Self opening comment:
Well, practice was good today. Practice was good. To be honest, we've had good practices since we took off Thursday and practiced on Friday, so we've gone every day now. There's been different players take a day off, but we practiced full strength today, at least as full strength as we're going to be, and I thought it went well.
What do you think about your guys, your two stars and they look okay…
Hunt looks great. He's practiced basically every day since Saturday, non-contact. And then the last two days he's been full contact. Kevin's not going to play. Kevin says his knee pain has not subsided any and it's too bad for him to be able to contribute. So Kevin will not play.
How tough is that to watch a kid that has given so hard and comes back for another year not be able to do it, at least for the first round…
No, he's out. We're shutting him down for the tournament. So, if we're fortunate enough to win two games, we would have done it without him. He hadn't practiced in six weeks, basically. And so, yeah, he hasn't done more damage to his knee, but he tried to do it and said that he just couldn't go.
What were your reactions to the All-American pick today? Hunter got second team…
Well, that's a great honor for Hunt and Kevin. He had no chance to do better than honorable mention considering how much action he missed, probably, but they both had good years. But, yeah, I'm happy for Hunt. I personally know if we'd have been healthy down the stretch, Hunt would have for sure been a first team All-American. But our team kind of faltered, and I think a lot of that's based on team success, too.
Who will you start in place of McCullar…
I don't know yet. We started Nick the last few games, and Elmarko’s practiced well, but it'll be Elmarko or Nick, one of the two.
Will Kevin be with the team?
Kevin is with the team. Yeah, Kevin's with the team. I mean, heck, he tried and know he tried and was going through rehab, and it just didn't get any better. The other weeks, it progressively got a little bit better. And this week it just knows with consultation with doctors and with Kevin and where he is mentally and physically right now, it's best for him to go ahead and shut it down, unfortunately for us, and more so for him, but there was really no decision to be made because he can't go.
No surgery…
No surgery. He's got a bone bruise.
How do you like your chances without him…
I like our chances. The draw is hard, but the draw for any four seat is hard. You're going to play a team that can beat you in the first round and you're going to obviously play either team in the second round that can beat you. So, yeah, the draw is hard, but I don't look at it as being a positive or negative. I look at it being as what.
It should be for Elmarko and Nick. What is the message to them trying to step up…
There's no message. The message has been delivered every day for the last six weeks. So, there's really no other message. It's put up or shut up time, but there's really no message. Both the kids have practiced well and worked hard, and they're prepared to be out there.
Are you excited to be this far from home…
I kind of always thought there's no place like home, but no, we're excited. Look at this place. The weather's absolutely perfect, temperature is great, sun's shiny, you got snowcapped mountains all around you. And we're playing an arena that's probably as nice as anybody can possibly play in. So, yeah, we're happy to be here in Salt Lake.
Thoughts on Samford…
Yeah, I learned a lot more. They're good and they're well coached and they create havoc. They press every possession. They press off misses. They press off makes. They're going to try to get after us and we’ve got to be good at taking care of the ball and attacking pressure. But they're good and they can stretch it from all five spots, which is something that we've labored with, obviously, some this year, especially in conference play. So, we're going to have to play well on Thursday.
With Kevin on the sideline what do you need him to provide as a presence on the bench…
I don't want any negative energy whatsoever. And so, Kevin's role now will not be, oh, I can't play. His role will be and certainly will impress upon him to be this. I've got to put my hand print on this in ways that I didn't think I would be doing if in fact I was playing. And that's what winners do. They do that. So, it would be very selfish for him not to do that. And he's not going to do that.
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