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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2012Tad BoyleCarlon BrownAustin DufaultLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA Colorado – 70 THE MODERATOR: Coach, a few opening remarks, please? COACH BOYLE: I thought it was another gritty performance by the Buffalos tonight, especially in the second half. We've got to figure out a way to finish first halves better. That's two nights in a row that we haven't done very well. But these guys have really responded to challenges at halftime the last couple of nights. They've been playing with unbelievable heart and desire. We executed really well, I thought, the entire second half getting shots and playing with poise and really controlled the tempo of the game. Carlon made some big‑time plays. We had some great individual performances like we did last night. André Roberson was terrific, and Austin Dufault, sitting here. I can't say enough about our team and their toughness over the last two games. I think it's really galvanized itself over the last two games. So this is the time of year you want to be doing that. With that, we'll take questions. Q. Can you describe what this season's meant to you being picked so low preseason to where you're at now? COACH BOYLE: Yeah, it's motivated these guys. We've talked about it. I've probably beat it over the head a little bit too much. But any time I feel like we're letting down a little bit or we need a good practice I just throw it out there. The one thing, again, I love about our team is our competitiveness. We've got a bunch of competitive guys, and they didn't like where we were picked. We don't blame people for doing it. It was fuel and food for us to motivate ourselves. And we've used it as a staff. I think these guys have even used it amongst themselves. You know, you've got to use whatever you've got available to you. That's been a good source of motivation all year long. Q. Coach, looking forward to tomorrow, what did you take away from the two games you played against Arizona in the regular season that you are looking to take into tomorrow's game? COACH BOYLE: Well, two things. Number one, I think they're probably one of the best ball screen teams in our league in terms of pick‑and‑roll; and they've got a couple of post guys, a lot like ours, that are very mobile, can face up, can put it on the floor. So it's a good match‑up, I think, as far as teams are concerned. I think it's really appropriate that you've got the two best defensive basketball teams playing for the championship. We talk about defensive rebounding all the time. Arizona's the best defensive team. They clipped us the last two games of the regular season. We were ahead, and that trip to Oregon, Oregon State didn't help us. But they're number one in field goal percentage defense. We're number two. It's a quick turnaround. But I know our guys are ready to go. We're going to be playing with a lot of emotion tomorrow. I'm sure they are too. A lot's at stake. Q. Could you talk about the job that Carlon Brown did on Allen Crabbe tonight? COACH BOYLE: Yeah, Carlon was terrific. He picked up his third foul kind of early in the second half, which I think we sat him for a little bit. But we needed him on the floor. Obviously, offensively he's been feeling it. Carlon's playing with a sense of urgency right now that I love. I think it's really infected our team. All three of our seniors who are playing, and even Trey Eckloff who is not. These four seniors, it's their last go‑around, and they're playing with a sense of urgency. I thought Carlon did a great job on Crabbe. We wanted to make sure we were there on the catch. We fouled him a few too many times. A few times in the huddle in the second half Carlon was worried about fouling. I said, "Just play defense. Play solid defense." And he did that. Our perimeter defenders have done a great job all year. They've really stepped up the last two nights when they've been challenged. Q. This is your first year with the Pac‑12. You had experience in the Big 12. It's a great conference. The Pac‑12 has been down lately. Do you think if you win tomorrow does that show that the Pac‑12 is really bad for someone to come from the Big 12 to go straight to the Pac‑12 and win the whole thing? COACH BOYLE: No, I don't think so at all. I think we've got a great of good basketball players that are coming into a new league. The league didn't know much about us. We didn't know much about the league. So we found our way through this thing. I don't think it says anything about the quality of the Pac‑12. The Pac‑12's a good league, just like the Big 12's a good league. We knew that when we left the Big 12. We knew that coming into this year. These guys have shown that we're capable of competing in this league. CARLON BROWN: Ditto. Q. A lot of the talk this season was how great you guys were in Boulder, but not able to translate that on the road. What's happened here these last couple of days? COACH BOYLE: I told the team tonight I think we found our heart. I really do. It's been there all year. Again, sometimes you look at records and records can be deceiving. I look at the way we played at Cal, even at Arizona in the first half. We've had a few games on the road where we've not been up to par. But we've really competed on the road. We just haven't won enough games. What's great about tournament play is it's a neutral site. But these guys have confidence in themselves. I think we're a good road team. I know our record doesn't say we're a great road team. I think we're a good road team, and we're obviously getting better. But this team has found its heart here in Los Angeles. We have guys like Carlon and Austin that are playing like it. Q. Austin and Carlon, three games in three nights is pretty grueling. We saw Oregon State kind of peter out in the second half. How are you able to keep your energy level up and continue playing at a high level? CARLON BROWN: Yeah, we just want it. Never been in a position like this. I'm not sure of our school history, but playing for the actual championship is something this school hasn't done in a long time. So we're using that as motivation as well as the picks in the off‑season and everything like that. We're disappointed how we finished the season the last five‑ six‑game stretch because we were right there in the race. But now it's all about one game, one time tomorrow and we're going to come out and give it everything we have. AUSTIN DUFAULT: Yeah, just like Carlon said, there is no tomorrow. So we can worry about resting and all that stuff afterwards. Right now we have a team that's really mentally tough, and guys are playing banged up and through fatigue. Tomorrow I think we're going to be playing on a lot of adrenaline, and that's really what's going to have to fuel us tomorrow. Q. Your defensive pressure kind of overplays a little bit and tries to trap. Did that open things up in the lane? Looked like you guys were very effective in there? AUSTIN DUFAULT: Yeah, they really tried to hedge really hard on our ball screens. Our guards made a lot of great decisions tonight getting it out of those traps and those hard shows and we just moved the ball. We had the advantage, 4 on 3, 3 on 2. I thought overall our guards made great decisions tonight once they got it out of those traps. COACH BOYLE: Yeah, I'll piggyback on that. I thought, again, Carlon and Nate and Spencer and even Askia when he was in there, really exploited their ball screens better in the second half. We talked about it at halftime attacking them off ball screens rather than coming off soft and looking for the roll man or looking to throw back. Come off hard, engage their big guy, and put some pressure on them. Our guys did a great job of that in the second half. Then we found guys in the lane, and they finished. Q. Who had the better dunk, you or André? AUSTIN DUFAULT: What about mine (laughing). CARLON BROWN: I don't want to get into all of that. I'm going to let the Twitter Nation be the judge of that. Q. Coach, could you talk about André? He really dominated the lane particularly in the second half. It just seemed like Cal couldn't get any free looks at the basket in the lane. COACH BOYLE: Yeah, André's really emerged as a big‑time shot blocker. I think he led the league in blocked shots, and he proved why tonight. He's such a quick jumper and he's got great anticipation. That's what makes him a great rebounder, and obviously, a great shot blocker as well. So he made some big‑time blocks and covered up for some mistakes. We knew rotations was going to be a big part of our defensive effectiveness in the second half, and André's a big part of that. He was terrific tonight. He's been terrific the last two nights. This is the time of the year that you need your best players to step up. When you look at Colorado basketball, you've seen our guys do that. Q. Against Oregon you guys had a lead late this the game and kind of let them back into it. In the huddle, were you telling the guys to continue to be aggressive and sustain that lead in the second half? COACH BOYLE: It's funny. This guy sitting to my right, Carlon, we were at the last media timeout and Carlon brought that up. The thing that he's done the last couple of nights is he's been very vocal in our huddles. I like that. When your seniors take ownership and they're talking, it's like another voice because sometimes they get tired of my voice. When they start challenging each other, it's a good thing. Carlon did that tonight. We talked about that exactly. We were up 8, just like we were against Oregon, and we didn't want to let them back in this thing, and our guys went out and did it. I'm really proud of the way he stepped up, and his leadership the last couple nights has been big for us. Q. When you've got a team that's one game away from the NCAA Tournament, how do you keep the players from getting ahead of themselves? COACH BOYLE: We're not even talking about that. We're talking about winning a championship. We all know what's at stake. These guys are smart. They're intelligent young men. We know. We just need to talk about, hey, we came here on a mission. We've taken care of business up to this point. So we know what's at stake tomorrow. Arizona knows what's at stake tomorrow. We just want to come out and compete and lay it on the line and play Colorado basketball. If we can do that, we'll live with the results. But I like the feeling of this team. I like the feeling in this locker room right now. Q. Austin, you mentioned that you guys would be playing off adrenaline tomorrow. Do you guys get any energy from that amazing student section that you guys have here? And if so, how big of a boost do you think they give you guys? AUSTIN DUFAULT: Absolutely. They give us a big boost. Just having that support out here. Just being able to hear them cheering for us and all that stuff gives us a big boost. It reminds us we're not just playing for ourselves or any individual, we're playing for something more than just ourselves. And having our student section out here has been wonderful. Q. Oregon, last night they were on the bubble. Cal, tonight on the bubble. It seems like you guys are kind of bursting people's bubbles here. What are your thoughts about that? COACH BOYLE: We don't talk about bubbles. What these guys went through last year, we don't get into that. We don't talk about it. We come to practice every day. Try to get better. Try to compete every time we step on the floor. We don't get into any of that talk. I don't want to talk about bubbles. I don't want to talk about the NCAA Tournament. We want to just come here and get the job done. What these young men went through last year, we don't want to go through again. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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