University of Tennessee Athletics
TENNESSEE/VIRGINIA PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
March 17, 2007 | Men's Basketball
March 17, 2007
Tennessee Press Conference Transcript
REPORTER: Chris, how much of what happened yesterday do you think is evidence of things to come and does one game necessarily translate to another, meaning how many points you all scored and what's coming up tomorrow?
LOFTON: I think we know we're not going to score 121 points tomorrow and we have to push the fast break and try to get open looks.
REPORTER: I'm wondering if both of you could talk about your reactions to seeing your coach with his chest painted orange and his face. I don't know if you saw it live or you saw it on TV, but what were your first thoughts when you saw that?
BRADSHAW: I'd like to say it's something that I don't expect from Coach Pearl but you kind of expect the unexpected from him, so it was something that we had heard he was going to do throughout the week and then when the time came, I went back home to turn on ESPN because the ladies' game was on. We weren't shocked as players because we know who he is. Most of the world embraced it and thought it was funny, but those who criticized it, just don't know him well enough and he's been doing those type of things since he was at a Division II school, so he's been the same guy and hasn't been changed by his success.
LOFTON: He does things like that all the time like Dane just said. It doesn't surprise him when he does stunts like that. There's more to come in the future, you can expect too.
REPORTER: For both guys, talk about the resistance you expect to see tomorrow from the Virginia defense?
LOFTON: The Virginia defense is known for their defense, they play great defense, we've just got to execute our stuff and try to get some buckets down low and get some kickouts for easier looks outside. We can't rely on the three-point shot the whole game. We have to find points in the paint.
BRADSHAW: They don't force a ton of turnovers. They don't necessarily deny the passing lanes and things like that, but they're so solid on defense and it shows in their field goal percentage defense, and they're just extremely solid and very well disciplined on the defensive end. We see being midlined towards the basketball, a little basketball terminology, but we're going to have get good looks because we didn't get great looks yesterday.
REPORTER: For either player, what kind of challenge are their guards going to present for your press? It probably seems like one of the better back courts you're going to go up against this year.
BRADSHAW: Singletary is as good a point guard as we're going to see. Fortunately for us, the SEC has shown us some great guard play that has prepared us a little bit for it, but between him and Reynolds, they're two of the best guard come bows in the tournament right now. So it's going to be tough to press because Singletary is so quick to get to the ball, but we'll look to throw some wrinkles in there and see what we can do to stop him. So it's obvious that they're going to be a primary focus on the scouting report.
REPORTER: Dane, can you talk a little bit, I know you've done this locally a little bit, but can you talk about your relationship with Coach Pearl and in particular what the scholarship endorsement from he and his wife meant to you?
BRADSHAW: Just having been through two coaching staffs, without knocking one or the other, being under Coach Pearl and his staff, not just from me but from any player, I think when I leave this program, I'll be as close to my coaching staff as any player in the country and that's a credit to them, because so oftentimes you get in college basketball and it becomes a business atmosphere, but they do a good job of balancing the business aspect and lifelong friendships as well as trying to have success on the court. As far as the scholarship goes, it was a tremendous honor for me, but it speaks highly of Coach himself, and he's done what he's never done before, since he's come to Knoxville, it seems like it's become Bruce Pearl country, but it's never been about him, you've seen him go out of his way to make other people feel great about themselves and show the proper respect. You see him with Bernard king, bringing him back to Kentucky and it was never about him, I think it was the same way as far as the scholarship goes.
REPORTER: When you talk about Singletary being as good a point guard as you're going to see, what does that mean to you as a player? What does he do out on the court that just stands out to you?
BRADSHAW: We look at the breakdown film and you look at play sets and try to take some things away, but then there are some highlights that you just really can't do anything about. He's going to make great plays. They're going to score. He just has tremendous ability and it's going to take 10 eyes out there watching the ball and it's tough because you have J. R. Reynolds out there as a huge threat as well, so they can really stretch the defense out.
REPORTER: Guard play is so important this time of year. Have you ever been a part of a performance lining that where you and Ramar, where the assists, taking care of the ball, is a complete effort like that?
LOFTON: Not since I've been at Tennessee. A couple tiles in high school but that performance yesterday was a great performance for us offensively and defensively. I know we got called for some handshakes, but overall I thought our guards played great defense.
REPORTER: Anytime you score 20, 25 points, tubby Smith gets beat up by somebody else, how do you feel about that, that Smith and a teen know and hug begins did not offer you, where were you going to go before Buzz came along?
LOFTON: Don't check, but I was going to go to Indiana somewhere and play, luckily Tennessee came in at the last minute and gave me a shot. I'm happy to be here. They had their recruiting class come in ahead of me, they had players ahead of me, so you can't blame them, they just went off the ratings.
REPORTER: Was there something of you screaming inside of you saying, hey look at me, I can play? How frustrating was it to have them not?
LOFTON: It was frustrating for me not knowing where I was going to go to school at in that I wish I had a chance to play at a Big Ten school, luckily Tennessee came right at the last minute before the last signing date I was able to come here.
REPORTER: Is that amazing to you, though, that basically the ACC player of the year had to fight his way on like that?
BRADSHAW: It is, I think tubby Smith and those guys get a bad wrap because there were a number of people that overlooked Chris, it's just they're at the highest leveling and they get the most ridiculed about it, because even when he came into Knoxville, we were kind of wishy-washy about it, I guess. When they signed him, I remember the assistant coach, Chris Ferguson, he said, yeah, well, we have another scholarship so we'll see what we can do, not sure if he can help us or not. And as a guard, I was hoping that he wouldn't be too good to come over me, but all of a sudden we started hearing during the summer he's in these all-star games and scoring 40, 50 points and he's got to be something, so he came in and proved himself very quickly and second collegiate game he put up 20 plus on North Carolina so we haven't really looked back from there.
REPORTER: Dane, talk about rebounding tomorrow and the possible high advantage for Virginia and how it's going to be important to maybe outwork those guys on the boards.
BRADSHAW: It is. We just noticed how tough they are on film down low and we're going to really have to bring that toughness tomorrow afternoon and they're just a very well disciplined, well coached team because you don't see very much negative emotion out on the court. We're going to throw some big runs at them. I don't think they're going to be overwhelmed by it, they're going to stay disciplined and their toughness has paid off, cane down low is one of the best rebounders in the ACC, so that will be one of my jobs to keep him off the glass, maybe not even get the rebound myself, but have the other guards what we call rebound down and kind of pick up those loose balls.
REPORTER: Chris, they did a good job yesterday on the Jamar Wilson kid, Mamadi was taking him, do you expect more of a man to man with him tomorrow considering you have other weapons, do you consider you and him might be going head to head.
LOFTON: I really don't know. I'm going to go out there and play hard and do whatever I can to help my team out. I really don't try to look at individual match-ups.
COACH PEARL: We're very excited to have advanced and be playing in the second round. The opponent is extremely formidable, Virginia winning the ACC season with North Carolina, had such an outstanding regular season. This will be a terrific challenge for us. The two guards are special, both in their own ways, as good as we've played against, and it's the other eight or nine cast of characters and their physicality that concern me. They have really, really good depth and they play a physical, solid style of defense, have one of the best field goal percentage defenses in the ACC, and there's no doubt that they'll have an outstanding defensive game plan for us.
REPORTER: We heard from Coach Leitao about your connections I guess geographically and otherwise. Talk a little bit about your background and the way it parallels his.
COACH PEARL: I guess the first thing that jumps is maybe what a great country we live in. Dave and I are the same age. Dave was a great player, I wasn't. I was at BC practicing and he was at northeastern playing. My brother-in-law, rich strictly was a great player on those Boston teams and rich is in town now visiting with me and he and Dave went at it all the time Boston college/northeastern. Being on that team at Boston college, it was a very special time in college basketball in a city known for professional basketball. Boston's a pro town. But you had Rick Pitino at Boston, and Jim Calhoun at Northeastern and you had Tom Davis at Boston College. You had three of the best pressure defenses all in the same city competing against each other. It was a very exciting time as a student to be witness to a young Rick Pitino evolving and I think clearly from Dr. Tom Davis and Jim Calhoun because he was younger than those guys. Rick would come scout all the BC games, even after they played early in the season, just learning, and I always admired him for that. And Jim Calhoun, he picks out certain things about his teams every year, whether it be rebounding or whether it be fast breaking basketball and at one time full court pressure defense and those were the trademarks of his Connecticut and U Conn teams much so I think Dave has got terrific pedigree coming from Coach Calhoun and what you know of me, you know so much of what I've inherited comes from Dr. Tom Davis, so Dave did as a player and I did as whatever in the world you'd want to call me.
REPORTER: Coach, how is Wayne and do you expect him to be okay for tomorrow?
COACH PEARL: We sure hope so, Rick. He's better today, but he took a shot to the upper body and it rattled him from a standpoint of he had some concussion-like symptoms. He's got the athletically induced asthma, pretty good asthmatic situation, his breathing was bothered, so we've been checking him out neurologically, cardiovascularly, lots of different things since the game, he's checking out fine, he still is going to be under going some more tests this afternoon. I anticipate him at practice today and unless there's some diagnosis that we are unaware of or don't anticipate, he'll play tomorrow.
REPORTER: Coach, when you look at the match-up tomorrow, it's unique in the sense that neither team has a traditional -- the guys that are playing are multi-dimensional, do you see that as a growing trend in or is that unique in the game tomorrow?
COACH PEARL: Depends on whether you want to use the word traditional. I think Singletary is a great guard, Connelly can score, Augenstein can score. I think I would say that you're looking at point guards that are capable of scoring. Certainly Singletary is a very, very tough cover because he can shoot the three ball so well and he penetrates so well and he can score and he can dish. Maybe Ramar would be a little less traditional in the sense that he was a combo guard all through high school and he's become a point guard. My guess, I don't know, and you may know, my guess is Singletary has been a point guard for a long time the way he plays. You guys cover him, I don't know. I would think he was born point guard, but he can just score.
REPORTER: Bruce, this time two years ago Tennessee, Virginia, both were cranking up coaching searches. You and Dave were names out there on the market. Was there ever any intermingling or, you know, I'm sure as a potential candidate, you're aware of the market, what do you remember about that time?
COACH PEARL: I remember that the one thing about coaching that I love my job, I love my profession and I love working with student athletes, I don't like the fact that it can be nomadic for lots of reasons and we don't need to go into all that in making a run at Milwaukee, wondering and worrying, am I going to have to make cane when the sun shines here, because it doesn't come around all the time, you don't get to the Sweet 16 all the time and really worrying about that, because I dig roots and everything, but I was aware at the time that we were making a run, there were only two, as I recall, really only a couple of big-time jobs that were open and one was Tennessee and the other one was Virginia. That's my only recollection at that time was that I was aware of what was out there because we thought we had a chance to maybe make another step in our career.
REPORTER: I have a couple fashion questions.
COACH PEARL: Okay.
REPORTER: I'm curious about your orange blazer, where you got it, what dictates when you wear it and does your wife like it, probably most important.
COACH PEARL: In reverse order, no, she's not a big fan or she wasn't a big fan of the orange blazer. I wear it when we play Vanderbilt and Kentucky as a way of honoring the all-time greatest coach in Tennessee basketball history, Ray Mears, Ray wore that jacket a lot and there were two programs in the SEC that disliked him the most were Kentucky and Vanderbilt. Kentucky because he had a 5-8 record against Adolph Rupp and Vanderbilt because it was an in-state rival and he enjoyed beating the Commodores more than anybody else and didn't mind for that to be known. So I wear the jacket for Coach Mears for those two ball games, as far as where I got it, when I first got the job at Tennessee, athletic director Mike Hamilton so graciously introduced me to a clotheir in town, and as I like to say, up until the time I got the Tennessee job, I was poor for about 45 years, and at that moment, I'd been rich for about a month. And when I got the bill for that jacket, I could normally have gone to Filene's Basement and bought two suits, three slacks and a pair of shoes for what I paid for.
REPORTER: Coach Leitao said there were various points that you wanted to get him, you tried to get him to play you, do you remember that, trying to get games with him?
COACH PEARL: No. I'd like to help a story out here, it sounds like a great story line, but, you mean, Dave wouldn't play me? I don't know.
REPORTER: He said he thought of you as a guy always looking for exposure for his teams.
COACH PEARL: That would be a true statement. I don't know if it would be at Dave's either expense or beckoning, I don't know. I don't recall trying -- I don't know where he would have been and I would have been when we might have been in a position to schedule. I've been a great fan of his because I knew him and follow his career real closely. I'm just glad to see a local boy do good.
REPORTER: Do you consider yourself much of a risk taker? I mean, it's hard to imagine a Bob Knight or Mike Krzyzewski painting himself, when you did that, did you worry what people would think or was the reward worth the risk?
COACH PEARL: That's a great thing, I was worried about one thing and one thing only, that I might dishonor my profession and I talked to Coach Summitt about it and she just didn't think so. She felt on a college campus, when we're playing Duke and we're trying to create an environment like they had at Duke where the kids get in the stands, I know it's not something that any coach needs to be comfortable with, and I guess the last thing I wanted to do was dishonor or show disrespect, but I just felt like I wanted to do something for Pat and I wanted to do something for our players and my son was the S. And that was something that was good and wholesome and fun and clean on a college campus and I actually was painted for about five minutes and that was at the very beginning of the game where if you've ever been to a Lady Vol game, nobody has interest like Lady Vols, there's fireworks, music, it's a show. As soon as the ball went up, one of my other players came out and he became the V because I didn't want to take anything away from the game. I didn't want to disrespect the game and hey, everybody look at me. All right, you want to look at me for a little bit if you feel like you can stomach it, look at me, but understand the intention was just to bring spirit onto our campus and support Pat and the Lady Vols, but I was worried about how it would be perceived.
REPORTER: Can you guys get the program where you want it to be as long as Summitt's their coach and the women are dominating the state?
COACH PEARL: She's helping us get there. Pat has lent her hand out and done this to all the coaches she's worked with and given great support, absolutely. They said that you couldn't win at Tennessee as long as Pat Summit was the coach of the Lady Vols and they would dominate. Our fans love basketball at Tennessee as witnessed by the fact that Lady Vols were number one and have been in attendance every year because they love the Lady Vols an they love basketball. And so I knew that there was great basketball interest there. Last year, Duke basketball, men and women, they were both seeded 1. Tennessee was seeded 2. In my mind, that made us the second best basketball program in America. The second best basketball scorer in America. And we're both in the NCAA tournament and if we can hold up our end, wouldn't that be something if at the end of this tournament we might be able to say our basketball program is in the Top-5 in the nation, that's something to be proud of.
REPORTER: Bruce, can you talk a little about what Dane means to you, what he meant to you and your wife making the scholarship decision?
COACH PEARL: He means it all. He's a great student, extremely accountable in that area, a great leader. He achieves at a high level. You'll never hear me quoted saying he's an overachiever, he's not. But I do believe he comes as close as any student athlete to getting the most out of what he's got and he does it on a consistent basis. And finally, Dane is a man of faith and I've prayed with him before and I've worshipped with him before and being in his company is powerful in that regard. And he wears his faith on his sleeve. He's a tremendous, tremendous -- he's got it all. And I hope that we are able to continue to do some special things this season because when he does graduate, if we can go a little further, it will be said of this time in Tennessee basketball that it was Dane Bradshaw that did it. It was that six foot three inch power forward that had to go up against the smallest power forward in America in division one basketball let alone high major basketball, I coached Division II, I didn't have three guards as small as him and he's my starting power forward. So his name and his face and his personality is about the resurrection of Tennessee, if there has been a resurrection of Tennessee basketball, it's been about Dane Bradshaw and that's why we did the scholarship.
REPORTER: There have been times this season when teams have pressed Virginia and Singletary has basically taken the ball and beaten it himself. With your present opponent, how much do you have to change when they have a player capable of doing that.
COACH PEARL: And if he doesn't do it, Singletary, Reynolds, they've got those two guards they're going to inbound the ball to and they're going to get it and go. And giving them space can be quite challenging. So it will be a tough team for us to press, but it's part of our identity and I'm sure we'll try to press some. I don't know how effective it's going to be.
REPORTER: With being a coach outside the ACC, when you think of Virginia, obviously you touched on the guards and their depth, what do you think of when you think of that program?
COACH PEARL: Well, when I would think of Virginia's program, I would think back to Ralph Sampson and Ricky Stokes and Coach Holland and Virginia basketball in that sense, but then when I go and I now study Virginia, which I have for the last eight or 10 hours, I see Dave Leitao. That team has got $-- it's got his MO all over T. I think they're a very physical team. One of the things that I will not do, and this is done a lot, I won't talk to other coaches in their league about them, I won't even make the phone call, nor will I allow my assistants to. I think they're a great team. They're super solid physically, they're sound fundamentally and I think they're a real reflection -- and they're tough, they're a real reflection of their coach.
REPORTER: Could you talk about Duke crews' adjustment to playing the five and also with his kind of struggle with getting too heavy and you want him to come back down?
COACH PEARL: Duke is right now in his college career as an undersized post and depending upon his development in the future, as we'll try to add components to his game both offensively and defensively, how quick he gets his ability to guard guards and step out away from the basket defensively as well as his skill package will determine whether or not or how far he moves away from the basket. But I think Duke has done a terrific job as a freshmen to come in and when we beat Texas or Oklahoma state, Duke had to step up -- when we beat Alabama or Florida, some of the more physical or athletic teams, Duke Crews had to step up for us athletically and he's able to do that physically. When he gets in the kind of condition that I want him in, he'll be able to do it for longer periods of time.
REPORTER: I believe you're 11th in the country in scoring, you had 121 points in an NCAA game, that's a little bit crazy, did you look up at the score board and kind of shake your head at any point?
COACH PEARL: A little bit. There's some history to the Riverside versus myself and that was back in 1989 in Hawaii, UC Riverside upset an Iowa team, a team that had Armstrong, they had about five NBA players on it and I believe they scored 121 points and made 19 threes and it would have been one of the Chaminade/Virginia upsets, but since that already happened, it wasn't as big a deal. You didn't start looking at the score, I didn't, until all of a sudden you got to the century mark and then, okay, wow. I knew it would be a very high scoring game because of the way both teams liked to run and the way both teams were able to shoot the three ball and both teams shot a great percentage from three.
REPORTER: You talked a little bit about Virginia's physicalness and how tough they are. How do you think it will affecting the rebounding tomorrow, is that something you guys struggle with?
COACH PEARL: Terrifically, we struggle with it and it's going to be a big factor in the ball game. We've got to keep them off the offensive boards. They do a great job of -- they understand, Reynolds and Singletary, when they're going to shoot and they go, they charge to the boards and we're going to be obviously challenged to keep them off. If we can hang in there on the boards, our chances of being successful improve dramatically.
REPORTER: Curious, you said you will not talk to other coaches about Virginia.
COACH PEARL: Other coaches in the league.
REPORTER: Is that unusual? Is it a philosophy of yours, why do you do that?
COACH PEARL: I just think it's -- we're not supposed to give out information on opponents. I'm really happy with how the SEC is doing the tournament, I wish Arkansas won, I'm a good friend of Tim Floyd's, I want him to do well. At this time of the year, I really don't feel like I'm competing with him. Yes, we compete with him in recruiting and certainly during the season. So I'm not interested in helping any opponents beat my fellow competitors.
REPORTER: You're at your best when you get out and run. Given a nontypical game, are you concerned at all trying to keep it in the 70's and 80's, you had those games but your record's not as good in those, will you do everything you can to up the tempo tomorrow?
COACH PEARL: If I do everything I can to up the tempo, then I'm liable to let Reynolds and Singletary run wild through our press and the only way to speed him up is to press them all game long and I don't know that I'm going to be able to do that. You've got two great guards out on the floor. Yes, we're a team that plays better with big numbers. I don't know exactly what our record is, but we've won games in the 60s and the '70's before and if that's the tempo, we're not athletic enough or big enough to dictate tempo. We can be -- we can harass you. We can be a pain, but we can't dictate.
Tennessee Locker Room Quotes
JaJuan Smith, junior guard
On the opponents in the NCAA Tournament
"We've been working really hard in practice. We realize the games are more difficult the deeper we get into the tournament. We want to play our game against Virginia, and not let them force us to play their way."
On Tennessee's scoring ability
"I knew we are capable of scoring a lot of points. Last night we showed that."
On the Southeastern Conference
"I think our league has prepared us for a game like this. The SEC is a tough league so it has gotten us ready for tomorrow. I think our defensive pressure will speed them up and hopefully they will make mistakes."
On stopping Virginia
"We have to contain there guards if we want to have any chance of winning. We take pride in our defense. These two guys (J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary) are NBA material."
Ramar Smith, freshman guard
On Virginia
"They have great speed. We are prepared for them on the defensive end. We are going to try to wear them down. We work on running up and down all the time in practice so fatigue shouldn't be an issue."
On Virginia's physical play
"They have a very physical team. We know they are going to try and push us around, so we have to be ready for that."
Jordan Howell, junior guard
On Tennessee's offense
"We run a really tough press; it is something we pride ourselves on and Virginia only has one day to prepare for it. Our press allows us to control the pace and lets us decide the tempo."
On Tennessee's strengths
"I think we are better conditioned than other teams. We have nine guys that play 15 minutes a game. That is something else we pride ourselves on and something that allows us to be fresh down the stretch."
On the Tennessee basketball program
"It is just a lot of fun to play here (Tennessee). Coach (Bruce) Pearl lets you get out there and make plays. He never gets on anyone for trying to make a play and encourages us to be aggressive. It is just always a lot of fun to play here and that is the best part of our program."
On Coach Bruce Pearl
"He is very intense but he gets the most out of his players. Off the court he is one of the boys; he jokes around and is really laid back. Once we step on the court he takes it to another level."
Virginia Press Conference Transcript
REPORTER: J. R., in particular, with any of you guys that became friends with Duke Crews, could you talk about your relationship with Duke, how well you know him, how much you're looking forward to playing against him.
REYNOLDS: I know a couple people that know Duke. I don't know him that well personally, but I know he's a terrific player.
REPORTER: Sean, what kind of game do you expect tomorrow, based on the way both of you guys played yesterday, both teams played yesterday, what kind of game do you anticipate it being?
SINGLETARY: I expect it to be a competitive game just like our SEC league games have been. We know they get up and down, like to run, they play good offense, get a lot of shots up. We have to limit their looks at the basket and play good D and we've got a good chance at winning.
REPORTER: Any of you guys, did you watch Tennessee's game yesterday what did you think about their fast-paced style and have you faced anybody that plays at that kind of a pace before?
REYNOLDS: There was wasn't a whole lot of defense being played, on offense, whenever you score a hundred, however many points they scored, there wasn't a whole lot of defense. They want to turn you over, get shots up, so we've just got to defend that and make it tough for them.
REPORTER: Sean, did you all stick around here to watch the game in person or what was your routine yesterday after your game?
SINGLETARY: Well, after we did media stuff, we watched the first half and after that, we went and tried to catch some of the end of the game on TV. We also did a little scouting already, so we know what to expect. We realize that they like to get turnovers and play in an open court, we realize they have a great player, a leader, an all-american. We've got our work cut out for us, like I said before, it's going to be better than our league games have been, and we've done pretty well in our league. Yesterday we realized Long Beach wasn't offering up much resistance, but to put up that many points, you've got to have a lot of talent and they definitely have that, so we're definitely going to have our hands full.
REPORTER: Jason, you talked the other day about your coach not letting players slip through the cracks and recruiting over you. It sounded like you either knew somebody that that had happened to or you felt that that was about to happen to you, if you could expound on that.
CAIN: Through the time I've been with Coach, everybody's talked about how hardest it's been on me and why does he scream, why does he pretty much torment me the way he does, but after my first year, I was like, wow, the guy really hates me, then I just began to realize that, damn, he really does care a lot about me and he wants me to do well more than I want myself to do well, he sees things that I don't see. It just shows me what type of coach he is and what type of coach he is to his players. I'm not the only one. A couple of freshmen are getting the same deal right now and I'm just trying to help them see the same light I saw.
REPORTER: J. R., what were your first impressions of Dave when you got here?
REYNOLDS: It was good impressions because I like his work ethic and I like how he saw his players and how energized he was and he talked about defense, it's something I like to play so I like to hear that. He was just energetic and I just like his whole personality.
REPORTER: Guys, if you could, just talk about Chris Lofton, is there a player similar to him that you've faced this year? Will anything change defensively as you guard him?
SINGLETARY: We played against shooters all the time in the SEC. He's a guard, has a little bit of size at the point, so we realize we have our work cut out for us, we realizes he's an All-American, all that, but it's tournament time and we're up for the challenge. We'll definitely be geared towards him. I felt we did a good job against Wilson who is more of a threat than Lofton is, he shoots threes, but we feel as though we can take care of our business out there.
REPORTER: Are you guys going to be able to help out as much outside as you did on Wilson with Tennessee's presence inside?
CAIN: I feel that we will, just because, I mean, we focused on defense. Coach was talking about different strategies for us to try to help. The leader and the person that really makes that team go is Chris Lofton, so we have to try to contain him the best we can and also try to focus on working on defending the post. It's probably one of the toughest things we have to do all season, but we're going to try to make it work.
REPORTER: Sean, will you want to slow down Tennessee at all or are you comfortable playing at their pace?
SINGLETARY: We got to get both up and down, but yesterday they got up and down more than they usually do, they averaged like 76 points, more than they usually do, but they got 120 because there wasn't any resistance at all, they allowed Long Beach to get 86 points, but tomorrow's a different story because we offer up resistance. We do our job well, so we're just going to go out there and defend them and run right back down, so we're going to get up and down but our job is to get up the court and play defense.
REPORTER: All three of you guys have been watching the NCAA tournament on television for many years before finally getting a chance to participate, winning a game, I just wonder if it met your expectations. You probably thought a lot about what it would be like. Did anything surprise you? Were you more impressed than you thought, somewhat disappointed? How are you reacting to it so far?
REYNOLDS: It's everything I expected. Just like the ACC tournaments with all the hype, everybody's around, you're just getting escorted to the gym is a big deal, police escorts, that means a lot. It's fun. It's everything that I expected, though.
REPORTER: Anybody else?
CAIN: No.
SINGLETARY: It's everything I expected. I didn't really expect anything, I didn't have any expectations because it's just a business trip for us, come out here to win games and everything else comes with that is a plus, but we really don't play too much attention to that, we just come out here and try and win and make a lot of noise for our program and build on it for years to come.
REPORTER: Sean, as a distributor, can you talk about the importance of getting everyone involved, particularly Mamadi Diane and Adrian, what does that do for your team?
SINGLETARY: It's my job to distribute the ball, but it's our job to have energy for each other. We get at them on the defense end. You see we do a better job of offense when everybody's on defense and we're on transition, that means everybody's locked into the game plan, so it's easier for me to get into the paint when the big guy is, and everybody is out in the wings. I'm good at hooking everybody up and getting everybody involved. I think I do my job of distributing, but those guys do a great job of being ready for passes and creating.
REPORTER: Jason, let me put this question to you. Did you watch Tennessee yesterday and what was going through your mind when you saw them putting up 120 points?
CAIN: The biggest thing I thought was when we play them, we really have to be poised with their press. It seemed like Long Beach State was really trying to outrun them and trying to make it seem like they were pressing people that way, but I felt like we needed to be poised, go fast sometimes when it's available and also slow it down when it's available as well.
REPORTER: J. R., how does winning the game yesterday change the way you kind of look at this season? And if you had not won and you'd gone one and out, would that have kind of tarnished a little bit this season?
REYNOLDS: I feel like winning is great for this whole season, just bouncing back. I know we're going to bounce back, when we got down, we bounced back, so I'm still excited to be playing one of my last games here and I want to win.
REPORTER: For Jason, can you talk about Lars' play in the last few games? It seems like he's sort of come on, it seems like he's jumping better, just watching him. He seems a lot more energetic than he was, say, earlier in the season.
CAIN: I just feel like he's a lot more energetic because he's a lot more offensive minded instead of being such a passive player and just going about being an empty name in the game. I feel he's just trying -- he wants to make a good impression. He wants to play well. He doesn't want our season to end early, so I really can't describe why he's doing good as of late, but he's just playing very well.
REPORTER: How concerned are you guys about getting in a shootout with these guys tomorrow, and if so, do you think you can win at that pace?
SINGLETARY: Well, we're not really concerned because we play defense and it's not really going to be a shootout because we do our job and they're not going to be able to get too many shots up or comfortable shots up. That's our game plan. We're here to win. We have to get up in their jerseys and play tough defense and not pay attention to anything else going on. We really don't think it's going to be a shootout because of our defense, but we're going to put points on the board in transition.
REYNOLDS: We're just going to take what they give to us. We're not going to get into an up and down game with them. Their press, that's what they depend on to try to create turnovers, we're just going to take what they give us. If we've got an easy transition, baskets, we're going to take it. But we're not going to take an up and down game, we'll take what they give us.
REPORTER: For any of you guys, there were some comments from Albany and from your side after the game yesterday that that might have been one of the best games that you played. Do you agree? Is the team peaking or was that not the best performance? How did you see it?
SINGLETARY: It was a pretty good performance on our behalf defensively, and every time we play good defense, we do well on offense. We're not going to get caught up into if we're peaking or not, because we have to do everything day-to-day, we had a good practice today, add good game yesterday and it's important for us to get rested today and tonight and play as well as we did yesterday.
REPORTER: You two guys, J. R. and Sean, laughed when he said he thought the coach hated him. Did you think that the coach hated him that first year?
SINGLETARY: He really may come off like that, but he just wants the best out of each individual because it's his job as the coach and as a leader to not only make good, great players, but to make great individuals and make good young men. So he's going to get on you when you're feeling low and not doing all you can to be successful because he realizes the potential in each individual and he tries the best to bring it out in you.
REPORTER: What he said?
SINGLETARY: That says it all.
REPORTER: J. R., are you going to wear the orange shoes again tomorrow and did your performance convince anybody else to join you in that?
REYNOLDS: Yeah, I'm wearing my orange shoes tomorrow but I don't know if anybody else on the team will wear them. I don't know if many people like the look of orange shoes. I had them for awhile, so I just brought them out and wore them.
REPORTER: The press that you will see from Tennessee, it doesn't seem as if many teams have pressed you, a lot of teams don't press in the ACC, is that correct? How much have you seen presses this year? How important is it for Jason to stay out of foul trouble so he can be the inbound guy on the press?
SINGLETARY: A lot of teams rest Maryland presses well. And they backed up, just because we did so well in transition and transitioning throughout the press. They'll also press until the last couple minutes of the game and -- so teams in the ACC do press, but they scout us. When we play them, they don't press much because they know we're at our best when we get into open court. We'll be comfortable with the press tomorrow. We scouted it, we know that we can stress the weaknesses of it and we'll try to exploit it. Jason makes good decisions, not only for that, we hope he'll stay out of foul trouble because we need him for everything, he does well offensively on the glass and he scores for us and he's a leader of the team so we're going to try to get him out of foul trouble, but if everybody's locked in, then things like that are going to happen.
REPORTER: I'm sure some or all of you guys saw the ESPN clips early in the season about the Tennessee coach painting up for the women's game, taking his shirt off and going. Do you think we'll see Coach Leitao do that anytime soon?
SINGLETARY: No, he might be one of the best dressed coaches in America with his shirt on.
REPORTER: Coach, 121 points for Tennessee yesterday, I'm sure you will show more resistance, but if I can just start with a general question on how you plan to defend Tennessee.
COACH LEITAO: Obviously when you see a game like that, it's a pretty good wake-up call, that is if you don't play, you're going to go home. The thing about it, as well as they played yesterday, as well as we played yesterday, I don't know that one game is so much connected to the next round and the next opponent because it's more about match-ups. Hopefully we've looked at it. I think what it did do was it was a great wake-up call for our guys to understand how good they are and how talented offensively and how much the pressure can affect a team. So from yesterday after the game, watching the film and breaking everything down, presenting it to our guys and obviously practicing today, we try to zero in on a few things that are critical. One is to obviously guard the three point line, got to get back on the transition and we've got to not let their pressure negatively affect us.
REPORTER: Maryland and Georgia Tech pressed you with some kind of success this year, how do you plan to go against Tennessee, is it different?
COACH LEITAO: What those two teams that you mentioned was not able to affect us over the course of the game, it affected us for moments. We were up over both of those teams, but we got sloppy more than anything else, mentally more than physically, but when we concentrated, those two games, the game at Maryland, even the game at Clemson, we've done a very decent job of not letting it affect us. What we cannot do is get sloppy in those times that you mentioned because that's what they thrive off of.
REPORTER: Given Tennessee's balance, can you afford to do that with Lofton or do you have to do some different things?
COACH LEITAO: Obviously they've got more weapons personnel-wise than the five guys that will be on the floor, but we'll do a couple things with Lofton, he's a great player, averaging over 20 points. He does command some special attention, but as you mentioned, the more attention you pay to him with a couple of different guys, then both Smiths, JaJuan and Ramar can easily hurt you, as well as a couple of other guys. We have to have a concentrated effort. Yesterday we talked about how many different sets of eyes we'd have to put on Wilson, we can't do that with Lofton obviously.
REPORTER: I think after the Georgia Tech game, you said that one of the problems with their press was you had some younger guys, and when Jason Cain inbounds the ball you feel comfortable, in that light how important is it he stays out of foul trouble tomorrow?
COACH LEITAO: I think it's one of the keys to the game, not just as an inbounder but as a presence and you want to, this time of year, if you want a chance to win, you want to give the guys that have played a lot of minutes for you the best chance to -- to give you the best chance to win and Jason has been that guy and in situations like this where he's going to be most experienced guy with the ball in his hands against pressure, it's obviously important to have him have the ball in his hands.
REPORTER: Dave, I was just wondering, even though most of your players had no NCAA tournament experience before yesterday, they came out and played very well from the start. No trace of stage fright or uncomfortable -- being uncomfortable in their surroundings, I wonder if you did anything with them preparation-wise or mentally to get them to come out and play that way.
COACH LEITAO: No, I don't think it was asked three, four, five times during the week about our lack of experience and how much that would affect us, and I really didn't think a whole lot of it other than our preparation. And as I mentioned prior to yesterday's game, we had good days at practice leading up to the game. So I was more focused on that and seeing how we would play because of our practices than what the surroundings would dictate to us. I tried not to allow it to become a factor on our guys. I deflected it when asked about it because I thought it was true that, yeah, it's a factor, but the further you go, it may become more of a factor, but because you're playing against teams as good if not better than you, but at the same point in time, you've got to step on the floor and play basketball.
REPORTER: The only follow up would be, the ACC tournament is somewhat similar to this in that there's a very -- it's scheduled in advance, a lot of media room stuff, for the players it might seem similar, do you think that had anything to do with making your guys a little more comfortable?
COACH LEITAO: You have to understand that most of our guys have played in big arenas and big moments for the bulk of their careers. It's funny how we said we've had solid experienced guys particularly with our two back court guys and now they become inexperienced, it just doesn't happen because you come to this tournament. You have to continue to do what you do and whether it's J.R.'s fourth ACC tournament that he's played in last week or this, the environment really matters a whole lot less than the performance, and those guys have been able to perform on some pretty big stages for most of their careers.
REPORTER: There's been some discussion that your team and Tennessee's team are somewhat similar in size, tempos, things like that. Do you see a similarity between the two or if not, what's the difference?
COACH LEITAO: Well, I think that they're born and bred in a lot of similar ways, and obviously when you look at them, they're smaller and we're not real big either, so you can draw those kind of comparisons. The way we play is different, because they get so much off of their pressure and three-point shooting obviously. But Bruce is a guy who grew up around the same age as I, we're from generally the same area, he's from Sharon, I'm from New Bedford, grew up under somebody, Tom Davis, and me, Jim Calhoun so the teachings, although they come from the different areas are relatively the same and what you want for your program, and with that being said, it's obviously gotten us to this point where they are those kinds of similarities and it just happens to be because he has two teams, we have two teams that somewhat look alike and that were not real overly imposing in the front court and have really good back court play.
REPORTER: You touched on it in your last answer, but what kind of connection do you have with Bruce other than being from the same area? Did you ever play against one another? Have you crossed paths very often?
COACH LEITAO: Best of my knowledge, what was he, a mascot more than a player. No, he's been tremendous. I didn't know him that well. And again, I was on the other side at Northeastern while he was at Boston College, but him being around Dr. Tom Davis, and he learned a tremendous amount and I respect him a ton for that because he started out, and you've got to realize, he hadn't been around "It" all the time. He went to Southern Indiana, sometimes you can become a great coach and never go any further than that, and to spend as many years and be a success, I remember him coming up to me and saying, `Hey, Dave, let's play' when I was at DePaul or even when I was at Nnortheastern, because he just wanted exposure. He is the same guy that he was back then and he wants the same thing, with the same energy, the same conviction. His teams play the same way, he's just doing it obviously now at a big place on a big stage much so he's always been a guy that I've admired way, way back to the times when I just didn't know him as well, but I knew Boston College basketball and what Tom Davis and everybody around that program was all about.
REPORTER: Coach, Jason Cain said something I found interesting the other day, talking about most coaches would see a guy like him and say, I'm going to recruit over you. What was it in him that you felt he was worth the effort or is that simply your philosophy to not recruit over somebody?
COACH LEITAO: Part of it, especially last year when I got there is making the most with what you have. And with Jason, I've always been struck by his assets. He's a tremendously skilled guy at 6-10, he doesn't display it all the time but he's a guy that can shoot. I haven't taken full advantage of his ability to make perimeter jump shots. He can put the ball on the floor. He grew late so he played more as a perimeter player. So he has some talents, but the biggest assets I think he possesses is an ability to understand. He understands his surroundings, he's a very intelligent person. He's getting ready to graduate from a terrific school, and that is not necessarily always the case where he comes from. So, I was impressed by those types of things. For me it was about doing what I could to help him develop and it's been a two-year process and it wouldn't be advantageous to me being selfish if I brought a young guy in and played him above that because Jason still had some things to offer and it was up to me and it was up to him to try to get those things out of him.
REPORTER: What was going through your head when you were watching Tennessee rack up that many points yesterday and does it concern you at all about getting into a high-scoring game? Can you win 98-95, something like that?
COACH LEITAO: What was going through my head was obviously, oh, boy, you know, it was extremely impressive. What I did do was take a look back at their season and know that obviously 121 points was them working on just about all cylinders and facing an opponent that allowed them to do that. But they, especially in SEC games, they've played a lot of games with a lot lower scores, in the '70's and low '80's, and I like to think that if we're going to have an opportunity to be successful, we've got to keep the game manageable. We're not going to slow it up because that's not what we do, we're not going to walk it up because that's not what we do, but we can play open court basketball successfully as long as we get back on defense and defend. And that hopefully will be something that will allow us to keep the game out of the 120s.
REPORTER: I know you tried to get in with Duke Crews late, was there ever a point where you felt like you had a good shot with him or were you just too late getting into that race?
COACH LEITAO: As you said, we tried and had some quality conversations, but I think when, again, part of us as a program and us as a staff getting there was to, before we could put our best foot forward, overcome some things and especially for that senior class, and Duke was one of them, you're talking about what they already knew about Virginia and that wasn't as appealing as what we were talking about, and I think that had as much to do with not only Duke but some other guys in state that we were trying to go after that we weren't successful with.
REPORTER: In the last few games, Lars has really seemed to come on. Would you say he's maybe your first big man off the bench now? Have you seen him in this last stretch kind of become more of the player that he was last year as a freshmen?
COACH LEITAO: The thing about those three guys is I've tried to -- we tried to settle in all year long and see that there's a natural rotation and for a stretch Ryan started, for a stretch Lars started and now Tunji has been starting. And I try not to make too many assumptions because it could change at a moment's notice. Lars came off the bench first yesterday by virtue of how he played and how practice went today, we'll probably do that again tomorrow, but it does not mean that Ryan is not factored in. It doesn't mean we won't get contributions from Tunji or hope to get contributions from all three of those guys.
REPORTER: What was it like to see Adrian Joseph at the free throw line? And how often do you point out his statistics in that area?
COACH LEITAO: When I'm talking to the team, I give them enough negativity in yelling and screaming, I try not to expose their -- there are some pretty revealing stats, not just him but other guys that if I did that, it wouldn't be too good, but it was surprising. I thought as a result, he may not make them because he's been to the line in game situations so infrequently, but he stepped up and put the ball in the basket and it's a stat that's pretty amazing if you look at it. REPORTER: Have you talked to him about getting to the line more?
COACH LEITAO: No, we'd like to have more than just Sean and J. R. drive the ball, but they have in this case, more than Adrian, have been more the recipient of passes from guys that have driven other than -- and I think what he's been affected by too is we have him on the perimeter so much more than we did last year because we changed offenses. His best asset is more of a catch and shoot guy than putting on the floor and making plays. That's part of the reason why it's kept him off the line.
REPORTER: Coach, you referenced this earlier with an answer that Chism and crews are the only guys that are 6-7 on Tennessee's team. You went against Albany and had some success, will you be looking to do the same thing against Tennessee?
COACH LEITAO: If you're going to do that, and we may, I don't think it's something that you look at all game long. We try and have tried recently to put other guys in the post rather than just your five and J. R. did it a little bit early and Jason did it, as you mentioned. In a lot of different ways, we're going to have to try to take advantage of the fact that we have some longer people. Jason is only one of them, but it's something that they've tried to and have done a very good job at overcoming by spreading the game out. And so there are going to be those instances where we're going to try to take advantage of our size and Jason happens to be a guy that can possibly do it. But if we try to get 20 points out of him on the block, I think other things will happen before that becomes something we go to so much.
REPORTER: Dave, when you see J. R. in those orange shoes yesterday, a lot of guys said they were inspired by that, Will says he's going to try them out, what do you think of those bright orange shoes?
COACH LEITAO: Nike has done that for a lot of teams at the end of the year. A lot of guys haven't worn them. They all wore them in practice, but they're a little bit heavier so I think some guys went away from it where J. R. likes it a little more, feels more comfortable. I'm at the stage right now, whatever works for you. And if Will wants to try them and thinks it's going to make him play the role of J. R., God bless him, because if he plays better, we'll be better. They're kind of neat looking and a little different, so if it works, it works.
REPORTER: You spoke earlier this week talking about your meetings with Sean Singletary when you first got there, but when did you know that he had what it took? Was that enough finding out what he took to run your system and what does he do best, in your opinion?
COACH LEITAO: It didn't take long. One, as you mentioned, we had a conversation when I first got there and something about that conversation greatly struck me about him, and then watching film from the previous year and watching not just the way he played basketball, but how he operated, how he took care of his business, the zest in which he played with, so when it came time for us to get on the court together and me understanding what makes him good, it was all of that and more because I try to go back and make comparisons, as everybody does, and it's hard, but he's a guy of all the people over 20 some odd years of being in a gym that he's near the top, if not at the top in terms of what he brings from the interior, his intestinal forth tutors whatever you want to call it, his will is a desire to overcome whatever is out there that presents to him. He just happens to be really good because he can back it up with skill, he can back it up with speed, he can back it up in big game situations and wanting to live in that environment that would make lesser players back away, but he has something inside of him that very, very few people do.
REPORTER: I'm just curious about the rebounding effort from yesterday, I think six guys had at least four rebounds; do you see that as something that could help you against Tennessee?
COACH LEITAO: It's something that again when we've been good, part of the reason we've been good in that category, we've rebounded the basketball and got our share of offensive rebounds and really taken care of the defensive backboards, and again if we're going to look for some advantages, and hopefully Tennessee's lack of size will create an advantage that way. But they work extremely hard, they're aggressive, they go to the offensive backboards and sometimes that gives a team an advantage because they have small people that are quicker, so we really have to work hard at becoming something that we can be good at tomorrow and again that goes into that whole energy kind of thing.
REPORTER: People have talked about Adrian and ma'am difficult as being X factors from game to game. What would be the importance of getting some significant contributions from them?
COACH LEITAO: They're going to have to, especially in the open court, they're going to have to make some plays for us. And it may come down to not just catching and shooting, they have to make good decisions. If they can do that, I think it will, again, add to our overall confidence. And they've been able to do that at times in the past and again, sometimes when they don't do it, we put more pressure on the two guards to make those two plays, but they're going to have to be, not just physically, but most important, they're going to have to be mentally into the game and really understand, because we're going to face as much pressure as we've seen all year long. That doesn't just mean over 94 feet, that means when they have the ball in their hands or making cuts or anything that they've got to do and they've got to be ready for that mentally.
Virginia Locker Room Quotes
Ryan Pettinella, junior center
On playing in the NCAA Tournament
"It has been an unbelievable experience so far. And we get to take on a great Tennessee team tomorrow in the second round. After yesterday's game I had 30 text messages from friends and family all over the country."
On Tennessee
"We watched Tennessee play Long Beach State yesterday. We scouted them for awhile and they are a really good team."
Will Harris, freshman forward
On playing in the NCAA Tournament
"We haven't really had any time to celebrate. We came in, got the win, now we have to move on and get the next one."
On playing Tennessee
"Playing Tennessee means we have to come out very strong defensively. We have to come out with a lot of defensive intensity. We had a really aggressive practice to get us ready to battle tomorrow."
Mamadi Diane, sophomore guard
On Tennessee's style of play
"They are a good shooting team. We play teams that play a similar style to them in our league (the Atlantic Coast Conference). Maryland and Clemson play that way so we are familiar with that. It means we have to come out, stay focused and limit our turnovers so they can't get out and run."
On playing Tennessee
"They are a really good 3-point shooting team. We want to try to limit them to have to play a half-court game."
Laurynas Mikalauskas, sophomore forward
On Tennessee
"Well, they scored 121 points in their first game, which is a tournament record. We obviously have to play a lot of defense. They are a good team, and nothing is going to be easy."
On last time Virginia advanced in NCAA tournament
"That was about 10 years ago, so I was probably at home with my parents. I was in the basketball academy since I was really young, so I was probably just at home playing basketball."
