Still a lot of talk in the media room about just how phenomenal a day yesterday was for the NCAA Tournament as a whole. My favorite line was from a local media rep from I'm not sure where, who said "You know what this tournament's missing, though? Thirty-one more teams." If you can't tell by that, I think expansion is the most ridiculous idea ever.

Anyways, some talk has also been about just how sloooooow... today has gone. Not a whole lot of close finishes. Not a whole lot of upsets. As I type this the guy next to me is ignoring today's games and watching a replay of Florida vs. BYU on his laptop. Can't say I blame him. That was an instant classic.

All four teams remaining have taken the podium, with Kansas State starting the festivities and Kansas the capper. Below are some notes and quotes from the teams in the order (KSU, BYU, UNI, KU) that they came to the podium.

Kansas State

Frank Martin's guys seem so relaxed it's almost eerie. Anyways, this is what fascinates me about Kansas State, particularly Martin. He's such an intense individual, but he's not solely a lead-by-fear kind of guy. He's got the perfect Machiavellian blend going for him.

Machiavelli, for those who don't know, once wrote that it is better to feared than loved, but best to be both. Martin seems to have taken that to heart. His players, it seems, would lie down in traffic for the man, but they also know that there's plenty of rage beneath the exterior.

Some quotes from the Wildcats "It's tough. He's a very good scorer. He scores the ball in a variety of ways. He does a great job of reading the defense. We've just got to keep him uncomfortable, try to do him like we did other good scorers: Throw different looks at them, whether it be off ball screens or -- we've really got to keep them guessing at what we're going to do and just hope he misses some shots." - Jacob Pullen on BYU's Jimmer Fredette, who scored 37 points in the Cougars' first round victory over Florida

"We still have the chip on our shoulders. We still feel like a lot of people were picking us to lose this game...It's really just about our motivation. It's about us having upperclassmen who understand where we are and where we want to be." - Pullen on handling being the favorite

"Frank -- Coach Martin. Excuse me, Coach Martin -- told us that that we've got to stay out of foul trouble, and that's key throughout the whole tournament, especially against teams that shot from the free-throw line a little better. BYU is a team that shoots really well." Curtis Kelly on the Wildcats' persistent foul trouble

(By the way, I love the beginning of this quote. Shows how comfortable he is with Martin, but still needs to show the appropriate respect for his coach. Great stuff. Funny, too.)

"Denis is explosive on the court, and he's fast. Sometiems it's a little too hard to keep up with him, running up and down the court, but I try. ... He's been passing me the ball well, so I can't complain." - Kelly on Denis Clemente

"When he first got here, he couldn't really speak English. All he used to do was smile. He stayed in the gym and that work ethic rubbed off on everybody. ... All night he would spend time in the gym, and you look up and you're in the gym with him. His work ethic has really rubbed off on this team. His emotion. I might be the vocal leader, but Denis emotionally has led this team." - Pullen on Clemente

"They iced it a lot. I'll be sore." - Pullen on his injured tailbone

"After watching tape all night, I've come to the realization that our job is going to be even harder than I thought it was. ... BYU's as gifted an offensive team and Dave does an unbelievable job of getting those guys to do some things differently than most teams do." - Frank Martin's opening statement (Dave is BYU coach Dave Rose)

"...unbelievable ability to shoot the basketball, and an unbelievable ability to utilize that shot through his foot fakes and shot fakes to create angles, to get other shots and get to the foul line. Then when you put him on the line, he's just not going to miss. It's not going to happen. You have to be very disciplined when you guard him. From watching them on tape and a little bit yesterday live, he does as good a job as anybody at attacking you off the dribble to the middle of the floor." - Martin on Fredette

(Another thing about Martin that I like: No head coach does the live scouting of the opponent. For Kansas, Kurtis Townsend and Joe Dooley and Danny Manning were all scouting the Northern Iowa-UNLV game. This is not to say Bill Self is a bad coach -- he's probably the best in the country -- or to say he doesn't work as hard as anyone, but to emphasize the level of commitment Martin has to excellence. The guy never stops.)

"They've learned pretty quick to just look the other way. Someteimes I feel like, who is that old mythology which, used to stare at people and turn them into stone ... I feel like Medusa sometimes. They all look the other way. They don't want to look me in the eye." - Martin, on his glare

"It's up to us to educate these kids as to what they're going to do when they're 25, 26 and they're a husband, got to run a house, be a parent, that's our job." Frank Martin, sounding a lot like Turner Gill

BYU

The Cougars look on the surface like a one-man show and they are, to a point. Their greatest threat lies in their ability to get to the free throw line and NEVER miss when they get there. They lead the nation in free throw shooting.

BYU is coming off a really emotionally draining win (at least for me. Man, that game was nuts) over Florida in double overtime in the first round.

Some quotes from BYU "I woke up this morning a little bit sore. I think from the double overtime, your body took a beating. ... We came out focused this morning. We're happy and we're excited for another chance to play." - forward Noah Hartsock on the adrenaline wearing off from Thursday's game

"We had a good practice today, went hard, got our game plan and got ready for the Kansas State team. We're going to be ready to go tomorrow, but we are -- we definitely woke up a little bit sore today." - Jimmer Fredette

"I try to be aggressive, go to the basket and use my body control to create contact and make the referees try to call something. ... They're going to let some things go, I realize that, but I'm still going to try to draw contact, try to draw fouls and get to the foul line where I know I'm pretty successful." - Fredette on K-State's physicality

"They're very physical. They were big and strong guys, but it was good. They were good sports and, you know, they went in and they would foul you hard and help you back up, because they knew if they didn't act good, that the privilege would be taken away from them." - Fredette on playing at a local prison with his older brother growing up

"It was all day yesterday until about 15 minutes after the Kansas game, because we had a team meeting and it was getting into the next game. ... Up until that point, we were enjoying it, but once we had that meeting, we talked a little bit about Kansas State and a little bit about what we need to do." - Fredette on how long they enjoyed the Florida victory

"You don't want to look too far ahead, but I think that anything that can kind of motivate you a little bit more is a good thing, and I think our players would really look forward to that opportunity." Dave Rose on the Cougars' chance to play in Salt Lake City with a win

"They're physical and they play really, really hard. As hard as any team I think we've seen. And then their skill, their guards, that combo of Clemente and Pullen is -- I watch a lot of college basketball. You'd be hard-pressed to find a backcourt that is as fast, as talented, as quick, as skilled as their backcourt. We've got good guards on our team, and it will be a good matchup." - Rose

"There's a lot of guys that you play and you really want to speed them up, because if you can speed them up, you can kind of get them out of their rhythm. I can't see that with him. The faster he goes, the better he gets, it seems like, and he can stop on a dime and convert shots." - Rose on Clemente

Northern Iowa

There's one thing that really stands out to me about the Panthers, and it did with BYU as well. Neither team sees themselves as the underdog. They both think they are as good as whatever team they are playing.

Tomorrow, the Panthers will be putting that to the test against the team that many have been saying is the best in the country for the entire year. UNI, again like the Cougars, is coming off an emotional 69-66 victory over UNLV. Guard Ali Farokhmanesh (fah-ROHK-muh-nesh) drained a buzzer beater three from NBA range to drop the Runnin' Rebels.

The Panthers real strength is their defense, which ranks among the best in the country. Kansas will not have faced another defense quite as stifling as Northern Iowa's.

Some quotes from the Panthers

"That's what Coach Jacobson preaches. It's kind of cliche, all coaches want to play defense. We did that from day one in practice. ... Our offense has been coming along lately. It's our defense we start at the beginning of the season and hopefully carries us throughout the rest of the season." - Ali Farokhmanesh on UNI's nasty, nasty defense

"They're just an amazing program: great coaches, great players. We look at it as an opportunity to play against one of the best teams in the country. We're kind of proud of that and excited about the chance to play against a team like Kansas." - Farokhmanesh on playing KU

"That's what you want to do as a player. You want to find out where you're at and you do that by playing the best team." - Adam Koch on playing KU

"They've got a lot of talent. Be pretty hard for one of us to start for them." - Farokhmanesh on how many Panthers could start for Kansas

"They're a pretty impressive team top to bottom. There are big guys inside, guards outside. They've got so much talent. They can do it all. There's not much weakness in their game, I guess is one of the things you notice. So we're going to have to really be on top of things, you know, tomorrow, but you can tell right away they're a really tough team." - Koch on what impressed him most about Kansas on film

"I feel like we're a really deep team. We've got so many guys that can play ... at a high level. I feel when we get our guys off the bench coming in, there's not really a drop off. ... We're really confident with whoever is in the game, whoever is taking the shots, that they're going to hit and they're going to make plays." - Koch on UNI's depth

"When you start to dig into Kansas and really watch them on film and try to pick them a part a little bit, they're even better than what I thought before I started watching some film last night. ... I knew they were very good for a lot of reasons, and watching them on film, they just -- no weaknesses." - from Ben Jacobson's opening statement

"The opportunity that has presented itself for us is certainly an important moment for our program without question. Not very often do you have the opportunity to play against the best team in the country. We've got that opportunity coming up tomorrow and it's a challenge that our guys are excited about." - Jacobson on playing KU

"I think the biggest key is your older players, your best players are bought into what's important, and in our program that's defending and rebounding." - Jacobson on how he gets guys to buy into his defense-first style

"Kansas presents so many problems with their offense because if they don't get you in transition they can get you inside. And if they don't get you in those two areas, they can get you with the ball screen. If they don't get you there, then it seems like Collins is going to find a way to get you." - Jacobson on matching up with Kansas

"We've got an experienced team that expects to win basketball games, and that's an approach that our guys have taken all year, really for a year and a half now. We got things rolling a year and a half ago, and since that time these guys expect to win. I don't have to do a lot as our head coach in terms of trying to make up something different or trying to trick them into believing they can win a basketball game." - Jacobson on what he'd tell his team to convince them they can win

Kansas

The Jayhawks played uninspired against Lehigh, letting the 16th-seeded Mountain Hawks hang around for far too long and giving up 74 points -- 45 in the second half. The good news is that Kansas can still score the basketball. Five players went for double figures last night, including a massive double-double from Marcus Morris, who finished with 26 points and 10 boards.

That likely won't happen again, as the Jayhawks next face one of the best defensive teams in the country. The Panthers ability to keep posts from getting the ball was particularly impressive in their victory against UNLV.

Some quotes from the Jayhawks

"I would just say their knowledge of where to be at what specific time. They've got real good ball screen defense. I mean, they really have very few lapses on the defensive end. It's going to really be tough to score with them because they do have those very few lapses." Cole Aldrich on what makes UNI so good defensively

"We try not to get into all that. You've got to enjoy the process. You made it here. You've got to enjoy it, but it's still a business trip." - Sherron Collins on reading the Jayhawks' own press

"We might even put a little too much pressure on Sherron to make those big plays or hit those big shots. Sherron, for us, the past three years that I've been here, has been a phenomenal leader and a great guy -- not only on the court, but off the court -- that brings everybody together." - Aldrich on Collins' leadership

"Very good team, especially defensive side. They don't have too many breakdowns. Another thing is they stretch the defense. Sometimes they can put five on the court and they all shoot the three. Kind of a hard matchup for most teams." - Collins on what makes UNI tough

"I think it's benefited him a lot. Xavier is a very gifted, very efficient basketball player, but he just turned 19 last week or whatever. He's still just a kid, and to be thrown in the fire like he's been thrown into it and have somebody with C.J.'s background from an athletic standpoint, you know, talk to him and counsel him and help him, I think, has been a big blessing for Xavier." - Self on C.J. Henry's impact on younger brother Xavier

"I think that's the sign of a true leader. He leads by example and also our guys on our team totally respect him, in that when he speaks or makes an emphasis about something, they do listen without question." - Self on Collins' leadership

"If he wasn't going to be a good player in the Big 12 he certainly had half the league fooled, because half the league offered him a scholarship. We were fortunate we got him, and one reason why we wanted him so much is because we knew how much it would mean to him to play for Kansas because he's grown up loving the school and his dad has worked basketball camp at Kansas for 25-plus years in a row." - Self on Tyrel Reed

"Northern Iowa, to me, is a team that when you watch them on tape you realize that they're not out of position. When they help, they don't help the helper, they help the helper's helper. They are really, really sound in that regard, and they make you make plays over the top and don't give up easy baskets. It's a pretty simple formula: take good shots and don't give up easy baskets and you've got a chance." - Self on UNI's defense

"To me, they're not Cinderella. Northern Iowa can beat anybody in the country on any night. That's not a Cinderella team." - Self

"I do think that having the inside presence like Cole and having a hybrid forward like Marcus and certainly a guy that can stretch it like Xavier, those are somethings that a lot of teams wish they had. I like our balance. Now, we don't always play well individually, but collectively I think we have enough pieces that it's kind of like, you know, we don't really care who is open because we have confidence in whoever is open, they can make a play." Self on Kansas' offensive efficiency

"I have confidence that we have eight starters. We need to get five playing well on the right night. That's an advantage that a lot of teams don't have, because of depth." - Self on Kansas' role players

Comments

Notes, Quotes from Friday's Pressers

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• Posted by ekamani on July 6, 2011 at 5:35 a.m.
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