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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2013Tyreek DurenJohn GianniniJerrell WrightBROOKLYN, NEW YORK BUTLER – 69 THE MODERATOR: From LaSalle University, Dr. John Giannini, and Jerrell Wright. COACH GIANNINI: We lost to a very good team. Their defense had a lot to do with our frustrations. The size of rebounding had a lot to do with our frustrations. I don't think we played particularly well. We had a few situations there. We really cut it down. We had a wide open three and really cut it down late. Just couldn't get over the hump. We're second in the league in three‑goal percentage, and we've been missing some that could really us the last couple of games. Really wasn't our best game. When Tyreek Duren doesn't get an assist, when Ramon Galloway have one goal apiece, you're not playing your best. Now, Butler has a ton to do with that, but I thought there were times we could have had something to do with that. Maybe not the whole game, but there were key times we had opportunities, and it just didn't go for us. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players. Q. Tyreek, I know how much you guys love coach and how important this is to you. Was anything said specifically by you to Ramon? TYREEK DUREN: I said our season's not over. We have more games to play. This isn't your last basketball game. We have plenty of more games to play. Don't let it affect your last couple of games. Q. Considering how important this game was, you guys talked about the NCAA Tournament and hoping to get a win. Was it extra disappointing that it wasn't your best game today? TYREEK DUREN: I think every game you lose is a disappointment. We wanted to win this game and advance to the tournament, but we've got to move forward. This isn't our last game. We've got to put it behind us. Q. At times it was an intense defensive game. Do you think exhaustion on either team played into some of this? TYREEK DUREN: It might have. The biggest thing with us is we weren't rebounding. I think any time you get outrebounded, you're not going to win a game. Q. Jerrell, how tough was it with Smith and those big guys in there? How difficult was it to fit in there with all the size that they had? JERRELL WRIGHT: I don't think it was that tough. During the game, I was expecting it. I was expecting to get screened when I had the ball. So I was aware of every play. Q. You said that‑‑ Tyreek said that you guys have more games to play, and you certainly do. Are you a little more nervous now about Selection Sunday? TYREEK DUREN: I don't want to say we're nervous. Depending on how other teams do. I think we belong in the NCAA Tournament. Like I say, any way you look at it, this isn't our last game. THE MODERATOR: Guys, thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Coach, do you want to make the case for your team's inclusion in the NCAA Tournament? COACH GIANNINI: I don't think I have to. I don't even think I should. Our record speaks for itself. Our standing, finishing third in our great league speaks for itself. I think we have some high‑level wins like VCU and Buffalo and Villanova that speaks for themselves. But there's some good teams out there. I have no idea how we compare to these other teams. I think we've been in the discussion. The crazy thing is, if you talk to the people who studied us, we've been in pretty much all year. It would be pretty sad for us to lose it here in the last two, three days. Again, people you respect have had us in for a long time. So we must have some of it on our resume. There's no question, if we won today, we're in. And now, frankly, we might be at the mercy of others a little bit. And the crazy thing is a lot of the people that were fighting for those last spots, they have awfully tough games too. Q. John, can you just talk about Brad Stevens as a coach. What makes him so good. What is it like coaching against him? COACH GIANNINI: I think always, as good a coach as he is, it goes back to players. A coach at our level selects the players. I think he has a certain kind of guy in mind, and they turn out to be super tough, extremely skilled, really smart. Of course, he's built a culture over there. So I think‑‑ I don't go back to late game adjustments or game planning. That's all fine. But if you don't have players and the culture and guys who fit what you want to do, it's all for naught. I credit him with building a program. That's what he's done. He's built a program. More than win games, he's built a program. Q. John, Ramon obviously didn't have the greatest offensive game. He was chasing Clarke around the whole game. Did that factor in the other side of it? Or was that a gamble you made? COACH GIANNINI: I was a little bit disappointed with the week that we had. We had some guys banged up, and we tried to go hard Monday, and it was clear, whether it was physically or mentally, we weren't getting a great practice and a great physical effort. And I think keeping guys fresh and healthy is important. So we did a lot of skill work, but I do think we got fatigued today. In hindsight, we probably didn't do enough this week, but in our defense, when we had guys with lower back things and form issues and calf issues, it's hard to try to squeeze blood out of a rock and march in practice. That's what we felt like we were doing. I felt like the fatigue was a big factor, which is crazy because they played yesterday. But we were‑‑ I think we were real tired, and I don't know what I would have done differently, but we didn't look like we had the ability to really push them physically this week. I think it really hurt us today. Q. John, you have one of your best players like Galloway, just to kind of follow up on Sam's question. When he has a game like he's having, 1 for 10, seems like he's struggling every shot, what's going through your mind? Do you have to walk a fine line at all about how much rope you give him? COACH GIANNINI: No. We've come this far. When you come that far with a First Team All‑Conference guy, you're not changing at the last second. I think continuing that confidence in guys is important, not only in this game, but moving forward. And at any moment, he could make four or five in a row. In fact, when a good player is struggling, I expect them to start making shots at any moment. Q. John, did you feel Ramon was pressing a little, and did you feel the need to take him aside and calm him down a little? COACH GIANNINI: Both. I think he tried really hard. I think he wanted to win. I think he wanted to be aggressive. I certainly wouldn't fault his effort in this game at all. I think he played really hard. If anything, he might have tried too hard. Q. Coach, when guys struggle from time to time, you've talked about floor shots may not go in. In a big game when it happens to a guy that means so much to you and your program, do you hurt for him even more? COACH GIANNINI: There's no time to hurt during the game. During the game, you're trying to win, and you've got to be tough, and it's not the time. Game time is not the time to be sensitive. You've got to be smart. After the game, of course you feel awful, and he feels awful. Of course you feel awful after the game. These kids have a schedule that most people can't imagine. They're up early. They're lifting and in the training room, and they're in study hall, and they're in class, and they're at practice, and they're in video rooms. They work awfully hard for all of us, and when you have good kids and good players like us, you really come to appreciate them. Of course you're going to feel bad when they come up short. Q. You mentioned the loss, but you don't feel like you have anything to apologize for what you've done. Do you feel like you're hurt or could be hurt in the eyes of the committee by the fact that LaSalle hasn't been on the NCAA radar in a little bit? COACH GIANNINI: No, I think that their job is to pick who they think the best teams are. We did win 20 games last year, and we have been on discussions throughout the year. The mock exercise, we were in. So I don't think they're going to be surprised by considering LaSalle based on last year and this year at all. Q. Following that up, John, what will you do the next couple of days? Are you going to watch various league games and try to figure out where you stand? COACH GIANNINI: It's interesting. One of the schools in our situation is Boise State, and I think he said, when he was in this situation once before, he watched every school and made himself nuts. He's not going to do it. For the record, I'm going to make myself nuts. Q. [Inaudible.] COACH GIANNINI: No, you just live and die with every play. You know who needs to win, and you know who needs to lose. We get a break, and we end up being judged on 30 games as opposed to our last two. By the way, our loss is to potential Final Four teams. Q. If you are able to get into the tournament, given everything that this whole season has been like across the country, do you just feel like‑‑ COACH GIANNINI: I'll talk about another A‑10 team here. Two years ago, we had an underachieving team. They finished 15‑18, not a horrible team, but we were pretty talented. Our preseason that year was against VCU, and it was a 15‑minute, dead even, down to the last point, even scrimmage. If someone told me after that scrimmage that one of the teams were going to the Final Four, I would have been pretty excited because it was that even. So I think if you‑‑ yeah, I think there's a ton of great teams out there. The team we lost to, they beat two Number 1 teams. There's no question. The reason why, it has nothing to do with players leading their way into the draft or nothing like that. The reason why is schools are very committed. At LaSalle, we take basketball very seriously. When you take basketball seriously, you build a program, and there's just a lot of good teams. There's a lot of schools that are very committed that want to be in that NCAA Tournament. They invest a lot into it, and we're one of them.  There's a lot of good teams. There's more good teams where people talk about college basketball being down, maybe it's not the Jordans and Ewings out there, but there's more good teams than ever. Q. First of all, up to the breaking news, they have you as the last team in right now. I just thought you might want to know. COACH GIANNINI: I hope that's not a Philly favorite, by the way. Q. There you go. Good point. Can you speak on the power of the A‑10 and kind of trampoline off of the different kinds of teams and styles and how that will benefit you if you do get in, no matter who you get. COACH GIANNINI: I think we're really hard to play against. We're a little smaller, but we're hard to play against. One of the things about how we play is people aren't used to us. Obviously, we had more success against Butler the first time around. They missed a key player the first time. We missed a key player the second time. When people are familiar with you and you have a different type of style of play, when you are smaller and quicker, that is very different. I think, when people play us for the first time, it's hard for them. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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