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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: OMAHAMarch 15, 2012Eli HolmanRay McCallumChase SimonOMAHA, NEBRASKA THE MODERATOR: University of Detroit is with us, we will go right to questions for the student athletes, Chase Simon, Ray McCallum and Eli Holman. Q. Ray, talking to some of the Kansas players that were in here earlier, they were mentioning that you're a fine offensive player but Tyshawn Taylor says you don't like to defend too much. What's your respond to your defensive play. RAY McCALLUM: I do like to defend, my freshman year I didn't defend that much, coming into my sophomore year I knew I needed to do step it up on the defensive end, probably earlier in the season I didn't defend like I probably needed to, toward the middle of the season I understood the points of the defense, it's something I work on with my teammates every day in practice and especially in the conference tournament and the Horizon League tournament I saw how important defense was for my team and how it can help us win so coming into this game I have a defensive mind‑set. Q. Ray, I know things have gone pretty well with your dad coaching you but do you remember a conflict at any point in the last two years where you guys got into it for any reason? RAY McCALLUM: Conflict between my dad and I here? Q. Well, I said I know it has gone pretty well for you guys but there are father‑son disputes along the way, have you guys had any? RAY McCALLUM: I understand what you're saying but my father and I are really close. We're both competitors, when we're on the court. Sometimes it might look like we're not getting along or anything, but we're always gettin' along. He's tough on me sometimes and I think I know how to take it. I just listen to whatever he has to tell me and just try to do it to the best of my ability. Q. Chase, what do you expect to defend tomorrow night, and is it going to be a rotation? Are you going to be on Tyshawn, are you going to be sharing that duty with Ray or someone else? CHASE SIMON: For the assignments, Jason is going to defend Tyshawn, we have confidence in his ability to defend him knowing that he's a good defensive player, I will be checking off and helping out with Robinson down low. Q. For each of you, what do you think gives you your best chance to win this game in? ELI HOLMAN: Personally I think it's going to be our defense, which has carried us for the last couple of games. RAY McCALLUM: I think it's coming out here and playing together as a team, doing all the things to win. That last couple of games our team chemistry has been strong on and off the court, we're all enjoying playing with each other, these two seniors alongside of me are trying to compete in each and every game like it's their last, and they don't want this to end. And if we come out and play strong and with the right mind‑set, and have fun we'll be all right. CHASE SIMON: I think it's attention to detail and playing hard. The little things, deflections, taking charge, knowing who the shooters are, stopping them in transition, I think those things are really important. Q. Chase, the Kansas players were in here and said they hadn't seen a lot of tape of you guys. How much have you guys studied them? CHASE SIMON: We watched a few days of tape of them, we know 'em pretty well, we see 'em on TV playing ESPN games when we aren't playin', so we know them pretty well. Q. You guys and Kansas ended the regular season on a little different notes, you guys were on a high, you won your league title, Kansas was disappointed in their loss to Baylor. They said that their loss to Baylor helped motivate them, they had their best week of practice perhaps throughout the season. Can you elaborate on the momentum that you guys have and does it matter that the team lost in the tournament and may play with a chip on their shoulder? CHASE SIMON: Well, coming to this game, I know they said they didn't watch a lot of tape on us, now I don't think that's a good thing. We are going to come out there and play hard and them losing to go Baylor, they're going to come with a fired up intensity and try to show that, you know, we shouldn't be on the floor with them and we just want to play hard and compete and show that we belong. Hopefully come out with a win. RAY McCALLUM: I think that anytime a team loses, the next week of practice is going to be definitely tough and the coaching staff is going to be tougher and they're going to come out and compete and use that last game as motivation, whatever happened wrong, say it was a fluke, and come out and compete to get a win. For us, I'm excited about how we're on a five‑game winning streak, just won the Horizon League Tournament and we're coming in with confidence and confidence in each other and that's big for our team and I'm excited to see what happens tomorrow. ELI HOLMAN: Both of these guys said it well, I know Kansas is coming off with a loss, with a chip on their shoulder they're going to be motivated to go at it but I think Detroit has been playing just as good a basketball in the last six weeks as we played all year and we're coming in with a chip on our shoulders, we don't want this to be our last game, I can speak for myself and for Chase as well and the tougher team is going to walk away from this. Q. Ray, how difficult was the start this year without Eli and what did he bring your team when he started playing with you guys? RAY McCALLUM: It's always tough when you don't have one of your players with you, but as soon as he got back, Eli‑‑ it wasn't like he was never there, he got back, played great for us and was a spark plug for our team. He came in and fit well with the team. He was always there when he wasn't able to play, he was there and encouraging everybody and the system was the same so it was easy for him to come back and get in the flow of things. We had gotten a lot of work together as a team in the off‑season and when he came back it was a major plus and happy that everything worked out the way it did. Just shows you with all the hard work and playing through adversity you can overcome object particular skill and now we're here today. Q. Given Kansas's history losing to some mid‑major teams like you guys are considered in the tournament do you guys talk about that at all or is that something you're not even thinking about? ELI HOLMAN: Really, we haven't, we've been focused on the team right now, ourselves, and our mental and physical preparation for Kansas. Kansas has great team in Tyshawn Taylor and Thomas Robinson, one of the best, one of the best "bigs" in the country, so our focus is on maintaining our defense and on communication and we haven't focused on the past of Kansas we just focused on us right now. RAY McCALLUM: Coming into a game like this, I've seen Kansas's historical program, a lot of great players, you know they're going to be good talentwise but the main thing is to come in and play the way we're playing, not changing anything, not doing anything special, keepin' everything the same and coming out and playin' tough, it's not going to come down to talent it's going to be whoever plays the toughest. CHASE SIMON: I saw on ESPN this they lost four out of the last five rounds in the NCAA Tournament, that stuck in the back of my head so I know that they're capable of losing a game like that even though we're doubted by many, but we'll come out and play hard as a team and I think we'll be okay. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the student athletes of Detroit. Gentlemen, thank you very much and best of luck to you.  Ray McCallum will make a brief statement and then we will go to questions. COACH McCALLUM: First of all, we're excited to be here and looking forward to tomorrow night's ballgame with Kansas. It's been a great run for us, we have four seniors that have done a tremendous job down the stretch, and we are determined to extend our season by winning a Horizon League Championship so we're excited about representing the Horizon League Conference as we head into the tournament tomorrow night. Q. Coach, curious, at this time of year there is a lot of coaching changes and mid‑major coaches elevating to bigger programs. You made the decision to go from Ball State to Houston many moons ago. What did you learn from that move and what advise would you have for other mid‑major coaches that are in similar situations and contemplating making that jump to a bigger program? COACH McCALLUM: Tom, I think every situation is different, I left an outstanding team, that was in 2000 and we were in the tournament that year with a great team coming back. For me, I've been a midwest guy and a went to the southwest so I kinda went out of my area down to Houston and when you do that it can take time to get familiar with the athletes in that area, and I think that was the situation in my case. My advise is that, it is not always better, because it looks like that, on the outside. I think nowadays you look at the mid‑major programs, our conference, the Horizon League is considered a mid‑major conference but you look at the success that our teams have had over time and over the last seven years, I think the Horizon League team has won a game in seven straight years heading into this tournament. Q. Do you like the confidence that your players have showed in some of their comments about Kansas or would you like them to have toned down the stuff? COACH McCALLUM: I think some of those comments can be exaggerated, because we have been a team that hasn't bragged or boasted about anything so some of that that's in print I scratch my head, it's like "where did that come from?" But we're coming in with confidence, and we have been building for this as a program in terms of playing high‑major schools, two Big East schools, two South Conference schools, in preparing ourselves and then our goal was to win the tournament and then once we won the tournament, to get into the situation where you're in the NCAA Tournament and I told our guys before selection Sunday that we would play a top‑10, top‑15 team. We have been on the court with high‑major teams and I don't think one as good as Kansas this year, but we've been tested during my time since I've been at the University of Detroit and we'll take the court with confidence. I don't think arrogance‑‑ we've great respect for their team, and we know they're truly one of the best and we have to play our best game of the year to win. Q. Ray, what's the key to making the father/son and Coach/player relationship is work? COACH McCALLUM: Him remaining coachable, following instructions. I tell you, the thing about it that has been great for me, exciting, is because I get to see him every day, I get to be a part of his life as his dad and as his coach, and the big thing he wants from me is to just kind of help him get better each and every day. So it's been exciting, a lot of fun for me, I'm sure he had his challenges, but it's been a great experience and, you know, a lot of people talk about the photo of me and him hugging after the championship game in the Horizon League Tournament and what Ray said "this is the way it's supposed to be, we won our championship," and that kinda told me he's really happy, and, you know, he achieved a goal that he set. Q. Ray, you know one of your peers, Ernie Zeigler at Central Michigan was let go, he brought his son Trey into that situation, and that obviously didn't work out well. Was there any trepidation with your son deciding to come to Detroit and maybe things wouldn't work out? COACH McCALLUM: You know, Tom, I don't think he focused on that. His junior year in high school when we arrived, he watched us, and we were 7‑23. He was working his way to becoming a high‑major player. As a matter of fact he was at Kansas' Midnight Madness that year, I believe. You know, when a kid sees that and sees us struggling, I think he really wanted to evaluate all situations. I felt it was important that he go through the process and take visits and look at different schools but I asked him to evaluate us, because we're going to get better, we started to get better and I think down the stretch I think it's a sign that his confidence grew, and he led his team to a state championship, he was named a McDonald's All‑American and we had a competitive season and I think he didn't focus on the negative, I think felt in his heart that he could help the program. And we would get better. I don't know what he said earlier tonight but I think that was his mind‑set. We focus more on the positive, and we knew it was going to take a lot of work to get to the top. Q. Getting back to your son being coachable, he shot a fairly high amount of 3‑pointersat 25%, is that an issue or is that a bad patch? COACH McCALLUM: I think he has to get better. He's gotten better as a sophomore, the strength of his game is going to the basket and making plays, that's what he does and what we would like for him to do. We would like for him to make more three's, but what he's done for this team is attacked defensively really down the stretch and made good decisions with the basketball, make his teammates better and he finds ways to score. We don't run a lot of plays for him, we don't do that so what he gets offensively is pretty much on his own. Q. Coach, Bill Self talked about this a little bit, the game, it's going to be late, how do you manage that huge amount of time before the game? How do you manage your players and take care of all of that? COACH McCALLUM: Well, I know nerves and anxiety is going to build and I know when we were playing on Saturday, 6 or 5:00 game, it was a long day for us. We'll take our shooting time in the morning from 10‑10:20, I like to get the guys up and moving, get their blood flowing, and we have another walk‑through scheduled right before our pregame meal, we have that meal four hours before. It's just kind of breaking up the day, we will have film sessions in there as well. But we're going to try to get a majority of our game plan in and meetings in tonight and maybe one tomorrow, and tomorrow morning it will be a shoot when we come over here and shoot free‑throws, we're ready to play. We had to play four games in seven days to get here. So we did a lot of cross‑examining. In terms of pickin' up the game plan. We will be ready to go and look forward to tomorrow night. I think that's 10:00 our time, tomorrow. Q. Are you concerned at all about the players getting caught up with the stage they've never been on, a stage this big and all the hoopla, going on around the country? COACH McCALLUM: You know what? It's exciting. We have asked them to do is embrace it. What we have to do is we can't be in awe of Kansas, we've got to play the way we have all year long. That's the thing about this team, we have won 10 out of 11, I think 15‑3 down the stretch. We've been very competitive this year, and we have had strong second halves. You know, it's just a matter of going out and playin'. We're not going to change a whole lot, we are who we are, and we're going to go out and try and play our game. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the head coach? Thank you, Ray, best of luck. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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