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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE OPERATION BASKETBALL


October 16, 2013


C.J. Fair

Baye Moussa Keita


CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA

JEFF FISCHEL:  Pleased to be joined by some of the new guys, Syracuse Orange.  Had a good run in the NCAA tournament.  Let's start with the Syracuse press.

Q.  Talk about what you're most excited about.
C.J. FAIR:  I say I'm most excited about just playing new teams, being in a new league.  You see this league on TV a lot.  It's going to be a fun, exciting year.
BAYE MOUSSA KEITA:  Like C.J. say, going into a new conference, playing different teams.  We've been in the Big East a long time.  Kind of excited about seeing the new conference.
JEFF FISCHEL:  You have to replace three guys that were double‑digit scorers.  Give me a sense offensively what Syracuse is going to look like.
C.J. FAIR:  We going to have some new faces scoring the ball.
This year we got a big front court.  We got a new backcourt as far as our freshman point guard, sophomore and freshman guard.
We're going to have a good team this year.  You just got to get the freshmen feet wet, know what to expect.  It's me and Baye's job to be leaders of this team.

Q.  Joining the league now, what is the difference between getting ready and traveling to Duke for a game as opposed to going to Providence or Georgetown?
BAYE MOUSSA KEITA:  I think there won't be a lot of difference.  We'll get into our game routine.  The coach is going to get the scouting.  We're going to go ahead and do the same thing.
It's going to be a little bit different playing different teams.  Apart from that, we'll just go about playing like we did in the Big East.
C.J. FAIR:  Like Baye said, we face a new opponent.  Everything is going to be new to us.  We just got to handle our emotions and excitement, just stick to our game plan.

Q.  Is there a team that you're going to miss playing the most?  Is there a team you're most looking forward to playing?
C.J. FAIR:  I'm not going to say I'm going to miss playing a team (smiling).  I know you hear a lot of talk about Duke and North Carolina, Tobacco Road, stuff like that.
I'm excited to be facing new teams.  That's really what I'm excited about.
BAYE MOUSSA KEITA:  Like C.J. say, every conference you go into, there's going to be a good competition.  We're excited for that.  Even though there's a lot of rivalry between us and Georgetown, this is a new conference, so we're going to have new rivals.  We're excited about that, too.

Q.  Talking about Duke specifically, reports out yesterday less than a day after tickets went on sale, they only have seats on the opposite end of the dome.  Record crowd expected.  When you get a big stage like that, how much does that get your juices flowing?
BAYE MOUSSA KEITA:  We heard yesterday the dome is sold out.  It's going to be a good game.  Just like we play Georgetown, the dome is always full.  It's going to be a good game, and like C.J. say, handle our emotion.  Every time we play a big team, there's a lot of excitement.
C.J. FAIR:  Yeah, Duke and North Carolina come to the dome, I know a lot of our offense want to witness that.  We just got to handle our part, use the crowd to our advantage, pull off a victory.

Q.  C.J., why did you ultimately decide to come back for your senior year, not go to the NBA?
C.J. FAIR:  I just thought it would be best for me to come back.  I went home and talked to my family about, weighed the pros and cons.
Leaving school early is definitely a big risk.  I think for me coming back was best for me and better my chances at the next level.

Q.  Talk about following up the Final Four with five freshmen now on the squad, the challenge of that.
BAYE MOUSSA KEITA:  You know, everybody was saying we have five freshmen.  That's really good.  We went to Canada, played four games there, show up, see what everybody have.  Like C.J. said, we're leading them every day in practice.
I think they're going to be good.  Between high school and this level, a whole different level.  We're going to try to push them to be better.  They've been good so far during practice.  We're going to wait to start the season and see what we have down the road.
C.J. FAIR:  Yeah, we went to the Final Four last year.  So we got a taste of it.  This year our goal is to complete the job being in the Final Four.
As far as our freshmen, we got a lot of talented freshmen.  When we took the Canada trip, you could really see how they operate, how they play.  I was very impressed.  A lot of them exceeded my expectations for them.

Q.  C.J., you and I climbed up to the dome last year.  Can you imagine five or six games where people are sitting that far away?  What does that do for you as a player?
C.J. FAIR:  You just know that occasion, the enjoyment the fans get out of watching us play.
For me as a player, you just want to go out there and get the fans starting to appreciate, by honoring them, play your best, play hard.

Q.  Bringing Pittsburgh and Notre Dame in, what is it going to be like to keep those rivals going?
BAYE MOUSSA KEITA:  Pittsburgh is always a tough team to play, and Notre Dame, too.  We're going to Pittsburgh this year, and they're coming to the dome.  It's going to be a tough competition like usual.
Keeping the rivalry going is a big thing.  We're excited to go back to Pittsburgh because it's a really, really, really tough place to play.
JEFF FISCHEL:  I want to thank Syracuse.  Good luck this season.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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