Wake Forest Athletics
Press Conference Quotes
3/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 14, 2007
Press Conference Quotes
March 14, 2007
Texas Tech University Red Raiders
HEAD COACH BOB KNIGHT
How do you feel about expanding the tournament bracket?
Well, I've always thought that the absolute best tournament that you could conceivably have would be 32 teams. The reason I think it's the best is because you eliminate all automatic bids into the tournament. There would be no automatic bids from the best to the worst conference in the country. Just work out a way to feed information into a computer that would determine the best 32 teams. That would be my ideal tournament. Then if you're going to continue to do it the way it is being done, I don't think there's any reason not to expand it. The thing you could do is, you could add 64 more teams to the tournament and it only adds one more game. I don't think expansion is any reason not to do it or not to consider it. One thing I'd like to see is the committee be made up of former coaches. I think people whose basketball is their business. I've always felt that. I think people who have lived and coached the sport and really understands why one team is better than the other. This is something that is critical to everybody. In nothing else in society that is important do we have people who are relative amateurs making decisions. I would go one step further and say that Gary Walters should be the permanent chairman of the committee. He's an extremely bright guy with a basketball background. Expansion, what difference does it make? It's just another game.
Can you take us back to the last time you were here about 10 years ago?
I can hardly remember what I did yesterday let alone 10 years ago.
Do you remember your walk back to the hotel in the rain?
I've walked back to hotels from so many arenas and so many games in my lifetime, one is no different than another one.
Why do you do that?
I like the walk. You don't have a law in North Carolina against Yankees walking do you? I've never felt like I was breaking the law.
If this were a 32-team tournament, where would your team be this week?
I have no idea. Since I don't have anything to do with it, that's a question that's superfluous and no need to answer. That didn't happen, and so I won't answer it.
Can you make a comparison between the competition level in the Big 12 and the ACC?
I think the competition in both leagues is really good. I'm obviously more familiar with ours. See if you could come up with any better three teams than Kansas, Texas A&M and Texas. We've got a few pretty good teams. Those three are really good. You won't find three teams better anywhere. As long as I can remember in the ACC, they've had really good teams as well and a lot of them. That certainly includes the case this year. I've not seen many games in the ACC this year.
Can you comment on what it means to break Coach Dean Smith's record?
Well, I used to kid Dean when he was getting close to it. He and I both feel it is something for the players. There is a really good thing in this. The players that played are the ones that have done this. They can think back and say `I made a free throw in that game' or `I made an incredible steal in that winning game.' He's got a lot of players that can say that and so do I. When he was close to the record, I told him he needed to break it to replace (Adolph) Rupp. He was an ornery old son of a (expletive deleted) that I sort of liked, and someone needed to replace him up there. I said you're the guy that's got to do it. He reminded me of that when I was close.
What do you like most about your team?
Here's what I don't like. Our team hasn't had great consistency, yet we've played really well at times. I would like to see us be better. I would like to see all teams across the country have the chance to play with better officiating. Back to our team, sometimes we've played within a game really well and then it would slip away from us. We were playing New Mexico in the game that would have surpassed the number of wins that Smith's teams had. We just wanted to get it over with. We had a 22 point lead with three minutes left had developed into a four-point deficit. Our team has been real up and down.
What are some of the things the NCAA could do to help officiating get better?
First, I don't think there's an official in the world capable of working six games a week. I don't have a player that can do that. We have really good athletes on this team and they could not play six games a week. An official should work no more than three games a week and should also be limited to more geographical areas. That needs to be an area that should be looked at for the betterment of basketball. We don't need better officials, but we need officials working less time. They need less work and more direction.
Is the talent level of the players to where you can't officiate like they used to? Is it a compromise?
The only compromise is in the rules. Maybe everyone needs to be allowed to walk or palm the ball? But if that's the case, then change the rules. The way we have them now, the game is not being called by the rules. That's my biggest problem with the game right now. I also don't like the fact that a kid can come to school, play a year, not be eligible to play a second year but can go to the NBA.
STUDENT-ATHLETES JARRIUS JACKSON AND MARTIN ZENO
What is the biggest variable for your team?
Jackson: We just have to listen to our scout report and execute the game plan. We know that they're a very good team, and they play physical, so we just have to play the same way on our end.
What are your impressions of Jared Dudley?
Jackson: He's a very good player, one of the best players we'll play against all season. He was the ACC Player of the Year. He plays hard, a leading rebounder. He's just a very good player.
What is the biggest difference between losing to Baylor and beating Kansas in the same week?
Jackson: I just think that we've been more focused when we've played big teams than when we played Baylor. We just lapsed when we played Baylor instead of playing the whole way like when we played KU or Indiana.
Zeno: We just have to work on our consistency. We have to come in with the same mental approach as we do for big games.
What was it like to be part of the team that helped Coach Knight break Dean Smith's wins record?
Jackson: It was just an unbelievable honor for me. It was my last year, so I just want to go out with a bang. I'm really speechless for it. It's just a big honor for me.
Has playing against some of the best players in the Big 12 given you an advantage coming into the tournament?
Jackson: No. We play in one of the best conferences, but they play in a good conference too in the ACC. I think it will even out. There are good players everywhere around the country, so we just have to stay with our same game plan and our mental approach.
Is there a comparison between what Boston College went through in the ACC and what you went through?
Jackson: I think there's a good comparison. They have very good players. They have a very good guard - (Tyrese) Rice - as well as Dudley. They have a very good combination, so we have to come out ready to play.
Zeno: They have good guard play and good big play. Playing against (Kevin) Durant will help us out in this game.
What is the biggest myth the public has about playing for Coach Knight?
Zeno: I guess that he's not a caring person. He really is a caring person, he just demands the best out of you.
Jackson: He teaches us stuff every day. He's just like a schoolteacher. Every day he teaches us something new. He cares about his players, not just in basketball but how we do in life as well.
Has Coach Knight changed?
Jackson: In my opinion, he's been the same coach since I arrived Day 1.
Has this been an emotional season for you with things like the Prince incident and Coach Knight's record?
Jackson: We all just laugh about the Prince incident. We thought that they blew that up a little bit. With the record and everything, we just took that in stride. It was a good accomplishment for us as a team, but we just want to use that as motivation and have a good year.
Zeno: We have some up and down seasons, including this season, but it has ended up well so far.
Has Coach Knight mellowed at all?
Jackson: He's pretty much always the same person. He's going to get on you when you mess up and give you credit when you do something good.
Are there similarities between the way you and Boston College finished your seasons?
Jackson: I think every team has ups and downs during the course of the year, but you just have to finish strong. That's what they did as well as us, so we'll just have to see what happens.
Zeno: There are up and down seasons, but if you finish strong and have a good end to your season, that's all in the past.
Is the game plan to let Jared Dudley get his and try to limit everyone else?
Jackson: No. We don't want to let him get his. We know that he's a very good player, and if he's having trouble on the offensive end, he's going to go to the boards hard and try to get it off the rebound. We have to contain him and block out and make sure we limit his touches.
Are you playing your best basketball right now?
Zeno: I feel like we are playing our best basketball on the offensive side, but on defense, we keep making those little mistakes that we shouldn't be making right now. If we fix that, we could be playing our best.
