|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SAN JOSEMarch 21, 2019Buzz WilliamsSan Jose, California MODERATOR: We'll welcome Coach Buzz Williams to the dais. We'll open it up for questions. Q. Buzz, seeing you for the first time since Sunday, you had some days with Justin now. Do you have a sense of is he 100 percent back to his old self, the 30-minute-a-game Justin, or is it five minutes off the bench or somewhere in between? BUZZ WILLIAMS: He practiced on Monday for the first time since January the 29th, and then we practiced Tuesday. And then obviously we traveled all day yesterday. We just finished what we would call real practice prior to coming here. I don't know that there's any way that we can predict how many minutes he'll play. I think that's unfair to him. I think that's unfair to our team. But he is a good player. He does know how to pass, dribble and shoot. And I think his experience will help us, but how many minutes, I don't want to try to predetermine that because I don't think that that's -- I don't think that that's right by anybody. Q. Buzz, you've had I guess a dozen games now without Justin. You did a nice job adjusting without him, and you did a nice job last year late in the season adjusting when you had to. Now that you've got him back again, do you feel like you're sort of more multiple, more versatile? Do you sort of revert back to some things you did with him, or can you mix it up a little bit now with some slower tempo? BUZZ WILLIAMS: I do think multiple is the right word. He gives us another fast guy. I don't know that we would have been described as slow without him. But we're faster with him. I think he gives us another guy that can pass, which is what we've really missed more than anything. Similar to what they were saying when they were up here, he makes the game easier, particularly for Ty and Ahmed. I think that he makes the game easier for K and for Nickeil as well. I don't know that we can go back to 13 games ago and use that play category. What we've tried to do is bleed him into the plays, per se, that we've been running since he's been out. He has an incredible IQ, and so he knew most of them before he ever had an opportunity to do it. And so our practice itinerary the last couple of days is probably -- we've probably ran more dummy offense than any team still playing just because of the change in our roster. Q. Buzz, as you prepared for Saint Louis, how different a team is it prepared for than the one you played third game last season or not? BUZZ WILLIAMS: I think there are a lot of similarities. I think this year's group is more of a Travis Ford-type team, Marcus Smart-type team, LeBron-Nash-type team, James Anderson-type team. Can't be on the floor unless you can bench 300 pounds, can't be on the floor unless you're really mean and really tough, can't be on the floor unless you can average a rebound every third trip. I think they had remnants of that last season. I think their four redshirt seniors probably enhance that even more. So I think there is some carryover, but I think that they're distinctly better this year, not only in their personnel, but in their mentality and probably how -- I'm not trying to coach his team, but how he prefers to play throughout his career. Q. What makes them such a good rebounding team? How big a concern is that for you tomorrow? Do you feel like you've got a better rebounding team than you've brought the last couple years to the NCAAs, so maybe that's not as big a concern as it might have been in other years? BUZZ WILLIAMS: They're the fifth best offensive rebounding team in the United States, so it's priority No. 1. I don't think we're quite as bad as we've been the previous two years that we've been here. I think we've made it more of a priority. It was the only way that we had a chance to even play tomorrow. But it's for sure a concern. I think it's the mentality they play with. It's not just their bigs that rebound. It's everybody on the floor. I think that they won four games in four days last week. If there was one thing that I would say just from studying those games, it was their ability to get extra possessions, and that's why they won the tournament. Q. As you look at their defense, what impressed you about their defense, especially their three-point defense this year? BUZZ WILLIAMS: I think that they'll play multiple defenses. I don't know that there's necessarily a rhythm to it. I haven't watched every one of their games. I think if they're in a good groove defensively, they stay with what they're doing. I think if they lose that groove, they change and try a different defense. I think they do a good job keeping it out of the paint. They want you to shoot contested threes, like most defenses, but their formation and which defense they run, I think that they'll play three or four different ones tomorrow. Q. After the win over Duke, you said nobody tells the truth anymore. What did you mean by that? BUZZ WILLIAMS: I don't know. I don't remember saying it. Yeah, I think the world needs more truth tellers. But I'm not sure. Did I say it on the radio show? I talk to those guys a little better than I talk to you guys. I'm a little more comfortable in that environment. Q. It sounded as if you were implying coaches might suggest kids would get more time than they were actually going to get rather than being direct. BUZZ WILLIAMS: Well, maybe if that was the lens that I was saying it in. Thanks for even listening to the radio show. We only have 12 listeners. We call them "The Original 12." We'll send you an honorary membership card (laughs). Relative to this group, I don't think that there has been anything but transparency from the beginning. Obviously, you know, those guys, Ahmed has been through all of it. In Ahmed's first year we won two games. And so 2 and 16 to 12 and 6 is a big change. And to be where we are today, I think that speaks to everybody's pulling in the same direction. And that's not just the players. That's not just the coaches. I think anyone that has been associated with our program, as competitive as this environment is with the margins as thin as they are, that's the only chance you have. And so, yeah, I'm probably as direct as there is. And I'm not saying that that's right. I'm just saying I'm self-aware. Q. Buzz, after losing in the NCAAs last couple of years, do you feel like you've got a team that's more capable of winning in the NCAAs tomorrow? Do you feel like you're bringing a better team to the NCAAs than you have the last couple of years? BUZZ WILLIAMS: No. No. I was so excited to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in however many years with Zach LaDay and Seth Allen, and then to do it back-to-back years, I think it had been 34 years since that had happened in Virginia Tech history. I think Collin Sexton was arguably the best point guard in the country last year, to lose by three, I thought we just really struggled to guard him and keep the ball out of the paint in the second half. But to compare teams, compare talent, I'm thankful, and I think in 111 years of basketball at Virginia Tech, it's never happened. And so for me to get up here and say, oh, yeah, we're better, and all the stuff you were asking, we're a higher seed, we're the big boys. No, we're just trying real hard. We're trying real hard, and we're very thankful for the chance. And I think one of the things that we tried to focus on is making sure we have an appreciation for the experience instead of an expectation, just because Twitter has an expectation, that doesn't mean that the lives in our program don't need to have appreciation for all of the work and all of the sacrifice that went into having a chance. Q. Since you mentioned Twitter, a lot of chatter about your job. Do you address that directly with the team? What do you tell them? BUZZ WILLIAMS: Nothing. Q. Do they approach you at all? BUZZ WILLIAMS: No. Those are my guys. I know you don't get it, but those are my guys, and that kind of stuff I can't control. And relative to my relationship with them and my family, I don't think it's appropriate to talk about that. I think what's appropriate is to talk about can you believe this is happening? Q. I don't know if you're coming back or not. I don't know if some of your players are coming back or not, but for sure your seniors are not coming back. This has been such a special year. Are you allowing yourself any chance to like, either just yourself or the guys, kind of savor it and soak everything in? BUZZ WILLIAMS: Sure. Kind of like what I was talking about there at the end with you, just having an appreciation for all of this instead of having some level of expectation. I think when it goes as fast as it goes, it's hard maybe -- this may be a bad analogy, but, you know, in the midst of a tornado it's hard to realize it's going as fast as it is, and to try to figure out some way to stop the tornado when the tornado is while you're still playing, that's difficult. I do think at times I've tried to be better with these guys particularly in making sure that they're learning the life lessons that come with all of this. I think our greatest ally all season long has been the obstacles that have come our way and making sure that in the right way we diagnose those obstacles and try to maybe turn what seems for harm into something good. And this group, this staff has done it better than I've ever seen. Selfishly I've probably learned more from them in how they've handled all of this than they've learned from me. You know, and it's -- you or anybody else, you know, what happened to 5? He hurt his foot, you know, and I understand that you guys were offended by that. I respect that. You guys have a job to do. When is he coming back. I don't know. I didn't know. But I didn't think that it was fair to 5 or his family to put some level of expectation so that we could answer those questions. Right? Our culture doesn't offer excuses. It doesn't offer alibis. Our culture is effort based, and I thought that the effort that whoever it was that was in uniform played with and the togetherness that they played with is something that not just as a coach, but as a person I'll never forget that. Q. I couldn't help but notice you in the back taking photos of your players with your phone. I've never seen a coach do that. Is that routine for you? BUZZ WILLIAMS: I love those kids. Right? And similar to what he asked: How are you going about this process knowing that the next time you lose, if you lose, you'll never get to coach those guys? And as much as I try to say the right things to them, I'm not saying that I have all the right answers. But I want to make sure that my example in how I live is the same example in what I say. And I've tried to make sure that -- just like 5, I knew that was going to be the topic of conversation as soon as 5 got up here. And so I texted 5 today, since I did a bad job answering your last question. I'm saying, I'm typing all of this in the right tone. "Enjoy this weekend the way you have handled the last 12 games of not playing. Make the game easier for your teammates. Help them shine, and you will," quote, "'get yours' as a by-product of helping them. Don't worry about minutes. Don't worry about your foot. God is in control. I am," in capital letters" For You." That's words we use in our organization. "I am," in all capital letters, "FOR ALL OF OUR KIDS WINNING." "A," quote, "seamless transition with 5 playing again and helping VT win will add to your evaluation by smart people more than," quote, "'he is trying to prove he is healthy and can play again.'" "I want you to enjoy the moments. Play with a," quote, "free brain, not have 1900 voices of the enemy running in your mind." And then he responded and I responded, but that's probably enough. But I want to remember it. I want to remember it. And as soon as I get done here and go out there, I'll take pictures for 45 minutes with whoever is out there, my kids, my junior college coach, big Fred. Yeah. MODERATOR: Great. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|