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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: GREENSBOROMarch 17, 2012Grant GibbsJahenns ManigatDoug McDermottGreg McDermottGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Any one of you guys, how much of UNC did you see in person yesterday after the game? And how much have you seen of them before the John Henson injury figuring that there's a good chance he may play tomorrow? GRANT GIBBS: We watched the first half and a little bit of the second half yesterday, and when once we got back to the hotel watched the rest of the game. And obviously we have seen them before the Henson injury on ESPN quite a bit this year, so we have seen them and know how talented they are and what they bring to the table. JAHENNS MANIGAT: We seen them quite a bit throughout the year. They got a lot of TV games. And I kind of guess regardless of where you are in the country you got to see a North Carolina game once in a while, so we're pretty familiar with what they can do. Obviously they're an extremely talented team and we're going to watch some more film tonight and make sure that we're prepared for them tomorrow evening. DOUG MCDERMOTT: Been watching them all year, especially having a high school teammate on their team, been able to see him play. They're real talented and we're going to be prepared.  We're going to watch a lot of film and a lot of walking through, so we should be ready. Q. Doug, why is Creighton in your opinion a better place for your father and why do you think he's had more success there? DOUG MCDERMOTT: Well, I think that the Missouri Valley is just a really good fit for him, a Mid Major conference, a really good league and I just think the Big‑12 might have been a little bit of a wake‑up call. I think he's more comfortable in the Missouri Valley Conference recruiting wise, and he just feels in his comfort zone, so he's really happy to be here. Q. Doug, is the system of recruiting just not set up well to find guys like you or C.J. McCollum early on and is the system maybe not fair for late developers as in terms of recruiting? DOUG MCDERMOTT: Yeah, I would say so. Out of high school, I was only six‑six, 185, so I just developed a lot once I got to college. I would say I put on some weight and I think guys like me and C.J. worked hard to get where we're at. And I mean, we're happy to be at our respective schools. Q. Doug, follow‑up on that, is it true that your dad didn't think you could play at Iowa State? And how did that conversation go? DOUG MCDERMOTT: Yeah, to be honest I didn't really want to play for him there either, so‑‑ (Laughter.) I felt like I was a Missouri Valley Conference fit, I felt like it was a good fit for me at Northern Iowa and at the time we just decided to go separate ways and here we are now. So it's been a fun ride so far. Q. Doug, since you mentioned Harrison, can you talk about your relationship with him, and is this going to be very difficult to like have him as a basketball enemy tomorrow then? DOUG MCDERMOTT: Me and Harrison, we have talked back and forth a lot these last couple years, just checking on each other. I was his way of transportation in high school. He didn't have his driver's license, so I took him from place to place quite a bit and it's going to be cool being able to match up with him. I think once we step on the floor, it's just going to be a competitive game. I think all that stuff will be set aside and we're both competitive dudes, so I think it should be a really fun game. Q. As a follow‑up, what can you tell us here in North Carolina about Harrison Barnes that we don't know that maybe you got some secrets on him that you can kind of throw out there? DOUG MCDERMOTT: Man, I don't even know. I think you guys probably know it all. He just ‑ he's a good kid. In high school he was 4.0 all the way throughout high school, just strictly basketball, he's all about his business. So I really looked up to him and how hard he worked. I think part of the reason I'm where I'm at right now is just because the kind of role model he's been working hard and to get where he's at. Q. For all three you guys, tomorrow let's be honest, it's going to be a road game for you guys playing there are a lot of North Carolina fans. Ten road wins on the year for you guys; how will those wins and experience, the confidence you guys gained from playing on the road affect tomorrow? GRANT GIBBS: We got some early road wins that really helped our confidence and we have been able to play off that most of the year. We're comfortable on the road and in touch situations playing down the stretch, so I think getting those early ones and getting that confidence, believing in each other on the road and in close games has kind of propelled us to play well on the road this year. So I would say that obviously it's going to be the case tomorrow with a lot of North Carolina fans and we're going to have to embrace that atmosphere and that opportunity. JAHENNS MANIGAT: I think coach mentioned that it was going to be like a San Diego State type environment probably even better. There's obviously a lot more riding on this game tomorrow and obviously our past experiences have brought us here, so we're just going to keep having the same fate in each other, believe in each other and try work through adversity as usual and tomorrow's just another business day for us. DOUG MCDERMOTT: We have won some close games on the road in some tough atmospheres, so we know what's on the line tomorrow. Sure it will be packed with North Carolina fans, but we're ready for it. We played at some tough places, especially places like San Diego State. So we're really excited to get going. Q. Doug and grant, could you talk about the matchups: A, if Henson plays, B, if Henson doesn't play how it affects Creighton. DOUG MCDERMOTT: We're preparing that he is going to play. But he's a shot blocker, he can run the floor, and he's really athletic. And McAdoo has been starting for them and he's a really good player and real physical and runs the floor, so either way, we're preparing that he will play and both present tough matchups. GRANT GIBBS: Obviously they're different players but which ever one, if he plays or doesn't play, I don't think that will change how we guard that position in either McAdoo or Henson. It's not a different game plan for either of them even though they bring a little something different to the table. That's just something we'll have to adjust to and see what happens. Q. Doug, what kind of car were you rolling around in back in those days and any stories that kind of standout in your memory? DOUG MCDERMOTT: I think I was your pushing a Nissan Murano in those days. I remember taking him‑‑ we went and played with the Iowa State guys quite a bit after school, so we would immediately when the bell rang we'd go straight to play with those guys. And I just remember ‑‑ I got something strange about Harrison is he was in the choir and the band, so every once in awhile I would take him to those places. But he usually hit us up, any of our teammates up to take him rides around the town. Q. Doug, 53‑0 your last two years at Ames, two future college All‑Americans, did anybody come close to beating you guys? DOUG MCDERMOTT: We had a couple close games. I think the closest our senior year was a 12‑point game. Actually on our senior night Des Moines Hoover came in played us really tough, so that was a little bait of a scare. But other than that we had some pretty big blow outs, but it was a bunch of fun. Just everywhere we went people were giving us their best shot and each place was packed, sold out, so it was a blast. I'll never forget those days. Q. Doug, 4.0, choir, band, are you trying to tell us there's a nerdy side to Harrison Barnes? DOUG MCDERMOTT: I wouldn't say that, I think part of it has to do with his mom. She actually works in the band department at Iowa State, so I think part of that has to do with it, but he's a good kid and he's a really good player. Q. Doug, obviously Harrison is going to be a top draft pick whenever he decides to go pro. What about you and how do you compare your aspirations and hopes for pros to his? DOUG MCDERMOTT: He's probably looking at a lottery pick this year, and I think that I'll be here awhile. So we're in completely different positions, but I'm really happy for him and how far he's come and what he's going to be able to accomplish in the NBA. Q. You mentioned looking up to him, what was the biggest thing you learned from watching Harrison? DOUG MCDERMOTT: I just remember going to our senior year. He would be at the gym at probably 6:00 a.m. lifting and then getting shots up afterwards. So that's something our whole team kind of looked up to him, and every once in a while there would be a day where we had a day off of practice and he would send us a group text to come work out with him. So he was just a great leader all the way through, throughout high school. And it's pretty cool to see how far he's come and a lot of that has to do with the hard work he put in in high school. Q. Grant, it seemed like yesterday your coach would motion you guys to hurry up and get down the floor against Alabama, if you like to run, do you have any reservations at all about running with North Carolina since they like to play at warp speed anyway? GRANT GIBBS: I think there is some, obviously we're still going to play up‑and‑down but there's opportunities where I think we can slow it down and play possession basketball a little bit just because of how high powered they are on offense and athletically. So we'll still get up‑and‑down and play our style, but probably not to the extent as, for instance, yesterday really trying to push every opportunity we had. You got to pick and choose sometimes, but obviously we're going to push and get good shots and that's kind of what our offense is based off of. Q. Doug, when you were reflecting back about your time at Ames, what was it like with all the recruiting that was going on for Harrison, with all the high profile programs, all the attention he was getting during that last year? DOUG MCDERMOTT: Well, I think that it made me a better player. It made a lot of us better because we would be playing in open gyms in front of Coach K and Roy, so that just brought a lot of extra attention to our team, and it's a much better team. And I think our coach learned a lot from those coaches that were coming in, put some stuff in for us to get us better, so it was definitely a really cool experience, it didn't feel real at the time but looking back at it, it's really special. Q. For Grant and Jahenns, when you look at the results yesterday and all the upsets that happened when you're playing a number one seed here in North Carolina, do you get motivation from that or do you guys really even need that kind of motivation? You got enough confidence you figure you could pull this off anyway? JAHENNS MANIGAT: It's March. Every team in this tournament is 22 plus wins and every team can play and every team on that day could be the better team. So looking at all those upsets yesterday, we know that it's that time of the year where teams are playing their best and they're really looking to prove themselves. And the teams that you don't really see as much are really just trying to showcase their talent on a national scale. That's what we are here to do too. We're a very confident group. We have won a ton of close games as well, and we're just going to continue to have faith in each other continue to play hard and hopefully good things will happen. GRANT GIBBS: I'm not sure it's added motivation, but I think it speaks to that there's not that big a gap between Mid Majors like ourselves and high major teams. And obviously the NCAA tournament's an opportunity to show that, so I wouldn't say extra motivation, but obviously watching that and seeing it is cool for Mid Major schools like us and showing that we belong. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thanks, guys. We'll start with questions for coach. Q. Your son said he felt that Creighton was a better fit for you because it was a Mid Major and Missouri Valley Conference program maybe compared to Iowa State. Do you agree with that? COACH MCDERMOTT: Yes. Obviously there's a lot of positives I've taken away from my experience at Iowa State. I met a lot of wonderful people. I think I grew as a coach and as a person through some of the adversity that we faced there. I made some mistakes. I made some mistakes in recruiting. I made some mistakes with my dealings with some of our players that resulted in some guys transferring. And I think if you understand yourself and you take a look in the mirror, you better grow from that and learn from that. But I think we all know recruiting is a little different animal at the BCS level than it is at the Mid Major level and I fit better here and I'm very comfortable with that. Q. Your decision not to recruit him though to Iowa State, can you talk about that? He said he didn't want to play for you there either. COACH MCDERMOTT: I think it was two‑fold. As Doug was improving during his high school years, I had conversations with a lot of coaches that had coached their sons, and some players that had played for their dads. Tony Bennett, Dick Bennett; Pat Knight, and his father, John Beilein; Tubby and Saul Smith. I had conversations with all those guys, and Homer Drew and Bryce as well. And almost to a man they felt if your son was going to be one of your best players, it would work fine. Or if your son was a walk‑on that never played, it would work fine. But if he is in the middle, if he's your fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth guy, it creates a lot of additional pressure for your son and for you as his coach. My responsibility to Doug as a father is to make sure that he chooses a situation where he's going to have the best experience. Now it might have been best for me to have Doug come to Iowa State, but I didn't feel at that point in Doug's development ‑‑ and obviously we all watched him play, Coach Williams is going to talk to you a little bit, saw Doug play almost as much as I did his junior and senior year, I don't think anybody saw this coming. And I've said it before, the culture that I had created with the program at Iowa State wasn't where I wanted it to be. I was constantly plugging holes because of guys transferring. And when you do that, it becomes a vicious cycle of things probably not going very well. And Doug was around it every day and I'm not sure that he was that excited to be part of it. Q. Could you talk about the differences for you matchup wise if John Henson plays, and B, if John Henson doesn't play? COACH MCDERMOTT: We won't change much. Obviously that's a different, a difficult matchup for us whether it's Henson or McAdoo. They're both very talented, long, athletic, they can change shots at the rim, they're great offensive rebounders. That's a tough matchup for us regardless of who they have on the floor. So it isn't going to change much for us. Q. Yesterday you seemed to want to set a pretty fast pace against Alabama. How fast do you want to play against North Carolina tomorrow given that they like to play at a very, very fast pace? COACH MCDERMOTT: We'll still be who we are, because I'm not sure we have a chance to win a game if we try to be somebody that we're not and that we haven't been for 34 games. Having said that, we have got to pick our spots as well and we have to understand when the momentum's in their favor and when the momentum's in our favor. And then I think you pick and choose how quickly to force the tempo based on that. And I hope that's a problem that have I to decide whether the momentum is in our favor or their favor; that means we're hanging around. Q. All year long teams or people were watching your team, but looking at your defense and pointing out your guys defensively were lacking. Going back to watching the film of the Alabama game, how gratifying is it to see the stops you guys made over the last five minutes against Alabama to win that game? COACH MCDERMOTT: We have always been capable and you don't win 29 games in a season if you can't guard at all. Our defense is a bend but not break, sometimes we have broken and when that's happened, we have lost a few games. But we have relied on offense; that's not a secret. We have got some very talented offensive players and we have got some good pieces, some versatile pieces that we can do different things and move them around. But we're not blessed with a lot of great individual defensive players. So we have to be a good team, defensive team. And yesterday that was the case. We got to the right spots. We plugged up gaps. And when we needed to plug it up, we kept it out of the post at times. We doubled when it went in there and made Green get rid of it. So we had some time to prepare for that game and that extra preparation I think allowed us to execute our plan pretty well. Q. Going back to the pace that you guys play, is there a danger if you were to try slow it down a little bit too much or play a little bit of a different pace maybe in sending your guys a different message than maybe you've been telling them all year long? COACH MCDERMOTT: My guys are relatively intelligent, and they're going to stare across at the guy that they're playing against and understand that he's probably going to be playing in the NBA in the next two years and they're not. So we have got to do what gives us the best chance to win. Part of that will play out as the game goes on. And like I said, it's not that we won't run, because we will, and if we get an open three in transition we're going to shoot it. No doubt. It's going up. The teams that have had success against North Carolina this year have made a lot of 3‑point shots. If we want to have a chance to have success, we're going to have to do the same. Q.  You said nobody saw this coming with your son and his development. Is this system of recruiting just not set up to find these late bloomers? And I'm thinking of C.J. McCollum as well as guys that just are so under the radar early. Can you talk about that? COACH MCDERMOTT: There's a couple things and I can only speak to Doug's case. Number one, his body developed late. Secondly, he was playing in the shadows of a tremendous high school player in Harrison Barnes where the ball wasn't going to Doug every time. Their team was very balanced. And then thirdly, how do you measure how hard a guy's going to work when he gets he to college? I think it's a guessing game somewhat. You talk to coaches in high school, you get to know their AAU coaches, and the people that might work them out and you have a sense for what it's going to be like. But until you get them there, every day to find out what their level of commitment really is, you don't know. And Doug has been very motivated first his freshman year because he thought I was going to red shirt him, and he was going to prove me wrong that he would be ready to play. And then in the offseason this past year, his invitation to the USA Under 19 team was great motivation for him to prepare himself for that try out. Doug was going there just not to embarrass himself. I don't think he thought he could make the team. And when he got there, he found out that, you know what, I can play with these guys. And had a great experience. So I think what we have seen this year, our team, it's been the beneficiary of a lot of things that have motivated Doug over the course of the last two years to work hard and continue to attack weaknesses he has in his game. Q. You talked about it a little bit yesterday with me after the game, but the idea of being able to share that victory with your son, for both of you, your first NCAA tournament win, what was that like? COACH MCDERMOTT: It was really special. You enjoy it for a few minutes and then you realize that you got a pretty important game to play in a couple days. And as I've said many times, it's really difficult when you're in the middle of this grind to enjoy it probably as much as I should as a father and as much as he should as my son. And what we're able to accomplish together that a lot of fathers and sons never have an opportunity to experience. My guess is when we look back on this some day, it will be some of the most special times in our life. But right now we're thinking about the next game and the work that we have to do to get ready for that next game. But to have ‑‑ my dad is here, my brother's here, several of Doug's cousins and aunts and uncles, and that makes it really special to have our entire family here. Q. We have seen a lot the first two days, two very impactful lane violation calls in the last minute. Are you sort of watching that from afar and having to talk to your team about that in the timing of those calls? COACH MCDERMOTT: I saw the one last night and it was the right call. That's the rule is you can't leave if you're outside the 3‑point line until the ball hits the rim. So our guys know that, we know that as a staff. And obviously when you're in that situation in a game, you're trying to get that little extra jump to get there a little quicker should the free throw be missed, so I certainly understand the thinking of the player that violated it. But I think the rule book needs to be called as it's written. And if we as coaches form like a rules committee that set the rules and we don't like the rules then we need to change it. But the referee's responsibility in my opinion is to call it as they're written, and they shouldn't be criticized if they do that. Q. The stage you guys will be on tomorrow, some are calling it the biggest basketball game in Creighton history, I guess North Carolina, I guess your thoughts on that stage you guys are playing on prime time five o'clock eastern time on CBS. COACH MCDERMOTT: Well, there's only been I believe two times in our history where we have had an opportunity to play in this game to advance to the Sweet 16. And somebody said to me last night, it's going to be fun on Sunday because you don't have any pressure. I said, what do you mean we don't have any pressure? We're playing to get to the Sweet 16. That's a lot of pressure. And that's what we play for; that's what we coach for. I understand we're playing a great team and would I like to be playing a great team another round or two later in the tournament? Yeah, I would. But we would have to face one sooner or later to try to get to where we want to be. So we're feeling the pressure, this isn't a picnic, this isn't a vacation, this isn't take pictures of me on the floor with North Carolina tomorrow. This is we're coming to try to win this game and I think our guys if we're going to go down, we'll go down swinging. Q. Doug was telling us when he chauffeured Harrison around in high school, he was driving a Nissan Murano. Has he been able to upgrade his transportation since then? COACH MCDERMOTT: He's still driving the Nissan Murano; it's just a different one. But he and Harrison ‑‑ Harrison didn't have a car in high school, so first I think it there's a lot of people that chauffeured him around. But he and Doug spent a lot of time together. And as I said yesterday, Harrison's responsible for a lot of Doug's development because Doug saw in Harrison a guy with an unbelievable work ethic. And when other high school aged students were going to movies and going to football games and going to the prom, Harrison was working out. And I really believe that Doug saw in Harrison a guy that he wanted to emulate and saw the improvement and said, you know what, I think that I now know what it takes. He could listen to his dad and his high school coach, but when you see it in Harrison, the improvement he made each year of high school because of his work ethic, it was certainly impactful for Doug. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. COACH MCDERMOTT: Thank you. 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