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NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURApril 1, 2011Jim CalhounJeremy LambAlex OriakhiKemba WalkerHOUSTON, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Connecticut student-athletes. We'll take questions, please. Q. Kemba, can you talk, have you faced a defender this year by DeAndre Liggins, a guy much taller than you with long arms? What kind of problems does that present to you? KEMBA WALKER: We actually played against them already, so I faced him already. But, yeah, I faced a lot of different defenders. I faced guys just like him. But, you know, he's one of the more better defenders because he's extremely active and he has a height mismatch over me. He got great length. I know it's going to be a difficult, tough night for me. But I'm just counting on my teammates to give me the ball in the right situations and set up some great screens. Q. I'm sure you have seen a lot of different defenses designed to contain Kemba throughout this run. How do you usually react to that and try to take advantage of it? JEREMY LAMB: I know for me I just try to find open spots. I know when I make the right cuts, rotate when he drives, different spots on the court, that he's going to find me. Doing that, it gives me a lot of open shots. If my man helps off him or helps off of AO, he knows where to get the ball to us. ALEX ORIAKHI: Yeah, kind of like what he said. So much attention is put on Kemba that a lot of us are open. All we got to do is make open shots, like Jeremy said. A lot of times they're doubling Kemba, so I'm always in position for the offensive rebound or a dump down. It kind of works in our advantage. Q. You obviously won five games in five nights to win the Big East tournament. Kemba, is there any possibility of tired legs or do you think playing that many games in that span helps you? Jeremy, as a freshman, how is it to adjust playing that kind of a load in such a short time? KEMBA WALKER: Fatigue at this point is not a factor. We're not worried about that. We got a lot of rest. We got a chance to have a day off before games. This time we had a week off. So whenever the game comes, we'll be already. JEREMY LAMB: Well, even though I'm a freshman, I played a lot of games already. So I don't really feel like a freshman anymore. I've been able to adjust to the speed of the game, just the physicality of the game. I don't think that's going to play a factor really. When the game starts, leading up to the game, you catch that adrenaline, you don't really feel tired or you don't really feel hurt or anything like that. No, it shouldn't play a factor. Q. Kemba, you see a lot of great freshmen players. Some of them will go pro after this year. You are a rarity as a great player who is an upperclassman these days. When you see these great players like Jeremy, Brandon Knight, how much of an advantage do you have over them based on the fact that this is your third year of college basketball, your second Final Four? KEMBA WALKER: I think it helps me a little bit but not as much as people think. Before my junior year, it took me a while to adjust to get to this point. But as far as experience, I don't think it's going to be a factor up to this point. Everybody is just ball players right now. Q. Jeremy, could you talk about your time at Norcross High School playing with your brother? JEREMY LAMB: My junior year, I was playing behind my brother and two other seniors. Yeah, I didn't play a lot and I didn't really have a lot of responsibility. I just came in and just shot the ball. If things didn't go right, then I would go out, coach would take me out. I didn't have much responsibility. The next year I had a lot more responsibility, had to work hard in practice, just really be more of a leader. So, you know, I actually had to focus on making my shots and just leading the team 'cause if I wasn't doing something right, then the whole team would take after that. Yeah, I just had to play more of a leader role. Q. As upperclassmen student-athletes, you lost five games on the road, four at home, but you're 12-0 at neutral sites. Is there anything to that? ALEX ORIAKHI: I really don't know what it is. From Maui to the Big East to the NCAA tournament, I think we just understand that it's one-game elimination. If we lose, we go home. We've just been putting it all out there on the floor. It's been definitely working for us. But I don't really know what it is about tournament play with us. KEMBA WALKER: He said it all. We understand that it's one game and, you know, you're done. We don't want our season to end short. We want to finish it off the right way. Q. When you faced Kentucky the first time, is there anything that stood out in that game from the freshmen they started, how they played, something that you noticed? Have you seen any tape since? KEMBA WALKER: You can tell guys understand the game more and better. You can tell that Brandon has become a better leader from that point in the year till now. He's been way more aggressive. He's making shots. Once a great scorer starts making shots, he becomes hard to guard. That's one thing I've seen from the beginning of the season till now. ALEX ORIAKHI: After that game we went back to the hotel and we actually watched the game. We noticed how good our defense was. We felt it was definitely the best it's ever been. As far as Brandon and Terrence, they definitely playing with more confidence. Terrence has been playing great throughout the whole season. Brandon didn't have his best game against us, but I definitely expect him to have a better game. He's definitely the leader for that team. He's been making clutch plays for them and has gotten them this far. Q. Kemba, this is your second time at a Final Four. Through this week and even day, do you feel or sense anything different? Also, has Kemba said anything to you or communicated anything about what to expect here? KEMBA WALKER: Do I feel anything different? No, pretty much the same from my freshman year. We did a lot of things. We took pictures yesterday. We did a lot of media and practiced. We already had our own practice. Now we got to do open practice. It's just a lot going on before we actually play the game. It's pretty much the same thing. ALEX ORIAKHI: Yeah, one thing Kemba told me about going to the Final Four, he said it's real hectic. He said the experience is definitely crazy. It's definitely been a crazy experience in a good way. He says there's a lot to do. It's definitely been a lot, but it's been fun, as well. JEREMY LAMB: Yeah, he said it all. He told us it's going to be a lot, but we got to stay focused and still be ready to come and win games. Q. Alex, you had a really good game against Kentucky in Maui. Why do you think you played so well? What sort of a challenge, different challenge, do you expect tomorrow? ALEX ORIAKHI: Well, in that game, my teammates did a great job of running plays for me. Ran great plays to me. It was to the point where I was so open, all I had to do was dunk the ball. It was pretty easy. I don't expect it to be as easy because obviously they played us before, they know our pressure now, they know how I am as a player. I definitely think it's going to be a little bit more of a challenge. Q. Kemba, when it's a close game and it's late, do you make a conscious decision to take over or is it just something that happens? KEMBA WALKER: No, I think it all depends on how the game is going. If I have opportunities to score, I'm going to score. If I have to pass, get guys open, that's what I'm going to do. It all depends on how the defense is playing. Q. Kemba, these last nine games you definitely reached a different level. When you analyze it, is it a different mentality? Are you seeing the game differently? Why do you think it is that you've been able to reach this level and be so consistent with it? KEMBA WALKER: You know, I think I'm playing the same way as I played in the beginning of the season. I just seemed to slump a little bit mid-season. But I'm just doing the same thing I've been doing earlier. I'm being aggressive and making shots. I think it's the time of year that everybody really just getting a chance to see it. That's really it. Q. Kemba, is this the kind of stage that you enjoy playing on? KEMBA WALKER: Yeah, of course. Anybody, you know, dreams of being on winning streaks like this, playing on the biggest stages. I'm definitely enjoying everything, you know, cherishing every moment that's taking place for me and my teammates. Q. Kemba, Kentucky has actually played against you. They have at least some familiarity with you other than just watching tape or hearing about you. How do you think that might impact their defense and their approach with you? KEMBA WALKER: I don't know, honestly. I'm pretty sure that they're going to try everything in their power to stop me. Depending on how they play me is going to be the way I play. So, I don't know. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We'll begin with questions for Coach Calhoun. Q. If I'm correct, you have not had a one-and-done player the entire time at Connecticut. Is that coincidence? COACH CALHOUN: When we're recruiting kids, in the past 10 years we've had 16 kids leave early. Most of them, you know the name, Caron Butler, Emeka graduated, actually, in three years, Ben Gordon, Donyell Marshall was the first, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, etcetera, a lot of kids. Generally speaking, in the recruiting process, we're going to go after the best kid we can. If we start hearing, Coach, I'll only be there. We really don't talk that way at UConn. Presently, we have the first or second most NBA players. We don't need to talk about that. If it's so involved that you bring us to a Final Four, we're that good a team, you're that good a player, we'll encourage you. Like right now Kemba Walker, I know where he is in the draft, top 10 someplace. He probably needs, if the opportunity presents itself, to go. That should be determined by our success, your success, your growth, how you mature as a player and a person. If you come to us and say, I'm only staying for a year, what do I tell the other kids on the team? If it happens, it happens because of how wonderful you've played. If he said that to us, no we wouldn't. Some kids that we've got I thought could. Ray Allen was a junior. Ray Allen scored 38 against UCLA in a Final 8 in his sophomore year. I want to have kids to come to help win for UConn. The rest of their career will take care of itself. I think history shows those kids have done incredibly well when they've gotten to the NBA. Q. Only four men have won three or more national championships. What would it mean for you to join that list? COACH CALHOUN: Looking back as a true basketball junky, I clearly would be awed by being in that kind of company. I love this sport, try to look at this sport in every single possible way. To be associated with greatness, the people you talk about, some even like John Chaney who never even got to a Final Four, I like being associated with those kind of people. Guy Lewis, another great, great coach, and there are so many people out there, to be associated with those kind of people... One list I was having to look at, only because I read the game notes, I was now tied with John Wooden. Holy cow, being tied with John Wooden, that's pretty special stuff. I would treasure it as much as any other single human being, only because my dad told me, You're known by the company you keep. Some of the company that I've been put into, I kind of like that company. Q. What was your reaction to Nate Miles' comments this week that you were explicitly aware everything that went on in his relationship to Josh Nochimson? COACH CALHOUN: I put a statement out, the university put a statement out, that said I accepted all responsibility as the head coach. I said my personal and private feelings would not be discussed, and are not going to be discussed. If anybody wants to drag up an experience that happened two years ago, bring it back up, that's their choice. I'm going forward because I'm going forward with my life. Right now I'm getting ready for Kentucky. I'm watching my grandchildren do things. I'm going forward with my life. I can't control what other people say. I know who I am, what I am, I'm very comfortable with that. I'm comfortable with my university, how they handled it, how the NCAA handled it. I didn't say I agreed with everything. But I was in charge of the program, the program made mistakes, and I think everybody had their chance to speak over a two-year period. When it was adjudicated, it was adjudicated, and it's over as far as I'm concerned. Q. You had a great defensive player in Ricky Moore. Can you talk about DeAndre Liggins, what you've seen of him on tape and how good a defender he is? COACH CALHOUN: I'm going to say Ricky Moore was better because he was a UConn kid. Not fair to ask me. He's an assistant coach at Dartmouth. He could defend. He's long, he's quick. A great thing about Jim, he's become kind of known as that. He feels that he can really stop you. One of the ways to stop a guy is feeling like you can stop them, not being overwhelmed even before you face the challenge. He's terrific. He's absolutely traffic. He's going to give whoever he plays a very difficult time. Q. What, if any, advantage is it that Kentucky will have competed against Kemba already, and he's not some mythical figure, they know him better than just from tape? COACH CALHOUN: You know, that's a very good question only because you and I feel the exact same way. I think sometimes when you go into a game against Kemba, you don't realize the quickness, speed, some of the things he does. Well, they've first-hand had 40 minutes of it, 29-point game, etcetera. I always feel the advantage is a little bit to the team that lost or the team that you had a big game against. You're absolutely right. I don't think there's any great, great advantage, but there is an advantage. It clearly lies with Kentucky because they felt us before. I'm sure they're saying in their locker room, We can beat these guys, we'll find other ways to get things done. Q. Could you maybe quantify a little bit the value of experience, I use the example of Kemba as a junior who played three years, second Final Four, as opposed to a great freshman like Jeremy or Brandon Knight? Kemba said at this point it's just ballplayers. From a coach, what do you think those three years of college ball, how can you quantify that? COACH CALHOUN: I don't know if you can quantify it. It's an interesting thought. I truly believe, Kemba knows where he is, he wants the big moment. Jeremy has no idea where he is. He knows he's in Houston. He's a very bright kid, but his personality is very much like Richard Hamilton. And everybody would say Richard hit big shots. If you asked Rip about it, he said, no, I just hit shots. In other words, the moment didn't really affect him in the sense you just play basketball. In this day and age, kids play big-game basketball, we've been on a nine-game single-elimination tournament, five in the Big East, four in the NCAA tournament. Hopefully it's going to hold us in good stead. I always get worried about everybody when you jump on the big stage with 80,000 people because it is a little bit different. When you're here in the Final Four, it is different. We keep saying, we said it after the end of the season going to Big East, Let's just play basketball. If we just play basketball, we'll be fine. Q. Can you compare your relationship to John, an up-and-coming guy, getting under your skin when you're playing him all the time to right now? COACH CALHOUN: Yeah, he was loud, 50 miles away, trying to fight for a little bit of turf in New England. There's not much turf in New England basketball-wise. You're fighting for that. I've watched since. John and I aren't great friends only because I don't know John really all that well. When I was thinking about my sons and daughter-in-laws having grandchildren, he still was trying to get his team arranged to play little league baseball. We're not of the same generation. If you ask me about Mike Krzyzewski and some of those guys, it's different. From a generational standpoint, to the fact that John really was trying to claim New England, he could never say he parked the car in Harvard yard, he didn't know what clam chowder really was. He had the red stuff, not the real clam chowder. I took abrundage [sic] to it, but I take abrundage to a lot of things. He's developed into, in my opinion, a terrific coach. I watched the way he coaches. His kids play hard, play great defense, and play together. He's been getting, as you well know, tremendous, big-name players. I have a lot of respect for him as a coach and no disdain for him as a person. Q. It's been highly publicized, it's been a duel between Kemba and Brandon, or between you and Coach Calipari. Do you feel that undermines the entire team? COACH CALHOUN: Well, yeah, it's Kentucky versus Connecticut. I'll guarantee you right now that there will be a whole bunch of other folks, Harrellson, Alex Oriakhi, Jeremy Lamb, et cetera, that will have a lot more to say in the outcome. As far as John and I playing, I'd take him into the low post, but we're not playing the game. My point being simply, it's about two schools. Kemba is wonderful, great, in my opinion the best player in America. And Brandon is a wonderful player. We recruited him for three years, so I know. It's about the team. It's the screens and passes we set up to have Kemba do the things he does. It's the people that help Brandon get open. So they may be focal points media-wise and otherwise, stat-wise, but it's two very, very good teams. I don't know if there is a great team. We're the four best right now, no question about that, because we're here. But we're two really terrific, terrific basketball teams, two of the best teams in America playing each other. But it's the teams that are playing each other. Q. The red stuff is Manhattan clam chowder. COACH CALHOUN: If you're a New York Yankee fan. But us Bostonians and Red Sox fans feel different about that. Q. What are some of the advantages you have when you have a player like Kemba who has been here before and he's proven that he can do it in the big moment in terms of what he communicates to a team, maybe not like a formal team meeting, but what subtle advantages does that give you? COACH CALHOUN: I think psychologically as the game starts, your thought process as you get ready, if you feel, and you need to do this I think sometimes, you think you have the best player on the court, there is a psychological advantage to that. Conversely, John is going to try to do things to make sure he's not the best player on the court, so other guys are going to have to step up. I've always had that kind of belief, if you ran through Connecticut history, Ray Allen, Rip Hamilton, Donyell Marshall, Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor, Ben Gordon, a whole bunch of other guys, we like to have a feature player. And it's their job to make sure everybody else, if they overload to try to help them so much, everybody gets better as a team. I like having a guy you can concentrate on. I always believe it puts more pressure on the other team. We've had five kind of terrific players together. I like to have the combination of both. In this case we have a bunch of young kids who have fed off of a great player like Kemba Walker. Q. Do you see it as a clash of styles with Calipari when he says that he'll take talent over experience anytime and you say that you want guys who have a little longer commitment to Connecticut? Do you see that as something that will affect the way this game is played? COACH CALHOUN: The thing that changed John's team isn't Brandon Knight, who's wonderful, isn't Doron Lamb, who's wonderful, Jones who I think is going to be down the line maybe the best of them all, it's his older players: Harrellson, Liggins and those guys standing up and making the difference in their team. If you look at our team, Alex has been dominant rebounding-wise in the middle for us, much like Harrellson, and Kemba Walker has been our guy. Jeremy Lamb is another guy who helps. He has a couple more older players than we do. We're going to start three freshmen tomorrow night so we're still very young. I actually think in some ways we're very similar in the sense of the way we want to play the game. We want opportunistic fast breaks, run good halfcourt sets. I wouldn't have told you that with other teams we've had. We turned the ball against Arizona over five times. That's because we made a concerted effort to work on our halfcourt offense. They did a tremendous job, tremendous job, of playing the pace they wanted to against North Carolina. Kind of the same thing. Q. I wondered if you compare the challenge Kentucky presented you guys on Maui with the one they present you tomorrow. COACH CALHOUN: On Maui, it was house money. We were young. We weren't picked by Sports Illustrated, who I read and subscribe to, in the first 68 in the country. We weren't even supposed to make the tournament, never mind be near it. John's team was ranked much higher. Same with Michigan State, Number 2, we also beat 'em, Wichita State who won the NIT last night. We kind of just played free and easy, where John I think was trying to put together a team. I think Tommy Izzo and I have talked about this, kind of put pressure on them early, which kind of hurt them. Tomorrow we're not playing for the whole enchilada, but a good piece of getting to where it resides. I think the stakes of the game are entirely different. I really like that Maui trophy. It's kind of cool. But this is another one I think that's a lot more important and we'd rather have. Q. Shaka Smart dove on the court today to get a loose ball during practice. Do you get a kick out of being the grandfather in this field sort of? COACH CALHOUN: Well, yeah. I guess to some degree, as I said last night, I feel like Fred MacMurray with Shaka being the brilliant and very smart, but cool, fighter. Brad hasn't said the wrong word ever. He's your middle child. Never said a wrong word. I said, Brad, lighten up a little bit. I screw up every two minutes. Would you just screw up once? Then we have our problem older child who is also brilliant and a terrific, terrific basketball coach. As Fred MacMurray would say, My Three Sons. I would like to give the two guys and tell them, Where you are right now is as good as it gets, and don't ever take it for granted 'cause this is really, really special stuff. This is special, special stuff. There will be knocks and bumps and things along the way. After 39 years as a Division I head coach, I can speak from experience. But being here after 39 years, it's great for me. I know it's great for them. I like watching them. If those are two of the guys that are coming up to fill in the coaching ranks, I feel pretty good. I feel they're both terrific guys and obviously they're both terrific coaches. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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