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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: PORTLANDMarch 14, 2012Larry AndersonDan MonsonEugene PhelpsT.J. RobinsonCasper WarePORTLAND, OREGON COACH MONSON: Well, I think every team is excited to be here, but I think we're really excited because this is right here, the foundation of Long Beach State, since I got here, this is the first recruiting class. They've all rewritten the record books at Long Beach State individually. But for them to be sitting up here today is quite a day for this class and just shows where we've come. I'm just really proud of them and hopefully we can come here and play our best basketball. Q. One of the themes all year besides making this tournament finally has been making the tournament and also making a run in the tournament and not just being happy with having made it. I talked to coach about that Monday and he says it's great that you get to live that moment of having everybody congratulate you in making the tournament, but you have to forget about that now and concentrate on doing some damage here. How important is it for you guys not to have just made this dance, but to go a few rounds and make a lasting impression? CASPER WARE: It is very important to us. We worked really hard this year just to get to this point and we don't want it to end now. Coach talked about our legacy and all this at the school. And we're trying to make that legacy a great one. Q. I wanted to ask you, I know a lot of you guys from the California area, like a lot of Lobos, how familiar are you all with one another as far as some pickup games or something like that? CASPER WARE: Yeah, we heard about each other around, we seen each other play. Kendall Williams, I seen him, but it's on a different stage than and pickup and so it's a whole different basketball game. Q. Kind of the same angle that I talked with Casper about, but I'll ask in a different way, how disappointing would it be for you guys if you came here after all this time fighting as hard as you did for four years to get here and then not do well? EUGENE PHELPS: I think it would be real disappointing. Coach got us with the best schedule, the hardest schedule for a reason. We tried to come here, win the first game, win the second game and see where it will take us. We're not just trying to play in the first round. Q. Can you talk about the influence that your father has had on you, just from a basketball standpoint, from a discipline standpoint and kind of the role he's played in helping you get to this level and maintain your success? CASPER WARE: He has a big influence on my life. He was my role model for basketball, there wasn't nobody else, Michael Jordan or anybody, and he kept me level‑headed. He told me all the times, No matter what you do, on or off the court, give 110 percent, no matter what. So I try to just follow that. Q. When you look at the match‑up, how even do you think you guys are as far as a team? Larry, how do you think you match up with New Mexico? LARRY ANDERSON: I think we match up really well with them. I think from a standpoint of guards, the bigs, I think we match up real well. I think it's going to be a real tough game for us. They got Drew Gordon inside, he's a force, they have good guards, they shoot a lot of 3's. But I think overall we match up really well with them. Q. Just wondering if you can give us an update on your knee and what you think for tomorrow? LARRY ANDERSON: It's a little sore, a little stiff. I'm going to go out today and try to get enough ‑‑ as far as probably running, slides, probably the game situation, to see if I'm ready or if it's sore enough. If it's too sore, then I'm probably not going to play. Try to get a game‑like feel when I'm out on the court to see if I'm ready. Q. T.J., what do you know about Drew Gordon, and what do you think, being one of the men in the middle, it's going to take to keep him under wraps as much as you can? T.J. ROBINSON: Drew is a heavy load. We have our duty cut out for us. If we play defense, and we do it well, I think we've got a pretty good chance. Q. People look at your production, your numbers, top five, top ten pointguards in the country, the average fan might be surprised you ended up in a mid‑major. Can you talk about what it was about Long Beach State, how you ended up there versus maybe some of the more, quote, unquote, "prestigious" schools. CASPER WARE: During my high school career there wasn't any big schools like that after me. So that didn't make the decision hard. Then when I came and talked to the coaches, they just told me ‑‑ gave me a little rundown, and I really believed in them. They just told me, not just on the basketball point, just a person, they said it would make me a better person. And I believe they held me to that, because I'm a better person. I'm going to graduate this year. They helped that end of it. And just the schedule they're going to play, they said you don't need to get any attention, because we're going to get that if we play good, we're going to go out and play the big teams and not be scared of anybody. They really held up their end on everything they said and I really trusted them. Plus my family got to see me play a lot. So it was a win/win situation. Q. Do you think this is going to be one of those grind‑out types of games? EUGENE PHELPS: I think so. Every team in the tournament is a pretty good, equal level. So it's going to be a pretty good game. We've got to play defense. They're a pretty good defensive team, we're a pretty good defensive team, so I think it's going to be a good game. Q. Sorry to bring it back to the knee, but what are you most concerned about it, sideways movement, hops, just straight running, what do you need to see to judge how well you can go? LARRY ANDERSON: Probably for the most part, probably jerky moves, sliding lateral will probably be the most thing I'll be working on. And getting up and down the court. I haven't really ran since my injury. Just a game‑like feel. So sliding laterally will be what I work on. Q. Pretty frustrating? CASPER WARE: Yeah, but everything happens for a reason. My players, the team, everybody on the team stepped up. We'll see what happens. Q. Coach, in a nutshell, what do you think is going to be the keys to you guys pulling off what would be considered an upset tomorrow? COACH MONSON: Well, I think the biggest thing we have to do is play well. I think sometimes you get to this level and you forget how you got here. We got here because we're a good basketball team and we played well together. And not try to do too much and get off and get guys off on their own, trying to do more than they have to do. We've trusted each other to this point and we can't stop doing that tomorrow. Is that enough against a team like New Mexico? You don't know that. But it's been a recipe for success for us for 25 different times this year, and we have to stick to that. We know that ‑‑ concerned that scoring against them defensively, they really do a great job of contesting shots and making you earn points between the three‑point line and the basket. We know that they really stretch it defensively between trying to have a low post presence with Drew Gordon and the shooters they put around him. So we're going to have to play a complete game. But it comes down to anytime to win it comes down to yourself performing and that's what we've got to concentrate on. Q. [Indiscernible] how were the games and the way they played out prep you for this situation and being on the national scale against the five teams in the region? COACH MONSON: I think the advantage our schedule gives us is it gives us confidence that we know what the best teams in the country look like, play like, feels like to be on the court with them. And that experience gives you confidence. You're right, we didn't win as many of those games as we wanted to, but we competed in every one. Kansas State was the only game of those with three minutes to go, we weren't in a 1‑2 possession game. North Carolina is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA basketball tournament and we went into Chapel Hill and were up five at half and again, in a seesaw game at the end. So we know that's one of the best teams in here, and yet we wouldn't ‑‑ if we ever played them, it wouldn't be in Chapel Hill, it would be on a neutral court and two months later, after both teams have had a chance to work on things and improve. I think that schedule gives us a sense of ‑‑ a barometer for where we were then and where we have to go to have success. And hopefully it will help us have that success. Q. Sometimes talking about sports people talk about having a psychological edge. I don't know if you're even aware of the 5 seed losing to the 12 seed over 30 times in this tournament. Are you aware of that and do you talk to your guys about stuff like that? COACH MONSON: I'm aware of it because I'm a basketball fan. I doubt that our players are aware of it because they're NBA fans. But I'm not ‑‑ again, it's nothing that I would ever bring up because it doesn't influence this game. All it did is put a number next to our name on selection Sunday. I don't think the number "12" has had anything to do with those teams winning when it came to on the court. And what happens is, is there's a lot of parity in basketball, especially when you take out the top four seeds and the bottom four seeds, everything in between, it just shows how much parity there is from 4 to 13. So I just think it's a great stat. I hope, like hope, that it comes true this year, but I really don't think those numbers are going to be right, because Long Beach State played a good basketball game tomorrow, and that's what we've got to focus on. Q. Given the magnitude of just where you're at and everything, what do you do to help your kids relax? Are you able to go out at all around here or anything like that? CASPER WARE: Well, first of all, it's raining here, and for these southern Cal softy boys, you might as be 40 below. Just to get them here out of the hotel was tough. They're not used to anything but 75 and sunny. But we didn't really come here to sightsee Portland. I used to live here and I know where they shouldn't go more than I know where they should go, probably. I think the thing that I try to do with my teams in the NCAA tournament is make sure that there is change around, there is ‑‑ it is different. And they've earned that change. The police escort here or a private plane or whatever, they've worked really hard to be able to soak up those moments they'll remember the rest of their lives. That's part of college is experiencing those type of great experiences. And these are ones that most college students never get to experience. So I want them to have those things. And yet as I tell them the reason why they got them is how they were on the basketball court and in film sessions and how focused they were and their attitude last week. You can't do both. You have to look around and say, This is great and I want more of it, that's why I've got to play basketball and guard the ball screens the same way and rebound as hard as I did last week and play together the same way, to have another experience on Saturday. Q. How is your dad doing? Secondly, this is the second time you've gotten here with a mid‑major program. You also got here with a power conference program. Is there a more rewarding feeling when you get here with a smaller program than you did with the power program? COACH MONSON: Well, first, thanks for asking about my dad. He's great. He had a surgery on Monday and they amputated a small part of his big toe to get where the infection had gotten into the bone. And the tissue around it is great. He was walking around on it Monday afternoon. Didn't even have to stay overnight. Almost too well to where they were even talking about trying to drive here last night. But they went back to the doctor today and that got squelched that he's going to lay on the couch and watch this. And if we're lucky enough to advance, they would come on Saturday. He's doing good and everything is great on that end. As far as bringing a mid‑major versus a power conference, it's definitely, I think, more of a goal at a mid‑major and more of an expectation at a BCS school. For me this time, this felt like I was taking a BCS team because it was just a sense of relief. This is a program and a class and a team that expected to go to the NCAA tournament, and it was my job to get them here. I'm just relieved that we were able to get that done, much like at Minnesota when you're expected to go every year. But it is, I think, by and large most times just more of a ‑‑ more fun at this level, to defy more odds. You don't have as many resources, you don't have ‑‑ the margin for error, having to win your conference tournament in most cases to get here, it's just a harder route. So with anything that comes harder in life, it's more rewarding. And so I think at this level it's more rewarding to get here, to be honest with you. Q. Talk a little bit about your relationship with Steve Alford and how you guys match up as coaches. Have you seen anything that he's done differently since he's been in New Mexico than when you saw him in Iowa? COACH MONSON: I don't think it's a secret, we became close friends. As Tom Izzo said at one Big Ten meeting, opposites must really attract, because a lot of differences in our personalities and things like that, but we just have grown to really appreciate each other. We first met up at the ‑‑ not the Great Alaska Shootout, but the Top of the World, I believe it was, up in Alaska, when he had Missouri State now, but anyway, we sat next to each other at the banquet and enjoyed each other and kept in contact that year. And lo and behold, two years later we're both going to the Big Ten at the same time. We developed a friendship in that both of us took over programs. And as they say, misery loves company. We would call each other occasionally and console each other about the pitfalls of taking these programs and trying to change the culture and instill what you're doing. We would talk regularly on a basis. It just evolved into not just that, but our families are very close. Darci and Tanya have a great relationship. They follow every game of each ‑‑ my boys, they've got on their iTouches the New Mexico scores. If you don't know, as soon as you run in the house, they'll tell you how New Mexico did. It is a bond when it comes to family. I think what you understand when you're in a basketball family is just how much those wins and losses mean to the kids. And to see their kids growing up and mine growing up into those situations is really neat to watch that development. As far as styles of coaching and what he's doing, the baseline play that they're so effective on, we were watching film, and I said, Now, you've got to understand something, he was running this in Iowa and the last time I played again him, that play beat us, in a Minnesota‑Iowa game. And he's still doing a lot of things that he had success with. But his personnel has changed. And like any good coach, a lot of the things they're doing has changed. And one of my students said, it's also the play that made him very effective in the NBA and college, because they ran him off those baseline screens as a player. It's neat to see a friend have success like him. We text each other right as ‑‑ we talked the night after we both won a championship. And then all of a sudden we're playing each other and we actually talked Sunday night. One thing I told him, I said, it is tough to play friends, but one thing we know that one of us will be playing on Saturday, and at least the other one knows that they lost to somebody that they respect and care about. So that has some sort of, I guess, consolation to it. Q. Generally in the 12‑5 match‑ups, the 5 seed is out of a power conference and it's the 12 seed that has the chip on their shoulder. New Mexico, out of the Mountain West, while it's been a great season for them, they don't have that same prestige as the ACC or Big Ten. How do you prepare yourself and your team going up against a team as a higher seed that probably has just as big a chip on their shoulder as you guys do? COACH MONSON: Well, I think one thing that schedule did for us is that I think our guys know that it really doesn't matter what name is on the jersey, there's good basketball teams out there. And we know firsthand, we beat Pittsburg the first week, and everybody is running around, because Pittsburg is in the Big East, and No. 9 in the country. And we came back three or four days later and had to go to San Diego State that was in the Mountain West and a very similar team and got beat. And our guys know that ‑‑ and they knew that going in, guys watch film. And I asked them, What do you think after watching the film? They said, they're better than Pittsburg. I said, No, you're wrong, they're a lot better than Pittsburg. So, again, I know they'll have a chip and that's the way they play and that's why they're effective. But our guys have a great deal of respect for New Mexico, they just watched the team and know who Drew Gordon is and some of the guys on their team. So they understand that we're not playing the name on the jersey, we're playing a very, very good basketball team. Q. Could you talk a little bit about the Larry Anderson situation, and what that does to your sub rotation, you're running Mike in there at the start, using him. What does that do to your depth, how does that change how you work each game? COACH MONSON: Well, you know, I think there's no secret that we're a better basketball team with Larry Anderson. I mean, you don't lose a guy that's been a three‑time first team all‑league player, a guy that is the defensive player of the year in your league and a guy who ‑‑ everybody knows what a great player he is. He's an all‑time leading steals in the history of the school. But more even than that this guy is a three‑time captain. It just shows you the leadership that he's had and the respect he's had from his teammates. So that's a blow. You just don't get by that. And for us to act like it is ‑‑ and it is a blow. But with that being said, we know we also are a good basketball team without him. It's different. Our margin for error is not as good. We've got less ways to play. Our versatility is not as great. But other guys have to step up. And last week they did. I thought Edis Dervisevic had a great tournament. I thought Mike Caffey had a great tournament, I thought Peter Pappageorge had a great tournament. And so I think we have other guys and we don't know with Larry. We just don't know what the situation is going to be. My concern is that even if he plays, how effective is he going to be, like you said, he has not ran since the injury coming up on two weeks. So we've got a plan without him. If he can be the X factor, then I think obviously that would be awesome. But we can't plan on that. Q. If I'm remembering correctly, I believe you started Caffey in the first two games of the tournament and Edis against Santa Barbara. Of those two who will start tomorrow? COACH MONSON: We're hoping that it will be Larry Anderson, because that's who we started in every other game. We'll start whatever group we feel helps us win the basketball game the best. If Larry is ready, he would probably, in all seriousness, if he's going to play, I would probably start him.  Because if he gets that knee warmed up and it's good enough to try, I wouldn't let him sit on a bench and get it stiff and then go try. We don't know who we're going to start right now, but I always tell our guys, I'm not really worried about who I'm starting, it's just great for them to get their name out there. But we're not about our names in a starting lineup; we're about who finishes the game and who wins the game. And they're all going to have to do that to win. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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