LATINO SPORTS NETWORK

MATTHEW OBRIST

Thursday, March 30 2017 Phoenix, Arizona

Dana Altman Oregon Ducks

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Oregon head coach Dana Altman.

COACH ALTMAN: I’m trying to keep our guys in routine but all this media attention makes it kind of difficult. But the guys are very excited about being here, as is our coaching staff. Tremendous opportunity for our basketball program, for our university, and we are looking forward to Saturday’s ballgame.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. As much as you talked all season about guards, Dylan, rebounding and crashing the boards in a group effort, as much as North Carolina likes to go underneath, do you try and bring them in? How much more do you emphasis, do you change emphasis in guards and team rebounding?
COACH ALTMAN: North Carolina presents a big challenge, number one rebounding team. Their offensive production from those offensive rebounds is tremendous. We’ve got a big challenge. The rebounding battle is definitely going to probably be the one that decides the game, that and our defensive transition. We’ve gotta get back and get our defense put together, because they’re a wonderful transition team.

So the boards are a big concern. We’re a little undersized in a few positions, and without Chris Boucher, our second leading rebounder, our depth there is not very good. So it will have to be a priority for everyone is who is on the floor.

Q. Talk about the anxiety or what you were feeling when you were waiting to hear back from the NCAA about Dylan’s sixth year. And then what his impact has been on and off the court?
COACH ALTMAN: We knew that Dylan Ennis would be a big lift to our program. With those decisions, you don’t know when they’re are going to come. I think we found out some time in late June that he was going to get his sixth year. But we felt fairly comfortable he would. He had done a great job academically. His injury, of course, was — he only played one game because of the foot. So we felt like we had an excellent opportunity and he’s made a tremendous impact on our team this year.

Q. Tyler is on an incredible run right now, I think 62.5 percent from 3 the last six games. What have you thought of his play lately. And how do you think he’s been able to just totally blow up the Pac-12 Tournament and the NCAA Tournament?
COACH ALTMAN: He’s been on a tear, no doubt about it. Ironically the thing that I think that really got him going, our last ballgame against Oregon State on the road he only scored one point. We had a big win. And so we didn’t need him to score a lot. But I think it refocused him.

But the thing I’m really most pleased with Tyler is not only has his scoring increased, his rebounding production. He started the conference tournament off with nine rebounds against Arizona State. Defensively he’s been very active. So it’s been his entire game that has really picked up. And I think not worrying about scoring, just worrying about playing the game has really picked up his production everywhere.

He’s playing with tremendous confidence. Our guys have confidence in him. He banked in one of those 3s against Kansas to end the half. But when you’re on a roll and you’re playing with a lot of confidence, things like that happen.

Q. This is the most wide-spread press your program has gotten since the notorious sequence of incidents three years ago. With the benefit of hindsight and the opportunity to reflect, do you have any regrets about the way you handled the situation with the three dismissed players?
COACH ALTMAN: No, I’m comfortable with the way we handled it. It was three years ago. But I think in retrospect everything was handled correctly.

Q. In the weeks and months that preceded that after the players were banned from campus, did you encounter a lot of negative recruiting? What was it like to be a part of the program as the fallout came in May, June, July, into the season?
COACH ALTMAN: Our guys did a great job, our staff did a great job. We had great support from the university. So it went fairly smooth.

Q. You’ve got a pretty important big fan in Phil Knight. I was wondering what it’s like, how many dealings do you have with him, or if you can express the impact that he’s had on your program?
COACH ALTMAN: Mr. Knight and Penny have had a big impact on our entire university, the entire state. They just donated, made a large donation of $500 million for a scientific research center. So his impact on our university is widespread.

He has done a lot for our athletic department. Our basketball arena is named after his son. So he’s someone who’s been a great supporter. And I don’t see him too much. I see him at football games. He loves to go to the football games. I see him at halftime there. And he comes to, oh, a handful, 10 of our home games. And he’s been with us here on the tournament. So very supportive. I’m happy that we could get to a Final Four for him.

Q. Obviously the guys were very excited to come here with Casey Benson, local kid. And now that they’ve been here they have a lot of great stories to share in the locker room about Casey’s knowledge of the area, his 70- to 100-person family-and-friends group that might be attending. What’s it like now that you’re here with him experiencing it?
COACH ALTMAN: I’m really happy for Casey and his family. Hometown guy and three state championships. And so it’s great for him to come home. I just hope the family can handle all the ticket requests, and he can settle down a little bit because he’ll have a lot of family there, I’m sure.

Q. Pac-12 tournament, lost to Arizona. After that game, where did you guys — did you guys come together more as a team especially after the loss of one of your key players? And just what did you learn from that game that maybe propelled you to four victories in the NCAA Tournament?
COACH ALTMAN: It was stunning when we found out that day that Chris was not going to be with us. That night, we had a little trouble defending the paint. Arizona got inside quite a bit on us. And we lost, I think, a 3-point game. So it was a tough loss for us. We didn’t really change things. We just had each of our guys step up and try to do a little bit more.

And fortunately for us Jordan Bell has really stepped up. Kavell’s filled some of those minutes. And each of the guys has done just a little bit more, I think, to help fill the big hole that Chris left. He was our leading shot blocker, our second-leading rebounder and third-leading scorer. So we miss him greatly.

Q. Dillon’s fire that he plays with — Brooks — seems to be something that sort of fuels him and maybe the team. But I wonder, has there been times where you thought there was too much of that? If so how have you seen him mature and dial it back? And secondly how many times have you watched the flop against Utah?
COACH ALTMAN: Well, the flop, I just saw it a couple times. But his teammates rubbed it in pretty good to him. So he had a hard time living that one down. But his passion for the game, I’ve never had to ask him to work harder in practice, never worry about his effort during a ballgame. His freshman year, we did go up and down with — I have to take him out of games and just let him calm down for five, six minutes, just because he’d get going way too fast.

Over the years he’s gradually gotten better. It’s a fine line there. What makes him a very good player, a player that loves the big moments, is because of that love of the game, his work ethic, his confidence. So as a coach you don’t want to take any of that away. But you’ve got to balance it. And I think he’s done a better job each year.

Q. Do you perceive with this matchup, do you expect to play Kavell more? And do you need more out of him to give Jordan a wing man there going up against their big guys?
COACH ALTMAN: I think that Kavell’s going to have to have a big game for us. Our previous four games in the NCAA Tournament have been perimeter-oriented teams. And now we face a team that really is good inside with Meeks and Hicks, Bradley. They’re good inside. So I think Kavell will be a big part of our equation. I think he’s going to have to rebound the ball and give us some good minutes.

Q. I was wondering about that year that Jordan spent after high school, before he came to Oregon, what happened? Were you doubting that he’d actually show up there eventually and/or that he would get cleared and kind of what was that all like?
COACH ALTMAN: No, he had to get some NCAA requirements. And so we didn’t — we weren’t fearful he wouldn’t show up. We knew he was trying to get everything put together so that he could join our program.

Q. I want to go back to Jordan Bell and his dominance throughout the regular season. But once you guys lost Boucher, it seemed like he took his game to just another level and he’s been in another gear. What has he done differently to take it to the level that he’s playing at right now, especially at the most important time of the season?
COACH ALTMAN: I think part of it has just been his focus. And he’s risen to the occasion. I think he knew when Chris went down that there was going to be more pressure on him to perform. And fortunately for us he’s handled that pressure very well.

So I don’t think he’s changed his approach dramatically. But he’s gotten off to a good start. But if you look at his numbers to end the season, they were all pretty good.

Q. I asked Dillon Brooks, with this being a new territory for all of you guys, he said nothing fazes you when it comes to the big stage. Does anything faze you? And what’s been your composure and your coaching staff this year?
COACH ALTMAN: It’s a new experience for all of us. So we try to approach it like we’ve approached all our games throughout the season. I think one advantage we have is the Pac-12 schedule with our road swings, we’re used to playing like Thursday/Saturday games, two road games on the road and you’ve got one day to prepare. So I think that helps us a little bit.

But we try to stay in our routine. It was a little easier the last two weekends because there wasn’t all the hype and the media and so forth. But we’re going to try to keep it as close to our routine as possible, and try to get the guys to focus on the game Saturday. And we get to practice here when we get done with all this in just a little bit and hopefully get them refocused and ready to go for North Carolina.

Q. I know, Coach, you’re focused on your team and winning for Oregon and for your squad. You’re the only representative from the Pac-12. We’re here in Pac-12 country. What’s it like carrying the conference’s banner?
COACH ALTMAN: I am, you know, proud or pleased that we’re carrying the banner for the Pac-12. We’ve had a great year in the league this year. Arizona had a great team. And UCLA, very explosive. So it was a good year for our league. It has been a number of years since the Pac-12 has had a representative in the Final Four. So we are mostly proud for the University of Oregon, but we are part of the Pac-12, and that is significant for our players and our coaching staff.

Q. Dana, you think back a couple years when you signed Dillon and Casey and Jordan, the program was in kind of a tough spot at that time. Did you see this coming this quickly when you signed that core group of guys?
COACH ALTMAN: You know, it’s one year at a time. With players that transfer and players that may leave early, it’s not like you can plan three or four years ahead and have everything come together. So we were hoping, because of Jordan Bell’s athleticism, that he would improve.

We mentioned Dillon Brooks’ fire and competitiveness. So we knew what we had there. Casey Benson’s a winner. He won three state championships here in Arizona. So you hope that those guys will develop. But injuries are a big part of it. Jordan was injured for part of last year, missed 10 games. Dillon has fought some injuries. So those things you can never forecast, don’t know how those things will work out. But those are three good guys and three good guys who have been a good core for us.

Q. Jordan Bell had said that his experience in the Drew League for several summers down in L.A., it’s pretty unique playing against sometimes former NBA guys, current NBA guys, grown men, he said he felt like he learned quite a bit. Do you encourage guys to seek that competition during the summertime? And do you think that it’s actually paid off for him playing and the way he’s playing at the college level?
COACH ALTMAN: I don’t really know. Jordan’s a talented player. I think any experience that our players happen to get along the way is beneficial. But I’m not sure directly if it affected it any.

Q. So also going back to when you brought in Dillon and Casey and Jordan, did you kind of see these guys playing with a chip on their shoulder when they first came in, being picked eighth in the conference and not being a highly rated recruiting class?
COACH ALTMAN: I don’t know. I don’t know if they knew any better. I think Joe Young was with us and some of our returning players were upset that we were picked eighth. If it wouldn’t have been the Pac-12, I’m not sure the guys would have known how many teams were in the league. They thought they were good, which is important. You gotta have some confidence. But Joe told them that being picked eighth wasn’t good. And Joe was a competitor. And he was a big part of that season. Elgin had a great year. And those three freshmen were a big part of our team.

Q. Against Kansas you guys had the lead. So offensively you decided to run down the shot clock before getting a play going. How difficult can it be to decide to start running the shot clock down before or maybe just continue running your offense?
COACH ALTMAN: We didn’t decide that. We were out of gas. We were just ran down. We had a good first 25, 30 minutes. But there wasn’t any, okay, we’re going to start taking time. We just are playing guys and got a little fatigued there.

We had a five or six-minute stretch where we just didn’t play very well. We didn’t play with much energy. Fortunately Jordan protected the basket well and we didn’t give up many easy baskets. But we weren’t trying to take time and we just couldn’t get anything going.

Q. I know you’re not a huge social media guy, but have you seen the things, Jordan Bell can block memes, or hashtag?
COACH ALTMAN: He showed me. So I saw a few of them. I’m sure he’s excited about it. Like I said, social media, those guys like it, and he’s pretty excited about it. So I hope he can get a few on Saturday.

Q. You talked about North Carolina’s size inside, but they also have a lot of big wings — Pinson, 6’6″ and Jackson, 6’8″. And how does your small guard play match up against them and their size? And do you think you could use your speed to maybe run them down a little bit?
COACH ALTMAN: We hope so. We hope that we’re quicker. But they’re a very athletic team. And you’re right, Jackson on the wings, 6’7″ and long arms, presents some problems. We’ll have a hard time, he’s 18 points a game, we’ll have a hard time guarding him.

So it is a tough matchup for us all the way around. We hope to make it a tough matchup for them with spreading the floor a little bit and hopefully using some quickness.

Q. Curious about the evolution of the relationship between Boucher and Bell from the time when they were really competing kind of against one another to being productive teammates together, and now the situation they’re in now, with Bell being one of the main guys that has to try and mitigate Boucher’s absence. What have you seen from the two of them and the way they’ve been interacting?
COACH ALTMAN: Well, I think they get along really good. Last year I noticed more of the competition. Jordan was our leading shot blocker, and Chris came in and started blocking more shots and Jordan was hurt. He didn’t play the first 10 games. So that bothered him.

But the two of them, like I said, Chris is one of our most popular players. And he gets along with everybody. And so he and Jordan have really gotten along well. When they played together, they were both unselfish. And we had two guys out there that could change shots, which really made our defense more effective. And our defensive numbers are good because of those two guys. They do a great job inside.

So I thought they got along really good. It was good to see them compete against each other for block shots. And then in practice they went after each other real good, made each other better.

Q. You were at Creighton a long time. You were cautious or patient, if you will, in leaving there. What convinced you that this could be done at Oregon? Did you see this coming? And what convinced you that that was the right fit for you to make?
COACH ALTMAN: Well, I was at Creighton 16 years, with the exception of one day when I went to Arkansas. But I don’t know. It was a point in my life, I was 52. My daughter was graduating. So our kids were all out of the house. I met with Pat Kilkenny and he was very persuasive. And felt like he could get it done, and we could get it done at Oregon.

And I always liked the Pac-12, the up and down of the league — UCLA, Arizona, the fact that the league got up and down. And that’s the way we played at Creighton. We pressed a lot and ran. So I thought it was a league that fit our style real well.

So it was just that time. And it was an opportunity that I thought we could build something. And it’s worked out okay, so hopefully we can continue to build and even get better, be more consistent than we’ve had an opportunity to be.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

Roy Williams

North Carolina Tar Heels

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by North Carolina head coach Roy Williams.

COACH WILLIAMS: The easy one is we’re thrilled to be here. Excited about being here. It’s been a fun, fun time with our club and hopefully we’ll play extremely well and keep it being fun. But practice today wasn’t exactly sharp, so we have some work we can do between now and then and I lost a battle yesterday at practice.

That’s the reason I have a bruised lip — if you take close-ups, my wife didn’t hit me, I assure you. I kicked the ball, the ball hit me right in the face, and I went down like you would have thought Muhammad Ali hit me. But other than that life is good.

Q. The three teams that are here are similar to yours in that there’s a lot of upperclassmen and a lot of experience. What do you think that says about this tournament and the teams getting to this point with that?
COACH WILLIAMS: You know, the easy answer would be that more experience handles tournament play better. But I think it was only three years ago when Duke won it with three or four freshmen starters, but that would be the easy answer. But I just think that there’s so many really good players, so many really good teams that you want to be playing your best right at the end of the year, and you have a chance.

And I think that older guys understand how fleeting it is and how sudden the season is over with and perhaps they focus a little bit more on that part of it.

Q. I think there’s been some attention maybe even more this year, and I think it’s loving on the way that you talk, the accent, some of the sayings —
COACH WILLIAMS: I never had anybody say it was a loving thing about the way I talk.

Q. I think it is. But I was wondering if that’s how you grew up talking and that’s how you’ve always talked? If we wound the tape back to you a while ago, if that’s the same way you talked, and if you’ve ever felt a temptation to moderate it, to speak with less of a regional accent?
COACH WILLIAMS: You know, when I went to North Carolina — excuse me, when I went to Kansas, everybody talked about my Southern accent. After several years, when I came back home, they told me I had lost my accent. And then so when I went back, I don’t know, I never asked anybody if I had gotten it back or not.

But it’s who I am. I tried not to set a bad example for players and cursing all the time. So I guaran-dadgum-tee ya it comes out of somewhere, I don’t know where. And dadgum it and things. But I do slip up and I curse. And my first year, first year at Kansas I told them I had seven curse words all year. And most of my players thought I went past number seven. But I do try to do that. But other than that, I’m just being Roy. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. But I’ve never tried to be anybody else.

Q. These last two years, have they been therapeutic for you with all the other stuff that’s gone around the program? Coaching Marcus and Brice and Britt and these guys, has that helped you detach from the other stuff?
COACH WILLIAMS: No question, therapeutic is probably the proper word. Because I always say it’s just made it a lot better. But we’ve had some junk swirling around that I haven’t enjoyed or appreciated or felt good about things that were being said. But I could lose myself when I went out on the court with those guys.

And Marcus, one of the greatest leaders I’ve ever had, and Brice, one of the guys that I felt like improved throughout his career for four straight years, and that gives you satisfaction as a coach, and they were genuinely fun to coach. And this year, the same thing. I mean, Theo starting last year, showing up at press conferences and the whole bit. He bothers my vertigo because I’m always trying to figure out where he is. You know, Where’s Waldo kind of thing, coming in behind me kind of thing. He was one of the guys that grabbed me yesterday when I was going down.

But these two teams have been very therapeutic for me. They’ve really made me feel good about what I’m doing. And they’ve allowed me to get away from the stuff. And when I was 17 years old, I was always the guy calling everybody when it was time to play pickup. When I was 19 at 6:30, 7:00 Saturday morning, I was always the guy calling everybody about meeting at the golf course at what time. I’m the guy that sets up all the golf trips right now. So it’s always been me to try to get groups of people to do things and have fun with it. And these last two teams have really been a lot of fun.

Q. In what ways is your team better since Theo Pinson came back from being injured?
COACH WILLIAMS: The easiest way is he’s really a playmaker. He really is. He gets more credit for being a defensive player than he really is. But he doesn’t get nearly as much credit, maybe, for being a playmaker that he is. Every now and then he doesn’t see the defense like a quarterback that has a high turnover ratio within interceptions. But he sees things happening quicker, is able to make a decision quicker, and able to make the play quicker than probably anybody on our team.

And to me that is a playmaker. And he’s talking about as he was dribbling down the court against Kentucky the other night what things were going through his mind. That doesn’t — I don’t have any doubts about that at all. I think he was trying to say, okay, am I going to drive it all the way, how are they playing this? Well, they’re going to make it difficult. There’s Luke. I do think his mind works like that. I wish it worked like that and he was as good defensively as his reputation is because I really want him to buy into that even more. But that’s the biggest thing, is the playmaker part of it.

Q. Today the governor signed a repeal bill. HB 2, I’m wondering you’ve been outspoken against it. And is it a step in the right direction? And how important is it as a citizen of North Carolina, let alone a head coach?
COACH WILLIAMS: I haven’t seen anything. I don’t know if it’s completely done, if they’ve changed a few things. So I don’t have a lot of information. But I tried to say that it’s not just about athletics. It was about more than just holding and hosting athletic events. And to me, I always said, too, I was very sad because I love the state of North Carolina. I think the people of North Carolina and the people that come live there are very proud. So that was my biggest stance on it. But I haven’t seen anything yet as to what actually has been done.

Q. You said coming into this week that you wanted this team to enjoy this experience more and have more fun compared to last year. Have you seen that so far, and how do you feel it will translate come Saturday night?
COACH WILLIAMS: I think they are having fun. I don’t know that I said I wanted them to have more fun, unless you were talking about the final outcome, perhaps, might give them more fun. But I think they are having fun. The hotel’s nice. They have their little room. Once they saw that I was going to make it yesterday, they all had a big laugh and last night at the meeting they all mimicked the way I was walking, talking, acting. So they had a lot of fun at my expense last night.

But I think they are having fun. And today at practice we weren’t very focused. And so I want to ask them tonight: Isn’t it going to be more fun if you’re successful. So let’s try to be more focused than they were today.

Q. First thing, I did an experiment today and my feet didn’t swell on the plane. You said that feet swell on the plane. Feet really swell on the plane. They didn’t?
COACH WILLIAMS: Yours didn’t, but most people really do. And Joel’s did.

Q. Really? Interesting. I’m doing superlatives for the team, and one of the questions I asked them is who is the coach’s pet? And a lot of them said Kenny is the one that does stuff before you say anything. And they said Joel was his son, that he was just, that you two are super close. How do you feel about those two answers?
COACH WILLIAMS: Well, Kenny and I are related. We’re named Williams. So there’s bound to be some relationship somewhere. And he’s very bright, does think defensively and I think a lot of times he’s able to answer things and know what I’m going towards because he’s so good and thinks on the defensive end of the floor.

And I love Joel’s competitiveness. I love that. There’s times you have to temper it. I mean he was mad because I wouldn’t let him do anything in practice today in full court. And I went over and I said: Oh, you’re mad, huh? That’s good. He did nothing full court today and I’m hopeful we’ll get something out of it tomorrow.

But the players, they generally from every team they pick a favorite. It’s all the way back to ’05, they called Jackie Manuel my son. And I said, that’s because he’s the best defensive player, that kind of thing. But I’ve been very fortunate to coach some kids that I do really, really enjoy and love.

Q. Dana says that he thinks the board battle will be a key factor, maybe the key factor. Do you agree with that? And what are the things about the Ducks that concerns you the most?
COACH WILLIAMS: I’ve always felt that rebounding, if I, Roy Williams, could only pick one thing, I would always pick rebounding as the most significant factor in determining who wins the game. Because I think the game’s pretty simple. You get it. I get it. You get it. I get it. The only way for me to get more opportunities is to get more offensive rebounds to get another shot and to make sure that you don’t get more offensive rebounds.

So I’ve always thought that was extremely important, and we try to focus on it every year. When you get to this part every year, though, there’s four really good teams, really well-rounded teams. There’s really no weakness in any of the teams. And I believe that. And so it’s not like when you’re getting to play some other team, and you say if we do this we’re going to win the game because this is such a big problem for them, we need to take advantage of that.

I don’t think you can do that. At least I haven’t found anything yet on Oregon yet. I have already studied some tape on them. What scares me is how everybody can score. You know, with Brooks and Tyler Dorsey and Jordan Bell. There’s so athletic, I try to figure out who the dickens do I have that can guard them. They present a lot of problems.

I saw them in Maui lose the first game, win a game in overtime. And they were not what everybody is saying Oregon was going to be. Since that, they’re 31-3. And that’s pretty dadgum impressive. And so when I see them, I see a guy on the bench that I know a little bit and have tremendous amount of respect for. And that he’s got his team playing the way he wants them to play, and they’re really well balanced.

Q. You gave us in Brooklyn a little bit of a window into what you thought President Trump’s tweeting habits. You’re two wins away, if you’re fortunate enough to win to potentially go to the White House. I’m curious, in a divided political era, I was just in the locker room where I think they said 12 of the, the majority of the locker room didn’t go that way politically. I’m curious how you would handle that opportunity?
COACH WILLIAMS: This is an easy one, really. There’s nobody in this room that’s as dadgum superstitious as I am. You think I’m going to think about that? I’m not even Catholic and I cross myself and everything before every dadgum putt I ever take (laughter). Talk to me about that if that is a problem and I will give you an answer, I promise. But I’m not going that far.

The biggest problem I’ve had with my team, seriously, since I got here is getting everybody to understand: Don’t give me any junk about we’re going to read — what’s the website or whatever, Redemption? What is it? Whatever it is. Redemption? Group chat. That’s what we’re doing right now as far as I’m concerned, we’re having a group chat. I don’t know anything about all that other junk.

But seriously my focus is to make sure they understand we’re here to play Oregon. If we play, well, against Oregon, perhaps somebody may let us stay around and play another one. But no, no, there’s nobody in the world that can make me think of anything like that. But after the game, if we’re still standing here, you can ask me and I’ll give you an honest answer. I’ve tried to make sure I never jinx my dadgum self.

Q. Speaking of redemption, I asked a few of your players if it’s been a motivating factor for them. Some said yes. Some said no. What’s the sense of it from your perspective, in just the way your kids have handled from fall ball all the way right through to getting here to Phoenix?
COACH WILLIAMS: You know, it’s a hard question, because I have to break it up. In the locker room was the most inadequate feeling I’ve ever had in my life. And it’s hard. It’s hard to think about it. It’s hard to talk about it. Because my kids gave me everything they had. The other team made a big-time play.

We made some big-time plays to get in that position. So in the locker room, what I did is tried to tell them, let’s focus on using this feeling as fuel, as motivation, to work extremely hard in the offseason. And that’s really what I used it for. Maybe two or three times they’ve heard me say, what’s the most fun you’ve ever had in basketball. And every one of them says, last year, the run to Monday night.

I said remember that. But I haven’t got it up in the wall in the locker room and I haven’t gone through anything and padded it as I go out or anything like that. And I think the answer they gave you is some kids meant more to them, some kids it meant less to. But it was used as motivation to try to work hard to be the best player they could be, is the way I tried to use it.

Q. You touched on Joel’s status. Where does it stand a few days out from the game?
COACH WILLIAMS: Like I said, he did nothing full court today. If we go back and he feels good tonight, we might let him do full court tomorrow. But I can’t let him play on Saturday if he can’t do something full court because we do playful court (laughter). If you can’t do anything up and down, then I can’t let him play.

But he wanted to do more today. Between Doug and myself — in fact, he didn’t do — he did fastbreak drills number one and three. So that’s three minutes. He did defensive group work. So that’s seven minutes. He did under OB defensive work. That’s four minutes. So that’s 11. So you’re talking about 14 minutes. And he substituted out some of that. So he didn’t break a real sweat, that kind of thing. But we hope to get more out of him tomorrow.

Q. You’ve said both today and before that your position on the last law in North Carolina, it wasn’t just about hosting events, it was the law itself. So to get right to substance of it, probably the central plank of that law, which is it’s not clear exactly what will happen now, but is that transgender people in North Carolina at least couldn’t use bathrooms other than their birth gender basically in public facilities. And I guess I’m wondering why you’re opposed to that, why you think that’s a wrong law?
COACH WILLIAMS: You guys know what the single-wing is in football? Seriously, because everybody don’t. You’re shaking your head yes, but you damn sure don’t. Why should I talk about some new law that I don’t even know what the law says? And I trust you but not enough because I’m up here and I say, oh, that’s stupid, or, oh, that’s great, you’re all going to write it.

So you’re asking me to form an opinion on what you just said. I’m not trying to be argumentative, but, guys, I’m a college basketball coach, that I am entitled to have my beliefs. If you ask me about zone or man-to-man, I would love to talk to you about it. Even if you ask me about calling timeouts, I would love to talk to you about that.

But I don’t even know what the new law means. I’ve already made my statements about the old law. And so I really think that’s enough, to be honest with you. And this is America. I don’t tweet. But I do give my opinion (laughter). Or is it twit? Or is that what I am, a twit? Somewhere in there.

Q. We were talking to Stilman and talking about his journey to his senior year. And he talked about his mission trip and you holding the spot for him. The one thing he said was it wasn’t so much a testament about the type of player he was, but the type of coach you were to do that for him. So I guess kind of expand on that and your thoughts during that time on saving that spot for him and what he means to this team?
COACH WILLIAMS: You know, it was an easy deal to save a spot for him because I would want that done for me. Basically I’m corny, I want people to treat me like I’ve tried to treat people. I want to have those things done. I’m really sad in one thing, because when he came back he was hurt. I think he might have even broken his ankle while he was gone. I know he had a couple of surgeries.

So when he came back the first year and a half he was beat up. But this year, he’s really done some good things for us in practice there. He wore them out today. He and Luke, sometimes Coach Smith also used to say, you’ve got on a blue jersey, he has no stress, has no pressure. But today Stilman took it to the basket. He made shots. And it’s been a thrill for me to see him transform, to be healthy and to be somebody that I have a lot of confidence in, too.

I would not be afraid to put Stilman in in almost any situation. But he’s matured. Oh my gosh. He was a seven-year-old when I coached him first time. I mean — and now he’s almost an old man. But he’s been around six years. So you should see that. But, no, he’s a thrill and a fun guy to coach, too.

Q. How do you approach if Oregon goes four out, potentially having to put a big guy on Dillon Brooks?
COACH WILLIAMS: A big guy is going to possibly be on Dillon Brooks to start with because we’re going to start two big guys. But that’s who we are. And we’re going to do that. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll try to make some changes. But I always say that if it’s hard for our big guy to get out on the court and play them, I hope it’s hard for the perimeter player to have a difficult time guarding our guy inside.

In our league, we have Jayson Tatum, I mean, Notre Dame, Bonzie. We have a lot of mismatches that are difficult for us to get out the court. And yet we hope to make it difficult for the guy to guard them inside too. That’s the game of basketball. We’re going to start out.

I may surprise everybody. I may put Joel on him. I may put Stilman on them, if Joel doesn’t play. The good thing is we have some more time to look at some more tape. The other night I didn’t put Joel on De’Aaron Fox because Joel’s ankle was bothering him to start the game. I didn’t think we needed to call a special session of Congress to decide if that was a the thing.

It just seemed at that time it felt like a good thing. And put Justin on Malik and Justin played his tail off. And Theo tried to stay in front of De’Aaron. So there’s still 48 hours before we have to make those decisions. But it’s going to happen. But if that’s the case, then the big guy better do something inside, too.

Q. You talked about your superstition. The Shea Rush hats, is that more superstition now or style for you?
COACH WILLIAMS: I’m not a good-looking guy in a lot of different ways, but I don’t think I’m a hat guy for sure. But some way, somehow I took it to Greenville because I knew we were going to take a team picture, and we won. And some way somehow it showed up in Memphis and we won. And so, yes, it’s with me here. I think it just walks in and gets on the bus and we go on. Yeah, I’ve tried to get less superstitious but I think I’ve gotten more.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.