|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: GREENSBOROMarch 15, 2012Anthony GrantJaMychal GreenTrevor RelefordAndrew SteeleGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes? Q. Is this team on a win‑one‑for‑JaMychal mission right now? ANDREW STEELE: Once you get to this point in the season try to just survive and advance. But with him being our only senior, it would be a little more special if we could keep his career going as long as we can. TREVOR RELEFORD: I agree with what he said, and I think it's for JaMychal as well as everyone else on the team, the coaching staff, Bama Nation, that's what we want to get the wins for. Q. How much have you been able to see film of Doug McDermott, and what is your impressions of him as a player? JAMYCHAL GREEN: I watched a little film so far and he's a smart player. He has a high basketball IQ and I see that he likes to make multiple moves trying to get his defender to jump. He likes to jump into players to get them in foul trouble and he can stretch the defense because he can shoot the three. Q. Does he remind you of Erik Murphy at Florida at all? Are there some similarities there? JAMYCHAL GREEN: Yeah, it is just because he can stretch the defense, because he can shoot the ball well and he's a smart player. Q. For each of you, this is your first trip here, what's the overall emotion arriving here in Greensboro and knowing that it's time to dance? JAMYCHAL GREEN: It's just a great feeling to be here and it's an honor to be here. We just want to go out there and try our best to take one game at a time and just play our best and leave it all on the floor and have no regrets. TREVOR RELEFORD: It's a great experience and it's like a dream come true to get to this point, and we just want to capitalize on this experience and win one game at a time. ANDREW STEELE: It's the thing that every team at the beginning of the year they set out a goal to try to get to this point. And it's exciting once you get here, but once you get here you realize that it's a business trip and so our focus is to go out here and try to beat a good Creighton team tomorrow and hopefully try to advance as far as we can. Q. Talk about your defense and how you've been so good at defense and in playing against Creighton who comes in as a pretty good offensive team. JAMYCHAL GREEN: We play a lot of great offensive teams this year. And I believe that they kind of similar to Vanderbilt. We just good shots to defend the 3‑point line and it just comes from the will to want to and I think that all of us has that will to get the job done. TREVOR RELEFORD: Coach Grant just preaching to us just like our defense intensity is bringing it every day and trying to stop the opponent from scoring. That's what we live off of. That's what we're going to try to bring to the game. ANDREW STEELE: Every day we focus on making sure we defend because that's one of the few things that we know we can always control and we feel like our defense gives us a chance every time to win every game we come out that our defense gives us a chance to win. And you look at a lot of teams that advance, their defense is the thing that carries them through and they're such a great offensive team that it's going to be tough and I think one of those styles of play is going to have to win out tomorrow and we're hopeful that it will be ours. Q. When y'all got seeded against Creighton being one of the top scoring defenses in the country is there an intimidation factor therefore y'all? JAMYCHAL GREEN: Not at all. We have been there before against good offensive teams and we thought it was a great matchup and we just can't wait to play. TREVOR RELEFORD: I feel like we take it on as a challenge and we just are happy to be able to experience this NCAA opportunity and want to play against them. Q. Can you guys win a scoring contest with these guys if it's back and forth bucket for bucket? JAMYCHAL GREEN: Our identity is defense, so I think defense wins games for us when we get stops and get into transition, that's our game and we're going to stick to that. ANDREW STEELE: I think that our defense has been able to carry us through, but if we could have a game where we could have an explosive offensive run then I think that we would be a tough out for anybody. So we try not to focus on that too much because we can't control the shots that go in, but we can control how well we defend. Q. You both have brothers who have played in this tournament, have you guys ‑‑ I'm guessing you guys have talked to them about this a little bit and what to expect. ANDREW STEELE: I talked to my brother about ‑‑ a lot about it and he told me that it's one of the most exciting things you can go through, but you have to remember that at the end of the of the day it's still basketball and you have to take that approach. And you got to have the right mindset coming in to win. If you don't stay focused and do the things that have got you into that point then you'll be fine. TREVOR RELEFORD: I got the same advice from my brother. He told me there's no better feeling than winning and advancing, because it gets better and better. And I just want to see how it goes from there. Q. When you were playing high school in Alabama when you were being recruited, Alabama was going to the NCAA tournament pretty much every year. And talk about what it means to you to get back to see Alabama get back in your senior year. JAMYCHAL GREEN: They did a great job of carrying the team and they went through their little slump when I was coming out of high school, and my main focus was just to get Alabama basketball back on the map. And its a great feeling to be here and it took me four years, but I'm excited. I'm thankful for it, for the opportunity and I'm going to make the best of it. Q. I was wondering if you could just talk about, you went through a coaching transition there and just talk about what Coach Grant has done and how now in his third year getting you guys, as we were talking about, back to back, back to the NCAA tournament. JAMYCHAL GREEN: Coach Grant just has been doing a great job with preparing us for this opportunity. I think once he got everybody on the same page about playing defense, I think that just helped us win games and I think that everybody put two feet into the circle and that's what he just preached. We came together as a team, got our chemistry together and we are here. Q. Is there anything different about the Missouri Valley Conference style that you've seen, Wichita, is there something different about the way they play compared to the SEC? ANDREW STEELE: I think that they may be a little more offensive‑minded. Not necessary low a bad thing, because I think you look throughout the conference, they got a lot of shooters and they like to space the floor. And they're very similar to what teams like Florida and Vanderbilt like to do. So I think for us already playing Wichita State earlier that kind of gives us an advantage because we have been able to prepare for teams that play like that. Q. What are some of the areas that you think the team grew in when you guys were out and how have y'all gotten better since y'all have come back? JAMYCHAL GREEN: I feel like our freshmen have matured; they got confidence in their game. And just seeing them play on TV, you know, they had to step up. And they did a great job of holding it down while we were going. And us coming back, they're still playing the same way they did as when we were gone. It just helped us out a lot just because they matured and got more confidence in their games, started to shoot the ball more and just got a better feel for the game. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, guys. COACH GRANT: We're excited to be here. Looking forward to our first game here in the NCAA tournament. I know for our guys it's something that we have looked forward, have planned for over the course of the season, and obviously we know we're playing a very good opponent in Creighton, very impressive what they have been able to accomplish over the course of the season. So right now it's just a matter of us getting prepared for our game tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach. Q. Could you give your assessment just from a coaching perspective of Doug McDermott and does he have to be where you start with your defensive preparation? COACH GRANT: Been very impressed by what I've seen on film watching him play and the numbers that he's put up, the type of year he's had. I know obviously pretty much every accolade you could give a player, Player of the Year in the conference, top three in the nation in scoring, I think second in the league in rebounding. He affects the game in so many ways, so certainly there will be a lot of attention that we have to give him in our preparations. But very impressed with their overall team. When you look at what they have done as a team, the numbers that they have put up from a statistical standpoint, the number of wins that they have had, and what they did in a very challenging conference like the Missouri Valley, they're a very impressive team. So basketball's always going to be a team game and we're going to prepare for that. Q. You mentioned about planning for the NCAA tournament all year long. Given your team's inexperience on this stage, do they ask you about all of your NCAA experience? And whether they do or not, do you share with them some of those things that you've seen and done on this stage? COACH GRANT: Haven't really asked a lot of questions about it. Every team is different. Every year is a new year. I think we had some guys that experienced the post season for the first time last year in the NIT, and I think that just that experience alone of playing in the postseason helped some of our guys. And as you mentioned, we got a lot of new guys, a lot of new faces. I think over the course of the season we have played 32 games now, and I think some of the competition that we have faced over the year hopefully has prepared us for what we'll see. I think for the NCAA tournament there's a lot of excitement surrounding the tournament, there's a lot of ‑ for lack of a better word ‑ maybe distractions that come along with playing in the NCAA tournament. So for our guys we have to understand it's a basketball game, and we need to make sure we're prepared to go out and play a very good team. I think at the end of the day, its going to come down to our team against their team and we have got to make sure that we're prepared for what's coming. Q. What scares you most about Creighton's offense? What do you got to do to defend them? And can you also talk about your defense; you guys were best in the SEC. What you did defensively this year that you liked. COACH GRANT: Well, I think that Creighton, obviously a lot's been made of the success they have had offensively but they're a very good team. I got a lot of respect for what they have done over the course of the year. I think that from an offensive standpoint, they have got a variety of guys that can score, that are very efficient with the basketball, so you've got to plan. They have got a great system. You look at the way they utilize their players, they do a very good job. But I think also on the other side of it, they're a good defensive team as well. I think that obviously when you put up the numbers that they put up from an offensive standpoint, that tends to get your attention, for us, from a defensive standpoint, that's our identity. I think that allows us, gives us an opportunity every night. That's what we tell our guys, and I think our guys have done a good job of understanding who we are and what we need to do to have the best chance to win. So it will be a challenge for us like every night to go out and make sure that we're affecting the game in the ways that we affect games. So there's nothing new, nothing different, it's a different opponent, but our identity remains the same. Q. You were without JaMychal and Trevor and Drew for part of the season and forced a lot of your younger players to grow up. JaMychal touched on that, but how did it make JaMychal and Trevor and Drew better now that they're back? COACH GRANT: I think Andrew and Trevor missed one game. JaMychal missed some games with injuries; he missed some games due to suspension. And I think any time you're missing guys, it gives other guys an opportunity to step up and play bigger roles. I think we had some younger guys, we had four freshmen that at different points of the year either early or there late had an opportunity to get some significant playing time and kind of learn, kind of on‑the‑job type training. So I think any time you get experience, that helps. In terms of how it's helped our team, I think that every program at some point during the year, whether it's injuries or illnesses or something, you go through adversity. I think every coach you talk to says your team's going to face adversity and how you handle that adversity. Sometimes that adversity can come through losing, sometimes it comes through winning. But that's just a part of the game. So our team's no different. And I think our guys have grown and matured over the course of the season individually and collectively. Q. Solidly in the NCAA tournament this year with a roster that includes only one senior, do you feel like you're on the verge of really, I mean, building a program at Alabama that can sustain this kind of success? COACH GRANT: That's the goal. Whether or not‑‑ you never know what a year's going to bring in terms of what happens over the course of a season. So I'm the type of guy, I live in the present. So right now our plan is to build a program that can sustain success and hopefully we're on our way to that, but my focus right now is on today. The opportunity that we have in front of us right now. Q. Wondering from watching tape is there a difference in the style of the Missouri Valley Conference compared to what you see from the SEC? COACH GRANT: Yeah, I think there is probably a difference there. Not being familiar with most of the teams in that league, it's hard to say. Obviously I've watched Creighton a great deal over the last several days. And we played Wichita State last year and then again this year, so a little bit familiar. But, yeah, I would say it's different. Really impressed with the skill level of the guys that they have in that league. Probably not as the size that we face in the SEC on a regular basis, it's probably not the same in that conference, but I think you look at Creighton's team and they have got physically a team that would fit right in with what we see in the SEC with their size and physicality, and then the skill level is really impressive. So we're not‑‑ we're playing one team out of that league and obviously one of the better teams in that league when you look at what they accomplished over the course of the season. So it's hard to really say from a conference to conference standpoint, I've been very impressed watching Creighton's team. Q. From talking to the players they said that it reminded them of Vanderbilt, a little bit of Florida, do you see those comparisons? COACH GRANT: Yeah, probably a good comparison in terms of the skill of both of those teams, the size of both of those teams, yeah, probably a good comparison. Q. You talked about the games that JaMychal missed. Talk about how he makes you different as a team, and do you feel like the adjustment since he's come back from missing the stretch of games, do you think that he's reintegrated himself into the system well? COACH GRANT: I think JaMychal, when you look at what he's accomplished over his career over 1600 points, almost 900 rebounds, I think he's the active leader in the SEC in double doubles. So he certainly impacts the game. And I said this from the beginning of the of the year, we're a better team when he's on the floor. So certainly I think having him out there and I think for him being our only senior, I think one of the goals he had was to offer the course of his career, get to this point where we're in the NCAA tournament and we've got a chance to compete for championships. So very happy for him that he's able to get to this and hopefully with him and the rest of our team, we can extend our season. Because obviously we understand it's a‑‑ we're promised one game. And so for us right now it's just a matter of trying to control the things that we can control in terms of our preparation and readiness as we prepare to play tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|