Quotes - 3/17/07
Mar 15, 2007 | Men's Basketball
March 15, 2007
CREIGHTON COACH DANA ALTMAN MEDIA DAY QUOTES Relationship with Nevada Coach Mark Fox: "I've known Mark for a number of years. We're both Eastern New Mexico grads, which is a little bit unusual in itself to be facing off here in the first round. Mark was an assistant at Kansas State and I spent seven years at Kansas State, three as an assistant with Coach (Lon) Kruger and four as a head coach. A lot of our friends we share at K-State. I've known him for a long time. He's done a great job as an assistant and a great job as a head coach. I'm excited about playing their team."
Have you and Coach Fox communicated this week? "No, we haven't. He left me a nice message and said he'd see me here and . . . you know there's no conversation with the enemies here, but . . . no, I'm sure we'll talk today some time. He's a good friend, he's a good coach. I'm sure it will be a heck of a game."
How much press do you read this week? The Chicago Tribune newspaper picks Creighton to defeat Nevada. "I don't look at much. The players get on the internet a lot more than I do and any of our coaches do. We know those predictions don't mean very much. It's just a matter of who's playing well, who knocks down a couple of shots. So many of our games in the tournament have come down to one or two possessions. As I look at Nevada's scores the last three or four years in the tournament, so many of their games have come down to one or two possessions. What the predictions are really don't matter much. It's basically who plays well, who executes a few key possessions and maybe one guy getting hot and really shooting the ball well. I think it's going to be a good game. Just watching them on film, I think we have a lot of similarities, but we're going to have to play well to stay with them. They didn't win 28 games by accident, and they're a very experienced ballclub."
On defending Nevada forward Nick Fazekas: "I didn't realize he did throw 35 (points) up against Kansas (last season). He's a very gifted offensive player. He scores in a lot of different ways. He can score inside. He shoots the three. He can put the ball on the floor -- for 6'11" he's real agile, and he can put the ball on the floor and drive to the basket. He creates a lot of problems because he does score in so many different ways. Usually with a guy like that he gets down on the block and you can double him and try to keep the ball out of his hand, and he's one-dimensional. But he can score in a lot of different ways, which makes him an unusual matchup. We haven't faced a guy 6'11" who can score in this amount of different ways. And he's a good passer. He really passes the ball well. He's a different type of problem than we've faced in the past."
On Nevada guard Kyle Shiloh and the matchup with Creighton's Nate Funk: "We noticed in all the films that he always takes the opposing team's leading scorer. And he is a good defender. His lateral quickness is very good. He's a very good defender. I'm sure he'll be ready. I've read the press on that (injury), and they say he's ready to go. So I'm sure he'll come after Nathan (Funk), and Nathan's going to have to be aggressive for us. We were effective down the stretch because Nathan got to the free-throw line and was an aggressive offensive player, and that's going to be a big factor for us tomorrow."
What makes Nate Funk the player that he is? "Nathan has a very good work ethic. He has built his body over the five years that he's been with us. He's a young man who can score in a number of different ways. He shoots the three pretty good. He can penetrate, he's a good passer. He's done a great job of moving to the point this year. He's always played the off-guard spot for us, and this year he had to play the point with Josh Dotzler still recovering from a knee injury. He's done a great job of making adjustments throughout the year. Two years ago he was our leading rebounder and our best defender. This year at point guard he hasn't been able to rebound as much. Defensively we don't have the depth that we've had in previous years, so I told him not to get many fouls, and he's lost a little aggressiveness on the defensive end. But he's been an awfully good player for us. I think the reason is he's got a pretty good work ethic. He's a tough young man who likes to compete and he can score in a lot of different ways."
Does game preparation change for the NCAA Tournament, and is there anything you've learned about preparing for this event? "The only difference is that we've had a long layoff. It seems like a month ago that we played. Our conference tournament is a week earlier than a lot of conference tournaments. So we haven't played a game now for 11, 12 days. We've tried to scrimmage quite a bit. In our previous trips we've tried different things to keep them sharp, and I'm not sure we've found a great formula yet. Our guys seem to be sharp. We've had good practices. We're probably as healthy as we've been all year, which is also a big plus. So I think we're ready to go. Couple of shots going down early, and maybe things could gel. If things don't go too well too early, you never know. Every game has its own personality. But hopefully our guys will be ready. They've practiced well. They've kept their focus. They've been pretty sharp. They've been very competitive in practice, and I think we're ready to go."
Comparing Nevada to last season's Bradley University team - Creighton guard Nate Funk thinks they're similar: "Well, maybe a little bit. (Nevada's Marcelus) Kemp is similar to (Bradley's Marcellus) Sommerville. They've got an inside presence, not only with Fazekas but with (JaVale) McGee and (David) Ellis, so they've got size, and they've got size coming off the bench, which is pretty good. They've got athletic guards. I could see some similarities there. I think Nevada has a few more patterns in their offensive approach than Bradley, but there are a few similarities."
On Creighton's seniors and a sense of urgency because their college basketball careers are ending soon: "Our seniors do have a little sense of urgency. Things started to slip a little in February and it definitely was the seniors who picked our team up and got us through the conference tournament. I'd like to sit here and take the credit, but it was definitely our seniors who rallied the team and got them to play hard and got them to play together, so I have sensed a real urgency among that group to finish strong and play well down the stretch. And I hope they're able to do that (Friday). If we play well and Nevada plays well, it's going to be a great game. We're evenly matched. I think maybe they're a little deeper than we are, but we've both got senior classes that want to go out strong."
