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NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: SAN ANTONIOMarch 24, 2011Leonard HamiltonBernard JamesDerwin KitchenMichael SnaerSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: At this time we'd like to welcome the Florida State student-athletes. At this time go ahead and direct your questions to a specific player. Q. Derwin, over the past six years or so, you've been through a lot, a few different schools, junior college. How does it feel your senior year to end up in the Sweet 16? DERWIN KITCHEN: It feels great. When I got to Florida State I didn't know if I was going to get a chance to play for Florida State or D1, those first nine games. This is a crazy feeling because I know what it means to be in the Sweet 16, be in this position, having a chance to make it to the championship game. Q. When the season starts everyone has expectations, Sweet 16 expectations. Did you guys have anything tacked up anywhere saying this is where we want to finish this year? Is this something you never expected? BERNARD JAMES: I think you have that expectation at the beginning of the year, everybody does. Coaches have been telling us from day one that we could play in the National Championship game. Our team is that good. It just comes down to how much we buy into the system and focus. But I think it's always in the back of your mind, that's what you're working towards. You want to make it to the tournament and make it as far as you can down the line. We never really set any limit on ourselves like we want to make the Sweet 16 and that's where we will be satisfied. We're always looking toward the next game, the next level. We won't be satisfied until we reach the National Championship and win. Q. Bernard, maybe you can answer this. It's a little unusual for a 10-seed to come to the Sweet 16, one, and then to play a team that's actually seeded lower than them. What kind of mindset do you bring into this, knowing that you are probably the favorites, which you might not expect to be as a 10-seed, but you're playing a team that is playing very well? BERNARD JAMES: Actually I don't think we're the favorites. I've been watching ESPN and I've seen a lot of people think VCU has been under-seeded. We're not looking past them. We're definitely taking them seriously. So we're coming into this game fully prepared and ready to give everything that we have when we get out there on the court. Q. Bernard, Coach Smart described Coach Hamilton as no-nonsense. Would that be accurate and if so, how so? BERNARD JAMES: Yeah, that would definitely be accurate. He tells you how he wants it. And basically that's how it's going to be. I think any good coach needs to be like that. The coaches, they're there to manage the program, to manage the players. They can't take their cues from the player. You can't let a player take over the team or there's just going to be chaos. Q. Derwin, since Chris went down with an injury, you kind of stepped your scoring up, your rebounds up. Did you feel you needed to take a charge with him out to get into the NCAA tournament? DERWIN KITCHEN: Yeah, but I also felt like I was letting my team down even when he was playing, because I didn't feel like I was playing the way I was capable of playing. But like you said with him going down, not only me, we needed other guys to step up and fill that void on the offensive end and defensive end. That's something that me and my teammates are trying to do. Q. Michael, with this particular opponent, lots of unknowns at this point in a tournament. Obviously teams that you're not real familiar with. What's the biggest key to this next game, to this opponent? MICHAEL SNAER: We've got to take VCU just as seriously as we would Kansas or Duke or any other team. We can't put nothing past them. They made it this far. We've got to come out with the same intensity as we did, and knowing they have -- we can believe in ourselves, but we can't think we're a better team. We've got to bring that fire, that intensity, the same thing we've been doing all year that people have overlooked and just the brotherhood and camaraderie of this team. And we've just got to keep bringing it. Q. Bernard, you mentioned that coach talked about this being a National Championship caliber team, and you feel that you're that good. I guess you've seen it at times in the season, maybe in the game against Duke. Why hasn't it been consistent? Why hasn't it always been there? BERNARD JAMES: I really think it's the experience. Our program, it's been a long time since we've made it this far or even had a team of this caliber, just trying to put all the pieces together, get everybody on the same page. We kind of struggled with that. We've had injuries throughout the season that took some of our more experienced players and forced me to step into a bigger role a lot quicker than I guess I was ready for mentally. So it's been a number of things. Really I think it's just been inconsistency in effort. Some games we didn't come out there and put it on the line like we should have. And those are the games that we lost. Q. Perhaps each of you can give me a sentence on this. Can you each tell me what your key is to the defense? BERNARD JAMES: Intensity and hard work. DERWIN KITCHEN: Like he said, intensity and hard work. Just having the mindset of just taking pride in not wanting the opponent to score against you, I guess. MICHAEL SNAER: Obviously we always have each others back on defense. If somebody falls down, there's always somebody there to pick us up. And we just continuously talk. We always talk everything out. If something is going on I can't see behind me, I know I've got Derwin or Bernard or whoever is in the game telling me, Here comes the screen, or Watch out. We're always talking, and we've always got each others back. I know that if he tries to drive right, Derwin is going to be there. They're always telling me, you know, what I can and can't do, and just all a part of our communication, just talking, contest every shot, just leave everything on the line, just go hard. Q. Have you ever seen VCU play or heard of Virginia Commonwealth before the last few days? DERWIN KITCHEN: I heard of them. I know they have some great players. I watched them when they beat Duke a few weeks ago. So I've known about them. THE MODERATOR: We'll conclude our day by welcoming Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton. And we'll ask the coach to start off with an opening statement and follow that up with some questions. COACH HAMILTON: Our players have gotten excited about participating in the NCAA tournament. But what I like about them is they've taken very seriously realizing that we need to be at our very best. We have a tremendous amount of respect for the quality of the teams we've played up to this point. And we feel like VCU is definitely one of those ACC-type teams that in order for us to be successful we need to be at our very best. Our players have had a very focused practice and a very focused mindset as we approach our next opponent. We realize that this is a unique and special opportunity for us and not -- sometimes you can be involved in athletics and not have this opportunity. So we want to make sure that we do our very best with this opportunity. Q. This question was asked of the players earlier. How strange is it that to come in as a 10-seed and you find yourself in the Sweet 16, as a 10-seed, playing the 11-seed? And I guess theoretically on paper being the favorite. COACH HAMILTON: We are? Q. Seeding-wise. Can you give me your thoughts on how strange this scenario has unfolded? COACH HAMILTON: I think the first thing is that college basketball over the last 10 or 15 years has improved. There are so many more teams that are more than qualified to participate in the NCAA tournament. And our system does not allow for that to -- for the number of qualified teams to participate. And No. 2, it shows that there is a little bit of a flaw in our seeding system. That when you -- if the seeding means anything, if it's supposed to mean anything. So from a coach's perspective, and I'm sure from the player's, you can't even allow yourself to get overly concerned about it. You have to realize that regardless of who you're playing and where you're seeded, they're a quality basketball team. And it becomes obvious that you need to be more concerned about yourself as a team, as you prepare to play within yourself and try to come as close as you can in reaching your potential. Because whoever you're playing on the other side will definitely be a quality team. You can't even think about anything else other than knowing that you need to be at your very best. Q. Your guys said that from the start of the season you talked about this team being capable of being National Championship kind of club. What was it that you saw in them then and can you talk about some of the difficulties that have kept them from reaching that potential until now? COACH HAMILTON: We felt all along that we were capable of being one of the elite teams in America. Obviously we didn't expect for the injuries, Chris Singleton, to have surgery on his foot. And then we also had some little -- we were a little uncertain as to what -- how long it would take for our two freshman, along with our two junior college kids in Bernard and John. And John didn't get eligible until January. We didn't know how long it would take for them to adjust to this level of basketball. So there was a little uncertainty. But we did feel that we were more than capable, that we had the qualities that given time to mature and grow and develop, that we could be a team of significance. And we played some very good basketball, but we've had so many goings and comings of so many players. We always seem to be making adjustments. So by the time Chris got hurt, we were just starting to develop and come together. Thank goodness that we had matured a little bit and were a little more in sync. And as we lost him, I think other guys were maturing enough that we could kind of hold the fort down until he's gotten better. Q. I just wanted to kind of ask you about what bringing back A.J. for one year means to you and what it's meant to you for this season? COACH HAMILTON: A.J. had a very important part of our -- of the success that this team had last year. Not this season, last season. I thought he brought a certain level of maturity with his experience and his advanced ROTC and his preparation for going into the armed services, and being a second lieutenant. He brought an aspect to our team that we really needed. And I thought he contributed in a very positive way. Even though he didn't play a whole lot, I thought that he had some skills that our team needed. And because he contributed so much last year, I thought it would be a good idea for him to come back and be a part of, maybe even help us go farther into the NCAA tournament. So he's been a very positive influence on some of our younger players, even though he hasn't had an opportunity to play as much. His role has been different. I think he's fulfilled it. Q. How much do you anticipate Chris Singleton playing and where is he physically right now? COACH HAMILTON: Chris probably has -- he's had two really good practices the last couple of days. It's almost virtually impossible for a guy to miss five weeks, have virtually no contact, any type of contact drills or interaction with your team in a full go situation, and to come back and be on top of your game. He virtually went from wearing a boot, swimming, doing a little light shooting, dribbling, to practicing with our team in a limited role while we were in the ACC tournament. After the tournament he practiced a little more aggressively, but not to the point where we felt that he was as comfortable as we would like for him to be. So it's been -- up to this point it's been very difficult to judge, you know, where he actually -- how much progression -- how much progress he really had made. The last couple of days I think he's felt a lot more comfortable. He's been much more aggressive. He's getting closer to kind of looking like his old self from an injury standpoint. I think it's just taking him a week or so just to -- to gain his confidence back, starting and stopping and changing direction, things of that nature. So I want him being a little bit more involved in this game than he was the other games because I think he's feeling more comfortable. I've been impressed with how comfortable he seems to be now on the court. Q. I wanted to ask you the keys to your success on defense. COACH HAMILTON: I'm not really sure we do anything that a whole lot of other teams don't do. I'm not sure our defense is that much different other than we realize we have -- we have some challenges. We've had some challenges on the offensive end. We have not always been a consistently shooting team. We've had a problem turning the ball over. I think we could be more skilled as dribblers and passers. I think we've improved in all those areas. But one thing that's been consistent is our defense. We try to have a system that allows everyone who is participating to be successful just by learning our rules and our principles and making sure that you execute those fundamentals each time the ball moves. We try to have a system where there's always five guys playing against the ball. So we're able -- wherever the ball is we have rules that govern where we're supposed to be on the court. And if we're consistent with that, then we put ourselves in the best position to hold our opponents to a decent low field goal percentage. And it seems as though that's what happened these last couple of years. But if you go back the last 10 or 15 years, I think our defense has been pretty sound. We lead the nation in field goal percentage, and we were always in the top 15 teams. And we developed a system that has evolved, I guess, from a lot of different people who I've worked with and coached for. And over the years we've tried to steal the things we think that we like from a lot of different philosophies, we kind of try to include all in one. Q. You mentioned your defense and also your team's occasional habit for turnovers. Given what VCU can do defensively in that area, causing turnovers, how much are you looking at that as a factor that could undermine your defense tomorrow? COACH HAMILTON: Well, if you go back and look at the last seven or eight games we played during the ACC, our turnovers were way, way down. I think we only had one game that I think was at Virginia Tech where we turned the ball over, and it wasn't as much what they did as I thought we lost our concentration in those games. So I think if you look back, maybe we might have had 12, we averaged 12, 13, maybe 14 turnovers, which is not an exceptional amount. So I thought we got better toward the end of the season. I think we take care of the ball. Q. You mentioned in your opening statement that VCU is like an ACC-type team. What did you mean by that? COACH HAMILTON: Well, I think they execute very well. They're very well-coached. They have a system that they believe in. They execute their offensive system very well. They have players who are more than capable of hitting you for big numbers. They've got a good perimeter shooting team. They've got an outstanding point guard. They have a low post presence. They change their defenses and mix them up and cause you to make adjustments as you go along. So they are definitely an ACC-type team. They have a defensive system that you have to make adjustments in order to be successful. And offensively they have players that, in all different spots, that you have to guard them. If you don't, they'll put the ball in the hole. Q. Can you just comment on what Derwin Kitchen has meant to the team and the program over the last few years, after all he went through the three or four years before he came to Florida State? COACH HAMILTON: Derwin is going to graduate and get his degree. We're very proud of him. He had some challenges that he had to overcome to get to this point. I think most of the time when you are put in situations where you have to go through certain challenges it causes you to mature and grow and appreciate the opportunity that you have. I think that's what has happened with him. We turn the ball over to him and we put the ball in his hands and he really has developed to a good point guard. He's had to adjust to being more of an aggressive offensive player than maybe he would have liked. He's a guy who is extremely unselfish, and he distributes the ball and gets us in and out of our systems. But in order for us to be successful he found himself in a position where he had to step up and give us some productivity in order for us to be successful. He's had to make adjustments and I think he's done a great job. More than anything else he's meant a lot to our team and he's grown and matured. He's become more of a vocal leader. He's a guy that has really given us an opportunity to be as successful as we've become. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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