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San Diego State press conference with Brian Dutcher, Nick Boyd and Wayne McKinney
Mar 19, 2025
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0:23
no
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at this time we welcome to the stage the
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head coach of the San Diego State Aztecs
0:59
and Brian ducher
1:01
and joining him Nick Boyd 12 points
1:03
tonight Wayne McKenna II also with a
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dozen um coach before we open up
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questions to your student athletes just
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a statement on U this game here this
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evening well congratulations to North
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Carolina for advancing uh I knew going
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into the game I had watched them on tape
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that they were playing really well that
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they were playing tight uh I thought
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they were ready for any
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situation uh they're well coached
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they're talented Ed and they're playing
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really good basketball right now so we
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tip our hats to them obviously we wish
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we' have given them more of a game uh
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but we hang our hat on our defense and
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we couldn't get stops uh we knew we had
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to play in the 70s to have a chance and
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they were up in the 90s so uh really
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happy for the season we had but
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obviously disappointed in the way we
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finished it all right we'll open up the
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uh floor questions for our student
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athletes uh first
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let's go to the third
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row Mike petralia CNS cincy.com uh Nick
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I guess I'll start with you how did the
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game get away in that first half where
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did you feel it starting to slip away
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from you um I think it was I think we
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got a couple we had a couple turnovers
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and those turned into uh fast breaks and
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then on top of that um we fouled some
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guys where they had they were able to
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you know get a couple of free throws a
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couple fast break points and then I
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think they started out the game hitting
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like I think if I'm not mistaken like
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four for four from three so I thought we
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played really good defense and then they
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had some guys step up and make some
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threes where was kind of stretch the
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league but once um you know they got
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going and transition off our turnovers
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um it's hard to stop
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them Wayne when they're hitting threes
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like that how does that stretch the
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defense how does it make it more
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difficult to stick to your assignments
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uh definitely makes it a little bit more
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difficult you know they have a team full
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of guys who can def get to the hoop
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Drive pretty well and swing it out and
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for open shots so uh when all their guys
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are making shots like that makes it a
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lot uh lot more difficult for us to
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guard in the back row for both you guys
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mark C San Diego Union
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Tribune this is a program that it's was
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seven and two in the in the NC
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tournament in the last two years um
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doesn't rarely gives up more than 70
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points um give up 95 tonight lose by 30
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whatever it was um just describe those
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emotions I mean how shocking is it to
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your system to lose like
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this Nick um yeah obviously not the
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outcome we wanted
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uh uh it's tough you know it's tough
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It's hard to really even put into words
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um you know how you feel after coming
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you know to the biggest stage and just
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getting your butt whooped but um I mean
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it's is bigger than basketball and you
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know these are lessons that we could
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take as a team uh into the real world
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and um just learn from and learn how to
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keep your head up but yeah it's just
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hard to explain Wayne Uh yeah it it
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hurts a lot um you know we're a
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defensive team we didn't really stick to
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our assignments as well as we could have
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uh I know we're one of the younger teams
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in the tournament so luckily for those
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guys they get to get a taste of this and
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understand for uh preparation next
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season how how much it means to this
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just lock in on every play and don't
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take anything for granted and just work
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hard any more questions for our student
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athletes yeah back
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row uh Nick I know you you weren't here
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um but the last time senio State got
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beat like this the NC tournament against
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an ACCC team was in 2021 against
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Syracuse was real bad loss they were
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down 24 and half same thing um but they
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really rallied around that loss two
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years later they're in the national
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championship game do you think something
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like this will help the team motivate
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you through the summer in s of the same
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way yeah I mean like L Wayne said no um
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no doubt like uh it's just I'm I'm just
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happy for the team man got a bunch of
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young dudes a bunch of guys who never
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been to the tournament and um when I
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heard our name called I was just so
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proud you know because you know just
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just for them to have the opportunity to
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understand what it's like and uh what it
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feels like to represent a city or a
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school um in one of the biggest
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platforms there is for college sports or
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and colleges in general um and I just
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think yeah this is a loss that you know
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um we going to feel throughout the
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summer um we got punked they whooped our
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butts and I mean if you don't come to
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the summer ready to work uh you don't
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really love the game so um I think this
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is something yeah we could definitely
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grow from and rally around and just just
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take to the summer with us um and
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hopefully uh be back here next
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year Wayne Uh five of eight from the
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field tonight 12 points um Nick Nick
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defensive team all Mount West Second
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Team all conference gentlemen fantastic
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season we enjoyed your time here thank
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you thank you guys we'll be back thank
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you at this time as a student athletes
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exit we we turn things over to the head
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coach and and Brian Dutcher uh questions
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uh for
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coach back
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row Dutch um same thing I mean you you
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this is a program that doesn't take
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losses like this and doesn't give up 95
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points what's that like sitting there on
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the bench and looking at the scoreboard
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just rolling up when you know you hold
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teams the 50s and 60s all the time yeah
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I mean I thought we had a decent game
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plan we knew we had to take the fast
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break away and we didn't do that to
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start the game they got they built
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momentum on the break then they started
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making some threes they made 14 for the
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game I think they make seven on the a
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game on the season seven or eight so
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they shot the ball well obviously our
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game plan was not good enough we tried
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to switch ball screens front uh but they
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drove us they got it over the top and uh
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we got down by so many at that point
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you're just trying to find a way to go
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on any kind of run to hang in there uh
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to to make it where you might they might
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feel you at the end but they expanded
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the lead and then it was just trying to
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play for Pride at that point you know we
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were so desperately out of it that uh
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were a proudful program we wanted to
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fight to the end we did not want to give
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in to them and to our kids credit I
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thought they fought to the very end and
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there are lessons to be learned
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obviously it has to leave a taste in
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your mouth uh that uh it's
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unacceptable uh but I've been doing this
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a long time and I've seen the highest of
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highs and the lowest of lows and usually
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uh you can you can learn from both
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winning and losing so we'll have to
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learn from losing
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tonight I we stay in the back row um
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obviously you guys it was very very
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tough travel logistically logistically
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you had no prep practice for this game
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which is very unusual how much did that
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affect some of the rotation some of the
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open looks they were getting in the in
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the first half particularly yeah
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obviously I wish we had a little more
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time but they you know they didn't have
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much more time than we had you know I
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would have liked to practice in San
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Diego before we came that didn't happen
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you know we flew across country did a
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public practice and did our first real
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film work after that like yesterday
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night
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uh 8 or nine o'clock at night was our
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first prep time we did a walk through
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today in a ballroom and then went to
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shoot around and tried to walk through
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some things you know we played a lot of
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games so we've done a lot of different
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things so it's not like we're starting
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from scratch we thought we had a game
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plan uh that would work but obviously uh
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they're playing at a really high level
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right now you know and I saw that on
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tape sometimes you watch a team on tape
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and you're hoping uh there's some flaws
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but they're playing at a high level
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right now you know I I saw that if they
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if you switch ball screens exactly what
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they they know what they're going to do
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if you hedge ball screens they know what
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they're going to do if you're in drop
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they know what they're going to do so
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they're well coach and they have a a
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counter and a game plan for everything
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you're trying to do so you have to play
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well not only you have to have a game
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plan but you have to play well and uh we
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didn't match uh their level of play
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tonight and that's a credit to them and
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their coaching staff third row Mike
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petralia clc.com uh coach obviously one
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of your responsibilities is trying to
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get a grasp on the tempo of the game
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control your team but it seemed like
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that stretch where Davis hits a three
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right before halftime right after
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halftime and then you guys get a
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technical from your
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perspective how important was that
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stretch in terms of maybe frustration or
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perhaps the game getting away yeah
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that's what I told I said it halftime to
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John rosting the biggest enemy of any
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team is frustration or any player and so
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when you get frustrated you have a
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momentary lapse as to where you should
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be what you should be doing because
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you're frustrated at the offensive end
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and I thought we lost him a couple of
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times we lost him on a guard to guard
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ball screen where he hit a three then
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the very next time we lost him on a
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penetration and kick and then to start
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the second half and he's I mean this is
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the second all-time leaning score in ACC
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history so even if you play well he's
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capable of bouncing up and making shots
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so we made some mistakes where we gave
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him a couple good looks uh but he's
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capable of making hard looks too and so
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he's a gifted player and he got on a
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role and he's hard to guard when that
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happens back
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row um five years ago you would have
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played your final game gone home maybe
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gone on vacation taking a break start
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spring practices can you explain how
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different it is now yeah basketball the
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work Starts Now recruiting starts the
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portal opens shortly and we'll find out
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uh who's coming back from our team we'll
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find out who's available and uh like
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every team in the country we'll try to
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put a roster together uh for next year
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uh negotiating nil deals and and uh turn
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my uh coaching hat to a GM hat and try
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to put a team together for next year
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that'll be competitive and have an
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opportunity to come back here and play
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in the dance and hopefully advance in it
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like we have in the last two years a
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last question for coach and along those
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lines when you lost against Syracuse in
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2021 you guys reach tooled your roster
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you you walked out saw that game Saw
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what happened and said we got to get
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bigger and you got bigger and you were
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so big that you bullied teams all the
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way to National Championship game what
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lessons will you take from this
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experience tonight and how do you need
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to get better either through retaining
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players or the transfer portal yeah I
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mean obviously we have a young Team Six
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of our top 10 are freshman or sophomores
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so they have to grow they have to have a
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learning experience and they have to
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come back and get better physically and
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mentally and become better players uh
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obviously ly uh we have to add pieces
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we'll look in what what we have coming
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back and find out what our deficiency
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are and try to fill some of those
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deficiencies so we've had a uh pretty
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good success uh in the transfer portal
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uh we we were taking transfers before
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the portal existed so we've always been
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able to piece together fouryear guys and
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then add pieces out of the transfer
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market and find a way to have a good
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team so that's the goal again to retain
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the players uh that want to be here and
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then to add pieces in the portal and uh
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continue to keep San Diego State uh
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relevant at a national level and that's
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what my goal and job as a head coach is
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so many amazing moments over the last
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couple years for San Diego State coach
12:45
we appreciate your time and energy thank
12:47
you uh just a reminder Hammond
12:49
communication is going to be posting the
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recording of the press conference uh
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NCAA digital media hub that's
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ncaa.com
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transcripts will be Prov provided soon
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and tomorrow night the fun starts at
13:02
6:40 our first game Mount St Mary's an
13:04
American followed by Texas and Xavier
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