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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: CHARLOTTEMarch 17, 2011Matthew Bryan-AmaningJustin HolidayLorenzo RomarIsaiah ThomasCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA THE MODERATOR: Questions, raise your hand. Who has the first question? Q. Isaiah, I know since McNeese State you guys have been saying they all feel the same, you try to approach them the same way. How does the NCAA Tournament feel different? And even the tournament last week in the big stage, you really did seem to move it up a notch. ISAIAH THOMAS: Feels a lot different. I mean, you know, it's win or go home now, one or done, or win six in a row and win the National Championship. It's a lot different. I mean, guys got to know that every possession counts, everything that we do counts in practice, and just be ready because the bright lights are on now. Q. For the two seniors, obviously you're hoping you got several games left in your career. Has it crossed your mind that every given game now could be the finale? JUSTIN HOLIDAY: Yeah. I mean, of course it's going to cross a senior's mind. The last few games going down the stretch and, you know, it being the NCAA Tournament, it's even more of a big deal. So we want to make sure we can extend our season a little bit and hopefully do well in the tournament. MATTHEW BRYAN-AMANING: Everybody sort of said the same thing. We got to concentrate. We know everything is on the line right now and we can't let any play mess us up. Right now we're just trying to pay attention to every single detail, because blowing opportunities could make it your last game possible. Q. Isaiah, have you had a chance to watch any of the games? Did you see any of the buzzer beaters? How many times have you watched the replay of yours on the PAC-10 and have you changed your ring tone yet? ISAIAH THOMAS: I've seen a couple buzzer beaters, but I watched mine probably a thousand times, something like that. No. No, I haven't changed my ring tone, but I've watched mine a few times and yes, I've seen the buzzer beaters today. Q. Isaiah, someone was asking Roy William a question about Kyrie Irving, and Roy said that he thought that Kyrie was the closest thing he had seen to Isaiah Thomas and then he said, "I don't mean the one from Washington, I mean the other one." I was kind of curious, when your name is as similar to that prolific a player, is it a mixed blessing of any sort? ISAIAH THOMAS: Yes, it's a blessing. I mean, if I don't play well, people think like why is his name Isaiah Thomas. When I play well it's pretty cool, people compare us even though we're kind of totally two different players, but it's pretty cool just to have the name and to be known for the name is pretty cool. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student athletes? Q. Isaiah, with Venoy here you certainly don't need to play 40 minutes tomorrow. Is that a good thing, or did you like the idea of knowing that when the game was going on, you were going to be part of it? ISAIAH THOMAS: I'd love to play 40 minutes again. It makes it so much easier for me, especially when I'm tired, he just -- he can take care of the ball and I can go off the ball and he can come in for me and I can get a breather. He makes the game a lot easier for me, so I'm just happy he's back. THE MODERATOR: Anyone else for the student athletes? Okay. Thanks, guys. COACH LORENZO ROMAR: Well, we are obviously excited to be here. We've traveled quite a distance to get here, but it's definitely worth it. Anytime you're in the NCAA Tournament, consider it a privilege. Definitely not a right. So we're excited to be here. Q. Some people were surprised that Georgia got in the tournament, some people were surprised that they're a 10th seed. When you look at them, do you see a team that maybe you think doesn't belong here, or do you see a legitimate NCAA-type squad? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: I definitely don't see a team that shouldn't be here. They're physical. In the paint they're more than capable of playing well and competing against any team. They're well coached. They have a system that you can see that they're disciplined in. They have great quickness, and they really do a good job ever defending. When you have those type of ingredients in your team, you have a chance to win ball games. So we know we have a tough opponent. That's for sure. Q. When you spoke a minute ago about the distance you guys traveled, I realize you cannot do all these different logistics without somebody having to take a real long trip. Do you find it remarkable that, you know, you literally be able have to fly as far a across the country as almost is possible to play a first round game? Is there anything can be done to get around that sort of thing? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: I don't know. Usually I'm thinking during our season, if we take care of our business, we don't have to worry about that. But we've been inconsistent this year and as a result, we've flown across the country 2800 miles. Maybe we've done a little better job during our season, we wouldn't have had to go so far. So we kind of made our bed in that regard. Q. Coach, you talk about how physical Georgia can be in the paint. I know you guys were a little bit smaller in the PAC-10 Tournament. Are you going to go small again on the wings or can we see a little more -- COACH LORENZO ROMAR: We've been thinking about that quite a bit. You go out and you play the game, and when you're actually out there on the floor you may make some adjustments out there. But I would say you can look at it two ways. If we remain to go small, maybe our quickness can benefit us as well. So we can look at it a number of different ways. Q. Coach, with regard to Isaiah could you talk to how the little man still has a place in major college basketball? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: If you watched us play for three days, if you didn't believe it, you would now, because he not only scored, he assisted, he rebounded, he dove on the floor. He willed his team to a championship. And you look across the country at Jimmer Fredette death and Kemba Walker, guys like that who are 6 feet or under. They're pretty good basketball players. When you get out there on the floor, you're playing basketball. When a guy can play, I think -- I think over the years, over the history of the game, the ones that can play, height doesn't matter. Q. Lorenzo, you're averaging in the 80s, they average in the 60s. Is it one of those games that's going to be who can make the game go the speed it wants it to go? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: It could be that way. We've had -- we have teams in our league that play a similar style to Georgia. USC, although I think Georgia tries to push the ball a little more than they do, UCLA plays more of a deliberate style. So we've played against that in our league for sure. Q. Coach, along those lines, how do you think you guys improved? And it seemed like early in the year, you didn't want to play that slowdown style and later in the year you won games that slower tempo. COACH LORENZO ROMAR: As the season has evolved, I think we've learned from our mistakes. We have better patience. I think our shot selection has improved. We actually as of late have turned some looks down that before we definitely would have taken. We've turned some looks down to get better looks, and I think that's one of the main reasons that we've been able to get things done when teams play at a slower pace. Earlier in the year we had some games where as a team, we just shot the lights out, and I wouldn't say it was fool's gold, but I don't know -- we told our team it wasn't realistic basketball. When it was time to play in league play, when it was time to play in the NCAA Tournament, those same opportunities might not be there, and when they weren't, we couldn't continue to take those shots that we were taking earlier when we were hot and everything was flowing. And sure enough it happened, but it took us, I think, dropping some games for us to really realize that you have to be able to adjust and play with a little more patience. Q. Coach, speaking of tempo, it seems like Venoy Overton has a way of turning the tempo on defense. How big will it be to have him back in that regard and kind of keeping him out of that slowdown offense? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: Venoy is on the floor, you can tell right away if he's going to have a bearing on the game. Usually he's on the ball, down low in the stands, moving his feet quickly. He's very aggressive, and then offensively he's pushing the basketball with a lot of intensity. When he's doing that, he's under control but yet pushing it really hard. He can help change the game with his defensive tenacity and his push on the offensive end. It really gets us going. Q. Coach, back to Isaiah, some scoring guards have had really good days against Georgia this year. How do you think Isaiah compares to those types of guards from Florida? How does he create mismatches for Georgia? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: I think Isaiah is so good at getting in the lanes. In years past when he was younger, he would get in the lane and score. Sometimes maybe he wouldn't make the best decisions, but now he's still getting in the lane, but if you collapse on him he's dishing the ball out. So I don't know how many guys are out there that can score, get you 25 or 30 but can get you 12 assists also, and he's able to do that. I think the ones that can do that, they're just not that many, and I think Isaiah, that's what sets him apart from a lot of other guards. He's not just a scorer or passer. He can do both of those. Q. Lorenzo, do you know Mark Fox at all personally? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: Oh, yeah. Q. What's your impressions of him as a person and also as a coach? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: Very driven person. Mark is a great guy, but he's also kind of a no-nonsense guy. You can see that he approaches everything he does with a purpose, and he's a heck of a coach. He's done really well. He's come up through the ranks and did a great job at Nevada and now here at Georgia. You can see that he has them playing the right way. I'm really impressed with how Mark goes about handling his business. Q. You decided to come down a day earlier than maybe usual. Is it too early to tell how that might have affected the people? Will we find out tomorrow night, or are you already seeing signs of whether that worked or not? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: We went out on the practice floor yesterday and we had our legs. We were intense. If that was any indication, then I would say the extra day did help, because we still have today and we don't play until tomorrow night. So I think coming in an extra day, how we see it right now at there point, was definitely he beneficial. I hope it will prove to be beneficial in the game. Q. Trey Thompkins, when you had him on the select team, how did he play? What were your impressions of him as a player? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: He was good. I remember him because I had not seen Trey play a lot, just a little bit, but was able to watch him play everyday, coach him a little bit and just loved his attitude, loved his mobility, his versatility. Just a nice stroke. Has great hands. Can step away from the basket and is totally comfortable that way, but yet you give it to him on the block and he can score there, too. He was impressed -- he was impressive when I saw him, and I was impressed with him as a player and a person. First thing I thought of when we -- when it said we're going to play Georgia, first person I thought of was him, because immediately okay, how in the world are we going to guard him? Because he's a really good basketball player. Q. The cross-country trip aside, were you gratified to see your game start late game as opposed to maybe the 12:15 in the afternoon? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: I would always prefer to play later than earlier in these type of tournaments. The time we're starting is definitely late. That's for sure. But again, we had our choice, little earlier in the day would be great, but not too early. But, again, when you make the NCAA Tournament, you do what they ask you to do. Q. Coach, you mentioned Trey earlier. Is he the player for Georgia that you have to worry the most about, or is there another guy on Georgia's roster that you're going to have to scheme around? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: There's no secret, you have to go out and do a good job defending Trey, but I think their inside play, very physical. Jeremy Price is a guy that with the ball in his hand can go out and make a play on the block as well. Travis Leslie is a phenomenal athlete. He's fun to watch when you watch him play. When he's getting up and down the floor, he's so smooth, runs like a gazelle. But I think their guard play is good as well. They really have good quickness out there on the perimeter. I think they have a real good blend to go out and do well. And again, because of the way they defend, it just gives them a chance with the talent that they have. But Trey is definitely a guy that you don't want to go off on you. They have some other players that can step up as well. THE MODERATOR: Couple more questions. Q. You've talked so much about matchups this week. Are you any closer to knowing who -- what five starters you're going to have out there? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: Yeah, and as soon as they announce it, we'll all know. Q. Is there an advantage to not telling people? COACH LORENZO ROMAR: I think our team is so versatile that we can go out there and could make a difference in how someone plans to play against us. I think when we went small in the PAC-10 Tournament, I don't know if anybody was preparing for that. THE MODERATOR: We'll take one last question. Okay. Thank you, Coach. COACH LORENZO ROMAR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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