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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 21, 2011

Steve Donahue

THE MODERATOR: We have with us now Boston College Head Coach Steve Donahue. Few comments about your team and then we'll open for questions.
COACH DONAHUE: We played Carolina on Saturday. I thought we did a very good job of competing. Unfortunately, I thought we had some open looks that we could have made to win the basketball game. But I give Carolina credit. They figured out a way to win a game that's probably different than they normally do.
So we're moving on. We're obviously getting ready for a Miami team that just seems to battle you every single game and as good a team as there is in terms of being in every single game down to the wire.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Steve, what kind of player is Joe Trapani been for you, what kind of rock this season?
COACH DONAHUE: You know, I really appreciate what Joe has done this year. We've asked him at different times to do different things and not always what you would want of your fifth-year season who is an All-ACC player. I've done some offensive/defensive shifts on him depending on the game, late in the game.
The thing I appreciate most about him is when you watch the film afterwards and he's not in a game at a critical time, and his teammate makes a great play, he's the first one really rooting his teammate on.
There's no sense of disappointment in his body language, in his approach. And I really appreciate what he's done. He just plays so darned hard. He goes after plays. He follows what we want to do. Just really root for a kid like that.
He's had some I think incredible games. The things he does most for us physically is the defensive rebounding part, which I think has made us a team that can compete with teams in our league at the front court spots.

Q. You're in your first year at a program and trying to get your fingerprints on everything that's done. What do you think are some of the biggest keys to sort of taking ownership and getting everyone around you to buy in?
COACH DONAHUE: That's a good question, Dan. I think there's a lot of things in all honesty that don't appear on the court or appear on the scoreboard. I think there's the ownership part of it is something that I harp on all the time.
And it's not something that you can fabricate as a coach. This has got to be legitimate kids care enough about each other and about your program that they're going to take ownership on it in a sense that they're going to push each other, there are going to be legitimate concerns for each other, there's going to be legitimate reasons why we're working hard and great trust in each other.
And I don't know if you can do that in three months, six months, a year. I think it takes a group of kids over time to buy into that. And I think for this group, I think they've done everything I've asked in terms of that. And it's just not going to be perfect. It's just not fair to them to expect that I can come in here and do that.
But I think most of the guys have really done a great job of trying to figure out what we want as coaches and then go out on the court and perform it and in the meantime have done everything off the court in terms of community service, and being a great teammate and being a good sports student-athlete here at Boston College.
And I've asked a lot of that. And they've done a great job with that as well.

Q. In addition to what you do in the practice gym and in the locker room with your players, what do you think are some of the behind-the-scenes challenges that most people don't consider about a new coach trying to get to know the dynamics of the program from boosters and administrators and all the things that go along with that?
COACH DONAHUE: I think really the word everyone uses, it's probably overused, is just the culture of your program. I just want kids to really represent our program in the finest manner. So whether it's how we dress on campus, how we attend class, where we sit in class, how we interact with your fellow students, how we do community service, obviously how you handle yourself with adults and fans and all those things are really important to me that we're appreciative of being a college basketball player at Boston College and showing people how much you do appreciate that by how you handle yourself.
And there's a lot of that. And this has been an eye-opening for a lot of guys here, but as I said, as we go along, I think they see the reasons I ask these things and more importantly I think they're benefitting from it not only now but hopefully when they leave and enter the real world when these type of skills are critical, if you're going to advance in any kind of job.

Q. Coming down to the last couple of weeks of the regular season, and you have a team that's right on the edge of NCAA selection or not selection. Is that something that focuses a team, or is it distracting? Is it motivating? Just being right there a couple of wins could push you in or knock you out.
COACH DONAHUE: I think it's always good that you're relevant to what's going on. I don't think there's any question that the kids follow that and they realize that.
But it's not our focus. My focus has always been really what do we need to be better as a basketball team. What do you need to do individually over the next couple of weeks. So I try to motivate guys individually and say, like, you know, you've had these open shots, let's get in the gym, let's work an extra half hour three times a week on this.
Let's do different things individually to motivate guys. And at the same time when we get into the practice setting, we're figuring out ways that we can get better. And I think we've done that. I'm really proud of our team in terms of our defense.
If we can continue to defend like this, my sense is that when we have open shots like we've been getting, we'll knock them down. And you're preparing to beat Miami. That's all you can focus on.
And they have such great players in certain positions and it's a challenge in itself. And I think if you focus in on those small bitty goals, those individual things each day that the big stuff takes care of itself and in the meantime you're getting better as a basketball team.

Q. You said, though, the kids know what's going on. Do you ever address it even to the extent of saying don't go to Joe Lundardi or Jerry Palm and check the bubble or whatever? Or do you just totally ignore it?
COACH DONAHUE: You know what, in the sense I ignore it but I also, those things I just talked about, that's what I talk about. I talk about our strengths and things that we can work on, and things that we need to do better. I'll never address what goes on in the media at all. It's just not relevant to what's going to help us be better as a team down the stretch here. Just that's all negatives in my estimation.
I think we worry about being a really solid teammate and figure out ways to get better. If you just focus in on all those things and constantly talk about them, my approach hasn't changed since December. I'm constantly doing things in practice to make us better without even talking about the superficial things.
And the reality, all the media stuff is superficial. It's not why you play college basketball. Hopefully you're playing for an intrinsic value that you get out of working extremely hard to get better to help a team overcome a challenge. If we're not that, then we're not going to get to the NCAA anyway.
More importantly, I don't think it helps you in your daily work ethic to worry about other things other than your teammates and yourself in the gym.

End of FastScripts

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