NCAA Selection Show Reaction Quotes
California Head Coach Cuonzo Martin
Reaction to seed and opponent:
“I thought it was a good seed -- obviously a very talented Hawaii team and also good to play in Spokane. We won’t have to do a lot of heavy traveling so that’s always good.”
On what seed team was expecting:
“I never really get caught up in that but I expected, if I would’ve had to guess, between a 4 and a 6. If you look at RPI, strength of schedule, strength of league…seeing Oregon as a 1-seed, Oregon State as a 7-seed, [the committee] took into consideration our league’s strength of schedule and RPI. “
On facing Hawaii:
“I’ve watched them here and there during the season. I know they won their conference tournament. Very talented team. I know their big guy [Stefan Jankovic] is probably their best player. He was at Missouri when I was at Tennessee. He’s 6-11, can put the ball on the floor, can make shots from the perimeter, so I know he’s very talented but I can’t tell you about each individual guy.”
On team's expectations and goals for the tournament:
“Just play well…to play well, play hard and have fun. This is a great time of year. You work so hard to get to this point, to this position, so now it’s really about having a lot of fun. You know it’s win or go home but I think they’re excited to play.”
On team's reaction to seed:
“They were excited. They were jumping around. They were happy. It’s great to play on Friday and to have fresh legs, to be relaxed, get back in the classroom off the Vegas trip and then get back to work.”
On team's progression through season and entering the tournament:
“I’ve always said that we’re talented enough but again, when you have new guys, new parts that you have to gel together, it takes time and it doesn’t happen overnight. Our guys worked extremely hard to continue to get better, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and they’ve made a tremendous amount of improvements. Again, this is what I call ‘fun times’ because you work so hard to get to this point that now you can let it all hang out.”
On team's readiness for the tournament:
“They’ll be ready to go. Everyone has a level of nervous energy as a ballplayer. I know I did, regardless of who the opponent was because I wanted to be good and play well. I think they’ll feel the same things but once the ball is tipped – maybe the first five minutes – it is what it is at that point.”
On Oregon's No. 1 seed:
“You hear so much chatter on the surface and you never hear the committee talk, so you never really know what’s being said behind the scenes. I felt that Oregon was a No. 1 seed, especially since they won our conference tournament. If you look at their resume – I think a 3 or 4 RPI, one of the best in the country, a great team that won a great league – I felt that they were a No. 1 seed. “
On team's confidence from games with No. 1 seed opponents (Oregon, Virginia):
“I feel like we’re a confident team. It’s just a matter of playing hard, being consistent and doing the things we need to do to win games. I think our guys understand that they’re talented enough… [our game will be] a scouting report type of game, understanding personnel and giving yourself the best chance to win games.”
California Players
Senior Guard Tyrone Wallace:
On the selection:
“I’m not that surprised at all. I think we had a great year and we’ve played some of the better teams in the nation…it feels great. I haven’t been to an NCAA tournament since my freshman year so it feels good to be back in there and I’m just ready to practice and get out there.”
On the ceiling for the team:
“I feel like the sky’s the limit. I think we’ve played some very good teams very tight until the end and so at this point in the season anybody can get hot. We just have to make shots because a game can go either way. I think we’ll be ready. We’ll get to practice and we’ll be ready to come in with a focus.”
On the strength of the Pac-12 Conference:
“I think the Pac-12 is a great conference. Charles (Barkley) gave us a lot of credit. I think a lot of times we get overlooked, but we do have a lot of talent in this league and there are a lot of teams that are really good that aren’t going to make the tournament, so it’s going to be nice to get a chance to play against other opponents.”
On advice for his teammates:
“To have fun first and foremost. We always talk about going out there and having fun, playing loose. Everybody knows it’s an important time of the year. When you lose you go home. I think the most important thing is to have fun and leave it all out there on the court.”
Freshman Forward Jaylen Brown:
On the strength of the Pac-12 Conference:
“I definitely think it was great news for Oregon to get the No. 1 seed. That means that the Pac-12 is being respected a lot and so that’s good news for all the teams in the Pac-12. It’s a good conference this year and we’re proud of every team for coming out and competing every night.”
On teammate Tyrone Wallace:
“I talk to Tyrone and Stephen (Domingo) sometimes about the tournament and they’ve shared some of their experiences and stuff like that but I think everybody’s just excited and overwhelmed and now it’s time to take advantage of that.”
On Charles Barkley’s comments:
“That was great to hear form Charles. I appreciate the shoutout and now we just have to make sure we live up to the potential that everybody says that we have.”
Freshman Forward Ivan Rabb:
On earning a No. 4 seed:
“I think it was possible, I thought we were going anywhere from four to six. But being a four seed, that gives credit to our coaches and our team.”
On what he wants to achieve as a group:
“I just want the team to get better. We definitely want to win games. We can’t look ahead because we have a tough Hawaii team Friday. The coaches are going to educate us on the team when the time comes.”
On preparing for Hawaii:
“It’s like any other game, but I don’t really know how it’s going to feel once I start playing the game. I know it’s going to be a tough game against Hawaii. We’re going to have to prove ourselves. They’re not going to give us the game. We’re going to have to take it. It’s going to be like that for every team in the tournament.”
