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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: PITTSBURGHMarch 14, 2012Ed BiedenbachMatt DickeyJ.P. PrimmChris StevensonPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA THE MODERATOR: We're joined by UNC ‑ Asheville. Gentlemen, you'll be playing Syracuse tomorrow. A big challenge for you tomorrow. You're glad to take it on. MATT DICKEY: Yeah, we're definitely excited about the challenge to play Syracuse. You know, we know they're a great team. We got to watch them all year. We're excited to be here. We were here last year, so we got a little taste of it. Hopefully this year we'll be ready. We're not satisfied just being here this year. We talked about that. We want a win. We want to make our team and city known. This is a chance to do that. J.P. PRIMM: We're definitely excited about the opportunity we have in front of us. I mean, like I said, last year, I think we were a little excited about, you know, just being here. But this year, you know, we're an older group, so I don't think we're complacent about just being here. We definitely want to make moves in the tournament. Like I said, we're excited, but we're looking forward to the task at hand. CHRIS STEVENSON: Yeah, like Matt and J.P. said, we're not complacent with where we are and what we've accomplished thus far. I believe our seniority and our senior leadership will help conquer our unsteadiness or uneasiness in this first game against Syracuse. I think our boys will be ready. Questions for our student‑athletes. Q. Matt, since you found about Fab Mello not being able to play, now that he won't be in there, what are your thoughts about that? MATT DICKEY: We just heard about that last night. He's obviously a big guy, a big part of their team. He's huge in the middle of that zone, a great shot‑blocker. Big East defensive Player of the Year. We feel bad for him. I would hate to have to be in a situation. We know they're a great team. They're a great team with him and without him. I think they were 2‑1 earlier this year without him. They're still a really good team. We're going to have to keep our same game plan. We may be able to attack in the middle of the zone a little bit more, but I guess we'll see when the game time comes. Q. J.P., no 16 seed as ever beaten a 1. What can give you that confidence that you can beat a 1 seed? J.P. PRIMM: We're always confident in every game we go in. I don't think that's going to change at all. But, you know, I think that we're one of the strongest 16 seeds that's been a 16 seed at the tournament. Like I said, I mean, we like to get up and go, run up and down. I feel like, you know, we could use that to our advantage. Like I said, the last couple days, the looks in the guys' eyes, we're pretty focused. We're going to have to focus for 40 minutes. We can't have a two‑minute, three‑minute span where we just turn the ball over or be silly on offense or defense. We're going to have to focus for 40, and hopefully we can get this done. Q. J.P., you just mentioned before the experience you have had. The game against Pitt last year, you were hanging close, and it got away from you a little bit. How much does having that game under your belt, the play‑in game under your belt, how much will those games help you this year? J.P. PRIMM: It helps us a lot because, you know, that's why coach schedules our non‑conference schedule, if you look at it, it's pretty tough. We played Carolina, UConn, Tennessee, NC State. That's what we play all the guys for, for the times like Thursday. Tournament time is definitely important. Last year was important for us, playing the First Four, then playing Pittsburgh. If you watched any of that game, we were in there halftime. The three minutes out of halftime, we was still in the game. We missed a couple shots we usually hit. Like I say, we just had too many mental lapses, I think personally, in that game. Like I say, we gave Pittsburgh everything we had and more. Like I say, we're a different team. We're more experienced. To go into games like that, we're going to definitely stick with our game plan. Q. What is it going to be like for all you guys to go up against Syracuse's 2‑3 zone with all the length they have, the ability to force steals? CHRIS STEVENSON: We've been game planning in practice. There's no way we can recreate the size of a 6'8" wing player and a 6'8" wing player, a seven‑foot center who was defensive Player of the Year. There's no way we can recreate that. The only thing we can recreate is what we do on offense. We're going to keep hitting open players on offense, make sure we have some inside action so our scoring attack is balanced so they can't really, I guess, key into what it is we're doing. We're excited about it. Our team is ready. We're focused. We've been working hard with this 2‑3 zone, so I think we're going to be all right. THE MODERATOR: Matt, you shoot 76.2% from the foul line. I assume you take a lot of pride in that. MATT DICKEY: Yeah, definitely. One of the things we do at the end of every practice is shoot free throws. Coach B has been harping on that this year, that we shoot free throws well, and we have. We'll definitely try to get to the line in this game, do as much as we can. We were actually talking about that with one of the coaches, how much they foul, their guys get in a lot of foul trouble. They usually don't because they're in that zone. But we'll try to get it inside, try to attack the zone as much as we can, try to get to the free‑throw line as much as possible. Q. Chris, where were you when you found out about Fab Melo not being able to play? How is that going to change how you approach tomorrow's game? CHRIS STEVENSON: I think I was on the bus. It was either Q or Jaron had went through Twitter. They were like, Oh, man, Fab Melo, he's not playing. At first everybody thought it was a joke. Then our intern, Matt Reynolds, he went behind the scenes and found out more information about it. I mean, I really feel bad for Fab Melo because this is like the best proving point for any college basketball player in the world, to get into the NCAA tournament and prove your ranking, prove who you are as a player. I feel bad for him. I believe Syracuse will miss him very much. But, I mean, I think it's Keita who is coming in. He's still 6'9". They'll be okay (smiling). Q. You talked a lot about attacking the zone. On the defensive end, any one of Syracuse's scorers that worry you more than the others? J.P. PRIMM: They're all great scorers. They were No.1 in the country for a reason. They're all really athletic. They can score the ball. We're not going to change any of our defensive principles. If you looked at our tournament games, we really prided ourselves on defense. We continue that as a team, I think we'll be fine. Q. You had five guys score in double‑digits the last game. What helps you out in terms of being such a cohesive unit? MATT DICKEY: I think we just play well together. I mean, obviously to have 24 assists on 29 field goals, really unselfish. We don't have anybody on the team that just is trying to get theirs every game. It's a really unselfish unit. Even the guys coming off the bench, we really play well together. We're a veteran team. We got one new addition to the starting lineup, Jeremy Atkinson, but he's fielding well this year obviously. Most of the guys, we're a veteran group, played together a lot the past few years. We know each other's tendency, what each other likes to do. We get those guys the ball in the right places and we'll knock down some shots. Q. You mentioned sticking with your offensive game plan, getting up and down the floor. Is one of the objectives be attack Syracuse before they set their zone? J.P. PRIMM: That's against any team that plays zone. Or playing man. You always want to beat them down the court by pushing the ball or with a pass. That's not going to change. That's been our game plan all year. Push the ball in transition, get easy buckets. Any team that gets easy buckets in transition will be pretty good. That's what Syracuse thrives on, on transition points. But we do the same thing. Like I say, that's not going to stop us from doing that. Q. When you say getting the taste of the tournament last year, how did that change your approach, not just going into the tournament, but throughout the season? CHRIS STEVENSON: After our loss to Pittsburgh last year, seeing our seniors handle that, we felt like we needed to be back here next year. We made that the number one thing on our list last summer, was to get back to the NCAA tournament. First win our conference championship, get Mike Gore another conference championship ring. Then we would get back to this tournament and prove ourselves because we worked so hard to get here. We play for each other. We play for the City of Asheville. We wanted to make Asheville proud. That's what we wanted to do, get back to this tournament and finish it the right way. Q. Matt, you obviously aren't one of the taller teams in the tournament. How have you overcome that to out‑rebound your opponents? MATT DICKEY: Just play like we have all year, play scrappy. They may be able to go up and get rebounds, but any ball that's on the floor we're closer to already (laughter). We'll get those. We'll just play hard. We've played teams that are a lot bigger than us, North Carolina, Tennessee, UConn. We lost to those teams, but we got a great experience in playing the bigger teams. We played better as the season went on against those teams. There are a few teams in conference that were bigger than us, and we did really well against them. We have to box out, play smart. Like I said, any loose ball we have to get. We got to get all the loose balls and make all the right decisions on offense and defense. THE MODERATOR: You have four senior starters. You don't often see that in the NCAA tournament. I'm sure you have been through a lot together. I assume this is the highlight of your career and don't want to stay around for one game. MATT DICKEY: Yeah, I mean, like I was saying earlier, this year we're not just satisfied getting here. We want to win a game, win two games. We want to make a name for UNC ‑ Asheville. This is the opportunity to do it. The play‑in game was incredible, awesome experience to get a win for Asheville. This is a chance to make history. A 16 beating a 1, not everybody gets this opportunity. We're blessed to have it and make the most of it hopefully. J.P. PRIMM: Like Matt said, it's a great opportunity. You don't come around to this opportunity often. Like I said, we want to make the best out of it. With our veteran group you have, you don't see it often. But when you do, it's a team that usually sticks together, they win their conference tournament, and they go deep in the NCAA tournament. Like I said, the older groups you see conquer a lot of stuff. Hopefully we're going to go out and continue what we've been doing, continue our play, thriving on defense, getting easy buckets on offense, hoping to come out with a win. CHRIS STEVENSON: I guess you could say these guys, our seniors, are like my brothers. We've been through so much from freshman year or summer school, I guess you could say, to now. We all made sure that we would make a goal or promise to ourselves, and that was to win our conference championship as many times as we could. I believe we've done that thus far. Making it to the tournament, I mean, I never thought I would be here. But now that I'm here, why not? Why not defy the odds, you know? Why not beat the No.1? THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Coach, welcome to Pittsburgh. I'm sure you're familiar with the place. COACH BIEDENBACH: Actually, this is new to me. I always like new experiences. THE MODERATOR: Coach, do you want to give an opening statement? COACH BIEDENBACH: First, I'm glad Mike Gore is here. He's our SID. He's been assigned to make sure I don't say anything I'm not supposed to (smiling). He always checks on me. But it's a pleasure to be here. It's always great to come back to my hometown. It's been a long time since I've been here on official business, so this is great. I'm real proud of our team. Last year was very special to go to the NCAA tournament. This year is even better with the new arena that we have, plus being picked to win the league, then following through and playing pretty well most of the season. It's been a real satisfying year ‑ very difficult, but satisfying. And the fact that we're here at Pittsburgh, it's just another great thing that's happened to this team. THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach. Q. With Fab Melo out of tomorrow's game, how does that game plan change for you on the offensive end? COACH BIEDENBACH: Well, he's a great shot‑blocker. He has as many blocked shots as our whole team does. He's the defensive Player of the Year, if I'm not mistaken, from the Big East, and a great player. Three or four more inches than guys that will be subbing for him. But they're very mobile, they're very active, the two guys, Christmas, I'll say his name wrong, Keita. Both those guys are averaging about 10 or 11 minutes a game and are both very effective. Christmas started or played a little bit when Melo was out before. When they're nine deep and as great of players as they are, against UNC ‑ Asheville might not be much of a factor in the game. The other guys are very mobile. They run the floor better. There's just a few things that we would do. Always you emphasize who's in the game. Melo, of course, playing 25 minutes a game is somebody you concentrate a little bit more than the other two. They're effective in the way they change ends as great as they are. We have to be concerned with what we do well, not the problems that Syracuse might have. They're still a great team and the No.1 seed, so we have our work cut out for us. Q. How much zone did you go up against during the regular season and how prepared are you to go up against the zone tomorrow? COACH BIEDENBACH: There's only one or two teams you ever play every year that plays man‑to‑man all night long. You're always practicing our own zone, which is 2‑3 or 3‑2, or 1‑3‑1 gap. We work hard against all of those things. We play them okay. For a small team, we do pretty well at hustling, scrapping, helping the helper, all that stuff. But we have to be prepared to play a lot of different teams. We played some Division II teams in our area, Morris Hill, Bovard, that are very good teams. We play some teams in our league and in the Southern Conference that are very good basketball teams. And we play teams like North Carolina, NC State this year, Connecticut and Tennessee. We have to be prepared to play all of those different defenses and all those different tempos. We feel we're a pretty good basketball team and each year have a chance to win our team and go to the NCAAs. So we prepare for that by scheduling those kind of people. Syracuse is a great team, don't misunderstand anything I say. But we've played against teams like Syracuse in the past. Most of the time we try to schedule the defending national champ, whether it's Arizona with Bibby, Michigan State, Duke or whoever. If you look on our past schedule, we try to do that because we want to play those teams. If we're fortunate enough to get to the NCAA, we'll probably be a 15 seed or a 16 seed. That's who we'll play in the first round of the NCAA if we're fortunate enough to get there. With that being said, we're not afraid to play anybody. If we get beat, I want it to be because that team played better than we did that particular night. What we're worried about is on Thursday at 3:10, are we going to play our best? Will we be tuned into what Syracuse does best offensively and defensively and will our players play the best. It's not a game of perfect, we're going to make mistakes, we're going to take a few bad shots and turn it over. If we're sharp with everything that we do, we'll have some fun Thursday. THE MODERATOR: Your team averages 81 points a game. I believe you shoot 48 percent. You've been able to push the pace this year. I think your record is 16‑0 when you score 80 points or more. COACH BIEDENBACH: Then we better score more than 80 (smiling). THE MODERATOR: What are you trying to do tomorrow to get the game up to the tempo you like to play at? COACH BIEDENBACH: Like I say, we play teams like North Carolina, Tennessee or Connecticut. I'm not concerned with the tempo of the game. That really got us in a little bit of trouble this year. We were a pretty good defensive team. We hustled and played together, really played pretty good team defense. We're not bad athletically. We're pretty good. But we started to score more and more points easily. At one point we were second in the nation, if I'm not mistaken, or third by a percentage point behind North Carolina and Virginia Military, playing pretty good defense. But at that point, our guys felt, Hey, this offense is a lot of fun, we're scoring a lot of points. We kind of shortcutted on defense a little bit. Did I say that right (smiling)? Grammatically I want to be correct up here. We're a pretty good academic school and I want to make sure that I cover things properly (smiling). We started to shortcut on defense to score points. So we got our tails beat against Coastal Carolina in our league and against the bracket busters Ohio U. Ohio U got beat two games before us on the road. John Groce does a great job there. But they really went after us. Our guys took a good look at theirselves. I really have a great staff. Nick McDevitt, Dion Dacons, and Brett Carey, one of the best staffs in basketball. They put together some tapes of what we did well, where we shortcut, what we did wrong and right on defense. We really went to work the next three days. Then we played two league games, the second one being Winthrop. I felt our legs would be gone. We had worked so hard on defense those days. But our guys began to understand, looking at the Ohio U tape, where we took shortcuts, what we did. We've really become a much better basketball team at that point.  But we were pretty good before, kind of got into that scoring train of thought. Now we're fifth in the country. I didn't know that. But I knew we started to play better defense. That doesn't take away from offense, but it holds the other team to where your point spread is more important. So I think that the way the season's gone, I wish we hadn't have given up the wins where we are, but sometimes it takes a loss. That's not a positive statement because Syracuse just took a loss and they probably looked at film the same way we did. Q. Both you and your players talked about wanting to push the pace. Some of the teams that had success against Syracuse really tried to burn the clock. Was there any thought of putting more of a slow‑down game in or are you intent on trying to push the pace? COACH BIEDENBACH: We're in a situation where if we get a good shot, we have to take it. We're not a bad shooting team. If you look at percentages on paper, our three‑point shot percentage and our two‑point field goals and field goals are all better than Syracuse's. The difference is we're playing against Radford and High Point, and people like that, and they're playing against Pittsburgh and Connecticut, teams in the Big East. You can throw those percentages and stuff out. I remember, I'm relatively old, I've been through a lot of different things in my day, I don't mean to throw out teams, but BYU, Hubie Brown was a high school coach. They were getting their tail beat in high school. They were slowing the ball down all the time. The players came to them. They were bad players, in fact, they hadn't won a game, they said, Coach, we're holding the ball and working the clock. He said, We have to because if we shoot 80 shots a game, they're going to beat us with rebounding and everything else. If we shoot 40, we have a chance. If we shoot one, they shoot one, we have a real chance to shoot the game. But they said, We never get any easy shots when we run the offense. There's a combination of all that together if you can decipher it that you have to get good shots and you can't pass up good shots just to cut down the number in the game. To answer that short question, no, we're not changing anything (laughter). Q. Do you think Big Ed would have been proud you coming to Pittsburgh playing the No.1 seed, seeing you coach on national TV? COACH BIEDENBACH: You're going to get me emotional up here. You're trying to do that. Yeah, I miss my dad. Yes, he would have been. Q. Have you ever lost a player to injury late in the season? Is the bigger challenge strategic in changing what you're going to do without that player or is it worrying about your players' reaction and how they're going to deal with it emotionally? COACH BIEDENBACH: Can you ask Jim Boeheim that (smiling)? Q. When he comes out, I will. COACH BIEDENBACH: When he comes out, okay. There's a combination of things that can happen there. I don't want to get into philosophy about Jim Boeheim's team. He's a great coach. He has 9, 10, 11, 12 great players left. We often said about Dean Smith at North Carolina, don't mean to bring in ACC or North Carolina teams, one of those guys gets hurt, he puts them down with the trainer, brings other McDonald's All‑American in. In our case it makes a bigger difference. Nobody seems to care about this, and you don't either. We lost D.J. Cunningham, our starting center got hurt against Pitt last year, got hurt a couple times in the spring in pickup games since then. He had a knee operation. Had to sit out this year. He's back starting to practice with us, is on this trip. He's 6'10", 260, a very good player. People don't notice he's gone. I don't know if that answers your question in any way. When you have your best players playing, practicing, they're really good, you're probably better off than losing some to fouls, injury or whatever. But like I had said earlier, I hope our players said when they were up here, we have to be concerned more with what we do and not be‑‑ you have to be concerned with what Syracuse does. I mean, you have to be concerned about that. But if we don't play well with what we do, we have no chance. Q. Have you gotten to watch any of the film from SU's three games earlier without Fab Melo? If not, are you planning on it? COACH BIEDENBACH: Actually, Brett Carey our assistant does that, and he watches a cut tape. So, no. Like I said earlier in the conversation, Christmas, I'll say this guy's name wrong all year long, Moussa Keita, they run the floor better, they're athletic. There's three or four inches different. They won't block the shots. Melo blocks about five shots a game. The two of them together average about three shots a game. It's the defensive end that makes the difference. I can't be concerned with all the other films, how they played at that time. It's the end of the season. They're not going to change a whole lot for Asheville, I guarantee you. We have to be concerned with what we do. We're not going to change a whole lot for Syracuse. But we have to be concerned with their zone, how high their forwards play, because that gives them the opportunity to run out of their defense a lot better than some other teams do. You need to be concerned with their runs and fast break more than what they do in the half set. Does that answer that? I get talking sometimes, I answer my own questions. Q. You have had a lot of success when Dickey and Primm score a lot of points. What do you need to do to get both those guys going tomorrow? COACH BIEDENBACH: Against Syracuse's zone it will be difficult for them to play getting jump shots over taller guys and longer guys. But you have to move the ball and get open shots. I was unaware of some things, our record, whether they got X‑number of points. I know our record, how good we are, whether they score or the other guys score. With that in mind, I'd rather be 22 and still 6 after the Syracuse game. I could care how many points they get. But we better get 80, though. I do know that, we better get more than 80 (smiling). THE MODERATOR: You start four seniors, one junior. Experience can be something to lean on in the tournament. Most of your players have multiple games of NCAA tournament experience. I assume they probably won't be blinded by the bright lights and be able to push aside and play a basketball game? COACH BIEDENBACH: I appreciate your comment. It's more than just a basketball game. This is special. It's really special for all of our players, all of our coaches, for our school and everything. We don't get a chance to go to the NCAA every year like a lot of the teams do. But that being said, the seniors are great, particularly the three you had a chance to talk to. But all of them. Quinard Jackson does a wonderful job. Doesn't score a lot, but he holds our defense together and does a lot of things that people miss when they're watching a game out there. So he's just as valuable as the other guys. But it really helps from the coaching standpoint when some things are switched around out there or when you need to hold the ball or run the ball, those seniors, particularly Primm and Dickey, do a very good job of handling those kind of things. You can't coach every situation in basketball. You just can't do it. Time and score, who you're playing against, whether this team is pressuring or doing this. For example, we were playing VMI. Again, a lot of you folks don't care about this, we beat them rather handily in the championship game. One of the writers said to me, Your halfcourt trap really turned the tables on those guys in the second half. Would you like to explain that and everything? Well, I did. I said, We don't have a halfcourt trap. We were pressing three‑quarter court. When we cross halfcourt after the coffin corner up there, the corner at halfcourt, if we don't get that trap right away, we fall back into man and man. They had a midget guard in there. He backed the ball up. Primm and Dickey stayed with him right to the corner. Turned it over three times. Those guys really did that on their own within the framework of what we were doing. But we practice those kind of things in practice. I hope that answers your question. Experienced players who understand the game and know what they're doing get those things done. I would have liked to have said, Yeah, I got that halfcourt trap from Press Maravich when I was at NC State and I carried that in the back of my mind and pulled it out at the last second, but that's not what happens. Q. A 16 has never beaten a 1. How do you explain to your team that this 16 seed is different? COACH BIEDENBACH: I don't know how much different we are. I read the papers and listen to the reporters. They say we're the sixth highest seed I think in RPI to play a 16 seed [sic] since they started doing those things. Then Melo is hurt. All those things are neat, they're fun, and I love the talk shows and the reporters that write about all that stuff. I mean, it's really fascinating. But being the first to do that is fascinating, too. For whatever reason, whether we're the sixth best or the 66th best or the 150th or if Melo and eight of their players got hurt, what's important is how well we play at 3:10 on Thursday, how we adjust to that game and what we do. Then we can write about all the possibilities, all those things. I think our players are aware of the fact that no 16 has ever beaten a 1. I think east Tennessee State lost by one point to Oklahoma when they had Dennis and Mr. Jennings playing there. I talked to Les Robinson, who was the coach of East Tennessee State. We laughed about that. Mr. Jennings and Dennis, I said, Well, if he'll send those guys back to us, and Oklahoma didn't lose Melo at that time, but a combination of those two things, if we had those two guys, you know, it might change things around. But it is fun to talk about those things. But we have to play well at 3:10 on Thursday. Thank you. I appreciate every bit what all the writers and the radio and TV people do for college basketball and how it's developed over the years, for this to be a tournament. I thank you guys greatly. I know not all the time you say exactly what I want you to, but we don't get the same calls from the officials that I'd like either and they contribute quite a bit to each game. Mike is telling me to cut down. He's telling me I'm not supposed to talk about the officials. Thank you, men and ladies. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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