|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: WASHINGTONMarch 18, 2011Matt HowardShelvin MackBrad StevensWASHINGTON, D.C. MODERATOR: We have from Butler, Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard, and we'll open up the floor for questions right away. Q. Matt, you've a long run with Butler, a lot of different things, but I'm just wondering if this season is any different because you know it can end Saturday, it could end next week, it could end in two weeks, but it's going to end. MATT HOWARD: In that case, it is different. Probably just the fact that any of these games could be the last one. But it doesn't change from a competitor's mindset. You still want to win every game. And in that way it's different, being a senior, but still want to win them all. Q. Whether this is your last press conference, whether it's your last basket, whether it's the last time you play with Shelvin or whatever it is, that it may be the last time for a lot of things. MATT HOWARD: Yeah, that does make it a lot different. It's sort of crazy to think that the next one could be the last one. So you want to make sure in every situation you're as focused as you can be in all the meetings that we have and all the practices, and I don't want to have any regrets in that way. Q. The exhilaration of the game-winning shot last night, was that still present when you woke up this morning? What was the feeling like this morning getting up, having pulled that off? MATT HOWARD: It's great to still be going, but my mindset this morning when I woke up was thinking about breakfast. That was about it. I moved on. Obviously that's something maybe after the season that you'll remember, but it's Pittsburgh now. Q. When you were growing up as a younger player, did you come across Gary McGhee much in Indiana? And if so, could you talk about your journey together and what you see in facing him I guess tomorrow, tomorrow night? MATT HOWARD: Actually, I was in the same conference as he was in high school. So yeah, we've had a lot of battles over the years, and he's huge, he's a very imposing figure, and he really plays hard. And that's been true in every game that I've played against him. And I guess it's sort neat in a way that we're meeting again in the NCAA Tournament. It's the first time since high school. Q. Do you remember if it was ninth grade or tenth grade? MATT HOWARD: It was all four years. He was a four-year starter at his high school and I played quite a bit as a freshman and actually played against him in that game and then started against him the last three years. Q. Shelvin, you played under Coach Dixon in the USA Basketball team. What was that like? And how much are you looking forward to facing him tomorrow? SHELVIN MACK: I had a fun experience with him. Also playing along with Ashton Gibbs, he was also on the team. Because Dixon is a great coach. He's very different than different than Coach Stevens. That's kind of unique. But I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and this is a great opportunity for us to go out there and compete and just get out there and play. Q. Can you guys talk about there were two schools that are almost different than any others when you get to this time of year, and you guys and Gonzaga. And you're not included in the super powers. You're not mid majors. What does it mean when you guys come into a tournament every year and you kind of have to prove yourself to people, but it's like we already know what's going to happen because of the way you guys are? MATT HOWARD: Well, I think we always believe in ourselves and I think Gonzaga would say the same thing. So it doesn't really matter to us if people believe in us or not. We're going to believe in each other and go out and compete the best that we can and we want to win and we think that we can win, so that's how we approach it. And if we have to prove ourselves all over again, that's fine. SHELVIN MACK: It's not that much different. Me and my teammates we played AAU basketball before so we are kind of used to playing against those types of guys in the major conferences. And also, for me, I spent a most of my summer playing with guys, so it's not that much of a difference. But just go out there and compete and being the underdogs, we just gotta take it how it is. Q. What have you seen in this Pittsburgh team? SHELVIN MACK: We noticed they're very physical, kind of play similar styles with hedging all the owned balls. They just are a bigger version of us, we believe. They're very -- like I said, very strong. We got a box out every play and we know it's gonna be a hard-fought game. Q. Shelvin, expand a little bit on your relationship with Ashton since playing with him. Have you stayed in contact, and if so, in these last 48 hours, have you had any correspondence with him about the game? SHELVIN MACK: I talk to Ashton a lot throughout the season. We Skype a few times, every now and then, and just wish him luck, to see how things are going on. I texted him a few times when he was hurt with his injury. I had the opportunity to Skype him last night but I don't want to Skype him, just -- I'll just wait until I see him on Saturday. Q. Shelvin, another question on Ashton, do you expect to draw the assignment of guarding him, and did you pick up anything a couple years ago when you were his teammate that might help you in that regard? SHELVIN MACK: I don't know what the coach has in mind right now. One thing I picked up, he's a competitor and he's going to compete every single play. I tried to take things from that, he's going to play hard. I know what Coach Dixon expects from his team from playing for him, so I know it's going to be a very physical and hard-fought game. Q. For Matt, I wanted to ask about rebounding. Can you at all explain how Butler outrebounded ODU last night, even though we all saw it. And I guess as part of the question, I'm wondering, what part do you believe of rebounding is just desire and what part is tactical? MATT HOWARD: There's a little bit of both. You have to have desire to keep going and going and, you know, a lot of times you're going to get hit. And so you have to take those hits. But there's also positioning. There's a lot to it, like you said tactically, where you position yourself in a place to get a rebound. We take that as a challenge when we're playing a team that's really good at rebounding. We want to see if we can outrebound them. And that was a major goal and we had a lot of guys step up and really have some really good rebounding games off our bench that I'm sure a lot of people didn't expect. MODERATOR: Any other questions for Shelvin or Matt? Q. Pittsburgh's a top seed, guys, but should they be fearful of Butler given the past? We all know what Butler has done in this tournament. They're the number one, but should they be the guys that should be looking out? SHELVIN MACK: I wouldn't say that. Pittsburgh's a great team. We're also a great team. It's the NCAA Tournament. Everyone you play is going to be pretty good, so I think what we did last year really doesn't matter what we did this year. We learned that through the our conference play this season. So I wouldn't say they should be -- they should fear us, but it's going to be a hard-fought game. MATT HOWARD: I think anytime you play someone, there is something healthy about having a little bit of fear. But I think even in our position, they're going to be confident playing against us, and you have to be confident playing against them. So I highly doubt that they fear us at all. Q. Matt, talk about how Andrew Smith may have helped you this year. Last year you were at the five spot a lot and had some tougher match-ups. Having a big body and the role that Smith has played this year, talk about how maybe that's helped your game. MATT HOWARD: It's helped quite a bit. His development has been really key for this team. And not just for me, but he does it great job down low. And my body isn't necessarily built to play huge guys every single game. So the fact that he can go in there and do that and I'm able to guard guys more like my size does help quite a bit. Especially in the long run. And you really start to feel that this time of year. MODERATOR: Any other questions for Shelvin or Matt? Okay, guys. Thank you. Making his way to the podium, Butler Head Coach Brad Stevens. Coach, if you could make an open statement about your thoughts heading into the third round of the NCAA Tournament. COACH BRAD STEVENS: I think obviously Pittsburgh is a great team. Pittsburgh is the No. 1 seed for a reason. Certain it was probably in the discussion. I don't know, I didn't really pay attention enough to how it worked out. But who the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament would have been, I'm sure they were obviously one of four discussed and they look to me like they could have been the one. So a lot of impressive things about them, and our guys know that we're going to have to be on top of everything to have a chance to win. MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Stevens? Q. Coach, the emphasis today seems to be on the next great freshman and who you recruit. But as coach, can you explain in general what seniors can do that, no matter how talented, a freshman cannot do, and in particular your seniors? COACH BRAD STEVENS: Well, I think that the irony of last year's run and the year before where we went 26-6 with three freshman starters is that's not really how it's been at Butler. It's mostly been third and fourth year players that get experience, learn along the way, sometimes the hard way, and then become very good as juniors and seniors because they're prideful kids, smart kids, and want to do well. I certainly think there's a lot of value in older players, and I think there's a lot of very good older players. Pitts got some really good older players. And I think when you look at it across the Final Four last year, for instance, there were a lot of veteran guys. Even though our team was pretty young from the standpoint we started three sophomores, there were a lot of guys that played in a lot of big games. And I don't think you can substitute that experience. I think that experience is certainly helpful. And there's no question about it, as you get older, your sense of urgency rises. And because you know it maybe the last time you play, especially for seniors. Q. Brad, you mentioned something about seeding, but given that, is this sort of the round of 32 where seeding starts to become less and less important, although the 1 seeds I think have won about 88 percent of the time in this situation bracket, new format? COACH BRAD STEVENS: You know I'm a stat geek so you didn't need to share that with me. I think seeding can certainly be viewed as very important. There's no question about it. And 1 seeds have always done -- obviously never lost to a 16 seed. And they've always done really well in the second round. So there's no question that we have our hands full. We're just trying to be one of those 12 percent. Q. You got obviously a couple of starters in the lineup who went through everything last year, one who's now coming off the bench, Ronald. And I was wondering how that change came about, and how you approached it and how he has handled it and done the things that he's been able to do. COACH BRAD STEVENS: The first time it happened, he cut his hand on the scorer's table at Youngstown so he had stitches and didn't practice the next day, and so Chase started in his place. And I liked it. I liked what we were doing with that group. But a couple games later, Matt Howard had a concussion, so Ron was right back in the startling lineup and we started four guards, and basically looked like a men's league team out there with four guys 6'2" and under playing. But after we got everybody healthy and got everybody back, we just felt like Ron on this team, one of his best attributes is he has everybody in the room -- he raises the energy level of everybody in the room. So when he's on the bench to start the game, everybody's engaged. And when he comes off the bench, we get a spark. And you bring him and Zach off together, they really compliment each other well. So that was the reason why we did it. At that time we were searching for some different ways to attack this thing because we weren't having as much success as we would have liked, and the one guy that you knew could handle it from an emotional standpoint and from a mental standpoint was Ron. Ron wants to be a coach. He's a team-first person, and I think it says more about a guy to go to do that than maybe most people recognize. And I think so it's just another feather in his cap, and it's been well documented what kind of person he is. Q. Coach, I wanted to ask you about rebounding. Sort of two thoughts. Could you sort of briefly explain how it was that your team out-rebounded ODU, and then speak to the importance of doing something similar against Pitt and perhaps talk about how much of rebounding is sheer desire versus athleticism or tactics. COACH BRAD STEVENS: I think that is desire certainly a big part of it, but you can have all the desire in the world on the defensive glass, and if you don't have position, you're in trouble. And so we have to do -- everybody talks about us out-rebounding old dominion. We really did a poor job in my opinion on the defensive glass. They out-rebounded us on that side. We had our best offensive rebounding game of the year, partly because we were very active towards the ball, partly because they were in a zone and we moved the ball pretty well and it got us position. And so I do think that we've gotta be a lot better on the glass tomorrow than we were yesterday, and it may not be validated in numbers if we are. We may not outrebound them, but we've got to be a lot better getting a percent -- the correct percentage back on the defensive glass. If you give them 40 percent back, they get four out of every ten shots, you're probably going to get beat. Q. Brad, I don't know if McGhee and Andrew Smith will end up going against each other one-on-one, two guys from Indiana, but could you kind of comment on Andrew's evolution this year? He has really sort of really taken on a role of becoming kind of a go-to guy and seems to embrace that and is one of the guys who seems to improve week to week. And that seems like a little unusual, even for young players, that they're able to make such a steady ascension and improve their play that regularly, as he's done in arguably in the two most important games of his life, the last two, he's performed really well. COACH BRAD STEVENS: Guys with very good athleticism and/or guys with great size don't improve in baby steps. They improve in leaps and bounds if they're going to improve. It's kind of something I've always believed. So if they're willing to improve, if they're willing to invest to improve, if they're going to be accountable enough to improve, then they will improve in leaps and bounds, and that's what has happened with Andrew. And you mentioned the other -- Gary McGhee has done same thing. I watched Gary as a high school player, really liked him, thought he was going to be a really good player. But I think he'd being first to tell you -- and I've talked to Coach Dixon about it -- he's really blossomed there. And he's done a wonderful job. Coach Dixon and the staff has done a great job. They kind of have done it -- you talked about us at Butler having older guys. I think Pittsburgh is a great example, kind of like Purdue, where they may not have guys that were top 25 in everybody's eyes or McDonald's All Americans in everybody's eyes, but they're good, good basketball players. They get older and now they're one of the best teams in the country. It's pretty impressive what they've done. MODERATOR: Other questions for Coach Stevens? Q. Coach, has what Butler has done in the past a positive thing going into a game like this against a No. 1 seed? I know confidence might be important, but is your past record valid coming in? COACH BRAD STEVENS: The record and the games themselves don't have any bearing on tomorrow. But the experience hopefully you can use in a positive way. And what I mean by that is the game ends yesterday. We have 20 hours to prepare for our practice. We know how -- when we want to do film, we know our guys understand how that process is going to work, we know what we're going to do in practice, we know how much we can do, how little, how much we may not be able to do because we played in a physical game yesterday, and we can kind of gauge that 48 hours in between games and prepare appropriately. I think that's really important. And then I think guys, having the experience of playing these back-to-backs in the NCAA Tournament is a big deal, and we're one of the few leagues around that plays back-to-backs in our league. And so it's something that we've really done all year. Q. Just a quick follow-up on McGhee. When you were saying you had seen him as a young player, could you just tell us a bit about the circumstance? Were you scouting Matt Howard and happened to see him or vice versa and -- COACH BRAD STEVENS: They were the same age. Q. I thought they -- COACH BRAD STEVENS: They were the same age. They didn't play in the same summer team, but you see everybody throughout the course of time. And to be real candid, I thought Gary McGhee was going to end up at a BCS school, and we didn't think we'd have a shot at him. And that's what's happened, and he's had a great career. MODERATOR: Any other questions for Coach Stevens? Q. You guys have been very pretty good at predicting this and that regarding the tournament with where you might go, what you might end up doing. Did you think you'd end up with an afternoon game? Were you surprised to get the night slot? I was wondering if that was another extension of that, that since Butler was playing a No. 1 seed, that that was considered an attractive pairing and sort of another, as you said, validation of the Butler brand, that they would put you on in prime time. Seems something like they could have slotted you elsewhere. COACH BRAD STEVENS: The last thing that I really probably think about is whether or not it's prime time, because I don't know what necessarily prime time is from the television. I'm more concerned about, okay, how do we structure our day. Again, today and tomorrow, I liked it from the standpoint that we have over 48 hours between games. I thought that was a really good thing, and Pitt does too. And so I think both teams will be fresh and ready to play, and I think it will -- obviously we've got a lost respect for them, and we're just excited to be playing tomorrow. If they want to make it at midnight, noon, you know, 3:00 a.m., I don't care. We're excited to be part of it. We really are. And it will be fun to play at night, that's for sure. MODERATOR: Any other questions for Coach Stevens? All right, Coach. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|