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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: WASHINGTON, D.C.March 21, 2008Stanley BurrellJosh DuncanDrew LavenderSean MillerWASHINGTON, D.C. Q. Can you guys just comment on your team defensive philosophy. I think you turned the game around with your defense the second half. What do you bring to the table defensively? And Stanley, specifically, just comment on how well you've been playing defense, if you would, or your own personal philosophy on it. STANLEY BURRELL: Our man-to-man defense is what we really rely on. It's our team identity is to pressure the ball, and guys to help each other. We did a tremendous job in the second half to adjust the way we normally play. The first half we were sluggish, but the second half we had more the attacking style about us, and we really went after them. That's how we play on defense, causing turnovers and getting out in transition to get easy buckets. We'll do the same thing tomorrow. JOSH DUNCAN: We try to pressure the ball. Stan does a good job with setting the tone for us, pressuring. He usually guards the best player on the other team, and we just try to follow his example. And like he said, helping each other on defense. DREW LAVENDER: Pretty much the same. As far as Stan's lead, he's pressuring the ball, guarding the best player, and I don't want to let him down or the rest of the team down. Q. Drew, don't mean to bring up ancient history, but when you were leaving OU, what intrigued you about Xavier, and how much did you know about the program's history in this tournament? DREW LAVENDER: I know they were a contender to make the tournament every year, and they had great players like these two at their school. I wanted to come in and play with Josh Duncan and Stanley Burrell. Q. Stanley, have you had a chance to watch Purdue's game yesterday? And if you did, they seemed to have some trouble in the second half with the pressure defense. Do you feel like you can get to them a little bit defensively? STANLEY BURRELL: We didn't get to see as much of them as we wanted to. But coming out and seeing that score and the margin they had was crazy. Watching the film on them, they have a couple of good shooters that can knock them down at a high rate. They've also got a bunch of young guys that play with a lot of energy. We have to bring it. Our level of intensity has to be the same as the second half yesterday. I think the only thing different this time around, they're a much smarter team and they won't allow us to get back in the game if we get in a hole. We have to do a good job of coming out attacking them and not letting them on our heels. Q. Stanley, growing up in Indianapolis, going to Ben Davis, obviously you were right almost smack dab in the middle of Purdue and IU country. Can you share as a child, as a kid growing up, maybe did you follow either team or both teams and who were some of your favorite Hoosiers or Boilermakers that you remember as a kid. STANLEY BURRELL: I definitely grew up watching IU and Purdue and wanting to go to those schools when I was young, but it didn't work out. And now I'm going to Xavier and I love it here, everything about Xavier is great. I'm so glad things fell into place the way they did, because I have a great team, great coaches and everything at Xavier. Purdue, I remember going up and seeing Allen Henderson and Calbert Cheaney and Rodney Smith and all of them, and Brad Miller, it was great watching them, but at the same time I love being at Xavier. I love doing what we're doing right now. We have a special opportunity playing in the Sweet 16 and that's all I care about at this point. Q. Stanley, I know you said you watched a little bit of tape on Purdue, but Chris Kramer looks like he's a similar player. Can you talk about what you've seen with Chris's game and how it compares to your game. STANLEY BURRELL: He has a lot of toughness. He's kind of like the heart and soul of their team, the way I try to be for my team. He leads them as far as doing the little things to help your team win. It's probably not as glamorous as scoring 20, 30 points, but it really helps your team win games when you can defend like that and play defensively. He's a great competitor. I'm the same way. I want to be able to bring the level of intensity to my guys the way he's going to bring to his guys. I guess whoever is going to do the best job is the one that's going to Phoenix for the Sweet 16. Q. Josh, can you talk about your impressions of Purdue and what concerns you. JOSH DUNCAN: Obviously they're a real good team. They do a real good job on defense, causing the other team to turn the ball over. Like I said, they're a real good team and we've got to come ready just like we did the other day against Georgia because they're a real good team. Q. Drew, does Purdue look like the mirror image of your team; do they play the same way, have the same intensity, did you feel like you're playing a team just like your own? DREW LAVENDER: They played hard for 40 minutes and they have a lot of shooters like we do, too. And great defenders on defense like we do. Yeah, I think so. But I think what we play is better on defense. Q. Josh, one advantage you seem to have is rebounding, you're one of the best in the conference. They were one of the worst in the Big Ten. Do you feel like you have an edge there? JOSH DUNCAN: We have to be ready to continue rebounding, that's something coach emphasizes, especially the guards, we have to have our mindsets to go after every loose ball and try to stop them from getting second shots. Q. You and Purdue, you both have got defensive player of the year, you both like to get up into people and be tough defensively. Could you talk a little bit about your defensive philosophy and where you assembled the way you approach defense, who you got it from, that kind of thing. COACH MILLER: Well, our defense and Purdue's, there might be some similarities. I also think there are some distinction differences. The similarities, I would say, is it's really important to both of us, and in particular we both play man to man and don't deviate from that a whole lot. We don't extend and create the turnovers that Purdue has become known for. We take more pride in getting the stop than maybe creating havoc like them, different philosophy, but they seem to have worked for both teams. Where I got it from, the people who mean the most to me as coach, my dad was a high school coach for many years, that's what he did. That's what I did playing for him. Being around Herb Sendek for a number of years, he plays zone now, but at one point he was a fanatical man-to-man coach. Thad Matta, too, at one time he was man to man. Generally as a player and as a coach it's what I believe in. I don't think you can advance in tournament play unless you have a strong identity on defense. Q. You've had a lot of success in terms of rebounding. How do you get guys to buy into that? Do you have intense rebounding drills? How do you get that mindset? COACH MILLER: I think rebounding is a direct correlation to recruiting. I think when you recruit players who can really jump, who are big physically, who are long, who have some toughness about them, they have a funny way of doing a great job rebounding for your team. We have emphasized it a lot. We just have better rebounders on this year's team than we've had in the past. I will tell you, though, that's a telling stat in terms of our three-year improvement, when you look at what's the difference between Xavier this year and maybe even a year ago where we were in 9 seed. It's our ability to get rebounds at both ends. And Derrick Brown and Jason Love are two important factors. Josh Duncan has never rebounded better than he has as a senior. And C.J. Anderson's addition to the team this year as one of our new players gives us a uniqueness because he does it from the wing spot. We talk a lot about it, we have a lot of pride in it. You can't be a good defensive team unless you finish the possession with a rebound. I will answer it again in the same way: Our personnel has made us a better rebounding team. Q. What you were saying a minute ago about not being that interested in turnovers, would you just not like to gamble, would you rather play good, solid positional defense? COACH MILLER: We want to pressure the ball. Our defense is much better. Our philosophy starts there, that you want to pressure the ball and also contain it. It's just off the ball we're not as interested in denying, as taking away passes, as we are keeping the ball out of the lane, providing great support for that player whose pressuring the ball. And even better support for the post player if he happens to be defending the post. I think crowding the floor and being more of that team than the team that's stealing and going the other way. That's more our identity with our man-to-man defense, where I think if you compared us to Purdue, they do as good of a job as anyone in college basketball of stealing, creating turnovers, scoring points off the turnovers, playing man to man. Q. Talk a little bit about Stanley. Obviously he seems like he's kind of the spark plug on defense for you guys. What do you like about his game defensively? COACH MILLER: Well, it takes a special person to take on the role of being a great defender. One reason is if the guy you're guarding scores it doesn't make you look good. And especially if you're that defensive stopper. Stan has relished that opportunity from game 1 of this season. And it really began last season. But this year's team he has led us by guarding the other team's best perimeter player, making it really important every day in practice. And his enthusiasm for defense has a way of becoming contagious, especially to our younger players. And he has great quickness, 6-2, 205 pounds, he's got a great body, which makes him successful guarding a bigger player. But our identity and the success that we've had, a lot of it does stem right there with that one person that has taken on that role and done it game in, game out, and has had no fear of anything other than, I'm going to give my best. It's really hard to be on the court with him and not jump on his bandwagon. Q. What are going to be some of the challenges Purdue is going to present to you guys, do you think? COACH MILLER: Two things for Purdue in our minds and, I think every team that plays them approaches the game the same way, excellent 3-point shooting team. They have that five outlook. They have three players on their team, Grant, Moore and Hummel who are excellent shooters. Their percentage in the shots they take and make, I would think would put them among the best in college basketball. They're all on the same team. And then they're surrounded by a lot of other capable 3-point shooters. Being able to guard the ball and be that team that makes it tough on them shooting 3-point shots is one of the keys to the game. Easier said than done. When I flip it, they use their man-to-man defense to take you out of what you do. They force turnovers. They score points off of turnovers. And being that team that can run and execute and not allow them to do that to us is equally big. I think if Matt Painter were up here he'd tell you that a great majority of this team's success stems from success in those two areas. That's a real concern, it's a challenge and that's the game for us playing them. End of FastScripts |
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