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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: ALBUQUERQUEMarch 14, 2012Festus EzeliJohn JenkinsKevin StallingsJeffery TaylorALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO THE MODERATOR: Questions for the Vanderbilt student‑athletes. Q. Jeff, obviously you're back home in NewMexico. What are your thoughts about coming back and playing in The Pit again? JEFFERY TAYLOR: It will be a fun experience. I've got a lot of people and a lot of friends and family that's coming up here. So I'm expecting a lot of support for us. The last time I played here was the State Championship game in 2008, so it's a nice experience to be back? Q. Talk a little bit about what kind of advice you're giving your team about playing in The Pit, if any? If any of your teammates come to you and said what can we expect or anything like that? JEFFERY TAYLOR: I've just told them that it's a great place to play, especially when there's a big crowd. It's really exciting and a lot of energy in the building. So I think everybody's just looking forward to it. Q. When you look at this team you're going to face 54 points a game, but knowing you're going to see a man‑to‑man defense, what's that mean for you? I guess we'll start with John and go to Jeff. JOHN JENKINS: We're going to have to work for our baskets and have a good screening and moving around the ball very well. We've played good defensive teams the whole year, so it's just another team we've got to be ready for. JEFFERY TAYLOR: Just like John said, we've been playing against really good defensive teams all year. I know certain guys will probably get more attention from their defense than others. But we'll be ready for it. Our offense has been pretty good all year, so we're not too worried about it. Q. John and Jeff, a lot of people are labeling your game the Brain Bowl or whatever you want to call it because the schools you go to are very well thought of academically. Is that part of the reason you went to Vanderbilt? When you were making the choice, did you recognize you might be in for a little bit tougher road than had you picked some other school? JOHN JENKINS: Our reasons are probably pretty different than other people. I'm a local kid from Nashville, so academics was definitely a huge thing for me being a prestigious school. It's going to be a great game. I've heard the Brain Bowl thing too, but it's just another game for us. JEFFERY TAYLOR: For me, it was a great opportunity for me coming out as a senior in high school. They had a bunch of guys leaving on their roster. It's a great coaching staff, and I saw a lot of opportunity for playing time.  Obviously, it's a very well‑thought of academic institution. So that was just a plus on the side. Q. You've played against some great big men so far this season. What are your thoughts on the match‑up with Harvard's front court? FESTUS EZELI: They're very talented. Both guys, I think the four‑man was the "Player of the Year" or the five man was the "Player of the Year" last year. They're really talented. It's like I said, it's going to be another game with tough match‑ups. They're good defensively too. So we're just going to have to fight the whole game. Q. Jeff, do you get to make it back to NewMexico very often? JEFFERY TAYLOR: I've been back a couple of times since I left, mostly for Christmas, for certain breaks and stuff like that, but not too much. Q. What would your message be to your NewMexico fans here who are coming out to support you tomorrow? JEFFERY TAYLOR: It's probably the last time anybody will have a chance to see me play in college live. So just come out and support us. We really appreciate it. Q. Jeff, what was the atmosphere in The Pit for your last game here as a high school kid? JEFFERY TAYLOR: It's one of the best games I've ever been a part of. We play against our rival, Clovis. The stands were full. It was great. Great anticipation for the game. They had beaten us twice during that year. It was just a huge game. It's one of my fondest memories from high school and even basketball in general. Q. Festus, have you been able to put the excitement from Sunday behind you and refocus? That is something this team hasn't had to do before. FESTUS EZELI: Yeah, it was something that was new to us, but I think the next day after the game we just had to refocus and get back to and start thinking about the next game, which is tomorrow. That was yesterday. At that time, it was yesterday. So it can't help us tomorrow. That's what the focus had to be, and that's how we have to change our focus? Q. Jeff, do you prefer red or green chili? JEFFERY TAYLOR: Probably red. Probably red. Q. Festus and Jeff, is there an understanding or a peace in the sense that whatever legacy you guys leave with will probably be written in the next week or two here in the NCAA Tournament? FESTUS EZELI: Well, that's not really the way we think about it. We think about it more that it's our last time to play. This is our last few games from here on out for college basketball. We're ready to give it our all and just try to do the best we can, leave it all on the floor. That's really the way I'm thinking about it and the way a lot of guys are thinking about it. JEFFERY TAYLOR: Yeah, for us, it's a one‑game tournament. We're focused on Harvard right now. We're trying to do everything we can in preparation to try to beat those guys, then we'll go on from there. Can't think too much about the future. Just try to focus on what you can control and what you can control is what we do in preparation for Harvard. Q. What were your thoughts when you first saw that you'd be matched up with Harvard? JOHN JENKINS: I haven't seen them play much this year. I saw them play once against Princeton, and I was very impressed with how well they moved the ball on offense and how patient they were. I didn't think we'd ever be playing them, but it's going to be a good game. Q. Fest and John, what do you make of all the hoopla that's being made about Jeff's return? He's kind of a golden boy as he comes back to this region and all the attention. What do you think about all the attention he's getting? JOHN JENKINS: I think it's great for him to come back home. In Nashville I kind of have the same thing with me being there. So I think it's great that he has the experience now that he's so far away from home. It's good for him. FESTUS EZELI: Yeah, we're happy for him because I think a lot of us his freshman year played at our different homes. We've played in California two years ago and we played in New York or New Jersey close to Lance. So he's the last senior that we haven't played close to his home. Now he has a chance to have his family come watch him play, and it's great. I'm happy for him. Q. Do you kind of feel the parallels to that 2008 State Championship game where you guys kind of had something to prove and everything else? Hobbs was about winning titles. It feels the same thing now with Vanderbilt wanting to get a win in the NCAA Tournament. JEFFERY TAYLOR: Yeah, that year we had a lot of seniors returning as well, and there were a lot of expectations for us to win a State Championship. We had a couple of letdowns during the year. We weren't winning some of the games that we thought we were going to win. So there is somewhat of a parallel. We're riding a really good conference tournament into the NCAA Tournament, and we're feeling really good about ourselves, so we're just trying to stay on a roll. Q. John, Kedren's in a spot where he's been playing more minutes and playing some crucial minutes down the stretch. You were in a spot as a freshman a couple years ago where you went into the NCAA Tournament playing those kind of minutes. What do you tell him and how much confidence do you have in him right now? JOHN JENKINS: I say for him to keep doing what he's doing because he's playing fantastic. He had a big lay‑up against Kentucky. The whole tournament he was playing composed, not like a freshman at all, him and Dai‑Jon both. I'm extremely proud of them, and I think they'll both be all right. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Stallings. Q. Coach, when we see your team play as it did on Sunday, wonder how you ever lose. What are your biggest variables? COACH STALLINGS: Biggest what? Q. Variables. COACH STALLINGS: Well, those variables have changed throughout the course of the season. There was a time when we weren't defending very well. There was a time when we weren't taking very good care of the ball. There was a long time where we didn't rebound very well. So those are really kind of the three areas that, over the course of this season, we have felt a need to try and fix and make better. Those things have gotten better, and thus we've become a better team. But I would say that those have been the variables throughout the season that we've dealt with the most. Q. Now that you've gotten some time to look at Harvard, what are your thoughts on them as a team, and what do you need to do to be successful tomorrow? COACH STALLINGS: I think, first of all, the thing that stands out is they're very, very well‑coached. They have a definite plan on offense. They play extremely well together on both ends of the floor. Their team defense is exceptional as is their willingness to share the ball and move the ball and get it to the best option on that particular possession. So I think that that's the first thing that I see is just the chemistry that their team plays with on both ends and just how well set‑up they are and how well‑coached they are. Q. Coach, Jeffery Taylor played here in the State Championship in The Pit back in 2008. Do you think that gives them any kind of leg up heading into tomorrow? COACH STALLINGS: No, the courts are still 94 by 54, and the baskets are still 10 feet high, so I'm pretty sure that Harvard's players will be able to find the basket just as well as our players will, including Jeffery. But I know Jeff's excited to come back to the State of NewMexico. His father's side of his family, of course, grew up in Hobbs, and they all played at Hobbs High. So when the pairings were announced, as fate would have it, I was sitting right next to Jeff and he was the most excited guy on the planet that we were coming to NewMexico to play in the NCAA Tournament. Q. Kevin, you mentioned Harvard's disciplined style. I'm wondering if you think they compare with a Belmont or any of the other teams that you might be familiar with? COACH STALLINGS: They're just a good team. I don't know about comparing them. There are probably some similarities to Belmont, now that you mention that. For those of you from the northeast that don't know much about Belmont, their school's located about a mile from ours and they've had a great run of NCAA Tournaments. They're in it again this year and an outstanding team, outstanding program, and outstanding coach as well. But I think with Harvard, I think it's just, like our team, they've got a team that they've grown up. They've grown this team up. They're juniors and seniors, for the most part. They've played a lot of basketball together. They're used to each other. I think that as much as anything else that really helps because there is an inherent chemistry with teams like that, and it seems like they certainly have that. Q. I'm sure this has crossed your mind. Is focus an issue at all after going from one of the biggest achievements in program history to playing a first‑round game maybe in a half‑filled gym here in the high desert? COACH STALLINGS: I don't think the focus will be a problem. I would think our team may have as much motivation to play in this tournament as any of the teams that were selected. I don't think that motivation will be an issue whatsoever. We don't care how many people show up to watch the games. We're excited to be here. We're excited to play tomorrow, and we know we've got a very formidable opponent in front of us. But we're excited about the game. Q. I know you've been at your school for a while so you're kind of used to the drill. But do you ever feel like trying to compete in the SEC at a school with some of the academic things you have to do has you kind of playing a different game or fighting an uphill battle or anything like that? COACH STALLINGS: Initially it felt very difficult to me. As time has gone on, we've been able to carve out what we feel like is a pretty nice niche, a pretty successful niche, quite frankly. So I think if you choose to dwell on those things and choose to think about those things for a long period of time when you're in the SEC, then that will sort of eat you up and consume you and you'll start working backwards. We can't afford to do that. I think the thing about a job like the one that we have is that you just aren't allowed to make very many mistakes. If you make a mistake on a player, then it's more hurtful than it is if you're at a school that can remedy and rectify that mistake more quickly and more easily. There aren't any quick fixes at a school like Vanderbilt, and there certainly aren't quick fixes at Ivy League schools either. But Ivy League schools are competing with one another, and we're competing with those other guys. So, anywayÂ… Q. You look at all these blue-chip, top 100, and you just throw that one away, or do you immediately slash it in half? COACH STALLINGS: No, I couldn't tell you five names of the guys in the Top 100 unless we were recruiting them. I don't care about those lists because, first of all, about 1/3 of those guys never do squat in college anyway. So it ends up that these guys are evaluating high school talent. A lot of them have never coached a game, so I don't need somebody to tell me where this guy is ranked. He's ranked 1,344th in the class of 2013. Okay, well, kiss my behind, you don't know that. All right.       And so, what I have to do as the head coach of Vanderbilt is figure out who can play for us, who can succeed at our school, in our environment, in our program, under my coaching and in our league. That's what I have to figure out. I don't have a great margin for error, I will tell you that. If you make a few mistakes, then those will eat you up for a while. Those are the things that I have to figure out. Q. I was wondering, when you're out recruiting or outselling your program, how often do you use the phrase Harvard of the South? COACH STALLINGS: I've used it, but I don't use it often. I tell what you I use often, and hopefully and probably the people at Harvard can relate to this. The last time a guy played basketball at Vanderbilt and he played as a senior and he didn't get his degree, the last guy that didn't get his degree from Vanderbilt that played basketball as a senior was in the late 1970s. So I tell every recruit that. I've used that Harvard of the South a few times, and I hope that the Harvard people don't take that as a slap in the face. We obviously feel like we'd be comparing ourselves to greatness. We obviously really admire Harvard as an institution. Q. To piggyback on that topic, can you talk about the job Tom has done to be recruiting with the likes of you? You might joke about being the Harvard of the South, but he's trying to be the Vanderbilt of the North as far as recruiting. COACH STALLINGS: Well, Tommy's done a great job. I've known Tommy for a long time and back in his playing days at Duke. He and I have shared some really funny, funny moments together: We've had one of the funniest nights of my lifetime. One night at a Memphis airport, he might not even remember it, but he had me laughing so hard that I really didn't know what to do. But putting that aside, Tommy's got to do the same thing that I have to do, and he knows it. He has to get players that can do the academic work at Harvard Monday through Friday and then he's got to try to beat Boston College on Saturday. That's what they say about us. They want us to be Harvard Monday through Friday and beat Alabama on Saturday. And he's obviously doing a great job. His record the last couple years, he's starting to maybe separate himself a little bit and separate his program a little bit from a lot of people in that league. That's the sign of obviously a job well done. Very, very well done, actually. Q. I know you mentioned you don't care exactly how many people show up for the games tomorrow. There are still thousands of tickets available. With that in mind, do you have any message to local residents who are still thinking about coming out and watching the Vanderbilt‑Harvard game? COACH STALLINGS: I watched Steve play when he was in high school, so you can come out and support us. We'd love to have your support. No, it's going to be very good basketball. Maybe you guys have hosted too many regionals or first and second rounds or Final Four a few years ago, I guess. But there is going to be a lot of quality basketball played here over the course of the next three days. It's certainly worth seeing. But nobody's going to come because I asked them to. Q. We spoke before the SEC Tournament that you felt like at least in the eyes of fans that the legacy of these Vanderbilt upperclassmen would be written probably in this tournament. Of course they've got an SEC title since then. Do you still feel that's the case that their legacy is decided in this tournament? COACH STALLINGS: I think it will be decided at the end of the season. Certainly these guys did a lot to secure a positive legacy with what happened last weekend. There's never going to be any denying that when you can take down the No. 1 team in the country for the Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship, and they're sitting there with 18,000 fans there and you've got about 300. That was quite an accomplishment. At the same time, this is what's left, and this is what's in front of us now, and this is what we want to make good on. Q. Coach, you talked a lot about Vanderbilt as an institution and what the basketball program means. What was it about Jeffery Taylor that fit in with the Vanderbilt brand? COACH STALLINGS: He's really good (laughing). He was really good in high school, really athletic. Jeff is a guy that when we recruited him in high school, he was a high school center. He just had really, really supreme athleticism. Supreme. I mean, like top one percent athleticism. We were fortunate in the recruiting process with Jeff because his father wanted him in a program that had discipline, that had a lot of the things that we stood for. So that really enhanced our ability to sign Jeff. But it was just his‑‑ his drive, his level of competitiveness, and his athleticism that really made us think that he could be a great college player. Q. What's been the evolution of Jeff's game? COACH STALLINGS: He can do just about everything now. He shot close to 50% from three this year in conference play. He's always been a guy that his strength has been driving the ball to the basket. He's first team all‑league, all‑defensive team. He's one of the best defenders in our league for sure. He's one of our leading rebounders. He's been a do‑everything guy, and that's why he's first team all-Southeastern Conference. So he has fulfilled what our hopes were for him and even surpassed those. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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