March 16, 2006

Northern Iowa Head Coach Greg McDermott

Do you see this as a match-up of similar teams?
Both teams, defensively, they bend but they don't break. They give up jumps shots on occasion. I think both of us try to attempt to do a good job of controlling the paint. Neither of us put our opponents on the foul line very much. We are similar in a lot of ways. They are bigger they are more athletic. The end result is the same: we try to defend without fouling and make people take the shots that we want them to take.

Effect of the long layoff
I think that depends on how you finish your season. If you won your conference tournament and you're on a roll I think you are better off to play as soon as you can. In our situation, being banged up and maybe not playing our best basketball at the end, this break has been very beneficial. We have been able to get healthy. We have been able to work out some of the kinks we've had particularly on the offensive end of the floor. The 13-day break has been a blessing for us.

Any advantage to having played in the last two tournaments?
I think every time you're here and you experience this it becomes more of a regular game. Our guys (although they're very excited to be here) their goal this year was not just to get here, but to get here and to win some games. It hasn't been hard to get them focused on what we need to try to do. . .they're really focused on what we need to do to defeat Georgetown. The fact that we have a lot of guys that have experienced this before-we're not going to be in awe of the situation, and we understand the stage we're playing on but it's just another game. The team that executes the best will come out on top

On dealing with his wife's condition
It certainly changed my approach to my job-that's what it is. It is just a job. I love what I do but winning and losing games took a whole new meaning to me. When something like that strikes you right before the start of the season it is going to effect your preparation and your focus. I am fortunate that I had an experienced group of players that were able to just keep on going. And I have a coaching staff that has been with me for a number of years and they were able to fill in when I wasn't able to be there. Our guys handled it with a lot of maturity. They were there for me when I needed them. We use words like toughness and courage in athletics. My wife is the one with toughness and courage, and anyone that's battling a disease. This is just a game. It took me 41 years to figure that out, but I understand that now.

On getting the national attention
Anytime there is added media attention (you guys might not like to hear this) it's a distraction. The distraction was far outweighed by the positive exposure we were able to gain for our program and our University. Any school like ours would love to have that exposure and we were fortunate to be in that situation because of the run of success we've had. For the first time this year we were the hunted. . .we had to learn to deal with that and we did.

Senior Guard Ben Jacobsen
"Yeah we definitely want to advance. It was one of our main goals coming into this season. There were other goals we had that weren't accomplished, but we feel that this is our main goal and that is very achievable, so we're here and we mean business and we're going to go out and give it our best effort because we want to win a game in the tournament."

Senior Guard John Little
"We set a lot of goals at the beginning of this year. Our biggest goal was to get back to the tournament and see what happened in the first round and win a game. We feel like we are in a good position to win a game so we're going to go out and give it greatest effort."

On Experience

Senior Guard Ben Jacobsen
"We've got an experienced group. We've returned all of our starting five this year and we're coming off two straight tournament appearances. Experience is one advantage we have on them. They are real long and athletic, so there will be tough match-ups but we feel we have experience and are hungry for a win."

On possibly feeling more pressure to win this year

Senior Guard Erik Crawford
"Yeah we feel some pressure. Not more pressure on the game but more on ourselves because we've been here so many times. I think there are good match-ups to show a comparison with the Big East and if the Valley can come out a get a couple victories then a lot of this talk after the selection show won't have any truth behind it."

"People make a lot about the RPI number, but if we can get some victories then that will be the truth."

On helping Coach McDermott through tough times

Senior Guard Ben Jacobsen
"There were times where he couldn't devote as much time to practice and the team...so we tried to step up as leaders and help out as much as we could."

"It was a real emotional night, Coaches versus Cancer day."

Senior Guard John Little
"We knew coach needed to devote more time to his kids because he has a life outside of basketball. As seniors we wanted to make sure we brought the same attitude to practice every day, even if he couldn't be there or if his head couldn't be there. We were there for him and to keep the boat going."

Any fear playing against a team from the Big East?

Senior Guard Erik Crawford
"I don't think there is anything this team sees that we are in awe of. Maybe our first year in the tournament, but now there's nothing that's going to shock us. It's a business thing now. Once we step on the court there's not going to be any shock or awe."

Senior Guard Ben Jacobsen
"Yeah we've been in big games with big crowds. We've played at Cincinnati and played them to double overtime. Played against Georgia Tech, Wisconsin last year, and LSU would be the greatest example and we went in there and got a win on the road. We respect Georgetown as a team, but I wouldn't say that we are in awe. We're coming in here with confidence that we'll win the game."

Did you ever think an at-large would be possible?

Senior Guard John Little
"We came in as freshman thinking and hoping we'd make the NCAA tournament. We knew it would be a big step, but we felt we had the right pieces and could make a run at the NCAA Tournament. It happened sophomore year, and junior year we had another great year, and then this year we had a couple of key wins that helped us get an at-large bid. We always talked and dreamed about it and it's good to see we could accomplish it."

On media attention

Senior Guard Ben Jacobsen
"We haven't played a lot being on top, so we've always been the underdog. We've always been in that role. I'd say we're comfortable and familiar with it. We were the favorites in the Valley this year so that was the first time we had the target on our back. In tournament every year we've been the underdog and we came in and played tough. This year we want to get over the hump and get a win."

Senior Guard Erik Crawford
"The underdog thing. It's something we relished the first two years, but this year we don't feel too much like underdogs as a ten seed. Ten-seven game, there's not too much of an underdog in that game. We love people knowing who Northern Iowa is. It's a great accomplishment for us as seniors and for the coaching staff. To say we'd rather be unknown? I don't think we would."

Scouting report on Georgetown

Senior Guard Ben Jacobsen
"You can't extend on the wings and pressure them because they run that Princeton type offense. Back cuts and things like that. But they have good shooters as well. You have to get up on there shots, but you can't overplay or they'll back cut...Some keys to the game will be being able to defend and to rebound."

Senior Guard Erik Crawford
"The key to the game is going to be rebounding. There won't be a lot of shots because they slow it down and we like to run our plays too, so it won't be an up-tempo game. The team who wins the rebounding battle will have a good opportunity to win the game."

Keeping an eye out for other Valley teams, rooting for them?

Senior Guard John Little