March 11, 2003
Head Coach Tubby Smith
On being named AP SEC Coach of the Year…
“It’s a real honor. I’m really thrilled and accept it on behalf of this team and this coaching staff, which has done an excellent job all year long in giving the type of guidance and leadership I knew we had within us and within the team. It’s a compliment to Keith Bogans, Jules (Camara) and Marquis (Estill). It’s a real testament to how hard they’ve worked. This team has done some outstanding things all year long – the win streak and going undefeated in the league being the most obvious. But we’ve done some good things off the court as well. A lot of the guys do a lot of good things within the community and around the area.”
On Keith Bogans not being voted SEC Player of the Year by the AP…
“Keith has had an outstanding year. We knew that would be a tough call in that we are the best team and he’s the player on the best team in the league. Ron (Slay) has had a good year. Keith’s year probably got a little diluted because we were so team-oriented. He didn’t have to carry as much of a load as Ron Slay did.”
On getting the players to realize mistakes even after wins…
“We point it out to them all the time. They know that’s part of evaluating the team and the game. We go back through the tape and evaluate our play. They know they’re not perfect and that there’s plenty of room for improvement for each individual player and for the coaching staff as well. We make it a habit to not only compliment them for the good things they do but also to point out when we’ve had some breakdowns. In the Florida game, we had a lot of defensive breakdowns. Along with the 16 turnovers, we had a lot to learn from that win.”
On the players taking criticism after a win…
“I think the guys accept it because that’s just the way we do things here. Sometimes we don’t have time to get through the entire game and we just bring up a specific area that we need to improve in. But when we have time to sit down and evaluate an entire game, we can usually pick out quite a few mistakes. Because it’s more of a veteran team, they do accept it and they know it’s not personal. They realize that the coach is just pointing out some things we have to get better at or we’ll have a tough time winning.”
On whether this year is his best coaching job…
“When you look at what we’ve done – 20 wins in a row, 16-0 in the SEC – I would say so. Just based on the numbers and the success we’ve had so far. But there have been other teams that I’ve done a pretty good job of coaching. I think every team I’ve ever had, I felt like I did a great job. You all didn’t think so, and a lot of other people didn’t think so. But I think I’ve worked just as hard ten years ago as I do today.”
On preparation for the SEC Tournament…
“We had off Sunday and we went light yesterday. We’ll go hard today and tomorrow and then light on Thursday. There are things we need to improve on such as our free-throw shooting and our communication on defense. We had some slippage on our defensive pressure. Although we did get a bunch of deflections the other day, we still need to improve in that area a lot. This time of year when you go into post-season play you have to spend a lot of time shooting the basketball and we’re getting better in that area.”
Chuck Hayes, Forward
On how the team is approaching going into the post-season…
“Pre-season is over with and conference season is over. Once you get into post-season, you have to be that much hungrier. This is what it is all about.”
On if teams will be gunning for UK…
“People are going to try to knock us off. We beat everybody and now they all have a grudge against us. We definitely have a target on our back.”
On the possibility playing three games in three days…
“The main thing about that is to just get as much rest as possible and stay healthy. You have to make sure you eat the proper foods and don’t do anything to damage your body. Those three days can go by really fast or they can drag along too, so you have to take care of your body.”
On the importance of the reserve players…
“The bench is always going to be huge. The reserves will always factor into whether or not we win a game. The little things they do can help us a lot.”
Keith Bogans, Guard
On being named first-team All-SEC…
“That’s a big award to win, to be named first-team All-SEC. I’d like to give thanks to my coaches and my teammates. It’s a great honor.”
On being passed over as the SEC Player of the Year…
“Sometimes it goes that way, and sometimes it doesn’t. (Ron) Slay contributed a whole lot to Tennessee, but I’d rather have a championship than an individual award. I wouldn’t trade what we’ve done for anything. He was named Player of the Year, and I won a (SEC) championship.”
On the possibility of playing Alabama in the SEC quarterfinals…
“Alabama played us tough in the first half the first time we played, and in the second half, we pulled away. I’m sure they will want to come back to win. It’ll be a tough game, no matter who we play.”
On the team’s mindset going into the SEC Tournament…
“We want to continue the way we’ve been playing. We don’t want to change much. We just want to keep doing what got us to this point. I’m looking forward to three games in three days after all of this practice time. We’ll have to lean on the bench to stay fresh, but right now, we need to focus on the first game.”
Gerald Fitch, Guard
On how he has changed since his tumultuous sophomore season…
“I grew up, and I learned a lot from last season. This year, I just relaxed and watched everything go on and tried to watch things from different angles.”
On the possibility of facing Alabama in the SEC quarterfinals…
“Alabama is still a great team with a lot of great players. They’ll bring their “A” game, so we need to come out ready to play. They’re going to throw everything they have at us, and I know I’ll be trying my best to get a win.”
