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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: DENVERMarch 18, 2011Kevin AndersonDarrius GarrettDan GeriotJustin HarperChris MooneyKevin SmithDENVER, COLORADO THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by Richmond student-athletes. We'll open it up for questions. Q. Darrius, yesterday was a thrilling day for all of you. How do you come down emotionally and then get back up to play so quickly? DARRIUS GARRETT: We're just going to try to leave those emotions from yesterday in the past and start preparing for Morehead State like we do any other game. I mean, we're focused on getting another win and advancing in this tournament. That's our goal. We can't be too caught up on one win. Q. Darrius, might you reflect on what you've seen of Kenneth Faried and how Richmond intends to deal with him. DARRIUS GARRETT: Faried, he's a great player. He plays really hard, intense play. Brings a lot of energy to the game. I think we're going to have to be focused. We're definitely going to have to keep him off the glass. I'm pretty sure you've seen his rebounding skills. We're going to have to focus keeping him off the glass and just limit him to his looks. Q. For all of you, could you tell me how heavily you were recruited out of high school and how you wound up at Richmond. DARRIUS GARRETT: I was recruited a good bit. I had a lot of mid-majors, maybe one or two high-majors. In the end it just all came down to education and also athletics. I think the University of Richmond gives you an opportunity to get the best of both worlds. That meant a lot. Also Coach Mooney, he's a great person, just the vibe I was getting from him. KEVIN ANDERSON: Mine was mostly mid-majors. It came down to Richmond because education was big on my mom's side. She was really pushing that. I went to a private school my first three years in high school, until I transferred to a public school my senior year. Education has always been big for me and my mom. Richmond, when I took my visit, I liked the vibe I got from the players and the coaches. Seemed like a family. Seemed different than the other mid-majors I visited. That's why I chose Richmond. JUSTIN HARPER: I wasn't too heavily recruited, but I was getting some looks from some pretty good schools. I chose Richmond, like Kevin said, when I came on my visit, it was just a family feel, close to home. I thought I could, you know, make a great impact on the team as soon as I came in, just grow and help turn the program around. I thought it was a great school academically as well. KEVIN SMITH: Well, just like everybody else, I wasn't heavily recruited either. Coming to Richmond, they just give you that family feel. The number one thing on my list was the comfort level. They just made you feel right at home, no matter how far away from home you were. DAN GERIOT: Five visits scheduled and only took one to Richmond. When I came here, with the coaching staff, with the educational opportunity, I really fell in love with it. It was at the highest level I was being recruited was the A-10, so I took the offer. Q. Kevin, yesterday after the game you said that you've been stepping up your leadership. How have you done that specifically? Can you talk about Kevin's leadership, for the rest of you? KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I try to be more vocal in practices, try to bring more energy in practices, energy in the game. Not lose my emotions on the court, if things aren't going our way, keep the team together, holding them up, after a run by the other team, if we're down. If we need leadership, somebody to say something, I try to be that guy. DARRIUS GARRETT: Yeah, he's definitely been more vocal this season. He addresses any issues we may have as far as individually or as a team. I mean, that's big from one of our star players, one of the major impact players on our team. JUSTIN HARPER: It's just great for him. He has great leadership qualities. You know, he holds us accountable, as well as himself, on both sides of the floor. You really need that. He's just a great floor general out there on the court. KEVIN SMITH: We all know how quiet Little Man is. It speaks volumes to his growth as a player, how much he's come from being a quiet point guard to being a floor general, somebody who is able to lead a team by not only example but with his mouth, what he's able to bring to the team outside of just his play. DAN GERIOT: It's a common factor. In games, when we go on a run, it's usually him doing everything, making plays, making shots. When he's out there, and especially at end-of-game situations, his leadership has really stepped up a lot just by his knowledge of the offense, his knowledge of what play is the right play to run at that time, and who needs to take that shot. I think he's the best guard in the country at that. Q. Justin, what does Kevin do really well as far as X's and O's, his skill set? JUSTIN HARPER: Well, I mean, he's just great at, you know, knowing his spots, when to attack for himself on offense. He also knows, you know, when and where to give people the ball in their best position, opportunities to score. We have a number of weapons on our team, and he's just great at using all of us wisely, getting us the ball when we need it, of finding the hot guy. He's so aggressive in doing that. Q. How beneficial has it been for you four seniors to have gone through this program? Do you think that is part of the reason so-called mid-majors have been able to do so well? KEVIN ANDERSON: We've been through so much, just us four, being here together for the four years, like you said. Been through so much. Dan has been through injuries. We missed him one season. But just all the struggles we been through on and off the court. We're a team no matter what. I think that's what really helps us go out and play for each other. It makes it easier when I'm playing for Justin, Smitty and Dan out there than just playing for myself. It makes it so much easier to win a game, have the will to win a game. JUSTIN HARPER: Just the camaraderie we developed over the years. We really go out there and play for each other, not just for ourselves, for our team, we care so much about each other, we're really trying to make this last year and last run as special as we can. KEVIN SMITH: I got to agree with these guys. The family aspect that we talked about when we talked about recruitment. We built on to the aspect that the coaches, you know, had us expecting when we came here. That, along with the experience that we've been to accumulate over the past four years, is just gonna help us not only with the game tomorrow, but, you know, get through that game and possibly the next games after that. DAN GERIOT: Yeah, I mean, the experience of the great wins and some of the bad losses when we were younger, it all goes into it. It makes us tougher when things don't go the way we planned. I think you're right, in the mid-majors, when we have guys that are here for all four years, sometimes five, you don't have to panic as much when things don't go your way. You know the game is long and the experience of having us four on the court at most times of the game, I think that makes sure the younger guys, when they're on the court with us, they stay calm. They don't panic. We're able to really play the way we want to play. Q. Kevin, does the so-called Princeton offense give Richmond an advantage or is it just another name that they've applied to an offense? KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I don't think we run the traditional Princeton offense. There's a lot of different things that we do. We run a lot of ball screens within that Princeton offense. The guys that are on the court are so talented that that Princeton offense, it's just really a name. But it helps us out, gets us moving, gives us an extra advantage over different teams, I mean, that takes difficulty in trying to guard a fast-paced offense like the Princeton offense. I think that really helps our guys. Justin can score one-on-one on his guy if he wanted to, but he does it within the offense, which makes it even harder to guard him, harder to guard Dan, harder to guard me. I don't think it's just the traditional Princeton offense. Q. Dan, how is your nose? What were the other four visits you had planned? Kevin, did you have any other visits planned than Richmond? DAN GERIOT: Yeah, my nose is good. The win helped. My other four visits were Siena, Vermont, UNC Wilmington, and Toledo. KEVIN ANDERSON: For me, I visited App State. But then I visited Richmond after App States, but I didn't have any other visits plan after I visited Richmond. After I visited Richmond, I just felt like I knew I was going to commit there. Q. Kevin, how much did you learn from David Gonzalvez and Ryan Butler in terms of leading this team? KEVIN ANDERSON: I learned a lot from Dave. We still talk now. Butler is always at the home games. He's still there. He cares so much about us. That's the thing I think I really learned about those two guys. Me and Dave actually had like a long conversation before the season started 'cause I was worried about how I was going to lead the team. I just wanted to know the things that he did in order to lead the team. He just told me that he prayed a lot, just left the faith in the Lord. That's the things I've been trying to do. The little things like on the court, just talking a little more, things like that, those are the little things. The big thing is having faith in the Lord and keep praying. I think that's what's getting our team through right now. Q. How much have you been able to cram for Morehead State in the last 24 hours? Is there anything you did against Vandy with their big man that might be able to help you out tomorrow afternoon? KEVIN ANDERSON: A lot of our guys watch college basketball. We're lucky to have a team like that. We've seen Morehead State play in the past. I've actually seen them play in their conference tournament. Faried is nice on the inside. He's going to be similar to Vandy's big man, similar to some other big men we have played that can possibly give us problems. We know he doesn't give a lot of second shots than on the offensive end. He's going to get that defensive rebound. We know once he goes in, he's going to go in and try to bull his way into the post. If he misses, try to get his rebound. He's really aggressive, physical. He's big. I mean, it's going to be tough to stop him. We played some really good big men in the previous years in the past. I'm pretty sure coach has something ready for us when we practice in a little while. Q. Have you become U2 fans as a result of what happened last year? What sort of effect has Coach Mooney meant to you? DARRIUS GARRETT: Well, what do you mean by a fan of YouTube? Q. Didn't he take you to a U2 concert last year? DARRIUS GARRETT: I thought you said YouTube (laughter). I mean, Coach Mooney's coaching style is great. He always addresses any issue you have personally, and anything you can improve on, he lets you know it. That helps. I mean, it goes all the way down the line, from walk-ons, to Kevin Anderson. Goes all the way down the line. I think that's a great trait he has. I mean, he always stays poised during the game. He makes sure we hold our heads, stay focused on what we're trying to do. KEVIN ANDERSON: The thing I like about Coach Mooney is that he asks for your opinion, he values your opinion. Me and him, our relationship have grown throughout the years. This year we've been talking a lot more, mainly after losses because we're so frustrated. We just have to let our frustration out to one another, things like that. Not anything bad, but just expressing my ideas, what I think that can help since I'm on the court. Then he'll come back and tell me some things that he would like to try, want to know if I think it would help. Him just being open to players' opinions, I think that really helps us and made us move forward this year. JUSTIN HARPER: What about Coach Mooney I really admire? I really admire his commitment, really his commitment to his players. All the players that he recruits and brings in and signs, he has a plan in his head about how good a player can be. He's going to stop at nothing to make sure he gets you to work as hard as you can to reach the potential that he sees in you. He's done that with me as well as everybody up here on this panel. He really pushes everybody to be the best they can be. That's why we're getting the most out of our team. KEVIN SMITH: Coach Mooney as a person, he's a great guy. He does everything he needs to do for people he cares about. As a coach, he's pushy. In that aspect he pushes us to be the best we can be. From day one, he just lets you know that you're here for a reason and that reason is to make this team better. I really respect the fact that he does value our opinions in the game, what we want to do defensively, what do we think on offense. He factors that in and then he factors that into what he wants to do on offense or defense. It's more than just him being this big overarching guy who tells you what to do, This is my way. It's more him kind of leading us along and him at the forehead of it all just being the great coach that he is. DAN GERIOT: One of his best traits is definitely how he makes everyone understand how Richmond is going to win. When he bring us along, each separate piece, when we all come together during the season, obviously during games, he lets us know kind of what is the right play to make. I think the way he coaches is by, like we all said, he lets our opinions come in. Sometimes he respectfully declines those opinions, but at other times he'll really kind of lets you do what you want to do. I think that's one of his best traits. He hasn't made me a U2 fan, but he has introduced me to Pearl Jam. THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes and continue with questions for Coach Mooney. Q. For the most part you seem to have guys who were not highly recruited out of high school. Wonder what you saw in them that makes you think they could be college players? Especially I'm curious about the Kevin Anderson story. COACH MOONEY: Well, we do probably have some guys who are somewhat under-recruited. Our experience at Air Force was probably pretty key to that success because at Air Force we really had to go for kind of diamonds in the rough, guys a little bit under the radar. You know, I think when we recruit, we just try to see guys that we like, don't worry about any lists that they might have, how anybody else is ranking them or evaluating them. We just look for certain qualities that we like, qualities that we think could make them good college players. A lot of that is going to be on potential. Obviously they're going to be accomplished high school players to even be considered for this level. But I think we have recruited well in that sense. As far as Kevin goes, he played for an AAU program in Atlanta that we were familiar with. We had seen him in the summer. The team was pretty loaded as far as the talent that they had. Kevin didn't play all the time or didn't get to necessarily show what he has shown since he's been at Richmond. Actually, he signed in the spring, which for college basketball fans, that's called a late signing. It's very rare to get a 2,000-point scorer in the late signing. Kevin actually committed to come to Richmond before he visited. He really liked what he had heard. He liked the Atlantic-10. He liked the research he had done, the coaches that he formed relationships with. He committed, then took his visit probably two weeks later. Q. Why do you think you had so much faith in Kevin when other coaches may have shied away from him because of his size? COACH MOONEY: You know, I'm not sure. I know we really liked him. We had gone down to see him play late in his high school season, and he played great. We brought back a tape from his coach, and we kind of immediately thought we had a really good player. Again, not to the level he's become, but somebody that could have an impact on our program. I don't know if his size is what scared people away. I guess so. But, you know, his intelligence on the floor and his ability to make shots is so incredibly impressive. We knew right away we had something very special. Q. Your success has been great here the last few weeks. Do you fight the temptation of changing your starting lineup, putting in Francis Martel and Darrius Garrett, who have been tremendous contributors here in the last couple weeks? COACH MOONEY: Yeah, I don't think so. I think I put my left shoe on first for the last 25 years, so I don't think I'm going to change the starting lineup, you know. I think Darien is doing very well. I think Darien is very comfortable starting. Those guys have been great off the bench. So I wouldn't say that we would have any changes for that. Even though I do recognize how great those guys have been, I think we'll keep the starting lineup the same. Q. This has been the "upset city" tournament. I'm wondering what you think it says about the four teams that are here, the mid-majors. Could you comment on what that means in the context of the tournament. COACH MOONEY: Sure. I think that, you know, there's so much parity in college basketball now. With guys going to the NBA early, it's more difficult for the high-major teams to sustain greatness. While they're always going to be good and have a lot of advantages, it's going to be harder for them to sustain great play year after year after year. Whereas for us, a team that starts four seniors, guys who have played well over 100 games, a lot of post-season games, a mid-major team can kind of catch up to a high-major team because of that experience. Now, of course, we have a lot of talent, too. But I think that's probably the biggest key, is that there's a fine line between how good a high-major program can be and how good a really good Atlantic-10 team can be. I think that very often, more often than not, the Atlantic-10 team can catch those teams. Q. The reaction you've heard back from Richmond about the win. COACH MOONEY: Well, people are really excited. I think Richmond basketball, because of our success in the tournament, especially under Coach Tarrant, that kind of became a little bit of the footprint of the program, that really successful teams at Richmond win NCAA tournament games. So I think for us, it was something that is great to have accomplished for this particular team. I think people are really excited and really proud. Whether it's an upset or not, only 32 teams advance out of the first round. I think everybody's thrilled that we have -- out of the second round, sorry. Q. You're now in the position of a somewhat rare 12-versus-13 matchup. What does that do to the mindset? You would never overlook another team, but it potentially opens up things maybe you might not have thought possible. COACH MOONEY: Well, I think this is the NCAA tournament. I think that probably supersedes anything else of who the other team is or what happened in the previous round. But at the same time, yes, it's different because you assume if you would move on, you would play a team that everybody recognizes, like a Louisville. But you don't have to look too much further. They have an NBA lottery pick, a long-time NBA player on their team. I think our guys were able to go out and watch a lot of the game and see that. I think the stronger and faster team appeared to be Morehead State. As good as Louisville is, I think from a physical standpoint, Morehead State was equally or more impressive. Again, I think this is the NCAA tournament. I wouldn't think anybody could overlook the next opponent 'cause that could be your last opponent. So I think we're a pretty focused group. Q. How did your background as a perpetual underdog, Princeton, Air Force, help you yesterday? You're said to be an underdog. I know you don't like that. How does that help you prepare the team for that situation? COACH MOONEY: Well, yeah, I think that probably does play a part. I think my own personal experience, as you pointed out, I mean, Princeton in the Ivy League was a power, but on a national stage was always an underdog. Air Force, we certainly had to try to build that program in a tremendous league of the Mountain West, being a service academy. I think you have to have a certain worker's mindset if you're going to do something like that, if you're going to achieve something like that. And you have to believe, believe in your values, believe in how you go about your business, and believe in your vision. I don't know if it helped us particularly yesterday or specifically yesterday, but it probably helped us get to the point where we do feel like a really good program and we are confident that we can do great things. Q. Will the Princeton offense provide a key to playing Morehead State? If not, is there a key for your team to play them? COACH MOONEY: You know, the thing is, they're going to play a lot of zone. What's traditionally known as the Princeton offense is more of a man-to-man offensive set as far as the back-door cuts, what people traditionally think of it. The zone, for the most part, limits those types of things. It's going to be more about our players, which it is for every game we play. It's going to be much more about Kevin Anderson and Justin Harper than it is the Princeton offense. The most important thing is taking care of the ball. They're a very disruptive defensive team with their pressure, the types of zones they play, and, most importantly for us is taking care of the ball. Q. Justin Harper said you have an idea or plan in mind for how good a player can be when he comes in and you go to any end necessary to get that player to reach his potential. Could you go over some of the things you do to try to get players to work hard and realize their potential. COACH MOONEY: Well, I think the most important thing is just, you know, a basketball team spends a tremendous amount of time together. The basketball coach spends a lot of time talking to his team. The most important thing that we do is we try to talk to our team when we're upset, when we're confident, when we're nervous, you know, and try to express that to our team. I think for Justin in particular, as he had his typical freshman struggles, you know, struggles where he was becoming this great player, these natural land mines, we would go over the following day and let him know how good we thought he could be. No matter what was said in the previous night's locker room, just reemphasize and reiterate to him that I thought he could be a great player, could play in the NBA. I can't tell you how many practices we started where we met at mid-court in the huddle and said, Justin, you're going to play in the NBA one day. Justin, I hope you invite me to the green room on draft night. Things just to make him understand there was a reason the coach was being hard on him and there was a reason that, you know, he was getting this opportunity, which also came with this criticism, that he could do it. He could handle it and he could make himself into a great player. Q. After last year you lost Dave and Ryan. How much did you encourage KA to fill that void and how have you seen him evolve in that role? COACH MOONEY: No question, Kevin has really evolved in terms of his leadership. He's a very, very quiet player on the floor. He's not a rah-rah guy, he's an extremely genuine person. He doesn't necessarily complain to the officials. So he's just very quiet and to himself. So we did talk a lot in the off-season just about how he could get other guys involved, how much other guys feed off of him. Our players see the spectacular things he can do. That really gives everybody confidence when they see how fearless he is, when they see how confident he is. When he can express that, it does it even more so. He and Justin are best friends. He has really, really brought Justin along just as much as anybody, just by talking to him, encouraging him. He does the same thing with Cedrick Lindsay, who is a freshman, who is his backup. He has done it in his way. It's still a quiet way, but he's gone out of his way to just talk a little bit more and be more expressive with the things he's thinking. Q. Your team took and made twice as many three-pointers as your opponent yesterday. Talk about the three-pointer at this time of year in the tournament both as an equalizer and a momentum changer. COACH MOONEY: No question, it's an enormous point of the game. We really try to recruit guys who can make three-point shots. It was a big momentum changer for us yesterday. Now, Vanderbilt is also a good three-point shooting team. It is an equalizer against teams that might be bigger or quicker. But for us, it's kind of just a very day-to-day weapon that we have. Justin obviously creates tremendous problems because he can shoot so well at his size. I think we have four or five guys in double figures in threes. It can be a momentum changer because of how quickly you can catch up. I think on our run yesterday, it might have come from four three-point shots, the 12-0 run. Just shows how quickly a game can change with a three-point shot being there. We feel it's a great part of the game, and certainly did yesterday. Q. You came from two major institutions that put student ahead of athlete. You're in a similar situation it seems. I don't know exactly what your percentage of graduates is, but I think you graduated your first recruiting class. Could you tell me where you stand on that and how you balance getting to here and getting them out of school. COACH MOONEY: Thank you. Yeah, the University of Richmond is a private school. We have about 2800 students. It has an outstanding academic reputation. Because of that, it earns that reputation. It's a challenging school. Our guys were in study hall before we came over here with our academic guy. So it is a balance. We've really embraced it, to be honest with you. We haven't tried to hide from it or steer our guys away from anything that might challenge them in the classroom. We thought if we could get to the point where our basketball program is a great representative of our university, that it would be a strength for us, not a weakness. We wouldn't complain about it, we would do just the opposite. We would embrace the challenge of the school, the reputation of the school, and that basketball would be a way that we could give more credit to our university. Our guys have embraced it in turn and have done very well in the classroom. You know, I think to be at a school like that, it's an honor to be at the Air Force Academy, it's an honor to be at the University of Richmond, where academics are so important. Like I said, you have to earn that academic reputation. Q. How are you doing with graduation? COACH MOONEY: Very well. All of our guys have graduated on time. Guys we have redshirted because of injury or redshirted because of basketball have either graduated after four years and have taken a fifth-year of graduate school or taken a second major in that fifth-year. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, coach. Good luck tomorrow. COACH MOONEY: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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