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NCAA MEN'S 1ST ROUND: DAYTONMarch 14, 2012John BeckerFour McGlynnBrian VoelkelDAYTON, OHIO Vermont – 71 THE MODERATOR: We're now being joined by the head coach of Vermont, John Becker, as well as student‑athletes from Vermont, Four McGlynn and Brian Voelkel. We'll start with an opening statement by Coach Becker. COACH BECKER: Really don't know what to say. I'm really excited and thrilled for our guys to be able to get this win in the NCAA Tournament. Second NCAA Tournament win in our school's history. And this one's for all the former UV players and coaches and people who helped us get us to where we are today. And the guys really executed on both ends of the court. I thought 16 assists, five turnovers was the stat of the game. We did a good job sharing the ball, being patient. We didn't turn it over. Got some pressure late in the game. I thought our guys were very composed and handled it great. We really executed on both ends of the court, stayed with our game plan. It's a very good Lamar team. I'd like to congratulate them on a great year, and we feel fortunate to get a win against a very well‑coached Lamar team. We're excited to continue our journey this year and head down to North Carolina tomorrow. But we'll enjoy tonight, and really proud of our guys. Another team effort. I've been saying it all year. But this is a team, and we win with every guy that comes in, contributes, Pat Bergmann came off the bench, I thought gave us huge minutes. Four McGlynn obviously was really good on the offensive end of the court. And really both ends of the court. And it was, again, a team effort. Our bench played great. We executed and we made the plays we had to. And couldn't be more proud of the guys. THE MODERATOR: Questions for student‑athletes. Q. Brian and Four, the past couple of days has shown that the First Four is certainly legitimate. What do you say to people that think it's not a part of the real NCAA Tournament? FOUR MCGLYNN: I think that a lot of people underestimate the position that we were in as a First Four team, but for us it was a great honor. We won our conference championship and got an automatic bid. And, I mean, it's really good. It just allows us to continue our season. And fortunately we got a win today to keep our season going. BRIAN VOELKEL: Obviously it's just a big honor. If you were watching these games, it's great basketball. And it's definitely‑‑ people are asking is it kind of‑‑ are you kind of a little mad you got in the play‑in game. And not at all. It's great to be able to play on TV and it's just great to be able to play basketball and do what we love to do. Q. It seemed like no matter what you guys played within your offensive sets and sort of maintained your game. Can you just talk about that and how you were able to maintain that poise throughout the game? FOUR MCGLYNN: One thing that Coach Becker does a great job of is giving us a lot of freedom within the offense to create plays for ourselves, create plays for others. And we really do have a lot of freedom. One thing we always preach is to stay composed. That's one thing we've been working on, especially in these high‑intensity games. That's one thing you have to do is stay composed and make sure you execute. Because coming down the stretch of the game, if you can execute the plays in the game, it's going to put you in a great position to win. Q. I wonder if you could address the fact that the biggest win in school history is the 2005 win over Syracuse? I wondered if you could talk about whether perhaps this might lead you on the road to another memory like that? BRIAN VOELKEL: Yeah, obviously the Syracuse game was a huge win for Vermont and the community. Obviously we're going to come into North Carolina with a lot of confidence and hopefully we can pull up another upset and give the people in Burlington something to cheer about. Q. Four, shots were going down early, how important was it for the team to get off to a solid start, similar to the way you started passing Stony Brook in the league championship game? FOUR MCGLYNN: It was very important. We've been struggling on the road shooting a little bit. But, I mean, this morning we got in, got some extra shots up. Some of the guys struggling on the road with the coaches, and we were very fortunate today. And, like you said, against Stony Brook to get shots going early. That's huge on the road. Especially in a hostile environment, it's good to get things going offensively. And, like we say, our defense leads our offense, and when we're playing defense, playing our shell principles boxing out and getting rebounds, it's easy to make shots because a lot of them are wide open in transition. Q. Brian, this was a place of the great comebacks last night. They came back, cut it to 7 there in the second half. What did you guys talk about in your huddle, et cetera, to keep your composure, et cetera, and then move on out from there? BRIAN VOELKEL: That's pretty much what we talked about, just keeping our composure.  That's what we talked about all year. When times are getting tough, just to stick together and just be there for each other. And I think, once again, we did a great job of that. They made their runs. But we responded well. And we just ran our offense. Got easy buckets and then let our defense do the rest. Q. Four, talk about your performance, first time in this environment and just being natural like you have all season long. FOUR MCGLYNN: I mean, I don't think‑‑ I don't put any added pressure on any one particular game because at the end of the day, once you get in there and get into the flow of the game, it's just like any other game. But obviously my first NCAA Tournament game, I thought I played pretty well. I got into a really good flow. My teammates, I have to give credit to them, because they're the ones, especially Brian Voelkel who gives me the ball in spots I'm wide open, it's easy to knock down open shots, especially when you're getting great passes. Q. What's it like, Brian and Four, to know your next opponent's North Carolina, No.1 seed, et cetera? How do you put that in your brain right now? BRIAN VOELKEL: It's incredible to be able to play such a storied program in the tournament. It doesn't get any better than that. It's a childhood dream just to be in that environment, be in this environment. And I just can't wait to get out there and play hard and try to get an upset. FOUR MCGLYNN: Like Brian said, it's a huge honor. Historically North Carolina is one of the best basketball programs that there's ever been. And for us it's just a great honor. Coming from a mid‑major program, win our conference championship and winning today in the first round. It's going to be awesome to go out there and play with arguably some of the best players in the country. Q. Brian, playing such an athletic guard‑oriented team that really scores a lot, how were you able to contain them and keep them off the boards as well? BRIAN VOELKEL: We did pretty much what we've been doing all year and stayed with our principles. Obviously we're one of the best defensive teams in the country. We've maintained just doing what we do kind of. So I think we did a great job of that. They were obviously a little more undersized than us, but we were able to contain them. Our post players did a great job of holding their post players down, and it was just a team effort. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Coach, talk about Pat Bergmann. Seems like in the postseason he just comes alive. COACH BECKER: Yeah, he's been playing really well. And Luke got off to a good start, but I felt really good going with Pat. Something about seniors at the end of their career, they don't want it to end, and I was going to go with Pat tonight. Before the game I decided I was really going to give him a good look and let him decide how his career ended. And he came up huge tonight at eight points. He's 4‑for‑4 from the floor, big buckets, three rebounds, and he was good there. Q. Could you talk a little bit about the task that you now face? I realize you're just five minutes away from a win, but can you talk about what you're going to face and how difficult it's going to be? COACH BECKER: Obviously, North Carolina is one of the best teams in the country, roster littered with future NBA stars. So we'll just do what we do. And this time of year you have to‑‑ every team in this tournament is good and is here for a reason. We're just going to continue to play our brand of basketball and just really guard them with five guys and get back in transition, I know they run really well, and run our offense and take our chances. Q. Five years ago you were a director of basketball operations making like ten grand a year. Now you've won a NCAA Tournament game. Can you talk about how much has changed and how much have you overcome in five years? COACH BECKER: Everything's changed. I can't thank enough the people that got me to where I am today. My parents are in the back there. Had to borrow money from them a couple of years ago, 38‑year‑old man with a couple of kids, to realize a dream. And that's what family is for. And I'm a lucky man to have parents that supported me like that. And a wife that was willing to go for this plan. And now it's coming up aces. But everything's changed. I gotta thank Mike Lonergan for giving me the opportunity to come up here and work for him. I learned a lot under him and he's a great coach. I'm just a very fortunate man to have a lot of people that love me, support me, and give me opportunities. Q. John, your assessment about Four McGlynn, a rookie coming up that big on such a big stage? COACH BECKER: He's not a normal freshman. He's got a lot of confidence. He came in, hit his first shot on the very first play, and he was just really, really good all game. He's just‑‑ I thought the big‑‑ one of the biggest plays in the game was late in the game when they were making their comeback. They got under 10. We were struggling. Shot clock was going down, Four got down to the baseline, shot fake, got the guy in the air, jumped into him, got to the free‑throw line, and I thought that really stemmed the tide a little bit and stopped their run. But he's a special player, and he's not your normal freshman. And I can't wait to have him for another three‑plus years. Q. Your defensive effort today against a Lamar team that was averaging well over 70 points a game? COACH BECKER: It's a continuing trend. The last seven games of the year we had only given up 51points a game. Championship game was 29percent to a Stony Brook team, today to a very good Lamar team, 33percent shooting. We just continue to‑‑ guys have bought in to understand that defense, and rebounds is going to win us a lot of games and win us these games at the end of the year. It's a team effort, when you get great help from our post guys. And tonight Lamar's a very good rebounding team. They're aggressive, they're tough in there. And early in the game, I thought the first half they got too many offensive rebounds, getting all the 50/50 balls. Second half we did a better job with that, and so that was one of the keys to the game. That's been our key all year is guard and rebound, and we'll figure out a way to score enough points. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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