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NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: NEW ORLEANSMarch 23, 2011Matt HowardShelvin MackBrad StevensShawn VanzantNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA COACH STEVENS: Well, I think obviously our guys are excited to be here. You know, we're looking forward to playing what I think is one of the better teams in the country. When you get to this point in time, that's usually what you're doing. So we're thrilled to still be a part of it and see if we can't just keep this thing going. Q. Given your run through the tournament last year, has there been a time this year either in conference play or maybe even the first two rounds of this tournament where you got the sense that suddenly you were the program, the other guys wanted to beat and they kind of wanted to make a name for themselves by beating you? COACH STEVENS: It's been an interesting dynamic over the last 11 years at Butler. I think we've been that program in our league for quite a while, so you have at least the introduction to that target. That being said, as much as everybody can tell you about what it's going to be like coming off of a national championship game, it doesn't do it justice until you live it. And I think certainly we had to live through some of those things. This is as proud of a team as I've ever been a part of for handling not real adversity, basketball adversity. Sometimes I think we misuse that term. And coming together, just staying together, working as hard as they can. We've got great leadership, and figuring out a way to win. You know what's funny, maybe we're not the underdog in some people's eyes, maybe we should be here in some people's eyes, but they do have a little chip on their shoulder from going through that adversity together, and we played pretty well in the last 11 games because of it. Q. How did you go into Lexington in recruiting and get a kid like Shelvin out of Lexington, Kentucky? COACH STEVENS: Well, I think Shelvin was a guy that played -- we saw him play in the summer for the first time and he's playing with a summer team that had a lot of really good players. Shelvin is happy to be a guy that helps facilitate things. He's not a selfish person by any means. And sometimes those guys can get overshadowed a little bit in the recruiting process. And I think that's what happened with Shelvin. He wasn't being recruited by any major schools when we offered him a scholarship. He felt like Butler was a great fit for him, socially, academically, from a basketball standpoint, and we were fortunate enough that he committed to it and actually signed late, in April, which is probably pretty unique for a guy of his caliber. Q. The game in Green Bay where Matt made the play at the end to win it, I think if I remember correctly, he said that was the first game winner that he's had in his career, and now if you look at the two tournament games, the plays he's made at the end of those games, how has his basketball IQ and awareness improved over his four years at Butler? COACH STEVENS: Well, I think he's always had a large amount of savvy and a high, high basketball IQ. Where I think that he has really grown is just simply being -- in experience, and being able to adjust to situations, being able to grow his game. You know, it's hard to be that guy that makes that play if you can only do things right at the rim, and I'm not saying he could only do things two or three years ago right at the rim, but he did most of his damage right at the rim. You know, now he wins a game in Green Bay on a drive from the top of the key and dunks it. He can win the game shooting a three. He's just expanded his game so much, and that coupled with experience has, I think, really allowed him to take off. Q. Throughout this year I've heard two things about you, and one is you've got to be one of the best coaches in the country to have the success, Cinderella back-to-back, so to speak. And then two, people say you're crazy for staying. Can you just talk about that when you hear that, about why you don't leave and go for the bigger program? COACH STEVENS: Well, one of the things that you have to -- I appreciate the compliment, and I appreciate you saying I'm crazy for staying. I was crazy leaving Lilly 11 years ago and I still think that was a questionable decision at times. But I do think that one of the things in all the job talk is it's all speculation. It's not like my cell phone is blowing up, and it's not like I'm a guy that thinks the grass is greener somewhere else just because everybody says it's supposed to be. I think that we are very fortunate to have really green grass in Indianapolis and at Butler University. Thus far, it's been just an unbelievable run. Butler is a great place and Indianapolis is an great place, but what's separated it for me is the people, my boss, the players, the coaching staff, and all those people just made it a great place to be. Q. The year after Hayward, if you are able to get back to the Final Four, how significant of an accomplishment do you think that would be? COACH STEVENS: If Gordon were back it would be an unbelievable accomplishment. It doesn't -- it's hard to get to the Final Four. It's really hard to get to the NCAA Tournament. I've said this many times: Non-BCS schools play with a lot of pressure in January and February because every loss is magnified and nobody talks about any of the wins. And I think that's something we've kind of had to live with. And you do feel like if you can get a good rhythm going into the tournament, you're going to play a little bit more free. That's something we try to do. But getting to the tournament is really hard, getting to the Sweet 16, I mean, we got to the Sweet 16 this year because we had the ball last in two games. Otherwise we're done in the first round. So it's hard to advance. And so getting to a Final Four -- and we recognize how fortunate we were to have been in that situation. It's almost fairy tale type stuff. Q. Can you talk about how you got your team to play the defense you're playing now after struggling for most of the year? COACH STEVENS: Well, without getting too boring and technical, we had a lot of versatility last year. If we screwed up an assignment, we could switch a screen, and we had a couple guys in Willie Veasley and Gordon Hayward that could guard 1 through 5, and that made for a lot of not only -- we could not only cover for one another but we could also game plan in unique ways around that. And this year we're a lot more traditional. We're a lot more traditional at the four five, we're small at the three, and it took some time to become technically good. We've had to choose how to guard screening actions different ways because it fits our personnel better. And you don't just choose that and then all of a sudden it changes overnight. It's a constant process of work, and our guys continued to work through the games. And some games it didn't show early on, but we kept working and working and working, and I think we've gotten better in the last month. Q. Two questions: One is what did you do with Willie? How could you apply what you did as a coach? And then the third question, I guess, is teams take on the personality of their coaches. I don't know if you agree with that or not, but if you do agree how would you describe your team taking on your personality? COACH STEVENS: Well, what I would want them to be is focused, and I want them to have a trust in one another and truly be a team first and foremost. What I did at Lilly was I was a marketing associate that was in charge of incentives and metrics for our salespeople across the country. How that all applies to basketball is you're a professional in a business setting. Recruiting is sales. Fundraising, you have fundraising, you have contract work for scheduling. It's not just between the lines for two hours a day in practice. You're preparing for games, you're studying stat sheets, trying to figure out numbers and all those things that you can apply to helping your team try to advance and be successful. I think there's a lot of similarities. You know, and I know it's obviously -- it's unique to the corporate setting, but there are a lot more similarities than people may think. Q. Staying along that, when you were at Butler and Lilly and you talked about being crazy 11 years later, were you being facetious or what do you mean? COACH STEVENS: Well, I just think at 22, I don't know how good I had it. But I was really passionate about, again, being part of a team, competing, and I was lucky to land at Butler because my goal had always been to coach high academic people that can compete at the highest level. Luckily we've been able to do that now for the better part of the 11 years I've been here. Q. When people talk about Wisconsin's style, it's not always a flattering portrayal. What do you see when you watch them? COACH STEVENS: I could sit up here and flatter them all day. I'm telling you what, why wouldn't you want to play a way where everybody is completely unselfish? Where if they have a good shot, they try to find a better shot for their team, where guys are diving on the floor, where guys take charges, where guys are physically and mentally tough. There's a reason they don't lose very often, and there's a reason why they have had what probably is one of the most under-discussed and more remarkable runs in the last ten years in college basketball under Bo Ryan. A real tribute to him. They are one of the hardest teams to guard in the country, and they're one of the hardest teams to score on in the country, and that's usually a pretty good combination. Q. We were talking about fairy tales. There's no such thing as back to back Cinderellas. It can't happen. You're a Cinderella one year, so what should we call you this year? COACH STEVENS: Bulldogs. I didn't mind being called bulldogs last year either, but maybe it's corny because it's our nickname. But hey, the way we got through those last two games, I don't know if there's a more appropriate nickname. Q. But do you feel like maybe you're getting a little bit undersold here because you've been here two years in a row? COACH STEVENS: Yeah, and four since 2003 we've been in the Sweet 16. You know, I think the one thing that you'll never hear us call our players, and when we get together, we never talk about what we can't do and how it'll be a big surprise if this happens. We talk about here's what we need to do, let's go out and do it. The Cinderella tag has been placed on us. Just like the Hoosiers talk last year, we'll gladly take it. It's not a bad thing to be the underdog. Q. Two questions for you. What particular problems does Jordan Taylor bring to your team? And the second one is this goes maybe back to the Eli Lilly days, what's with the glasses? They look like you've had them since high school or something. COACH STEVENS: Yeah, well, I actually got them two weeks ago because my other glasses didn't look good enough according to my wife to wear on TV, so I had to go get a new pair of glasses. I had an eye issue the last game of the regular season and had to leave the game as a matter of fact. I had a bad pair of contacts that was either too tight or I had an allergic reaction to the solution or whatever, so I'll get back to contacts after the season is over, but I got a new pair of glasses and they're 4 and 0 so we're sticking with those. And then Jordan Taylor, he provides as many problems as those contacts did. I mean, he's a tough guy to guard. He's -- I think that they're a good team because they always win, right, no matter who's on their team, Bo Ryan's teams always win and win big and go to the tournament, and they always do that. I think Jordan Taylor's presence on this particular team makes them as -- when I watched them play in January and February and now, makes them a national title contender, his ability to get in the paint, his ability to draw two guys, he's got a 4-to-1 assist to turnover ratio. If you don't respect him off a ball screen, you're dead. He shoots 44 percent from three, and he probably shoots 60 percent off the dribble from three. You add all that together, he's as good a point guard -- we played against the best this year, Kyrie Irvings of the world, and people like that, Norris Cole at Cleveland State, and this guy is right up there with all of them. Q. You were asked about Wisconsin's style. I'm just curious, as you studied them, what similarities, if anything, you saw with your team and type of personnel, how you use your personnel and philosophy. COACH STEVENS: You know, I think there are some similarities. I don't think that -- I don't think that there are a ton. I think that certainly defensively we both try to defend as well as we can there in the half court and try to make people take contested shots. Neither of us turn people over at a high rate, although certainly both are capable of that, and they're really good at rotating and covering for one another. And then on the other side of the floor, we do have some similar actions, although I think we have a lot more that aren't than are. The biggest similarity between the two teams, and we are aspiring to be as good as them in this regard, is the way we want to maximize possessions. I think they're the best in the country at maximizing possessions, and we're not as good as that. Hopefully for 40 minutes we can be, but over the course of the long haul they're much better at that than we are. Q. Shelvin, I understand that you've said your teammate Matt is the weirdest guy you know or something like that. Can you please explain why that's so? SHELVIN MACK: I wouldn't say he's weird. He's just unique. His brain just operates different than normal individuals. No, he's a great teammate. No, I treat him like a brother, but he's the big brother that always is doing things like Matt Howard. Q. Can you give me an example? SHELVIN MACK: Say after practice, you get your keys and leave the locker room, he might take them and put them in the shower, things like that. Q. With the success y'all have had, particularly last season and getting back this season, have y'all reached the point where you're sort of the hunted rather than the hunter, where maybe you have a bull's eye on you instead of the opponent like you might have been in the past? SHAWN VANZANT: I mean, I wouldn't say that we have a target on us. I mean, I feel like we're usually the underdogs when we go into games. I wouldn't say we have a target on us. MATT HOWARD: I guess it's the perception of people from the outside. I don't know necessarily. I don't ask the teams whether or not they're really coming after us or if we should be the ones coming after them. I think there is something to that. When you have success, people naturally want to take that from you. So there probably is some of that to some extent. SHELVIN MACK: I'd say we always feel like we're the underdogs in every situation. I feel like every team in the NCAA Tournament might feel like they're the underdogs unless they're Ohio State because they've got the No. 1 overall seed. Every time we get out on the court, we know we've got to get out there and play our best. Q. Matt, to you, when I say what is the Butler way, I know Coach Stevens talks about that. What does that mean to you? And then to Shelvin, you guys went through a little bit of a slump there mid season losing four out of five. What were you not doing then that you're doing now? MATT HOWARD: You know, I think it's the mindset of doing everything the right way and being accountable to your teammates and the coaching staff and your school that you represent, because there's a lot of things that people see when they look at you that go beyond just yourself, and you represent a lot more than just yourself. And so the Butler way is doing things the right way and being accountable to all those things that you represent. SHELVIN MACK: I would say throughout the year you have your ups and downs. You always when you're playing bad, you always want to look at things, what are you doing wrong. I just try to change my mindset and my team's mindset. We're just doing things right throughout the whole year but they just weren't falling our way. We wanted to keep continuing to get better and always thinking positive. You can't worry about the outcome, just got to worry about things you can control. Q. Shelvin and Matt, coming off of last year, did you guys kind of struggle to find your identity for a while this season without Gordon? And now is your belief formed by what you did last year, does it help to know that you've done it before? MATT HOWARD: I think it helps to have been here before, to know what it takes from that perspective. But these are different teams and different situations that you're put in. So that only helps to some degree, and I think from your first question, there was I think more of -- we were trying to search for what those -- there was more than just Gordon, too. We lost another guy who's very versatile, and it was trying to find the ways to replace them and what they did and just filling roles. Honestly it was more defensive than offensive, and what those guys did for us defensively. SHELVIN MACK: To go off what Matt said, I think our biggest thing was just finding roles defensively. When you have Willie and Gordon, he was able to do things, he was able to strike on defense a few times so that they can make up. But throughout the season, we realized we didn't have the same opportunity that we had last year with those guys, so we know we've got to buckle down and start getting a little more focused. Q. Shelvin, what is life like for you when you go back to Lexington, Kentucky? And you were not heavily recruited according to your coach, and what were some of the things you saw in this Butler program, and also to go to The Finals and knowing that those schools and Kentucky didn't really recruit you? SHELVIN MACK: It's been a great feeling. You know, I always go back home to UK during the summer, work out with those guys. They all treat me the same. It's just a great accomplishment that I have in my life, able to overcome not being recruited by major schools. I chose Butler because it's an opportunity I had to come and play right away. It wasn't about the big name or this coach or that coach, just the opportunity to come out there and play. I think I've had a great job with that so far. Q. One reason why young coaches like your coach don't get hired, especially when they're that youthful looking, is there's concern whether the players are going to respect them. How does your coach overcome his youthful looks and still be able to command the respect and the authority that he does? SHAWN VANZANT: I mean, I think Brad is a very intelligent guy. I think he gets respect by the way -- from me personally, the way he breaks the game down from offense, defense, from percentage from each player, to everything. I mean, he earned my respect right off the bat. He's the person that recruited me, too. After Lickliter left, he stepped right in and got the job done, so I respect him a lot. MATT HOWARD: Beyond what Shawn said, I think it really helps to recruit guys that aren't -- I mean, you can find out what type of guys are when you recruit them. If you don't recruit disrespectful guys and you recruit the right people, then you don't normally have a problem with that. And I think I've been around the guys in this locker room. They're great guys, and they understand that he's the leader of our team, and to respect him is going to pay dividends for us. SHELVIN MACK: Coach Stevens, he's a great coach. Anyone who has the high basketball knowledge that he has, you're going to respect if you want to be good. To be good you've got to study good, and I think Coach Stevens did a great job of that throughout his years before he got to the stage he's at now. Q. Shawn, could you talk about the difficulty in defending Wisconsin and the way that they run their swing offense, especially Jordan Taylor? What problems does he present to you? SHAWN VANZANT: Yeah, we definitely went over the big swing offense. The way they move the ball and cut hard and they've got shoes all over the floor, definitely it's hard to guard them. Jordan Taylor is another excellent player, but it's not an individually -- you guard this person one-on-one. It's going to be a team effort to guard the team. Q. This is for Matt. It seems like at this juncture last year there was really no talk about Butler having a plausible chance of making the Final Four. There seems to be almost a lot more of that this year. Do you guys detect or feel that at all? And also, I wonder if you could elaborate on your famous turtleneck socks. MATT HOWARD: I think these two guys to my left and right came up with the name, and they could give you a little more information on that. As far as the first part of the question, you know, I think when you're able to make a run and have the success that you did last year, I think that does -- a little more respect comes with that. So if people are saying we have a better shot, then it's probably just a reflection of what we did last year. But you know, internally we believe that we've got a shot as long as we go out and do our jobs. From the outside, we don't really worry about that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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