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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: WASHINGTON

March 17, 2011

Blaine Taylor

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Butler Â– 60
Old Dominion - 58

MODERATOR: We're joined now by Old Dominion Head Coach Blaine Taylor and Old Dominion senior Frank Hassell. An opening statement.
COACH BLAINE TAYLOR: There's not a guy on our side of the ledger or in our locker room that wouldn't love to still be playing, not only today but beyond.
I couldn't be prouder of our group. If you look at the stat sheet, all you see is heart and grind because we just had to grind it out to get to where we were in the game, and then at the end to be sitting there in position for over time, pretty good performance on our part. Always need to commend, congratulate those that win. So good luck to them.
I think if you go back statistically to the game, the offensive rebounds they just had a number of times where they either chased it down, to their credit, or it bounced the right way, and we had second possessions that eventually cost us.
And the turnovers were even in the game. I thought our defense turned them late in the game that gave us a chance at times. In the second half, it was just so physical and the basket, I said to one of the officials one time, I said, I don't know how anybody can make a basket at our end of the court, just so physical. And we got shots from free-throws, but it was pretty tough to -- we had a hard the time even getting layups in the hole.
So it was just a very well-played game from a physical standpoint, but it was as man's game and not a boy's game.
On their side of the ledger, I think they've got to feel like some guys had some solid games, but not outstanding games. The two guys that jump out at me little bit. Garrett Butcher's six rebounds, five offensive and only 13 minutes. And Andrew Smith was pretty steady also.
We had discussed we couldn't have some guys kind of come off the main thrust of their team and have that kind of game. I think the guy sitting next to me, frank, obviously showed that he's a very, very fine player. Had some other kids that did some very fine things in the game, but obviously fell short.
So this tournament, there's only one team that doesn't have this experience at the end of this whole thing. It's part of the madness, part of the magic, but this game will give your heart an extra beat many times and it will break your heart, and right now we're kind of heartbroken where we sit.
MODERATOR: Questions for Frank first.

Q. In the first half, they doubled you weak side, I think you wanted to get the ball out of your hand quickly. The second half, did they front you, was that troubling when 44 in particular fronted you in the second half?
FRANK HASSELL: Yeah. They was fronting the play, kind of physical with me the whole game. We was looking at first side a lot, and they was kind of pushing me out. And once Coach called some plays to get the ball moving from side to side and pass more, I could reposition and get the ball deep, and that's what we did, and that's the adjustment we made to get the ball inside the second half.

Q. Blaine, can you talk about after a game like that, 49 minutes, like you said, bump-grind physical, just the -- I don't know, misjustice that it all can come down to kind of a bounce and a little bit of dumb luck?
COACH BLAINE TAYLOR: Well, you're in this game a long time, as I indicated, kind of where your heart is. We've had so many thrilling moments over the years where maybe the ball rolled off, maybe we scored at the end, you know, maybe the last basket here or there went our way. And eventually it kind of maybe rolls the other way.
I'm sure that they probably feel pretty fortunate but also proud to have won without having to go to over time. We were down 6 with a few minutes to go, but we made all the plays that were necessary in those remaining minutes.
But it's a fleeting experience. I warned the kids going into today, many of these games come down to the last minute, many of them go down to last second, and many of them go town to overtime. And lo and behold, that's exactly what the setup was on this one.
MODERATOR: Questions for Frank?

Q. Frank, from your perspective, what did they do well to get so many offensive rebounds the types of shots they were taking? A lot of long bounces, it looked like.
FRANK HASSELL: It was kind of chasing them down. And we was running a lot of zone and a lot of man with our defenses. So at times, we was kind of caught up out of kind of position, and they just took advantage of that at times.
And we were missing numerous box-outs and they were just chasing the ball down. At times they wanted it more than us, and other times we wanted it more than them. It was just a real dogfight in there. And they got their last one and it rolled in.
COACH BLAINE TAYLOR: To follow up on that, for shooting half of their shots basically from the 3-point line, they made some, obviously, but not a great percentage. They go 2 for 13 the second half from the 3-point line, 15 percent. And I think some of those shots were somewhat desperation shots. And desperation shots sometimes bounce a long ways into some odd spots, and I thought they did a good job of chasing down those ricochet biscuits.

Q. For both of you, Coach and Frank, just describe from your perspectives what happened on the last play, what you wanted to do defensively, and whether you thought after you got the ball out of ball handlers hands, did you think: We did what we needed to do, or, we just about got overtime here?
FRANK HASSELL: Last play was -- first, the free-throws Kent made, after he made the first one, confident, we looked over at Coach, and Coach had switched it up on defense, kind of get them off heels a little bit. And when he made the second one, we ran back and we were set and we were ready.
And on the drive, Ben stayed with him and he slipped and he just threw the ball up like his eyes was closed to me. I tried to grab it out of midair, it went over my hand, and then the big guy hit Keyon, hit it across the backboard, and then another one of them long tippy-tap rebounds with Howard came across and got it and threw it in on me, lucky bounce for a good player. I mean, you work hard, you get some of those.
COACH BLAINE TAYLOR: Obviously we were out of timeouts and, Bazemore was at the line and obviously a pressure-packed situation and he responded. So, first of all, hats off to him.
You may look at some free-throws in the game. We shoot 78 percent from the free-throw line in the game. So obviously that was a good thing for us.
But once we tied it, we switched defenses, they called a play that had worked earlier in a late clock situation, and Ben did a really nice job at the on top. I believe it was Mack on the drive and really did a nice job. And Mack stumbled, slipped, and whatever happened, I'd love to see film of that, but just really was a prayer shot.
And at that point when he slipped and fell, my thoughts that flashed through my mind I was thinking there might be a whistle because there could be maybe a travel. And then once there wasn't a whistle, I thought, well, we're going to overtime if we can just grab the ball because I assumed, with Ben on him, we had two big players in position near the glass. And if that ball goes up ten times with those four players there, I'd like to think we'd get our share or at least keep them from getting it back in the hole.
But it's like Frank said, that maybe a lucky play for a good player that deserves some lucky plays from time to time.
MODERATOR: Any other questions for Frank?

Q. Frank, can you describe the very moment when the ball went in and the buzzer sounded, what your emotion was?
FRANK HASSELL: Shocked, really. I was praying to God. That red light came on before the ball left his hands. And then when I saw the replay, it didn't -- the shock just turned to hurt. So that seemed like it kind of stabbed me in the heart. But it's all good though.
We had a real good season, and I love the coaches and playing with my boys for the past five years. So it's all good.
COACH BLAINE TAYLOR: For me, it was a businesslike situation because I had to make sure that everybody didn't run off the court because it certainly needed to be reviewed.
Now, I don't dispute that it was good. I haven't seen it, but I trust the officials and they were going to do it fair, but I needed to make sure it was reviewed. Because when you see the ball leave a hand and you see a red light and you see something roll in, it's hard to have that sequence just vividly in your mind, and that's why they do have replay.
Once it goes in, my heart goes out to these kids because this senior class, in particular, our '08 class and our '010 class won 94 games in their career, but these guys, to win 97 games in these last four years, back-to-back league titles, NCAA appearances, nearly winning games in the tournament two years in a row, and in each of those cases, I'm always going to wonder and they're always going to wonder if we couldn't have advanced even further.
But they've all got bright futures. They all have degrees. They're just a credit to our community and our campus, and so life will go on. They'll be just fine.
MODERATOR: Frank, you can go. You're all set. Thank you.
COACH BLAINE TAYLOR: That's the worst thing that happens to them in their life, they're going to have a hell of a life.
MODERATOR: Other questions for Coach Taylor?

Q. You went on an 8-2 run when you picked up full-court man. Do you wish you had probably picked up a little earlier, picked up that defense a little earlier?
COACH BLAINE TAYLOR: I'm not sure that we could have exerted that much energy during the course of the game because we had to spend so much energy on the half court, and then we are disguising our looks quite a bit which took some energy. And then of course those long rebounds, I'd like to have had a little more energy there.
Obviously, to be knotted at the buzzer basically, we pretty much did what we could to be there. We're a team that can press, but I don't think that pressing them all night long -- they might have got a little conservative, they might have -- at times you get in that spot, you look up and you're going, gosh, we might win this game, and all of a sudden you tighten up a little bit. And I do think they tightened up a little bit and we took advantage, but it's not anything that I sit here and go, gosh, we should have pressed all night, to be honest with you.
MODERATOR: Other questions for Coach Taylor? Okay. Coach, thank you very much.

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