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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 11, 2013Jeff BzdelikTHE MODERATOR: Welcome to today's ACC Men's Basketball Teleconference preceding the ACC Tournament. We'll go ahead and welcome Wake Forest Jeff Bzdelik. Just a brief opening statement, and then we'll go to questions. COACH BZDELIK: I'll just go to questions. Thank you. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Bzdelik. Q. Just the way the matchups go, Maryland looks like a really tough matchup for you guys just the way the games went in the regular season. What caused that problem, or do you even see it as a difficult matchup? COACH BZDELIK: I thought we were much better the second time we played them. We had some open looks that just didn't go down. But they're very long. Their length‑‑ even on the perimeter they're long. They're long and they're wide. And that has presented problems to us. Their length, they get up and into us. They're longer. Caused us problems. Len is really a terrific player. His length erases mistakes around the rim and they have a couple of wide rear ended bodies down there that take up a lot of space. So they're a physical, long team, and yes they have given us some problems. But again we're much better the last time out than the first time. And we hope to continue to improve and put ourselves in position to win. Q. I wondered if you could talk a little bit about progress and what an ACC tournament win; it's been since 2007, would mean. You went from four wins a year ago to six conference wins this year. That is progress with a younger team. To get over the hump in the tournament for the first time for this group of guys, what would that mean to the progress you're trying to see in the program? COACH BZDELIK: Well, we're not trying to see progress. We are experiencing progress. Yes, we have an extremely young basketball team with only one senior and one junior. We're getting better. We've lost a lot of close games, two games by one. A game by two. A game by three, a game by four, a game by five, a game by six, and we're getting better. We're just a couple of possessions away from being a .500 team in this league. But would'ves, could'ves, should'ves don't count. And we understand that. There's been great resolve on this team, great resiliency. We played extremely well offensively yesterday. Our younger players are getting better. And we look at their statistics and know that gives testimony to their improvement. Of course, winning games gives you confidence and validates the progress being made. So we're going to work hard over these next three games to play even better than we did the first couple of times we played Maryland. Q. You've got C.J. Harris shooting lights out from the 3‑point line like you did yesterday, and he's done a few other times this year, how is that sort of contagious for the rest of the team? COACH BZDELIK: Well, so much of this game is played from the neck up. And confidence is intangible that it's hard to measure in terms of what it means to you. And when they see their senior leader playing like he has at times throughout the year, yeah, it breeds a lot of confidence, and of course it makes the game a little easier for others, too, because the defense really, really concentrating on C.J. and he made some really nice passes yesterday. We passed the ball well yesterday. We had 21 assists. We got away from all that ball screen stuff. And we got more movement, ball and player movement. People moving without the basketball, and our guys did a nice job of finding open people off cuts and changing side of the floor from one side to the other. And I was really pleased with that. But C.J., when he's going, for us to‑‑ when we've had big wins‑‑ and we've had big wins this year‑‑ we're operating on all cylinders. And C.J. seems to be such a‑‑ he seems to be the key for all that to happen. No doubt. Q. With the youth of your team, they all will have other ACC tournaments to look forward to. C.J., this is his last one, do you sense in him any kind of urgency that he transmits maybe to the rest of the players? COACH BZDELIK: Well, we've discussed that. Just because you're young, you can't just exhale and say I've got another three shots ahead. No. There's not a person on this earth that can guarantee tomorrow. And so, guys, there should be a great urgency like now, because none of us are guaranteed even the next hour in our lives. So, guys, it's here now. We live in the moment because there might not be another moment. So that's been the message all year. I think sometimes young players go, well, this is just my freshman year, let me feel this out. No, there has to be a great sense of urgency. Because just because you're young and you've got another year doesn't mean you're going to be good next year. No. You have to work at it. And you have to earn it. And right now we just need to get better today. Like we played well offensively yesterday. But we need to get better today, guys. Yesterday's over with. So that's the message. And then again to help me transmit that message, it's gotta come internally with the team. It can't just be coach‑speak. When it becomes player‑speak and player‑directed, not coach‑directed, that's when you make progress. Hopefully C.J.'s sending that message he has with his work ethic every day. And you're right, our players need to feed off that. Q. Coach, they're announcing the All‑ACC and All‑Rookie teams today, can you talk about Devin Thomas, I think there's a good chance he'll be on the All‑Rookie team, but he seems to be the most advanced of your freshmen? COACH BZDELIK: I'll tell you what, if he doesn't make the All‑Freshman team, wow, this is a guy that had some huge, huge games. I don't know what the stats are today, but I think for the most part he's been third in the ACC in rebounding behind Plumlee and Howell, two seniors. He's third in the ACC in rebounding, point production. I think he's over 50percent now from the floor. And you talk about a guy playing inside against Plumlee, Howell, Len. You can go on and on, Booker, all these great upperclassmen in the league in the middle, shooting over 50percent, averaging double digits, third in the league in rebounding, I guess. You can validate these stats. I'm not looking at them so I don't know what they are as of today. But by golly, and you talk about his defense. You talk about his hustle, his passion, his energy. In many ways he's the heart and soul of this team because of his energy. He's an excellent passer. I would just be shocked if he is not on that. In fact, to be honest with you I think there's a great case for him to be, if not freshman of the year maybe second in voting. So hopefully that's the case. But he's a good one, no doubt about it. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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