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

March 17, 2011

TULSA, OKLAHOMA

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Matt Griffin, Patrick Hazel, and John Holland. Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. What were your thoughts when the president of the United States picked Kansas to win it all? Did you think he might have made a mistake instead of picking BU when he looked at the bracket?
MATT GRIFFIN: They're the obvious favorite, so if you're filling out a pool or a bracket, I don't blame him. That's fine by us.
PATRICK HAZEL: Yeah, I agree with Matt. The brackets are just for the fans to fill out, and Barack's a huge fan. You can't blame him for his pick. That's his opinion.
JOHN HOLLAND: Pretty much the same thing. I hadn't even known that he had picked Kansas. But it's obviously for the fans, so I have no problems.

Q. Were you watching last year when Northern Iowa beat Kansas? Were you watching that game on television? Even if you weren't, I'm curious what your thoughts were and what you might have taken away from that?
JOHN HOLLAND: I think it takes -- if you're going to beat anybody, it takes belief. I feel like we believe in each other. I think if you're going to do anything, even winning a game in in this tournament, you have to have that belief in one another that you can win. If anything, that's what I took from that game?

Q. Did you watch it? Were you watching it?
JOHN HOLLAND: Oh, yeah, I saw that.

Q. What would it mean if you could ruin his bracket?
MATT GRIFFIN: We just want to come out here and compete. Really just play for each other and play BU basketball. That's our goal. That's our focus, and that's just what we want to do.
PATRICK HAZEL: I agree with Matt. We're just trying to focus on us. Brackets are all just a distraction. If we focus on us and what we do, which is playing hard together, I think we'll like whatever result happens.
JOHN HOLLAND: No disrespect to the president, but I'm not really focused on his bracket. I'm just pretty much focused on us and what we have to do.

Q. I know how difficult it is for the college sports teams to get a heck of a lot of attention in Boston. Can you address trying to get into the Boston sports scene and how this can help you a little bit?
JOHN HOLLAND: Boston's a big city. There are a lot of things to do and a lot of teams, great teams, professional teams, college teams. So it's great for our school and great for the whole Boston University community to see us on this stage. Hopefully it helps with some of our fans and getting us some recognition as far as fans and stuff like that.
PATRICK HAZEL: Yeah, I feel like with our appearance in the tournament we definitely got a lot of attention. It's great for our university. Great for our campus to just represent our university. Yeah, it feels great.
MATT GRIFFIN: Yes, I'm going to agree with those two. We're just excited to be here and represent Boston University which we love so much. It does such a great job with the athletic department there, and all the teams that are involved in Boston University athletics. So we're just happy to be a part of that group of teams.

Q. In particular with Kansas, how daunting do the Morris twins look and preparing for them? They have a reputation for being, shall we say, physical. Have you seen that in whatever video you've seen?
JOHN HOLLAND: Obviously they're great players. It's going to take 40 minutes and just playing hard. I think if we can do that, hopefully we can compete and do what we need to do and stick to our principles. They're great players. What can you say?
PATRICK HAZEL: Yeah, definitely. I agree. They're two great players, the twins. They do have a good reputation, so we're focused on what the entire team does, and we're definitely focused more on what we do. We'll try on to execute our game plan to the best of our ability. I feel like we've been preparing to do that all week.
MATT GRIFFIN: Yeah, exactly. They're great players, and we just want to come out here and compete. We know they have a lot of great players, so we just want to go out there and worry about playing BU basketball for 40 minutes.

Q. Part of the charm of this tournament is that you never know what can happen. We saw it today, Morehead State beat Louisville. I'm not sure you had a chance to see that. But you faced that team a year ago. Now they're in a place I'm sure you'd like to be right now, having won your first game in the tournament. Can you talk about what kind of motivation you've maybe gotten from seeing that?
MATT GRIFFIN: Like you said, the NCAA Tournament is a tournament where anything can happen. Yeah, Morehead State played an excellent game. We watched it. So is Louisville, and so is every team in this tournament.
But we came out here really just to compete and worry about getting better. This is the next game on our schedule, and we have another chance to play together and play for each other. That's what we came out here to do, and that's what we're going to do.

Q. Yeah, the Morehead State-Louisville game was a great battle. Those teams really went at it. And like Matt Griffin said, just got to come out here, play hard, play together, and compete, and I think we'll be fine.
JOHN HOLLAND: Basically what those two said. It was a great game. We just have to come out and stick to what we do.

Q. But added motivation? Does that give you anymore?
JOHN HOLLAND: There's no added motivation. Obviously, we have a belief in ourselves, so there is nothing else that happens during the tournament that's any added motivation.
PATRICK HAZEL: Yeah, I agree, definitely.

Q. John, can you describe the mentality of this team where you mentioned Kansas is one of the big favorites in this tournament, and here you are trying to knock off one of the top teams in the country. What is the mentality of the team going in?
JOHN HOLLAND: Like I said before, it's really, I feel like we all believe in each other. If anything like this is going to happen, it has to start with that belief in one another. I feel like our mentality is where it needs to be, really just focusing on us and each other.

Q. You've been very good about trying to remain in the present here and maybe keep the team in that same mindset. Has that been difficult having arrived here in Tulsa, being part of this and taking part in the NCAA Tournament? Or has it been business as usual with you guys and keeping your mind on the task at hand?
JOHN HOLLAND: Obviously, with all the distractions and whatnot that go along with the NCAA Tournament, it's kind of tough to maintain in the moment and stay in the moment. But I think we've done a pretty good job of it, not looking too far ahead. Just focused on our next practice and watching film and doing what we need to do to prepare to play Kansas and not look forward to anything else but that.

Q. Three of the last five games have been decided by two points. Certainly there is a change from the way it went early on in the year. How confident are you in one or two possession games going down the stretch no matter who your opponent is?
MATT GRIFFIN: Well, playing early in the season we had a very tough non-conference schedule where a lot of games were decided by one possession. I think that's helped us down the stretch. Earlier in the season we weren't able to pull off and come out with a win.
But this time around I think that we have really come together as a team and we're able to learn from our past experiences and our tough games and really come together and pull out wins. So it has really helped us, those losses, during the year.
PATRICK HAZEL: Yeah, we definitely had a tough non-conference schedule, and I think it prepared us for the situations we've dealt with in the last three to five games. Yeah, we've learned a lot from each other and from those situations. They have definitely helped us become a better team and able to execute a lot better in tight situations.
JOHN HOLLAND: Pretty much the same thing.
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Patrick Chambers in his second year as head coach of Boston University. Coach, an opening statement about the tournament appearance and tomorrow's game?
COACH CHAMBERS: It's exciting to be here. This is great, great for our program, great for our university, great for these kids. They work so hard all year long. The academics at BU is very difficult, and for them to commit to all the hours that they do to work on their bodies and work on their skillset and couple that with academics is pretty amazing, pretty amazing.
For us to get here the way we did, to lead the game with two seconds to go, what a thrill. What a thrill for our fans and for everybody who was at that game and people across the country. I've talked to a lot of people and they said that game was definitely one for the ages. So I'm excited for these kids.

Q. Could you talk about this group's confidence level, riding the winning streak and everything else given the task at hand?
COACH CHAMBERS: Yeah, it's a great question because I really think that's why we won the game on Saturday because we were confident. Never once did those guys feel like they were going to lose that game. To be able to win 11 in a row is pretty amazing. You have to be playing at a high level, and things are not always going to go your way.
For them to handle adversity and whatever challenges that were lying in front of them, they did an amazing job.
For us not to make a ton of shots the past couple of weeks and just rely on our defense and rebounding and making free throws, it's a testament to these kids and where their mindset is.

Q. What changed from earlier in the season confidence-wise? Was it just the scheduling?
COACH CHAMBERS: We had a tough non-conference schedule, and I think helped us. We learned a lot from one another and the direction we need to go in. Early on you use cliches, you've got one foot in or one foot out and I need you 100% in, and after the UNH game on the road after we lost 66-48, we came in and had a great practice, and they were all in. I think that's what happens. They started to trust me. They started to trust one another. The locker room changed, and I really think these kids care about one another.

Q. If I could ask you specifically about the Morris twins. Have you run across an inside duo like them? How daunting is it from what you've seen of them, and what do you do with them?
COACH CHAMBERS: I just saw them in the hallway and they he gave me big hugs, so it was good to see them. They got bigger. They got bigger. But no, we haven't seen a duo like the Morris twins of their size and their ability. It's really going to challenge us.
But it's not going to be on one guy. It's going to be on five guys. It's going to be on Boston University as a team. We've got to play great team defense, that's what got us here. We're not changing now. There are not going to be any gimmicks out there. We are who we are.
They're an extremely talented bunch of kids. They go inside. They go outside, and they can hurt you in a lot of different ways. Again, we've just got to play solid team defense.

Q. I don't know if you saw Morehead State's results against Louisville, but you know they wound up upsetting Louisville. How do you feed off of something like that, or is that something that's not even applicable here?
COACH CHAMBERS: That really doesn't matter to us. I'm happy for Morehead State. That's a great win for them, but we're playing Kansas. We're playing Kansas in Tulsa. It's not too far away from their home base, so it's going to be a totally different atmosphere. We've got to think about ourselves and worry about ourselves and worry about Boston University basketball.

Q. Did you watch Kansas' loss to Northern Iowa last year? Do you take anything from that and pass it along to the kids? Not so much on the court but with regard to being a Cinderella, however you want to put it?
COACH CHAMBERS: No, I don't, actually. All that stuff is great for the non-conference in the beginning of the year. But throughout the year you develop habits, and you try to create the best habits you can. We've just got to focus on ourselves. That team that lost to Northern Iowa is a totally different team than we're going to face tomorrow night. We've got to play hard, stick together, and try to compete for 40 minutes.

Q. I understand that Chris and Jeff had to emulate the twins in practice this week. Can you assess how they did? I just spoke with them about it. I got one report from them that I'd be interested to hear your take.
COACH CHAMBERS: It's a great challenge. It's a great challenge to try to simulate the Morris twins in practice on your second unit. They did the best they could though. I gave them a lot of credit, and they had some fun with it too, but they definitely competed.

Q. What specifically do you have to do to balance your guys going out and having a good time and embracing the opportunity, but also not feeling like this isn't just some kind of Cinderella moment?
COACH CHAMBERS: Well, we talked about that all week. Just coming out and trying to get better every day, trying to get better on Monday, forget about the championship. Come out on Tuesday, watch some film. Lift, keep lifting and keep doing what we do. Nothing changes. Nothing changes. Continue to get better, continue to focus on BU basketball, continue to create the habits that will help us in a 40-minute game.

Q. Talk about building a program in a community where college sports is not the number one thing and as a commuter school. It's a challenge. My wife went to school there and I'm from Boston. So just trying to build that program as you seem to be doing so well.
COACH CHAMBERS: Well, our A.D., Mike Lynch and Drew Marrochello they build up the athletic department pretty good. The Agganis Arena is amazing, and we have all new dorms. It's not a commuter school anymore. So you should come back and visit. Tell your wife.

Q. She did last year.
COACH CHAMBERS: Oh, good. It's definitely a hockey school, there's no doubt about it. But the feel we got last Saturday in that championship game, there are people out there with a passion for basketball. You know, obviously winning basketball and a good style of basketball. It was amazing.
We almost had 4,000 people there. It was almost sold out. We got crazy. That's what we have to do. I use an analogy, keep tapping at the stone, and one day that stone is going to break. I think we took the necessary steps to break that stone.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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