Post Kansas Elite 8 win Q&A: Coach Altman, Dillon Brooks, Tyler Dorsey, Jordan Bell
Part I
THE MODERATOR: We are joined now by the champions of the Midwest Regional, the University of Oregon Ducks, Coach Dana Altman. Student-athletes are Jordan Bell, Tyler Dorsey and Dillon Brooks. Coach, congratulations. You're going to the Final Four!
DANA ALTMAN: Thank you. I am so happy for our team, our staff, our university. 1939 was a long time ago, and I think everybody will be pretty excited about the opportunity to go to Phoenix and play for a national title. We've won two four-team tournaments here now, so we have an opportunity to play in another one. I know our guys will get ready.
I thought Jordan Bell was unbelievable on the defensive end tonight. He got a couple of blocks early and I thought it really put a thought in their mind. Tyler hit some big threes, especially the two right before the half and the one when it got to 66-60. And Dillon Brooks just gives us a lot of passion. He played extremely hard. He gave us some big buckets, and I thought Dylan Ennis gave us a big lift both offensively and defensively.
I'm happy for our team. I'm happy for, as I mentioned, our university and our state. It's been a long time coming and now we just need to go continue to play well.
Q. For any of the players, late in the second half you guys were up six. I think Tyler put up a desperation three to beat the shot clock. It went through three KU players hands and you guys got possession. How critical was that sequence?
TYLER DORSEY: We was running a play that was supposed to go down the gut to Jordan and I wasn't playing attention to the shot clock, so it was my fault and when I was looking at it and I just threw up a desperation shot and I guess they didn't box out and Jordan got a big rebound.
DILLON BROOKS: Jordan has been grabbing big offensive rebounds for us this whole tournament. Grabbed another one. We weren't running the play, and Tyler threw it up and we just played hard throughout the whole game and when you play hard throughout the whole game you catch some breaks. We caught a break there and Jordan got the rebound and we got to set up another play and TD hit a clutch shot to put us up 9.
Q. Dana, Jordan said after the game last year he promised you after the postgame stuff he promised you that you guys would get to the Final Four. Before that, too, Dillon mentioned that the freshman group, no one believed in them, they were picked 8th to finish in the conference. What is it about the difference of that group?
DANA ALTMAN: Our basketball program, our staff owes those guys so much because they've stayed with us three years now. This is their third NCAA Tournament. It was their second Elite Eight. It's a very competitive group. I watched them develop as players, watched them grow up a little bit and really think about the team and worry about their teammates.
It's a special group. I've been fortunate. The seven years we've been at Oregon we've had great guys to work with. I feel great for those guys that our staff had a relationship with, but I also feel good for the all the other players that have built Oregon basketball. 1939 is a long drought, but there are a lot of guys that played and built some tradition at Oregon. We owe all the ex-players and our staff in particular the last seven years, Joevan Catron, EJ Singler, and Garrett Sim. I would miss guys if I tried to name 'em all, but those guys stayed with us and helped us build something.
Q. Coach, congratulations. Building off that, you have a lot of upperclassmen, you have significant depth such that you can lose your top shot blocker and make the Final Four playing great and playing well inside. As a coach, recruiting today, how much can you plan that out and get guys who are going to provide that depth for you three, four years from now and how much it is just you recruit guys and see what happens?
DANA ALTMAN: It's development. Jordan has developed over the three years. That may have been his best performance in his three years. He was phenomenal today. He set the tone early. I thought that was really important. I said in the locker room that he played like we had Chris and him out there. He was a one-man. He dominated inside. He developed.
Dillon has gotten better each year. Tyler, I mean, his -- the way he stepped up in the tournament was unbelievable. He is playing with tremendous confidence, not only making plays for himself but his teammates and defensively he was solid. Get any boards, Tyler? He had five the second half because he didn't have any at halftime. I jumped him about that. He had five at the second half. When he's rebounding and playing defensive and gets involved in the whole game that's when his offense is best. If he relies too much on his offense he doesn't get totally involved in the game, and throughout the tournament he's gotten really involved in the game.
Q. One of the keys that Coach Self felt like was a difference maker tonight was being able to beat the clock and make the big shots which Coach alluded to with the threes late in the first half. He also felt Oregon did a great job at winning loose balls and 50/50 balls. Do you think that was more a case that you outhustled them to the ball? Just muscle? Why do you think you were able to win loose balls on the court?
TYLER DORSEY: Coach tells us we have to be the tougher team at the beginning of the game. Those 50/50 balls means we was the tougher team tonight and we went and got 'em. We just went and competed and we didn't quit on the play. We got every rebound and we sent the guards -- Jordan was blocking shots and everybody was cracking down and then we got second-chance points, and like I said, the 50/50 balls we got 'em tonight.
DILLON BROOKS: Coach says all the time, we want to make the special offensive play. But today we were making special defensive plays. Jordan blocking shots, us getting 50/50 balls, Dylan cracking back and stealing the ball from them making easy baskets. We were working and we had more heart. We really wanted to take down one of the greatest teams in Kansas.
JORDAN BELL: What they said, winning the 50/50 war, second chance points, being the tougher team overall. We knew that we had to do the little things to help us get the victory today.
DANA ALTMAN: We had some lucky bounces. I think that's true. We had some balls that bounced right to us. We did outrebound them by 4, and I thought that was critical. We had a five-minute stretch that we ran out of gas. We were really bad there for about five minutes especially on the offensive end. We found a way to finish the game and that's what you do on the road.
Basically it was a road game for us. I look at the attendance figures, 18, 6. We had 600 and they had 18,000, and it was basically a road game for us! The guys had to make those plays. The guys had to make those plays. We did get some lucky bounces on some of those balls, no doubt about it.
Part I
THE MODERATOR: We are joined now by the champions of the Midwest Regional, the University of Oregon Ducks, Coach Dana Altman. Student-athletes are Jordan Bell, Tyler Dorsey and Dillon Brooks. Coach, congratulations. You're going to the Final Four!
DANA ALTMAN: Thank you. I am so happy for our team, our staff, our university. 1939 was a long time ago, and I think everybody will be pretty excited about the opportunity to go to Phoenix and play for a national title. We've won two four-team tournaments here now, so we have an opportunity to play in another one. I know our guys will get ready.
I thought Jordan Bell was unbelievable on the defensive end tonight. He got a couple of blocks early and I thought it really put a thought in their mind. Tyler hit some big threes, especially the two right before the half and the one when it got to 66-60. And Dillon Brooks just gives us a lot of passion. He played extremely hard. He gave us some big buckets, and I thought Dylan Ennis gave us a big lift both offensively and defensively.
I'm happy for our team. I'm happy for, as I mentioned, our university and our state. It's been a long time coming and now we just need to go continue to play well.
Q. For any of the players, late in the second half you guys were up six. I think Tyler put up a desperation three to beat the shot clock. It went through three KU players hands and you guys got possession. How critical was that sequence?
TYLER DORSEY: We was running a play that was supposed to go down the gut to Jordan and I wasn't playing attention to the shot clock, so it was my fault and when I was looking at it and I just threw up a desperation shot and I guess they didn't box out and Jordan got a big rebound.
DILLON BROOKS: Jordan has been grabbing big offensive rebounds for us this whole tournament. Grabbed another one. We weren't running the play, and Tyler threw it up and we just played hard throughout the whole game and when you play hard throughout the whole game you catch some breaks. We caught a break there and Jordan got the rebound and we got to set up another play and TD hit a clutch shot to put us up 9.
Q. Dana, Jordan said after the game last year he promised you after the postgame stuff he promised you that you guys would get to the Final Four. Before that, too, Dillon mentioned that the freshman group, no one believed in them, they were picked 8th to finish in the conference. What is it about the difference of that group?
DANA ALTMAN: Our basketball program, our staff owes those guys so much because they've stayed with us three years now. This is their third NCAA Tournament. It was their second Elite Eight. It's a very competitive group. I watched them develop as players, watched them grow up a little bit and really think about the team and worry about their teammates.
It's a special group. I've been fortunate. The seven years we've been at Oregon we've had great guys to work with. I feel great for those guys that our staff had a relationship with, but I also feel good for the all the other players that have built Oregon basketball. 1939 is a long drought, but there are a lot of guys that played and built some tradition at Oregon. We owe all the ex-players and our staff in particular the last seven years, Joevan Catron, EJ Singler, and Garrett Sim. I would miss guys if I tried to name 'em all, but those guys stayed with us and helped us build something.
Q. Coach, congratulations. Building off that, you have a lot of upperclassmen, you have significant depth such that you can lose your top shot blocker and make the Final Four playing great and playing well inside. As a coach, recruiting today, how much can you plan that out and get guys who are going to provide that depth for you three, four years from now and how much it is just you recruit guys and see what happens?
DANA ALTMAN: It's development. Jordan has developed over the three years. That may have been his best performance in his three years. He was phenomenal today. He set the tone early. I thought that was really important. I said in the locker room that he played like we had Chris and him out there. He was a one-man. He dominated inside. He developed.
Dillon has gotten better each year. Tyler, I mean, his -- the way he stepped up in the tournament was unbelievable. He is playing with tremendous confidence, not only making plays for himself but his teammates and defensively he was solid. Get any boards, Tyler? He had five the second half because he didn't have any at halftime. I jumped him about that. He had five at the second half. When he's rebounding and playing defensive and gets involved in the whole game that's when his offense is best. If he relies too much on his offense he doesn't get totally involved in the game, and throughout the tournament he's gotten really involved in the game.
Q. One of the keys that Coach Self felt like was a difference maker tonight was being able to beat the clock and make the big shots which Coach alluded to with the threes late in the first half. He also felt Oregon did a great job at winning loose balls and 50/50 balls. Do you think that was more a case that you outhustled them to the ball? Just muscle? Why do you think you were able to win loose balls on the court?
TYLER DORSEY: Coach tells us we have to be the tougher team at the beginning of the game. Those 50/50 balls means we was the tougher team tonight and we went and got 'em. We just went and competed and we didn't quit on the play. We got every rebound and we sent the guards -- Jordan was blocking shots and everybody was cracking down and then we got second-chance points, and like I said, the 50/50 balls we got 'em tonight.
DILLON BROOKS: Coach says all the time, we want to make the special offensive play. But today we were making special defensive plays. Jordan blocking shots, us getting 50/50 balls, Dylan cracking back and stealing the ball from them making easy baskets. We were working and we had more heart. We really wanted to take down one of the greatest teams in Kansas.
JORDAN BELL: What they said, winning the 50/50 war, second chance points, being the tougher team overall. We knew that we had to do the little things to help us get the victory today.
DANA ALTMAN: We had some lucky bounces. I think that's true. We had some balls that bounced right to us. We did outrebound them by 4, and I thought that was critical. We had a five-minute stretch that we ran out of gas. We were really bad there for about five minutes especially on the offensive end. We found a way to finish the game and that's what you do on the road.
Basically it was a road game for us. I look at the attendance figures, 18, 6. We had 600 and they had 18,000, and it was basically a road game for us! The guys had to make those plays. The guys had to make those plays. We did get some lucky bounces on some of those balls, no doubt about it.
