IU to Face Alabama in NCAA Tourney

March 16, 2003

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - After a team gathering at head coach Mike Davis' house for the NCAA bracket pairings, the Hoosiers (20-12) begin preparation to face Alabama (17-11) in Boston, Mass., on Friday March 21. The game will be hosted by Boston College and played in the FleetCenter.

Indiana was seeded seventh in the Midwest region as the Crimson Tide of Alabama were seeded 10th. This will be the 18th consecutive NCAA Appearance for the Hoosiers and the 32nd overall.

Seeded first in the Midwest was Kentucky (29-3). In the East Oklahoma (24-6) took first, Texas (22-6) was number one in the South and Arizona (25-3) was seeded first in the West.

Below are quotes from coach Davis, senior Tom Coverdale, senior Jeff Newton and freshman Marshall Strickland.

Mike Davis
Reaction to playing Alabama
"It is great. They are a really good team, probably the best 10th ranked team in the history of the NCAA because they were ranked number one at one point during the season, so it is going to be a challenge that we are looking forward to."

Your ties to Alabama still, will this be an emotional game for you or are you far enough removed from that?
"I am far enough removed from that. I want to win in the worst way. They have a point guard, Maurice Williams, who I think is one of the top three point guards in the country. They have an outstanding team."

Big Ten Tournament Recap
"Well we had one stretch against Illinois in the first half where Newton was out of the game and it really hurt us a lot. But we just have to continue to get better everyday and go into Friday's game ready to play. It is going to be a physical game. They (Alabama) are really good, I mean a really, really good basketball team so it is going to be exciting for us to see where we are as a team now."

Regarding team decision making over the past three games, were you pleased?
"The first game (Penn State) we had eight turnovers, the second game (Michigan) we had four turnovers, you are talking about 12 turnovers in two games and last night (Illinois) we had 17. That is too many. For us, to turn the ball over 17 times, we are not going to win. It was difficult to have that many turnovers last night."

Is the seventh seed about what you figured?
"I figured eight or nine. We really didn't have a great year. Once we got Bracey and those guys back, we were still up and down. The last three days have been really good for as far as playing, so I think that seven is a little high for us to be honest with you, but we will take it."

Regarding rest time before Friday's game
"We are ready now. I am feeling good about this team again. We've got an exciting feeling in the air."

Alabama struggled in the last three seasons; do you know anything about their struggles?
"Well I have no idea why they struggled because they are very good. They were ranked number one at one point."

Regarding the seventh seed?
"I thought that we would be eight or nine. I wouldn't have been surprised if we were 12th. Seventh is a little high but maybe they saw the last couple of games where we played really well."

Have you watched the game yet (from Illinois)?
"I haven't watched it yet, I am going to watch it tonight. I am just going to clear my mind of everything and then watch it. I am going to go and watch it tonight and also watch some of Alabama."

Tom Coverdale
"Coach was in a different room than I was when we got our seeding. But I think that it is a good draw for us. I think that they are a team that had been playing well for a while and we feel that we have been playing better than we had all year so I am sure that they (the coaching staff) will have more for us tomorrow on what we need to do to beat them."

Regarding Alabama being ranked number one in the country at one point during the season
"Yeah but that was so far in the beginning of the season that that doesn't matter. Obviously you can look at it as they were one of the last teams to get in too. It is going to be a tough game but we are looking forward to it."

When the first two brackets come up and you guys aren't in it, do you start to get nervous?
"No, we knew that we were in the tournament it is just more anticipation than anything to see who we are playing. But I think that overall it is a really good draw for us."

Coach said that they have one of the best point guards in the nation, what are your thoughts on that?
"I think that (Marshall) Strickland is doing good job defensively for us so if he is the one that is going to guard him then I think that he is going to do a good job. I can't say much about it right now because we haven't watched any film or done anything, so we will know a lot more tomorrow after we see what we have to do."

Talk about the focus the team had in Chicago and the play overall.
"It is the best it has been in a long time. I think that we are playing the best defensively that we have all year and that is the most important thing around tournament time, that and executing your half court offense. So those are two things that we did really well but we didn't do them for 40 minutes against Illinois and that is what hurt us, so hopefully we learned from that mistake."

Even though you wanted to advance, does losing yesterday help in regards to getting an extra day of rest?
"Well that is one of the positives, but obviously you want to win and have a chance for a Big Ten Championship but I think that all of that is behind us. We know that the only thing we can take from the Big Ten Tournament is the confidence in knowing that we are playing pretty well right now and we have to take that into the NCAA Tournament and go from there."

Jeff Newton
Were you nervous at all after the first two brackets were announced and you guys weren't seeded yet?
"No, I thought that we would have been seeded where we were too. I would have guessed that was where we would be.

Talk about the confidence heading into this year's tournament compared to the confidence heading into the tournament last year.
"I think that we have more confidence going into this year because we know what it takes and we have a lot of experience coming into this year's tournament. So I think that the confidence is up more."

What did you take away from last year's tournament run?
"Just that records don't matter. You have to be better on that night that you are playing, you have to better than that team on that given night."

Is Alabama a team that you guys can overlook?
"There is no way that you can overlook any team in this tournament. Anybody can beat anybody else on any given night. You have to play every game like it is your last one."

Marshall Strickland
About Alabama
"They have a real dangerous team. They have a really big personnel and I think that they have something to prove, just like we do."

About the patience and the decision making in Chicago and how that may have been different when we are struggling.
"In Chicago, in most of the games, we executed really well. We had our lapses, like at the end of the first half against Illinois, I think that they had a really big run that changed the pace of the game, but we are improving in that area."

Talk about how comfortable you are getting in the point guard position.
"I am getting really comfortable at the point now. I have been starting for some time now and it is my position and I feel that I have control on what is going on and in the tempo of the game."

Patience is so key in setting up the offense in the half court, isn't it?
"Yes, I think that is one of the keys of our offense, making sure that everybody is in the right spots and making sure that we execute our plays."

Indiana University Athletics

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