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Thursday, March 15, 2007
What Ralph had to say
Here is thge full transcript of Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard's Thursday evening press conference:
COACH WILLARD: Well, I'm happy for the two young men that were just here. They're great leaders. Our only two seniors, they've done a great job in our program. They've been a real credit to our school, both on the basketball floor and off the floor and couldn't be happier for those two guys.

REPORTER: How important is your inside play going to be against Southern? You have quite a big size advantage.

COACH WILLARD: We're going to try and get the ball inside. Obviously we try and do that against every opponent. They're quicker and more athletic than we are, but one of the things they do a great job is putting tremendous pressure on the basketball much so one way to relieve that is by getting the ball to the middle of the floor and getting it inside to your big guys. So they double, they take away the post in a lot of different ways, they do a great job rotating, but it's obviously something we're going to have to try and exploit in order to -- really in order to get our guards more looks at the basket too.

REPORTER: When you look at the Southern Illinois team, is there anything that makes you say, hey, they're like us, especially on the defensive end? I mean, are there things that they do that are very similar to what you do?

COACH WILLARD: Well, I don't know, I'll say this. They're committed to defense like we are committed to defense. I think that's the similarity. But they're so much more physical than we are. I saw the media guide and the Barry Hinson quote about getting the attack dogs from the police station and putting the meat juice on the players' arms, they're much more physical than we are. We do many more things on the defensive end in terms of trying to make you think, they're just trying to wear you down and keep constant pressure on you. Both teams, though both teams are committed to defense, I think there's a different philosophy between the two teams. Those kids are selfless, to play defense like that, you have to be totally selfless, and their team is, they are totally committed to that end of the floor first, and then to the offensive end. Which in today's game, it's tough to get kids to commit the way they do, but they certainly do a good job of it.

REPORTER: Coach Willard, what about their offense?

COACH WILLARD: Well, they have a great guard in Tatum, Young's a great shooter, Falker is great inside, 32, the other kid, the power forward stretches you because he can shoot the three. I've read where they're not a great offensive team, but looking at them, they do a lot of things that make it difficult to guard them. They used the high low pass exceptionally well with Falker and again, their guards are quick. The point guard is amazing to me, he reminds me of the Energizer bunny, he plays defense and never seems to tire. They're a good offensive team. They're also very patient. That's part of their philosophy in wearing you down too, making you defend for 25, 30 seconds before they take a shot. Now, obviously, the other thing is, because of their quickness, they are dangerous in transition, and that's one of the things we can't afford to let them do is transition and get out and get some easy baskets.

REPORTER: Ralph, you talked about your seniors, can you just talk a little more about how Keith came back from the whole cramping issue last year and Torey coming back from the off season knee surgery.

COACH WILLARD: Yeah, Keith's thing last year with the cramping, it really, if that didn't happen, we would have been a heck of a basketball team last year because we probably had two of the best wing players anywhere with Kevin Hamilton and if Keith would have been healthy. Unfortunately, he wasn't. He just did a great job of constantly battling. We tried everything in the world, pickle juice, the whole bit. We've tried everything to get rid of the cramps. He's just a great young man and I'm happy he had the year he's had. The fact he's been able to play 38, 40 minutes a game. Torey's getting hurt in the first half of the Bucknell game last year in the championship game was really devastating to him. And this year really he played on one and a half legs. The surgery was done, but he hadn't fully recovered going into the season and for the first, I would say, actually through the end of December, beginning of January, he was playing on one and a half legs, and he's got the heart of a champion, that kid. I hate to see this end. I want to keep this going for a lot of reasons, but saying good-bye to these guys is going to be very difficult.

REPORTER: Talk a little bit of their experience and what kind of a factor having them here these last four years.

COACH WILLARD: I think anytime you have experience in anything, it helps you. I'm sure that's one of the things that they feel good about. They try and compartmentalize their surroundings in the game. This is the NCAA, but it's also another basketball game. We compartmentalize the game into sections. We come with a very detailed game plan, so I think by concentrating on the little things, I think you can tend to block out the surroundings and the so-called stature of the stage or the magnitude of the stage. So I think our guys, I know the two seniors, this won't bother them at all. Some of the young guys, it may have an effect, but again, we pay so much attention to detail and concentrate on that so much, I don't think the stage will be that big a factor.

REPORTER: Talk about Alex Vander Baan.
COACH WILLARD: He's a tall, skinny kid. He shouldn't get the rebounds he gets. He plays good defense. He blocks shots. He's one of those kids you need to be a good basketball team, and his offense has improved as the year has gone on. I wish he would shoot the basketball more than he does because he's a very, very good shooter, but Alex is a glue-type player, you need glue players on your team and he's one of them.

REPORTER: Coach, a key for your season, 25 wins, what do you feel has been the major key? I know defense, but besides that.

COACH WILLARD: I think we've become a pretty good rebounding team. We've developed our players a little bit as we've gone along. Clifford has gotten better offensively, he's had some big point games for us. I think the consistency of Torey and Keith has been the thing that's enabled us to achieve what we've achieved. They're consistent on both ends of the floor. They both defend exceptionally well and are both good offensive players. Torey has the ability to go by just about anybody, especially on the open floor. So I think those things, the consistency of those two kids and the development of some of the role players, if you will, has been what's enabled us to be successful.

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Published at 6:32 PM by Hoop Time.
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