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NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: MINNEAPOLIS

March 23, 2006

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Georgetown coach John Thompson III. If you could make an opening statement and we will take questions.
COACH THOMPSON: This is an anxious time for anyone that is fortunate enough to still be playing. We are glad to be one of the teams that are still playing. We are playing and playing well. Questions?
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. Coach, would you talk about the different coaches that have influenced you in your coaching career to get you to the point you are at now.
COACH THOMPSON: You know, the people probably have had the most influence are pops, my father, Coach Carril. I am extremely fortunate to have been able to play for coach and, you know, born into the family I was born into it, I guess you could say.
You know, people always go through and they give you the compare and contrast, what did you take from this person, what did you take from that person. It is ridiculous in many ways. I don't stop and digest it or stop and think about that. Hopefully when you see me, when you see our teams play, you will see a little bit of both guys.
Q. When you look at Florida, how unusual is the balance of the scoring and everything just one through five? Do you run into that much,
COACH THOMPSON: It is unique. I mean, it is similar to us in many ways if you look at the balance. They are the kind of team where you can't focus on one particular person.
You can't put all of your energy, some teams you play, you say we need to stop Billy and if you stop Billy, everything can be okay.
They are the kind of team that, through the course of the year, they can hurt you with many different weapons. That balance is something that I like, as a coach, where you know you can tweak, adjust, and they have that flexibility and versatility.
Q. John, I wondered, since you played Villanova in the Big East, I wondered, could you talk about how their four-up-one-in is different from the four-out-one-in you played last Sundays against Ohio State?
COACH THOMPSON: I think it is very different, actually. I think it is very, very different. You know, a lot of people talk about the Villanova guards and they start saying they have four guards, and a lot of times people, press, coaches, players, you try to pigeon-hole players and say he is a guard, he is a forward, he is a center, you know, he is an inside guy, an outside guy.
Their team, they just have players. I don't care what label you want to put on them. For the sake of writing an article or talking to your team, we have been trained to say guard, forward, center. You look at those guys on Villanova and they are just players. It doesn't matter how tall they are, how short they are, what label is next to their game.
They can guard bigger guys, smaller guys, offensively, defensively, they are effective. So it is unique because society wants to label them. They are just basketball players that are terrific, they can have success anywhere they are on the court.
Q. Coach, having been around -- your father having coached three high-draft pick big men, is it premature when people are suddenly speculating Joakim is a high-draft pick? Do you see things in those guys that they are going to make the transition at this point?
COACH THOMPSON: He has coached a few more than three, Pops. Those guys, you know, if they keep progressing, they are in the same thing, and they will be in that same vain. As the coach is preparing to play them, I am not sitting there looking or viewing the world as if this guy is a potential pro or lottery pick.
If you look at the skill set and work ethic and commitment, you say those guys are going to have an opportunity. Whether it is sooner or later, who knows, time will tell. Do they have the skills? As an outsider, not having coached them, appears to be the determination and understanding, yes.
Q. Hi, John. What are the most important things or few things that have happened here in the last nine or ten weeks as you guys have caught flight here?
COACH THOMPSON: The most important things in the last two or three weeks, I think our guys are playing well. I think our guys are playing together. I don't think that there is any one thing that you can pinpoint.
I think for the most part we have said all year we want to be better next week than we are this week. I think our guys have done a good job of sticking together and trying to improve.
A lot of times in the beginning of the year teams make a conscious effort to try to get better and try to improve. That's something that we have tried to maintain and continue to try to get better as the year has progressed.
Q. Coach, you mentioned your influence, your dad and Coach Carril. Lots of sons of coaches go on to play for their dads, go on as assistant coaches, some get handed over the keys to the program once their fathers leave the programs. Did you always know that you wanted to go your own route, and what do you think you gain by doing that?
COACH THOMPSON: You know, it wasn't that grandiose of let me break off and forge my own path. You know, I am looking at schools trying to make a decision on where to go to college. I went to visit Princeton and I knew I wanted to play for Pete Carril.
You go through the recruiting process and you are used to everyone telling you how great you are. You are used to being cajoled and everyone saying you are great. I go up to Princeton on a recruiting visit, and Coach Carril sets me down, and for a half hour tells me how bad I am, and what I need to work on, if I don't, I am going to be on JV.
I walked away from that knowing he is just like my Pops, and so that's why I went to Princeton. The opportunity to go to that institution, to play for Coach Carril is why I went there.
I was fortunate enough the coach asked me to come back and work with him. There was never big grandiose let me break away and do my own thing. I am lucky because I can see things from a different light and I have two pretty strong influences, two pretty good resources in my life.
Q. Florida is probably going to want to run in this game. How important do you view tempo? I know you guys like to play a more deliberate style.
COACH THOMPSON: Do we? I think that we have the flexibility and the versatility to play any style and I think we have shown that all year. So if the game gets going up and down, we can go up and down, also. I do think that controlling the pace and controlling the boards is what's important.
Q. You had mentioned the balance. What match-up, what are you most concerned about when you look at Florida? What is the one thing that you need to do?
COACH THOMPSON: They can score points in bunches, I think, and that's because of their transition. That's because of their ability to get second shots, and so hopefully we can limit their transition and their second shots.
Q. Your dad was just saying how Roy Hibbert improved more than any big man in Georgetown. He said when he first saw him he would fall after dunking. Can you talk about how far he has come?
COACH THOMPSON: Roy has come, and anyone that has seen him in the last couple of years, has come a very long way. I think that it's also important, and I have said this over and over again, he still has a long way to go because Roy Hibbert is playing the center position at Georgetown University, you get the questions and the comparisons and people want to lump him in, Patrick, Alonzo, the ones that come to mind right away. Walking into those comparisons aren't fair.
Hopefully, when he walks out the door they will be fair. They will be a little more accurate to where he is. He works. He works. He cares. He has the desire to win.
Q. Coach, obviously, you grew up in basketball in the Northeast. What is your perception or what do you think the perception is of Florida basketball and what Donovan is doing?
COACH THOMPSON: You know, I have so much going on I don't have time to stop and digest what the perception is of anybody, us included. You know, he has done a terrific job. There is no two ways about it. That's my perception.
Q. John, what kind of effect do you think the Duke game had on your team overall?
COACH THOMPSON: It gives your guys confidence, more confidence. I think that our guys prior to that game and after that game have a pretty good sense of who we are, pretty good sense of where we are, but as a coach you sit here and say, fellas, if you do ABC and D, I have said for two years we can beat any team in the country. If we don't, we won't.
But to have that success, I think our guys kind of realizing it, just added a boost of confidence and added a boost of understanding.
So what that did, for the most part, it probably affected how others looked at us more than the way we look at ourselves. Our group is even-keeled, pretty good sense of who we are and what we can do.
Q. John, if Roy isn't the most improved big man in the country, I guess it's possible that's only because Noah is. I wondered about your impressions and just sort of preparing and looking at Noah, what you think of him?
COACH THOMPSON: I said this the other day, with the exception of this week as I am preparing for him, he is fun to watch. Just energy and enthusiasm he plays this game with, the caring that you can see that he has because of how he handles himself and how he works. It is tremendous. It is tremendous.
I mean, he is in the process. I have seen him play a lot over the years, even play a whole lot. I am not surprised. I am not surprised where he is in his development. His energy is contagious, his enthusiasm is contagious.
So inasmuch as they are very similar, they are sophomores who, if you look at the numbers and their production, have improved tremendously. You know, they are different. Noah is a gazelle. He is up and down. He can move.
But both kids work hard. I think that's the similarity. Both kids have a work ethic. Both kids have a desire to be good. Both kids are extremely unselfish. You look when he plays how he makes that team better with the things he does, and the same thing can be said about our guys.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. We have Brandon Bowman, Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert.
Q. Roy, for Gator fans who haven't seen you play all year long, just describe what you bring to the table, what we will see tomorrow night.
ROY HIBBERT: I try to bring a lot of energy, set screens, offensive board and defensive boards. I try to be an all-around player, help my teammates out.
Q. For Jeff or Brandon, I wonder if you can indulge a question about Villanova since you have played them in the Big East. How is their four guard -- the way they play four-out-one-in, how is it different than the Ohio State four-out-one-in you guys played last Sunday?
JEFF GREEN: They have four guards who can all shoot. They can guard big people and they really get out there, real scrappy, but they are small. I think that's part of the advantage they have over teams. They have a forward who is about 6'4", 6'5" who is real scrappy and gets on big people.
That hurts them a lot compared to Ohio State, they have a forward man who is about 6'6" but can't do some of the things that the forward that plays with Villanova does. I think that's why they have an advantage over the forward spot with the four guards.
Q. Roy, what kind of a factor, how far did the win over Duke go as far as validating yourselves, we can play with the best, we can beat the best?
ROY HIBBERT: Well, that gave us a little bit of a swagger, I won't say cockiness. We know we can beat anybody as long as we play hard and ran our offense. That is the most important part. We are getting a lot of backdoor cuts. When they try to stop the backdoor cuts, we hit three pointers and jump shots. That helped us out. It was a few-game winning streak after that. We felt we could beat anybody and as long as we played together, we are fine.
Q. This is for Roy. Roy, a lot of the media here are asking your coach and his father about his old centers and where you fit in that. I am guessing you have heard the same thing all season long. Do you get sick of hearing about Ewing, and Mourning and Mutombo? Do you embrace that?
ROY HIBBERT: Well, I am caught in the middle because I -- when I was a little kid, I wanted to be like those players, but I always was taught to be my own player. I can't do the things they did, so I try to excel at what I am good at. They say I have good hands.
I try to get the rebounds and score around the basket. I have leadership qualities, and so I want to be those players, but I also want to be my own player.
Q. Jeff, talk about how this was a spot that you guys wanted to get to and maybe what you knew, if anything, about Minneapolis, and the Dome, and maybe a little bit different venue than what you have experienced this year, and what's it like for you coming here?
JEFF GREEN: It is good for being in the Sweet 16 with all these other teams. We worked very hard to get to the spot and we hope to get further. Just being in Minneapolis it is a great feeling, playing Florida and other great teams. Just you embrace what you have right now and then come tomorrow you have to be focused and ready to play.
Q. Roy, what things specifically did you do to improve as quickly as you have since you entered Georgetown, and have you improved or reached this level faster than you thought you would?
ROY HIBBERT: Well, I always knew that if I worked hard, the results would show. I tried to work on just, you know, repetitive, just doing the same moves like 30 times in a row, trying to get it right every single time, so when it shows up in the game, it will be effective.
People see a move in the game and say he can't, it comes with hard work. I worked out on my own, with my coaches. The coach put a lot of effort into working with me and I appreciate it a lot. It was just a lot of my determination just getting up in the morning, running, and also just it is monotonous, just in the gym all day whenever I can. Whenever I had a chance, I am not doing my school work, just be in the gym working.
Q. Roy, I was curious what your thoughts are on Florida's big guys, and what do you think the key is to beating Florida?
ROY HIBBERT: They have really good big guys that can run. They push the ball in the transition. We have to pick up a man in transition and make sure we stop any transition buckets. They are a good rebounding team and really quick and, also, like we said before, the key to win this game is running our offense. It is not us versus Florida. It is us versus ourselves.
We have to make sure we do everything that Coach wants to do, that is rebounding, making the hustle plays, playing together. It is running our offense. Our offense is key. So whatever they throw at us, man or zone, we have to make sure we go to everything hard and fast and precise and we will be fine.
Q. For Jeff and for Brandon, I am just curious if you guys had a chance when you got through to this region, you saw yourself and Villanova and Boston College. Did it feel like a mini Eastern Regional to you guys?
BRANDON BOWMAN: I mean kind of, sort of. With Boston College leaving last year the Big East, you know what I am saying, you can kind of say that this is a Big East Semifinal of some sort for Boston College playing Villanova, but every team in this region is pretty good, you know what I am saying.
Everyone played so hard and has done so much work to get here. I guess you can kind of say it kind of is a Big East kind of thing, but Florida is really out in SEC so they are going to bring their own type of styles of play tomorrow.
Q. This is a question for any of the guys. Is there any team in the Big East that you can maybe kind of compare Florida to, and also with the transition, how important is it going to be (inaudible) at times?
ROY HIBBERT: They are quite unique in the sense that we haven't really seen them any -- they are a great transition team like Connecticut is. They push the ball, even when they make it, they get transition buckets. I don't think we have really encountered a team where both big guys can really push the ball and are really fast like that.
JEFF GREEN: I would say they have a mixture of almost every team in the Big East because they do different things that teams do in the East.
Q. Congratulations to you guys for getting so far. Your coach was saying that you guys can run if you absolutely have to. I mean, it doesn't have to be an absolute half-court game for you guys to play well. They said you can play different styles. Could any of you talk about that, please.
BRANDON BOWMAN: I guess coach is right, you know what I am saying. We have proven, we have shown that we can run, that we can be a transition team at times, and other times we have proven we can slow it down in the half court, run our offense to a tee.
We pretty much try to adapt to how the game is being played, certain aspects of the game. If you see like against Duke we were pushing the ball in transition, things like that, and against other teams, maybe Ohio State, for example, our last game we really slowed it down, and half-court offense and really ran everything pretty well and everything opened up.
So we definitely can play the transition game. Like Coach says, if we have to, we will, you know what I am saying. Like Roy said, it is kind of all about us, what we do on the court, how we play. We can determine a game through our offense if you have seen us play. So those are all things we take into effect.
Q. Brandon, what has it been like for you to play with Ashanti and how much of an influence do you think you have had on him coming to Georgetown?
BRANDON BOWMAN: Well, to tell the truth, they were recruiting him, Georgetown was recruiting him before they even knew who I was. So, you know, it was kind of a blessing. I went to Nike camp. I did pretty good, and actually Coach's brother, Coach Ronny over at Arkansas, he was assistant here at Georgetown, he saw what he liked in me and started recruiting me.
Things fell in play and Ashanti got the chance to come to Georgetown after committing and signing on the letter of intent to New Mexico. It is truly a blessing playing with that guy since I have been nine, ten years old. We met at Westchester High School. We were playing together on AAU traveling teams, high school team now, college is truly a blessing. He really is close to me.
THE MODERATOR: Thank, guys.

End of FastScripts...

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