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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: CHARLOTTEMarch 18, 2011Charles FunchesEdward JoynerBrandon TunnellCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA Duke – 87 COACH EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: We ran into a different animal. I mean, it was a lie on. They never been to the tournament before. This year was the first for us and we understood that. We made a lot of mistakes early. I think in the first half when they showed us the shot clock, we were done 17 and we missed layups. Those things happen when your nerves sometimes get the best of you. But as I told the young men, I applaud them on a good year. They came out and we played a great team. You know, many a day I think everybody -- every college team sits on TV and says "I want to play Duke. I want to see what it's like to play Duke." We surely found out, you know. But as I told this team, you know, take it as a learning experience. And me being a second year head coach, it was a learning experience for me. I told them that we would start preparing to get back here again next year. We get into the hype of winning our conference tournament. We celebrated and did everything we wanted to do. We started preparing for the NCAA Tournament a couple of days ago, right after the tournament to come here and play. If you want to advance or do anything good in this tournament, that ain't when you start preparing. You start preparing about two weeks from now. As I told them, we will do that. If you start doing that, you'll do well in your conference tournament and you'll have a chance to do well next year when you get here. But, you know, it is what it is. We didn't have the showing that we would like. Many people would say many things. Many of them are saying it and watching us. We do understand that. We're going to do whatever we have to do to try to get back here again and do better. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes. Q. This is for Charles and Brandon. I know it's disappointing for you today, but can you kind of put into your words your thoughts of winning a championship and playing in the NCAA Tournament against a team like Duke? CHARLES FUNCHES: It was a great experience, you know, being a senior, being able to say that I won a championship. But, you know, it would have felt even better to get a win in the NCAA, but it feels great to go out with saying that I did that with my team. BRANDON TUNNELL: Yeah. Also for the same reason, especially I've been at Hampton for four years, this is the first year I won the championship. They say better late than never. Like coach said, we ran into a different animal. We haven't seen a team like this all year long, you know, but I really want to applaud my teammates. We fought hard and we didn't give up. At the end the day, we're still MEAC champions. Q. Duke has said they have kind of a recommitment to their defense over last four games here. Can you talk about what it was like playing against their defense in the first half in particular? BRANDON TUNNELL: They disrupted our offense early. Our offense is based on movement and player movement. When they're denying the passing lanes, it's hard to get our offense started because we're a pass first team, pass and cut, screen and roll. They were trapping the screen and rolls. As they were trapping the screen and rolls, they're actually taking the pass away for the next available guy. So, you know, it was tough. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student athletes? Q. For either Brandon or Charles, just talk about trying to battle against Duke's size, which is something you guys don't normally see. BRANDON TUNNELL: That was one of the tougher parts. We're not the biggest team. We try our best to rebound, you know, but playing against a team like that, it was just tough. They're physical inside, you know, their three man is just as big as our four man. We battle as much as we can. CHARLES FUNCHES: Yeah. It's tough being down there. Me being a post, I'm about 200 pounds, you know, and their three, four, five are my size and bigger. So, you know, during the game it wears down on you that size. You get tired at the end. I guess that they wore down on us and we couldn't hit the boards like we would like to. Q. Brandon, there was a lot of hype coming in about Kyrie Irving's return. Just your impressions of him today. BRANDON TUNNELL: Yeah. I know he didn't play much, but the little time he did play you could tell like he's very explosive. I think now that Duke is getting him back that it will be -- make it ease -- make it easier for them to make a further run in the tournament. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student athletes? Back left. Q. For the guys, in terms of next year, what do you pass along to the underclassmen in terms of preparation for another run next year? BRANDON TUNNELL: Like Coach Buck said, we're not just -- I think that beginning the this year we're preparing to be MEAC champions to win the MEAC Tournament because we never have. Now he's preparing to get ready for the teams like Duke and the teams they're going to play in the tournament. CHARLES FUNCHES: Actually, you know, our preparation wasn't up to par, you know. That's not even coach quote, that's our quote. We're going -- as seniors we're going to pass it on and tell them like y'all see where we were at today. Most of the guys who play tonight are coming back next year. They understand what the deal is at the tournament. They'll know like we need to get in the weight room. They see that when you get to this level, there's a lot of players that are our size and way bigger. They'll know they got to work harder. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? Okay, Brandon, Charles, thank you. Congratulations on a great year. Questions for Coach. Q. Just talk a little bit about what Duke did defensively to disrupt you guys on offense today. COACH EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: One, their size bothered us. You got guys like Singler at a three who is probably 6-10, and then they have guys -- Plumlee guys, they though move a lot better than I thought. I don't think the video does them justice. They're able to switch and stay in front of our guys. We don't see that in our league. Even in some of the mid major teams that we were able to beat, you don't see that, you know, where they can stay in front your guards. They're big enough where they can disrupt you on the penetration. They're about as in tune to what they're doing as you'll find. I think every team works -- things like switches. They don't miss a beat, you know. So I think it was a learning experience for us because we try to do some of those same things just as everybody else, but sometimes the awe of the of the moment gets you. I think that had a big effect on us tonight. The awe of the moment got us, so we missed a certain -- we missed defensive assignments. We threw the ball away. We missed a bunch of layups. They don't do that. As I said before, the one thing that I learned this year going into this tournament and part listening to Mike Krzyzewski, every game was a championship game. You got to be prepared to play every night, understand, understand the moment, and be able to execute in the moment. Now, the good part about that for me is I got about ten of those 12 returning. They will understand how to execute in the moment next year, not because a lot of what I will do different but because of what they saw and what they experienced tonight. It's the best teacher. What they say, experience is the best teacher. We didn't see this. We walked in the gym and I heard one of the guys saying, "We're playing in front of a small city." They never seen this before. That's not an excuse, but still, now that we've seen it, we begin to understand it, we're going to prepare for it. Q. Coach, Kyrie hadn't played in three and a half months. What was your assessment of how he looked out there last night? COACH EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: He's a lottery pick. They say he's probably one of the top five picks in the draft. It was hard for us to prepare for him because we had not seen him. There was not much tape on him. We don't see guards that explosive. But, as I said, I think in some instances we did a good job reacting and trying to keep him out of the lane, disrupting some of the things he do. Six or eight or maybe nine of those points probably came in the last four, five minutes when our guys were down a little bit. So statistics may sometimes not tell the full story, but as far as him as a player, the kid is a pro. I think he's great, and to be able to do what he did in this atmosphere and take so much time off, it says a lot about him. Q. Coach, you started the season with an ACC team and you end the season with an ACC team. In between you obviously won a championship. How are you able to look at this team and the program where you were in October to where are you today and feel confident about the future of Hampton basketball? COACH EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: As I told you before, we are returning ten of the 12 and they're hurt in that locker room. I got 13, 14 players, four, five coaches, they're all hurting in that locker room. That's the first step to us getting better and preparing for the moment later on. Second of all, as I said, experience is the best teacher. We've never been here before. I don't put that loss on the players. They did all they can do. That's my fault. I didn't understand how to prepare them for this moment, but trust me, I understand now, and one thing I never been called a dummy. So, does that mean we're going to come to this tournament and win the game next year? I don't know. But you best believe that the outcome won't be the same, I mean, won't look the same. We're going to look different and be different. This university deserves better, everybody affiliated with us deserves better, but like I said, it's on me. I got to prepare us to make us better and I will do that. This team won 14 ball games last year. We're 24-9. We're 24-9. So you tell me how I should feel about the future. I got 17, 18-point ball player and I got 15, 16, ball point player returning. I got a heck of a point guard returning. I have Danny Agbelese who was the number 5 -- between 5 or ten shot blocker in the country returning. So after I feel very good about the future and I hope everybody else does who is affiliated with this team. Tonight we faced a different animal and we weren't prepared. Q. Coach, Duke did something a little different today and they started subbing in five guys at a time. How did the second group compare to the first group? COACH EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: Duke, they're one of, if not the top, one of the top three programs in the country. So they're going to be strong one through 13. You know, we do understand that. In comparison, I'm going to be honest with you, it's the only thing I can be and give the most honest answer I can, there is no comparison from that second five to that first five. But, I can tell you that second five is probably a top three team in our league if they don't have a chance to win it. So, that's facing a different animal. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for coach? Okay. Thank you, Coach. Congratulations on a great year. COACH EDWARD JOYNER, JR.: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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