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March 18, 2007
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2007 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship
Second Round
Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
March 18, 2007
No. 5 Tennessee 77, No. 4 Virginia 74
Virginia Postgame Locker Room Quotes
Jason Cain, senior forward
On the underclassmen on the team
“I think this game really opened the younger player’s eyes. It shows you have to work hard everyday and you can’t get too carried away with success. We are a big ACC school and won the regular season conference title. We got smacked in the mouth today and they have to learn from that.”
On Virginia’s second -half performance
“We came out flat in the second half. Our shots weren’t falling and we got behind.”
On Virginia’s season
“We were picked to finish eighth in the ACC and we won the conference. I don’t even think we were picked to make the NIT and we made the second round of the NCAA Tournament. We almost won this one so I think we had a successful season.”
On the game
“I thought it was one of the best games of the tournament. Both teams played hard and it came down to a last-second shot. The loss hurts but we have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Tennessee Postgame Locker Room Quotes
Dane Bradshaw, senior guard
On celebrating after the game
“Success is so much sweeter when you struggle. Back in 2003 and 2004, I didn’t think we could do it. I didn’t even celebrate after the game. It was just a sigh of relief. It was great to jump around in the locker room later with the team. It feels great to advance in my last year.”
On the re-match with Ohio State
“I feel like our team has gotten better since the last game. We have some things to work on in practice this week. But, we will be ready for it.”
Duke Crews, freshman forward
On playing Ohio State in the Sweet 16
“We always try to take it one game a time, but you can’t help but look at the brackets. It motivated us to know we could play against Ohio State again. We wanted that OSU game bad. We have matured a lot as a team between now and then, so we will be ready.”
On the game today
“Everyone did their part today. We are best when everyone contributes. Right now is when we wanted to peak, and we did. We proved people wrong by getting to the Sweet 16.”
Josh Tabb, freshman guard
On advancing to the Sweet 16
“It is unbelievable. It still hasn’t sunk it. I guess it will when we get to San Antonio. It is a big win for us. Everyone picked Virginia to win, which just motivated us to step it up. In the Sweet 16 it is anybody’s ball game. Hopefully we will win there and keep going.”
Wayne Chism, freshman forward
On the end of the game
“We just tried to keep our team and our game under control. We kept playing hard and kept playing good defense.”
On two Tennessee players fouling out
“We have a lot of people on our team who can do a lot of things. A lot of our guys do a good job coming off the bench and doing their job.”
On advancing to the Sweet 16
“It feels great. Everyone kept saying we were a young team, too young, but we did it.”
Ryan Childress, sophomore forward
On shooting 3-pointers
“Coach always gives me the ok to shoot 3-pointers. I heard ‘Shoot! Shoot!,’ so I figured I would let it ride and keep shooting.”
On the Tennessee basketball program
“I have seen what was bad turn good and now, get even better. We just want to make a good name for Tennessee basketball and do whatever we can for the program.”
On the Ohio State vs. Tennessee re-match
“I am excited about it. We are a different team now and so are they. They have Greg (Oden) back now. Everyone saw a really balanced team against Xavier. It will be a good game.”
Virginia Postgame Press Conference Transcript
COACH LEITAO: Obviously when you get to this point in anyone’sseason, it becomes’ very cruel reality that at any moment in time it couldbe over. I thought especially for this group, because most of what we didduring the season was with our heart on our sleeve and when you put it outthere, it sometimes can reward you in the very best of ways, but when itdoesn’t, it could also break that heart in the very cruellest of the ways.Today was a day where we kind of got our heart broken and particularly forJ. R. and Sean who have led a two-year charge that a lot of people didn’tthink was possible for Jason Cain who, I think for those of us — for thosewho know us has evolved into not just a better player, but a better personbecause of the experience, so when you have moments like this, you rememberthat more than anything that happened during the course of this game orduring the course of our season.
REPORTER: Sean, Tennessee said they planned to foul on that finalpossession, obviously they didn’t do so, that looked like about as good alook as you could get in that situation, what did you think when it leftyour hands?
SINGLETARY: I thought it was good. I got a head of steam and agood pick from Jason Cain and pulled it up deep and I felt as though I gotgood elevation in my shot and good rotation, but it went in and out so Imissed it.
REPORTER: J. R., were you hampered there? Coach Pearl thought youwent out with a little bit of an ankle tweak and did it bother you afteryour hot start?
REYNOLDS: Yeah, in the first half I was driving the ball andstepped on, I can’t remember the player from Tennessee’s ankle, kind ofrolled it a little bit, just didn’t have the same lift or the push-off inmy right ankle, so.
REPORTER: J. R. and Sean, can you put in words what it means toget this far and to have that feeling going and then, poof, it’s over?
REYNOLDS: We had an unbelievable season and in the beginning ofthe season, didn’t nobody expect us to do well in the ACC. They picked usto finish eighth, but we didn’t believe it, just like last year, theypicked us to finish last. And I don’t think nobody in the world would everthink that we had a chance to get first place in the ACC, but the teamworked hard and the coach did a tremendous job with getting us ready forevery single game that we played.
REPORTER: Sean, can you talk about just the turn-around that youguys made from last season going into this season, what you think gettingthis far in the tournament has done for your program.
SINGLETARY: I think our program has totally turned around in theselast two years. Nobody ever picked us to finish top in the ACC. We didthat, made a lot of noise. Even though we’re not advancing, I think wewent this far for our program so we’re going to look forward to next yearand new recruits and try to usher them in right as soon as they get oncampus, just get their mindset in a winning form and just keep goingforward.
REPORTER: For Sean, when J. R. did tweak his ankle, did you feelmore pressure to do more in the second half?
SINGLETARY: No, I pretty much was just trying to — I saw J. R.making shots in the first half, I didn’t look for my shot really which Ishould have been, but I should have been creating, but I was just trying tokeep giving it to J. R., keep giving it to J. R., because I felt he was hotenough to take us to where we needed to go but when he injured his ankle,we really don’t have anybody else to create, so I tried to step up a littlebit and I was able to get to the free throw line in the second half, Ididn’t have the game I wanted to but tried my best, I feel as though J. R.and I were good in that we led our team and they put their heart out thereand they played real tough in the second half.
REPORTER: J. R., before the ankle roll, how did you feel? I mean,did you feel like you couldn’t miss at all?
REYNOLDS: I just wanted to get off to a good start, just beingaggressive early. The first couple shots started going down for me, then Iwas looking for my shot just about every time down. Sean did a great jobfinding me and getting me the ball in positions in which I can score.
REPORTER: Dave, how much of a factor was the reboundingdifferential?
COACH LEITAO: It was one of three or four different things thatcost us, but we didn’t get as many offensive rebounds as we normally areaccustomed to, but I think that that was balanced off by the fact that theydidn’t get a tremendous amount of really baskets on that end. So it’ssomething that we’ve relied on, but I think we benefited from not havingsome of those offensive rebounds by getting back on D for the most part andnot giving them the early looks especially from three that they wereaccustomed to.
REPORTER: When you commit two players as you did late againstLofton on that inbounds and he still gets the ball, is that particularlydisappointing and what was the breakdown there?
COACH LEITAO: You know what, he’s a great player. He’s not agreat player because he’s a shooter, he’s a great player because he’s aplayer. They make plays at the most important time for their team and I’msure everybody on their side felt very, very comfortable when he went tothe line and knocked those shots down as he knew and I’ve got to get openfor my team. It’s not something that we spend a tremendous amount of timeon and just denying balls inbounds because that’s not what we do. In lategame situations, you’ve got to be really good at things like that. Onestep too slow allowed him to get the ball and obviously he knocked downsome shots so I guess you’ve got to credit him for that.
REPORTER: Two questions, I assume you were anticipating they weregoing to foul on the last play, that’s why you brought Jason up to screen.And second, when the game ended, you went straight for Sean. It almostlooked like your mind was on comforting your kid more than the fact thatyou lost the basketball game.
COACH LEITAO: I think, John, that I feel like anyway, and I’m surethat he would agree that we’re connected emotionally to one another and Ithink one of the reasons why this has worked for the two of us as well asfor the rest of the guys on the team is because we understand each other.And whether he played well or whether he plays well or not is of lessconsequence to me than what he’s given to our team and our program. Iunderstood at that moment in time, because he is so hard on himself, thatimmediately he would take blame, and that’s the last thing I wanted him todo. So I wanted to be there for him to say, hey, let’s help the guy up,let’s embrace him and make him feel better, because we’ve all been there,I’ve been there, and it’s an awful feeling and I wanted him to know justlike I’ve tried to be there for him every day that I’m still going to bethere for him.
REPORTER: You did expect him to make the foul?
COACH LEITAO: I did, we were on the sideline talking about shouldwe make the first and we had six seconds to go before that play and westill had enough time to get up a three, but when they started fouling, Ithought they would do it again. When we got our foul and got them to theline again, I knew with only five and some change to go, that they probablywould not allow us to get a three off because they had done that twicebefore, so we were talking more about with only five to go to see if wecould make the first and miss the second.
REPORTER: At least statistically, it seems like in your recentlosses over the last month, you’ve gotten to some semi-comfortable leads inthe first half. Is that just coincidence that you then have lost the gameor is there something that happens at the start of the second half thatneeds to be corrected?
COACH LEITAO: No, first thing is you can’t correct it now, it’sover. Secondly, you play 30 some odd games, it’s hard to put a script onit, unless there’s a serious pattern, things that have happened recentlyand getting up and losing leads and, again, if I could equate that to apattern, then that means when we got down in double figures, then wewouldn’t come back. Each game is a story unto itself. You want to get offto a good start. I thought lately we’ve done that. And Tennessee is aterrific basketball team and we knew and we kept talking about punching andcounter-punching and we knew they were going to come back after us. If ithappened early, we still would have had to come back. If it happened inthe second half, we still would have had to come back as well.
REPORTER: Did Reynolds’ injury hurt you on defense as much asanything else the way Smith went off in the second half?
COACH LEITAO: I couldn’t tell you how much defensively oroffensively it hurt us. I think it slowed us down a little bit, butspecifically, we got — the baskets that hurt us were more interior andwhen they got up on us, Smith, Ramar Smith anyway as opposed to JaJuanSmith was driving the ball at us, our hedges weren’t very good by our bigguys and that’s what was concerning me more than J. R., not keeping theball in front of hip or allowing JaJuan Smith get open looks. I think whathappened, and Childress was a beneficiary, JaJuan Smith was a little bit ofa beneficiary, when we disconnected ourselves in two-man games which wewere facing.
REPORTER: Can you talk about when you double teamed love top, werethere instructions not to foul him or did you just think there was no wayhe’d get the ball there.
COACH LEITAO: At the end of the game? We double teamed himbecause we knew as the best player he was going to try to get the ball inhis hands, Sean Singletary would try to get the ball in his hands for us,he did a better job of getting himself open than we did at keeping him fromgetting the basketball, so I’ve got to give him a lot of credit. We wantedhim to catch it than somebody else, but even the pretty good free throwshooters weren’t making free throws as consistently as he was so we justwanted to not have him touch the basketball.
REPORTER: Given the limitations in your front field particularly,do you feel this team came pretty close to reaching its potential thisseason?
COACH LEITAO: Yeah, I think anytime you’re in year two, and I’vesaid this before, of a program, you’re still going to have some holes thatneed to be filled, and whether we talked about it for two years, a frontcourt scorer or whatever the case may be, last year was depth, this yearwas a couple other things, you’ve got to make up for certain things. Ithought we did a good job of amassing our flaws and playing much more toour strengths more often than not. I don’t think the lack of a front courtscorer hurt us as much today as it sometimes has in the past, but weobviously would like to have more balance and when you have two guys asgood as Sean and J. R., you want to have the ability to take pressure offof them and we’ve danced with that for the two years I’ve been here aboutfinding other people that can take the pressure off of him a little bit.
REPORTER: How important was the banked three pointer?
COACH LEITAO: It was momentum for them as much as it was threepoints. I thought he had an idea of the shot clock so he would just jumpup and he’s not the guy that normally plays hedge defense and we had him inthere defending the screen and roll, so given anybody, and particularly atthat time, the in the shot clock, some air to shoot was something we didn’twant to do. In order to win in advance you’re going to have to do thingslike that, and they made a couple more plays like that, just like they gotcontributions early from Chism, just like they got contributions late fromChildress, or anything that may come out of the ordinary for a team is whatcarries you through in this tournament.
REPORTER: Coach, could you talk about the progress your programmade this year and look toward the future a little bit?
COACH LEITAO: Just like I told the guys, progress is understood,obviously I think we’ve made a tremendous amount over two years, but whatwe’ve got to do, and the specific thing I told them is, it’s very hard toget there. It was very hard for us to make that kind of progress, but it’seven harder to stay, so once I take my tie off and let my hair down alittle bit, then recruiting has to take over and get you are our programbetter has to take over and what I’ve always said over two years is I don’twant to make Virginia basketball a one-hit wonder. I want to make surethat we stay consistent and that we’ve got even more work to do than we’vedone in the past two years.
REPORTER: After that first official timeout, it seemed like yourdefense really geared down, really the rest of the game, they got off tosuch a great start. Was there an adjustment made or what was it?
COACH LEITAO: Just an adjustment more mentally. We talked all dayyesterday about what we had to do, obviously when you score 121 points, youreally get the other team’s attention, so they really had our attention andwe knew if we were going to have an opportunity to win that it was going tobe because of our defense, and I thought after they had 22 points beforethe 10-minute mark which I equate to halfway through if we’re playing gooddefense or not, I thought once they got to 22 that we really buckled in andestablished ourselves defensively and started to zero in on our scoutingreport issues and got better that way. Obviously I thought that thatstretch that they got the lead at the beginning of the second half, we letdown again, not so much with them running and shooting, but just moremethodically in the half court making mistakes, they methodically picked usapart. We made too many mental errors and allowed them to get back to thelead.
REPORTER: Coach, you may have already touched on this, Iapologize, but from where you sat, did Sean’s shot look like it was goingin? He seemed pretty heart broken afterwards, what did you say to him?
COACH LEITAO: From my advantage point, he was a little bit behindwhere I was standing, so sometimes you have a view from behind, you cantell, but the trajectory was good, he had enough lift on the ball and hadsome momentum going into the shot and I trust him wholeheartedly, ifthere’s a guy in America that you want shooting that shot, it’s probablygoing to be Sean, I don’t know for anybody else, but for my money, it’sgoing to be Sean. And when he fell down, my first initial reaction was toconsole him because it wasn’t about that shot. It was about ourperformance and I wanted to make sure he understood that he has nothing tofeel bad about, ashamed about, or anything. We wouldn’t be sitting here atall if it wasn’t for his contributions and I think he needed to know thatspiritually as well as verbally from me.
REPORTER: Coach, did the freshmen class this year perform kind ofhow you thought they would or could you assess them?
COACH LEITAO: When we take over a situation and, again, have to goout and recruit right away and this first class is a by-product of that, wewere looking a tremendous amount more for character guys. And if I were toassess them from that standpoint, I think it’s an A plus. They’ve given usa lot more than we’ve given them from a character standpoint. I think theyrepresent themselves and their teammates and this university in anextremely positive way. Their physical contributions, you can debateday-to-day. Sometimes they played like freshmen, sometimes they wereuntrusting, sometimes they were trust worthy, and that’s typical for guysthat are coming in, particularly as we were playing catch-up. And youtry — we talked about the other day keeping guys like Duke Crews and otherguys, we had some repair work to do, we weren’t going to get the top-notchathletic guys that we’ll be able to get in the future, but at the samepoint in time, we did not and would not substitute talent for character andI think in that regard, we hit a homerun.
REPORTER: Dave, do you feel happy at all that J. R. was able tofinish his career in this tournament in a manner more befitting the way heplayed all season?
COACH LEITAO: Well, you know his evolution, the short two yearsthat I’ve been around as a person even more than a player has been the wayI look at it, has been phenomenal. Not that he was immature, but hisunderstanding of what it takes to put himself in the position that he’s in,and as I said to all of the guys, how proud I am of them, J. R., when hewas a sophomore, scored 30 points in the ACC tournament game. That wasprobably the highlight of his two years at Virginia. Now he can talk toanybody that’s worn the uniform and talk in the same circles as just aboutanybody that’s played in this program, not just because he’s a terrificbasketball player, but because he represented this university in such aspecial way and for that, when we talked about day one becoming a familyand understanding what family members are all about, he now has a clearunderstanding of what it is to be a member of our basketball family now andforever.