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NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOURApril 5, 2013Malcolm ArmsteadCleanthony EarlyCarl HallGregg MarshallATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Wichita State Shockers head coach Gregg Marshall and student‑athletes. We'll ask Coach Marshall to give an opening statement and then take questions. COACH MARSHALL: We're excited to be here. It's a great, great championship, as you can imagine. We're pleased to have the opportunity to compete for a championship here this weekend. There's four teams left, and I'm just really excited to have these gentlemen to my left have an opportunity to play for it. THE MODERATOR: We'll again with questions for our student‑athletes. Q. A few weeks ago, Antoine Carr, Xavier McDaniel came into your locker room before a game and addressed your team with the 'play angry' motto. How important was that for your team? COACH MARSHALL: That's a great question for the student‑athletes because they're the ones going out and playing angry. I think at the state we were in at that time, I think we lost a couple of games. If you've ever seen X and Antoine play, they played angry. They were aggressive and tough and were the initiator of hard contact in the post. They were boxing out and beating checks, beating folks to loose balls, 50/50 balls. That's what 'play angry' means, to defend with your feet, put your chest on people. This team has embodied that creed. So I'm glad that those gentlemen gave us that advice. MALCOLM ARMSTEAD: Pretty much what coach said. Playing with energy, passion, playing like your hair's on fire. Just playing hard. Everything you got. Leaving it all out there. Q. Carl, how much did you make at the lighting factory? Would you recommend that job to your teammates here? CARL HALL: I made about $12 an hour. I wouldn't recommend that to my teammates. It was a lot of hard work. I don't think Cleanthony could make it anyway (smiling). I wouldn't recommend that job to anybody. It was just a hot, nasty job. I tell them every day to stay in school and do they work. COACH MARSHALL: With Carl's degree, which he has in hand now, he can go back and at least be a supervisor. Q. Did you guys learn anything or get any more resilience from holding off Ohio State in your last game? MALCOLM ARMSTEAD: Yeah, we learned a lot about ourselves. You know, we learned that down the stretch we got to be able to do more things, take care of better situations like the ball, being able to score more efficient down the stretch. You know, we showcased that we can play with anybody in the country. It was just a matter of us, you know, going out and doing what we do, executing the game plan that coach gives us. CLEANTHONY EARLY: We just got to continue to play hard and know it's never over till the buzzer sounds. At the end of the day, we got to go out and do better than what they do. That goes to Ohio State, Louisville, Gonzaga. We just got to play with intensity and energy. Q. For all three players, could you just tell us how much you knew about Wichita State before you went to school there. CARL HALL: I knew nothing about Wichita State. I had to Google it, see how big the city was. When I first heard the word 'Wichita,' I'm thinking a small country town, people walking around with cowboy boots on, things like that (laughter). CLEANTHONY EARLY: Yeah, I didn't know much about it either. Carl pretty much hit it on the head. Had to do my research. I found out there were a couple of good things I liked about the school. I took my visit and I continued to like things I found out about the school. I made my decision and I felt pretty good about it, and I still feel good about it. MALCOLM ARMSTEAD: When I heard about Wichita State and found out that it was in Kansas, first thing came to mind was Wizard of Oz, like Dorothy. That was the only thing I really knew about it. But I'm glad I'm here. We're making the most of our opportunity. THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse the student‑athletes at this time and take questions for Coach Marshall. Q. Yesterday Rick Pitino described your defense as 'Marquette on steroids.' Can you translate that for us? And do you think that's a compliment? COACH MARSHALL: Well, except that we're not on steroids. Other than that, I think it's a definite compliment. Buzz Williams does a marvelous job. He's one of the great coaches in our country. Rick Pitino, who I have the utmost respect for and admiration, for him to say that is certainly a compliment. I hope that it's true. I also know that Coach Pitino is probably trying to get his team prepared mentally. So if we're 'Marquette on steroids' defensively tomorrow, that will give us a great chance. Q. A lot of great guards here this weekend, a lot of name guards. Let's hear your case for Malcolm and why he belongs. COACH MARSHALL: That's a great question because there are great guards. Trey, AP Player of the Year. Peyton and Russ. We are so fortunate to have Malcolm Armstead. If we don't have Malcolm Armstead this year, we're not sitting here talking about the Final Four. Maybe not the NCAA tournament. Fred Van Vleet has done a great job as a rookie, but he's been able to morph into this role, 18 minutes a game, something like that. He's played a lot more in the second half of the season. We don't go to VCU and win without Malcolm Armstead. My assistant coaches did a wonderful job getting him to come to Wichita State as he chose to leave Oregon. He is the maestro. He puts everybody in place and makes the basketball plays that you need to make as a quarterback, as your point guard, as your leader on the floor. And he's gotten better defensively. He's very, very strong. His body is tough, bulldog strong. He can get in the lane, absorb contact. He's got that funky way of finishing with that left hand, almost a trick shot sometimes when he penetrates. What I'm most pleased with is he's gone out a winner. He's gone to the NCAA tournament. In his only NCAA tournament appearance, he's at least a Final Four point guard, and I think he's going to get a chance to play for a lot of money with his performance in this tournament. Q. How do you go about handling Louisville in transition? COACH MARSHALL: Well, they're very, very fast, athletic, push it extremely hard. What you've got to do is not turn the ball over. If we're turning the ball over and giving them transition opportunities, then we're not doing what we're trying to do if we're taking bad shots and allowing them to get out in transition. Until we get into the game, I don't know how much better they are than Ohio State in transition. They could be considerably better. They may not be better at all. But that was Ohio State's trademark, too. They loved to score in transition. In that particular case, we were able to keep them out of transition, albeit a few possessions in their comeback. We set out to make sure that Ohio State had to attack us a halfcourt set defense, and it worked well for us. That's the goal against Louisville, as well. Q. I have a question about one of the other Final Four coaches, John Beilein has never been an assistant. Most coaches have. What do you admire about someone's whose path to this point was only a head coach everywhere? COACH MARSHALL: Coach Beilein has taken an unusual path. When he was the head coach at Le Moyne in Upstate New York, I was the assistant coach at Randolph‑Macon. My first knowledge of John Beilein, the name John Beilein, he beat me on a prospect from the Washington, D.C. area, and I was so despondent because I wanted that kid, he went to Le Moyne. Andy Beck told was his name. They were a Division II. Randolph‑Macon was Division II, moving to Division III. I didn't quite have the caché to offer a scholarship to Andy and he went to Le Moyne. That was the first I knew about Coach Beilein being a good recruiter. He's bounced from one level to another level to another level, and he's done it flawlessly at each step. I, on the other hand, spent 13 years as an assistant and finally got my opportunity at Winthrop University 15 years ago. I took a little bit different path. But I admire him for the steps he's taken. He's done it without playing, just like myself, as a big‑time Division I player, without a father who's a coach, without name recognition. He's had to earn it step by step, and he's done a great job. I've followed his career as my college Coach Hal Nunally and he were friends. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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