UTEP Miners

March 17, 2010

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UTEP Quotes

Q. Derrick, you've been here in the NCAA Tournament before. The program you're with right now hasn't been in a while. Have you had a chance to talk to your teammates about the experience, and if you have what have you told them to expect?
Derrick Caracter: Yeah, I've been telling them that the experience is an experience of your lifetime, the light is shining brighter, one loss and you go home. So really just explaining and focusing on, you know, shutting down defense, lock up defense and executing on offense.

Q. On a personal level your last NCAA Tournament there was uncertainty and turmoil involved with your last situation. Can you contrast the experience now and how different it is this year for you?
Derrick Caracter: I talk about wearing my Elite Eight ring around, and I want to pass that goal. The Elite Eight when we lost to North Carolina, I didn't play as well as I wanted to, and as much as I want to and this time around I have an opportunity to be a major contributor to my team and hopefully keep leading and taking steps forward.

Q. You guys had a tough loss in the Conference Tournament. Do you guys feel you're mentally and physically ready for this match up?
Julyan Stone: I don't believe so. We're a mature team. All of us have grown as players throughout our college career and I think we're focused on the other team, and they're a good team and with everything we put forth and all the effort we put forth we're going to play to the best of our ability and we're ready for it.
Randy Culpepper: It was a bad loss, but we can't dwell on the past and we've got to look forward to the future and what's happening now. Like Ju say, we have to worry about ourselves and do what we have to do and we're prepared for this game. We should be all right.

Q. Derrick, just curious to know your success in getting to the tournament, how much does this take the sting out of how things ended with U of L?
Derrick Caracter: I never focus on my past, but it does drive me to keep succeeding and doing better. But I'm just focused on now, my teammates here at UTEP, and trying to make a run in this tournament.

Q. Randy, the loss to Houston, did it humble you? What did you learn from it? It's never good to lose a game, but did you learn from it and what are you going to do to grow from that?
Randy Culpepper: Most definitely we learned from that loss and learned never to look past a team, even though Houston's wasn't that good. Like Coach said, they weren't going to back down from us, but that's exactly what happened But you can always learn from each game and there's always room for improvement.

Q. What's the experience like?
Randy Culpepper: It's a great experience. My freshman year and sophomore year we had good seasons, but this season is a great season, and for us to make it to the NCAA Tournament is a big accomplishment for me and also the team, and it's a great feeling right now. Like this is not a vacation, you know, California is a great state, but it's a business trip. We come here for one thing and that's to win games.

Q. You were a little banged up in that last game. You healthy, feeling good now?
Randy Culpepper: Most definitely. I've been getting a lot of treatment from my trainer, so I'm back to 100% right now.

Q. For any of you, were you guys at all disappointed with your seating? Almost all rankings, you and Butler are almost identical. Are you surprised that so many analysts are picking the Miners to win this game?
Randy Culpepper: This is the NCAA, no matter what seed you get you're going to have to come out and play regardless, it's all good teams in the tournament, so I wasn't worried about the seeding, because each day we come out we have to play, each day it's do or die, win or go home. The seeding didn't matter to me.
Julyan Stone: Like Randy said, we just happen to be in the tournament. Seeding is not a problem for us, we're not worried about that. Every game you have to come out and play your best basketball because anything can happen in any given day.
We're excited to be here and anticipating the game and can't wait to play. We weren't disappointed in our seeding. We're happy to be here and Derrick has been here, but me and Randy came in our freshman year. We've always dreamed at being at this level and for us to accomplish that we're proud to be a part of something like this. Kind of be in the history books that we would always be able to say we were in the NCAA Tournament, and we're proud to be here regardless of the seeding.

Q. Can you just talk a little bit about Butler, what you guys know about them, and what you're going to have to do to stop their offense and their solid defense?
Julyan Stone: We know they're a real good team. They have a lot of good players, their big man is good, they have Gordon Hayward who is able to do everything on the court and Shelvin Mack who is a great shooter, and they're a great team and really fundamental.
So we have to go out and play our type of game. To be successful we have to worry about what we do rather than what the next team does. So we need to go out there and play our game and hopefully it bothers them a little bit.
ROGER ROSS: I would like to thank the student athletes. Appreciate your time. We're now joined by the UTEP Coach, Tony Barbee, and we'll open it up for questions.

Q. Coach, I was wondering if you were at all disappointed with your seeding in this tournament. It looked like almost every statistical or computer ranking, Butler and UTEP were close, if not identical and yet the difference in the seed is pretty extreme, although maybe that's why so many analysts are picking UTEP to win this game.
COACH BARBEE: I was shocked to see the seed that we got. Those guys don't pick the tournament seeds, but when you see the prognostication two weeks up from all the bracketologists, all the talk had us in the 7, 8, 9 range. There was never any talk of us over the last two weeks being on the bubble or one of the first last four in, first four out any of that talk.
So I was surprised when the 12 seed did come up, because that meant we were one of the last few teams in if not the last team in. So I was a little shocked by that. I thought we had a season that deserved a little more respect in terms of the seeding, but at the end of the day we're fortunate to be in, excited to be in, and we're going to have to make the most of it.

Q. I know El Paso is a long way from a lot of places and you've got the natural connection to Memphis, but I wonder even then how much did it take to get some of those guys to come?
COACH BARBEE: If you've ever been to El Paso or UTEP you know the rich history story tradition that is UTEP basketball. You've got a Hall of Fame coach in Coach Haskins, who I was fortunate to be around through my first two and a half seasons and spent time with him.
If you know the great teams that have played there, obviously the 66 team there, the glory road team that won the national title, talking about players, Jim Barnes, a number one draft pick. Tiny Archibald, top 15 NBA player of all time. The Tim Hardaways, Antonio Davis, Greg Foster, those guys.
When you're trying to sell to a recruit why UTEP is the place for you, you say it's been done there before. So why can't you come in here and do it? This is a team that's been to the NCAA and won a national title, they've had the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft before, they have had one of the top 15 players in the NBA of all time, and you've got a beautiful community in El Paso that's so supportive.
We are the franchise. There is no professional sports organizations in the general vicinity, so UTEP athletics, UTEP basketball is what people get excited about. So it was an easy sell.

Q. Coach, Derrick Caracter left Louisville with the reputation, at least in the eyes of some, as being lazy and selfish as a player or teammate. Can you talk about what your expectations were as he came in as a transfer, and then also talk about his development since he got to UTEP?
COACH BARBEE: My expectations for Derrick were very high. Having recruited Derrick when I was an assistant at Memphis and knowing him since he was a 15 16 year old kid in high school, we all see 6'9" 275 pounds, and we assume right away, grown man.
Derrick, coming out of high school, was immature, spoiled and always a little bit lazy. You're pretty accurate on that assessment. When he went to Louisville at 17 years old, you think about some of the decisions we all made when we were 17 that did not get covered by the national media that we wouldn't have been so proud of. Derrick is a great kid, that was never in question.
The fact that he was painted in that light as being a "bad kid" never a bad kid. Just always a little immature, always a little lazy, always a little spoiled, and he made some bad decisions.
Now, for me having known Derrick and recruited him, knowing his mom, she is a great lady, Miss Terri, he's got a great support system around him. When we were first contacted by Derrick after he left Louisville, my first question was why, because I knew he would have options to go other places.
His size, his skill level and ability he could have easily went to Europe and commanded a 6 figure salary. Why would you want to come back to college, and I got all the right answers. He understood that all the wounds that were inflicted upon him at his previous stop were self inflicted. He didn't point fingers or blame anybody else. He understood that he made bad decisions which affected his chances to help that Louisville program.
Once I heard that he wasn't blaming anybody else, he knew it was his fault, and he knew he had to change. Knowing he was a good kid from recruiting him from before, I thought he had a chance to turn a corner. He's grown up. He's matured. He's shaken that lazy label since being around me. Everything I've seen, he's been one of the hardest workers on our team.
You will constantly see him we'll go through a two hour practice today, and when we get back to the hotel today he will be in the workout room getting on the cardio machine, on the weights. He's done that at home, and when we are on the road, and he understands he had to change and he's made those changes. That's why he's had such a positive impact on our program this year.

Q. One of the story lines that you've had all season is to always take steps forward. Took a couple steps back at Houston. Do you feel you have done enough in the last couple of days leading up to today's practice to make those steps forward again?
COACH BARBEE: Oh, yeah. You don't win the amount of games we won in a row through a difficult Conference USA season. There was a lot of teams that could have been in the spot that we were in, you don't win that many in a row and have a blip like we did in the championship game and all of the sudden the sky has fallen in.
There are too many things we've got going, we have a an outstanding team, and we're not going to let the fact that we uncharacteristic ly made some mistakes in that championship game. We're not going to let that affect where we are now.
It's a new season, can't worry about the past, you've got to keep looking forward and these guys this team has been very resilient all year long and through some adversity early in the year. This team has always had each other's back and keep looking forward, and you know our theme is to keep taking steps forward, don't keep looking back, and that's been one of the best things about this team they don't dwell on the negative. We keep moving forward and keep trying to get better.

Q. You said Derrick Caracter has made some changes. Can you talk about his leadership role coming into the Tournament being the only guy who has played in the Tournament?
COACH BARBEE: I think that's a positive for Derrick. You know, I played in the Tournament a couple times as a player. I've been here, obviously, as an assistant a bunch. Those experiences are only going to help our team so much. Derrick Caracter playing in two NCAA tournaments and advancing two times pretty far, he's going to share that with our team, and that's only going to help them so much.
Until you go through it, and until you're out on there on the court and feel the butterflies and the nerves of being on this stage, it's like anything. Until you get the actual experience, I don't know how much anybody else telling you about it is going to help you.
I know our guys are excited to be here. I've had to reel 'em back in a little bit, because they are for all of 'em except for Derrick, this is a brand new experience for all of 'em, and you can understand their excitement and the nerves in general.
So I've had to what we've done all year to curtail that with some of the success we've had is just focus on the next step, not looking ahead, not getting caught up in everything that goes with it, focusing on Butler and preparing the right way and not worrying about winning the game or any of the other things. Just focus on preparing, and usually if you do that, then you'll be okay at the end of the day.

Q. Coach, Butler has some skilled players, but doesn't have the kind of size that you have. Do you expect the game to be decided in the paint and with your size advantage is that a big edge for UTEP?
COACH BARBEE: It could be if we go to it. If we use it the right way. I think it's a little even though Butler doesn't have the Derrick Caracter size guys at 6'9" 275 or Claude Britten at 6'11" 270 or Arnett Moultrie at 6'7" 235. It's not how big you are, it's how you play; and when you watch Butler on tape they all play bigger than listed, Matt Howard plays like he's 7'4" and that's the guys I like to recruit. You get a lot of guys recruiting that are 6'10" and they play like they're 6 foot.
You've got Hahn coming in the game. Those guys play the game like they deserve to win. When you watch 'em on tape we have a size advantage there. They've struggled with some of the bigger teams that they've played this year. Hopefully we can take advantage of it.
They're not going to be outtoughed or outphysicaled by anybody, and that should be an interesting match up.

Q. Coach, speaking of tradition you probably know about Butler and everything they bring to the table. Does it matter to your players some of them haven't seen Hoosiers or anything like that, do you discuss that before a game like this?
COACH BARBEE: Not with the guys, they could care less where I'm from and where I played and those things. I'm not excited to play Butler because of how good they are and what a good job Brad has done there, and I've known him for a long time and happy for his success. Growing up in Indianapolis I've always had a great affinity for that program. My parents used to take me to the games a lot. They recruited me coming out of high school.
Now the head coach who is at my high school now was the assistant at the time, Doug Mitchell, and I didn't give him a whole lot of time when I was being recruited by him. So maybe that's why I can't get a player out of my old high school now, I'm just joking, he's done a great job at Butler.
All the recent success they've had, it's been fun to watch a place like Butler that I've been connected with in some sort of way have the success they've had, for me it's kind of special, it's neat to be playin' against them but it doesn't affect my guys. They don't get into all of that. Maybe I should show them Hoosiers, I got to play in Hinkle a few times, it's a great place to play in.

Q. Randy talked about how this is a business trip for you guys, have you guys done anything practicewise or travel to make sure you keep it a business atmosphere while you're here?
COACH BARBEE: No, and trying to control the nerves and the jitters that these guys might have, I don't think you change from the routine you've done all year long. If you start changing and trying to add or reinvent or do something different than you do all year long, they notice it.
So the biggest thing we have tried to do is stay consistent and how we've prepared for every game and every opponent and hopefully they'll recognize for a lot of these first time guys all right, maybe this isn't different than any of the other games that we've played in all year long. So that's why I tried to do with this group.

Butler Quotes

Q. Matt, this Butler team has achieved so much already, but do you feel like a victory in this game is necessity to reinforce everything you've done? Seems like it's almost you're coming in here as underdogs. So many analysts have picked against Butler in this game.
MATT HOWARD: Do I think we need to win? I think we need to win just for ourselves, I guess. I don't ever feel like we need to prove to other people. I don't know about that.

Q. What about Gordon or Shelvin, do you have thoughts on that matter? That you need to reinforce everything you've done all season by winning in this Tournament?
GORDON HAYWARD: I'm just going to say what Matt said. We don't focus on what other people say. Of course we're going to go out there, and we want to win so just kinda what he said.

Q. Shelvin?
SHELVIN MACK: We're going to focus on ourselves. Don't matter who they pick, it's still the five players out there taking care of business.

Q. How do all of you embrace the Butler ethic, the small little school, Hoosiers, everything like that, overachieving? Would you like to be known as a bad ass at some point? Sorry about the language.
SHELVIN MACK: We would like to, but it doesn't matter. We go out and let our play speak for itself. If we're the underdog or picked to win, whatever the media or the analysts pick doesn't mean anything until you go out and play.
MATT HOWARD: Personally as part of any program you want to build to something like that. So sure at some point we want to get to that level, exactly.
GORDON HAYWARD: I think that pretty much covered it. I don't know what else to say. We go out there and what everyone else talks about doesn't matter when we're out there playing on the court. Of course you want to be at that level, but it doesn't matter to us.

Q. Matt, I don't know what planet UTEP got all of these massive players from, but do you see the battle in the paint being the deciding factor? You're almost as tall as those guys, but I don't think you weigh 280 pounds, and UTEP seems to have a squadron of guys that big.
MATT HOWARD: Yeah, you know, maybe. It's a good challenge for me, we've talked about it. Sure, they are a little bit bigger, that means I've got to do my work earlier and make sure they don't get easy post position and get me under the basket.
If I let 'em have position right underneath the rim, you know, someone that's 6'11", 270 is probably going to score over me. I've got to do my work early and make sure I'm battling.

Q. Gordon you grew up 20 miles north of Indianapolis, and you never went to a Butler game. Why was that, and what was the image of the program when you were growing up?
GORDON HAYWARD: I think just the biggest part about that was my parents were both Purdue grads so brainwashed from a very early age that I was going to go there my whole life, and I had no decision on that.
But as I grew up, Butler being close, my dad and I talked about it, and I was still like there is no way because I never watched or went to any games. I was always still about Purdue, and I thought it was just this small school, didn't even really know it was D 1. Like I said, it was just the fact that my parents brainwashed me, they both went to Purdue, and it's a good school.

Q. Were you recruited by Purdue?
GORDON HAYWARD: I always went to their camps when I was a little and recruited by them a little bit. Butler but was always there and just the right fit for me.

Q. You guys are separated far away in the bracket, how would you guys match up? You guys are as good as any team out there, it seems.
GORDON HAYWARD: With Purdue?

Q. Yeah.
GORDON HAYWARD: I don't know how we would match up. I haven't thought about that. It would be fun for all of us Indianapolis guys for sure, probably something that we all thought about, being Purdue or if IU was in it, it would be the same type of thing since we all grew up in Indianapolis.

Q. Gordon, I was wondering what prompted you to record your rap, and also what prompted you to remove that from YouTube
GORDON HAYWARD: It was me and my friends on spring break just having some fun. Really was not supposed to be this big of a deal and kinda got blown out of proportion. We actually came back from the gym, we got some shots up and there was one of my old teammates there and he had gotten really, really big. So that's where the whole "too big" thing came into the title. It was just us having fun back at home and then actually before my dad texted me before and told me that we probably shouldn't have put it on the Internet, so we took it down. But then I guess someone else found it. Like I said, it was supposed to be funny and college kids having fun I guess.

Q. Who were the other Brownsburg culprits involved?
GORDON HAYWARD: My two good friends, Boris and Geno Calderon. We were having fun with it and trying to be funny. I didn't think it was going to get to this level at all, it was just something that we did for fun.

Q. Matt and Shelvin, have you heard this recording? Just how bad is it?
SHELVIN MACK: I heard it. I think it's pretty funny. I didn't expect that from Gordon. It was pretty good from him, the other two people wasn't too good.
MATT HOWARD: Hoping he doesn't go run our on us now and get a recording.

Q. Matt, were you on the team with Moultrie?
MATT HOWARD: These two guys.

Q. I understand there was texts exchanged and going back to last summer about you guys playing in the Tournament.
SHELVIN MACK: Me and Arnett had fun. Couple of teammates talking over the Tournament and stuff. We never thought we would have the opportunity, but it was friendly talk, nothing serious.

Q. Do you guys does it ever go through your mind that this road ends at home, in Indianapolis? Do you even think about that, getting there?
SHELVIN MACK: To a certain extent but also the road can end here in San Jose, so you've got to worry about tomorrow's game instead of looking ahead.
MATT HOWARD: That's exactly right. Start thinking about what could be ahead and then you're not focussed enough on UTEP. At this point you start thinkin' beyond UTEP you're going to get yourself in trouble.

Q. Matt, you guys haven't lost since before Christmas. How did the team prepare for NCAA compared to previous teams?
MATT HOWARD: You mean compared to last year?

Q. Yeah.
MATT HOWARD: I would say you're on a little bit more of a roll. Couple of games last year we I think we would have won those this year. Being able to finish out in tough situations and maybe just this team being a year older, a year smarter, you know, being better in those situations.

Q. Fellas, we heard how Gordon ended up at Butler. How did you guys end up there? Follow up question, Butler is a big enough name in college basketball where it's probably not applicable. But do you guys feel like you fly under the radar a little too much? Kind of like Gonzaga flew under the radar until they got so big, you guys in the same boat?
MATT HOWARD: I think it's hard to when you've been ranked as much as we have been in the last couple of years. Sure, maybe it doesn't always pan out sometimes. But I think for the most part we've grown to the point where most of the games we play, especially in league play where you've got a target on your back every game, so I think it's hard to fly under the radar when you're name is in the top 25 a little bit.
ROGER ROSS: We'll let the Butler student athletes head off to practice, thank you everyone.
We now welcome Butler Coach, Brad Stevens.

Q. What kind of cautionary tail is Todd Likliter's situation at Iowa that maybe the grass isn't always greener, not just for you, but for any coach.
COACH STEVENS: I don't even look at it as a cautionary tale, per se, but rather a friend. I think, obviously, people talk about the coaching carousel, and it's easily discussed and talked about and to me and to people that are in it and to people that are affected by it with friends and their families and their assistants and everybody else, it really hits home, obviously. There is no question about it.
I feel bad for all those guys. I've talked to 'em, and they'll end up in great shape, they're all great people and like I said earlier, the guys at Iowa, the kids at Butler, everybody that's played for Coach Likliter is better because of it, and that's a great way to be valued and judged as a coach and it's not always the case. It's not always the way decisions are made.
But, you know, I really, really appreciated my time with him. As far as learning from it, I think every situation is probably unique and different, and I'm happy to be where I am, and I'm lucky to be where I am.

Q. Brad, is there any need to reinforce everything you've done this year with success in the NCAA Tournament? We've talked before about how much there is so much to college basketball besides March but the way this sport has evolved it's become almost everything is about March. How important is it to reinforce everything you've done with this success in this Tournament?
COACH STEVENS: I don't think there is any doubt you want to play well within what you do.
We all find out on Sunday night who we play. We turn around and play Thursday. The winner gets a chance to turn around in one day and prep and play the next one.
So it's about who executes well and who does their stuff better, so the whole time that we've been practicing, not only over the last couple of weeks, but over the last four months it's been about certainly you have to take into account what the other team does, but you've got to get to a point where you're doing your stuff as well as possible.
So you're playing as well as you can late in the year, that doesn't guarantee anything because it's still a 40 minute game on any given day, but certainly I've been pleased, you know, you've been around us, I've been pleased with how we've practiced and played day to day as far as improvement goes over the last few months.

Q. In some ways this could be construed as an inappropriate pairing because Butler and Texas El Paso statistically and rankingwise are very close, and here it's a 5 12 game and a lot of people are picking UTEP to win.
COACH STEVENS: I don't look at it as a 5 12 game. I don't think UTEP looks at it like a 5 12 game. I think that you can throw 3 through 14 in a hat, shake it up, pair them all together and not put numbers next to their names, and I don't know that you could come out with favorites. So it's not about that for us. It's about playing basketball against three or four future pros and knowing we have to play our "A" game just to have a chance to win.

Q. You have won 20 in a row, leading the country, 5 seed the second time in three years. Do people realize that? And did you want to be like that? Where are you without those favorite NBA pros.
COACH STEVENS: It's such an honor to get a chance to participate in this Tournament that you want to be here every chance you get. So you don't worry about the number next to your name but it's nice to be recognized among the higher seeded teams and get a chance to wear white in the Tournament and wear your home colors.
Certainly once you get here you're playing such good teams, and we don't get too caught up into the upset discussion because I guess if it was that much of an upset somebody might pick us somewhere in the country.

Q. And a follow up, what could you do as a coach with a new building? I know that's never been discussed and probably never will be discussed at Butler, but could you ever get to that point where it could lure one or two top prospects?
COACH STEVENS: I don't know that to say it nicely, I don't know that I would want to still be there. I think Hinkle Fieldhouse is part of what Butler is all about. It's part of the people, the tradition, it's part of the history, it's part of the "we" attitude. It's bigger than anything new or plush or fancy can do, and Butler is unique and Hinkle Fieldhouse is a good representative of that.

Q. Coach, can you talk a little about the challenges that the frontline of UTEP presents and maybe a couple of things you noticed in watching film this week?
COACH STEVENS: I guess I could start by saying "very challenging!" There is no doubt about it, Derrick Caracter is a fantastic player, everybody has known about him and the rise that he's been on since 8th or 9th grade. I think he's a guy that everybody has been well aware of how talented he is. Everybody that I know has targeted him as a future pro forever. He certainly looks like one to me, there is no question about it. He's outstanding on the low block, he has great touch, shoots free throws well, he shoots out to the 3 very well. He looks good shootin' it.
His duck ends are outstanding, and then you look at Moultrie and he's an obvious pro prospect 6'11", ability to switch ball screens, ability to move his feet, to handle the basketball and shoot the basketball and those things and you bring Claude Britten off the bench at 6'11", 270, it's a guy that we don't see very often, obviously. Williams, the way they've played since inserting him into the starting lineup and his abilities to defend, get to the rim and shoot at a high percentage, that's a heck of a frontline. I don't know that we've played against a better frontline and we've played some pretty darn good teams this year.

Q. Is there anything negative about winning 20 in a row coming into the Tournament? Would you rather have a loss somewhere in there?
COACH STEVENS: I don't like losing, Alex, so you could argue it, and certainly if we don't play well tomorrow maybe that would be something that would be bantered about. But at the end of the day we're trying to win every game. Not because you're just playing for that reason, but because you're trying to be better every day and challenge yourself and come out and see how you can do.
We've got great guys in that locker room. They're going to try their best to do well tomorrow, and if that results in a win then we'll be excited. But if that results in a loss then our guys won't have anything to hang their heads about because the way they prepare and the way they approach things.

Q. Coach, simple question, how have you been able to do this? You're sitting in the middle of the Big 10.
COACH STEVENS: Simple answer, people, great people! It's not about me. I'm a small part of this, so it's not me doing it. We've been doing' it for a long time because of great people, because there is not necessarily a continuity in people but a continuity in belief, and a continuity in belief that there is a bigger picture than one person, and we all need to try to stick together and try to, you know, do the very best we can with every opportunity that we are given.

Q. The comparison I always hear is Gonzaga, is that legit?
COACH STEVENS: I don't know enough about Gonzaga on the inner workings of the program, but I know what they've been able to accomplish and certainly they've been an unbelievable leader in that regard in the known BCS level with 10 straight Conference Championships, and what they've been able to do, no one else is at that level right now.
We're not trying to be Gonzaga, because they're their own unique entity. We are Butler, and we have some great, great things to offer and what we have to do is figure out where our niche is and continue to try to get the right people to fit into that. Again, it goes back to recruiting the right people, hiring the right people, all working together for one goal and thus far we've been able to do it.
It's not just coaches, it's not just players, it's from administration on down.

Q. Given the win streak, the starters extra experience from last year, is this team much more prepared to go into the Tournament?
COACH STEVENS: I'm not looking at it as a run because you've got to understand from a coaching standpoint you're watching UTEP and saying"wow". You're blown away with how good they are.
So we need to play well tomorrow. Will our experience help us? I hope it will, but at the end of the day it's a 40 minute game and our inexperience hurt us for 2 minutes last year, and we're now 9 0. It may have end up hurting us in the long run of that game, and for the rest of the game we played well.
I think that's what a lot of teams do. There is a minute or two that catches you off guard, but certainly once guys get between the lines it's time to play. They're good at what they do, and I don't anticipate either team tomorrow playing tense or anything else, I think it's going to be a great basketball game with two teams playing the right way, and we hope we can be 1 point better.

Q. Brad, have you heard Gordon Hayward's rap and if you were an American Idol judge how would you evaluate it?
COACH STEVENS: I have absolutely no talent, so I'm not going to judge someone else in that regard. I asked when I heard that he had decided to do that I just asked, is it clean? Because I figured it would be, and I was guaranteed that it was and I was guaranteed that he wasn't that good, so I just said I'm not going to listen to it. So, no, I haven't heard it yet.