March 15, 2006
Head Coach Billy Gillispie and selected players met with members of the media on Wednesday at the NCAA pre-tournament press conference held at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.
Click the links to the right to listen to the press conference. Coach Gillispie's quotes and quotes from Acie Law, Chris Walker and Joseph Jones are posted below.
Billy Gillispie Pre-NCAA Tournament Quotes
Opening statement...
"We're just happy to be here. It's an honor anytime you get chosen or selected to be in the NCAA Tournament field. We feel like we should be here, but we also are very, very grateful that we were selected by the selection committee and we hope to make the best showing that we possibly can for our team, for our university and for our community. It's been a great year so far for us. We're facing an imposing opponent, probably the hottest team in the country in Syracuse. They captured everyone's interest and imagination last weekend with the magical run, and boy it was fun to watch them play. I was watching them play last weekend and I really had a great time watching them, until they called our name to play against them Sunday night. Then all of a sudden it wasn't so fun. It should be a real exciting game for us. We'll have to play our best game of the year to have any kind of chance. With this team you never know what can happen."
Talk about what you inherited, a team that had gone 0-16 in conference. Was it a wasteland, and was the mindset the toughest thing you had to change?
"No, it was definitely not a wasteland. Texas A&M is one of the best universities in the world. They have great athletic teams. We were able to inherit some guys that could really play. One of them was a first-round draft choice last year with the New Jersey Nets in Antoine Wright. We had some other guys that we inherited that were very good players as well. They'd had a tough season before for whatever reason, but as far as changing the mindset...it didn't take long to change the mindset of the players. The players were very hungry, very willing and very eager. They've been as hard-working and had all the intangibles present for the last two years, on a daily basis, more so than any other team I have ever seen or I could ever imagine. As far as wasteland, absolutely not. We just needed to change a few things, as far as not only the team but you had to change everything you came in contact with. You had to change the way they thought about academics, the way they thought of approaching lifting weights, the way they did everything, just a little bit. It wasn't a great change on anything, but it had to be a little bit of a change in every direction. You had to build self-esteem. That's really hard to do sometimes when everyone thinks you're no good, walking around your own community or your own campus. I think we captured the imagination of the people in the community very early last year by winning all our preseason games and then playing well in conference. Everyone really is totally hungry and they got excited about us. That self-esteem was changed immediately, and that carried over into the summer. We had a great summer and a great fall, and continued to get some other players to develop, and those things just happen. You get a great deal of confidence when you start winning close games, and we were able to achieve that in conference, and before you know it we had won five, six, seven and eight games in a row in a very, very tough league. We're on the right track to turning this program around but it's not done yet."
Talk about Acie Law and what he's meant to you and what makes him a special player...
"He's meant everything to us. He was always a very talented player. He probably didn't know how good he could become. He's really turned into one of the better players in the Big 12, and there are a lot of great players in that league. He's done it through learning how to be a leader, and that's not very easy. He's not talkative by nature, that's not a natural situation for him as far as being a talkative leader. He really changed into doing that because I demanded that and he reluctantly accepted that. After he did accept it he probably started to enjoy it. He's the most well-conditioned athlete that I've ever been around because of his hard work that he put in throughout the summer and this fall. He's in unbelievable condition. He's learned how to make great decisions. At one time he could always score for himself but he didn't always set up his teammates very well. Now he can really score and he has great confidence in getting guys shots and knowing when to get guys shots and how to freeze defenders. On top of that he became a great perimeter defender, one of the best. I always thought he could do that and I think he's going to continue to get better. He's been a great, great ball defender for us, especially in the second half of the season when we started playing well on defense."
You got at least a little familiarity with Gerry McNamara out at the USA Basketball trials. Can you talk a little bit about him as a player and anything else you picked up about him in a few days out there?
"I really enjoyed being around him and (SU) Coach (Jim Boeheim) was out there as well, because I think Coach was the leader of the selection committee as far as helping USA Basketball select the best players. We have so much respect for Coach and Syracuse University and their basketball team and program. It was fun being around Gerry. He's one of those kind of guys that I would definitely like to coach. Any coach would. He has more than the ability to just put the ball in the basket. He's a lot of fun on and off the court. He's a guy that not only makes baskets for himself but he really knows how to pass. He really knows how to set his teammates up where all they have to do is catch and dunk. Man alive, he knows how to play the game. There's a guy in our league that's a little bit similar to him. We've come to the conclusion that he's kind of a combination of an Aaron Bruce (Baylor) and a Daniel Gibson (Texas), who we definitely think are both NBA players. He kind of combines those two. He's got a great flair for the game. He has the ability to pass, shoot, force help, just a great player. It seems like he's having a lot of fun playing too, and, wow. What a weekend he had last weekend. It was really fun to watch."
Of some of the great scorers you faced this year in the Big 12, how would you evaluate how you did against some of those guys?
"For the most part we did very well. Sometimes they ended up with their average or above their average, but we made them work very hard to get it. We usually start out with Dominique Kirk or Chris Walker or Marlon Pompey, one of those guys, guarding those guys, but it's always a team defense deal for us. Sometimes guys make a bunch of shots against us but usually they might have to take a few more shots to get their average or whatever. Like in McNamara's case, or (Eric) Devendorf, they (Syracuse) have so many weapons on their team and they all are playing really well together right now. They are playing so well together, it's so difficult to try to figure out how to guard them. All five of them are averaging in double figures. We've faced some really good players and some really good teams, but probably not a team that's playing better than Syracuse is right now."
What do you think the folks back in Graford (Texas) are doing right now that you are preparing to take Texas A&M to the NCAA Tournament, and what do you take from there that helps you right now?
"Well, what they're doing right now is the reason that we've been able to achieve some things...they're working. They don't get off until it turns dark, and that's the way they do it. They get up at daylight and they work until dark, and that's the reason that I'm so proud to be from there. It helps you develop a very good work ethic. If you are not a worker in that town, they don't have much patients with you. You start at a very early age and you continue working, and you learn how to make work a passion instead of a job. I promise you, they'll be proud tomorrow night when we play but they'll be working up until that time."
Could you speak to how this compares to two years ago when you took UTEP to the tournament?
"Well, there's so many similarities. We were both so-called bubble teams. You didn't know until your name was called if you were going to be in the tournament, so that's very similar. They were both teams that were picked very low in conference that were able to overachieve in a sense and do great things to put themselves in a position to have their names called on Sunday. They were both teams that were very hard-working teams. Both teams that cared about each other more than they cared about themselves. Both teams that are really, really...it's an honor to coach both of those teams. I think at UTEP they probably expect you to do it really quickly because they've had so many great years with Coach (Don) Haskins, who is as good a coach as there ever has been, but they probably didn't expect to do it at Texas A&M as quickly as we've been able to do it. I think there's a lot of similarities but there are some differences as well."
Going back to that UTEP game...a lot of times in those games the underdog gets the crowd support, and I don't know if you guys experienced that when you played Maryland in a close game, but in this game, with what Syracuse did this weekend, and with Coach (Boeheim) defending McNamara and them going on that incredible run, do you almost think it will work in reverse where they may be the so-called "darlings?"
"I don't know. They had a lot of fans already, but I would think they gained a lot of fans this weekend with their incredible run through the Big East Tournament. Last time we played, we played at 10:40 in the morning, and we were out of the tournament before most teams had left their campus to go to their site (laughing). No, we had a great crowd over in the Pepsi Center (Denver), and actually it was the first game, so people started coming in and we got a lot of support late. I have no idea. I'm sure there will be a lot of great fans here tomorrow pulling for both teams. As many big games as Syracuse has been in and as much support as they've had...and as many big games that we've been in and as much support as we've had, I don't think the crowd is going to make a whole lot of difference. We've both been the villain and we've both been the darling. I don't think that's going to have a whole lot to do with the outcome of the game tomorrow."
Texas A&M Player Quotes
Talk about how remarkable it is that two years ago you were 0-16 in the Big 12 and now you are in the NCAA Tournament...how quickly and how far the program has come in such a short time...
ACIE LAW: "Oh man, it's unbelievable. My freshman year I would never have imagined us being where we are today so quickly. Our team works hard. We play hard and we play together. We've turned it around. It's been great but I never expected it to be so quick. Coach (Gillispie) came in, we got it rolling and this is where we are today."
Joe, you're a guy from Normangee, now here you are on the East Coast. Does this stage feel like what you thought it might?
JOSEPH JONES: "I haven't gotten out there yet, but coming from Normangee this is a very big thing. I am just grateful to be here and happy to be here with my teammates and the whole Texas A&M basketball staff and stuff. But I never thought I'd be here."
Acie, talk about what Joe has meant to this team...
ACIE LAW: "Everything. He's a big part of our success. We wouldn't be where we are today without Joe. He's a great leader, one of our hardest workers. He brings it every day in practice. A vocal guy. Toughness, he brings everything to our team. He's a great guy. We wouldn't be talking NCAA Tournament today if Joseph Jones wasn't on our team. He's been everything for us."
Everyone just sees the turnaround, 0-16 two years ago to where you are now, but they haven't seen how you've accomplished it and what goes on in practices and such. Can you just describe a little bit what it took to get to this point, and what the practices were like and how difficult an adjustment it was to get used to Coach Gillispie?
CHRIS WALKER: "I think the biggest change that we needed to make was the mindset going into practice and the attitude. Those are the hardest things to change, when you're used to doing things for a while, it becomes a habit. In order to change a habit it takes a lot of work, it takes a plan, it takes dedication, it takes players, too. We were fortunate, we had good enough players here to mold into great players. We had mediocre players to turn into good players. Having that kind of talent as well as having the right mindset and the right attitude that Coach Gillispie brought in here was really the recipe to our success. It's definitely been a lot of toughness, a lot of hard work, and a lot of changing those habits to get where we are today."
Acie, could you compare Gerry McNamara to any player in the Big 12 and who gets the assignment of guarding him tomorrow?
ACIE LAW: "Well the second question, the assignment of guarding him...Dominique (Kirk) is probably going to start on him, but I'll probably get to guard him a little bit. As far as anybody in our league...I'd have to say Aaron Bruce at Baylor, and probably Daniel Gibson (Texas), a combination of both. Gerry's a great player. He does a lot for his team. It'll be a tough assignment for whoever is guarding him tomorrow but hopefully we can get the job done and limit his touches and come out with a victory.
There's never been a meeting between A&M and Syracuse but it sounds like you guys have a lot of respect for what they will bring to the court in this game...
ACIE LAW: "Yeah, it's a Big East team. They won the Big East Tournament, and a couple of years ago they won the national championship. They still have players from that team. They have a hall of fame coach. It's a great program. We are just now getting our thing turned around. That's where we want our program to be. For us to get the opportunity to play against them in the NCAA Tournament, it's a great opportunity for us. We're happy to be here, and we're going to go out there and give our all and our best effort and try to get a victory."
Do you remember where you were when Syracuse won that national championship, and does McNamara seem like one of those guys who's been around forever?
JOSEPH JONES: "I said that a couple of weeks ago. I was talking to Dominique (Kirk) and I was like, 'Man, I thought McNamara should have been out of school already,' since they'd won and all, but he was just a freshman that year. I don't remember where I was at, but I said that just a couple of weeks ago."
CHRIS WALKER: "I remember, I was watching that. They had a matchup with Texas, I remember, and my brother went to Texas at the time so he was a big Longhorn fan. He was going for Texas, and I think I was going for Texas at the same time, which was kind of funny. I had never imagined I was going to be in the situation that I am now, when I was doing that. I remember watching them and I remember Gerry had a really good game. I think he hit about six 3s in the first half. They had an amazing run that year, and you're kind of in awe at that point, but I'm in a lot different role right now. I'm looking forward to relishing the moment tomorrow."
What do you think is one key to winning the game tomorrow night from your perspective?
ACIE LAW: "I'd have to say rebounding and slowing their transition down. They are long, athletic and are going to shoot a lot of 3s with their great shooters. I feel if we can rebound the ball and limit their transition easy buckets that we'll be in good shape."
Joe, every year a 12 tends to beat a five. This year you guys are the trendy pick to do that. Any thoughts on that?
JOSEPH JONES: "I really don't know. Like I said, we're just grateful to be here, happy to be here. We're going to come in, try to give it our all and see how it comes out. Hopefully we'll come out with a victory. We don't know. You never know what will happen."
Acie, a lot was made last year of how hard you practice on gameday. Have y'all done that as much this year?
ACIE LAW: "Yeah. Towards the end of the season, we limited the time of practice, but the effort is always there. Whenever you hit the floor for Coach G, you're going to give your best effort. 110 percent. We always hit the floor running, 100 miles an hour. The time hasn't been as long but it's always been maximum effort."
Can any of you guys talk about their zone, and would Texas be the closest thing to their zone defense?
ACIE LAW: "Texas is a long, athletic team. We've never seen Syracuse's zone, but looking at the scouting report they have a lot of length. Seven foot in the middle, 6-9 and 6-8 on the wing. Texas is the closest thing we've come to that, and Texas is not that long. So it's going to be a difficult challenge for us to execute against the zone. We just have to be strong with our passes and hopefully get some things to go our way and make some open shots, because it's going to be tough for us."
Joe, rebounding was a big issue against Texas in the Big 12 Tournament. What did you guys see in the film and what did the coaches talk to you about in why you were giving up offensive rebounds as a team?
JOSEPH JONES: "He just said we've got to be tough on the boards and try to box out our man and go after the ball. The same things he says every game-tough on the boards and go get the ball. We need the ball, so just go get it."