they're very efficient offensively, and I thought they did a great job on Cory.
And they made Alec work for everything and Levi work. You have to earn your points against KU. They don't usually break down. You've got to execute what you're running and you have to make shots, because they're not going to break down a lot defensively.
I thought we did break them down off the dribble a little bit tonight. I thought Cory got some good looks. And I do think in Cory's case, you know, he expended a lot of energy last night, a lot of emotional energy as much as physical energy, and I did feel like midway through the second half he just didn't have that pep in his step. And he got the ball to the rim a couple times and just missed some easy shots.
And I don't know if that was fatigue or not. I know I talked to our guys before the game about their legs, and they said they felt great and felt fine. Midway through the second half I thought we hit a stretch where we got exhausted.
I called that full time-out just before the four-minute media just because I felt like we were exhausted. And tried to get them that time-out plus the media time-out to give us enough juice to get over the hump, but there wasn't enough gas in the tank.
But KU did a good job.

Q. Is this going to be a long day and a half to wait for the Selection Show?
COACH BOYLE: Yeah, it is. We'll travel back. We need some rest, obviously. And, you know, until your name pops up there, we're not going to put the cart in front of the horse. We're going to certainly hope and keep our fingers crossed.
But a lot of things are still out of our control, but we know we're going to be playing in postseason play, and our players know that, and I think it's just a matter of getting rested, rejuvenated, maybe get a couple of practices in and get refocused on whatever tournament we're in and certainly we hope it's the NCAA Tournament.
And if it's not, we'll be extremely disappointed. But we'll see what happens. Again, it's one of those things, when you're in our position, you don't have control, so you just hope for the best. But we're going to prepare for postseason play, which was our goal as we started this season back in October.
And I will say this with this group, and I know guys are gone, but we've come a long way this year and we've overcome a lot. These guys were faced with a new coach and coaching staff and they've adjusted and grown and really bonded together, and we've come a long way since mid-October. So I'm very, very proud of our young men and our program and where we are today.

Q. Did your heart skip a beat when Alec landed? It looked pretty bad.
COACH BOYLE: Yeah, he took a hard fall, there's no question. I didn't see his wrist. It looked like -- I thought he got the wind knocked out of him. So Alec's a tough kid. And it's his left hand, which is good, not his right hand.
But he'll fight through it. And it was a nasty fall but it was a basketball play. It's just one of those deals where two bodies collided and, like he said, he didn't have his legs under him when he fell.
I'm glad he's okay. I'm glad it wasn't worse. We've got a great training staff. He'll get great care between now and the next time we practice.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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