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NCAA MEN'S DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIP GAMEApril 5, 2013David HixonPeter KaasilaAllen WilliamsonWilly WorkmanATLANTA, GEORGIA THE MODERATOR: Questions first for the student‑athletes and then for Coach. COACH HIXON: I'd like to start by thanking all the people that made this possible and so special. We've been to Salem I think five times now, maybe six, and we're fortunate enough to win a national championship in 2007 and Salem had become a real special place to us. But already two days in, not quite two days in, this has surpassed our experience there certainly. And it's just an amazing thing. And so we're honored to be here. We're proud to be here, excited and hopefully we'll play well. My team and there's certainly four of them here that have been key components for us, Willy, Peter and Allen are senior captains. Aaron is a junior point guard who coincidentally is Player of the Year in the country this year, have been very instrumental in what we've done here. And I always tell Aaron, even though he's Player of the Year that these three seniors have been the real foundation of what we've done. We started out the year 5‑0, and we thought we might have something special, and we lost a game. And then we played a team that we should beat and did beat and we turn around and played a team we thought we should beat. And we didn't beat. And we were 6‑2. And we certainly weren't looking at Atlanta, Georgia at that point in time. We had a couple of meetings and that was on a Thursday. On Saturday we played a very good, one of the best teams in New England, and we played awesome. And we beat them pretty handily in our gym. You could see the change taking place, you could see the change taking place the day before in practice after those meetings. And that really was a turning point for us. We haven't lost since. That was December6. And so it's been a long time. And there have been some exciting games in there. We had a triple overtime up at Middlebury which we won and Willy made ESPN's top 10 on that intentionally missing a free throw and getting it back and laying it in. We've had a couple of other situations where we played teams where it was really close. We played our big rival Williams in the conference championship, and the kid was going in for a layup to win it and Allen came out of nowhere and blocked it. And so it sort of magically has all come together for us. We hope it continues, naturally, but as far as this team goes, they've grown. They've grown immeasurably since December6, and it really developed out of trust. It developed from the three captains sitting down with the coaches and then going from the coaches and sitting down with the team and starting to demand certain things of each other, which we weren't doing earlier in the year. Success was easy. And we failed a couple of times and we had to address it. When we addressed it that's when the growth started and I'm so proud of what they've done and where they came from and where they've ended up. And so I've really enjoyed coaching them. We only have 12 active players on the roster, so we're really a tight group, but I'll tell you the trust, the love, the camaraderie in this team right here is so key to why we're here in Atlanta. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Coach Hixon told me on the phone last week on the phone, talked about it again today when y'all lost two of three, and I think his words to me the other day were you all had some hard talks. What was it y'all talked about? Was it a Knute Rockne speech, or what were the hard talks, or how did you all turn it around with just those meetings? COACH HIXON: Yeah, these three senior captains here went and talked to coaches and kind of talked about where our team was going, what direction we were going in, and they didn't‑‑ none of us really liked the direction we were headed. I know these three kind of put their heads together and said this isn't how we want our careers to end. And they came in. They took over the locker room for a good 10 or 15 minutes and really just told us the same thing. This isn't how they're going to end their careers. And that really kind of got to each and every one of us and we came together and we said we're going to play as however many we had at that time, 14 kids, we're going to play all together and play our hearts for these three and we're not going to let them end their careers this way and we're going to try to take them as far as we can. ALLEN WILLIAMSON:  Myself and these two other guys had really high hopes going into the season. We knew how good we could be. And we were really disappointed with ourselves when we're sitting at 6 and 2. We really took it on ourselves. We took a look at ourselves and realized that we had to be better leaders and taking this team where we wanted them to go. And it really started with the three of us. We came together and the guys really responded to what we had to say, and we run 23 straight after that.       PETER KAASILA: Yes, my freshman year was a poor year for us. The three of us, we had flashbacks for that year. And we knew that that was not a direction that we were going to take again this year. So we basically just brought everybody into the locker room and kind of demanded more of everybody, and basically said if you're not on board with this team's mission, then like we don't need you here. If you're not on board, we don't have any use for you. And that kind of rallied everybody up and got us here today. THE MODERATOR: Willy. WILLY WORKMAN: We made a conscious decision to preach accountability, not just to the coaching staff, to the program, to the school but also to one another, and that might be the hardest thing of all, because these three guys up here are three of my best friends in the world, but it's easy to be a team and unit when everything's going well and it's harder to come together when things are going poorly. And so staying on one another to do the little things, defensive rotation, the loose balls, defense, all those little things, playing hard, you know when you add those up, they become a big thing, and so it was really about just holding one another accountable and coming together as a team. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes or Coach Hixon of Amherst. Q. When did you guys start to believe that this was possible? COACH HIXON: Yeah, I actually‑‑ so that was Thursday. And we spent the whole day Friday sorting things out, came to practice, and believe it or not, Friday's practice had an electric sense to it that we hadn't had. And Brandeis is a very good team this year. I thought certainly they're NCAA level. Had a couple of bad breaks, but the talent was equal to anybody's, and they had beaten the team that we lost to by 4 or 5 by like 27 or something like that. And so we knew we were in for a tough game. And on that Saturday we look like an NCAA championship team. We played awesome. And that day‑‑ and I don't want to smile too soon, and I think I smiled today for the first time‑‑ but that day I knew. I said to myself, This is it. We did something here, and then we decided to play like that all the time. And we decided to practice like that all the time. So it was a definite turning point. THE MODERATOR: Willy? WILLY WORKMAN: Sure. The first time that we heard about the 75th Anniversary of the NCAA and potential trip to Atlanta, it was last spring, and, believe it or not, we were actually in the library, me, Peter, Aaron‑‑ I don't know where Allen was, probably playing video games or something‑‑ I remember in that moment we all heard that and we kind of went nuts. We were supposed to be in the library studying. No one got any work done. We were just thinking about it, coming down to Atlanta and daydreaming about that, and ever since then we've been on this mission. We really believed we could make it there, but we knew we had to come together, us five, and do it together. But, I mean, that was really the day where we put it in our heads. And over the summer we all worked very hard individually becoming better players so we could become a better team. We worked hard in the preseason, and then we started off the season well. Like Coach said, we hit a couple of bumps in the road, but I think that adversity was important for us to come together. We consider ourselves a family, and just like any family you're going to hit some rough spots. So it was important that we came together after hitting those rough spots. THE MODERATOR: Allen? ALLEN WILLIAMSON: Yeah, I was actually downstairs in the library, they were upstairs, that's what it was. But, yeah, it was really‑‑ in preseason, when we were playing pickup, we had so much talent down the roster, all of us really had something to bring to the table. And it was really just when we started to practice and bring all that stuff together and play organized basketball that we realized that we had something special going. And it wasn't just our talent as players. We were a close group of guys, top to bottom, from our seniors to our freshmen. We were a really close group. So all of us were really on board with this and we thought we had something special from the beginning. Q. This is your third time in this situation. How does this one differ from the other times you've been here? COACH HIXON: Well, it's Atlanta, and it's with the other groups. And it's one game. Before it was two, and you played on Friday and you focused on Friday. You had your assistants scouting the two guys that were playing in the other game. And you might have looked at them briefly. But when that first game was over, if you won‑‑ if you lost you went home. If you won, then overnight you sort of prepared for the next opponent. And this is one game. We've had two weeks. So it's a little bit different that way. We've learned how to handle the two‑week layoff a little bit. Both teams had a bye to start the year, start the NCAA tournament, and now we both have this two‑week layoff at the end. It's been different that way. But the hoopla is a lot more. So it started. I mean, I was like a little kid in a candy store. I hadn't seen so many police‑‑ we've got a police escort here from the airport. I haven't seen so many police lights since I was in trouble once. We had 12 police cars darting in and out driving us here, and I got excited. And it was unbelievable. There's so many things going on. And Salem, by the way, does an unbelievable job when they do it. But this is just, you know, two or three notches up. And just for these guys, too, we've had an expression that I said to them, I don't know when I first said it to them, but it was: Respect the mission. And that's sort of been our motto for a long time now. And that covers everything. That covers taking care of your academics, making sure you're doing the right things on campus and on and on. And also playing well, respected. And we just sort of get into that thing. And now we're at the point where respect the mission has become finish the mission. And so we're excited about that. Q. You guys have seen four very different teams in this tournament in Plattsburgh State, in Randolph‑Macon, and then Cabrini, and the grindfest you had with North Central. And, Coach, you and I talked after that game, and you said you'll have to try to find five guys in New England who can replicate what Mary Hardin‑Baylor can do. And the first part of this question is, A, did you find them? And for all you guys, can you tap into any of those games or even games in the NESCAC that after looking at the video can get you ready for what will be a very different squad with Mary Hardin‑Baylor? COACH HIXON: We didn't find those five guys. And it's hard to replicate. It's hard to replicate. But we felt that going into Plattsburgh. We really felt that going into Randolph‑Macon. And Randolph‑Macon was a superlative team and with some great athletes that could push the ball, as did Plattsburgh, but Cabrini, who had a wonderful player, really great player, pushed the ball really hard. And so there are some similarities involved in that. There aren't many similarities with them in North Central except they play really hard defense, the way North Central did. But these guys are quick, long. They love to play 94feet. And you make mistakes, it's coming right back down your throat. So we've done a couple of things during the week to try. The guys touch the line and have to catch back up and point to guys and try to figure out how to stop a transition. But, in general, we've just gotta come out. We've faced different teams. We've beaten different teams. I told the guys today, because I thought we looked a little nervous in practice this morning, and I just told them: Guys, you've got to believe who you are right now because you're good. I think it's probably the first time all year I've told them they were good, and I think I told them that was the first time I told them. But I think we've got to trust who we are now. We've played teams like this. We've had to stop transition. We've had to offensive rebound with people, and guys like Allen and Willy have stepped up on the boards with us. And when we thought other teams were better than us, they rose to the challenge and we became better. We've gotta trust who they are and play Amherst basketball and see where it takes us. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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