March 06, 2006
Head men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie met with members of the press Monday at the weekly basketball media luncheon held on the Texas A&M campus.
Click the link to the right to listen to the press conference. Quotes are posted below.
Billy Gillispie Media Luncheon Quotes
Talk about momentum going into this tournament, with the seven-game win streak and how well you have been playing...
"It's great for us to go in on such a roll. Not too many teams have had a seven-game win streak in this conference since it started. I haven't done the research, but I would assume there's not too many, and hardly anyone across the country in a major conference. There's two other teams that are on a roll that is similar. It gives you great confidence, however it's over. Everybody's 0-0 in the conference, They are playing for very high stakes when you go into the conference tournament. As much confidence as it gives you, you have to build on that confidence. But seven wins in a row is not going to give us an edge going into that tournament, as far as with the other teams."
You said after the OU game that you guys were a little mentally fragile, but when did you feel that this team became mentally tough enough to win their last seven? Was there a particular week or game?
"I didn't say they weren't mentally tough enough, I said it hurt a lot to lose that game. As it would anybody when you expend the kind of energy we did and came up short. I don't think I said mentally fragile, I might have. I don't think our mental capabilities were ever in question, it just hurt a lot because they gave so much and came up just a little bit short against a really good team. I never knew that we could win seven games in row. I don't think anybody thinks you can win seven games in a row in a conference such as the Big 12. But I knew that we'd keep on fighting and no matter what our record was we'd play all 16 games. That's what this team has done for the last two years. We were 4-7 last year and finished strong. We were 3-6 this year and finished strong. A lot of it has to do with the way the schedule is set up, and a lot of it has to do with the mindset that you go in with...hey, let's get better today. They've really bought in to that for the last two years. It's fun to coach. When you get about 10 games into the conference schedule, there's going to be teams coming up and teams going down that have determined their season's over. No matter what this team has never thought a particular game is over and a particular season is over. And it's really fun to be able to coach guys that no matter what the situation is they keep playing."
How about the mindset of this team and the preparedness of this team going into this tournament as opposed to last year...
"I think we had really learned how to win last year. I think that we probably placed too much pressure on ourselves. Because of what we've been able to do I think we'll be a more relaxed team this year. I think we'll play extremely hard and I think we'll be playing against a really good opponent, but I do think this team will go in and play a little bit more relaxed. That's one of the things that we didn't do last year for whatever reason. Just trying too hard. If that's your worst problem, then that's not too bad. They'll be trying hard on Friday, just like everyone else in the tournament."
Can you talk about Marlon (Pompey) and what he did on Saturday? How good is it to see him be able to score like that too?
"You have to really be watching to understand how well Marlon's been playing for the last 10 games or so. There's not too many guys that want to defend and try to rebound like he does. He played as well on Wednesday as he did on Saturday, he just didn't score as many points. We had nothing going against Texas, and he got three or four offensive rebounds early, and a really big put-back-maybe for our first basket of the game. He defends every time. He defends every game. He's become a better rebounder and ball-handler. The other day they just chose to play the post a certain way and he was the beneficiary of Joe (Jones) being able to recognize that and pass, and he was able to finish plays. It's great to see him get some recognition, but his play has been recognized by his coaching staff and teammates from day one. He's been great from day one...he just doesn't put up big numbers."
Is it the same with Chris (Walker), being more aggressive down the stretch?
"I don't know how you can be more aggressive than he was at any time. I've never seen him do anything but be totally aggressive. The reason he looks better is because his shot goes in. The reason we looked better on Saturday is because we were making some shots. You run the same offense, when your shots go in you look like you know what you're doing, and when they don't go in you look like you don't. Chris has really developed himself into a really good perimeter 3-point shooter. So it looks like he knows what he's doing a little bit more than he did. Really, he still doesn't know what he's doing, he's just making some shots (laughter)."
How about passing...Saturday it looked like there was a lot of cutting and good looks inside...
"It's the same. We always do that though. If you look at our assists for what we've been able to do on the number of baskets we've made there's no difference on Saturday than there was every other time, except the ball went in the basket. I'm not calling you a casual fan, but for the casual fan if the ball doesn't go in the basket they think, 'Man, they don't know what they're doing on offense.' If the ball does go in the basket, you could be running not as efficiently on offense and they say, 'Man they're smart. They know what they're doing.' Marlon made the same dives on Saturday that he's made every single game that we've played all year long for the last two years. They chose to play a certain way, and he was able to catch the ball and score because Joe recognized what they were doing. That's the same thing we do anytime anyone tries to double the post. Josh (Carter) makes two threes in a row and Dominique (Kirk) makes some contested shots. If those shots don't go in, you say, 'Man they're shooting too quick,' or 'They don't know what they're doing on offense.' The ball goes in the hole, it looks like you know what you're doing. Sometimes it doesn't go in the basket. We ran good offense against Texas on Wednesday, we just didn't make any shots. That has to go to their credit. They're a great defensive team, but we got the ball from one side to the other and played inside-out. They contested some shots and we didn't make them, so it looks like, 'Wow, they're standing around on offense.' That's not always the case."
It also looked like more open shots underneath (Saturday against Texas Tech)...
"Well, they chose to double the post. That's something that has been done a little bit but not a lot this year. Marlon was able to dive like he's supposed to and Joe did a great job of throwing him the ball, on time and on target. That's why Marlon was able to finish."
That also leads to Antanas (Kavaliauskas), he hit some inside shots...when you play them together, does that become a problem for defenses?
"He's probably a little bit higher percentage player in the high post, as far as shooting, than Marlon. But Marlon made a jumper up there and gave him a great deal of confidence. I think all three of them are good players. I think it's a really good rotation. I think it's a really good mixture. They're all playing with a great confidence. Joe demands a lot of attention, and if you play him with one guy it's probably not going to work out well for you. If they do make adjustments and play a particular way, he has the ability to get the ball to the guy who is unguarded. Again, he gets the ball to the guy that is unguarded, that guy has to make a play. Antanas has to make the shot at Baylor, he has to make the three against Nebraska. If he shoots them and misses them, you're saying, 'Man, what is a 6-10 guy doing out there taking those shots?' It's all about the ball going in the basket. When you look at the number of turnovers we have for games, 13.1 turnovers, that means you're getting a shot at the basket for the most part. Our offense has been fine. We just haven't made a whole lot of shots. Hopefully we're going to continue to make shots like we did on Saturday."
ESPN is great for college sports, but are you afraid the influence can be too much? There are complaints in football about that, but do you worry about that at all or does the NCAA committee see through that?
"I don't know. You'd hope that when it comes time to choose the teams, and I'm not talking about us, I don't think anybody on any committee is going to say, 'Well, I've got to watch College Gamenight to determine who my selections are for the tournament.' I think ESPN has been fantastic for college basketball, but I think that the people that really matter, that are going to make the selections, are probably going to be a little bit more thorough than just looking at two numbers. For the most part that's probably what's been done by those guys. I'm not being critical, I'm just talking about college basketball in general and not concerning us at all. I don't get a chance to watch all those things very much. I like all those guys involved. The committee for the most part does a great job in being fair and doing what they're supposed to do and giving an honest effort, and thoroughly examining all the teams that are going to be potential participants. I'm sure they'll do the same thing this year and next year and the years to come. You can't get overly emotional about what anybody says, whether it's good or bad."
Talk about the fact that these five guys have started all the (Big 12) games and how much that means to them confidence-wise, and for the most part four of them were there last year...
"I think they really play well together. They have a great confidence in each other, offensively, defensively and in every situation. I think it's a very, very close team...not only the five but all 19 guys we have. Everybody performs their role really well. I've always been a guy that if a guy is a starter or whatever it means a lot but it's not the most important thing. Finishers are much more important than starters. The guys that are coming off the bench are comfortable in that role, and the guys that are starting are comfortable in that role. I'm sure that familiarity probably helps them."
Does your style of play make you a tough out in a tournament setting? They say defense wins championships, would that be beneficial on a weekend where you could play three or four games in a row?
"I don't know. I think our style of play is energy-based and it'd probably be harder to win a bunch of games in a row than it would be for a very, very talented team. Everybody's going to be playing really hard. I do think, because of our practice habits, we're well-equipped to play three games in a row if we're lucky enough to get an opportunity to do that. We're going up there with the idea that we've got one game left on our schedule, and we're going to play our hardest to try do to the best we can. Our best may not be good enough but I'm pretty sure we'll give great effort. You have to play great defense to win any game, and there's a lot of great defensive teams in this conference. I would say Texas and Kansas are maybe first and second field goal percentage defense in the nation. We've definitely been defending on that level for the last seven or eight games, but not for the entire season. You have to make some shots. A team that gets confident and starts making some shots and wins a game or two, then all of a sudden they are a dangerous team. The team that plays the most balanced offense, defense, makes free throws, doesn't foul too much and rebounds the ball, that'll be the team that ends up winning it."
You've been on both sides of this fence, in the smaller conferences where you're hoping that the NCAA takes a look at them, and now in a bigger conference and you hope maybe they don't look at them...
"I don't look at it like that. I want them to thoroughly look at everybody and get the best teams. Hopefully we are one of those best teams. I definitely feel like we are, but I don't want anything to be taken away from someone else. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. We're a deserving team, and there are other deserving teams in the country as well. There are going to be some teams that are upset on Sunday and feel like they were shunned or whatever. There always is. But I really believe the selection committee tries their hardest to do a fair and honorable job. I'm sure that they'll thoroughly look at every single team that has an opportunity to be an at-large team when it comes time this weekend. I think that it's a matter over time, you just try to do things the right way. If your team gets selected they get selected, and if they don't then do better next year. But don't try to take anything away from someone else. Number one, I think it's unprofessional, and number two, I don't think that's what you want to be teaching your fans or your community or players. Whoever gets it deserves it, hopefully we'll be one of those teams. I definitely think we're deserving."
When you're a "bubble" team, do you pay attention more to some of those other tournament games?
"I don't. You can't control that. All that does is create anxiety. There's I guess 10 people on the committee, those guys know the teams that they're going to study this week, and they'll add some teams because of conference tournaments and those kinds of things. But they'll do a thorough job and we can't worry about what happens anywhere else. All we can concentrate on is to try to get better. They chose those committee guys for a reason. They're in that position for a reason. The reason is because they're going to do a fair and honorable job, and they have and they will. We can't worry about that kind of stuff. All we can do is try to do our best on the court. That's one good thing in basketball, moreso than in some other sports. You get more of an opportunity on the court than you do in other places in some sports. Just keep winning."
That's the message going into this weekend, then? Just keep winning?
"Yeah. It's always the message. It better be the message for everybody. Who knows if you're a bubble team? Who determines the bubble teams? Who determines the 'already in' teams? No disrespect to them, but I don't think they're on the committee. Everybody better keep winning. That would be a smart message to every single team. Keep winning. That's the way it should be and that's the way it better be if you want to continue to try to play."
Besides the obvious of just getting a bye in the tournament...you talk about being an energy team and trying to win that many games in a row, is that maybe the biggest advantage for you guys in getting a bye, is that it takes away one game?
"Sometimes if you play it helps you because you've got a win going into a game. Who knows. I say that we're an energy team, and I think common sense would say if you get to that point you'd have a much better chance of winning three than four, because it's very difficult in this league. I think we're well-equipped, because of our practice habits and those kinds of things, to play as many games as need be. But we have one game, that's it. One game. Hopefully we'll survive and advance. We're not looking at it as, 'Hey guys, let's try to do this for three games.' We've got one game, and that's the way we'll approach it and try to play our best in that one game. If we're good enough we get to move on. If we aren't, we don't."
This past week, going back to Wednesday's game and Texas winning a co-championship...what did this week say for the state of basketball in the state of Texas?
"I think it's fantastic. Next year, you're going to have one of the greatest, if not the greatest coach that ever lived (Texas Tech's Bob Knight), break the record for wins in a career. You've got Texas who's a perennial top-5 or top-10 team now. Coach (Rick Barnes) has done a great job of building their program to where it's a national championship contender every single time. I think our program is on the rise. I think Coach (Tom) Penders has done a really good job at Houston, bringing basketball back and creating excitement over there. UTEP is one of the better programs, always an NCAA tournament team right there or close to. There's some other teams that are in the infancy of building their program back, TCU, SMU. They've always done a great job at Rice. There's a lot of good players in this state and that gives you a chance to have a lot of good teams. Baylor's done a great job under very tough circumstances. They've got really good players and are doing a really good job of building their program. It's good right now, it's going to continue to get better. When you have a team like Texas and a program like Texas...when he (Rick Barnes) came in here, he made it a very important thing for them to recruit the best players in Texas and he's done a great job of doing that. Those guys are receiving national player of the year and first-team All-American status, and they're getting all kinds of recognitition. That's a great blueprint for all of us to follow, and that's what we're definitely trying to do. We have a long ways to go, but Coach Barnes has done a fantastic job, doing it with homegrown guys for the most part and really recruiting, coaching them and winning."
Can you tell when you talk to recruits that they obviously understand this momentum that the state has?
"The Big 12 is the best thing that happened, in my opinion, for Texas basketball. The Southwest Conference was a great league, but it didn't have the national attention that this league does. You're on Big Monday, every single game is on TV...that's one of the most important things to recruits. And then winning. Our league is always going to have Final Four contenders each and every year, probably multiple Final Four contenders. All those games are on TV. There's a great deal of excitement, but I really believe the Big 12 coming about was the most important thing to ever happen for the state of Texas basketball."
Along those same lines, with what's happening here and having both teams (women's) with 20 wins going down the stretch, that's got to be very rewarding to you...
"It is. It's fun. I've watched Coach (Blair) and what they've done with the women's program, and they've done a fantastic job. It all started with recruiting Texas players and recruiting in general, and creating excitement by a lot of hard work. getting out in the community and trying to tell people stuff that they probably didn't want to believe. But I think now you can start seeing that they can believe it. It's fun to watch what they've been able to do, and what a season they've had. It makes it better when both teams are generating excitement together. It makes it easier on us and easier on them. When every sport on campus is doing well, I think it means a whole lot. There's no school in the country that can afford to pay the advertising cost for two hours on TV, the exposure that we get. That's what it is for every time that you're on TV...or a 3 ˝ hour football game, for the exposure and advertisement, nobody has that kind of money. The better your teams do, the more exposure you get, the more recruits you get...it's all about players, and you're going to do better. It's a lot of fun and an exciting time."
Did you get a lot of calls Thursday after that game on ESPN2?
"Yeah. A lot of friends or whatever. You can get mixed up into thinking you're something that you're not. You start worrying about your calls that you get or text messages that you get, and all of a sudden you let a game slip by on Saturday. We could have played our best and got beat on Saturday, and we were lucky enough to win. But our focus was perfect and our attention to Texas Tech was perfect. It started on Thursday. You can't waste seven or eight hours and return all the phone calls and whatever. It's fantastic, and it's nice to have friends that really care about you, only when you win (laughter), but you can't spend a bunch of time...you focus on the next and not the last, good or bad, and our team's done a really good job of doing that."
Were you surprised at all that after the emotional win (Wednesday) the team came back to practice the next day and were ready to go, had gotten over it that quickly?
"Well, I don't know if they got over it but I think they were able to put it to the back of their minds. Yes I am surprised, because I was physically exhausted and I didn't play any. I don't know how those guys...it was one of the most physical games and highly-contested games I've ever seen by both sides. Those guys played their hearts out and they were able to get a win. Just the euphoria of winning, but the physical part of it...we had a short practice on Thursday, but it was very intense. They had great intentions of coming in and it wasn't, 'Hey, this is what we did last night.' It was, 'Hey, let's get ready to go to Lubbock tomorrow and try to play Texas Tech on Saturday.' I was really surprised. You lose a lot of weight when you play those games. You get totally dehydrated or whatever and then all the excitement, you know they couldn't sleep on Wednesday...for them to be able to come back is pretty amazing."