March 17, 2004
– On taking this team to the NCAA Tournament
“This time is a little more special. I was not here when the other guys came in, so it’s nice to see Isma’ll [Muhammad], Jarrett [Jack], B.J. [Elder] and those guys make it.”
On the difference between schools making the tournament
“Of course it’s different for Arizona. When they first made the NCAA Tournament under Lou Olson, in 1985 I think, I bet it was special. Then when they made the Final Four in 1990, which was special. It’s a normal progression. Hopefully, down the road, we make that progression here at Tech.”
On Chris Bosh coming back to Tech for his sophomore season rather than going to NBA
“I love this team that we have, but you know. I really don’t want to say it, but if he was here this team would be better. Plain and simple.”
On Northern Iowa
“They execute well in their half-court offense. They do other things well, rebound, box out, they’re a very sound fundamentally, but offensively they are probably as good as executing their offense as North Carolina State. They really execute extremely well. They screen very well. They run a different type of offense. NC State is more of a spacing and back cutting, where as these guys really concentrate screening and executing sets that involve ball screens, double aways, flair screens, I mean you name it and they’re going to hit you with it. I’m going to tell my guys tonight when we get together and begin going over their scouting report, you’re going to come out of this game with some sore ribs, I guarantee you that, because you’re going to get hit a lot.”
On the Panther Players
“[Ben] Jacobsen and [David] Gruber are the two that stand out. Jacobsen can score off the dribble and is terrific three-point shooter. Gruber is one of those guys where when he gets the ball down low, he’s just so strong with the basketball. I think they list him at 6’7″ or 6’8”, but he plays a little bigger than that around the basket. It’s tough to get a hand on the shot, block his shot.
“They got a kid, [Erik] Crawford, who goes off the dribble really well. Matt Schneiderman shoots the ball very well from the fourth spot. [Brooks] McKowan is a freshman, but doesn’t seem to play like it, he played very well during the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
“They’re a good team. If they had one quality that stands out more than most, it’s their ability to shoot the basketball.”
On getting Tech back to becoming a regular in the NCAA Tournament
“I think so. I mean I think we’ve gotten back to that possibility, but you still have to go out and do it. It’s one thing to have good types of talent and say that’s what we want to do, it’s another thing to go out and do it. I tell the guys all the time, I think we want to, but can we. The ACC Tournament, we go in there want to win it, and we believed we can. Obviously we fell short of our goal, but even this tournament, we want to beat UNI, but it’s not like we desire, we know that if we go out there and play our game, we’re very capable of beating Northern Iowa. But we also realize if they play their game, they’re capable of beating us.”
On the reason of coming to Georgia Tech
“It’s an easy place to recruit to. That’s the thing you look for, that’s how you evaluate a job. The city we have, the school, the conference. I mean, I don’t think there are many programs in the country that have a combination … a city like Atlanta, the academic reputation of Georgia Tech and playing in the best, and most televised conference, in the country.”
When did Tech find its Identity
“The Tennessee game was the game where I felt like I saw things kind of fall into place. We got off to a good start, because of our defense and our rebounding and our transition offense. As you go deeper and deeper into the year, it’s harder to get those kind of buckets, easy baskets in transition, getting steals. So the Tennessee game in my mind, proves to the guys that we can hurt people in a lot of different ways. If it’s not in transition, we can get in our half court offense and get shots for B.J., Marvin [Lewis], Will [Bynum] and Jarrett [Jack] from the outside, or Isma’ll and Luke [Schenscher] could post up, so when that started come together, when the half court offense started to come together, that’s when I felt like now we can play a lot of different styles and win a lot of different ways.”
On the team’s confidence
“The confidence is high, no question about it. But I always tell these guys that you can’t worry about the last game to provide your momentum for this game. You’ve got to go out and provide your own momentum when the ball goes up. Don’t think that because we won four of our last five games, UNI cares. Northern Iowa doesn’t care. They’re going to come out and set some bone-jarring screens, and get shots for Jacobsen and get post touches for Gruber. As far as the last few games having an impact on this game, I don’t think it has one at all.”
On the shot made by Tech’s James Forrest in 1992 (to beat USC in Milwaukee)
“I was sitting in the living room floor, eating dinner, in my apartment in Hempstead, N.Y. I was a huge USC and George Raveling fan, so when the shot went in, the words I said can’t be duplicated right now. They can’t be repeated.”
On the rewards of getting a team to the NCAA Tournament for a coach
“Well I mean it’s gratifying to me. This is about the players and I don’t think people talk about that enough. It’s interesting to me, I think people talk about coaches too much in college basketball and talk about players too much in the NBA. We have a little bit of a blend, both games would be much better off. This is about the players, they have a four-year window to get into the NCAA Tournament and play on the greatest stage in college basketball, amateur basketball. It’s gratifying for me, but what makes me happy to see their reaction and just how proud they are on what they’ve accomplished and know that they can do more.”
“You hope there is a feeling of expectation. You go to the next year, I don’t have to tell the guys that they have to run hard on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to get into shape for preseason. I don’t have to tell them about preparing for the first game next season. They will do it themselves in that locker room. The culture will be created around here, that regardless of who the coach is here, this is what we do around here. Coach shouldn’t have to get on us, we’re going to go out there and do it ourselves, because they enjoy moments like this. That’s why they play, for moments like this.”
On the tradition of basketball at Tech
“The last two years we did (educate the players). When things weren’t going the way we wanted them to. You just try and make them [recruits] understand you have a responsibility to uphold a very strong tradition here. I can’t tell you how many times when we have a big win, guys like Kenny Anderson, or Matt Harpring, or Tommy Hammonds or Brian Oliver will call and congratulate us. Over the last two years I talked about it more, I thought this year it wasn’t as needed. I think they’re starting to get it, that’s it’s about them and not anything other than their effort. The pride they should have when they wear that Georgia Tech uniform.
“Kenny sent me a nice fruit basket after we beat Duke.”
On not taking anyone for granted
“We have not met since the selection show. We’re going to meet tonight. We did our individual instruction and some conditioning, but we’re going to begin reviewing Northern Iowa stuff tonight. It will get across, trust me.”
“Because, if you don’t focus on Northern Iowa, the other school won’t matter. You have to understand, that conference has sent some teams to the tournament that have won games. Creighton has done a great job over the last two years, the year that Florida [2001] made it to the Final Four, the were very, very lucky to beat Butler. So, believe me, there is no overlooking going on. You don’t beat Southern Illinois by 15 points and not be a quality basketball team. Southern Illinois was 15th in the country and we were 20th, and Northern Iowa beat them soundly, I watched the tape. They’ve won eight in a row. The teams from that conference, Creighton the last couple years, Southern Illinois went to the Sweet 16 two years ago, Southwest Missouri State, so you know the history of that league are battle tested and ready to play in the NCAA Tournament.”
