UConn National Championship Postgame Press Conference - 2024 NCAA Tournament

open let's call it 9:35 so Tristan Stefan and then Cam and Coach over here that there you go we're joined Now by student athletes from Yukon if you have a question for the student athletes from Yukon raise your hand we'll send a microphone to you let's start up front here to the left thank you this one is for cam your name in media Outlet sir sorry y uh Jake Fenner Daily Mail cam over here doesn't help hi Cam far left up front guys um the three of you were named to the uh top team the all tournament team you especially this is something that uh happened to you after you transferred to the school is that something that uh coach kind of sold you on those kinds of opportunities and is that what Drew you to the school no I mean it was it was all about the team and going to accomplish another championship you know I had never been a part of a championship like this and uh you know that's really what coach Earley and I talked about in the recruiting process and you know this was our goal from day one so to do it with with your brother than your family that you go to war with every day is just you know really special right now continuing with questions for the Yukon student athletes second ra Wall Street Journal Robert oconnell Wall Street Journal this one's for cam uh there was a moment there cam sorry right here in the middle there was a moment there where uh I think you got a foul called on you and you were maybe looking for a jump ball or something and you were running around and Coach kind of calmed you down kept you from maybe getting a tea or something like that I'm curious how often is that going in that direction and not you guys having to calm coach down about not going too nuts on the sideline yeah I think you know we're two similar personalities but you know I just I was going for the offensive rebound and felt like I had the ball and you know just heat of the- moment reaction uh but you know luckily I have Coach to have my back and calm me down because I probably would have gotten a technical if if I didn't uh calm down so yeah if you have a question for the Ukon student athletes please raise your hand let's go to the third row on the right side Nick Lawrence have been major Madness cam 20 or so you came into college you only had one scholarship offer you went to loyala your first year you were the first team in the whole country to get eliminated from conference tournaments just talk about the trials and tribulations to get here get that win and also you have some nice Hardware up against your brother he's won the toart and now you're are national champion just talk about that with your brother little relationship there yeah you know I wouldn't be here without without my brother um you know having four years ahead of me I've always been able to watch him you know kind of grow up and go through the similar experiences that I I'm now going through um so you know like I said I wouldn't be here without him and I'm just so thankful for all the you know work he's helped me put in and um yeah I can't say enough about my family and you know I wouldn't be here without them so so thankful next questions for Adam and Adam hang on to the microphone when you're done yeah for all three of guys Adam zor nj.com I think the Yukon guards outscored the Purdue guards 55 to 7 how much going into the game was it your mindset to kind of control and disrupt their guards and how proud of you are the fact that you dominated them 55 to 17 Adam pass the mic to your left and we'll ask cam to take that then Stefan and then Tristan go first go first yeah um I mean it was a big part of our game plan just trying to uh limit as much as we can from the guards and I feel like we did a good job at that and you know just playing confident on the other end I feel like coach put us in great positions to be successful all night and it worked out for us Tristan yeah I mean uh we knew we knew he was going to get his points and you know it took him 25 shots to get 37 points so you know that was the game plan just uh limited guards and um you know Steph cam um you know hos got in there they did great jobs on the guards and you know limited them and their impact cam did you have something to add to that yeah um obviously you know coming in we knew Zach Zach Ed is a tough guy to stop uh you know we wanted to to make him work for everything but you know I think the coaches made a point that we'd be really locked in if you know we could control their three-point attempt and you know I think holding them to seven uh you know we were really just locked in on you know not letting those other guys get involved in the game um and I think you know Steph and Tristan and all the guard did a great job in the center of the room please raise your hand for us hi Audi Joseph CBS Sports um did you guys uh and this is for any of you did you expect them to back off three pointers like you you just talked about how you defended them but did you actually expect that they would simply not take them that they would show that I guess discipline and react to how you were defending them or was that did that come as a surprise to You Tristan can you take that one for us I mean um we watched that film and they get their three-pointers off you know people going down there and helping on Edy uh you know the clach did a great job game planning and made sure that um that was a focus on that we didn't leave the three-point line and and let Ed do all you know his his damage cuz you know he only shoots twos he shoots no threes so um if he makes 15 twos like he did today that's 30 and then where the rest of the points going to come from so you know they they did a great job of scouting and um yeah CIT to them if you have a question for the student athletes from Yukon please raise your hand we'll send the microphone to you all right we'll take one in the back of the room on the right side Andy dorf Sports by line USA radio network talk about your guys on the ball pressure just Relentless throughout the whole game and how you made it so daunting for those guys to basically get any shot up Stefan can you take that one please um I mean yeah I mean uh I feel like our post defense started with you know pressuring the ball and just trying to limit uh you know just easy easy catches for Ed so I mean I feel like our coaches did a great job at uh with the Scout and I feel like we executed it well and it worked out for us final question for the Yukon student athletes all the way right can't get any further right uh this is Richard Smith with independent news media here in Phoenix uh this question is for Tristan something coach talked about on Saturday was how this team never lost its Drive they they didn't act like they were the defending Champions they kept their focus they were hungry how much did you take it on yourself to set that kind of tone for the team and then when did you realize that these guys were as locked in as the team was last year if not more was it even before the season started yeah I mean I wouldn't take any credit for s a tone you know that was all coach um you know last year was last year it's not uh defending you know that that trophy 23 trophy is is in the crib and Coach office nobody can take that from him so uh you know this is a whole different year we we had goals winning five championships and you know we got all those done so you know credit coach to set the tone and everybody just FS his lead we want to congratulate cam Stefan and Tristan they're going to head back to the locker room the Yukon locker room is open till at least 10:05 hey coach we'll ask you to make an opening statement then we'll take some questions yeah uh you know you know first off you know just like I said I think yesterday was a privilege uh to share the court with uh you know with with with Matt Painter and Purdue uh you know one of the top programs in the country one of the best coaches in the country and uh you know just total class uh you know class uh personified across the board with with with those guys so uh you know obviously you know what could you say we won by a lot again next questions for Eddie we're going to have to hustle to bring him a microphone Eddie raise your hand thanks Eddie yes coach you won by a lot again congrats um Eddie pels from AP after they made their one three-pointer you hopped off the bench and called a timeout I know you were in quite a a a lather that but I mean was that specifically about like making sure we don't this doesn't become a trend well that was a that was a late clock a mistake um uh you know Braden had it with three on the clock and he used the ball screen and uh in such a late you know late shot clock situation like Donovan needed to get up there high and eliminate the attempt but um you know just the the game plan and and Luke you know Luke for for a day and a half prep uh to have us as ready as he did defensively for that game was just impressive we obviously you we we didn't want to give up threes we we didn't care if Zach uh you know took 25 28 shots to get 30 35 points the the this whole game plan was like no Smith no lawyer uh no Gillis no Jones you'll keep that Collective group under 18 20 points as a group they had no chance to win no matter how well Zach played up front Pete damn Pete theml from mpen uh you won your six games in this tournament by 140 points that's more than any team you really haven't backed away as you've dominated through this speaking of your dominance I'm just curious do you feel like this is a historic team and do you feel like this is one of the greatest teams of all time um I think it's I think it's up there in terms of the greatest twoyear runs that a program's maybe ever had just because um you know I don't want to I guess I can't say anything about Duke cu I'm going to piss my brother off um but I guess I could say stuff about Florida but I love Billy Donovan so I'm in a bad spot um I just think it it it it's it's the best two-year run I think in a very very long time just because uh of everything we lost from last year's team um to lose that much and again to do what we did again uh you know it's got to be as two as as impressive a two-year run as a programs had uh since prior to whoever did it before Duke um to me it is more impressive than what Florida and Duke did um because they brought back their entire teams and you know we uh you know we lost we lost some major players to the left of the aisle coach field of 68 Dan Mike Miller Field of 68 I'll give you an opening afterward Jay Wright said it was the most dominant team he can remember so that gives you a chance there does that is that what you're going to be making your mark on dominance nothing but dominance is that going to be the standard going forward is it a standard you can reach every year yeah um you know I know you things are going to be a little crazy for the next 10 days um unfortunately you know we're going to head into the portal um like everybody else now I've been dreading this moment uh but now we're here um yeah we we'll enjoy this for a couple days but then um you know we're going to you know on the flight home tomorrow we'll start talking about you know what the roster is going to look like obviously we graduate some players we lose a couple potentially to the NBA early entry and and uh you know we're going to dive in and and and put together a roster that that that that will can play a comparable level of basketball uh to the one that you guys have witnessed the last two years that's I know what our mindset will be uh you know we're going to be focusing on trying to put together you know a three-year run not just a two-year run front row on the left side coach hi coach Jake Fenner daily mail um to picky back off of a previous question to accomplish this feat in this era of nil and the transfer portal it almost could be considered something entirely different and entirely particularly special with the way the landscape currently is do you think that winning two in a row in this era is something that could be replicated again and do you think that because you won in this era it deserves to be held in a different regard yeah I mean I think that's probably for you guys to decide I think you know it's obviously it's a special run um and yeah I mean we're going to try and replicate it again you know we're going to um you know we're going to maintain a championship culture uh we we brought in we're bringing in some very talented High School freshmen uh our return earning players through Player Development will take a big jump and then will strategically add through the portal so um yeah I don't think that that we're going anywhere front row left Brett freedlander Saturday road.com Dan you mentioned your brother uh he he won back-to-back titles as a player you've done it as a coach now and could you put in perspective how incredible that is that two guys in the same family have done this and you what does it mean to your family yeah it's incredible I think uh you know it's it's incredible uh to join Bob in that club you know and just you know Bob was in The Arena tonight he wanted to kind of stay out of the out of the camera lens so it was you know he was in a he was in a box uh you know enjoying uh you know the comfort of that tonight so it's just awesome to have him here for that and then obviously my dad you know it's like my dad I think he looks at me and he looks at my brother and he sees us coaching in college and what would what it would have looked like you know for him if if he was doing it um you so I know it means a lot to me and Bob to you know to again you know we're the version of my father that would be coaching in college were even after back toback for me I'm still just the worst version of him up front on the left side a little bit worse I'm getting better and I'm coming for him Michelle Gardner Arizona Republic we've asked you about the potential to repeat now that you've done it Dan does this feel different it doesn't it really doesn't um I mean it's the same you know feeling that that you have you know you you just feel so light right now um and you know what though maybe it feels a little bit better because it's like the last thing knowing how great this team's been we've taken you know you know we've worn the everything shirt the whole year um and we just everyone in this organization gave everything so that we could win everything this year you know the mte that we were in the Big East regular season the Big East tournament the regional and and the national championship so we wanted to give everything so that we could win absolutely everything and the thought of like cam Spencer and Steph Castle in in their their short window of time with us um not to experience a national championship like we all have felt you know once we realized how good the team was that became a little bit of a pressure point you know it have been it would have sucked today to have you know blue and blue and yellow confetti uh and have to walk off that court with Cam Spencer and Steph Castle likely the final question on the left side left of the aisle Dan Dan Walkin USA Today uh Dan I I hope I don't misquote you but you said out on the court something about Yukon giving you all the resources you need um can we interpret that to mean you intend to be back at Yukon next year you're not going to entertain any conversations with with anybody else that might have a job coming open tomorrow yeah yeah yeah I don't think that's a concern you know my wife uh you should have her answer that yeah we can maybe arrange a press conference for Mrs early in the morning congratulations coach yeah thank you yeah she'll she'll answer that question better than I can yeah see we'd like to congratulate coach and thank him for all the time he spent here in the main interview room all week not a lot of Mobility on zigor almost hit the trophy man later thank you coach and thank you everyone the Yukon locker room should still be open right now for players

Channel: March Madness

Views: 34,833

Keywords: 2024 NCAA tournament, March Madness, March Madness press conferences, March Madness coach press conferences, Men’s NCAA tournament press conferences, Women’s NCAA tournament press conferences, 2024 Women’s NCAA tournament, NCAA tournament, 2024 March Madness

Id: 1Rf-3oAAmrs

Length: 17min 15sec (1035 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2024