NCAA Men's First Four: Dayton
Tuesday, March 15 2016
Dayton, Ohio
Adrian Rodgers
Christopher Hyder
Trelun Banks
Southern Univ.
THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by our student-athletes from Southern, Adrian Rodgers, Christopher Hyder and Trelun Banks.
Q. Christopher, we know the type of nonconference schedule y'all play and there are a lot of financial considerations that go into that, but playing the type of team -- how does that translate to a situation like this, going on the road, playing some big name programs early in the year? Is there something y'all learned back in November and December that's helpful over these next couple of days?
CHRISTOPHER HYDER: It helps you get prepared for days like this, because it's kind of a short turnaround. We didn't get to do the normal, long scouting report against them, so it helps you prepare for this and your system play a big part where you play these type of tournaments because you've got to be ready to play the next day.
Q. You're going up against a team with a losing record. How much does that play into your mind as you enter this stage?
ADRIAN RODGERS: I think at this point it don't matter about records, because you know it's been proven little teams beat big teams or big teams barely beat the little teams, you know, just a nail-biter. So at this point we're just going to play basketball.
CHRISTOPHER HYDER: You really can't look at their record because I think going into their conference tournament they had a losing record, and look at where they are now? They won their conference tournament. So it's a fresh start for everybody. So we have to come out and play to the best of their ability on that day.
TRELUN BANKS: Like my two teammates just said, at this time of the season records will go out the window. Top 65 teams and you know we just want to come play 40 minutes and at the end of the day see how we come out.
Q. Just to follow up on that, usually when a team from a smaller conference opens up play in the NCAA Tournament, if they're not in the First Four, everybody talks about Cinderella and the big upset and all, but you're on equal footing here. Is that a little bit odd to start play in the NCAA Tournament and you don't have that whole David versus Goliath, Cinderella thing? You're meeting one of your peers?
TRELUN BANKS: No, not really. You know, right now we're just happy to be here. It really wouldn't too much matter who we would be up against. Because right now it's really about us, like C-Bo said, it's a short turnaround, you're not really doing the long scout, you know the system. The system that you play in really helps you a lot in situations like this, you know. And we're just going to be together.
CHRISTOPHER HYDER: I mean, no, not really, because even when we play big teams we don't feel like all the odds are against us. So I mean we just came here to play and regardless if they're a big school, small school, we're going do what we have to do to win. We don't look at nobody as a big school or small school just because of their name.
ADRIAN RODGERS: Yeah, just to repeat what they said, it's our next game. And that's been our motto all year -- next game, doesn't matter who we play -- big school, small school, pro teams, it's the next game. We're going to approach it the same way.
Q. C-Bo, can you talk about what that year meant for you, not being able to play because of your blood clot and getting back to the tournament at this point, what you've learned since then?
CHRISTOPHER HYDER: It's just a learning process. I kind of have to sit out. It was emotional because I never had an injury like that that took me out the whole year. So I just learned from it and cheered my team on. They went on to win the conference that year. We didn't win the tournament, but we won the conference. So I just cheered them on. And it helped me get ready for moments like this. And it also made me more humble because my first year we went and it's kind of like my second year we didn't, my third year it didn't. It just humbled me every year so we could get back to this stage where we're at now.
Q. A-Rod, what have you learned about Holy Cross the last couple of days, and what do you think will be the keys tomorrow night?
ADRIAN RODGERS: I learned they run the Princeton offense. So they really like to half-court game rather than us, like to get out on the break or dribble drive. So we think we're going to focus on staying under, not let the Princeton cuts affect us as much as they did when they were in their championship in their conference tournament the past couple of weeks.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
NCAA Men's First Four: Dayton
Tuesday, March 15 2016
Dayton, Ohio
Roman Banks
Southern Univ.
THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by the head coach of the Southern Jaguars, Roman Banks. Coach, an opening statement.
ROMAN BANKS: Southern University is glad to be here. We really enjoy the hospitality since we've been here. This is a very exciting time for our basketball team. And we wish to go out and work very hard and perform to the best of our abilities. And once again I'd like to tell everyone that's involved with the opening of this tournament in Dayton that it's really been incredible and we appreciate your hospitality.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?
Q. Coach, from what you've seen, what impresses you the most about Holy Cross and what will it take to beat them tomorrow night?
ROMAN BANKS: I think one thing about them is that their bigs are able to step away from the basket and make a lot of 3-point shots. Obviously, in their style of play, I'm sure they recruit for their style of play in the Princeton offense. But we are basically traditional bigs around the basket. So in a short period of time we've got to train our minds to go out and guard them beyond the 3-point arc. And also that the Princeton offense itself, usually you like three days or so to prepare for it, but we only have 24 to 48 hours to get ready for it. So we're going to do the best we can, as it relates to making adjustments, because we usually kind of play up-in-you type defense, but obviously against the Princeton there's some things that you have to change the style of play to be ready for.
Q. They played a lot of 1-3-1 zone in the Patriot League tournament which was really the key for them. Have you seen any of that this year and what's your plan to attack that?
ROMAN BANKS: I don't know if we've really seen the type of 1-3-1 defense that they've played, amoeba style. And obviously we just got a chance to start looking at them last night. And that's really been effective for them. I think that in studying them a little bit, they went on a huge run playing -- changing their style of defense that they play. They give you a lot of different looks in it and they're very active in it. So that will be something for us to go back and work on and study. We do have guys that I think that are able to get in the gaps of that 1-3-1. And I don't want to be a team that just sits out and shoot a lot of 3-point shots against it.
Q. Coach, talk about being one of the First Four teams to open up this NCAA Tournament, just kind of kicking things off in 2016?
ROMAN BANKS: Well, we consider it a pleasure to be here to open up the tournament. We're not choosy. We're just glad to be among the elite here playing in this tournament. And our guys are very excited to be here, and I think that the excitement will ultimately give us the energy that we need to help us hopefully play well and perform well.
Q. Obviously you guys are preparing for Holy Cross, but today's practice, are you focusing on yourselves? And at what point do you turn your attention to Holy Cross?
ROMAN BANKS: Well, you know, later on today we're talking about Southern basketball right now. And then after lunch today we'll start talking about Holy Cross. You know, we still have to give ourselves a chance as a staff to prepare ourselves a little bit more of what we want to do. But the guys in our mental session this morning, they're starting to understand. And I think that we have a few guys that's been in our system that know the type of adjustment that we make against this team. Fortunate enough for us that we have -- haven't played against Princeton, so to say, but we've played against some teams that have some of the styles in their offense. So we're going back to look at those teams that we played and put together clips so our guys can see how we handled that so they can have a visual. And I think right now it's not about -- you won't have a chance to learn a lot of things they do, you just want to have a couple of concepts going forward.
Q. I think you've said during the season that at times when y'all struggled offensively it's been because you've gone against teams' set defense more than you would like. It seems that's the way Holy Cross likes to play. What are going to be the keys to getting a faster pace most of the time and then also to being successful when you have to play at their pace?
ROMAN BANKS: I think that there's definitely two different styles of teams. And often I think that whoever can dictate the other team to play more to their style or to their tempo ultimately, probably put themselves in a better position. And so I think that we want to do some things to speed it up some, and I'm sure they want to do some things to control the tempo. But as quiet as it's kept, they will, on missed shots, get the ball out and attack you. And so I think they have a nice blend of what they do. They're well-coached. I think the thing for us is also to be able to attack and speed the tempo up and try not to face every time, walk the ball down and face their defense, but to get them rotating. But I think when we do face their defense is that our mindset is to also challenge them on the inside instead of coming out, just taking a lot of perimeter shots. And hopefully we can get our perimeter guys to penetrate the gaps a little bit, something that we're good at, and create some other easy opportunities into the 1-3-1.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
