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NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURApril 1, 2011Matt HowardBrad StevensShawn VanzantHOUSTON, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Butler student-athletes. Questions, please. Q. Shawn, you've seen the way VCU shot threes in this tournament. Been pretty good all year. What are some of the primary things you have to do defensively to chase them off the three? SHAWN VANZANT: First of all, got to be on the same page defensively, working our rotations all week. I think we'll be ready to go from the three-point line, make them put the ball on the floor. Q. Talk about the play of Ron, how much he makes your offense good from an offensive standpoint? MATT HOWARD: I think Ron does quite a bit for our offense, really facilitates, understands where guys are. He knows our offense really well. When you have a guy like that, a point guard that understands the offense as well as he does, he's going to make plays and find guys and their strengths, where they can make plays. I think that's what Ron does. That's what Ron's always done. Q. Shawn, we've all heard about your back story over the last year. Do you have an update on how your mother is doing? SHAWN VANZANT: Yeah, actually saw her this morning. She's a little sick last week, but she's doing a lot better. Just happy she can make it here and watch me play. Q. Can you talk about the difference it makes when you have the experience that you have on a team where there are a lot of teams in the tournament where one or two years and the guys are out? MATT HOWARD: One or two years and the guys are out? You know, I think there is something to that a little bit. But we don't necessarily think since a majority of us were here last year that that is going to be a deciding factor in the game, or if we're fortunate enough to, in both of the games. You know, at some point it's about execution and it really doesn't matter if you've been here before or not, you're still going to have to make plays and execute the game plan. Q. (No microphone.) MATT HOWARD: You'd like to think that anyways. I think I would like to think, again, that I've executed better this year than I have when I was a freshman or a sophomore. And I think, you know, that does come with repetition, being through so many different games. You know, when you've been through 20 years of being a parent versus two or three, I think maybe there is something to that. I think it's the same way with basketball. I mean, you've been through things, you learn from 'em. I think that does help you to some degree. Q. Matt, can you talk a little bit about the role that Micah, Terry and Matthew have played with you guys collectively and individually? MATT HOWARD: You know, they've been unbelievable. I think you can't underestimate how important it is to have a group of coaches that are so, so focused on the task, so willing to give everything they got to make sure that we're prepared. They do that. They spend countless hours watching film, breaking down ourselves and other teams, making sure that we're going to be as prepared as possible. Then just working with us individually, they do a great job with that as well, making sure that, you know, we're enhancing our skills, along with being prepared for the other team. Q. VCU had not really been known as a great defensive team, but they've really turned it up in the tournament. What have you seen about them that impresses you and what kind of challenges do they pose to you? SHAWN VANZANT: I mean, the way they press, they press obviously, the way they guard the ball really impresses me. I haven't had a lot of chance to watch them during the season. Watching tournament games, watching film on them, they do a great job on defense. We have to be prepared for their pressure and be poised. MATT HOWARD: I think, again, with what Shawn said, they do mix things up a little bit. They keep teams off balance. I think that really helps, helps their defense anyways. You have to be prepared for multiple looks. They're going to press. They'll play a little bit of zone. Then they also have a good man to man. You know, I think when you're really scoring the ball really well, too, that gives you energy defensively. I think you can make an argument they've scored as well as anybody. When you're able to score and get into those different defenses, I think that really helps their defense. Q. Matt, getting back to the issue of the three-pointers. In your mind, does this game come down to the ability of your team to chase them off the three-point line or is it an oversimplification? MATT HOWARD: I think it's one of the keys. When a team has shot the ball so well, you have to be aware of it. There are certain guys, you know, maybe more than most teams that you have to be aware of, where they are, make sure they don't get easy looks. I think you're right. It's not going to be the final tell-all, but I think it will be important that we don't give 'em easy looks. What I'm saying is, it's not just going to come down to that. You're still going to have to rebound the ball. You're going to have to make sure you're not outrunning guys all the time, they're getting easy layups or dishing down for easy points as well. You know, I think that may be one of the main things; it's not everything. Q. Shawn, talk about offensively the approach, what do you have to do early in the game to have success against them? SHAWN VANZANT: Once again, take care of the ball. I mean, like Matt said, they feed off their offense and they give interest to their defense. Take care of the ball. I have to get the ball inside. Get our big men going, feed off them. Q. This is the first team that has won five games to get to the Final Four. Is there any chance you think that that kind of workload can catch up with them or is there something to playing that many games? MATT HOWARD: You know, I don't know if that makes a whole lot of difference. They talk about us being young kids, got endless energy. It sure seems like, you know, what you've seen with UConn, they do, and what we've seen with VCU, that it doesn't seem like they're slowing down at all. They've now I think almost have had a week, they're going to have six days to be rested and ready to go. I can't see that being a major factor in the game tomorrow. Q. Which team that you have played so far reminds you the most of VCU? MATT HOWARD: Man, that's not easy. I know there are some similarities to the first team we played, and I think that's just 'cause they're from the same league. But VCU does a lot of different things than they do. Trying to think. I don't really know. They're a little bit different I think than any team we played. That presents a new and interesting challenge for us. SHAWN VANZANT: Probably go along with Matt. Probably Old Dominion a little bit, the way they like to pressure. VCU does play a lot different to all the teams we played. Q. What advice do you have for young players? SHAWN VANZANT: My advice is always have fun when you're playing a game. I think that's the most important thing when playing basketball, just have fun, let things happen. MATT HOWARD: Yeah, I would agree with Shawn. The main thing for me, you know, if I'm talking to younger kids, just do what you enjoy. That may not always be what's the most popular, but if you do what you love to do, that's definitely the way to go. Q. Matt, did the entire Howard clan make it down? Are there some guys on your team who weren't fortunate enough to find the finances for their families to attend this Final Four? MATT HOWARD: You know, I'm not sure on the second part of that. I haven't really talked to guys about it and haven't heard. But, you know, I think everybody but one of my brothers, his wife is pregnant and due here pretty soon, he needs to be with her. You know, that means quite a bit to me that so many of my brothers and sisters and mom and dad were able to come and that people were able to help them get here, as well. Q. Can you talk a little bit about the accomplishment of making it this far for the second straight year. Did you believe that it was possible? SHAWN VANZANT: I mean, coach always talks about making the tournament, period. A lot of people have played Division I basketball don't get a chance to make it to the tournament, let alone to make it to the Final Four two years in a row is definitely an accomplishment, it's a blessing. Me, personally, I always felt that we had a chance to be very special. Year before me and Matt came in, made it to it to Sweet 16, lost to Florida that year. I always thought we could make it this far. MATT HOWARD: Yeah, I think after what we were able to do last year, I mean, you start to realize a little bit more if you lock in, really focus, are able to execute your game plans, that anything can happen. You know, that's the focus and mindset we took into this tournament, as well. Of course, in many situations you have to have a few things go your way. If you look at our first four games, there has been some things like that. But, you know, I think when you have that confidence and understanding of what it takes, you know, you can make things happen. Q. You were asked this last year, but now it's even more reinforced. Can you be an inspiration to other mid-majors? What does it take to be successful, a non-power conference team? SHAWN VANZANT: I feel like me personally, I think it has nothing to do with what conference you come from. We all playing the same game. Anything can happen. I don't feel like major conferences have anything to do with it when it comes to the tournament. Q. Matt, you have been really successful playing at the tempo you want to play in this tournament. So has VCU. They're not really the same tempos. How do you approach them or get the tempo the way you want it? MATT HOWARD: You know, we don't hardly ever talk about tempo. I don't remember coach ever mentioning tempo to us. It's about running the offense. You know, if somebody's going to press us, let's break that press with our set and then get into our offense. You know, we really don't look at tempo. That's not something we focus on. Like I said, I don't remember one time all year him really talking about tempo with our team. Q. Brad always seems very calm on the sidelines, doesn't get flustered. Have either of you ever seen him really freak out? How much does his calmness help you during games, especially tight ones? MATT HOWARD: I guess it depends on what you define a 'freak out.' I think a freak out for him is fairly light. But it gets your attention when he does get a little excited, I guess. But, you know, I think it's really helpful to our team. It doesn't matter what kind of stretch your team's going through, you know, maybe the other team's making a run, you look over and he's moved on to the next play and he's focused on that. I don't think I've ever once seen any type of look of panic, you know, 'we're in trouble' type of talk from him. I think that's really critical for a group of guys to see. THE MODERATOR: Guys, thank you very much. We're now joined by Coach Stevens. Questions, please. Q. Looking back on how you got into coaching, you started at Eli Lilly, you obviously had a dream, you got the job at Butler, progressively moving up to where you are now, can you walk through that process and talk about what it's like looking back on that now, making that decision to kind of give up what you had and pursue your dream? COACH STEVENS: I get asked for the advice quite a bit because of how it's worked out. I think each situation, each scenario is different. I think you have to decide what you want to do. At the time it was important to me to try something else before I got too old that I wouldn't regret, you know, not trying coaching. The reason I wanted to go into coaching was I'm a competitive guy. I like being a part of a team. I thought you could coach high-academic kids at the highest level. It's obviously a great spot to do that. You know, I've looked back on it many times. There have been many a days in coaching where I've said, What was I thinking? Because it is not the easiest job in the world. But it is very fulfilling, not because of the results you achieve but because of the relationships you build. To watch kids, some of the guys that just left the media stand here, to watch them go from shy freshmen to seniors that can hold court all day, it's pretty fun to follow and pretty fun to watch. Q. Your players say you will continue to wear the glasses because it's superstition now, you're winning. I don't recall last year a lot of superstition. Are you superstitious? If so, any other superstitions? Second part, who was the designer of the glasses, who is the maker, and how many requests have you gotten for where you get your glasses? COACH STEVENS: They're Nautica. Nobody has requested anything (smiling). I think you're always somewhat superstitious as a coach. The reason I'm wearing the glasses is so I can see. I have found that I'm a better coach when I can see than when I can't, so that's the reason I'm wearing the glasses. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to go to contacts this week. I haven't had time to go get new contacts. I haven't had time to go take care of them. The reason the glasses are still on is so I can do my job as well as I can. Q. You talked yesterday some about the things, the qualities on the court, you saw in some of these guys. You also mentioned how you recruit to kind of a character they have. How do you go about determining that character? What kind of things do you do to make sure that kid is the right fit for your program and for Butler? COACH STEVENS: Well, I don't think there's any doubt that you can see some of those things, although recruiting isn't an exact science. You know, you never know how a guy that plays all the time is going to handle not playing. You never know what kind of teammate they're going to be. You can guess. All of the guys we've recruited have been good students, they're good kids, everybody that is around them says they're good kids, but when you're not playing, how are you going to handle that. One of the people we've talked about a lot in the last week is Chrishawn Hopkins. Come to a game in February or January, he's the most vocal guy on our team on the bench. He's excited to be there. He's been a great teammate. I don't know that you could know all of that. It's certainly something we watch and look for. You watch a kid on a bench in a high school game. It's great to see a guy that you've gotten a commitment from or a guy that you really want to be a part of your program have a bad game, see how he reacts, all those things. It's not an exact science. To be quite honest, recruiting is important, and I think our guys and our staff have done a great job of that. But I think the development is just as critical if not more critical. I'm really pleased with where guys come and how they progress once they get here. Q. How much has the success of your team been helped by the fact you tend to have players who stay in school instead of having a lot of the one-and-dones? COACH STEVENS: I think that might be a little bit overblown in this matchup. Larry Sanders from VCU and Gordon Hayward from Butler both left early and we're sitting here. I think that's a remarkable story that I haven't read or nobody's talked about, that you lose guys to the first round to the NBA draft at non-BCS schools and you're both in the Final Four. You know, two years ago we started three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior in an NCAA tournament game and we weren't ready to win at that level, but we were pretty close to being able to be competitive. I do think the landscape has changed. I think the more juniors and seniors you have, the better. I think that's a great thing. I think younger guys come in more ready than ever. And sometimes they come into Butler and VCU, they're certainly not scared against playing against anybody because they played against them all before, and oftentimes have a small chip on their shoulder. I don't know that you can quantify that chip. I think that's a pretty good thing. Q. Talk about the improvements in Ron's game to where he is now compared to a year ago? COACH STEVENS: Ron's value in our program, as we've talked about quite a bit, is so, so far beyond basketball, it almost makes basketball meaningless. But as far as a player, I mean, obviously he's shooting it better, he's shooting free throws better, doing every little thing. He's always been a great defender and a great leader. His willingness to come off the bench this year during this win streak may be as critical and unselfish a move as anything I've been a part of in my 11 years at Butler. Q. What are the key tenets, elements, to good three-point defense? Can you talk a little bit about the role that Micah, Terry and Matthew have played? COACH STEVENS: First of all, the three-point defense, I think, A, you've got to know who the guys are that are the most dangerous. That starts in transition. Then the game has evolved so much with regard to ball screen. And everybody always talks about ball screens and pick-and-roll, like there's only two guys involved, but it's where the other three guys are located that give you all the fits. You can only help so much. You've got to be able to rotate and be really good rotating and you've got to be able to pick and choose as the ball is in the air who is more dangerous. That's a really hard thing to do. It's a lot easier to talk about, a lot easier to say, but to do it in game speed is difficult. We've done a very good job of that at times throughout the tournament, and not as good at times. If we're not as good tomorrow, we'll probably get beaten very quickly, very early. We've really got to do a good job of getting to shooters. As far as my staff goes, I've said this many times: we went to the national championship game last year and our whole staff remained intact. That's a remarkable thing. It's a testament to Butler and, again, to the vision of our athletic director, Barry Collier, the people in our administration. But if I'm an AD, and I'm not, I don't have that job, I don't want to pretend to do somebody else's job because mine is hard enough, but if I'm an AD, I'm trying to get one of those three to be a head coach. They understand winning. They understand winning without all of the resources. They understand the fact that, hey, when you get five-on-five out there, it doesn't matter what conference you're from, you play basketball. To me, they've got everything you need to be great head coaches. Q. Talk about the accomplishment of this team, of this program, for making the Final Four for two years. COACH STEVENS: Here's what I think, and maybe it's because we all think too much and are too analytical in it. But the results that you get from getting the trophy, from cutting down the nets, from making it back to a Final Four are great. But in these runs, the way teams come together and the fight you have to show to get there, those intangibles are so much greater. I'm telling you, it would not have mattered. If we would have lost the game to Milwaukee, not gotten in the NCAA tournament, I would have felt like we had a really good year, playing wherever we would have been in the NIT or as a 12-seed in the NCAA tournament, because we had turned the corner, stayed together, fought through tough times. I know it sounds corny, I know it's not the way the world is viewed, because we're certainly viewed in wins and losses, but it is so much about the journey. I think when you focus on that, it's so much more fulfilling. Q. It's the time of year when the coaching carrousel goes. There's millions of people who have an opinion of what you personally could do, stay, go, whatever. What is it like to have millions of people have an opinion on your personal choice? Do you ever just tune into the coverage and go, I can't believe they're talking about me? COACH STEVENS: It's flattering. I don't want to sound the wrong way here, but I really only listen to two: my wife and myself, that's about it. Some of it's funny because, again, I said this yesterday, my cell phone hasn't rung, my cell phone is not ringing. Those are types of things that are all speculation. But I will say this, one of the things that gets lost in the shuffle are the assistant coaches and their families. So when guys and people take new jobs, that throws their life into a little bit of what's going on next. Am I going? Am I getting the job? Am I staying? There's a lot of uncertainty, and it's unsettling, to be real honest. When Todd left to go to Iowa, you know, for two days I'm interviewing at Butler, but I've got three suitcases in my trunk and I'm ready to go if I don't get the job because that's how the business works. I've got a two-year-old boy at the time. We're going to have to figure out how to sell a house, move, all that. There's a lot to go into it. That's why it's such a personal decision and it's so much more than the game of the carrousel and the game of the talk when it becomes that personal. Q. Ronald is a guy who wasn't originally going to come to Butler. He became available late. Can you talk about the process after you learned he was going to become available and how well it's worked out for you. COACH STEVENS: Ron got his release from Western Kentucky after Darrin Horn moved to South Carolina. He contacted us after he got his release. To be honest, soon after we got the release and were able to talk to him, I drove down to Birmingham. It was funny. I was on my way down. I hadn't seen him play live all year, but I'd seen him play the summer before. The reason we didn't recruit him the summer before with a scholarship offer was because we had Zach and Shawn coming back. Those guys hadn't played college yet, but I thought they were two point guards and they may split some time. Once we found they were both very good off the ball, we decided we needed to bring a point guard in in that class. We were very fortunate that Ron had an interest in Butler. Ron really had an interest in Butler first. His family is from Indianapolis, a large amount of his family. He was born in Methodist Hospital right down the road, spent some summers there, that type of thing. It was an unbelievable story. This tells you about what kind of person he is. I go down, sit with him during the contact period, say to him, okay, Ron, we have these two young guards. If you're not going to play 12 to 15 minutes a game, you're going to redshirt. That's got to be the deal. You've got to understand that up front. That's a risky thing for a coach to say because in this day and age, redshirt is like a bad word but it's a great thing. He looks at me and he goes, I'm coming to Butler. I'm like, Okay. Now you know you have a special, special guy. That was eye-opening for me. I knew right there he wasn't going to redshirt. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. COACH STEVENS: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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