A few of Harvard's players met with the media Wednesday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Coliseum here in Jacksonville, FL, site of their Thursday game with North Carolina. Here is what some of the Crimson had to say:
Q. If any of you guys would like to field this, and this is a fun question, but after the winter you guys had, can you describe what it was like to step off the plane into this kind of weather? And did the winter in any way adversely affect practices, things like that, for you guys?
SIYANI CHAMBERS: It felt good to come out and come down here and be able to wear shorts. We haven't been able to do that a lot. A few times we had to move practice back or even cancel practice because of the snow. We had a few mishaps with that.
STEVE MOUNDOU MISSI: Like he said, it felt good. Obviously Boston is not warm, it's not Florida, but we want to make sure this is not a vacation trip and take our business tomorrow and today.
WESLEY SAUNDERS: Yeah, we got off the plane, we were able to walk on the beach a little bit, and it was just great to be in the sun. Being a California guy, LA guy, reminded me a little bit of being back home, and yeah, like they said, we had some troubles with practice, but it's still a business trip coming down here, and we're hoping to take care of business.
JONAH TRAVIS: Yeah, it was nice to be in places with air conditioning for the first time in a long time. We had school canceled a couple days, which was nice, but of course we couldn't practice during them. But other than that, we're ready to get started.
Q. Wes, I'm just curious, what was Coach Amaker's reaction when you were paired with North Carolina and what do you think this means to him as a Duke guy?
WESLEY SAUNDERS: Yeah, I mean, obviously Coach Amaker has a lot of history with UNC, obviously going to Duke. And so I wasn't really aware of his reaction when we first got the selection, but I know that he's looking forward to the opportunity to play against UNC again, and I'm sure he's having some flashbacks and it's kind of nostalgic for him to be matched up against UNC.
Q. For everybody except Steve, can you explain to me how he manages to fly so far under the radar? He seems like the quietest, but plays a big role in your defense, and then what he does mean as a captain when he does speak?
SIYANI CHAMBERS: Steve doesn't really say much. He leads by his play. He lets his play do his talking, and like you said, he doesn't talk that much. So since he doesn't talk that much, when he does talk it's very profound and everybody listens and takes it to heart?
Q. Siyani, just your impressions of Marcus Paige?
SIYANI CHAMBERS: He's a great point guard. I've been playing against him for a long time. We lived pretty close to each other. We grew up in the same location. We've grown up in the same location. He grew up Iowa and I grew up in Minnesota, so our teams crossed paths a lot. He's a great playmaker and a great shot maker. He runs this team very well and I'm looking forward to the match up, and so is everybody else on this team. It's going to be a lot of guys guarding him, and we're going to do our best to try to contain him as much as possible.
Q. Fellows on the teleconference, you said to have at chance at North Carolina defense and take care of the ball were two of the main things. I'm wondering, does it also enter into the reason why some teams some 12, 13, 14 seeds pull off some upsets in the NCAAs because you've got some seniors, you've got some guys who have been playing together for three and four years. Just how much does that matter in a game like this?
JONAH TRAVIS: I think it like definitely factors in. You look at a team like Mercer last year against Duke, and although they didn't have the most talented guys you would say, but they definitely had senior leadership and the right pieces together that were accumulated over a number of years that were able to allow them to be successful. And I think we have that in the room, which has helped us throughout the entire season.
Q. I'm curious as a senior, the Ivy League has changed a lot the last two, five, ten years, and Harvard's sort of emergence has been a big part of that. How have you seen the league change from when you were being recruited to where you are now?
JONAH TRAVIS: Just definitely kind of the feel that kind of the shift in power that we've had now. We feel like we're definitely the big dog on campus. We're at the top of the mountain as we have been for a couple years, and it's something we don't take lightly and something we've really worked hard for, and also Yale's emergence throughout the years, to become one of our premier rivalries. In years past it's been Princeton and Penn, and now it's shifted to a great rivalry with Yale. I think that's the most noticeable shift I've seen.
Q. If any of you guys would like to field this, and this is a fun question, but after the winter you guys had, can you describe what it was like to step off the plane into this kind of weather? And did the winter in any way adversely affect practices, things like that, for you guys?
SIYANI CHAMBERS: It felt good to come out and come down here and be able to wear shorts. We haven't been able to do that a lot. A few times we had to move practice back or even cancel practice because of the snow. We had a few mishaps with that.
STEVE MOUNDOU MISSI: Like he said, it felt good. Obviously Boston is not warm, it's not Florida, but we want to make sure this is not a vacation trip and take our business tomorrow and today.
WESLEY SAUNDERS: Yeah, we got off the plane, we were able to walk on the beach a little bit, and it was just great to be in the sun. Being a California guy, LA guy, reminded me a little bit of being back home, and yeah, like they said, we had some troubles with practice, but it's still a business trip coming down here, and we're hoping to take care of business.
JONAH TRAVIS: Yeah, it was nice to be in places with air conditioning for the first time in a long time. We had school canceled a couple days, which was nice, but of course we couldn't practice during them. But other than that, we're ready to get started.
Q. Wes, I'm just curious, what was Coach Amaker's reaction when you were paired with North Carolina and what do you think this means to him as a Duke guy?
WESLEY SAUNDERS: Yeah, I mean, obviously Coach Amaker has a lot of history with UNC, obviously going to Duke. And so I wasn't really aware of his reaction when we first got the selection, but I know that he's looking forward to the opportunity to play against UNC again, and I'm sure he's having some flashbacks and it's kind of nostalgic for him to be matched up against UNC.
Q. For everybody except Steve, can you explain to me how he manages to fly so far under the radar? He seems like the quietest, but plays a big role in your defense, and then what he does mean as a captain when he does speak?
SIYANI CHAMBERS: Steve doesn't really say much. He leads by his play. He lets his play do his talking, and like you said, he doesn't talk that much. So since he doesn't talk that much, when he does talk it's very profound and everybody listens and takes it to heart?
Q. Siyani, just your impressions of Marcus Paige?
SIYANI CHAMBERS: He's a great point guard. I've been playing against him for a long time. We lived pretty close to each other. We grew up in the same location. We've grown up in the same location. He grew up Iowa and I grew up in Minnesota, so our teams crossed paths a lot. He's a great playmaker and a great shot maker. He runs this team very well and I'm looking forward to the match up, and so is everybody else on this team. It's going to be a lot of guys guarding him, and we're going to do our best to try to contain him as much as possible.
Q. Fellows on the teleconference, you said to have at chance at North Carolina defense and take care of the ball were two of the main things. I'm wondering, does it also enter into the reason why some teams some 12, 13, 14 seeds pull off some upsets in the NCAAs because you've got some seniors, you've got some guys who have been playing together for three and four years. Just how much does that matter in a game like this?
JONAH TRAVIS: I think it like definitely factors in. You look at a team like Mercer last year against Duke, and although they didn't have the most talented guys you would say, but they definitely had senior leadership and the right pieces together that were accumulated over a number of years that were able to allow them to be successful. And I think we have that in the room, which has helped us throughout the entire season.
Q. I'm curious as a senior, the Ivy League has changed a lot the last two, five, ten years, and Harvard's sort of emergence has been a big part of that. How have you seen the league change from when you were being recruited to where you are now?
JONAH TRAVIS: Just definitely kind of the feel that kind of the shift in power that we've had now. We feel like we're definitely the big dog on campus. We're at the top of the mountain as we have been for a couple years, and it's something we don't take lightly and something we've really worked hard for, and also Yale's emergence throughout the years, to become one of our premier rivalries. In years past it's been Princeton and Penn, and now it's shifted to a great rivalry with Yale. I think that's the most noticeable shift I've seen.
