Post Game Quotes
March 24, 2005 | Men's Basketball
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March 24, 2005
Washington Head Coach Lorenzo Romar
Opening Statement:
COACH ROMAR: You know, I read Paul Hewitt's comments - head coach of Georgia Tech - after their game against Louisville and how he talked about how good of a team Louisville was and that they were a better team. He was very impressed. Well, I would echo those comments. We were very impressed with Louisville. They are a very good basketball team. They went out and did what was needed to win this ballgame...very impressive game, I thought by Louisville. But at the same time, we didn't get it done tonight, but I could not tell you how proud I am of our guys? And I know coaches say that at the last game of the year. But, you know, not a whole lot of people have believed in these guys the last couple of years. They continued to work and work and work and do things right to where we got to this point where we're here before you. We would have liked to have gone further obviously, but there's no finger pointing here on our guys. They gave every ounce of effort that they had.
(On how Louisville played.)
COACH ROMAR: The closest thing I think this year that we saw was in the PAC 10 conference tournament championship and (Arizona's) Salim Stoudamire went to work in the first half but it was pretty much him. Tonight, Francisco Garcia got going - he was probably the main guy - but yet as a unit they were all in sync and they were all in a rhythm. Francisco got away from us a couple of times. He hit some tough shots, but that's how they played. Will mentioned about the way they played with driving and kicking. That's something that I know I talked to people about. It is difficult to prepare for. Guy's going in for a lay up and you converge and they do a great job of spacing out the flanker areas and the guys get those threes. The first half when they got in that rhythm it kind of coincided with Nate Robinson and Tre Simmons both getting in foul trouble. The way that they were playing, I don't know if it would have mattered at that point because they were playing very, very good basketball.
Q. Lorenzo, this game did swing when Nate (Robinson) picked up his third foul. What was your thought process putting him back in when you guys were still in front?
COACH ROMAR: The thought process at that point was not unlike...we had been in that position before, where Nate had picked up a foul and we had played him. For periods of time, our guys have done a great job compensating for someone who is out with foul trouble, and we have been able to get through at other times...at Oregon, there were a lot of fouls being called. We had a lot of guys in foul trouble and lot of guys stepped-up and we were able to make it through. Nate is obviously an emotional leader. He was ready to play tonight. Obviously, he wanted to win this game as much as anyone. It just didn't work out when he went down. Like I said it, coincided with them going on a run as well.
Q. When you look at (Louisville's) balance tonight and everybody is making shots, how do you slow this team down? Where is the weak link that you see offensively?
COACH ROMAR: The weak link would be if they are not hitting there threes, you know, but I'm sure many teams...They have won 31 games. I'm sure 31 times teams have said the same thing...If they don't hit the three. The quote was given out by (Georgia Tech's) Wil Bynum, "If they are hitting their threes...They are hard to deal with." We wanted to look at some zone to threw them off their rhythm. That's a team that's tough to guard against and they are playing the zone quite a bit now. They are able to pretty much remain fresh throughout the game. You look at the stat sheet, they really played six guys and yet we have depth and we played a lot of guys. But Coach Pitino - I heard his comments at the end - he said maybe they got a little worn at the end but for the most part they continued to make shots.
Q. On the disappointment of not advancing?
COACH ROMAR: I think if you have an opportunity and you are granted that to go to the Final Four, whether it's in Russia or St. Louis you are fired up. So we would have been fired-up, but the fact that we had an opportunity to go back to St. Louis...When we were there, the fans, the support was unbelievable. They were great. They were really good to us and you know, that would have been icing on the cake to be able to go back there.
Q. Coach, you were talking about the foul trouble. Do you think that the two guys having to sit on the bench for so long at the end of the first half might have had a carryover into the second? Because it didn't seem like either of them could really get anything going?
COACH ROMAR: Well, who knows? You know, when you lose, you can try to point to a lot of things as to why you didn't come out on the front end. But in the first half, when those guys went down, we had to kind of adjust our rotation. We had settled in on a pretty good nine-man rotation. I think all the guys knew when they were going in and out. That was disrupted tonight, but you got give Louisville credit. They put us in those positions where we had to foul or where we did foul.
Q. Coach, you're going through this thing of losing a disappointing game. But the future of your program is pretty bright. Do you feel very good about what's in store?
COACH ROMAR: We certainly hope it's bright. We do feel good. It took three years to do it but I think now we have something that every coach looks for when our freshman come in next year, they will be able to look at some senior leadership that have accomplished a lot. They can watch and see what type of culture has been created here and they can fit write in. We think that our seniors have learned what Husky basketball is about, and they are going to expect certain things from our young players. And when you get your program to a point, to where that's the case, I think it puts a smile on your face. I think that's where we're now. Although, we'll have a lot of new faces and it may take some time to get totally, but I like the direction that we are headed.
Q. Elaborating on that point a little bit, can you talk about Jamaal Williams role in that and how you think he has progressed so far. What do you look from him next year?
COACH ROMAR: Jamaal came in this year and we talked about how he may not be the star. He may not be the go to guy we go to every night. He may not been the leading scorer. I understand coach...I'm just going to work my tail off. And that is what he's done. Tonight he was phenomenal. There have been games this year where we couldn't get anything going where Jamaal Williams stepped up and provided some offensive punch for us. We're excited that we got him back for another year.
Q. Do you see him progressing into the kind of leader you're looking for as a senior next year?
COACH ROMAR: Jamaal is a very, very intelligent young man and an intelligent basketball player. He understands what is right and wrong, and he has sold out to this program. If you are smart, you are sold out to the cause, and you want to see things done well. There's no doubt in my mind that he is going to be a good leader for us.
Washington Player Quotes - Junior Brandon Roy, Senior Will Conroy, Junior Jamaal Williams
Q. On the play of Louisville's perimeter players.
Will Conroy: They're real good. They do a lot of things in their offense that kind of, expose what we do in defense. We try to change up our approach as far as our defense as far as strategy - which will stay home and contest shots. But when you are doing something for the whole year you get so entwined in falling back to what you're used to. They sucked us in. They kicked out the threes out there. They did a great job of driving us. When it looked like they could shoot lay-ups, they kicked it out for three. And more importantly they did a good job of making the shots. It's one thing to shot them, it's another one to make them. They made shots again tonight as they did against Georgia Tech.
Q. Brandon, you were effective on the inside. Did it seem -- how did that change? Did they begin to deny you late in the first half?
Brandon Roy: I heard there coach saying from the sideline, you know, get that big guy out there try to deny that pass to the middle. Tonight they just did a better job going inside out than we did. Jamaal (Williams) did a really good job inside. I think I did a pretty good job, but we didn't get those threes that we normally get. They did a really good job of scoring in the post and from a three point range. We just doesn't stop anything they can do.
Q. Jamaal, can you just talk a little bit about the experience of coming back to The Pit again to play.
Jamaal Williams: I go out there and try to play hard. It has been a good experience. Too bad we had to go out like this, but it was fun come back to Albuquerque and get a chance to play in the Pit again.
Q. Will, can you be satisfied with the end of your career at this point?
Will Conroy: That's a tough question. I'm one of those guys that's not satisfied. I don't think anybody on our team is satisfied. We know we had a great year, but we had our own self expectations. We expected ourselves to do much better. Just like ever other team in the Sweet Sixteen. It's not about who is the best team. It's about who is the best team that night and tonight Louisville was the best team. They played like it. They stuck together. They were a mature team and a little more mature than...I thought that maybe they would break after we went up seven, eight. They stuck together and they kept it tight. They bounced back and that is a dangerous team.
Q. Brandon, it seems like the momentum really hit a brick when Nate (Robinson) went out with this third foul. Can you explain the feeling on the floor at that point?
Brandon Roy: It was weird, actually. I was playing and kind of going through motions. I kind of look over at coach and thought 'hey, is Nate not in the game.' They said he has three fouls. I was disappointed. We weren't aware of our fouls tonight and people say that we are an unselfish team. They give us a little of credit for that. Tonight, I finally saw a team that was more unselfish than us. They had no problem of beating us to the middle and kicking it out for an open three. Any time a team that is as good as they are, and as unselfish as they are, is a very dangerous team.
Q. Jamaal, can you just try to look ahead a little bit too next year. You guys have a young core of players coming back and what you may have learned from playing in a game of this magnitude?
Jamaal Williams: I'll definitely remember this experience. I will be one of the older guys next year and I have to step my game up to another level and try to help the young guys get better and try to guide them through the next season. It's going to be important. But I feel like if the guys that we got coming in, if we stick together and we help those guys along we should be okay.
