March 10, 2002

On the NCAA Tournament's Field This Year:

"Once you get into the NCAA Tournament, everyone can play. You never overlook anyone you play. To advance you have to win two (games) so, obviously you want to be prepared to play two games. But that's where you stop, you don't have to look past that, because nothing matters unless you win the next two games."

Is there any advantage to coming off a loss heading into the NCAA Tournament:

"The excitement of being a No. 1 seed, allows us to come in and work very hard starting tomorrow. We didn't so some things as well as we should have at the ACC Tournament. We know we have to work hard and hopefully we will be better team by the time we play on Friday.

On the new pod system of teams playing closer to home:

"We have been placed in the West (Region) in six of the last eight years, so this is great for our fans and families of the players. They get the chance -- very cheaply to see us play this time (at the MCI Center)."

On the overall balance of the Tournament:

"I do feel its balanced. A lot depends on who is hot and who is healthy. With this type of tournament, as you know -- one game and you are done if you don't play particularly well because there are so many good teams. And, there are a lot of teams that people haven,'t heard a lot about that certainly are competitive with anybody.

On gaining experience at last year's Final Four heading into the 2002 Tournament:

"We went through a lot last year to get through the tournament and just to get to the Final Four was a big thrill. Dealing with the media was different as we advanced in the tournament. Hopefully, this year will be better at putting our time where it belongs and doing a gear job of preparing. But at the same time, we want to enjoy the experience we are in."