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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: ALBUQUERQUEMarch 17, 2012Askia BookerTad BoyleCarlon BrownAustin DufaultALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO Baylor – 80 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement, please? COACH BOYLE: Well, first of all, my hat goes off to Baylor. They played a heck of a game tonight, and they deserve to win. In terms of Colorado basketball, I couldn't be more proud of this group and the way they've represented us all year long. We came up short tonight. In the second half, we couldn't make a shot, couldn't get our offense going, especially when they went to zone. That kind of changed the game. Tell you what, the fight and determination and the grit these guys have shown over the last 10 to 12 days is inspiring to me. I'm just very, very proud of our four seniors and the way they've handled themselves all year. We have two of them up here and two of them still in the locker room. But they did this program proud. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the Colorado student‑athletes. Q. Carlon, you guys talked about their length yesterday. Were you surprised they were able to get loose behind three, especially Heslip? He was really the difference. CARLON BROWN: I thought we did the best we could. Obviously, it wasn't good enough. Once he got going, it was almost impossible to stop. But I give our guys credit for trying to stop them and making the extra effort. He was just hot. Like Coach said, we couldn't make any shots to counteract that momentum they were getting from him. No, it doesn't surprise me. They've got a good coach, great team, and they definitely set some good screens for him to get open. Q. What will these last two weeks and what you guys did mean to you once the pain of this loss is over? AUSTIN DUFAULT: Besides tonight's loss, obviously, it's been the funnest two weeks of my life with these guys, just everything that we've accomplished. It's just been really special and something I'll never forget. Q. Austin, during your run through the Pac‑12 tournament and in your prior game out here, your strength on the offensive boards was a big difference for you. Today you guys just weren't able to keep up with them. What was kind of the difference today? AUSTIN DUFAULT: I think they just did a great job. They really keyed on that. They knew that was one thing we've been doing well, and they just did a great job boxing us out. You've got to give them credit tonight. They were the more physical team. We played as hard as we could, but they just got it done tonight. Q. Carlon, what do you think the future of this program is? CARLON BROWN: I think the future is in great hands under Coach Boyle and his staff. They've got some great guys coming in, a top 25 recruiting class, along with the guys that are returning, these two freshman stars, Askia and Spencer, and the back‑ups, Jeremy and Sab. The list goes down to Shane and everybody else. So I expect Coach Boyle to get back here and this team to get back here and do better than we did and advance. Q. The last seven minutes, what kind of went wrong? Do you think it was just four tough games last week, another tough game on Thursday, did it all just kind of catch up to you? CARLON BROWN: We're not a team of excuses, so we're not going to say that's the reason. We just didn't make shots when we needed to make shots. Turned the ball over so many times in key moments of the game. Really that zone stifled us. We just didn't have it. No excuses. Baylor did the best job in guarding us so far caused us to turn the ball over. They got hot hands on shots and were able to run and capitalize our turnovers on mistakes. All the credit goes to them. It was nothing we did wrong. Q. Askia, what will this experience do for you and the younger guys that have more time left in the program? These guys obviously fought for three years to get here, and you get here right away, what can this do for you guys? ASKIA BOOKER: First I want to say thank you to them, the four seniors, because we wouldn't be in this position without them. Just to the future, I mean, this is a great experience for me mentally just to go against these guys out here that have been here for a while. I'm a new guy that came in, and I tried to make an impact. I only want to make a bigger impact next year on the team and try to get back to the same place or further. I mean, the list goes on when you talk about guys returning and guys coming in for next year. I think it will be great. But thanks to these guys that that's where all the credit goes to. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Boyle. Q.  What impressed you the most about the way Baylor could just flip a switch and take a one‑possession game and just blow it out like that? COACH BOYLE: Well, I mean, Heslip was the difference. He was unconscious tonight. They run good stuff to get them open. They ran a back screen. Nate really guarded it well, and I think popped for a three. I mean, he made some tough shots. But he was the difference in the game, there was no question about it, Brady Heslip and their 17 offensive rebounds. If you look at the numbers in the first half, we shot 56%. They shot 34%, but we're down two, because they had 12 offensive rebounds. We knew that was going to be the key to the game, and we just couldn't get it done on the boards. They're long. They're athletic, and they're physical. We just didn't get it done tonight. The thing I like about our guys, Carlon said, we're not going to make excuses. We got beat. But Brady Heslip was the difference in the game, and I thought Pierre Jackson was terrific as well. We knew going in, those were the two guys. We had to contain Pierre Jackson and we had to get to Brady Heslip. We didn't do a good job with either one. Pierre had 15 points and 10 assists, and Heslip goes off for 27. So, you've got to credit them. They're very explosive. Very talented. Very long. Q. What is the team going to look like next year, and what does the future look like? COACH BOYLE: I couldn't be more excited. I couldn't be more optimistic. I told the guys in the locker room, "Guys, it's not going to take us nine more years to get back here." I don't know when it will happen. We were fortunate to get here this year. But I think what this team did these last, again, ten days, two weeks, however long it's been, is something that's really galvanized our team, our fan base. I can't say enough about our fans that came down tonight. I wish we could have played better for them, but there is some excitement around our program right now that we're going to capitalize on, and we're going to keep getting better. Our young guys I love. The back‑ups need to have great off‑seasons, and the new guys coming in got to strap it on because we're going to be young next year. We're going to have one senior instead of four. It's going to be a different group, just like this years was. But I expect us to get better as the year goes on, and I'm as optimistic about Colorado basketball today as I ever have been. It's a testament to what this team has done the last two weeks to put us in this position. Q. Talk a little bit about the assignment you gave André Roberson and he's obviously giving away four inches to one of the best players in the country. How do you think he acquitted himself and also a year ago he was considered an athlete. How much better a basketball player is he than he was a year ago? COACH BOYLE: Yeah, André's made tremendous strides. He really has as a basketball player. His skillset is better offensively. It's still not where it needs to be. There is still room for development and growth there. But I knew last year once he got starters' minutes he could do what he's doing on the rebounding part of it. But I thought he did a good job against Jones tonight. I really did. You look at Jones' line, he has seven points and four rebounds. So André battled him. He was giving away size. Usually André's more athletic than the guys he's going up against. He still needs to become a better box‑out guy. He missed some box ‑outs tonight. André's a big part of our future. We want to have him have another great summer, continue to get better. With the guys we've got coming in, he's going to be a big part of next year's team and hopefully beyond. Q. What will you remember most about these last two weeks? What do you think sparked you guys from where you were in Corvallis to getting this far? COACH BOYLE: What I'll remember is just the toughness and the grit that this group played with and the belief that they started to get in themselves. I think, again, it started in the Pac‑12 tournament, obviously. I don't think you can point to any one thing that was a tipping point. But I think our one‑point win over Oregon gave us a lot of confidence against a team that had just beaten us a week before. We matched up well with Cal, and we just got on a roll. But this team came together and had a belief in itself that you have to have to make a run like this, and we believed we were going to win tonight. We really did. Carlon won't say it, but I will. You can tell by the way we shot the ball in the second half against their zone, the way we shot our free throws, our legs went. I pushed these guys. I was going to ride them till the end and I did and we came up a little short. The gas tank kind of ran out offensively. But these last two weeks have been really special. Q. Shane and Jeremy and obviously Ski made some plays, not a lot of plays for some of those guys, but some really good plays. What will this experience do for some of your bench guys next year? COACH BOYLE: It will help. Being on this stage, it can do nothing but help those guys. It gives them confidence, and the thought that, hey, we can be here and we belong here. Hopefully it inspires them to come back and work even harder. We've got two new practice gyms that they built for us, and hopefully those things are getting worn out. We'll give these guys some type off well deserved. But this spring and summer and next fall we need to get back into work and continue to get better. Again, I like the projection of where this program is and where it's going. Couldn't be more proud. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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