George Washington University Athletics
NCAA Tournament First Round Wednesday Press Conference Quotes
3/15/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2006
Wednesday Practice Photo Gallery
GREENSBORO, NC - The George Washington University men's basketball team met with members of the media Wednesday afternoon before its open practice at the Greensboro Coliseum in preparation for its game against No. 9 seed UNC Wilmington on Thursday at approximately 7:10 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The following are excerpts from GW's news conferences which featured seniors Omar Williams (Philadelphia, PA), Mike Hall (Chicago, IL), Alex Kireev (Nikolaev, Ukraine) and Pops Mensah-Bonsu (London, England), and fifth-year head coach Karl Hobbs.
Excerpts from UNC Wilmington's press conferences with its players and head coach Brad Brownell are also below.
NCAA Men's Basketball Division I First and Second Round
March 15, 2006
George Washington Coach and Player Quotes
GW SENIOR Pops Mensah-Bonsu
On his injured knee and status for Thursday's game
MENSAH-BONSU: Right now, it's day to day and my knee feels pretty good as of right now. I went through some drills this morning in practice and it's holding up pretty good. We'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow.
Right now I'm feeling pretty optimistic about playing tomorrow.
It feels a lot better than it did a week ago and I think I'm right on schedule with my rehab. Everything is looking pretty optimistic as far as tomorrow's concerned. We'll see what happens tomorrow.
On the difficulty of sitting out with his injury
MENSAH-BONSU: I was real anxious to get back on the court and be a part of what this great team has accomplished. I made sure I worked hard on my rehab to try to get back in time for this game.
On George Washington's selection as a number-eight seed
MENSAH-BONSU: We knew that our seeding was going to be a little bit lower because the committee was going to look at our nonconference schedule. Once we were seeded the eighth seed, we put it behind us and focused on UNC Wilmington. We didn't want to dwell on the fact we were an eighth seed because it's March and everybody can play. You gotta put that behind you, and just get on the court and produce.
GW SENIOR Alex Kireev
On the value of last year's NCAA experience
KIREEV: Last year's experience is definitely going to help us to compete this year. We're a better team than last year and we expect to perform much better than last year.
GW SENIOR Mike Hall
On the value of Pops Mensah-Bonsu in the Colonials' lineup
HALL: Pops is extremely athletic and a special player. He makes all of our jobs easier on the court. Another mature player on the court makes our offense flow a lot better and he's just a presence inside on defense. We're glad to have him back.
On UNC Wilmington
HALL: I didn't really know too much about them, but from watching film we learned that they are a very physical team, very well-coached and have a deliberate style of play. They match up well with us. It's just going to be who can impose their will on the opposite team and who can execute down the stretch.
HEAD COACH Karl Hobbs
On the seeding issue
HOBBS: It was never a story for me from the very beginning. It became even less of an issue when I heard Mr. Littlepage talk about what went on in the room. It gave me a great appreciation for how difficult their job is. I think he spoke and explained it in a very good way. It wasn't an issue for me personally. We're a program that is trying to improve every year. Last year we were a 12 seed and this year we're an eight seed. That's improvement.
On having Pops Mensah-Bonsu in the lineup
HOBBS: It makes a world of difference. We're a different basketball team with Pops in the lineup. He creates so much attention just being on the floor. Our offense is able to flow with a little better fluidity with him out there.
On Pops Mensah-Bonsu's mood during injury
HOBBS: His attitude has been fantastic. If you've seen us on TV, when he is sitting there on the bench, he's been great in terms of his enthusiasm and the support he has given to his teammates. More importantly, I enjoy the support they've given him during the time that he was out.
On what he's learned about UNC Wilmington since Sunday
HOBBS: They're a very good basketball team. When you look at statistically what they've done consistently, which is not allow people to score more than 70 points against them...it tells you a little bit about how good they are. They have a couple of guys in the backcourt that can single handedly beat you. They have some very good, physical players on the inside.
They're really fun to watch, in terms of watching them on tape. They're a team where we'll have to play our "A" game to win.
On the guard match-up with UNC Wilmington
HOBBS: Their guards are very good. They've proven it the way they've played consistently. They're very experienced and very talented. Unfortunately, it's not going to be a match-up just between the guards. I think we have some difficult match-ups at all positions, particularly on the inside, which is a concern for us.
UNC Wilmington Coach and Player Quotes
UNC WILMINGTON SENIOR JOHN GOLDSBERRY
On the difference between this trip to the NCAAs and his first trip in 2003
GOLDSBERRY: It's a little different (with) us being older. The first time we were kind of role players trying to do what we needed to do. This time, being our senior year, we want to make it special and we're going to go out and play well.
On UNC Wilmington's reputation
GOLDSBERRY: We've established our program well enough (that) we're known around the nation as a good basketball program. We got a nine seed this time, so the respect for our team is climbing. We have seniors; that's what we've tried to do the last four years to keep our program at that level.
On the impact of injured George Washington forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu
GOLDSBERRY: Obviously he's a great player. You see the highlights on ESPN every game he plays. We're preparing for him to play. Whether he plays a little bit or a lot, it's irrelevant, but he definitely is a difference-maker when he's in the game.
On playing in the shadow of Atlantic Coast Conference teams
GOLDSBERRY: We quietly go about our business. We do things the right way on the court and off the court. We probably don't get as much attention as we would like, but that's alright. We're here in the NCAA Tournament. We're satisfied where we're at and we've come to win some games.
UNC WILMINGTON SENIOR BECKHAM WYRICK
On preparations for injured George Washington forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu
WYRICK: We're preparing as if he will play because I'm sure he'll play a little bit. I'm not sure how much he'll be able to play, depending on how his knee feels, but we're preparing for him to play and we'll go from there.
On George Washington
WYRICK: We knew just from their record and from seeing them play on TV a couple of times that they are a great team. I think they're 26-2; they're top 10 in the nation. We knew that they're a great team. They're an athletic bunch of guys who get after you on defense and now we've put in a plan a little bit to try to counteract what they're going to do on defense.
On two CAA teams receiving NCAA Tournament bids
WYRICK: I think that just speaks to how tough our league was this year. I think this is definitely the best our league has been in the four years we've been here and probably in a long while. To get two teams in and have a third right there in consideration just speaks to how tough our league was and how good it was all around.
UNC WILMINGTON HEAD COACH BRAD BROWNELL
On the roster having only one active player from North Carolina
BROWNELL: Because of living a little bit in the shadow of the ACC, most of the kids in North Carolina are going up and playing for an ACC school. This state is also unbelievably recruited. All the teams in Florida, Clemson, the South Carolina schools, all of those teams also come up into the state. There are certainly a lot of good players in North Carolina. We'd like to add a few more to our roster, but at the same time, we've had some success going elsewhere and finding very good players. We've found in the midwest, the southwest, the northeast a little bit, we can find maybe a even higher caliber of player to come down and appreciate the fact that they're going to play at UNC Wilmington.
Some of the kids we try to recruit in our state look at us a little bit differently, and to be honest, I'm not the most patient man in waiting on them to decide whether they want to get an ACC offer or not. I think our program stands well enough right now, having gone to the NCAA Tournament four times in seven years. There are a lot of ACC schools that haven't done that. If you're not excited about coming to play for UNCW, play in front of 6,000 fans every night, play for championships, and have the opportunity to do this - if you're not excited about that right away, I may move on as a recruiter.
On mid-major coaches getting higher profile jobs after an NCAA run
BROWNELL: You have to do what's best for you and your family. I love UNCW. I've been here for 12 years now. I was an assistant for eight years under Coach Wainwright and at the time UNCW was a little bit of an afterthought in basketball. I've spent the better part of my adult life the last 12 years working to change that reputation, both as an assistant and as a head coach. I'm extremely proud of what Coach Wainwright started and what I've helped to continue.
On defending George Washington's uptempo style of play
BROWNELL: We're not going to just walk the ball up. I think some people expect us to try and take the air out of the ball. We really don't play that way. We'll take advantage of situations that they're presenting. If they try to trap us in situations at the full-court level and we've got advantage numbers, we're going to try to go and score.
I think it sends the wrong message to your team. Your team needs to understand that they can win the game and we've won some games that have been a little bit higher scoring. We're not going to win every game that way, we certainly aren't excited about it being an 88-86 game, but if the floor is spaced, if they pressure and they force you to go make plays, I want my guys to go make plays.
On George Washington
BROWNELL: Everybody harps on the differences between our two teams. I think you guys are missing the similarities. You have two experienced teams, two teams that share the ball unbelievably well, that play as a team and don't play with much of an ego. I think that's a little bit rare in college basketball.
You don't win 26 games without having five or six guys that can go for 20 points a night and they certainly have that. They're unbelievably balanced, unbelievably unselfish, which is something we pride ourselves on. Watching more and more tape on GW, that impresses me the most - the way their kids approach each game and how unselfishly they play.
On getting over their heartbreaking loss in their last NCAA Tournament appearance
BROWNELL: That was disheartening to say the least and I'm not sure I'm quite over it. With the help of ESPN and Instant Classics, I get reminded of it quite often. At the same time, it served as motivation for me and the senior class. We wanted to put ourselves in a position to get back to this tournament. We had a good season last year, winning 19 games, but it wasn't quite good enough to make the NCAA's. I think it served as a springboard for us to really motivate us in our off-season work.
