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NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: NEW ORLEANSMarch 24, 2011Jon LeuerBo RyanJordan TaylorNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Butler – 61 COACH RYAN: You know, it's always tough when it ends, when you've got to put the balls away and the uniforms and practice gear. But I'm really proud of these guys. I really think they've had -- when you look at the entire season, just there are things accomplished this year that people never dreamed of with this group. Not just individual things with the triple-double or this scoring binge or this comeback or whatever, but just you take the whole season, it's pretty good stuff. We just needed to put a few more minutes together here tonight so we could keep dancing, but the music stopped playing. So we just wish Butler the best of luck in their journey for what they're looking for. Q. Jordan, could you just talk about how difficult it was in the early stages of that second half because it seemed like you guys had about four three-point shots just rim in and out because it just seemed like you were waiting to try to get something started and it just wasn't happening? JORDAN TAYLOR: Yeah, I mean, it was just kind of one of those nights, the ball wasn't going through the hoop. It's frustrating, definitely frustrating, especially when you end your season like that. But we've got guys who were giving 100 percent every night out, and that's all you can ask for. Q. Jon, you all don't normally commit a lot of turnovers, eight in the first half. Can you talk about sort of what happened in the first half and what led to some of those turnovers? JON LEUER: Yeah, we just made plays that were uncharacteristic of us, trying to force some things. And you've got to credit Butler, though. They did a good job defensively, and just made plays that we normally don't. Q. Jordan and Jon, is it hard to put your finger on what Butler does best, or is it just kind of a collective defensive and rebounding effort? What would you say made the difference, particularly in the early stages when they built that 20-point lead? JORDAN TAYLOR: I mean, they're scrappy, relentless. I mean, I don't know, they're just tough kids. They never quit. That's what makes them winners, you know. JON LEUER: Yeah, he said it. I mean, they're just tough kids that are all-around good players and they play to their strengths. Q. Bo, what were the biggest breakdowns or the biggest breakdown at the start of the second half there? COACH RYAN: Well, we touched the post four out of five times, come away with nothing. You need to score. You need to dent and get numbers moving on the score board. And once we didn't score inside, I think the guys got a little gun-shy and then we started looking to hit some from the outside, and then we'd get some go in and out, and that didn't work. I really liked the way we touched the post, and you've got to come away with something, either a foul, a bucket or both. I think that was pretty evident to people looking at the game and saying, okay, there's the shot from here, if you look at a shot chart, shot from here, shot from here. You've got to make some of those. Q. Bo, how rattled did you feel you had them there coming down the stretch when you got it down to four? Or was it just too late for that? COACH RYAN: Well, the end result is on the sheet here, so it obviously was too late. But we're really not an extended team, and what happened was they were -- they looked as if they said, okay, we've got a big enough lead, we're going to try to get them to foul us. The discipline that our players showed not to foul was really something that we were proud of because we talk about it in practice, but it's hard to simulate in practice, okay, you're in the Sweet 16, you're down X number of points, here's what we have to do. But we talk about getting in the passing lanes and doing those types of things. I was impressed with the discipline that they showed. And then we get them and miss a free throw and give up an offensive rebound. Obviously that's discouraging because we had to foul right away so they shoot two more free throws. But you know, we were getting some pretty good looks. Q. Do you think that maybe going to the press a little sooner towards the end of the game might have made a difference, because you got 14 turnovers overall against them? And what was the biggest surprise that you found from Butler? Were they quicker than you thought, for example? COACH RYAN: No, that's never the case. It's never what -- something is different than what we think, because you have enough information, you have enough tape, you have it against teams that you've played, that type thing. The guessing game is out of it. If you go to that extension early, earlier, they're still attacking the rim, and if we get spread out, they have quicker players overall than us. So that would not have been to our benefit. If you saw us play during the year, you'd know what we have. Q. This is back to back Elite Eights for Butler. Can you talk about the impact of a one-bid league like that doing something like that, and do you think it will change perceptions about this whole mid-major versus BCS schools having some sort of disparity there? COACH RYAN: Well, I've coached at so many places, I don't even discuss it, because it's basketball. So if you're a good team, you're a good team. So I can't answer your question because I never think that way. For me to give you an answer, I'd have to think that way. They're just a good basketball team. Q. At one point in the second half, you kind of threw your arms up in the air after Bruesewitz finally made a basket. COACH RYAN: Well, you would, too. Q. Were you even surprised at how -- COACH RYAN: Don't you get three points for a field goal? Q. What's that? COACH RYAN: It's a field -- he got fouled, he got a three. Q. You guys had good looks. Were you even surprised at how poorly you guys shot, especially to start the second half? COACH RYAN: You know, I watch these tournaments and I see teams go through these stretches, and it's -- you just have to keep playing. I mean, you don't -- you can't do anything other than keep attacking, and if you can't attack and they're shutting that down then you've got to hit some shots from the outside. It's still got to be the in-out game. In the first half, we had five or six shots in the paint that we don't finish on. So what do you say? Finish on them the next time. But yeah, for the most part, again, I'd like -- on the shot chart I liked the shots that we had, and you play X number of games, seven or eight times out of ten, you're going to shoot a lot better percentage than that. I mean, you've got Jon Leuer 1 for 12? He's a good player, very good player, and he works hard. There wasn't anything about some of those shots, whoo, he hit his first one, and he had some of the most wide-open threes. Nobody in our league -- he doesn't get those wide-open looks. Maybe he needed to be guarded a little closer. But yeah, our guys were finding him in a good place to catch and shoot. But he also had it in the post and could have scored there, too, so... FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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