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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: NASHVILLEMarch 17, 2012Xavier GibsonLeonard HamiltonOkaro WhiteNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. For either one of you players, what do you remember about the late tip-off time last year and what your Sunday was like, waiting around all day to play? XAVIER GIBSON: What I remember about it, I remember it was kind of -- it took all day, but just wanted to play, wanted to be on the court, you know. Just was real anxious to play. I know that. OKARO WHITE: Okay. What I remember also, I was a freshman last year, but, you know, it took all day to play, and it was just about being mentally prepared for the late game last year. Q. Okaro, you and Luke have known each other for some time now and coming from the Tampa area. Talk about the so-called Tampa connection with Florida State and how you guys have developed as teammates and how this team has developed all around, you in the last two years developed all around? OKARO WHITE: Well, knowing Luke from high school, you know, I always knew he was a great point guard and he was a pass first type of point guard, and in high school, you know, he would just throw me "alleys" all the time when he was going off to college, the summer he went off to college, I committed about two months after he got there, and so, you know, we would talk about it almost couple days out of the week, you know, how we were looking to change the Florida State program around. We kind of have that connection ongoing for -- going for ourselves. Q. For both you guys, you faced Jared Sullinger last year, how much is that going to help you against Yancy Gates tomorrow? XAVIER GIBSON: Help us a whole lot. Pretty similar players. We got to keep the ball out of his hands and play team defense because they also got a good guard corps. It help us a whole lot. OKARO WHITE: Exactly. When you're playing guys that have a lot of mass on them and playing the defense we play, which is obviously front the post, you want to get off their body. You don't want to have as much -- as less physical force on with them as possible. So it's just about getting around the body and not letting them catch the ball. Q. Xavier, I wonder if you noticed that there's two teams from Ohio and two teams from Florida and what your thoughts are on kind of what that says about the state of college basketball from those two states and how unique it is and if you guys kind of take pride in that sort of thing? XAVIER GIBSON: It's very unique, you know. I can't say there's not a -- lot of different, lot more teams that are not from North Carolina -- the Carolinas or from California, New York. So I take a lot of pride in representing those smaller states and those smaller schools, you know, because I think lot of teams starting to come up and get big recruits. Same as college basketball as a whole. OKARO WHITE: You know, me being a Florida guy personally, you know, I enjoy seeing other Florida schools, you know, in the NCAA Tournament doing well, you know. Not so much when we're about to play them, but I do enjoy them succeeding, also. Q. Guys, Xavier and Okaro, either one of you, Cincinnati appears to be a pretty physical team, and I'm just curious what's your take on their style of play? OKARO WHITE: You know, they're physical, athletic. They can get out and run. I think they're more guard oriented, which, you know, just causes for lock it down and stopping the dribble penetration. They can shoot the ball from the outside also, and also they're a well-coached team. Their style of play is, we have seen that in the ACC a bit, you know, but I think the way we play defense and we come prepared, we can handle their style of play. THE MODERATOR: Other questions? Anyone else? Okay. Coach Hamilton will be here shortly. Thank you, guys. We'll go ahead and take questions for Coach Hamilton. Q. Coach, you played a similar game last year on the Sunday night and having to wait all day at 9:40 tip-off Eastern time. What do you remember from that experience and how did you try and keep the kids whatever tomorrow? COACH HAMILTON: Well, we play separate games during the course of the year at 9:00 on Sunday nights and we try not -- we have a routine that's normally adjusted in relation who what time the game starts. So, it won't -- 8:40, 8:00, our body clocks are on Eastern standard time. So I'm sure that it might be a little bit of adjustment, but I think both teams will be put kind of in the same situation. If the game was earlier, we'd have basically the same routine. For us, though, it might not be a bad idea to get a little more rest, put a little more time in, be a little more focused. Doesn't seem -- one way or another, I just got to be ready to go. We both are going to be going through the same circumstances. As far as last year's game is concerned, we haven't given that a whole lot of thought, only because we got to prepare ourselves for the game. There are things that we're thinking about that we have to make sure we're on top of in terms of execution, our focus, being mentally ready, to execute the game plan that we have. I'm not really sure that's going to be affected very much by what time the game is. Q. Coach, I just wanted to ask you, Michael has been such a consistent scorer for you guys all year, obviously yesterday you guys were able to win without him scoring for you. What is the key to him bouncing back and getting back to his normal self tomorrow? COACH HAMILTON: Well, I think during the course of the year, we've had several games where Michael didn't score in double figures and we won. It's not like this is anything unusual. He's been on such a good run here lately that maybe it's highlighted a little bit -- I have very little concern about him bouncing back and getting going. He was extremely energized. I thought he played excellent defense and contested shots. He was communicating with his teammates in the huddle and during the course of the game. Because he didn't score any points doesn't necessarily mean he didn't have an impact on the game. I'm not really overly concerned one way or the other. We have lots of players on our team that are not as proficient offensively from game to game. I don't feel that's much of an issue because that's kind of the way basketball is. Some nights you just don't make shots. He was affected a little bit more by the fact he had two fouls in the first four possessions down the floor earlier in the game. And him being one of our better players, I kind of didn't want him to get his third foul so early in the game. But once again, I think we were able to pull the game out because of the quality of our depth, that's been big for us all year long, and I think one reason why we've been able to develop that type of rotation is because the unselfish spirit of our players. We've had guys like Okaro -- he was starting earlier in the year. He plays about the same time. We moved him to a role coming off the bench. But he plays starter minutes. Xavier many times will not be able to play as much because teams maybe have more of a four-guard-type lineup. So sometimes we make adjustments there. Early in the year, Davis wasn't starting. Wasn't a problem. So we developed an unselfish spirit with this team, that our guys seem to thrive on and adjust to. So when one guy is not playing, someone else realizes they have to pick up slack. Q. Can you touch on Cincinnati and what you see out of this team, what you're up against? COACH HAMILTON: I see a team that's extremely athletic. They start four guys six-four or less that take you off the dribble. They attack the basket very well. They have mid-range pullups. They are the leading 3-point team in the Big East. They've made more 3's per game than anyone in the Big East. So they shoot the ball well from the perimeter. They got a go-to guy inside. They mix the defenses, man to man, they play zone, press. This is a multi-dimensional type team that is most difficult for teams to match up against. You go back, look at the year they've had, they've been able to make adjustments. They play mostly man-to-man. You see them play against Louisville, they played 85, 90 percent, 2-3 zone. They have the ability to adjust to whatever they think they need to do in order to put themselves in the best position to win. They are a team that plays aggressive and they're a team that back off and play a zone. They evaluate who they are and the talents that they have, looking at who they're playing against, and make that your game plan in relation to what they think would give them the best chance to win. I think it's excellent coaching. Q. Coach, I know your focus is on your team. With South Florida here and Florida also still alive, there's a possibility of having three teams from the state of Florida in the Sweet 16. Let ask you about basketball in the state of Florida. COACH HAMILTON: I haven't thought about that. You're right, I've been thinking about Seminoles, but that's a positive. I think that that just shows that progress is being made in the state of Florida. I always thought we played good basketball, but such a long state, there's not really -- you know, it's not centralized. Kind of like in North Carolina where you got four schools within short proximity of each other. You get the synergy from that. We kind of spread out all over the state, we don't get a chance to play off each other's energy and kind of get the feel of there's a lot of solid basketball going on. I thought Miami had a great year, much better year, right there on the fence. And what you say about South Florida, they turned their program around and playing excellent basketball. University of Florida has been kind of the leader in the state going back to back Final Four's and winning the championship. So I think this is a great time for college basketball in the state, and I wish you would write more about it and sell a little bit more instead of wait until the NCAA Tournament to bring it up. I mean, we've been playing good all year and you're just figuring it out and you're just starting to ask questions. Pass that on to your people. Tell them Coach Ham complains. Q. Coach, to follow up on that, you've got two teams from Florida and two teams from Ohio. Normally they're talking about football. COACH HAMILTON: Okay. Q. You look at it, it's a two Florida, two Ohio. Possibility -- COACH HAMILTON: Who is Florida playing? Q. I'm talking you and USF are two teams from Florida here against two teams from Ohio. COACH HAMILTON: Who is USF playing? Q. Ohio. COACH HAMILTON: I didn't know that. Q. Like you say, you look at this right here, two teams, you know, from Florida. That's unusual to be in one regional right here. COACH HAMILTON: You know, the pods are really kind of a real complicated process and you really don't know who is going to be where until you actually get there and have that meeting. I didn't know all the teams that were playing in our part because I'm only concerned about our track, who we're playing to win, who we play next. I think most coaches are the same way. I do think though it's significant that we have three teams in the NCAA Tournament, and hopefully we'll have three teams and move on to the next round. I think that's exciting for college basketball in the state of Florida. Q. You mentioned how multi-faceted their team is. How important is it going to be to keep the ball away from Yancy Gates in that offense? COACH HAMILTON: We normally don't change our defensive system in relation to who we're playing. We like to try to keep the ball. I like to pitch a shutout, nobody catch the ball, but that's not going to happen. What we try to do is minimize the number of times guys catch the ball in the areas where they are consistently effective. We'll defend. We'll defend Gates just like we do other people of his caliber that's in our league, but guys who are that talented, you never really shut them out. You just try make them work hard for what they get and I'm -- hopefully, we'll be consistent with the way we've played defense all year long. Q. Coach, Luke Loucks, curious your take on his development through four years, especially he's emerged this last semester as a senior year as a pretty capable leader, I think. COACH HAMILTON: Well, there's no doubt that Luke has gotten better and better and better as he progressed through his career. He's playing his best basketball now. He's knocking down his free throws, he's making better decisions with the ball, and seems as though now he gets better and more efficient during crunch time. He's really, really doing -- he's really maximizing the opportunity he has to show that he's the leader of the team. He's running the team. He understands he has to be that coach on the floor, and I think he's given us tremendous leadership on and off the court. He's gaining more confidence. The players are responding to him more and more in the positive way, and I think he's in a good place right now, and I think we feel that our game and our system is safe when he's out there being the coach on the floor. Q. Coach, I'm going to piggyback that Ohio/Florida question earlier, because I know you've recruited Ohio quite a bit over your career, and obviously Florida, every team here has players on their roster from Florida and again, both of them are football states. I'm hearing a lot of coaches say we want a guy with football mentality. Is that what we're starting -- is that what we're starting to see? COACH HAMILTON: Well, we've been coaching -- I've been coaching a long time. I'm not real sure I've ever told our players we want to go out and play basketball with football mentality. We want to play aggressively, if that's what you mean. Football is an aggressive game. It's good to know that we missed out on some of the players that are playing all these other teams with the state of Florida. Thanks for bringing it up. I have to talk to my assistants about that (laughter). But I do believe, though, that Florida has what 16, 17, 18 million people, you got great weather, tennis and golf and football, baseball has really grown over the years, those sports have really flourished and lot of kids being recruited for from all over the country. Basketball has emerged as a up-and-coming sport. I think the high school coaching has gotten better, AAU basketball has gotten better. I think you have more and more players that are on our teams that are playing very good basketball. I think it's going to get better and better as we move through. I think it's important, though, that you mention the fact that we do have three teams that are right here playing to get to the Sweet 16. I'm hopeful that all three teams will make it. THE MODERATOR: We have time for two more questions. Anyone? Q. Coach, just talk about what Bernard James, what you saw in him that lead you to basically recruit him; and then number two, what he's brought to the table and how much better has he gotten, I guess, as a couple of years have gone along? COACH HAMILTON: What's interesting about Bernard is that his best basketball is ahead of him. Didn't play high school ball. Joined Air Force, very limited amount of basketball played. Had three tours in the Middle East. You don't have a whole lot of time to be working your basketball game when you're defending your country. Came back to the States, enrolled in junior college. If you're a big man, sometimes junior college is not the place to be. Not going to touch the ball very much. He came to Florida State with an open mind. He's allowed himself to be coachable. He's a sponge. He asks questions. He's gotten better. He didn't have very much experience, so he was not nearly as vocal early on as he is now. Now he's playing with a lot more confidence. He's improved his free throw shooting. What he's trying to do is give you all he has every time on the court. He's been a pleasure to coach. He's the kind of guy that you can't say enough about his character and how much it means to him to be a good teammate. He's a guy that I'm looking forward to watching his career grow from Florida State. Even though he's a little older than most of the kids, he has young legs because he hasn't really beat them up on the cement playing basketball. So I think he's going to have a good career. Q. Leonard, so many upsets yesterday. What do you think it is about the NCAA that enables that, and how deep do you have to get into the tournament before you can consider a Cinderella run? COACH HAMILTON: I'm not really sure any of those games could be considered upsets from my standpoint. I said prior to coming to the tournament that they need to eliminate the word "upset" from the vocabulary that you use in this tournament. The process we go by evaluating teams and putting them in positions and whether or not they're 16, three, four, five, I think it's very difficult to be accurate with that. Most of the team who are here who have the higher seeds are the ones who probably got the most exposure, been on TV most, people have talked about. The NCAA bracketology, as they call it, has become a sport. You have guys predicting what's going to happen back in April, May, June, and July before the schools ever start. So it's so difficult and so by the time you get to the NCAA Tournament, we have in our minds who the better teams are because we've heard so much conversation about them. But in reality you go through the season, some people improve, you start out at one place, you improve most of the -- most of the teams that are here are very good and the game of basketball is one of those types of games that you can win with less talent and you can win by managing -- having a certain system that might be difficult for one team or another. You can have guys that sometime get in their zone and they just -- they play exceptionally well. Sometimes you're not quite as sharp. That's why it's the greatest spectator sport, because on any given night, anything is capable of happening. So I don't really believe that these games are as much of an upset as that sometimes guys just play better on certain particular times. You put them in whatever category you want. I think it's good basketball being played, and I think it's exciting. And I think anything is capable of happening when you get two basketball teams together. That's the way college basketball is, especially when you get to NCAA Tournament when teams have started out, improved, worked hard, they got the system in place, the kids are playing with good chemistry, and sometimes it's just a team can just get on fire just because of that mental edge that they have and play better. I remember years ago when -- I think the year that North Carolina State finished the season something like 17-13 and went to the conference and the University of Georgia and LSU went to the finals back sometime in the middle '80s, I thought that they finished the season 16-12, but I think they got hot there at the end of the season. I'm not wanting to buy into the fact that there's anything unusual about these upsets. Just think it's good basketball being played. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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