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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: DENVERMarch 16, 2011Noah DahlmanJamar DiggsMike YoungDENVER, COLORADO THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Young. If you want to begin with some general remarks, we'll open it up to questions. COACH YOUNG: We are once again thrilled to be here in this beautiful city and represent our great college and our great league, the Southern Conference, against a very formidable opponent in the Cougars of Brigham Young. I said to a couple people yesterday, the more I watch, the more respect I have for them. I've gotten to the point now after four or five more games, I'm not going to watch anymore, we're just going to come and play at 7:00 tomorrow and see what happens. There's a reason they won 30 games in the regular season. There's a reason they're ranked No. 8 in the country. It's because they are quite good. But we'll bring an old - in a good way - an old, very smart, tough team over here tomorrow. I know our guys are beyond excited and will play quite well. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions. Q. You told a radio station that BYU isn't a good matchup for your team. Would you like to expound on that? COACH YOUNG: You know, like our Wisconsin game a year ago, I'd like to play somebody that threw it around a little bit, that might take some bad shots, that might give you an easy shot or two. You know, this BYU team averages 11 turnovers a game. That's pretty good - very good actually. They have Fredette, who is averaging 28 points a game, which is mind-boggling. I think that's a mistake that people make, is it's Jimmer, Jimmer, Jimmer. Emery is a terrific player. Hartsock is a very good player. Abouo is a really good player, very good player. So they're a complete team. They don't beat themselves. They've got a guy that can score 52. That was my point. Q. BYU obviously lost a player recently. How much did that impact what you watched of video? COACH YOUNG: I thought it was important for us to see Davies and their team before and after. So we watched I think three or four games with Davies. You know, I mean, he's really a talented person, as we all know. The timing of that was difficult. However, they beat a very good New Mexico team who beat them twice in the regular season to get to the finals against San Diego State. You know, I think any good team will adjust and adapt. And Dave's team has done that, to pick themselves up from that point, get to the Mountain West final against a San Diego State team. You know, watching that game, I could walk out of there and say, I don't want to play either one of those. Certainly don't want to play Brigham Young, certainly don't want to play San Diego State. They have figured out how they're going to proceed. It does hurt their depth. But still a very good club. Q. You said it was a mistake to say that BYU is just Jimmer, Jimmer, Jimmer. Everybody's talking about Jimmer. I was wondering if there's any kind of blueprint to try to slow this guy down or stop him or make him hurt you less? COACH YOUNG: I can't say that we've got A, B, and C, we're going to trap him off that ball screen, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. You know, I also said earlier in the week I'm very careful to compare players. Fredette is so good. We've got a couple of guys in our league that we've guarded for a long time now, Andrew Goudelock at the College of Charleston and Donald Sims, that create difficulties for you in transition, off ball screens. Around February or so, you know, we were trying to trap this guy. This guy was scoring because of how we're playing. We got back to playing, This is how we're going to play it. So, you know, we know exactly how we're going to go about it. At the end of the day, we want to try our best to contest every shot he takes, try our best to keep him off the foul line. I was watching a game earlier today. I forget who it was. UNLV in Provo with 15 to play in the game, he's got 17 points, 11 of which have come from the foul line. He's has an uncanny knack of getting fouled. That's what great scorers do. Keep him off the foul line. We have to do a great job of playing five-on-four in transition, all the things we talk about every day. You have to make him work for all of it. Now, I've seen New Mexico do that. I've seen great defensive teams in their league do that. He still scores a lot of points. We know we have our work cut out for us. Q. Your team comes from the East Coast. Will playing a mile above sea level affect the performance of your team? COACH YOUNG: I hope not. You know, we've been out here, not every year, but we were out here a year ago. I don't remember. I ask our guys, Do you remember anything? No. I've talked to friends out here that say, That's something you'll contend with. We're not going to belabor it. We're going to keep them hydrated, all those things. Hey, listen, if BYU beats us, it's because they outplay us, it's not going to be because we're 5500 miles in the air. I don't know what we are. I don't know much about that altitude. Give me that coast down there. That's where I'm most comfortable. It will be because of Emery, Fredette, Hartsock, not because we're up in the air here. Q. Who draws the assignments to play Jimmer? Do you have a couple of players that will share that or what? COACH YOUNG: We'll guard him with everybody out there. Jamar Diggs will play him, I would think. Without fouls, we need Diggs on the floor. I would think Diggs would guard him 65, 70% of the time. Rundles is going to guard him the rest of that time. But I just say, whether it's Goudelock from our league or Jimmer, good offense beats good defense a lot. You got to guard him with your team. Everything fits together. Ball screen, that hedge from the big, the down screen, not allowing him to make this particular cut. Those are the two guys that will be matched with him man-to-man. But we're going to have to guard Fredette with our team. We know that going in. Q. Can you talk about being the game in prime time, what it means to the program. COACH YOUNG: Well, we know it's not because of the Terriers. It has something to do with No. 32 over there. He's got 970 points this year. Wow, that's amazing. That's awesome. 7:15 eastern with Mr. Lundquist, Mr. Rafferty, Miss Visser, that's great stuff. That's great stuff for the Southern Conference. That's great stuff for Spartanburg and Wofford College. Like we do everything else, our guys are going to fight. They're going to do it with class. I know that they are just beyond excited for the opportunity. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. COACH YOUNG: Thank you. THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Wofford student-athletes. We'll get started with questions. Q. Jamar, you've defended the fourth best scorer in the nation in Andrew Goudelock. How do you plan on defending the best scorer in the nation in Jimmer Fredette? JAMAR DIGGS: It's a team thing. Try to slow him down. Goudelock gave us great practice, great scorer. Never played against Fredette. Seen highlightings, seen film. It's not just going to be me, it's going to be my whole team. Just try to slow him down. Q. Noah, I was wondering if you could give us a little update on your family and their basketball exploits? I know you have quite a machine cranking out there. Is anybody coming to watch you this week? NOAH DAHLMAN: Unfortunately, they're not, because my sisters are playing the state tournament in Minnesota this weekend. My dad is the JV coach on that team, so he'll be busy with that. My mom will be a nervous wreck for numerous reasons, just because I'm playing and they're playing as well. Isaiah was down in Tampa this weekend with Michigan State. My brother Jonah came and visited me actually at Wofford. He was going to come and watch me, but unfortunately the flights were expensive as of late getting out. My grandfather, Coach Kundla, he'll be watching from the retirement home in Minneapolis. All eyes I'm sure will be on that screen tomorrow at 7:00, so... Q. Jamar, your coach indicated you're the player that's going to shut down Jimmer. How are you going to do that? JAMAR DIGGS: Coach Young is a crazy guy (smiling). Like I said before, I'm just trying to slow him down. I pride myself on defense. I consider myself one of the best defenders on our team. It's my job to go out there and guard the other team's best player. Clearly Fredette is the best player. Again, I'm not going to try to stop him, just try to slow him down so hopefully we can be successful. Q. Could you comment on what it means to play the prime time game tomorrow night. JAMAR DIGGS: I like it a lot (smiling). When we find out what time the game was, we were worried it was on CBS, truTV. But when we heard it was prime time CBS, it was exciting. The whole world is going to watch Wofford College play. Definitely to see Jimmer Fredette, but to help get our college out there, we'll be there, too , and hopefully we can put on a show. NOAH DAHLMAN: I look at it as a great opportunity for the players on Wofford and our college back in Spartanburg, show the world how we show ourselves, how we carry ourselves on and off the court. I'm just looking at it as an opportunity. THE MODERATOR: Thanks very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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