Latest / Coaches Corner / UConn Natty Press Conference

Transcript

UConn Natty Press Conference · Coaches Corner

• 0:01
  There you go. Mm hmmm. We're joined up by student athletes from Yukon.
• 0:08
  If you have a question for the student athletes from Yukon, raise your
• 0:11
  hand. We'll send a microphone to you. Let's start up front here to
• 0:14
  the left. Thank you. This one is for Cam. Your name in
• 0:18
  media Outlet's sorry yep, Jake Fender Daily Mail. Cam over here, Hi,
• 0:24
  Kim far left up front. Guys, the three of you were named
• 0:29
  to the top team, the all tournament team. You especially. This is
• 0:35
  something that happened to you after you transferred to the school. Is that something
• 0:39
  that coach kind of sold you on those kinds of opportunities and is that what
• 0:44
  drew you to the school? No, I mean it was it was all
• 0:48
  about the team and going to accomplish another championship. You know, I had
• 0:52
  never been a part of a championship like this, and uh, you know
• 0:55
  that's really what coach Early and I talked about in the recruiting process, and
• 0:59
  you know, this was our goal from day one. So to do it
• 1:00
  with with your brother and your family that you go to war with every day,
• 1:03
  it's just, you know, really special. Right now, continuing with
• 1:07
  questions for the yukun student athletes. Second row, Wall Street Journal, Robert
• 1:11
  O'Connell Wall Street Journal. This one's for Cam. There was a moment there,
• 1:15
  Cam, sorry, right here in the middle. There was a moment
• 1:18
  there where I think you got a foul called on you and you were maybe
• 1:21
  looking for a jump ball or something and you were running around and coach kind
• 1:25
  of calmed you down, kept you for maybe getting a tea or something like
• 1:27
  that. I'm curious how often is that going in that direction and not you
• 1:32
  guys having to calm coach down about not going too nuts on the sideline.
• 1:38
  Yeah, I think, you know, we're two similar personalities. But you
• 1:41
  know, I just I was going for the offensive rebound and felt like I
• 1:42
  had the ball and you know, just heating a moment reaction. But you
• 1:47
  know, luckily I have coach to have my back and calm me down because
• 1:49
  I probably would have gotten a technical if I didn't calm down. So yeah,
• 1:53
  if you have a question for the YUKUN student athletes, please raise your
• 1:57
  hand. Let's go to the third row on the right side. Nick learns
• 2:04
  him in major Man is Cam twenty or so. You came into college.
• 2:07
  You only had one scholarship off or you went to Loyola your first year,
• 2:10
  you were the first team in the whole country to get eliminated from conference tournaments.
• 2:15
  Just talk about the trials and tribulations to get here, get that win,
• 2:19
  and also you have some nice hardware up against your brother. He's won
• 2:21
  the tourt and now you are national champion. Just talk about that with your
• 2:24
  brother, little relationship there. Yeah, you know, I wouldn't be here
• 2:28
  without without my brother, you know, having four years ahead of me,
• 2:30
  I've always been able to watch him, you know, kind of grow up
• 2:32
  and go through the similar experience that I am now going through. So you
• 2:38
  know, like I said, I wouldn't be here without him, and I'm
• 2:39
  just so thankful for all the you know work he helped me put in.
• 2:43
  And yeah, I can't say enough about my family, and you know,
• 2:46
  I wouldn't be here without them, so so thankful. Next question for Adam
• 2:51
  and Adam hang out to the microphone when you're done. Yeah, for all
• 2:54
  three you guys. Adam Zagori MJ dot Com. I think the Yukon Guards
• 2:59
  outscored the Purdue yards fifty five to seventeen. How much going into the game
• 3:04
  was it your mindset to kind of control and disrupt their guards, and how
• 3:08
  proud of you are the fact that you dominated them fifty five to seventeen.
• 3:13
  Adam passed the mike to your left and Will ask him to take that.
• 3:15
  Then Stefan and then Tristan dep go fir go f Yeah. I mean it
• 3:22
  was a big part of our game plan, just trying to h limit as
• 3:24
  much as we can from the guards, and I feel like we did a
• 3:27
  good job at that, and you know, just playing confident on the other
• 3:30
  end, I feel like coach put us in great positions to be successful all
• 3:32
  night and it worked out for us. Tristan, Yeah, I mean we
• 3:38
  knew, we knew he was gonna get his points and you know it took
• 3:40
  him twenty five shots to get thirty seven points. So you know, that
• 3:43
  was a game plan just limited guards and you know Steph Cam, you know,
• 3:47
  house Wing got him there. They did grade jobs on the guards and
• 3:51
  you know limits to them and their impact cam to give something to add to
• 3:53
  that. Yeah, obviously, you know, coming in, we knew Zach
• 3:59
  Zakidi tough guy to stop. You know, we wanted to make him work
• 4:01
  for everything. But you know, I think the coach has made a point
• 4:04
  that we'd be really locked in if you know, we could control their three
• 4:08
  point at tenph and you know, I think holding them to seven, you
• 4:11
  know, we were really just locked in on, you know, not letting
• 4:13
  those other guys get involved in the game. And I think, you know,
• 4:15
  Stephen, Tristan and Aliguard did a great job in the center of the
• 4:19
  room. Please raise your hand for us, Hi, audios of CBS Sports.
• 4:25
  Did you, guys, uh and this is for any of you,
• 4:27
  did you expect them to back off three pointers? Like he just talked about
• 4:32
  how you defended them, But did you actually expect that they would simply not
• 4:36
  take them, that they would show that I guess discipline and react to how
• 4:41
  you were defending them. Or was that that kind as a surprise to you?
• 4:43
  Tristan, can you take that one for us? I mean, we
• 4:46
  watched that film and they get that three pointers off. You know, people
• 4:48
  going down there and helping on Edie, you know, they pose their great
• 4:53
  job game planning and made sure that that was a focus on that we didn't
• 4:56
  need a three point line and let Edie do a you know, his his
• 4:59
  damas because you know he only shoots twos. He shoots No. Three,
• 5:00
  So if he makes fifteen twos like he did today, that's thirty. And
• 5:05
  then where the rest of points gonna come from? So you know, they
• 5:09
  did a great job of scalt and then yeah, credits of them. If
• 5:13
  you have a question for the student athletes or Yukon please raise your hand.
• 5:16
  We'll send the microphone to you. All right, we'll take one in the
• 5:21
  back of the room on the right side. Andy Dorf, Sports Byline USA
• 5:26
  Radio Network, talk about your guys on the ball pressure just relentless throughout the
• 5:30
  whole game, and how you made it so daunting for those guys to basically
• 5:34
  get any shot up. Stefan, can you take that one please? I
• 5:39
  mean yeah, I mean I feel like our post defense started with you know,
• 5:42
  pressureing the ball and just trying to limit uh, you know, just
• 5:46
  easy easy catches for Edie. So I mean, I feel like our coaches
• 5:49
  did a great job at with the scout and I thought we executed it well
• 5:53
  and it worked out for us. Final question for the Yukon student athletes all
• 5:58
  the way right, can't get any further right this Richard Smith with Independent News
• 6:03
  Media here in Phoenix. This questions for Tristan. Something coach talked about on
• 6:10
  Saturday was how this team never lost its drive. They they didn't act like
• 6:15
  they were the defending champions. They kept their focus, they were hungry.
• 6:20
  How much did you take it on yourself to set that kind of tone for
• 6:27
  the team? And then when did you realize that these guys were as locked
• 6:31
  in as the team was last year, if not more? Was it even
• 6:35
  before the season started? Yeah, I mean I wouldn't take any credit for
• 6:40
  san Antonio. I was all coach. You know, last year was last
• 6:43
  year. It's not defending. You know that that trophy twenty three trophy is
• 6:46
  in the crib and coach office and nobody can take that from him. So
• 6:50
  you know, this is a whole different year. We had goals winning five
• 6:54
  championships, and you know we got all those done. So you know,
• 6:56
  credit Colase to Sedatona, everybody just past is the h We want to congratulate
• 7:01
  cam Stefan and Tristan. They're gonna head back to the locker room. The
• 7:08
  Yukon locker room is up until at least ten to oh five. Media and
• 7:24
  coach will ask you to make an opening statement, then we'll take some questions
• 7:27
  yeah. You know. First off, you know, just like I said,
• 7:30
  I think yesterday, it was a privilege, uh to share the court
• 7:33
  with uh, you know, with with with with Matt Painter and Purdue.
• 7:38
  Uh, you know, one of the top programs in the country, one
• 7:41
  of the best coaches in the country. And uh, you're just total class.
• 7:45
  Uh your class personified across the board with with with those guys. So
• 7:49
  uh, you know, obviously you know what could you say? We won
• 7:58
  by a lot again? Next question is for Eddie. We're gonna have to
• 8:03
  hustle to bring him the microphone. Eddie raised your hand. Thanks Eddie,
• 8:07
  Yes, coach, he won by a lot again. Congrats Eddie. Pel's
• 8:11
  from a p After they made their one three pointer, you hopped off the
• 8:16
  bench and call the time out. I know you were in quite a lather
• 8:22
  that, but I mean, was that specifically about like making sure we don't
• 8:28
  this doesn't make them a trend? Well, that was a that was a
• 8:31
  late clock a mistake. Uh. You know, Brayden had it with three
• 8:35
  on the clock and he used a ball screen and uh in such a late
• 8:41
  you know, late shot clock situation, like Donovan needed to get up there
• 8:45
  high and eliminate the attempt. But you know, just the game plan and
• 8:50
  Luke, you know, Luke for for a day and a half prep to
• 8:54
  have us as ready as he did defensively for that game was just impressive.
• 8:58
  We obviously, you know, we didn't want to give up threes. We
• 9:01
  didn't care if Zach, you know, took twenty five twenty eight shots to
• 9:05
  get thirty thirty five points. This whole game plan was like, no Smith,
• 9:11
  no Lawyer, no Gillis, no Jones. You'll keep that collective group
• 9:15
  under eighteen twenty points. As a group, they had no chance to win
• 9:20
  no matter how well Zach played upfront. Pete Dan Pete Thamil from ASPN you
• 9:26
  won your six games in this tournam by one hundred and forty points. That's
• 9:28
  more than any team. You really haven't backed away as you've dominated through this
• 9:33
  speaking of your dominance. So I'm just curious, do you feel like this
• 9:37
  is a historic team and do you feel like this is one of the greatest
• 9:39
  teams of all time? I think it's I think it's up there in terms
• 9:46
  of the greatest two year runs that of programs maybe ever had. Just because
• 9:54
  you know, I don't want to I guess I can't say anything about Duke
• 10:01
  because I'm gonna piss my brother off. But I guess I could say stuff
• 10:05
  about Florida, but I love Billy Donovan, so I'm in a bad spot.
• 10:11
  I just think it's it's the best two year run I think in a
• 10:15
  very very long time, just because of everything we lost from last year's team.
• 10:20
  To lose that much and again to do what we did again, you
• 10:26
  know, it's got to be as too, as impressive a two year run
• 10:31
  as the programs had since prior to whoever did it before Duke. To me,
• 10:35
  it is more impressive than what Florida and Duke did because they brought back
• 10:41
  their entire teams and you know, we uh, you know, we lost,
• 10:46
  we lost some major players to the left of the Aisle Coach Field of
• 10:50
  sixty eight, Dan Mike Miller Field of sixty eight. I'll give you an
• 10:52
  opening. Afterward, Jay Wright said it was the most dominant team he can
• 10:56
  remember. So that gives you a chance there? Does that? Uh?
• 11:00
  Is that what you're gonna be making your mark on? Dominance? Nothing but
• 11:03
  dominance? Is that going to be the standard going forward? Is it a
• 11:07
  standard you can reach every year. Yeah, you know, I know things
• 11:11
  are gonna be a little crazy for the next ten days. Unfortunately, you
• 11:16
  know, we're gonna head into the portal like everybody else. Now I've been
• 11:20
  dreading this moment. Uh, but now we're here. Yeah, we'll enjoyed
• 11:26
  us for a couple of days. But then you know what we're gonna you
• 11:31
  know, on the flight home tomorrow, we'll start talking about, you know,
• 11:33
  what the roster is gonna look like. Obviously, we graduate some players,
• 11:37
  we're gonna lose a couple potentially to the NBA early entry and and uh,
• 11:43
  you know we're gonna dive in and and and put together a roster that
• 11:46
  that that that we can play a comparable level of basketball, uh to the
• 11:50
  one that you guys have witnessed the last two years. That's I know what
• 11:56
  our mindset will be. Uh, you know, we're we're we're gonna be
• 12:00
  focusing on trying to put together, you know, a three year run,
• 12:03
  not just a two year run. Row on the left side, coach HI
• 12:07
  coach Jake Fenner Daily Mail to piggyback off of a previous question. To accomplish
• 12:13
  this feat in this era of the nil and the transfer portal, it almost
• 12:16
  could be considered something entirely different and entirely particularly special with the way the landscape
• 12:24
  currently is. Do you think that winning to in a row in this era
• 12:28
  is something that could be replicated again? And do you think that because you
• 12:33
  won in this era, it deserves to be held in a different regard.
• 12:37
  Yeah, I mean, I think that's probably for you guys to decide.
• 12:41
  I think, you know, it's obviously it's a special run. And yeah,
• 12:46
  I mean, we're gonna try and replicate it again. You know,
• 12:50
  we're gonna you know, we're gonna maintain a championship culture we brought it.
• 12:56
  We're bringing in some very talented high school freshmen. Our returning players through player
• 13:01
  development will take a big jump and it will strategically add through the portal.
• 13:05
  So yeah, I don't think that that we're going anywhere Front Row Left.
• 13:13
  Britt Friedlander, Saturday Road dot Com. Dan, you mentioned your brother,
• 13:16
  uh, he won back to back titles as a player. You've done it
• 13:20
  as a coach now, and could you put into perspective how incredible that is
• 13:24
  that you guys in the same family you have done this and what does it
• 13:26
  mean to your family? Yeah, it's incredible, I think, uh,
• 13:31
  you know, it's it's incredible to join Bob in that club, you know,
• 13:35
  and it just you know, Bob was in the arena tonight. He
• 13:37
  wanted to kind of stay out of the out of the camera lens, so
• 13:41
  it was you know, he was in a he was in a box,
• 13:45
  uh, you know, enjoying uh, you know, the comfort of that
• 13:48
  tonight. So it's just awesome to have him here for that. And then
• 13:50
  obviously my dad. You know, it's like my dad, he looks at
• 13:54
  me and he looks at my brother and he sees this coaching in college and
• 13:58
  what would what it would have looked like you for him if if he was
• 14:01
  doing it, you know. So I know it means a lot to me
• 14:03
  and Bob too, you know, to again, you know, we're the
• 14:07
  version of my father that would be coaching in college where even after back to
• 14:13
  back, for me, I'm still just a worst version of him up run
• 14:18
  on the left side, a little bit worse. I'm getting better and I'm
• 14:22
  coming for him. Michelle Gardner Aerson Our Republic. We've asked you about the
• 14:28
  potential to repeat. Now that you've done it, Dan, does this feel
• 14:31
  different? It doesn't. It really doesn't. I mean it's the same,
• 14:41
  you know feeling that that you have. You know, you're you just feel
• 14:45
  so light right now. And you know what though, maybe it feels a
• 14:50
  little bit better because it's like the last thing, knowing how great this team
• 14:54
  has been we've taken you know, you know, we've worn the everything shirt
• 14:58
  the whole year, and we just everyone in this organization gave everything so that
• 15:03
  we could win everything this year. You know, the mte that we were
• 15:05
  in the Big East regular season, the Big East Tournament, the regional and
• 15:09
  the national championship. So we wanted to give everything so that we could win
• 15:13
  absolutely everything. And the thought of like Cam Spencer and Steph Castle in their
• 15:20
  their short window of time with us, not to experience a national championship like
• 15:24
  we all have felt. You know, once we realized how good the team
• 15:28
  was, that became a little bit of a pressure point. You know.
• 15:31
  It sucked today to have you know, blue and blue and yellow confetti.
• 15:35
  Uh, and we'll have to walk off that court with Cam Spencer and Steph
• 15:39
  Castle lightly the final question on the left side left with ailed Dan Dan walk
• 15:46
  in USA today, Dan, I hope I don't mist quote you, but
• 15:50
  you said out on the court something about Yukon giving you all the resources you
• 15:54
  need. Can we interpret that to me? And you intend to be back
• 15:56
  at Yukon next year, You're not going to entertain any conversations with anybody else
• 16:02
  that might have a job coming open. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I
• 16:06
  don't think that's a concern. You know, my wife, Uh, you
• 16:11
  should have her answer that. Yeah, we can maybe arrange at press conference
• 16:15
  for mississ early in the morning. Congratulations coach, Yeah, thank you,
• 16:18
  Yeah, she'll she'll answer that question better than I can. Yeah. Shit.
• 16:26
  We'd like to congratulate coach and thank him for all the time he's spent
• 16:30
  here in the main interview room all week. Not a lot of mobility on
• 16:33
  Segoria man later. Thank you, coach, and thank you everyone in the
• 16:44
  Yukon locker room. Should still be open right now for player availability and anything
• 16:48
  else Yukon wants to do. Thank you.