BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 9, 2000

Kevin Braswell

Craig Esherick

Jameel Watkins

COACH ESHERICK: I thought that one of the keys to the game today, and this is why I brought Jameel up here, is the start that we got against Syracuse. I thought the way that Jameel started at the beginning of that game gave everybody else on the team confidence and got us going to the point where we knew we could play with them. I thought that up -- up at the Dome two weeks ago, I thought that we had done a good job of playing about three-quarters of the game, and I thought that at the end of the game we let the game get away from us. But today, because of the way Jameel played at the beginning of that game and because of the way Kevin has been playing the last two games, we did a good job of withstanding the rally by Syracuse. I thought Lee Scruggs did a good job of forcing them to play him in the zone, and Ruben really stepped up. Ruben hasn't done anything in practice for four days, and I thought Ruben played extremely well for somebody that's been totally inactive. But I can't say enough about this young man right here. He's finally turned himself into a point guard and I can't be more proud of the job that Kevin has done.

COACH ESHERICK: No, I thought the chat we had two days ago hopefully will last us all the way through the end of March. I talked to him a little bit before the game, but that chat that I had, I thought, was sufficient for the rest of the tournament.

COACH ESHERICK: I thought that when we played them the last time up at the Dome, I thought the zone worked against them, so I wanted to make certain that we played zone as much as we could. I changed it a couple times, but we basically stuck to a two-three zone, and we just made certain that they knew who the outside shooters were. I thought that the inside people did a really good job of trying to keep the ball out of Thomas' hands. We just made certain that every time a shooter caught the ball in the perimeter we tried to make sure somebody had a hand in his face.

COACH ESHERICK: Well, we've won 18 games now, George. And I don't know what the NCAA Committee would think about us winning 18 games and then losing the next game, you know, I talked at the beginning of this trip up here; that we had to come up here, this was a new season, and we can make the tournament on our own by winning the Big East tournament. I don't know what the Tournament Committee would do, you know, if we lost our next game. I don't know. What I told them is I was packing for four days. That's what I told the players and I'm sure all of them packed for four days, too.

COACH ESHERICK: Kevin did a good job of -- every time Jason did have the ball, of staying in front of him. Jason is such a good creator and caused us so many problems last game that I just told Kevin to make sure he did a good job of staying in front. Jason can hit jump shots. Where he's been a danger all season is penetrating or creating for Etan Thomas or penetrating and creating for some of the shooters they have.

COACH ESHERICK: Georgetown has always been a great shooting team, you didn't know that? We have a history of great jump shooters. (Laughter.) In all seriousness, I think we do have a good free-throw-shooting team. I don't think we have a good three-point shooting team yet. I think we have some players that are capable of shooting well from the three-point line. I've said all season I thought we had a good free-throw-shooting team and I'm not surprised by how well we shot the ball from the free-throw line today. That was a big part of today's game.

KEVIN BRASWELL: It feels great coming up here. Coach told us that, you know, it's a new season when we came up here. I'm so happy right now because we just knocked the No.1 seeded team off. Going into tomorrow, we know how we have to play. I know I was -- the players around me, I knew they were capable of doing the things that they're doing now. I think everybody just put all the games behind us that we lost, the close games and the games we knew we could have won. Syracuse has won them. We came out and played hard.

COACH ESHERICK: We started putting him at the free-throw line against their zone rather than on the baseline and wing. Lee did a great job. He's capable of hitting that jump shot. If it was up to Lee, we would be out by the hash mark, he's a two guard in a 6'11" body. Every five or six minutes, just get in there and get at least one rebound. Lee likes to shoot jump shots. He's a very, very good shooter. He's not a good shooter; he's a very good shooter. I thought Lee did do a good job in the middle of that zone, both hitting the shot and getting the ball inside to Ruben.

KEVIN BRASWELL: I went to Jameel at the beginning before the game started, I was like, I got to come to you early. I knew they would concentrate on me with Ruben out. They had been. He was just sliding right into the spots, he was catching the ball and finishing. I couldn't be more happy with Jameel right now.

KEVIN BRASWELL: I felt like it was my team -- Coach put the ball in my hand since I was a freshmen. I felt this was my team from day one. The support, everybody's contributing. It's just feeling great right now.

COACH ESHERICK: I thought the biggest part of that was us making the free throws. We had a couple of turnovers we should not have had. The biggest part of that was when they fouled us, when they had to foul us, we knocked down free throws. I thought that was the biggest part of our press offense.

COACH ESHERICK: Well, I think it just adds another chapter. I think it adds another chapter. I think this is one of the -- this is obviously the best rivalry in our conference and I think it's one of the best rivalries in the country. Another chapter, another story to tell ten years from now. I hope I'm here to tell it.

COACH ESHERICK: He's going to play. He's definitely going to play. I have not asked our trainer yet in all seriousness, but there was no indication during the course of the game, in the first three times I asked him out, I asked him each time are you okay. He said I'm okay. The fourth time I took him out, he said don't take me out, put me back in. I think that answers your question.

COACH ESHERICK: Well, the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament is the biggest motivation. The Big East tournament has become an event. If you can't get yourself motivated to play in this tournament, then either you don't have a pulse or you don't belong in college basketball. This is a great basketball tournament, one of the better basketball tournaments in this country. It's a post-season tournament and you throw on top of that that if we win this tournament we have a NCAA bid and that's sufficient motivation.

COACH ESHERICK: I don't know. The only thing that I'm thinking about right now is I'm going to watch this game, I'm going to stay here and watch this game and see who we play and then see who I have to go back to the hotel room and watch film on. That's all we're thinking about. That's all I'm thinking about. That's all that we should be thinking about. You know, we have to win tomorrow to get to the fourth day, so, we have to get ourselves prepared for whoever we're going to play and go to the scouting report back in the hotel room, go back over the scouting report probably tomorrow morning or tomorrow afternoon and be ready to play.

COACH ESHERICK: Well, we were not an afterthought to me. That was really the only thing I'm thinking about. I watch TV. I watch ESPN, I was watching the games in my hotel room so I was listeningg to what was being said, yes. But I can't -- if I listen to what people said, I never would have taken this job because a whole lot of people thought I was an idiot for following in the footsteps of Coach Thompson. I have to do what I think is best, and I think that in order to get the team ready we have to focus on us. In order for us to be motivated to play in this tournament, I told them we can start this season fresh, and we have the motivation that if we win this tournament, we're going to make the NCAA Tournament. It does not matter what people are saying about us. These guys have enough confidence in themselves. Doesn't matter with them, I don't think, either.

KEVIN BRASWELL: I got a school newspaper that stays on me all the time about being a point guard, a two-guard. They criticize my judgment for saying I should play the two instead of the point. I'm only 6'1", 6'2", I knew I had to be a point guard if I wanted to go anywhere else besides college. Right now I'm feeling more confident. I have so much confidence in my teammates right now, I want to give them the ball. When the shots are there for me, that's when I'll take them.

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