March 8, 2011
Listen to today's press conference
Head Coach Craig Robinson
On the mental state of the team going into Pac-10 Tournament...
"Well, you don't throw it (Saturday) out. You throw it out from a results standpoint, I knew that's what you meant, and I just want to make that clear. From a camaraderie standpoint, I think we're a little further ahead than we thought we would have been given what happened. From a playing point of view, I'm hoping it's going to be a huge positive for us, because we got to see guys like Angus (Brandt) and Roberto (Nelson) and Omari (Johnson) get really good play that could carry over into a game where we're at full strength that could help us.
"The draw we got is going to be a tough one. They're athletic and played us well at their place; we played them well at our place. That's 50-50, so that's better than having to beat them a third time or not having beaten them at all and trying to beat them the first time. I think playing people three times is hard. I haven't figured out, `well, if you win the last one then you're likely to lose the next one or vice-versa.' I have not figured that out, especially in a tournament situation where it's going to be a little more of a festival environment and it's a you-lose, you're-done type of environment. There are all kinds of outside pressures that you can't take into effect until you're actually playing."
On what led to the suspensions...
"A rule was broken and I decided on a punishment, which is very consistent with what my philosophy is. It would be easy to sort of figure it out if you were a player what the punishment would have been. So it wasn't any kind of big inquisition conducted. The mistakes were made -- I made my decision -- then we had to go on from there. Once I made my decision, we prepared for the next game based on the man power we were going to have."
On the team's frustration of not playing up to their potential every game...
"Their frustration level is probably higher than mine, because I'm an adult and I know how the process works. You can get drunk off of potential all the time, but until you actually create the habits that make you good, you just have potential. For me it's not that frustrating because what I'm looking at is a team, outside of your four seniors, of freshmen and sophomores. The inconsistency is consistent. That was a joke. The inconsistency is pretty apparent to me. I expect it. I'm not as frustrated; you just have to keep working. That's the tough part with these younger guys. It's easy to get down on yourself and easy to pout and easy to make excuses, but until you create those habits that make you winners, all you can do is talk about your potential."
On the key to the comeback win at home against Stanford...
"When we're capable of playing a full game of man-to-man, we'll play a full game of man-to-man. With playing man-to-man comes a sense of responsibility, which, given what happened on Friday night, we aren't ready to play, because there's accountability, there's responsibility, there's helping each other out, there's preventing guys from getting into trouble by doing something different. When we're capable of playing a full game of it, we will. Taking the facetious hat off, you have to be able to withstand some foul trouble. We're deeper than we have been when I first got here, but we're not deep enough to withstand that kind of foul trouble I don't think."
On Lathen Wallace's defensive play against Stanford...
"Lathen is a very good, on-the-ball defender. That's why it's so hard to detect our personnel for different days because it just depends. We have some guys who play better in zones, some guys who play better in match-ups, some guys who play better on offense. Whatever the game dictates, that will allow us to have the best chance to win, and that's what I'll probably do."
On Jared Cunningham's earning All-Pac-10 Second Team and All-Defensive Team honors...
"Had we played better as a team, he might have squeaked onto the first team. Other than that, I think that he's well-deserving of being on the all-defensive team, clearly. As a staff and as a program, we're really excited to have someone in there and getting an award."
